When you dive into The Forge, one thing quickly becomes clear: upgrading your gear is key to surviving and thriving. But it’s not just about better weapons or armor. Runes are the secret sauce that can seriously level up your gameplay. They’re rare, powerful, and knowing what each one does can make all the difference.

Here’s a quick answer to what you need to know about runes:

Runes are special items you get by defeating enemies.
You can socket them into weapons, armor, and pickaxes to gain buffs.
Each rune has unique effects, like freezing enemies or healing you.
You need to upgrade your gear to at least +3 to unlock rune slots (community consensus).
Secondary passives add extra bonuses but are rare, randomly rolled, and stack with main effects.

What Are Runes and Why Should You Care?

Runes in The Forge are like magical artifacts that attach to your gear. They give you all sorts of bonuses, from boosting your damage to slowing down enemies. They’re not easy to find, so when you get one, it’s worth paying attention to what it does. Using the right rune on the right piece of equipment can make your fights easier and your mining faster.

The Full List of Runes and What They Do

Runes currently in The Forge consist of the established core set (Miner Shard, Frost Speck, Flame Spark, Venom Crumb, Chill Dust, Blast Chip, Drain Edge, Briar Notch, Rage Mark, Ward Patch, Rot Stitch) and community reports note an additional poison-type rune added in late 2025; its name and exact mechanics vary across sources, so expect updates as the developer clarifies it.

Rune Name	Main Ability	Notes
Miner Shard	Boosts luck, chance for extra ore, mining speed, or pickaxe damage	Only for pickaxes
Frost Speck	Freezes enemies briefly	Chance to trigger, short cooldown. Obtainable from zombies
Flame Spark	Deals fire damage over time	Burns enemies for a few seconds
Venom Crumb	Poisons enemies, dealing damage over time	Chance to apply poison. Obtainable from zombies
Chill Dust	Slows enemy movement and attack speed	Great for crowd control. Obtainable from Ice Crystal enemies
Blast Chip	Causes explosions dealing area damage	Scales with weapon damage. Drops commonly from Bombers
Drain Edge	Restores a percentage of physical damage dealt as health and often increases physical damage	Community reports show lifesteal in the low- to mid‑teens; values vary by rune roll and game version
Briar Notch	Reflects a portion of physical damage taken	Scales with max HP. Drops commonly from Deathaxe Skeletons and Elite Deathaxe Skeletons
Rage Mark	Activates Berserk mode below ~35% HP, boosting physical damage and attack speed	Has cooldown. Drops commonly from Elite Rogue Skeletons
Ward Patch	Provides a defensive effect that reduces incoming physical damage in some procs and commonly includes dash bonuses	Exact proc chance and reduction values vary; drops commonly from tutorial, common, elite, and brute zombies
Rot Stitch	Activates toxic/poison damage around the player when below a health threshold (commonly ~35%), dealing damage over time	Reported damage and duration vary by source; drops commonly from Elite and Brute Zombies
Toxic Seed	Applies poison damage over time	New rune added in 2025; name and source vary across community reports

What About Those Secondary Passives?

Sometimes, when you attach a rune, it comes with a bonus secondary passive. These are rare, randomly rolled, and can really boost your stats. They also stack with your rune’s main effect. Here’s what you might get:

Weapon Secondary Passives

Attack Speed: Hit faster, increasing your attack speed by 5-18%.
Lethality: More physical damage, increasing weapon damage by 5-15%.
Critical Chance: Higher chance to land critical hits, increasing crit chance by 6-15%.
Critical Damage: Stronger critical hits, increasing crit damage by 5-15%.
Fracture: Extra stun damage to enemies, increasing stun damage by 5-20%.

Armor Secondary Passives

Endurance: More stamina, increasing stamina by 4-10%.
Surge: Shorter dash cooldown, reducing dash cooldown by 3-11%.
Vitality: More max health, increasing max HP by 5-10%.
Phase: Longer invincibility during dash, increasing dash invincibility duration by 4-11%.
Stride: Increases dash distance by 4-15% (found on some armor runes).
Swiftness: Increases movement speed by 4-15% (also on armor runes).

These passives stack with your rune’s main effect, making your gear even better.

Rune Tier Rankings

To help you decide which runes to prioritize, here’s a summary of their tier rankings based on effectiveness and situational use:

S Tier: Drain Edge (excellent for healing and damage on weapons), Rot Stitch (top-tier armor rune for survivability and poison damage), Miner Shard variants (best for mining efficiency).
A Tier: Blast Chip (great area damage, especially with high weapon damage), Briar Notch (useful thorn damage reflecting physical hits), Rage Mark (strong berserk mode for clutch situations).
B Tier: Ward Patch (good defensive rune with damage reduction and dash boost), Flame Spark (fire damage over time for extra DPS).
C Tier: Frost Speck, Chill Dust (useful crowd control), Venom Crumb (obtainable and useful poison damage over time), Toxic Seed (new poison rune with situational use).

Keep in mind that sub stats can significantly affect a rune’s value; for example, a rune with a high Attack Speed or Vitality secondary passive may outperform a higher-tier rune without good sub stats.

How to Get and Use Runes

Runes primarily drop as rare loot from higher-level enemies : common sources reported by community resources include Reapers for Drain Edge, Bombers for Blast Chip, Deathaxe Skeletons for Briar Notch, and Delver Zombies/Bombers for Miner Shard : but many runes can be found from multiple enemy types and drop rates are community‑compiled rather than officially published. Runes are primarily obtained from enemy drops rather than quests, though future updates or events may introduce other sources. Recommended farming locations include the Volcanic Depths, where elite enemies drop high-quality runes, and Zombie Brutes for Miner Shard runes.

To use runes:

Upgrade your gear to at least +3 to unlock rune slots (community consensus).
Visit the Runemaker NPC in major towns.
Attach runes to your weapons, armor, or pickaxes.
You can also remove runes here, but it costs coins.

Keep in mind, attaching runes to pickaxes is expensive, and detaching runes from pickaxes costs significantly more coins than from weapons or armor. It’s often better to farm for better runes than to pay for detaching.

Rune Effects on Specific Weapons or Builds

Certain runes synergize better with specific weapons or character builds:

Frost Speck: Best paired with fast weapons to maximize crowd control via freezing.
Drain Edge: Ideal for Shadow race or slow, heavy-hitting builds that benefit from life steal and increased physical damage.
Blast Chip: Works well with high-damage weapons to maximize area damage.
Miner Shard: Essential for pickaxe users focused on mining efficiency.

Choosing runes that complement your playstyle and weapon type can greatly improve your effectiveness in combat and resource gathering.

Which Runes Should You Focus On?

Some runes stand out depending on your playstyle:

For mining: Miner Shard runes that boost luck, yield, or mining speed.
For weapons: Drain Edge is great for healing and damage, Blast Chip for extra area damage.
For armor: Look for runes with Vitality or Rot Stitch for survivability.

Also, pay attention to the secondary passives. A rune with a +15% attack speed bonus can be more valuable than one with a weaker main effect.

A Few Tips to Keep in Mind

Don’t waste money attaching weak runes to your pickaxe.
Save runes with great secondary stats for your best gear.
Farming in the Volcanic Depths is one of the best ways to get high-quality runes.
Some runes like Frost Speck and Chill Dust are more about crowd control than damage.

Wrapping It Up

Runes are a huge part of what makes The Forge exciting and rewarding. They add layers of strategy to how you build your character and gear. Knowing what each rune does and how to use them can save you a lot of time and coins. Take your time farming the right runes, upgrade your gear, and slot them wisely. You’ll notice your progress speeding up and your battles getting a lot smoother.