This guide details how to utilize Stardew Valley's Volcano Forge, located at the end of Ginger Island's Volcano Dungeon, to enhance tools and weapons. The forge uses Cinder Shards and gemstones/crystals for upgrades.
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.
- Obtaining them as drops from Magma Sprites (50%), Magma Duggies (40%), Magma Sparkers (50%), and False Magma Caps (50%).
- Harvesting from a fishing pond containing 7+ Stingrays (7-9% daily chance, yielding 2-5 shards).
Cinder Shards cannot be created in a Crystalarium.
The Mini-Forge:
After achieving Combat Mastery, craft a Mini-Forge, replicating the Volcano Forge's functionality. Requires: 5 Dragon Teeth, 10 Iron Bars, 10 Gold Bars, 5 Iridium Bars.
Weapon Forging:
Gemstones enhance weapon stats (up to three times per weapon). Costs increase with each forge: 10, 15, then 20 Cinder Shards.
- Amethyst: +1 knockback per forge.
- Aquamarine: +4.6% critical hit chance per forge.
- Emerald: +2/+3/+2 speed per forge (cumulative).
- Jade: +10% critical hit damage per forge.
- Ruby: +10% damage per forge.
- Topaz: +1 defense per forge.
- Diamond: Three random upgrades (10 Cinder Shards).
Optimal Weapon Upgrades: For maximizing damage, combine Emerald and Ruby. For survivability, prioritize Topaz and Amethyst.
Unforging Weapons: Place the weapon in the left slot and select the red X to remove all forging (recovers some shards, not gemstones).
Infinity Weapons:
Upgrade Galaxy Sword, Dagger, or Hammer into Infinity versions using three Galaxy Souls (20 Cinder Shards per Soul). Retains existing upgrades and enchantments.
Galaxy Souls: Obtain via Mr. Qi (40 Qi Gems each), Big Slime drops (Dangerous Mines, Qi quests), Island Trader (10 Radioactive Bars, last day of season), or rare drops from Dangerous Monsters (after 50 kills).
Enchantments:
Apply random effects to tools/weapons using a Prismatic Shard and 20 Cinder Shards. Re-enchant for different results.
Weapon Enchantments: Artful, Bug Killer, Crusader, Vampiric, Haymaker. Bug Killer and Crusader are generally most useful.
Innate Enchantments: Use a Dragon Tooth for additional enchantments on melee weapons; one guaranteed from each of two sets.
Tool Enchantments: Twelve enchantments, tool-specific. Examples include Auto-Hook (fishing rod), Bottomless (watering can), Efficient (various), etc. See table for full list.
Optimal Tool Enchantments: Bottomless (watering can), Shaving (axe), Generous or Archeologist (hoe), Swift or Powerful (pickaxe), Preserving (fishing rod), Generous or Reaching (pan). Choose based on playstyle.
