Saros Artefacts: How To Remove, Manage, And Maximize Them

Saros mixes tight sci‑fi shooting with roguelike progression, and artefacts sit at the center of that design. They can transform a weak build into a boss-shredding monster, but the wrong pick can quietly sabotage your entire run. Understanding how to drop, delete, and manage artefacts is therefore just as important as learning enemy patterns or mastering your dash.

This guide explains how artefacts work, how to get rid of bad ones using Acolyte’s Wager, how to expand your artefact inventory, and how to make smarter decisions about which upgrades to keep or destroy. It’s written to be spoiler-light while still giving you enough detail to improve your runs immediately.

Understanding Artefacts In Saros

Artefacts are run-specific upgrades that modify your character, weapons, or the rules of a run. Unlike permanent metaprogression upgrades you earn between runs, artefacts disappear when your current cycle ends. That makes every choice around them highly tactical.

What Artefacts Actually Do

Artefacts generally fall into three broad categories:

• Stat boosters: direct increases to values like Integrity, Resilience, Command, or Drive.
• Passive effects: conditional bonuses such as extra shields after opening containers or additional power generation on certain actions.
• Corrupted artefacts: hybrid upgrades that give strong bonuses at the cost of a serious drawback.

This design follows a classic roguelike pattern: temporary, stackable upgrades that dramatically change how a run plays out, rewarding experimentation and risk–reward decision-making.¹

Where Artefacts Come From

During a run you’ll see artefacts:

• As rewards from chests and containers.
• From certain combat encounters or mini‑bosses.
• As part of reward choice screens alongside weapons or attributes.

Because artefacts are layered on top of your permanent upgrades and weapon choices, even near-identical routes can play very differently depending on which artefacts you pick or delete.

Artefact Inventory Basics

Saros limits how many artefacts you can hold at once. Managing those slots is a core part of run planning.

Starting Capacity And Upgrades

At the beginning of the game you start with a small number of artefact slots (typically around ten). As you progress, you can unlock additional slots through the game’s progression systems — particularly the Armor Matrix / upgrade trees accessed between runs.

*Exact numbers can vary slightly depending on balance updates and the order you unlock upgrades.

Where To View Your Artefacts

To see the artefacts you’ve collected during a run:

1. Pause the game.
2. Open your Inventory or Character screen.
3. Look for a dedicated artefact list, usually positioned above permanent or meta-upgrade information.

This view is where you’ll manage artefacts, read their full descriptions, and eventually remove them using Acolyte’s Wager.

Acolyte’s Wager: The Key To Dropping Artefacts

Early on, you might assume that artefacts are permanent for the duration of a run. That’s true until you unlock Acolyte’s Wager, a consumable that lets you reroll rewards and delete artefacts.

What Is Acolyte’s Wager?

Acolyte’s Wager is a single-use item used to reroll certain rewards and gear choices during a run. Mechanically, it functions much like reroll currencies in other roguelike shooters, letting you spend a resource to change the pool of options you’re offered.²

In Saros, however, it has an extra function: it enables you to remove an artefact from your inventory. That effectively lets you undo a bad pick or strip away a corruption penalty that no longer fits your build.

How To Obtain Acolyte’s Wagers

You can find Acolyte’s Wagers in several ways during a run:

• Random drops from enemies or containers.
• Rewards from specific events or challenge rooms.
• Purchased or unlocked via progression trees that increase how often you see reroll items.

Progression trees (like an Armor Matrix or equivalent) often include nodes that add Acolyte’s Wagers to the drop pool or give you guaranteed rerolls at the start of a run. Prioritizing these upgrades early can make later runs more flexible and forgiving.³

Limitations And Best Practices

Key constraints to remember:

• Single-use: each Wager is consumed once and then disappears.
• Run-bound: any unused Wagers are lost at the end of your current cycle.
• Shared purpose: the same resource is used to reroll weapons, power weapons, or artefacts.

Because they’re limited, it’s usually better to treat Wagers as a strategic resource, not something to spend frivolously every time you see a mediocre reward.

