The best artifact sets in Raid Shadow Legends for most accounts are Speed, Lifesteal, Savage, Accuracy or Perception, Relentless and the Demon Lord's Cruel set, with the variable sets from the Hydra, Cursed City, Siege and Grim Forest taking over in the late game. Which one a champion wears depends on its job: Speed for turn order, Lifesteal for farmers, Savage and Cruel for damage, Accuracy for debuffers, and Relentless for anyone whose skills you want more often.
We checked this against Plarium's RAID support Gear Overview, which lists every set bonus and where each set drops, its Doom Tower, Demon Lord and Tavern guides, HellHades' gear and beginner coverage plus its Update 11.75 notes, and Ayumilove's artifact guide (updated September 2026), in November 2026.
How Artifact Sets Work
Every champion can wear six artifacts (Weapon, Helmet, Shield, Gauntlets, Chestplate and Boots) and three accessories (Ring, Amulet and Banner). Each artifact belongs to a set, and wearing enough pieces of one set adds its bonus on top of the stats on the gear itself. HellHades counts more than 50 artifact sets and 5 accessory sets in the game, but they fall into three shapes: 2-piece sets, 4-piece sets, and variable sets that pay out a little more for every piece you equip, up to 9 when accessories are included.
The six artifact slots give you a simple budget. You can run one 4-piece set plus one 2-piece set, or three 2-piece sets, and that choice is the first decision in any build. Accessories unlock as the champion grows: Plarium's Tavern guide says Rank 4 opens the Ring slot, Ascension Level 5 the Amulet and Ascension Level 6 the Banner. Gear itself can be improved further, too, since artifacts and accessories of Rank 4 or higher that reach Level 12 can be ascended for an extra stat.
The Core Sets and What They Do
These are the sets most builds draw from, with the bonus text from Plarium's Gear Overview and the same figures in Ayumilove's guide. The farming locations come from the same official article.
| Set | Bonus | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Speed (2) | +12% SPD | Dragon's Lair, Campaign (Palace of Aravia), Market |
| Lifesteal (4) | Heals 30% of damage dealt | Dragon's Lair, Campaign (Valdemar Strait), Market |
| Savage (4) | Ignores 25% of target DEF | Fire Knight's Castle |
| Cruel (2) | +15% ATK, ignores 5% of enemy DEF | Demon Lord chests only |
| Accuracy (2) | +40 ACC | Dragon's Lair, Campaign (Felwin's Gate), Market, Event Dungeon |
| Perception (2) | +40 ACC, +5% SPD | Forge (Faction Wars and Classic Arena materials) |
| Relentless (4) | 18% chance of an Extra Turn | Tournament rewards |
| Immortal (2) | +15% HP, heals 3% every turn | Demon Lord chests only |
| Stalwart (4) | 30% less damage from AoE attacks | Dragon's Lair |
| Reflex (4) | 40% chance to cut a skill cooldown by 1 | Ice Golem's Peak |
| Toxic (4) | 75% chance of a 2.5% Poison when attacking | Dragon's Lair |
| Lethal (4) | +10% C.RATE, ignores 25% of enemy DEF | Forge (Classic Arena and Dark Fae materials) |
Two details in the official text change how these sets play. Lifesteal does not heal from damage dealt by Poison debuffs, so it suits direct-damage champions far better than poisoners. And Relentless gets less likely each time it fires in a row: Plarium's figures go from 18 percent to 9.9 percent to 5.5 percent, so treat long chains as a bonus rather than a plan. Plarium still calls it a good fit for almost any champion, and especially for supports that need to use their skills as often as possible.
Matching Sets to Roles
A set is only as good as the champion wearing it, so start from the job each champion does.
- Campaign farmers: HellHades' beginner energy guide recommends Lifesteal on the starting champion, with the other two slots filled by Speed, Critical Rate or Cruel. Lifesteal keeps a solo farmer alive through hundreds of runs; our guide to leveling fast covers the rest of the farming setup.
- Damage dealers: Savage or Lethal for the 4-piece, then Cruel, Critical Rate or Critical Damage for the 2-piece. Plarium notes Savage's Ignore DEF stacks with other Ignore DEF effects, which is why it pairs so well with nukers.
- Debuffers and supports: Speed and Accuracy or Perception first, since a debuff that misses or arrives late does nothing. Relentless is the upgrade for supports, and Plarium's own description says no other set lets a buffer or debuffer cycle turns the same way.
- Tanks and healers: Stalwart against AoE-heavy bosses, Immortal or Resilience for staying power, and Resistance or Fortitude for champions that must not be crowd-controlled.
- Boss damage: Toxic's Poison scales with the target's max HP, which makes it a natural fit against high-HP bosses.
HellHades' early-game advice boils this down to three sets to chase first: Speed, Perception and Lifesteal. If you are unsure which of your champions deserve the good pieces, our list of the best Epic champions shows who tends to carry teams.
Which Sets Suit Which Content
Plarium's own set descriptions point to where each one earns its keep, and they are a useful check before you commit a full build to one mode.
- Arena: Speed for the first turn, Immunity for a Block Debuffs buff at the start of every round, Stun for crowd control on AoE attackers, and Untouchable, which Plarium calls useful everywhere and especially in the Arena.
- Hydra: Curing restores HP that enemies destroy, Cursed spreads Hex across the multiple heads, and Affinitybreaker can turn weak hits into critical hits against the Hydra's Poison Cloud.
- Dungeons: Stalwart as a reserve set against bosses with heavy AoE attacks, Curing for the Sand Devil and Hard Fire Knight, and Cursed for waves of tanky enemies in Hard Mode dungeons and the Doom Tower.
