Forging
formerly known as Smithing
Smelt ores into bars, hammer bars into gear. The metal economy in one skill.
Forging is Tideward's smithing trade — turn raw ores into metal bars at a furnace, then hammer bars into weapons and armour at an anvil. Renamed from "Smithing" in May 2026 because that name had Hades/Dredge/Stardew Valley overlap; "Forging" reads cleaner on the App Store editorial shelf. Same mechanic, same gear ladder, same satisfaction of producing a Dragon Scimitar with your own bars.
How Forging works
Forging is two skills in one: smelting (ore → bar) and smithing (bar → item). Smelting at a furnace requires an ore + appropriate amount of coal (none for bronze, more for higher tiers — Runite needs 8 coal per bar). Higher-level metals require higher Forging level to smelt without failure.
Bar tier maps directly to gear tier. A Mithril longsword needs Mithril bars; a Dragon platelegs needs Dragon bars (which require a Dragon ingot, which is a quest reward). Each item has a bar count + Forging level requirement. The hammering itself is the XP-generating action — bar smelting gives small XP, item smithing gives the bulk.
Most AFK Forging is bar smelting at high tiers — uniform action, no item-pick decisions, easy to leave for hours. Active Forging with item production is where you actually fund your gear ladder. A maxed Forging character can produce any non-Dragon item in the game from raw ores.
Inputs
- Ores (from Mining or shop)
- Coal (for any non-Bronze smelt)
- A hammer + anvil + furnace
Outputs
- Forging XP
- Metal bars (Bronze through Runite)
- Forged items (weapons, armour, ammunition heads)
Tips for training Forging
- Coal is the bottleneck. Stockpile coal before any serious Forging session.
- Use the Cellar Smelter (Hearth unlock) for the 50% coal-saving effect on high-tier smelts.
- Bars sell for steady gold even if you can't use them yourself. A maxed Forging character is a continuous gold producer.
- The "smith all" auto-action processes your bars into a chosen item type. Set it before AFK.
- Some end-game items have unique recipes that require quest unlocks. Check the Almanac before grinding bars for an item you can't actually make yet.
Skills that pair with Forging
The 23 trades aren't isolated. Forging works best alongside these:
Frequently asked about Forging
Why renamed from Smithing?
"Smithing" overlaps too much with Hades, Dredge, and Stardew Valley's use of the term. Tideward's May 2026 rebrand chose "Forging" to differentiate while keeping the mechanic identical.
What's the fastest Forging XP method?
Cannonball production at high levels — single recipe, fast tick rate, decent per-cannonball XP. For pure bar smelting, Adamant bars at 70+ are the AFK standard.
Do I need to mine my own ore for Forging?
No. The in-game market has steady ore prices, and a Pilfering or Magic-Alch funded character can buy ores faster than a Mining-only character can mine them. Most max-Forging accounts are mostly market-bought.
Train Forging on every Apple device.
Tideward is in TestFlight alpha — free, native on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro, and Apple Watch. CloudKit syncs your character across all of them with no account needed.