ShneekeyTheLost
Farmer
My thoughts on the new mechanic found in the new dungeon in the new place, so spoilers!
Okay, so the Forge. It does a couple of things, both of which I like. To get there, you have to go through all ten floors of the new dungeon on the island. Once there, you can unlock a shortcut so you don't have to go through the dungeon each time.
The forge costs Cinder Shards to do things. You get these either by killing the flame dudes that fly around and use the Flying Eel logic (they hit relatively hard as well, be careful!) or from the new ore nodes found in this dungeon. I don't know if it is considered to be an ore or a gem for purposes of Mining Perk interactions, but I was getting 1-3 per node with Miner/Prospector.
First, it lets you combine the effects of two different rings. This lets you, effectively, have four rings equipped once it is done. It costs 20 Cinder Shards each, so that's a total of 40 to do it. If you put a combined ring in the forge, there IS an 'unforge' button, so it is apparently reversible. So if you ever wanted a ring that would combine the Iridium Band and, say, the Vampiric Ring... you can do precisely that.
Second is that it will let you put a gem into a weapon for additional benefit. The ones I've found so far are:
* Quartz, Fire Quartz, Pearl, Earth Stone, Ice Tear: No effect
* Rainbow Shard: It has a picture of a stardrop, and ??? next to it. It does something... different, and doesn't count as a 'forge'
* Diamond: 3 random forges. Could be good, could be bad, depending on the forges you get.
* Ruby: 10% more damage, it seems, judging from the damage increase on my Galaxy Hammer (70-90 went to 77-99)
* Emerald: +2 Speed
* Amethyst: +? Weight? When I put the Amethyst in, it shows the Weight stat is modified, however there seems to be a cap of +5 which the Galaxy Hammer already has
* Aquamarine: +3 Crit Chance
* Jade: +4 Crit Power
* Topaz: +1 Defense (did that bug get fixed in 1.5 where weapon-based defense didn't actually get factored in?)
You can have 3 forges on a weapon (at least on the Galaxy Hammer). Each forge costs 10 Cinder Shards except the Rainbow Shard which costs 20. However, the cost goes up for each modifier, being 15 for the second and presumably 20 for the third. You CAN stack modifiers, apparently.
At first glance, the most obvious 'win' is the Ruby. More damage is always going to be more better, and the Emerald isn't bad either. Diamond is basically a gamble, you never know what you are going to get, but it only costs one diamond and 10 cinder shards instead of whatever specific gems plus 30. I personally wouldn't both risking it, but YMMV. With how crits really don't do much in the game, Jade and Aquamarine seem to be traps. Amethyst is up in the air, weight can be useful in keeping things back, but if you already have a bunch of weight on your weapon, it might not do anything.
Also, the Prismatic Shard can apparently go on *ANY* tool, not just a weapon. Also, apparently the prismatic shard doesn't count as a forge, so you could in theory have three forges plus the Prismatic Shard. When I affixed it to my Galaxy Hammer, it gave the word 'Crusader' with no other indicator. I'm sure it has some sort of mechanical effect, I'm just not sure what at this point.
The forge costs Cinder Shards to do things. You get these either by killing the flame dudes that fly around and use the Flying Eel logic (they hit relatively hard as well, be careful!) or from the new ore nodes found in this dungeon. I don't know if it is considered to be an ore or a gem for purposes of Mining Perk interactions, but I was getting 1-3 per node with Miner/Prospector.
First, it lets you combine the effects of two different rings. This lets you, effectively, have four rings equipped once it is done. It costs 20 Cinder Shards each, so that's a total of 40 to do it. If you put a combined ring in the forge, there IS an 'unforge' button, so it is apparently reversible. So if you ever wanted a ring that would combine the Iridium Band and, say, the Vampiric Ring... you can do precisely that.
Second is that it will let you put a gem into a weapon for additional benefit. The ones I've found so far are:
* Quartz, Fire Quartz, Pearl, Earth Stone, Ice Tear: No effect
* Rainbow Shard: It has a picture of a stardrop, and ??? next to it. It does something... different, and doesn't count as a 'forge'
* Diamond: 3 random forges. Could be good, could be bad, depending on the forges you get.
* Ruby: 10% more damage, it seems, judging from the damage increase on my Galaxy Hammer (70-90 went to 77-99)
* Emerald: +2 Speed
* Amethyst: +? Weight? When I put the Amethyst in, it shows the Weight stat is modified, however there seems to be a cap of +5 which the Galaxy Hammer already has
* Aquamarine: +3 Crit Chance
* Jade: +4 Crit Power
* Topaz: +1 Defense (did that bug get fixed in 1.5 where weapon-based defense didn't actually get factored in?)
You can have 3 forges on a weapon (at least on the Galaxy Hammer). Each forge costs 10 Cinder Shards except the Rainbow Shard which costs 20. However, the cost goes up for each modifier, being 15 for the second and presumably 20 for the third. You CAN stack modifiers, apparently.
At first glance, the most obvious 'win' is the Ruby. More damage is always going to be more better, and the Emerald isn't bad either. Diamond is basically a gamble, you never know what you are going to get, but it only costs one diamond and 10 cinder shards instead of whatever specific gems plus 30. I personally wouldn't both risking it, but YMMV. With how crits really don't do much in the game, Jade and Aquamarine seem to be traps. Amethyst is up in the air, weight can be useful in keeping things back, but if you already have a bunch of weight on your weapon, it might not do anything.
Also, the Prismatic Shard can apparently go on *ANY* tool, not just a weapon. Also, apparently the prismatic shard doesn't count as a forge, so you could in theory have three forges plus the Prismatic Shard. When I affixed it to my Galaxy Hammer, it gave the word 'Crusader' with no other indicator. I'm sure it has some sort of mechanical effect, I'm just not sure what at this point.
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