Leveling an Artifact in Genshin Impact can quickly turn into a difficult decision.
You find a piece with the right main stat and a few promising substats, start enhancing it, and then watch several upgrades go into stats you did not want.
At that point, you have to decide:
Should you keep leveling the Artifact and hope the remaining upgrades are better, or stop investing in it?
There is no single enhancement level where every bad Artifact should be abandoned. In general, you should stop leveling an Artifact when the remaining possible upgrades are unlikely to make it useful compared with the alternatives available to your account.
However, the decision becomes much easier if you evaluate the Artifact at specific enhancement checkpoints.
How Artifact Substat Upgrades Work
A 5-star Artifact can begin with either three or four substats.
If it starts with three substats, reaching +4 adds a fourth substat.
After that, one existing substat receives an upgrade every four levels:
- +4
- +8
- +12
- +16
- +20
For a 5-star Artifact that already begins with four substats, each of those enhancement checkpoints instead upgrades one of the existing substats.
Because the upgraded substat is random, even an Artifact that looks excellent at +0 can develop poorly.
The opposite can also happen: a piece that looks only moderately promising at first can receive several useful upgrades and become very good.
That is why it is usually better to evaluate Artifacts in stages instead of immediately taking every promising piece to +20.
What Should You Check at +4?
+4 is the first major decision point, especially for a 5-star Artifact that started with only three substats.
At +4, the fourth substat is revealed.
Suppose an Artifact begins with:
- CRIT Rate
- Energy Recharge
- ATK%
and then reveals CRIT DMG at +4.
That Artifact has become considerably more promising for many damage-focused builds.
But imagine the same Artifact reveals a stat that does not contribute much to its likely user.
That does not automatically make the piece bad, but you should now ask whether its existing good substats are strong enough to justify further investment.
For uncertain Artifacts, +4 is often a relatively inexpensive way to find out whether they deserve another chance.
Should You Stop If the +4 Upgrade Is Bad?
Not necessarily.
One bad result at +4 is usually not enough to condemn an otherwise strong Artifact.
Consider:
- How useful the main stat is
- How difficult the piece is to replace
- How many useful substats it still has
- Whether you already own a better alternative
- Which character could realistically use it
A rare or difficult-to-replace Artifact may deserve more chances than an easily farmed Flower or Plume.
The important question is not simply whether one roll was bad.
It is whether enough potential remains for the Artifact to become useful.
What Should You Check at +8?
By +8, you usually have much more information about where the Artifact is heading.
If multiple upgrades have landed in useful substats, continuing is an easy decision.
If the Artifact has received one useful upgrade and one undesirable result, it may still have plenty of potential.
But if a mediocre starting piece has already received several upgrades that do not help its intended build, this is a good point to reconsider.
Ask yourself:
What would need to happen from +12 to +20 for this Artifact to become something I would actually use?
If the answer is essentially:
“Almost every remaining roll needs to be perfect,”
stopping may be the better choice.
When Should You Stop at +12?
For many uncertain Artifacts, +12 is an important checkpoint.
By this point, enough enhancement rolls have occurred that you can usually see whether the piece is developing in a useful direction.
For example, imagine you started with an Artifact because it had two desirable substats.
If most of the upgrades through +12 have gone into stats that do not benefit the intended character, the Artifact may now be competing against pieces you already own that are clearly better.
Continuing to +16 or +20 simply because you have already spent EXP on the Artifact can waste additional resources.
Do not let previous investment determine whether you continue.
Instead, evaluate the Artifact based on what it can still become from its current state.
Should You Ever Stop at +16?
Yes.
Reaching +16 does not mean you are obligated to finish the Artifact.
The jump from +16 to +20 requires additional Artifact EXP, and the final substat upgrade is still random.
If an Artifact is already clearly worse than your available alternatives at +16, ask whether one final upgrade could realistically change that.
If not, there may be little reason to continue.
On the other hand, if the Artifact is already usable and one more good roll could make it significantly better, taking it to +20 may be worthwhile.
When Should You Take an Artifact All the Way to +20?
Taking an Artifact to +20 makes the most sense when:
- It is already part of a character’s build
- It has a useful main stat and several relevant substats
- Earlier enhancement rolls went reasonably well
- The piece is difficult to replace
- You need the full main-stat value
- One remaining substat roll could still provide meaningful improvement
Artifacts do not need perfect substats to deserve +20.
A piece can be completely worthwhile even with some undesirable rolls if it helps the character meet important stat requirements or is substantially better than the alternatives available.
Do Not Stop Leveling Just Because an Artifact Missed CRIT
One common mistake is treating every non-CRIT upgrade as a failed roll.
CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG are extremely valuable for many characters, but other stats can matter too.
Depending on the character and team, useful upgrades may include:
- Energy Recharge
- Elemental Mastery
- ATK%
- HP%
- DEF%
For example, an Energy Recharge roll may be more useful than another offensive roll if it allows a character to use their Elemental Burst consistently.
Similarly, HP% or DEF% can be valuable on characters whose abilities scale with those stats.
Judge the roll based on the actual build, not simply whether the word CRIT appeared.
Rare Main Stats Deserve More Patience
Not every Artifact should be judged equally.
A Flower with mediocre substats is relatively easy to replace because every Flower has the same main stat.
A Goblet with the exact Elemental DMG Bonus you need may be much harder to replace.
The same idea can apply to certain Elemental Mastery pieces, CRIT Circlets, or other main-stat and set combinations that are difficult for your account to obtain.
Because replacement difficulty matters, a rare piece may deserve to reach +12 or +16 even after some disappointing rolls.
An easily replaceable piece can be judged much more aggressively.
Your Account Progress Changes When You Should Stop
The standard for a good Artifact changes as your account improves.
Early or Developing Accounts
If you do not already have strong Artifacts, an imperfect piece with the correct main stat can still be a major upgrade.
You can afford to be less selective.
A +20 Artifact with mediocre substats may still dramatically improve a character if the previous piece was weak.
Established Accounts
Once your characters already have strong builds, the situation changes.
A new Artifact may need several favorable rolls just to outperform what you already own.
That means experienced players can often stop leveling mediocre pieces earlier.
This is why copying another player’s Artifact standards does not always make sense.
A disappointing Artifact for a long-term player could be an excellent upgrade for a newer account.
Compare the Artifact With What You Already Have
One of the easiest ways to decide whether to continue is to stop evaluating the Artifact in isolation.
Compare it with the piece it would actually replace.
Suppose your new Artifact is +12.
Ask:
- Who would equip this?
- What Artifact would they remove?
- What stats would I gain?
- What stats would I lose?
- Could the remaining upgrades realistically make this piece better?
If you cannot identify a realistic character who would use the Artifact even after favorable remaining rolls, continuing to invest in it may not make sense.
Do You Need a Specific CRIT Value Before Continuing?
Not necessarily.
CRIT Value can be a useful shorthand for comparing CRIT-focused Artifacts, but it should not become the only rule you use.
An Artifact with lower CRIT Value may still be more useful because it provides:
- Needed Energy Recharge
- Elemental Mastery
- ATK%
- HP% or DEF% scaling
- A better main stat
- A required Artifact set bonus
Some builds do not prioritize CRIT heavily at all.
So instead of asking only:
“Is the CRIT Value high enough?”
ask:
“Does this Artifact improve the character’s overall build?”
That is the more useful question.
What Should You Do With an Artifact After You Stop Leveling It?
Stopping does not mean all the EXP you invested becomes completely useless.
An Artifact you no longer want can potentially be used as enhancement material for another Artifact.
This makes testing uncertain pieces less punishing than it might initially seem, although transferring a leveled Artifact into another one does not preserve all of the EXP originally invested.
Depending on the Artifact and its rarity, you may also have other uses for unwanted pieces.
The important thing is to avoid continuing from +12 to +20 only because you already spent resources getting to +12.
Past investment should not justify additional investment into a piece you no longer expect to use.
A Simple Artifact Leveling Decision Guide
When an Artifact reaches an enhancement checkpoint, ask:
At +4:
Did the Artifact reveal or improve enough useful stats to remain promising?
At +8:
Are enough useful upgrade paths still available?
At +12:
Is this realistically becoming an Artifact I would use?
At +16:
Can the final roll meaningfully improve the piece, and do I need the full main stat?
At +20:
Finish pieces that are useful enough to justify the remaining investment.
The worse the Artifact develops, the stronger the reason to stop.
The rarer and harder to replace the piece is, the more forgiving you can be.
Quick Answer: When Should You Stop Leveling an Artifact?
You should stop leveling an Artifact when its remaining possible upgrades are unlikely to make it useful compared with the Artifacts you already have.
There is no universal rule such as “one bad roll means stop.”
Instead, reassess the Artifact at +4, +8, +12, and +16.
Be more forgiving with rare main stats, difficult-to-replace pieces, and Artifacts that already improve your character. Be more selective with easily replaceable pieces or Artifacts that would require nearly perfect remaining rolls to become useful.
Most importantly, do not keep leveling an Artifact simply because you have already invested EXP into it.
The question is not how much you already spent. It is whether the next upgrade is still worth spending for.
