Upgrading your equipment is very important in The Forge, and Runes play a major role in it. Runes are like artifacts, which can be very hard to find, but are worth all the buffs and effects that they provide. Using them on your equipment will make your gameplay a lot easier, and you’ll see a significant boost in your progress. But it’s crucial to know which runes are best suited for you. In this guide, we compiled the full The Forge rune list, including their abilities and all secondary traits you can get.
List of All The Forge Runes
Runes are only found through enemies, so there is no use of pickaxes in The Forge in this matter. That said, there are a total of 11 Runes in The Forge, and here’s a list of them:
| Rune | Ability |
|---|---|
 Miner Shard | Luck: Provides more Luck. Yield: Chance to gain extra ore when mining. Mine Speed: Boosts mining speed based on rune type. Mine Power: Boosts pickaxe damage based on rune type. |
 Frost Speck | Ice: Freezes enemies for a short duration. Has a small chance to trigger and a short cooldown. |
 Flame Spark | Burn: Deals Fire DMG based on a percentage of your pickaxe or weapon’s DMG for a few seconds. Deals Fire DMG over time for a few seconds. |
 Venom Crumb | Poison: Deals Poison DMG based on a percentage of your pickaxe or weapon’s DMG Poison deals DMG over time for a few seconds |
 Chill Dust | Snow: Slows enemy movement & attack speed. |
 Blast Chip | Explosion: Creates an explosion dealing a certain percentage of weapon damage in AOE. |
 Drain Edge | Heal: Restore HP based on 12% of Physical DMG dealt Lethality I: Physical DMG increases by 15%. |
 Briar Notch | Thorns: Reflects a certain percentage of physical damage taken, depending on your Max HP. |
 Rage Mark | Berserk: When HP is below 35%, Berserk mode activates, increasing Physical DMG and Attack Speed. |
 Ward Patch | Shield: Reduces incoming damage by 13% with a 14% chance when hit. Stride I: Dash distance increases by 11% |
 Rot Stitch | Toxic Veins: Deals 9% poison damage for 8 seconds in an area while under 35% HP. Stride I: Dash distance increases by 11% |
Runes can be used to enchant or upgrade weapons and pickaxes. Each rune will provide one or multiple buffs, as we mentioned in the table. You can get runes by defeating higher-level enemies in The Forge. Rune level also improves how many abilities it contains and how many secondary traits you get with it.
Once you have a Rune, you can head to the Runemaker to attach it to the rune slots of your weapons and pickaxes. Similarly, you can even detach them from your equipment. While a pickaxe has a rune slot unlocked by default, you need to enhance a weapon to level 3 to unlock a rune slot.
List of All Secondary Traits in The Forge
Secondary traits are like an additional buff to your runes in The Forge. When you attach a rune to an equipment, there is a very rare chance for a secondary trait to appear with the ability of the rune. These secondary traits increase the overall stats of your weapons and armors. That said, here’s a list of all The Forge secondary traits:
| Secondary Trait | Category | Ability |
|---|---|---|
| Attack Speed | Weapon | Increases attack speed by a certain percentage. |
| Lethality | Weapon | Increases the weapon’s damage by a certain percentage. |
| Critical Chance | Weapon | Increases the weapon’s damage by a certain percentage. |
| Critical Damage | Weapon | Increases the damage of critical hits by a certain percentage. |
| Fracture | Weapon | Gives extra stun damage a certain percentage. |
| Endurance | Armor | Grants a certain percentage of more stamina. |
| Surge | Armor | Gives extra stun damage to a certain percentage. |
| Vitality | Armor | Grants a certain percentage of extra health. |
| Phase | Armor | Increases dash invincibility duration by a certain percentage. |
That’s everything you need to know about Runes in The Forge. What are the best runes you’ve got? Let us know in the comments.
Runes can only be obtained as a rare enemy drop in The Forge. You can check the chances of getting a rune from enemies in the Index.
Getting a secondary trait in The Forge is based on luck, and there is no guaranteed way.
Rishabh Sabarwal
