This The Forge Beginner Guide walks you from your very first login in The Forge all the way to solid early–mid game progress. It focuses on what actually matters: efficient pickaxe progression, smart money-making, which quests to care about, and what you should completely ignore at the start.
1. Understanding The Forge’s Core Loop
The Forge is built around a simple but deep loop:
- Go into caves
- Mine ores
- Fight or avoid mobs guarding better ore
- Take materials to the Forge
- Craft items
- Sell them, get stronger tools, repeat
Your power early on comes primarily from your pickaxe, not your armor or weapon. The faster and harder you mine, the more money you make, and the sooner you break into stronger areas and islands.
2. First Island: Stone Wakes Cross
When you first join the game, you spawn in Stone Wakes Cross, the starting island.
Focus on Sensei Morrow
For your first 30–40 minutes, your main priority is:
- Follow Sensei Morrow’s questline
- Finish the tutorial
- Learn how mining, forging, and basic combat work
The tutorial already does a good job explaining:
- How to go into the cave
- How to use the Forge
- How to craft and sell items
Don’t stress about “perfect” decisions here. Just get comfortable moving around, mining, and turning things into money.
The First Cave Layout
Inside the first cave:
- Near the entrance: small pebbles and low-tier rocks (stone, iron, basic ores).
- Deeper in: zombies and tougher mobs guarding higher-value ore and boulders.
There is no level requirement to go deeper. If you can survive or sneak past enemies, you can access better ore earlier than the game “expects.”
3. Use the Wiki and Codes Immediately
Why Codes Matter:
- Currently, codes are the main way to get free rerolls for races
- They also give luck totems and mining totems
- Totems are nice boosts; rerolls are extremely valuable long-term
Grab all active codes as soon as you can. It is free power.
4. Races – What to Roll For and Why
You can access the Race menu in two main ways:
- From your backpack → shop → roll → go to race menu
- By talking to the wizard in the tower above the “greedy vendor” area
Races come in rarities. Some are okay, some are amazing.
Best-in-Slot Targets
- Angel – Excellent for mining and harvesting-focused play
- Demon – Excellent for combat-focused play
These are the two premium targets; they are rare and can be very hard to get. Even with a lot of Robux spent, you are not guaranteed to see them.
Strong Alternatives
If you cannot get Angel/Demon early:
- Dwarf – Very solid choice for mining
- Shadow – Good for fighting
- Dragonborn – Another good combat-oriented option
Treat Angel/Demon as long-term chase races, not something you “must” have in the first few hours. If you pull a good alternative, stick with it and progress.
5. Island 1 Progression: Pickaxes First, Everything Else Later
For your first 10–20 hours, your priority is extremely simple:
Maximize your mining power.
Recommended Pickaxe Path on Island 1
Rough early progression:
- Bronze/Starter tools – Default beginning gear
- Iron Pickaxe – You get this by finishing the early tutorial/quests
- Platinum Pickaxe – Your first major Island 1 goal
Once you hit Platinum, you are basically “done” with Island 1, apart from cleaning up quests and getting the true endgame pickaxe later.
Ignore Early Armor and Weapons
On Island 1:
- Armor and weapons you can forge will not stay relevant
- Do not waste time chasing “perfect” Island 1 sets
- Treat all early armor as just crafting material for selling
Your ores are more valuable as money to push your pickaxe tier than as gear that will be obsolete within a few hours.
6. Bard’s Quest and the Secret Endgame Pickaxe (Island 1)
Once you are stable and earning well, you can unlock the current “endgame” pickaxe on Island 1.
Steps:
- Talk to Bard in Stone Wakes Cross.
- Enter the cave and head toward Nord (the NPC inside).
- From Nord, turn to the left into a small plant-covered hole.
- Drop down into the secret cave.
- Find Bard’s guitar leaning against a rock.
- Return the guitar to Bard – he gives you a key.
- Go back to Nord, then this time go to the right.
- Follow the path to a big caged door with a lock.
- Use the key to open it and access the high-tier pickaxe inside.
This pickaxe is what the creator calls the “endgame” pickaxe for Island 1 and will carry you deep into mid-game.
Note: You do not need this immediately. Focus on Platinum first, then worry about this once your economy is rolling.
7. Moving to Island 2: Forgotten Kingdom
Once you have:
- Finished the End of the Beginning quest
- Reached at least Level 10
You can use the Portal item to access Forgotten Kingdom, the second island.
Again, the formula here is familiar:
- New island
- New ores
- New pickaxes
- Much better money
Island 2 Pickaxe Path
The recommended progression on Island 2:
- Cobalt Pickaxe
- Uranium Pickaxe
- Mythril Pickaxe
- Arcane Pickaxe (bought back on Island 1 for 125k)
Recommended to skip:
- Titanium pickaxe
- Light pickaxe
They are optional detours that slow you down more than they help. The creator himself went Cobalt → Mythril → Arcane and notes it was slower than it needed to be; Cobalt → Uranium → Mythril → Arcane is smoother.
Your true mid-game turns on once you obtain Arcane.
8. Quests You Should Actually Care About
Quests on Island 1 are decent, but Island 2 quests are where the money starts to get serious.
