Updated on December 8, 2025: Added the new Poison rune as well as more detailed rune stats, traits and drop locations. Adjusted the rankings.
There are various Runes to slot in your equipment and the best Runes in The Forge are those that are active all the time rather than in specific scenarios. You want runes that give you the best DPS and progression or allow you to stay in the dungeons for longer. Here’s my The Forge Rune tier list and guide.
Table of contents
Best Runes in The Forge Ranked
Runes drop from enemies so you can pretty easily farm them once you have a good weapon. Below you’ll find all the drop locations for unes. This rune tier list has a specific ranking criteria where all runes S to B-tier can be effective either as primary runes or supporting ones. That said, runes in C and D-Tier are underpowered because they have steep conditions to activate which is not optimal. I’ll explain individual ranking reasons for all runes below as well as their effects.
Related: The Forge Race Tier List (Check out for best Rune & Race combinations)
S-Tier Runes
| S-Tier Runes | Why S-Tier | Rune Effects |
|---|---|---|
 Drain Edge | • The best defensive rune in the game allowing you to stay in dungeons longer farming essence for cash • Goes really well with Golem but also amazing for pretty much any build • That said you have to farm Reapers for it which hit hard so it’s best to farm for it late-game once you have the best ores | Possible Traits: Heal: Heal 5-13% of physical damage dealt on-hit. Fracture: ?% extra stun damage on-hit. Drops From: Reaper – Volcanic Depths (Island 2) |
 Blast Edge | • The best DPS rune in the game because it deals AOE damage allowing you to pull and farm multiple zombies at once | Possible Traits: Explosion: Cause an explosion at location of victim, dealing 20-40% of weapon damage as AOE damage, 8-20% chance on hit. Critical Chance I: Increases the chance of landing a critical hit by ?%. Drops From: Bomber (Island 2) |
 Miner Shard | • The best progression rune in the game for faster ore farming | Possible Traits: Luck: 5-16% overall luck increase. Yield: 3-10% chance to drop 1 extra ore from mines. Swift Mining: 4-12% faster mining. Mine Power: 8-15% extra mine damage. Drops From: Delver Zombie (Island 1) Bomber (Island 2) |
A-Tier Runes
| A-Tier Runes | Why A-Tier | Rune Effects |
|---|---|---|
 Venom Crumb | • An alternative to Flaming Spark but deals more damage than it did in the playtest • It’s better than Flaming Spark because while the damage is lower it lasts for longer and has a higher proc chance • Plus, depending on whether you prefer grinding Pyromancer or Skeletons it can be easier to get | Possible Traits: Poison: Deals 4-7% of weapon damage as poison per second for 3-6 seconds, 25-35% chance on hit. Drops From: Blight Pyromancer – Volcanic Depths and Ashen Passage (Island 2) |
 Flaming Spark | • A good alternative to Blast Edge and Venom Crumb as a single-target damage source • Great for farming and just slightly weaker on average than Venom Crumb due to a shorter duration and proc chance • That said it deals more damage so if you get lucky with proc chances it can be equal or better • Goes really well with the Demon race for the Fire damage boost | Possible Traits: Burn: Deals 5-10% of weapon damage as fire per second for 1-2 seconds. 15-25% chance on hit. Fracture: ?% extra stun damage on-hit. Drops From: Deathaxe Skeleton – Volcanic Depths (Island 2) Elite Deathaxe Skeleton – Volcanic Depths (Island 2) Blazing Slime – Volcanic Depths (Island 2) Reaper – Volcanic Depths (Island 2) |
 Chill Dust Currently Unobtainable Data is from the playtest | • Excellent debuff to lower the damage enemies deal • It’s a great alternative defensive choice to Drain Edge • Amazing support rune because it makes parrying and dodging easier | Possible Traits: Snow I: Applies ?% attack speed and movement speed slow for ? seconds. ?% chance on hit. |
B-Tier Runes
| B-Tier Runes | Why S-Tier | Rune Effects |
|---|---|---|
 Frost Speck Currently Unobtainable Data is from the playtest | • It’s similar to Chill Dust in that it can reduce the damage you take since the enemy is frozen and gives you a DPS window • It’s just a bit more awkward to proc since it has a cooldown so I put it lower in B-Tier • It’s still pretty good as a support rune | Possible Traits: Ice I: Freezes enemies for ? seconds with a ?% chance on hit. Has a cooldown of ?. Critical Damage: Increases the damage of critical hits by ?%. |