Step-By-Step: How To Delete An Artefact

Once you’ve obtained an Acolyte’s Wager, you can use it to remove an artefact from your inventory. While button labels differ slightly by platform, the process follows a consistent pattern.

Removing An Artefact

1. Make sure you have at least one Acolyte’s Wager.
   Check your inventory for the icon or count that represents Wagers/rerolls.
2. Open your inventory screen.
   Pause the game and navigate to the artefact list.
3. Highlight the artefact you want to remove.
   Use the D‑pad or stick to move the cursor over the problematic artefact.
4. Look for the removal prompt.
   If you have a Wager, a small UI hint (usually near the bottom or corner of the screen) will show a button you can hold to delete the artefact. On PlayStation, this is often the Square button.
5. Hold the button to confirm.
   After a short hold, the artefact will be permanently destroyed for that run, and one Acolyte’s Wager will be consumed.

Important Consequences

• No recovery: once you remove an artefact, it’s gone for the rest of the run. You can’t pick it back up later.
• Slot freed: deleting it opens a slot for a new artefact, which is crucial when your inventory is capped.
• Strategic cost: you permanently trade one reroll opportunity for a cleaner, safer build.

When You Should (And Shouldn’t) Drop Artefacts

Because Acolyte’s Wager is a limited resource, you shouldn’t delete artefacts casually. Instead, reserve it for situations where the downsides measurably threaten your run or block major synergy.

Good Reasons To Remove An Artefact

Consider spending a Wager to drop an artefact when:

• It cripples your mobility.
  Any modifier that reduces dash charges, dash distance, or air control can be run-killing. In fast-paced shooters, mobility is directly tied to survival, as highlighted in multiple action game design analyses.⁴
• It directly conflicts with your weapon choice.
  For example, penalties that reduce damage for your primary scaling attribute, or that punish close-range play when you rely on shotguns or melee.
• The downside outscales the benefit in later biomes.
  Some early bonuses are great in the first area but become liabilities when enemies scale up.
• You need to clear space for a powerful synergy.
  Late in the run, a high-impact artefact that synergizes with your weapons or attributes can be worth sacrificing a mediocre one plus a Wager.

When To Keep A Flawed Artefact

Not every drawback deserves a reroll. You can often live with downsides like:

• Minor stat reductions that don’t affect your primary damage scaling.
• Situational penalties that only matter in rare circumstances (for example, slightly less loot from a type of chest you rarely open).
• Drawbacks countered by other artefacts or your permanent upgrades.

In many cases, accepting a small negative early can pay off if it lets you save Acolyte’s Wagers for endgame boss fights, where a single reroll or artefact deletion can decide whether you clear a run.

Expanding Artefact Slots And Long-Term Progression

The more artefacts you can hold, the more flexible and explosive your builds become. Increasing your capacity should be a long-term goal alongside standard damage and health upgrades.

Why More Slots Matter

Additional artefact slots give you:

• More room for synergies: passive effects often stack, and having more of them can multiply your power.
• Greater tolerance for corruption: you can take a few risky artefacts while still reserving slots for safe, defensive options.
• Better adaptation: extra slots let you pivot your build mid-run as new weapons or environmental challenges appear.

This mirrors design in other progression-heavy games where capacity upgrades (for example, inventory or perk slots) significantly enhance player agency over time.⁵

How To Unlock Extra Slots

While specifics vary by patch and build, the general process looks like this:

1. Spend your meta-currency (such as Lunecite or equivalent) in hub-based upgrade stations.
2. Navigate to the tree or panel associated with armor or artefact management.
3. Purchase nodes that explicitly mention increasing artefact capacity.
4. Prioritize early‑tier capacity nodes before more niche bonuses to feel an immediate difference.

Build Strategy: Choosing Artefacts Wisely

Dropping artefacts is only half the story; you also need to avoid picking bad ones in the first place. Here are practical guidelines for making safer choices during reward selection.

