Become a Dark Age archaeologist with this Assassin's Creed Valhalla artifacts guide

Want to know more about AC Valhalla artifacts? Assassin’s Creed Valhalla delves deeply into both the history and legend of 9th century England and Northern Europe. One way it represents this is through ‘artifacts’—collectible items scattered throughout Valhalla’s world. Ranging from fragments of epic poetry to remnants of Rome, Valhalla’s artifacts add colour to the fringes of its Dark Age world.

But there’s more to artifacts than mere detailing. Some have cosmetic purposes, while others are more practical. This guide will run you through all the different Assassin’s Creed Valhalla artifacts you can find, as well as offering a few tips on how to collect them.

AC Valhalla Roman Artifacts

Roman Artifacts are the most common type of artifact in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Found in the many Roman ruins across the English countryside, all Roman artifacts take the form of bronze masks that can be collected.

Although the ruins themselves are easy to find, accessing the artifacts themselves can be tricky. You’ll rarely find a mask at ground level. Most will either be above or below Eivor when they arrive at the location. Elevated masks are the easiest to find. Usually, you just have to climb up a ruin to retrieve it, although you may sometimes need to shoot down a ladder. Subterranean masks are more difficult. Here, you either need to find an underground entrance (such as a cave mouth or an underwater passageway) or destroy an obstacle, such as an explosive wall.

Artifacts can be returned to Octavian at Ravensthorpe, which he’ll exchange for decorations you can use to further customise your camp.

AC Valhalla Cursed Symbols

Cursed Symbols are at once the best and worst artifact type in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Known specifically as Nithings, these ancient Norse hexes traditionally took the form of a horse’s skull placed atop a pole carved with runes, which was then pointed at whatever poor soul was to bear the brunt of the curse.

In Valhalla, curses are represented on the map by a spiderweb symbol. When you enter the curse's zone of influence, the environment will suddenly become shrouded by thick fog, while strange noises will play in the audio. From here, all you need to do is find the cursed symbol and destroy it with a shot from your bow.

Curses embody the strange mythos of Dark Age England. Usually they’re located at the scene of some terrible event, like a murder or a ritual sacrifice. Destroying the curse is usually easy, however, and you don’t get any reward for it other than unlocking an achievement for finding them all. They’re creepy, but ultimately harmless and a little underwhelming.

AC Valhalla Tattoo Patterns

As you wander around Valhalla’s towns and cities, you’ll notice sheafs of paper fluttering in the air on rooftops and tree branches. These are tattoo patterns that can be used to customise Eivor’s body. All you need to do is climb up to the paper and retrieve it. Simple, right? 

Wrong. As you’re about to grab the paper, it will flutter away like a coy butterfly. This triggers a parkour challenge where you need to chase the paper over the town’s rooftops. These parkour challenges can be quite fiddly, and it’s easy to accidentally make a wrong turn or jump back to the ground. When the paper reaches the end of the ad-hoc course, it will only hang around for a few seconds before returning to the start.

AC Valhalla Treasure Hoard maps

There are only a handful of Treasure Hoard maps in Valhalla, which is a shame as they offer some of the most enjoyable puzzles in the game. The maps can themselves be found on the world map like any other artifact, their icon resembling an open scroll. Much like Roman artifacts, retrieving the maps usually involves a short environmental puzzle.

Once you’ve got the map, you then need to deduce the location it points toward. It’s important to specify not all Treasure Hoard maps are actually maps. While some will provide a rough visualisation of the treasure’s location, others take the form of riddles that cryptically explain where the treasure is located.

At this point, you’ve simply got to use the clues to pinpoint the location. There’s not many more hints I can offer, although the treasure is generally located within the same county you found the map. Finding the Hoard usually rewards with special customisation options for Eivor or your longship. Speaking frankly, that’s not much of a Hoard, is it Valhalla? You could’ve thrown in a cool sword or something.

AC Valhalla Rigsogur Fragments

The Rigsogur is a Norse epic poem about a warrior named Rig that has been broken into fragments and scattered throughout England. This is the rarest type of artifact in the game, but also one of the easiest to obtain. Most Rigsogur fragments are located within major settlements, usually hidden inside the back of a building. Sadly, you don’t get a reward for collecting them all, other than a cool Viking story, that is.

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