Mastering Fate War: The Ultimate Chieftain Artifacts & Runes Guide (2025)

Introduction: Might Is Not Power

Many players chase a high Might score, but real dominance in Fate War lives in your Chieftain Artifacts and Runes. A 30M Might account with optimized runes can outfight a sloppy 50M Might build. This guide shows how to upgrade smart, especially for F2P players.

1.0 Understanding Chieftain Artifacts

Artifacts are permanent Chieftain gear that grant huge passive bonuses. There are seven in total.

• Unlocking: The first four unlock early. The final three open at Town Hall 18.
• Rarity tiers: Common, Regular, Fine, Elite, Legendary, Supreme.
• Visual progression: Higher levels change the look and add glow effects.

Artifacts fall into three stat pillars:

• Growth: construction, research, gathering, training speed.
• Operation: stamina recovery, soldier limits, medicine stockpile.
• Combat: troop attack, defense, and HP.

Pro tip: In the early game, prioritize stamina recovery. More stamina means more hunts, which returns more materials and resources than any other stat.

2.0 How to Upgrade Artifacts (The Forge)

You need two primary materials: Exquisite Leather and Tempered Steel.

Where to farm them:

• Corrupt Fallen Giant: the most consistent source.
• Mystery Chests: often from daily quests and events.
• Arena Shop: a reliable F2P source via Legend Arena points.

When to upgrade:

• Save materials for Top Chieftain (Stage 5). Upgrading during this event doubles your value through points and rewards. Random upgrades waste long-term progress.

3.0 The Rune System: Your Power Multiplier

Artifacts provide the base, but runes multiply it. They are the real power spike.

The five-rune rule: to upgrade a rune to the next tier, combine five runes of the same level and type. Once you reach Gold or Red, double-check sub-stats before confirming.

Free rune sources:

• Ancestral Trial: your daily baseline income.
• Call of Arms: top placements can drop high-quality runes.
• Hell Wanderer: early-game Fine (blue) rune boxes for fusion.
• Black Knight Invasion: one of the best event chests for rune farming.

Rune fusion strategy:

• Use Auto-fusion in the Forge to combine lower runes into higher tiers.
• Always lock runes that match your troop type before auto-fusing.

Rune skills and rescribing:

• Gold and Red runes unlock random rune skills.
• Use rescribing stones to reroll bad skills on strong runes.
• Save stones for Red runes or near-perfect Gold runes. Do not spend them on low tiers.
• Stock up on stones during high-value events if you are F2P or a low spender.

4.0 The Single Troop Meta (Critical)

The biggest mistake is trying to be balanced. Mixed runes make every march weak.

• Pick one troop type (Berserkers, Cavalry, or Extrovers/Archers).
• Hyper-focus every rune slot on that troop.
• Match heroes to runes (for example, Extrover runes with Extrover-focused heroes like Kas or Linda).

A 20 percent attack bonus for one troop is far stronger than a 2 percent bonus for all soldiers.

5.0 Rune Stat Priorities (Slot + Build)

Not all stats are equal. Prioritize stats by slot and troop type before chasing raw power.

5.1 Main Hand Priority (Damage Slot)

• Attack of your troop type
• Defense of your troop type
• Attack of All Soldiers
• Defense of All Soldiers
• Damage of your troop type

5.2 Class Focus Notes

• Berserkers: life steal (vampirism) and critical damage keep them alive longer.
• Archers: counter-attack damage punishes swarms and dive comps.

5.3 Best-in-Slot Universal Stats

• Damage Dealt %: strongest final multiplier in the game.
• Damage Received Reduction %: keeps armies alive in PvP.
• Crit Rate / Crit Damage: excellent for burst builds, especially Extrovers.

6.0 War Economy: Lower the Hospital Bill

High Defense and HP rune stats reduce casualties in large wars like Tribe Clash. Fewer heavy wounds mean lower healing costs and longer field time.

City hopping: defensive rune sets make hit-and-run tactics safer. Teleport close, strike, and pull back into the city when targeted to avoid heavy wounds.

7.0 Summary Checklist

Action	Benefit
Rush Town Hall 18	Unlocks the most powerful artifacts.
Focus on stamina recovery	Faster farming and more materials.
Save for Top Chieftain	Maximum reward efficiency per upgrade.
Use the five-rune rule + lock good rolls	Safer upgrades without losing strong sub-stats.
Specialize in one troop	Avoids diluted stats and weak marches.
Rescribe only top-tier runes	Saves stones for real power spikes.
Prioritize percent damage	Outscales raw attack bonuses.