Updated on December 22: The Forge Winter Expansion update is around the corner and we've updated our The Forge best Katana recipes list in preparation for the Island 3 enemies and bosses. After countless hours of grinding, crafting, and testing, we're confident that these are the best Katanas in The Forge. Check them out!
TL:DR Quick Summary:
- The strongest DPS Katana recipe is x10 Darkryte and x3 Magmaite.
- Best Runes for Katana in The Forge are Blast Chip and Drain Edge.
- Best Ore Trait for Katanas is Magmaite's AoE explosion.
If you're looking for The Forge best Katana recipe, then you've come to the right place. Unsurprisingly, Katanas are by far some of the most popular weapons in The Forge. Not only are they among the strongest weapons in the game due to their balance of damage, range, and speed, but for many, even more importantly, they simply look cool and feel great to play with. In this guide, I'll share the best Katanas in The Forge, including the best ores, runes, and traits for the Katana.
The Forge Best Katana Recipes - Best Ores & Traits Combinations
So, you want to know how to make the best Katana in The Forge? First of all, the most important thing to know is that to have the highest chances of crafting a Katana in The Forge, you need to put exactly 12 pieces of Ore into the crafting recipe. This will give you around a 72% chance of crafting a Katana, the highest you can get. Hence, if you want to have optimal chances of getting a Katana (and not wasting your precious rare Ores), this is always the amount of ore to go with.
You can also push your luck by tweaking the amount of ore you use to craft a slightly stronger katana, depending on what you're aiming for. For this guide, I’ve tested those risky setups as well, which you’ll see later on. Just keep in mind that these gamble-heavy combinations can backfire and waste your Ore, since you might end up crafting a completely different weapon instead of a Katana. With that said, let's see what the best Katana recipes are in terms of pure damage and DPS.
IMPORTANT NOTE: For the purposes of this guide, we’re ignoring the ultra-rare ores such as the Arcane Crystal Ore. They’re essentially unobtainable for most players, so recommending them for these builds would serve no real purpose.
| Ores Recipe | Crafting Stats | Stats & Passives |
|---|---|---|
| x10 Darkryte x3 Magmaite | Multiplier 6.00x Success Rate 62% | Base Damage: 102
|
| x8 Darkryte x4 Magmaite | Multiplier 5.86x Success Rate 72% | Base Damage: 99.74
|
| x6 Darkryte x4 Demonite x3 Eye Ore | Multiplier 5.50x Success Rate 64% | Base Damage: 93.84
|
As you can see, the best Ores for the Katana in The Forge are Darkryte and Magmaite, with the third best being Eye Ore, which we will use more in crafting recipes below. With these Katana recipes, you can reach a 100+ base damage Katana, making it a monster.
RELATED: Best Sword in The Forge – Colossal & Straight Swords Recipes
When it comes to the best traits for the Katana, Magmaite’s AoE explosion is generally the top pick, as it perfectly covers the Katana’s biggest weakness in The Forge: dealing with groups of enemies. If you prefer a pure single-target DPS build instead, go with Eye Ore, which pushes your damage even higher at the cost of some health.
Best Island 3 Katana in The Forge (Winter Update)
While the Katanas listed above offer the best raw damage output, adding a few passive utility effects can make them exceptionally powerful in the late game, particularly so for the Island 3 added in the Winter Update. To do that, you’ll need to give up a bit of base damage, and, well, take a small gamble. Some of these recipes come with slightly lower (but still reasonable) chances of crafting a Katana. So, before we dive deeper, let’s take a look at the recipes.
| Ores Recipe | Crafting Stats | Stats & Passives |
|---|---|---|
| x4 Darkryte x3 Magmaite x3 Eye Ore x3 Fireite | Multiplier 5.05x Success Rate 64% | Base Damage: 85.91
|
| x4 Demonite x3 Magmaite x3 Eye Ore x3 Fireite | Multiplier 4.81x Success Rate 64% | Base Damage: 81.73
|
| x4 Magmaite x4 Eye Ore x4 Fireite | Multiplier 4.50x Success Rate 72% | Base Damage: 76.5
|
My personal favorite The Forge late-game build is the Katana crafted with x4 Magmaite, x4 Eye Ore, and x4 Fireite. While the damage multiplier isn’t as high as it could be (76.5 base damage versus ~100), you get the highest possible trait values from all three ores, turning this into an absolute late-game powerhouse. It’s insanely fun to play, ridiculously strong, and it truly covers all bases.
If your goal is to push for the highest possible base damage while still keeping strong trait values, remove one of each ore and add x4 Darkryte instead. This late-game Katana recipe has a slightly lower crafting success rate (64%), but it delivers nearly the highest possible damage (85.91) while still maintaining solid values across all three traits. Objectively speaking, this is the best late-game Katana build, and the one you should ultimately aim to craft.
Best Runes for Katana in The Forge
Finally, before I wrap things up, let’s take a look at the best runes for Katanas in The Forge. There isn’t much theorycrafting needed here: two runes clearly stand above the rest: Blast Chip and Drain Edge. These pair extremely well with almost any weapon in the game, unless you’re going for specialized best builds in The Forge.
To fully complete your best Katana build, equip Blast Chip first, then add the Drain Edge rune once you unlock the second slot. This combo adds much-needed survivability through Drain Edge’s lifesteal effect, along with the extra AoE damage we previously mentioned as a potential weakness of this build.
The Forge Katana Recipes FAQ
The best overall Katana recipe is: x4 Darkryte, x3 Magmaite, x3 Eye Ore, and x3 Fireite.
The best base damage is anything over 100; it can go up to 150, but that's not an optimal crafting strategy.
The best Ore Traits are a combination of Eye Ore, Fireite, and Magmaite.
The best runes are Blast Chip and Drain Edge.
12 Ores are the optimal amount, giving you a 72% chance of crafting a Katana.
For the late game, you will want to go with the x4 Magmaite, x4 Eye Ore, and x4 Fireite crafting recipe.
They are not as good as some other, more powerful weapons (including the new Spear weapon type), but they are nonetheless still fairly reliable, and you will be able to push through new content with a good Katana, provided you are skilled enough.
If you're stuck getting killed by many of the Forge enemies, make sure to check out the best Forge Armor, which you can craft, here on PGG.
Nikola is a Senior Staff Writer at Pro Game Guides with over 13 years of experience in gaming journalism. He has been playing video games since his father bought him an NES and a Sega Mega Drive in the early 1990s. Over the years, he has mainly become a PC gamer with a love for narrative-driven RPGs, real-time strategy games, and psychological/survival horror titles. Still, he enjoys any game that’s worth his time.