- Demon Lord: one caution for poison builds. Plarium's Clan FAQ says the Demon Lord's passive, Infernal Resilience, reduces the damage it takes from HP Burn and Poison, so Toxic does less there than against other bosses.
The pattern is that no single set wins everywhere, and that is what Gear Presets are for. Plarium lets you save up to five presets per champion plus up to 50 global artifact presets and 50 global accessory presets, built in the Fitting Room of the Champion Collection, so one champion can switch between an Arena build and a PvE build in a couple of taps. Accessory presets still follow Faction rules, so a global accessory preset only fits champions of the matching Faction.
Late-Game Variable Sets
Variable sets are where endgame builds live, because every extra piece adds something. Plarium's Gear Overview lists where each comes from:
- Protection and Stone Skin (Hydra chests): both can drop at Mythical rarity. Protection's full set adds up to 32 percent SPD and a 75 percent chance to make the wearer's buffs Protected so they cannot be stolen or removed.
- Merciless and Supersonic (Cursed City): Merciless stacks ATK, Critical Damage, Ignore DEF, cooldown reduction and a chance at extra turns for damage dealers.
- Feral (Siege milestone rewards): Accuracy, Speed, a Block Debuffs buff at the start of each round, and a 50 percent chance to stop the Polymorph Blessing's Sheep debuff from landing.
- Mercurial (Grim Forest): HP, RES and up to 32 percent SPD, plus up to three Total Guard stacks.
- Swift Parry and Deflection (Classic Arena Platinum chests and the Forge): hybrid sets built for the Arena.
Mercurial also changed this fall. HellHades describes a Total Guard stack as blocking almost anything except Increase Cooldown, and its Update 11.75 coverage reports that Provoke now bypasses Total Guard as well: placing Provoke does not consume a stack, and a Provoked champion cannot regain stacks at the start of its turn until the Provoke is removed. The set's numbers were not changed, but Arena teams built around it now have a direct counter.
Farming the Sets You Need
Most core sets come from three dungeons, so the order you farm them shapes your account. Dragon's Lair carries Speed, Lifesteal, Accuracy, Stalwart and Toxic among others, which makes it the natural first gear dungeon for the Speed and Lifesteal sets HellHades recommends early. Fire Knight's Castle is the only dungeon source of Savage and also holds Immunity, Stun, Regeneration and Shield, the last of which Plarium calls one of the most powerful sets in Teleria. Ice Golem's Peak covers the basic stat sets plus Reflex. The Demon Lord is the only source of Cruel and Immortal, so joining an active Clan matters for gear as well as shards.
The Campaign helps in a different way. Plarium's guide notes each Campaign stage drops only certain kinds of gear, so you can hunt a specific piece there, and some sets have a Campaign location, such as Speed from Palace of Aravia and Lifesteal from Valdemar Strait. The Market sells random artifacts for Silver, but Plarium is clear that it cannot be depended on when you need something specific. Doom Tower bosses supply the Forge materials for Lethal, Bloodthirst, Untouchable, Fortitude and other sets, and Relentless only comes from tournament rewards, so watch tournament milestone lists for it.
Ascending the Pieces You Keep
Once a piece is worth keeping, Gear Ascension adds one more stat to it. Plarium's guide says the feature unlocks at account Level 38, works on gear of Rank 4 or higher upgraded to Level 12, and allows as many Ascension Levels as the gear's Rank, so a Rank 6 artifact can be ascended six times. It costs no Silver, only the materials below, and the cost does not rise after a piece has been ascended.
- Artifacts use Oils: Lesser Oil for Ascension Levels 1 and 2, Greater for 3 and 4, Superior for 5 and 6. The main source is the Sand Devil's Necropolis, with better Oils more likely on higher stages.
- Accessories use Extracts: the same three grades, farmed mainly in the Phantom Shogun's Grove.
- Mixers fill gaps: the Oil Mixer and Extract Mixer combine lower grades into higher ones when you are short.
- Rerolls are possible: Chaos Dust (artifacts) and Chaos Powder (accessories) from Stage 25 of those dungeons rework the Ascension Bonus into a different random one, with each rework costing more until the seventh.
Because the bonus is random, ascend the pieces on your core champions first, and save reworking for gear you know you will wear for a long time.
Want the Farming Budget Already Banked?
Farming three dungeons, the Demon Lord and the Doom Tower for full sets is months of work, and most of it is paid for in Energy and silver. If you would rather start with that budget already banked, the store's Raid Shadow Legends page lists Raid accounts whose listings name their headline champions and stocked resources such as Energy, gems and silver. Gear is rarely spelled out, so ask the store's support if a geared roster matters to you. Plarium's terms forbid account trading, so read our account guide first.
Frequently Asked Questions
What artifact set should my starter champion use?
HellHades recommends Lifesteal on the starter, with the remaining two slots in Speed, Critical Rate or Cruel. That keeps the champion alive as a Campaign farmer while adding speed or damage.
Where do you get the Cruel set?
Only from Demon Lord (Clan Boss) chests, according to Plarium's guides. The same chests are the only source of the Immortal set.
Is Relentless better than Speed?
They do different jobs and often go together: Relentless is a 4-piece set with an 18 percent extra-turn chance, Speed is a 2-piece set with +12 percent SPD, and four plus two fills all six artifact slots.
Does Lifesteal heal from poison damage?
No. Plarium's Gear Overview says Lifesteal and Bloodthirst healing does not work with damage dealt by Poison debuffs.
What changed with the Mercurial set?
With Update 11.75, Provoke bypasses Total Guard, does not use up a stack, and stops a Provoked champion from regaining stacks until it is cleansed. The set's stat numbers stayed the same.
How many artifact sets are in Raid?
HellHades counts more than 50 artifact sets and 5 accessory sets. Plarium's Gear Overview lists each set's bonus and where it can be obtained.