Guide · Beginner
It is all the forge
Forge Master looks like a combat game. It is not: it is a forging game. Your forge level decides which age of items you can find, and the age of your items decides everything else.
The only thing that matters
The game config holds a table that decides, for each forge level, the probability that a forged item belongs to a given age. At forge level 1 your items come almost entirely from age 0 (Primitive). By level 8 the distribution has already shifted toward age 1.
Direct consequence: when a battle walls you, it is never "grind more". Medieval enemies have 10 damage and 80 health; the best item of that age is worth twice that. So your gear can clear it — if it is from the right age. If it is not, the forge is behind, not you.
Target #1: forge level 8
Of the 34 forge levels, only nine actually change your loot: the ones where the tier count goes up. The first real jump is level 8: the forge goes from 1 to 3 tiers at once, for 100,000 coins. It is by far the best purchase in the game.
| Level | Tier | Cost | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 400 | 5 min |
| 2 | 1 | 700 | 15 min |
| 3 | 1 | 1,500 | 30 min |
| 4 | 1 | 3,500 | 1.0 h |
| 5 | 1 | 10,000 | 2.0 h |
| 6 | 1 | 25,000 | 7.6 h |
| 7 | 1 | 50,000 | 13.1 h |
| 8 | 3 | 100,000 | 18.7 h |
Reaching level 8 costs 191,100 coins in total. The first 3 upgrades are free — take them immediately. You start with 100 hammers and 30 gems; keep the gems for skipping a long batch, not for cosmetics.
Your daily routine
- Collect your offline earnings every 4 h. The counter caps at 4 h: past that you gain nothing (at most 14,400 coins and 240 hammers per collection).
- Spend your 2 daily dungeon keys on Hammer Thief: it is the only dungeon that pays both hammers AND coins — exactly the two resources that level the forge.
- Forge non-stop and always equip the best item in each slot. Sell the rest: every item sold pays coins (base 20), and coins go into the forge.
- Push the campaign to your first wall, then stop: a wall means "level the forge", not "replay the battle".
Early-game traps
- Do not max an item too early. Each level multiplies its stat by 1.01, but an item from the next age starts with double the base stats. XP sunk into an outdated item is lost.
- Do not chase sub-stats before age 3. Items from ages 0 to 2 roll none: re-forging for "a better roll" has literally no effect at this stage.
- Do not wait 24 h to collect. Offline caps at 4 h. A whole night pays exactly the same as 4 h.
Once the forge hits 8 and the first ages are cleared → Mid-game guide