Beginner's guide
Forge Worlds takes a minute to learn, but you'll be playing it for months. Here are the essentials to get off to a good start, with the game's real numbers.
Updated October 26, 2026
1. Forge, compare, equip
Tap the anvil: a hammer turns into a random item (slot, era and level). The game instantly compares it with what you're wearing: green arrow, it's better, so equip it; red arrow, sell it for gold.
Your hammers come from battles, offline rewards, the Hammer Thief and quests. Don't hoard them: hammers are only good for forging.
2. Upgrade the forge
This is the key to all your progress: the higher the forge, the more advanced the eras of your items. You pay for each level in gold (in one or more installments), then wait. The first upgrades are instant; after that, the wait ranges from a few minutes to several days, and can be shortened with gems or the Tech Tree.
Going from 1 to 35 takes 121 days of waiting and 41,891,100 gold in total: plenty of reasons to come back every day.
| Forge level | Duration | Gold | Most advanced era |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | — | Prehistory |
| 2 | 5min | 400 | Antiquity |
| 3 | 15min | 700 | Antiquity |
| 4 | 30min | 1,500 | Antiquity |
| 5 | 1h | 3,500 | Vikings |
| 6 | 2h | 10,000 | Vikings |
| 7 | 8h | 25,000 | Vikings |
| 8 | 13h | 50,000 | Samurai |
| 9 | 19h | 100,000 | Samurai |
| 10 | 1d | 150,000 | Samurai |
| 11 | 1d 6h | 250,000 | Steampunk |
| 12 | 1d 11h | 350,000 | Steampunk |
| 13 | 1d 17h | 450,000 | Steampunk |
| 14 | 1d 22h | 600,000 | Modern |
| 15 | 2d 4h | 800,000 | Modern |
| 16 | 2d 10h | 910,000 | Modern |
| 17 | 2d 15h | 1,020,000 | Cyberpunk |
| 18 | 2d 21h | 1,130,000 | Cyberpunk |
| 19 | 3d 5h | 1,240,000 | Cyberpunk |
| 20 | 3d 13h | 1,350,000 | Space |
| 21 | 3d 22h | 1,460,000 | Space |
| 22 | 4d 6h | 1,570,000 | Space |
| 23 | 4d 14h | 1,680,000 | Space |
| 24 | 4d 23h | 1,790,000 | Galactic |
| 25 | 5d 7h | 1,900,000 | Galactic |
| 26 | 5d 15h | 2,010,000 | Galactic |
| 27 | 6d | 2,120,000 | Galactic |
| 28 | 6d 8h | 2,230,000 | Galactic |
| 29 | 6d 16h | 2,340,000 | Cosmic |
| 30 | 7d 1h | 2,450,000 | Cosmic |
| 31 | 7d 9h | 2,560,000 | Cosmic |
| 32 | 7d 17h | 2,670,000 | Cosmic |
| 33 | 8d 2h | 2,780,000 | Cosmic |
| 34 | 8d 10h | 2,890,000 | Cosmic |
| 35 | 8d 18h | 3,000,000 | Cosmic |
3. Melee or ranged?
Your weapon decides your style: in melee, your hero hits hard up close; at range, your hero shoots from afar. Your items' substats (crit, lifesteal, double hit, attack speed…) do the rest. Keep an eye on the Power shown at the top left: it sums up your hero.
4. Auto-Forge
Once unlocked in the Forge branch of the Tech Tree, Auto-Forge strikes on its own as long as the game is open. Set its filter (eras, substats): it keeps what interests you and sells the rest.
5. Offline rewards
Your hero keeps fighting even when you close the game. Gold and hammers pile up for 4 hours at most (longer with the Tech Tree): drop by to collect them several times a day.
6. Eggs and pets
Put an egg in an incubator: it hatches even while you're offline. You start with 2 incubators, and can have up to 4. Shells from the Nest let you summon new eggs (100 shells per egg). Extra pets can be merged into your team's pets to level them up.
| Rarity | Duration | |
|---|---|---|
 | Common | 30min |
 | Rare | 2h |
 | Epic | 4h |
 | Legendary | 8h |
 | Ultimate | 16h |
 | Mythic | 1d 8h |
7. Mounts
Whistles summon mounts (50 whistles per summon). The first one carries your hero right away. Your summon level rises with the number of summons and slowly improves your odds: rare mounts are a long-term goal.
8. Dungeons
Each dungeon gives 2 keys a day, refilled at midnight UTC: use them all, they don't stack. A win unlocks the next level and raises the reward. You can then Sweep your best level for a key, without fighting.
| Name | Reward | Unlocks at battle |
|---|---|---|
| The Hammer Thief | hammers and gold | 1-13 |
| The Skill Temple | skill scrolls | 1-15 |
| The Nest | shells | 2-1 |
| The Lab | research potions | 3-1 |
9. The arena and guilds
The arena gives you 5 tickets a day for auto duels. Every week, climb from league to league, from Bronze to Legend. Join a guild too: daily check-in, guild tree and a weekly boss to bring down together.
10 blacksmith tips
- Always start a forge upgrade before closing the game: the timer keeps running while you're away.
- Keep your incubators full and your research running: they're timers working for you.
- Sell without regret: an item worse than yours is only good for gold.
- Use your 2 keys for each dungeon every day.
- The Hammer Thief brings in hammers and gold: the best way to forge more.
- The Lab gives the Tech Tree's potions, and the tree speeds up everything else.
- Only three pets count: merge the others into your team.
- Check the forge odds for the next level before you pay: you'll know what you're buying.
- Stuck on a boss? Your hero replays the previous battle on a loop and earns enough to come back stronger.
- Set Auto-Forge to a strict filter as soon as you can: it does the sorting for you.
