The Forge Guide: Best Weapon Recipes & Build

Finding the best weapon in The Forge can feel frustrating if you rely on trial and error. The crafting system looks random at first, but with enough testing, certain weapon recipes consistently outperform others. The difference between a weak roll and a game-changing weapon often comes down to ore selection and how those ores interact with each other.

This guide focuses only on the best weapons you can realistically craft, explaining which recipes work, why they work, and when they are worth the investment. So check this out!

What Defines the Best Weapon in The Forge

The strongest weapons are not always the ones with the highest damage number. A good weapon balances three things: base damage, damage effects, and crafting cost.

Weapons that rely only on raw damage tend to fall off quickly. The best builds stack effects like explosions and burn damage on top of solid base stats. These effects scale well and help clear groups of enemies faster.

Ore availability also matters. A weapon that costs rare ores but cannot be recreated consistently is rarely worth chasing. The best weapons use ores that can be farmed steadily while still delivering top-tier performance.

Best Overall Weapon: Explosive Straight Sword

The Explosive Straight Sword is the most reliable and efficient weapon in the game. It combines strong base damage with area-of-effect explosions that trigger often enough to matter in real combat.

Crafting Recipe:

• 4x Darkryte

• 2x Magmaite

Stats:

• Base Damage: around 114

• Explosion damage equal to 50 percent of weapon damage

• Explosion proc chance around 35 percent

This recipe uses only six ores, all of which are obtainable in mid to late game areas. The result is a Straight Sword that performs well against single targets and excels against groups. When upgraded with offensive runes, it remains viable well into endgame content.

Divine-Tier Weapons

Divine-tier weapons are the strongest weapons possible, but they require heavy investment. These recipes are only recommended if you already have stable farming routes and excess rare ores.

Moderate Divine Weapon

A moderate Divine weapon combines Galaxite with Darkryte, Fireite, and Magmaite. This setup produces a weapon with high base damage, burn damage, and explosion effects, making it suitable for endgame zones without fully exhausting your resources.

Crafting Recipe:

• 10x Galaxite

• 5x Darkryte

• 5x Fireite

• 5x Magmaite

Maximum Divine Weapon

At the highest level, a maximum Divine recipe uses equal amounts of Galaxite, Darkryte, Fireite, and Magmaite. Weapons crafted this way can exceed three hundred base damage before upgrades and trigger damage effects frequently. These weapons are ideal for boss fights and high-level farming but should only be crafted when you are confident in your material supply.

Crafting Recipe:

• 10x Galaxite

• 10x Darkryte

• 10x Fireite

• 10x Magmaite

Best Katana Weapons

Katanas offer faster attack speeds than Straight Swords, making them ideal for players who prefer mobility. These recipes balance damage output with the weapon class's natural speed advantage.

Magmaite Katana (Balanced Build)

A balanced Katana build that combines Magmaite, Fireite, Darkryte, and Eye Ore performs exceptionally well. The Eye Ore reduces maximum health slightly, but the weapon damage boost applies to both base damage and explosion effects, making the trade-off worthwhile for skilled players.

Crafting Recipe:

• 5x Magmaite
• 3x Eye Ore
• 3x Fireite
• 2x Darkryte

The Eye Ore inclusion is clutch here. Yes, you lose some health, but the weapon damage boost applies to your base damage AND the explosion effect. You're trading survivability for significantly higher DPS, which matters when you're dodging attacks anyway.

Pure Damage Katana

There is also a pure damage Katana build that focuses mainly on Darkryte and Eye Ore, with Demonite added for extra pressure. This version sacrifices explosion effects in favor of higher base damage and works best with attack speed or critical-focused upgrades.

Crafting Recipe:

• 7x Darkryte
• 2x Demonite
• 2x Eye Ore

This version sacrifices special effects for raw hitting power. If you're running a crit-focused build with runes, the higher base damage amplifies your critical strikes beautifully. Pair this with attack speed runes and you'll shred single targets faster than explosion builds.

Mid-Game Weapons

Not everyone has access to Magma Pickaxes or Arcane Pickaxes for late-game ore farming. These recipes use materials you can gather with mid-tier pickaxes while still providing solid performance. 

The Gauntlets recipe deserves special attention. Fast attack speed, triple damage effects (explosion, burn, crit), and only requires nine ores total. It's the perfect bridge weapon between early-game struggles and late-game dominance.

Understanding Every Ore Traits

Each ore brings specific benefits that stack when combined correctly. Here's what you need to know:

• Magmaite provides the explosion effect (50% weapon damage as AOE with 35% proc chance at max). This is your bread-and-butter for clearing grouped enemies and boosting overall DPS.
• Darkryte increases base damage significantly. Stack this for weapons where you want raw hitting power without relying on effect procs.
• Fireite adds burn damage over time (20% weapon damage over 2 seconds at max, 30% proc chance). Excellent against bosses and tanky enemies where sustained damage matters.
• Eye Ore trades health for weapon damage (up to 10-15% damage boost for roughly 5-7% health reduction). Always worth it if you can dodge attacks consistently.
• Demonite provides similar burn effects to Fireite but with slightly different proc rates. Use it when Fireite is scarce or you want to diversify your damage sources.

Now get to that forge and start crafting. These recipes work, the math checks out, and the only thing standing between you and a devastating weapon is the time it takes to gather materials. Happy smithing.

For more The Forge guides, check out our beginner’s guide and see which classes rank highest in our race tier list.