This guide explores the Volcano Forge in Stardew Valley 1.6, detailing how to enhance tools and weapons. The forge, located at the end of Ginger Island's Volcano Dungeon, allows players to apply magical enhancements using Cinder Shards and gemstones.
Obtaining Cinder Shards:
Cinder Shards are crucial for all forge functions. Acquire them by:
- Mining Cinder Shard nodes (pink-orange specks) in the Volcano Dungeon.
- Receiving them as drops from Magma Sprites, Magma Duggies, Magma Sparkers, and False Magma Caps (with varying drop rates).
- Harvesting them from a fishing pond with 7+ Stingrays (7-9% daily chance).
Cinder Shards cannot be duplicated in the Crystalarium.
The Mini-Forge:
After achieving Combat Mastery, craft a Mini-Forge:
- 5 Dragon Teeth
- 10 Iron Bars
- 10 Gold Bars
- 5 Iridium Bars
The Mini-Forge functions identically to the Volcano Forge.
Weapon Forging:
Forge weapons up to three times using gemstones and Cinder Shards (10, 15, and 20 shards per forge level, respectively). Gemstone effects:
- Amethyst: +1 knockback per forge level.
- Aquamarine: +4.6% critical hit chance per level.
- Emerald: +2/+3/+2 weapon speed per level (cumulative).
- Jade: +10% critical hit damage per level.
- Ruby: +10% damage per level.
- Topaz: +1 defense per level.
- Diamond: Three random upgrades (10 shards).
Best Weapon Upgrades: Emerald and Ruby are generally best for maximizing damage per second (DPS). Topaz and Amethyst improve survivability.
Unforging Weapons: Place the weapon in the left slot and select the red X to remove all forging (some shards are recovered, but not the gemstone).
Infinity Weapons:
Upgrade Galaxy Sword, Dagger, or Hammer into Infinity Weapons using three Galaxy Souls (20 shards each). Galaxy Souls are obtained through various challenging methods (detailed in a separate guide).
Enchantments:
Enchant tools and weapons using a Prismatic Shard and 20 Cinder Shards. Effects are random.
Weapon Enchantments:
- Artful: Halved special move cooldown.
- Bug Killer: Double damage to bugs, kills Armored Bugs.
- Crusader: Double damage to undead, permanently kills mummies.
- Vampiric: Chance to regain health on kill.
- Haymaker: Double fiber/hay chance from weeds.
Bug Killer and Crusader are generally the most useful.
Innate Enchantments: Use a Dragon Tooth for innate enchantments, adding one from each of two sets (one guaranteed, one random).
Tool Enchantments: Twelve enchantments, each specific to certain tools (detailed in the original text). Examples include Bottomless Watering Can, Efficient tools, and Preserving Fishing Rod.
Best Tool Enchantments: Depend on play style, but Bottomless (Watering Can), Shaving (Axe), and Preserving (Fishing Rod) are often highly valued. The forge allows re-enchantment for desired effects.
