The Forge Weapon Recipes

The Forge Weapon Recipes, Listed by Tier

Every forge weapon recipe follows the same cost curve: each tier doubles the base ore, adds one catalyst, and raises the minimum station level by one — while rarity is capped by the station, not by the materials you feed it. That single rule explains why a Tier III recipe forged at a Tier II station will never roll above Rare, and why the most efficient upgrade path is usually to skip Tier IV entirely and jump from a fully upgraded Tier III straight to Tier V. Below is the searchable version of that list: required materials, crafting locations, stat outcomes, rarity limits, and the upgrade routes that cost the least per stat point.

Baseline values are the ones the in-game recipe book lists for the standard forge model. If your build has been rebalanced by a patch, the ratios below tend to hold even when the raw numbers shift.

Quick Comparison: All Five Recipe Tiers

Two patterns matter here: material cost roughly doubles per tier, and the stat range widens faster than the cost rises. That gap is the entire argument for skipping Tier IV.

What Each Tier Actually Demands

Tier I and II: cheap, disposable, and worth forging anyway

Tier I needs nothing but ore and coal and can be made at the first settlement forge you find. It exists to teach the timing minigame — the heat bar and the strike window — not to produce a keeper. Tier II adds your first catalyst, and the catalyst is what most players misunderstand: it does not add stats, it only raises the ceiling of the rarity roll. A Tier II recipe caps at Uncommon regardless of catalyst quality, so never spend a rare catalyst on one. Forge a handful of Tier IIs to learn the heat timing, then move on.

Tier III: the first recipe worth keeping

Tier III is where temper oil enters the recipe and where the rarity cap finally reaches Rare. The jump from 18–28 to 34–48 base stats is the single largest proportional gain in the whole list, which is why a well-rolled Tier III will carry a character through the mid game. It requires a Lv 3 station — typically a keep, guild hall, or faction forge — and roughly 500 gold in materials. Keep every Tier III roll above 44; salvage the rest for ingots, which recover about a third of the input cost.

Tier IV: the trap tier

Tier IV more than doubles the material cost of Tier III for a stat gain of roughly +25 on average. It also introduces silver ingot, which is usually the bottleneck material in the mid game and is needed for other crafting trees. Unless you specifically need an Epic-tagged weapon for a set bonus or a quest gate, Tier IV is the tier to walk past. Most efficient upgrade paths in forge-crafting systems route around it deliberately.

Tier V: where the real cost sits

Tier V needs 64 ingots, an essence, and a Lv 5 station — an elemental forge, a deep forge, or a capital master forge depending on your build. It is expensive, but it is also the only recipe that can roll Legendary, and the average stat outcome (104) is more than double a Tier III. Because the stat ceiling rises faster than the cost, the cost per stat point actually falls at Tier V. That is the counterintuitive part of the whole system.

Crafting Locations and Station Levels

• Lv 1–2, settlement forge. Unlocks Tier I and II only. No temper oil slot, no essence slot. Cheap to use, no travel required.
• Lv 3, keep or guild forge. Unlocks Tier III, adds the temper oil slot, and allows one catalyst to be upgraded one step in rarity. Usually requires faction reputation or a guild hall upgrade.
• Lv 4, capital or master forge. Unlocks Tier IV, adds a second temper oil slot, and cuts forge time by roughly half. The Epic rarity cap applies here.
• Lv 5, elemental or deep forge. Unlocks Tier V and the Legendary cap. Requires an essence in the recipe and is typically gated behind a region unlock rather than a purchase.

Station level is a hard gate in both directions. Forging a recipe above your station level is not allowed at all; forging a high-tier recipe at a low-tier station is allowed but wastes the materials, because the rarity cap is applied last, after the roll.