C-Tier Runes
| C-Tier Runes | Why C-Tier | Rune Effects |
|---|---|---|
 Ward Patch | • Not only are you looking to take as little damage as possible in this game but this rune even has a proc chance • This means that even if you make a mistake and get hit it’s still not guaranteed to proc • Not the best rune to use but can still save you sometimes when you make a mistake | Possible Traits: Shield: Reduces incoming damage by 6-14% with a 5-15% chance per hit. Phase I: ?% longer invincibility on dash. Drops From: Zombie (Island 1) Elite Zombie (Island 1) Brute Zombie (Island 1) |
 Rot Stitch Currently Unobtainable Data is from the playtest | • Similar to Rage Mark where you’re not seeing much use out of this rune if you’re not at low HP • Since you’re trying to avoid damage and stay high HP this Rune usually doesn’t see much use • Also, like Rage Mark, this can be good for a build that wants to stay low HP like the Minotaur race builds | Possible Traits: Toxic Veins I: Deals ?% poison damage around the character for ? seconds. Has ? seconds cooldown. Activates when health is below ?% Endurance I: Gives ?% more stamina. |
 Briar Notch | • This rune only sees any real value by constantly taking damage which is not realistic in this game since you want to avoid damage • IMO, one of the weaker runes in the game but it can see value when you’re fighting enemies you can afford to take damage from • It’s not D-Tier since you can combine it with Drain Edge for decent value | Possible Traits: Thorns: Reflect 2-10% physical damage taken. Maximum damage given limits at 5% max health of user. 0.05 seconds cooldown. Drops From: Deathaxe Skeleton (Island 2) Elite Deathaxe Skeleton (Island 2) |
D-Tier Runes
| D-Tier Runes | Why D-Tier | Rune Effects |
|---|---|---|
 Rage Mark | • On paper this rune is great until you realize it’s optimal to dodge/parry attacks and stay high HP • This means that this rune doesn’t activate • That said, if you are really good at parrying and dodging it can see some value if you have Darkryte gear for miss chance and you stay low HP • Still, this means you’re one hit away from death from Volcanic Depth enemies and you can have a safer Rune build with higher HP • Note: This is really good for Minotaur builds that want to purposely stay at low HP for a damage increase | Possible Traits: Berserk: Boosts physical damage and movement speed by 12-26% for 4-7 seconds. Has 50-60 seconds cooldown. Activates when health is below 35%. Endurance I: Gives ?% more stamina. Drops From: Elite Rogue Skeleton (Island 2) |
Related: The Forge Weapon Tier List
Best Secondary Rune Traits in The Forge
The best secondary rune traits for weapons are Attack Speed and Lethality for reliable sustained DPS while for armor it’s Surge to dash more often (See secondary trait effects below).
Besides their primary powerful traits which I listed above, Runes can also have secondary traits like an attack speed boost or a critical chance increase. Here are all the possible secondary Rune traits:
- Weapon Secondary Traits
- Attack Speed: Increases attack speed by 5-18%.
- Lethality: Increases the weapon’s damage by 5-15%.
- Critical Chance: Increases the chance of landing a critical hit by 6-15%.
- Critical Damage: Increases the damage of critical hits by 5-15%.
- Fracture: Increases stun damage by 5-20%.
- Armor Secondary Traits
- Endurance: Increase stamina by 4-10%.
- Surge: Decreases dash cooldown by 3-11%.
- Vitality: Increases health by 5-10%.
- Swiftness: Increases movement speed by 4-10%.
- Phase: Increases dash invincibility duration by 4-11%.
- Stride: Increases dash distance by 4-15%.
How to Get Runes in The Forge
Runes have a chance to drop from each enemy in the game. I’ve listed all the rune drops from all enemies above but you can also check this in your Index in the Enemy section. You can then use runes at the Rune Maker to socket them in your items as long as they have available sockets. If your item doesn’t have sockets you’ll have to upgrade it to a higher level at the Enhancer.
That’s it for my The Forge Rune tier list and guide. Check out our The Forge codes for a bunch of free rewards.