Prioritize Survivability Early

In the early biomes of a roguelike shooter, raw survivability usually outperforms complex damage synergies. A single extra hit of health often extends your run enough to find better weapons and artefacts later, an observation supported by multiple run-based game analyses.¹

Early priorities:

• Artefacts that increase Integrity or effective health.
• Defensive passives such as shields after containers or brief invulnerability after certain actions.
• Mobility-neutral or mobility-positive bonuses.

Look For Passive Effects Over Tiny Stat Bumps

If you have a choice between:

• a small flat stat increase, and
• a moderate stat increase plus a strong passive effect,

the passive usually wins. Things like extra shield recharge, bonus damage after dashes, or power regeneration on parries can influence every combat encounter, not just your raw numbers.

Know Your Build’s Scaling

Saros uses attribute-based scaling similar to many modern action RPGs. Before you lock in artefacts, check which attribute(s) your main weapon and power weapon scale with. Then:

• Favor artefacts that boost your main scaling attribute.
• Avoid artefacts that penalize that attribute unless the passive is game-changing.
• Reconsider new weapons that scale with neglected attributes unless you’re willing to rebuild your artefact plan around them.

Practical Tips To Get More Value From Artefacts

Beyond the basic mechanics of dropping and selecting artefacts, a few habits can dramatically improve your outcomes from run to run.

Save Wagers For Major Turning Points

Rather than using Wagers as soon as you get them, consider saving them for:

• Late-game bosses where a single bad artefact or weak weapon can ruin an otherwise strong run.
• Key build moments when you’re offered a rare artefact that synergizes with your current gear but has a dangerous penalty you’d like to remove from something else.
• Weapon rerolls when your current arsenal is dramatically underperforming.

Use Side Paths To Farm Safer Artefacts

Optional paths tend to reward exploration with additional loot, including artefacts and reroll resources. Taking side routes before the main objective lets you:

• Stack defensive or utility artefacts early.
• Find Wagers that will later pay for deleting risky artefacts.
• Test your current build against varied enemy groups before committing to big corruption penalties.

Maintain A Mental “Red List” Of Dangerous Downsides

Over time, you’ll learn which artefact drawbacks repeatedly lead to deaths. For many players, that list includes anything that:

• Reduces dash charges or distance.
• Heavily impacts Integrity or shield recharge.
• Interferes with core utility like map visibility or critical pickups.

Whenever you see these drawbacks, ask yourself whether you have the Wagers and extra slot capacity to manage them. If not, skip the artefact or plan to delete it as soon as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I drop artefacts in Saros without using Acolyte’s Wager?

In normal circumstances, you need an Acolyte’s Wager (or its equivalent reroll resource) to delete artefacts during a run. Without it, artefacts are effectively locked in until the cycle ends. You can, however, prevent future problems by simply refusing to pick up risky artefacts when you’re already near capacity.

Does deleting an artefact refund anything?

No. Deleting an artefact only frees up a slot and removes its effects (both positive and negative). You don’t get currency, health, or permanent upgrades back. That’s why you should view Acolyte’s Wager usage as a trade: you’re paying to remove a liability, not to gain an extra reward.

Should I always expand my artefact slots before other upgrades?

Not always, but early capacity upgrades are usually high value. A balanced approach works best: secure a baseline of survivability (health and core damage scaling), then invest in capacity and reroll-related nodes so you can shape your runs more decisively later.

Are corrupted artefacts worth the risk?

Often yes, especially if you understand your build’s strengths and weaknesses. Corrupted artefacts can provide some of the strongest bonuses in the game. The key is to:

• Ensure the downside doesn’t hit mobility or your main damage stat.
• Have, or plan to obtain, Acolyte’s Wagers to delete them if they become unmanageable.
• Stack other artefacts that offset the damage of the negative effect.

What happens to artefacts and Acolyte’s Wagers when I die?

Both artefacts and Wagers are run-specific resources. When you die or finish a cycle and return to the hub, they are lost. Only permanent upgrades purchased in your progression systems carry over into future runs.