Adding runes to your weapons, armor, or pickaxes in The Forge can significantly boost your stats and turn your character into an absolute powerhouse. However, with a dozen runes to choose from, you might be wondering which ones to put into your gear. That’s where our Ultimate Roblox The Forge Rune Tier List comes in, showing you which runes are truly the best in the game
Ultimate Roblox The Forge Tier List – Best Runes
At launch, there are a total of 11 runes in the game. And frankly speaking, based on my experience so far, all of them have their own use cases depending on where you are in the game, which is a sign of great game design. None are outright bad or useless; they just support different purposes and playstyles. At worst, they’re situationally useful, and at best, you’ll never want to remove them from your gear.
With that in mind, I currently don’t use C or D tiers in my list. Instead, all runes are placed into S, A, and B tiers. As always, keep in mind that this reflects my personal preferences; nothing written here is set in stone. If you enjoy using a specific rune and it suits your playstyle, just go for it! But enough talking, let's jump straight to our Roblox The Forge tier list.
NOTE: The percentage effect varies and isn’t always the same across all levels, gear, or stages of progression, which is why we’ve used question marks instead of concrete numbers.
S Tier Runes in The Forge – Save Them for Your Best Gear
| Rune | Ability | Pros & Cons | Drops From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miner Shard | Yield I: ?% chance to drop 1 extra ore from mines. Swift Mining I: ?% faster mining. Mining Power I: ?% extra mine damage. | Mining is the bread and butter of The Forge, and anything that boosts your mining efficiency should be a priority pick. | Delver Zombie |
| Drain Edge | Life Steal I: Heal ?% of physical damage dealt on-hit. Fracture: ?% extra stun damage on-hit. | As someone who values sustained heal in any game, this rune is a no-brainer pick for my build. It will keep you alive forever. | Brute Zombie |
| Ward Patch | Shield I: Reduce incoming physical damage by ?%. Has ?% chance per hit. Phase I: ?% longer invincibility on dash. | An excellent survivability rune that makes you much harder to kill, allowing you to venture deeper into the mines. | Zombie Elite Zombie Brute Zombie |
A Tier Runes in The Forge
These are mostly damage-oriented runes that boost your damage output and work great for an aggressive playstyle. However, I find that sustainability and survivability are more important in The Forge, which is why I rank them slightly lower than the runes in my S tier.
| Rune | Ability | Pros & Cons | Drops From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flame Spark | Burn I: Deals ?% of weapon damage as fire per second for ? seconds. ?% chance on hit. Fracture: ?% extra stun damage on-hit. | Excellent sustained damage and DoT, especially effective against larger single-target enemies. | Elite Zombie |
| Rage Mark | Berserker I: Boosts physical damage and movement speed by ?% for ? seconds. Has ? seconds cooldown. Activates when health is below ?%. Endurance I: Gives ?% more stamina. | Not much to say here, except that it’s unbelievably strong when paired with Drain Edge and a high-DPS weapon. It’s basically a cheat code. | Elite Zombie Brute Zombie |
| Chill Dust | Snow I: Applies ?% attack speed and movement speed slow for ? seconds. ?% chance on hit. | Great for a hit-and-run, kiting playstyle, as it lets you dance around enemies while avoiding their attacks. | Elite Zombie Brute Zombie |
| Frost Speck | Ice I: Freezes enemies for ? seconds with a ?% chance on hit. Has a cooldown of ?. Critical Damage: Increases the damage of critical hits by ?% | Stronger versions of this rune can soft-lock almost any opponent if you have a high attack speed weapon. Perma-freeze? Why not! | Elite Zombie |
| Blast Chip | Explosion: Creates an explosion at the enemy’s location, dealing ?% of weapon damage in AOE. ?% chance on hit. Critical Chance I: : Increases the chance of landing a critical hit by ?% | A strong AoE rune that’s great for late-game farming against groups of enemies, but relatively underwhelming against single targets. | Delver Zombie Brute Zombie |
C Tier Runes in The Forge
Don't get me wrong, these are great runes, and they will absolutely bring you value, but they can be a bit situational and not as overall good and versatile as the ones from the previous two tiers.
| Rune | Ability | Pros & Cons | Drops From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rot Stitch | Toxic Veins I: Deals ?% poison damage around the character for ? seconds. Has ? seconds cooldown. Activates when health is below ?% Endurance I: Gives ?% more stamina. | On paper, it sounds great - an instant toxic cloud when you drop below half health, plus increased stamina. However, it’s a bit of a strange combination and doesn’t really work that well together. | Zombie |
| Briar Notch | Thorn I: Reflect ?% physical damage taken. Maximum damage given limits at ?% max health of user. ? seconds cooldown. | Too situational and limited. It could be great without the maximum health percentage restriction. | Zombie |
| Venom Crumb | Poison I: Deals ?% of weapon damage as poison per second for "x" seconds. ?% chance on hit. | Not as strong as Flame Spark, since it lacks the Fracture passive, but it still deals excellent damage over time. | Zombie Elite Zombie |
So there you have it, our ultimate Roblox The Forge Rune Tier List. Keep in mind that this list will likely change as we learn more about the meta. The game is still in beta, and the developers will undoubtedly introduce balance tweaks over time, so we’ll update our tier list accordingly. And while you’re here, be sure to check out our The Forge Crafting Guide as well.
Roblox The Forge Runes FAQ
Yes, you can. Head to the Runemaker, select a weapon or armor with a rune, click on a rune, and choose DETACH.
Yes, you can sell runes at vendors on any island.
Access your Stash to find all your runes there. Equipped runes are displayed on the weapons.
Currently, no, you can't. Runes can only be found as drops from enemies.
Nikola 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.