Money and XP Quests
On Island 1:
- Focus mostly on Sensei Morrow to finish the tutorial.
- Other quests are nice but not game-changing for income.
On Island 2 (Forgotten Kingdom), prioritize:
- Monkey NPC (Banana Quest)
- Located on a small island near the starting dock.
- Requires 30 Banana ores from Island 1.
- Reward: 12,000 cash plus XP. Massive early injection of money.
- Morrow’s Questline (Island 2 version)
- Continue his quests here.
- Easy money and XP; do not ignore this like many players do.
- Additional NPC near spawn
- There is another NPC behind spawn who also gives solid rewards.
- Grab and rotate through his quests as you mine.
- Cave Quests (Isaac and Captain Rowan)
- Use the cannon near spawn to launch up to the cave area.
- Complete Isaac’s quest.
- Start Captain Rowan’s questline – long but high value.
Daily Quests
There are a couple of daily-style quests you should tap into:
- Masked Stranger
- Found in the cave area on Island 2.
- Daily quest rewards around 10,000 cash.
- Worth doing every day you log in.
- Amber (inside Danger Cave)
- Likely gives a daily quest as well.
- Even if not confirmed, treat it as worth checking routinely.
These daily quests are pure bonus income layered on top of your mining.
9. How to Make Money Efficiently
The best early and mid-game money method is very straightforward:
Craft armor and sell it.
Key points:
- Turn almost all your ores into armor pieces.
- Prioritize heavy chestplates – they sell for the highest amount.
- Do this repeatedly to fund your pickaxe upgrades.
Weapons are not worth investing in early. They will be replaced, and they do not scale your economy the way a better pickaxe does.
Ores You Should Not Dump
On later progression (especially Island 2), there are some ores you should keep for future crafting:
Keep and stockpile:
- Eye Ore
- Rivalite
- Obsidian
- Mythril
- Demonite
- Uranium (worth holding extra)
These are important for mid to end-game crafting. Avoid turning them into random armor just to sell.
Everything else from Island 2 can be freely thrown into armor crafts for cash.
10. Your Backpack, Index, and Free Rewards
The Backpack menu has several important tabs that newer players often ignore.
Index = Free Money and Free XP
Your Index tracks:
- Ores you have discovered
- Items you have forged
- Enemies you have killed
Each new discovery lets you press Claim for extra money and experience. If you have never opened the Index after reaching Island 2, you will likely have a long list of claimable rewards waiting.
Make a habit of:
- Checking the Ores, Forge, and Enemies tabs
- Clicking every Claim button you see
This alone can give you a big power spike in both levels and cash.
11. Achievements and Passive Boosts
The Achievements tab acts like a passive build system.
How it works:
- Completing achievement milestones fills a progress bar.
- Filling the bar gives you notches.
- Each notch can equip an achievement badge that grants a stat bonus.
Examples of useful boosts:
- Master Miner – mining power boost
- Attack speed boost
- Stamina or health boost
- XP multiplier
- Move speed
- Critical chance or damage
- Luck
You can swap these based on what you’re doing:
- Mining session → equip mining power or luck.
- Combat session → swap to damage, attack speed, or survivability.
Even a few notches make a noticeable difference.
12. Co-op, Tagging, and Etiquette
The Forge encourages cooperation in combat but is more selfish with mining.
Combat
- If you see someone fighting a mob or miniboss, feel free to help.
- Both players receive rewards and quest credit if they contributed.
- This makes grouping up very efficient for enemy grinding and index completion.
Mining
- When you start mining a rock, it becomes essentially “yours.”
- Other players cannot benefit from your node, and sniping every node in an area is seen as bad manners.
- Try not to sprint through someone’s mining route with a top-tier pickaxe, deleting every rock. There are no rules against it, but it is considered poor etiquette.
Totems are the exception: when someone drops a totem, expect a crowd and chaotic node competition.
13. Practical Progression Roadmap
To tie it all together, here is a simple path you can follow.
Early Game (Island 1)
- Finish Sensei Morrow tutorial.
- Use the wiki codes, get rerolls, accept a good race if you cannot get Angel/Demon.
- Rush to Iron Pickaxe → then to Platinum Pickaxe.
- Ignore fancy armor and weapons; turn ores into heavy chestplates to sell.
- Optional later: unlock Bard’s secret cave and pick up the endgame pickaxe.
Transition to Mid Game (Island 2)
- Reach Level 10 and complete End of the Beginning.
- Use the Portal to Forgotten Kingdom.
- Start doing Island 2 quests:
- Monkey banana quest (30 bananas → 12k cash)
- Morrow’s Island 2 quests
- Cannon up to Isaac and Captain Rowan
- Masked Stranger daily
- Upgrade pickaxe path:
- Cobalt → Uranium → Mythril → Arcane (125k back on Island 1)
- Farm ores, craft armor, sell everything except the key rare ores listed above.
- Regularly collect Index rewards and configure Achievement boosts.
Once you reach Arcane pickaxe and have a stash of rare ores, you are firmly in early mid-game and ready for deeper builds, specific armor sets, and future content like bosses and new islands.