Rarity Limits: Why Your Materials Don’t Decide the Roll

Per the recipe book entries, the forge resolves in three passes: base stats from the tier, a modifier roll influenced by temper oil, then a rarity roll capped by the station. Only that final pass determines whether the item is Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, or Legendary. This means a Tier V recipe forged at a Lv 3 station produces a Rare weapon with Tier V base stats — expensive, but sometimes exactly what a mid-level character wants. It also means that adding a fourth catalyst to a Tier III recipe changes nothing, because catalysts beyond the recipe’s slot count are consumed without effect.

The Most Efficient Upgrade Path

The cheapest route from a starter weapon to an endgame one, in order, with the reason each step exists:

1. Forge three Tier IIs. Reason: you need the heat-timing practice before you spend steel, and Tier II failures cost almost nothing.
2. Farm steel and temper oil until you can afford two Tier III attempts. Reason: the recipe has a stat range, so one attempt is a coin flip. Two attempts roughly doubles your chance of landing above 44.
3. Upgrade the station to Lv 3 before Tier III, not after. Reason: the rarity cap is applied last. Forging first and upgrading later does not retroactively improve the item.
4. Skip Tier IV. Reason: see the arithmetic below.
5. Bank materials for one Tier V attempt at a Lv 5 station. Reason: it is the only route to Legendary, and its cost per stat point is the lowest in the list.
6. Use temper oil on the Tier V attempt only. Reason: oil is consumed per forge and its modifier bonus is a percentage, so it scales with the higher base stat of the top tier.

Read the third row carefully: if you already crafted a Tier IV, your cost per stat point for the next upgrade is the worst in the table. Skipping Tier IV is not a shortcut, it is the mathematically better line.

Matching the Recipe to Your Situation

Common Mistakes and What Runs Out First

Catalysts are consumed on every attempt, successful or not, so they are the first consumable to run dry — a full Tier V run eats five. Temper oil expires after roughly three forges if unused, which means banking oil for a future attempt is a losing strategy; spend it on the highest-tier forge you can currently reach. Coal is the quiet bottleneck: Tier V needs 10 units, more than any vendor stocks in a single visit, so buy it across two or three stops. The station itself never degrades, but its heat level resets if it sits unused, adding a warm-up forge before your real attempt. The most common mistake is over-catalysting a low-tier recipe — extra catalysts beyond the slot count are consumed with zero effect.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do forge weapon recipes change between patches?

Material costs and stat ranges are the most commonly rebalanced values, and patch notes usually list the changed tiers explicitly. The underlying structure — doubling ore, one catalyst per tier, station-capped rarity — has stayed stable across most balance passes. If a recipe suddenly needs a material it did not need before, check the patch notes before assuming a bug.

Can I forge a Legendary weapon at a Tier III station?

No. The rarity cap is applied after the roll and is set by station level, not by the recipe. A Lv 3 station caps at Rare even if you forge a Tier V recipe there. You will get Tier V base stats on a Rare tag, which is usable but cannot be upgraded to Legendary later.

What is the cheapest way to get an endgame weapon?

Skip Tier IV. The worked numbers put the Tier III to Tier V jump at roughly 37 gold per stat point, against 46 for the Tier IV step and 61 if you craft Tier IV first and then go to Tier V. You also avoid spending silver ingots, which are usually needed elsewhere.

Do catalysts affect which stats I get, or only the rarity roll?

Only the rarity roll. Base stats come from the recipe tier, and the modifier comes from temper oil. Catalysts raise the ceiling of the rarity pass, which is why a rare catalyst on a Tier II recipe does nothing — that recipe is already capped at Uncommon.

Are forge recipes shared across characters?

Recipe book entries are usually account-wide, but station levels are not. A second character can see the Tier V recipe immediately and still be unable to forge it until their own region and station unlock. Plan around the station, not the recipe list.

Should I upgrade an existing weapon or forge a new one?

Upgrading preserves the rarity tag but never changes it, so an upgraded Rare stays Rare. Forging a new weapon rerolls everything, including the rarity, which is the only way to reach Epic or Legendary. Upgrade when you need a specific tag for a set bonus; forge when you want the ceiling to move.