How to Use Relics in World of Warcraft: A Comprehensive Guide
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At its core, using relics in World of Warcraft centers around enhancing your Artifact Weapons from the Legion expansion. Relics are socketable items that boost the item level and power of your artifact. To use them, you essentially equip your artifact and then open the relic socketing interface. This is done by shift-right-clicking the artifact while it’s displayed in your character window (default key “C”). Within this window, you can insert relics into the designated three slots. The higher the item level of the relic, the greater the boost it provides to your Artifact Weapon’s overall effectiveness.
This system primarily applies to the Artifact Weapons that were introduced in the Legion expansion. While similar items might be found in other contexts within WoW, the core usage of relics—as socketable upgrades for Artifact Weapons—remains the same. Let’s dive into the specifics and common questions about this important gameplay mechanic.
Understanding Relics in the Context of Artifact Weapons
The Purpose of Relics
Relics primarily serve to upgrade your Artifact Weapon. They increase its overall item level, thereby enhancing its baseline stats, damage output, and any spec-specific benefits it provides. Importantly, relics can also confer additional bonuses to your class spells or abilities, often either as passive boosts or with a chance to proc. These bonuses make relics not only level-enhancing items, but also a critical part of customizing the way your class performs in combat. Think of them as significant upgrades that you’ll need to constantly seek out during your playthrough of the Legion expansion.
Obtaining Relics
These crucial items are obtained through various means, notably:
- Completing quest lines: Many storylines in the Broken Isles and Argus, areas introduced in the Legion expansion, reward players with powerful relics.
- Dungeon and Raid Rewards: These challenging instances are often a great source of high-item-level relics.
- Other Legion-related content: Various other activities in Legion areas may yield relics as rewards.
The Relic Socketing Interface
The interface to insert and swap out your relics can be accessed once you have an Artifact Weapon equipped. Open your character sheet by pressing the “C” key (default). Shift-right-click on your artifact weapon in the character sheet window and the relic window should open. This allows you to drag and drop relics into the three available sockets, making it extremely easy to manage and optimize your weapon’s power. No need to travel to your order hall as it is accessible any where.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Relics in WoW
Here are 15 common questions that players have regarding relics in World of Warcraft, along with concise and helpful answers:
1. How many relic slots does an Artifact Weapon have?
An Artifact Weapon has a total of 3 relic slots. Each slot can accommodate a single relic, allowing for significant boosts to your weapon’s power.
2. What are artifact relics?
Artifact relics are specific items that are designed to be inserted into your Artifact Weapon’s slots. These relics boost the weapon’s item level and often provide additional enhancements to your character’s abilities.
3. What is an Artifact Weapon in WoW?
Artifact Weapons are special spec-specific weapons from the Legion expansion. They grow in power as you progress, and they can be customized both aesthetically and functionally using relics and other resources. These were replaced with new systems in later expansions.
4. Where do I find my Artifact Weapon?
Your Artifact Weapon is a physical item that should be found in your backpack, bank, or void storage. If you can’t find it, use the in-game search feature with the name of the artifact to find it. Make sure to check all your characters as well.
5. How do I get my first Artifact Weapon?
You can begin the quest to obtain your first Artifact Weapon by visiting Dalaran, the primary city in the Legion expansion. Once there, a member of your order will approach you with the first quest.
6. Can I get more than one Artifact Weapon?
Yes, you can unlock all the Artifact Weapons specific to your class specializations. You’ll generally need to reach level 102, progress in your Order Hall campaign, and complete the “A Falling Star” quest to unlock additional artifact weapon quests.
7. How do relics affect my Artifact Weapon’s item level?
The item level of a relic directly boosts the item level of your Artifact Weapon. Higher item-level relics result in a larger increase in your weapon’s overall power.
8. Do Relic weapons scale with my character level?
Artifact Weapons do not automatically scale with your level. Relics are the primary method to increase the power of your Artifact Weapon.
9. Can I swap out relics?
Yes, you can swap out relics at any time using the relic socketing interface described earlier, allowing for customization based on your needs. Simply replace them by dragging the existing relic out and dragging a new one in.
10. Are relics permanent additions to my collection?
No, unlike some other types of items called “Relics”, these socketable relics are not permanent collection items. They are only useful for upgrading your Artifact Weapons. Once replaced by a different relic, you have the ability to destroy them if needed.
11. What do relic fragments do?
Relic fragments do not apply to Artifact Weapon relics; rather, they apply to special Relics that can be equipped with a specific character class in some MMO’s. In World of Warcraft, relic fragments are not used for these types of relics.
12. Can I equip artifacts on any of my characters?
Artifact Weapons are class-specific and tied to character specializations, meaning each class may have many, but only one can be equipped on that character, at a time. The second part of the question is not relevant to World of Warcraft, as artifact in this form of use, is never used.
13. Can I glamour my relic weapon?
In World of Warcraft, if you are referring to an Artifact Weapon, it can be transmogrified into any appropriate item. However, in other MMO’s, you may not be able to transmogrify relics for some specific classes, but there are ways to acquire the same appearance of certain Relics.
14. Where can I get artifact relics?
Artifact relics are primarily obtained through completing quests, dungeon runs, and raid instances in the Broken Isles and on Argus, as well as other content related to the Legion expansion.
15. Do relic tokens work the same way as relics that are socketed?
Relic tokens are used as game counters, and are not relevant to artifact weapon relics. They are used as life counters or to track a token’s power, toughness and other game mechanics in other MMO’s.
Conclusion
Understanding how to use relics in World of Warcraft is crucial for maximizing the power of your Artifact Weapon during the Legion expansion. By acquiring high-level relics through various activities, and strategically socketing them into your weapon, you significantly improve your character’s performance. Remembering the specific way of accessing your relic interface and understanding their purpose will help you make the best use of this system. This detailed guide, with its comprehensive FAQ, should leave you fully equipped to take on whatever challenges Azeroth throws at you.