Artifacts are scattered around the Abyss and can be held by Elyos, Asmodian or Baluar forces for 24 hours. Taking over an artifacts will allow the use its hidden powers. This power is often referred to as the artifact skill. The artifact skill when activated, will affect targets surrounding the floating island which the artifact is on.

There are 31 artifacts in the Abyss and a total of 14 artifact skills exist. There are 8 artifacts in the Lower Abyss, 14 in the Upper Abyss and 9 in the Core Abyss.

Artifacts can be utilized by faction players attacking or defending a fortress, and therefore creates a diverse range of battle tactics.

Once an artifact is captured, the Legion or faction emblem will be be displayed.

Unlike fortresses, Artifacts can be taken over at any time. If an Artifact is occupied by the Balaur faction, an Artifact Defender will be present. The first faction(and Legion) to defeat the Artifact Defender will take control of the Artifact. When a faction takes control of an Artifact, an Artifact Defender NPC of that faction will spawn. As such, defeating the Artifact Defender of another faction will allow your faction to take over the Artifact.

When possessing an Artifact, there will be many other NPCs that also protect the Artifact Defender, however, only the Artifact Defender needs to be defeated in order to change ownership. After the Artifact Defender dies, all the other remaining NPCs will automatically despawn. Like the fortresses, the emblem belonging to the Legion that possesses the Artifact will be displayed on the Artifact. If the Artifact is taken by a guildless player, then the player's faction emblem will be displayed.

To use an Artifact skill, you must have the required amount of Artifact Activation Stones. These stones cannot be bought from any of the shops. Instead the recipe to craft the stone must be purchased form the Abyss Consumable Rewards NPC, and the stone can be crafted through the use of the alchemy profession. An alchemy level of 199 is requires to learn this recipe.

Having the necessary amount of Artifact Activation Stones will allow the Artifact Activation button to be available. Clicking on the button will start the skill activation animation and the Artifact skill will be cast. Moving or being attacked during the Artifact activation will cancel the skill cast. The recast times are different for the Artifacts depending on the skill types.

Like fortresses, Artifacts can be captured by Legions, however, if the Artifact Defender is killed by a player not belonging to a Legion, then the Artifact will be owned by the whole faction that the player belongs to. When an Artifact is under a Legion's control, only the Legion Master may activate the Artifact by default. By changing the member rights/privileges, the guild officers can also activate Artifacts. When an Artifact belongs to a whole faction, any player of that faction is able to activate that Artifact.