Few questions... *Possible spoiler*

[lauvhk]

You need to ask yourself two questions about Artifacts/Items:

1. Do you prefer blasting the enemy with your spells or kill them with your units?
2. More importantly, what kind of items, found or available in vendors, have you encountered so far? It is difficult to tell which artifacts you should use if it doesn't even appear in your game as most stuffs are generated randomly.

For power blasting mage, you want to achieve ultra high Intellect. Otherwise, you want to shoot for a more balance take on Attack/Intellect. Look for those items that give these benefits accordingly.

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As for Feanora, as long as you ignore her on having baby, she will turn into frog after 10 or so battles.