The Forge Wiki

The Forge Runes Guide

Runes let you fine-tune weapons, armor, and mining gear in The Forge. This guide explains how rune slots unlock, where runes drop, and which effects and traits they can roll.

Overview

Runes are collectible items that socket into Rune Slots on your equipment. The first slot usually opens after you enhance a piece of gear to +3, although some mining tools can arrive with slots already unlocked.

Once slotted, runes can boost mining yield, add combat effects, or strengthen defense. Some runes also change visuals, such as giving a weapon a fiery glow.

Flame rune visual example - the forge wiki — Flame Spark is an example of a rune that adds a fiery look to weapons.

Sell spare runes

Extra runes can be sold for coins by visiting the Greedy Cey NPC.

Acquiring Runes

Most runes drop from enemies. Use the in-game Index and check the Enemies tab to see which foes can drop runes and their odds.

Enemy rune drop odds screen - the forge wiki — Enemy Index entries show rune drop chances for each target.

Attaching Runes

To attach a rune, first enhance the equipment to +3 so the first Rune Slot unlocks. Then visit the Runemaker NPC in Stonewake's Cross or the Forgotten Kingdom and pay a coin fee to bind the rune to your gear.

Runemaker location in Stonewake's Cross - the forge wiki — The Runemaker operates in Stonewake's Cross and the Forgotten Kingdom.

If you want to compare how runes interact with gear stats, check the weapons, armor, and ores guides before committing materials.

Runes

Runes are used to enhance and empower both weapons and pickaxes. As shown in the table below, each rune grants one or more stat bonuses. You can obtain runes by defeating higher-level enemies in The Forge. As a rune's level increases, it unlocks more effects and raises the chance of gaining additional secondary passives.

Rune Effects

Rune	Effects
Blast Chip	• Explosion: On hit, trigger a small AOE blast for 20%-40% weapon damage with an 8%-20% chance.
Venom Crumb	• Poison: Deals 4%-7% weapon damage per second for 3-6 seconds with a 25%-35% chance on hit.
Miner Shard	• Yield: 3%-10% chance to drop 1 extra ore when mining. • Luck: +5%-16% increased luck. • Mine Power: +8%-15% mining damage. • Swift Mining: +4%-12% faster mining.
Flame Spark	• Burn I: Deals 5%-10% weapon damage as fire for 1-2 seconds with a 15%-25% chance on hit.
Drain Edge	• Life Steal I: Heal for 5%-13% of physical damage dealt on hit.
Briar Notch	• Thorns I: Reflect 2%-10% damage, capped at 5% of player max health, with a 0.05s cooldown.
Ward Patch	• Shield I: 5%-15% chance to reduce incoming physical damage by 6%-14%.
Rage Mark	• Berserk: Triggers below 35% health, boosting physical damage and move speed by 12%-26% for 4-7 seconds.

Traits

Secondary passives act as extra bonuses layered on top of your runes in The Forge. When a rune is slotted into a piece of gear, there's a small chance it will roll an additional trait alongside its main effect. These rare secondary effects further boost the stats of your weapons and armor.

Rune Traits

Trait	Effect
[Endurance]	• Increase stamina by 4%-10%.
[Stride]	• Increase dash distance by 4%-15%.
[Swiftness]	• Increase movement speed by 4%-10%.
[Vitality]	• Increase max health by 5%-10%.
[Critical Chance]	• Increase critical strike chance by 6%-15%.
[Phase]	• Increase dash iFrame duration by 4%-11%.
[Critical Damage]	• Increase critical damage by 5%-15%.
[Fracture]	• Increase stun chance by 5%-20%.
[Lethality]	• Increase physical damage by 5%-15%.
[Attack Speed]	• Increase attack speed by 5%-18%.
[Surge]	• Reduce dash global cooldown by 3%-11%.