Guide 9: Trinkets, Artifacts & Relics

Open your inventory and look left: those extra slots (rings, necklace, belt, charm, back…) are Curios slots, and three whole mods exist to fill them. Trinkets are the pack’s stealth power system — no crafting tree, no XP bar, just treasure that makes you permanently better. This is where explorers get paid.

The slot system

  • Click the curios button in your inventory (small icon by your character model) to see every slot: rings (usually two), necklace, belt, charm, hands, back, feet — plus a few extras added by the pack (a little more curios).
  • Wizards note: your spellbook lives here too (Guide 5), and Radiant Gear/Curious Lanterns let you wear a lantern on your belt — constant light with both hands free.
  • Slots are per-type: you can’t stack five rings in the necklace slot. Competition for good slots is the endgame decision-making.

Artifacts: found, never crafted

The Artifacts mod (plus More/Grim’s/Celestial Artifacts) scatters unique wearables through world loot — with a twist:

  • Their signature container is the Mimic: a chest that is very much not a chest. In artifact-heavy structures, punch chests once before opening. The mimic is the loot source — killing it drops artifacts.
  • Classic finds: Night Vision Goggles, Running Shoes, Digging Claws (built-in Haste), Cloud in a Bottle (double jump), Panic Necklace, Universal Attractor (item magnet), Whoopee Cushion (yes).
  • Artifacts don’t level or break — each is a permanent passive once equipped. Build identity comes from which six-ish you wear.
  • Where: any dungeon loot (Guides 7–8), with the addon mods seeding them into the pack’s own structures. Campsite/cabin structures are reliably artifact-rich.

Relics: trinkets that grow

Relics (+ More Relics) is the deep end: rare trinkets with active abilities that level up as you use them.

  • Each relic has its own ability kit and an upgrade tree — using the relic earns it experience, and leveling lets you strengthen or steer its abilities.
  • Examples of the kind of thing: blink daggers, shadow saddles, magic mirrors, solid-air bracelets. Every relic reads like a build-around item because it is one.
  • Relics drop from serious content — boss-tier loot and rare chests. Finding your first is an event; announce it in chat.
  • Inspect a relic’s tooltip/GUI for its leveling details — each one is different, and half the fun is figuring out what “using it” means for that relic.

Making trinkets part of your build

  • Early: wear literally anything you find — an empty slot is wasted stats. First targets: a light source (lantern belt), a mobility item, a magnet.
  • Mid: Apotheosis gems (Guide 6) + trinkets stack into real builds — a lifesteal melee build, a mana battery wizard, a permanent-sprint scout. Check what stats your curios give and lean in.
  • Late: Relic leveling + boss artifacts + socketed gear is the pack’s “paragon” system. Two players in identical armor can play completely different games because of these slots.
  • Artifact Crafting (the small addon in the pack) gives some recipes to target specific artifacts instead of praying to loot tables — JEI an artifact you want and check if it has a recipe.

Starter goals

  • Every curios slot filled with something
  • Lantern on the belt (say goodbye to torch-juggling)
  • First mimic survived and looted
  • A mobility artifact (shoes/gloves/pearl-type)
  • First relic found and leveled once

Sources & further reading

  • Artifacts on CurseForge — official page listing every artifact and its effect
  • Relics on CurseForge — official page; each relic’s ability kit and leveling are also shown in its in-game tooltip/GUI (the most version-accurate source)
  • Curios on CurseForge — the slot framework itself
  • Addon artifact packs (More Artifacts, Grim’s, Celestial) document their items on their CurseForge pages — or just JEI-search “artifact” in-game and read tooltips