Adding the Artifacts Mod to Your Minecraft World

The Artifacts mod is a great companion for explorers. It drops 34 unique wearable items into the loot tables of naturally generated structures across the Overworld, each one granting a passive ability you cannot get from vanilla gear. None of them are craftable, so the only way to claim them is to find them, or in some lucky cases, peel them off a zombie that already equipped one. This guide walks through installing Artifacts on a Minecraft Forge or Fabric setup, both on the client and on a multiplayer server.

Downloading the Mod and Its Dependencies

Open the Artifacts page on CurseForge and select the Files tab.

Find the version of Minecraft you plan to play on, click the three vertical dots next to it and choose Download File. Save the .jar somewhere easy to reach.

Repeat the same process for each dependency. Artifacts will not load without them, and you need the loader variant that matches your setup:

• Architectury API
• Cloth Config API
• Curios API (Forge) or Curios API (Fabric)
• Fabric API (Fabric only)

Match every download to your Minecraft and loader version. Mixing a 1.20.1 build with a 1.20.4 mod will crash the game before you reach the main menu.

Installing It on the Client

You will need either Forge or Fabric installed in your Minecraft launcher first. Once your modded profile exists, the rest is just file copying.

1. Open the launcher and click the folder icon next to your modded profile to open its game directory.

1. Inside that directory, look for a `mods` folder. If it does not exist, create one and move every .jar you downloaded into it.

1. Back in the launcher, press Play on the modded profile. The game should boot with the mod list visible on the title screen.

Installing It on a Server

If you want to share the experience with friends, you will need a Minecraft server running either Forge or Fabric. On HolyHosting, the server type can be switched from the control panel before you upload anything.

1. Open your HolyHosting control panel and head to the file manager.

1. Log in with your panel credentials and navigate into the `mods` directory.

1. Click Upload and drop the .jar files you collected earlier into the window.

1. Wait for every upload to reach 100%. Back on the main panel, generate a fresh world so the new loot tables can populate properly.

1. Restart the server and connect to confirm the mod is loaded.

If something fails to start, the console log will usually point at the missing or mismatched dependency.

What the Mod Actually Adds

Vanilla Minecraft already rewards exploration with the occasional diamond or enchanted book. Artifacts pushes this further by injecting exclusive wearables into chests across the world. Some let you walk on water. Some let you glide. Others quietly stack damage or pull experience toward you. The sections below cover where to find them and a handful of the more useful pieces.

Where to Find Them

Villages are the easiest hunting ground, since they ship with multiple chests and tend to generate near spawn. Any naturally generated structure with loot can drop an artifact, though, so dungeons, mineshafts, pillager outposts and woodland mansions are all valid targets. Bring a friend, split up, and you will cover ground much faster.

Archeology offers a second path. Suspicious sand and gravel will occasionally yield artifacts when brushed. The odds are lower than chest loot, but it gives quieter biomes a reason to exist. If neither approach is working, keep an eye on hostile mobs. Zombies and skeletons sometimes spawn already wearing an artifact, and a single arrow can hand you a Helium Flamingo without ever opening a chest.

A Few Picks Worth Hunting

There are 34 artifacts in total, so this is a sample rather than a full catalog. If you want to flip through every option without grinding for them, switch to creative mode through cheats or operator permissions on your server.

The Superstitious Hat stacks a hidden looting level on top of whatever sword you swing. Pair it with a Looting III sword and you are effectively running Looting IV, which is excellent for mob farms or rare drops like wither skeleton skulls.

Running Shoes boost sprint speed and bump your step height up to two blocks. You will save the swiftness potions, climb most terrain without jumping and outrun a creeper that gets too friendly.

No elytra? The Helium Flamingo is the budget answer. It lets you swim through the sky for a limited time before drifting back down. It will not match a fireworks-fueled elytra run, but it removes the need for staircases on most builds.

The Scarf of Invisibility does what the name promises. Other players cannot see you, although hostile mobs still detect your presence. Best used for pranks and the occasional dramatic entrance.

If you hate dedicating inventory slots to food, the Eternal Steak is a small luxury. Eat it as many times as you want without losing the item itself. Hunger fixed, hotbar freed.

Tired of overpriced trades? Equip the Villager Hat and watch prices drop. Combine it with the Hero of the Village effect and you can clear out a master librarian for almost nothing.

Combos That Stack Well

Individually these items are nice. Stacked, they get silly.

For a melee build, combine the Superstitious Hat, Power Glove, Chorus Totem, Bunny Hoppers, Golden Hook and Cross Necklace. Every hit lands harder, every kill drops extra experience, and a fatal blow teleports you out of trouble before the death screen has a chance to load.

For mining, swap in the Night Vision Goggles, Charm of Sinking, Crystal Heart, Digging Claws, Pickaxe Heater and Kitty Slippers. Ores auto-smelt as they break, you can swim freely through flooded shafts, you get a couple of extra hearts for safety, and creepers lose their favorite trick because you can see them coming.

Playing with Friends

The mod is at its best on a small Forge or Fabric server with a few players splitting up to scout structures. Once everyone has built their preferred loadout, the game shifts from "find shiny things" to "show off the build you ended up with." It is a good excuse to keep a long-running world alive.

Frequently Asked Questions

The mod is installed but no artifacts are dropping. What happened? Loot tables only change for chunks generated after the mod is added. If you kept your old world, fly out into unexplored territory or generate a new map. Even then, artifacts are deliberately rare, so be patient or use operator commands to spawn a few while you test things.

Which Minecraft versions are supported? Forge and Fabric builds exist for 1.12.2 through 1.20.4, with newer versions tracked on the CurseForge page. NeoForge is also supported. Some artifacts may behave slightly differently between versions.

Can I tweak the drop rates? Not really. The mod ships a configuration file, but it exposes very few settings and the artifact spawn chances are not among them. The same limit applies to both servers and singleplayer saves.

Useful Links

• Artifacts on CurseForge
• How to install Forge on Minecraft