If you’ve already found the legendary weapon you’ve been hunting for, you’re only halfway to creating an unstoppable build. In The Forge, your weapon provides the raw damage, but Runes provide the flashy effects, survivability, and utility needed to breeze through the toughest dungeons and maximize your mining efficiency. Runes are special enchantments dropped by enemies that can be socketed into your gear (once upgraded to +3 or higher) to unlock powerful bonuses like life-steal, explosive damage, or increased resource gathering. Therefore, choosing the right combination can be the difference between a successful deep-mine run and a quick trip back to the surface! We’ve compiled the ultimate tier list, ranking every major rune in The Forge on Roblox, based on their sheer combat potential, utility, and overall impact on your progression.
The Forge Runes Tier List
Our tier list ranks Runes from S-Tier to C-Tier, prioritizing effects that universally boost DPS, improve your survivability, or boost your resource farming speed.
| Tier | Runes |
|---|---|
| S-Tier | Drain Edge, Miner Shard, Blast Chip |
| A-Tier | Flame Spark, Rage Mark, Ward Patch |
| B-Tier | Briar Notch, Chill Dust, Venom Crumb |
| C-Tier | Frost Speck, Rot Stitch |
S-Tier Runes
These runes represent the absolute pinnacle of power and utility in The Forge. If you manage to obtain one of these, socket it immediately – your gameplay experience will fundamentally change for the better.
Drain Edge
- Restores 12% of physical damage dealt as health
- +15% Physical Damage
The king of combat runes, Drain Edge dominates the meta by combining offensive and defensive power into a single, irresistible package.
The 15% physical damage boost is fantastic, but the 12% lifesteal is the game-changer. It allows for constant, aggressive healing during combat, turning sustained encounters into a non-issue and dramatically boosting your survivability without sacrificing damage. It excels on high attack speed weapons like the Chaos Straight Sword.
Miner Shard
- Increases Luck
- 5% chance for extra ore
- Faster mining speed
- Higher pickaxe damage
While useless in a fight, Miner Shard is an S-Tier rune because mining is the core resource loop of the entire game. No rune impacts progression speed more than this.
This is the best possible rune for your pickaxe! By boosting luck, speed, and yield, it rapidly accelerates your ability to gather the high-multiplier ores needed for forging top-tier gear. Every player should prioritize finding and levelling this rune for their primary pickaxe.
Blast Chip
- Creates an explosion that deals AoE damage based on a percentage of weapon damage
For players who spend time clearing out dense packs of enemies in caves, the Blast Chip offers the highest pure area-of-effect damage.
This rune is excellent for crowd control and mob farming. The explosion effect quickly clears weaker enemies, saving vast amounts of time compared to single-target combat. It is invaluable for handling groups of threats simultaneously and makes farming certain high-density zones very efficient.
A-Tier Runes
A-Tier runes are exceptionally strong and are perfectly capable of seeing you through all late-game content. They often provide focused damage, defense, or utility, serving as the backbone for specialized builds.
Flame Spark
- Deals Fire damage over time based on your weapon damage
Flame Spark provides some of the most consistent damage-over-time (DoT) effects available, making it superb for killing single, high-health enemies.
The damage scales with your weapon, which means that it will remain relevant throughout the entire game. Its consistent burn damage is perfect for “fire-and-forget” tactics and pairs wonderfully with races that already have burn bonuses.
Rage Mark
- Boosts physical damage and attack speed when health drops below 35%
A high-risk, high-reward option, Rage Mark turns desperate situations into massive power spikes.
This rune allows for incredible burst damage when your back is against the wall. While most players aim to maintain high health, skilled or tankier players can intentionally utilize this to shred bosses when they hit low HP, combining it with high-HP races like the Minotaur for maximum effect.
Ward Patch
- 13% chance to reduce incoming damage by 13% when hit
- +11% dash distance
Ward Patch is an excellent all-around defensive rune that also provides a nifty boost to your mobility.
The chance for damage reduction offers passive tankiness, but the increased dash distance is arguably its hidden gem. Improved mobility means better positioning and evasion, which is often more valuable than pure damage reduction in high-level content.
B-Tier Runes
B-Tier runes are reliable options for the mid-game and provide specialized utility that can fit certain niche builds or fill an empty slot before you acquire a higher-tier rune.
Briar Notch
- Reflects 10% of damage taken back to the attacker
Briar Notch provides a passive, defensive damage source, making it ideal for tanky, low-mobility builds that rely on standing their ground.
