"Stardew Valley: Master Enchantments and Weapon Forging Guide"

At the end of Ginger Island's Volcano Dungeon, players can discover a unique forge, known as the Volcano Forge. This special forge allows Stardew Valley players to enhance their tools and weapons with magical properties, requiring valuable gemstones and crystals as a cost. The benefits gained from these enhancements make the investment well worth it.

While the Volcano Forge may initially appear daunting, it's actually quite straightforward to use. Once players grasp the potential effects they can apply to their items, a realm of new gameplay possibilities opens up. This guide will detail how to achieve each effect and recommend the most beneficial choices for enhancing your Stardew Valley experience.

Updated January 6, 2025, by Demaris Oxman: With Stardew Valley's 1.6 update, the game has seen numerous changes, including quality-of-life enhancements and major additions like the Mastery system. The Volcano Forge has also been expanded, allowing enchantments on the Pan and introducing innate enchantments for weapons. This guide has been revised to include all updates related to the Volcano Forge in Stardew Valley 1.6, ensuring players can continue optimizing their tools and weapons.

Obtaining Cinder Shards

To utilize the Volcano Forge, players need Cinder Shards, which are found throughout the Volcano Dungeon. Enchanting and fully forging a single item requires at least 65 Cinder Shards, so players should be prepared to spend time gathering these crystals. Here are the methods to obtain them:

• Mine a Cinder Shard node in the Volcano Dungeon, identifiable by their pink-orange specks.
• Defeat specific enemies in the Volcano Dungeon:
  • Magma Sprite: 50% chance to drop
  • Magma Duggy: 40% chance
  • Magma Sparker: 50% chance
  • False Magma Cap: 50% chance to drop
• Harvest from a fishing pond with 7 or more Stingrays, with a 7-9% daily chance of spawning 2-5 Cinder Shards.

Note that Cinder Shards, being a resource and not a gemstone, cannot be replicated in the Crystalarium.

The Mini-Forge

Upon achieving Combat Mastery, players can craft the Mini-Forge, eliminating the need to travel to the Volcano Dungeon for forging. The Mini-Forge operates identically to the Volcano Forge and can be placed anywhere. To craft it, gather the following materials:

• 5 Dragon Tooth
• 10 Iron Bar
• 10 Gold Bar
• 5 Iridium Bar

Weapon Forging

With enough Cinder Shards, players can forge their weapons using gemstones to enhance their stats. Each weapon can be forged up to three times, with each level providing a greater stat boost. Forging applies only to weapons, not tools like the Axe, Hoe, Watering Can, or Pickaxe.

The cost of forging increases with each level: 10 Cinder Shards for the first, 15 for the second, and 20 for the third, plus a gemstone that determines the type of enhancement:

• Amethyst: Increases knockback by +1 per level.
• Aquamarine: Boosts critical hit chance by 4.6% x forge level.
• Emerald: Enhances weapon speed by +2 for the first forge, +3 for the second, and +2 for the third.
• Jade: Increases critical hit damage by 10% x the forge level.
• Ruby: Boosts weapon damage by 10% x the forge level.
• Topaz: Improves defense by 1 x the forge level.

Alternatively, use a Diamond to apply three random upgrades at once, costing 10 Cinder Shards.

Best Upgrades To Pick

Selecting the right gems for weapon forging depends on the player's style and objectives. For those focused on monster slaying, combining Emerald and Ruby for increased speed and damage significantly boosts DPS, while adding Aquamarine or Jade enhances critical hits. For survival, especially during Qi Challenges, Topaz and Amethyst are ideal, increasing defense and providing more space from enemies.

Unforging Weapons

To reset a weapon to its original state, place it in the left square slot of the forge and select the red X. This will remove all forging enhancements and restore the weapon's original appearance, recovering some Cinder Shards but not the gemstone used. No additional materials are needed for this process, though enchantments remain intact.

Infinity Weapons

Players with the Galaxy Sword, Galaxy Dagger, or Galaxy Hammer can upgrade them to Infinity Weapons at the Volcano Forge using three Galaxy Souls. Each Galaxy Soul requires 20 Cinder Shards. Upgraded weapons retain any existing forged upgrades or enchantments.

Galaxy Souls

Obtaining Galaxy Souls involves tackling some of Stardew Valley's toughest challenges:

• Purchase from Mr. Qi in Mr. Qi's Walnut Room for 40 Qi Gems each.
• Encounter and defeat a Big Slime with a Galaxy Soul in Dangerous Mines, Mr. Qi's "Danger in the Deep" quest, or his "Skull Cavern Invasion" quest.

After defeating 50 Dangerous Monsters, two additional methods unlock:

• Purchase from the Island Trader on the last day of the season for 10 Radioactive Bars each.
• Galaxy Souls may drop from Dangerous Monsters.

Enchantments

Enchantments add unique effects to weapons and tools, enhancing their utility beyond stat boosts. Any tool or melee weapon can be enchanted using a Prismatic Shard and 20 Cinder Shards. The enchantment applied is random, and players can re-enchant to try for a different effect, keeping in mind the cost of materials.

Weapon Enchantments

Weapon enchantments include:

• Artful: Halves cooldown for special moves.
• Bug Killer: Doubles damage to bugs and related creatures, allowing instant kills of Armored Bugs.
• Crusader: Doubles damage to undead enemies and permanently kills mummies.
• Vampiric: 9% chance to regain health upon killing a monster.
• Haymaker: Doubles fiber drop chance and adds a 33% chance to drop hay when cutting weeds.

Bug Killer and Crusader are typically the most useful due to their effectiveness against challenging enemies, while Haymaker is often considered less valuable due to the abundance of fiber and hay.

Innate Enchantments

Using a Dragon Tooth, players can apply innate enchantments to melee weapons, which enhance stats similarly to weapon forging. A weapon can receive one enchantment from each set, with at least one from the first set guaranteed:

A second set of enchantments may also be applied, though not guaranteed:

Tool Enchantments

Each tool can receive a random enchantment tailored to its function:

Best Enchantments For Each Tool

Choosing the best enchantment depends on the player's goals:

• Axe: Shaving for resource gathering, Swift or Efficient for faster chopping.
• Watering Can: Bottomless for endless water.
• Hoe: Generous for steady resource supply, Archeologist for museum collection, Reaching or Efficient for large-scale farming.
• Pickaxe: Swift or Powerful for efficient mining.
• Fishing Rod: Preserving to conserve bait and tackle.
• Pan: Generous and Reaching for enhanced treasure and artifact hunting.