Short answer, none. Long answer.... I have no idea why artifacts exist in Destiny. It appears as though artifacts are Bungie's equivalent to rings in Dark Souls. If this is the case, oh boy did they -blam!-ing butcher it! The difference is rings actually help your character and incentivize exploring and finding them, and don't punish you for not having one. The only thing artifacts do in Destiny is give you somewhat of a reason to play the dumpster fire that is Court of Oryx; great concept, horrible execution. It's almost as if you knew nobody would give a shit about CoO after day 1, so you came up with this new armor slot just to make this activity seem important. You don't even see your artifact other than on the 2-D model on your character screen. It makes me wonder why you actually bothered creating these models. If instead the icon was just a picture of a box: a - It would make zero difference, and b - you could instead use the artists' spare time making certain armor pieces change according to shaders And don't try to tell me artifacts actually help your character. No I'm sorry, you're right actually, I just wouldn't know what to do if I my arc melees or my solar headshots didn't occasionally drop an orb. These useless perks, aside from being perfect examples of what your idea of a perk has become, show just how half-baked of an idea these artifacts were. I can't decide what's more useless, exhumed or arc accumulator. Even more demonstrative of this the raid "challenges". All you have to do is switch brand holders on Warpriest, and everybody gets a fresh, max level artifact. What difference did that artifact make? Aside from being a necessary component of you level (which begs the question, WHY), it makes zero difference to your character. The artifact is just another thing for players to chase after, because you think instead of actually giving us content, the grind for a pointless item would keep us here long enough for you to wave a big number in our face and say "see? people love to play our game". Why, after almost 2 years, have you not grasped that people will stay and play if you give them a reason to? You wouldn't need all these artificial ways of extending playtime if you just gave us meaningful content. It's all there, too; nothing is stopping you from making this game whole. Ranting aside, artifacts do have a lot of potential, just like a lot of things in Destiny. I strongly recommend that the devs play dark souls and take some notes. The idea of artifacts being an extra item that benefits your character instead some abstract number is a no brainer, and would be a welcome addition. Please. In a game that's so strongly centered around loot, it amazes me that the investment and loot reward systems are the most half-assed aspects of the game. Git gud.