This is particularly effective in crowded areas where you are being hit by multiple enemies simultaneously. While the percentage is low, the damage adds up without requiring any action on your part, saving you from dealing the final blow to weaker mobs.
Chill Dust
- 15% chance to significantly slow the target’s movement and attack speed on hit
Focusing entirely on enemy mitigation, Chill Dust is fantastic for survival and maintaining distance from fast-moving threats.
This rune is an excellent option for kiting larger enemies or making an escape. The slow effect buys you precious time to heal or reposition, making it a powerful utility choice, especially when paired with longer-range weapons.
Venom Crumb
- Deals Poison damage over time for 5 seconds
Venom Crumb serves as a solid entry point into DoT builds, though it is usually replaced by the superior Flame Spark later on.
It’s a dependable rune that helps chip away at enemy health, but its scaling and overall damage output tend to lag behind fire damage effects, placing it firmly in the B-Tier. Use it when you need a consistent DoT but can’t obtain a Flame Spark just yet.
C-Tier Runes
These runes are generally not recommended for endgame builds due to their conditional nature or low overall impact. At best, they should only be used as temporary placeholders.
Frost Speck
- 5% chance to completely freeze the target for 1 second
The potential to completely lock down an enemy with a freeze is appealing, but the lack of consistency hurts the Frost Speck.
The low proc chance makes it unreliable when you need it most. When it does hit, it’s useful, but players generally prefer the consistent slow of Chill Dust over the unreliable hard crowd control that Frost Speck provides.
Rot Stitch
- Deals additional poison damage only when the player’s health is below 25%
Rot Stitch is defined by a condition that most players actively try to avoid, severely limiting its usability in high-difficulty content.
Relying on being at critically low health to activate a damage bonus is a dangerous strategy. By the time this rune is active, you should be focused on healing or escaping, not maximizing a minor DoT effect. It is the least reliable among all of the DoT runes.
How to Get Runes in The Forge
Runes are not crafted or bought from a standard vendor; they are exclusively obtained through combat drops. Getting the runes you need is a matter of knowing which enemy to target and grinding efficiently.
Where to Find Runes
Every rune in The Forge is tied to a specific enemy or set of enemies. Rune drops are subject to RNG luck, meaning there is no guarantee for a drop, and you may have to defeat the same enemy multiple times.
Check your in-game Index ( found in the menu) to see which enemies drop which runes, along with their rough drop chances. Then, focus on Elite enemies and Bosses, as they generally have higher drop rates for the most valuable runes (like Drain Edge from Reapers) compared to standard mobs.
- Use the Luck Stat: While luck doesn’t guarantee a drop, investing in luck-boosting gear or runes (like the Miner Shard on your pickaxe) can slightly improve your odds of getting a rune drop, or even one with a rare Secondary Passive.
To make your Rune-farming easier, consult the table below to see where to find some of the best runes from our tier list above.
| Rune | Main Drop Locations | Drop Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Miner Shard | Delver Zombie (Stonewake’s Cross Cave), Bomber (Forgotten Kingdom) | From 1/15 to 1/35 |
| Drain Edge | Reaper (Volcanic Depths/Forgotten Kingdom) | Around 1/12 |
| Blast Chip | Bomber (Forgotten Kingdom Ruined Cave) | Around 1/10 |
| Flame Spark | Elite Deathaxe Skeleton, Blazing Slime, Reaper (Volcanic Depths) | From 1/12 to 1/35 |
How to Unlock Rune Slots on Gear
Once you obtain a rune, you cannot simply equip it. You must first unlock a rune slot on your gear:
- Pickaxes: Pickaxes are the exception; many of the higher-tier pickaxes (like the Gold or Arcane Pickaxe) come with slots already unlocked.
- Weapons and Armor: You must use the Enhancer NPC (located near the Forging Station) and upgrade your gear to an enhancement level of +3 or higher to unlock the first rune slot. This process requires Essences and Gold, and the success chance can decrease at higher levels.
How to Attach Runes
After unlocking the slot, visit the Runemaker NPC. Select the piece of equipment, choose the rune from your inventory, and pay the Gold cost to socket it. You can also pay a small fee to detach a rune later if you wish to reuse it on a different, better piece of gear, or if you want to vacate the slot from your current weapon.
Choosing the best runes is the final step in completing your ultimate character build in The Forge on Roblox. A high-tier weapon is nothing without the powerful effects these enchantments provide. Now that you know which Runes to hunt for, make sure you have the necessary resources to upgrade your gear! Don’t forget to use the latest The Forge codes to get free resources like Gold and Essences to speed up your progression and afford the enhancement costs at the Runemaker!
