Posts from Value of artifacts.

Why are the sandals a relic? Because there are no other decent items for footwear in combat. Boots are for nighttime, and sandals are for combat. That's probably why they're a relic. There are many swords and helmets, so the competition is high.

And the boots are such a nice, pretty red, aren't they? ;)

And those little red boots, aren't they pretty? ;)

Simply beautiful! Sometimes they can be useful, especially when there's a war with lots of explosions, and resistance can be the deciding factor. But in most cases, stats are more important.

But in most cases, stats are still more important.

And in 100% of cases, 24 and 20 are much higher than 8 :D

Resistive boots, if the skill is leveled up, are a very useful item and can decide the outcome of a battle (reducing the damage of Implosion or Berserk is very pleasant).

And in 100% of cases, 24 and 20 are much more than 8 :D

:D even when you already have these +20 or +24 on the character? ;)
It often happens that you already have several swords, but nothing on your feet.
It's just more logical to divide artifacts by class, not in a pile, but for each slot separately.
Sandals +2 are the best footwear (as intended by the developers), although in terms of usefulness, boots of speed and maybe +15% resistance are not far behind.
P.S. Although, of course, it's unpleasant if one person gets a Helmet +6 all, and another gets shoes +2 all - the difference is nominally 3 times... although why should it be unpleasant - it's a game, a con on 1 or on 4 = the difference is nominally 4 times, Phoenix guards or earth dwellings, etc.
The only thing that has always bothered me is that, in my opinion, these artifacts were not distributed correctly among the slots.
I would do it like this:
+6 Sword
+5 Shield
+4 Armor
+3 Hat
+2 Necklace
+1 Shoes
guided by the competition in the slot.