Difficult Challenges in Forging in Rune Factory Frontier

Forging the Ultimate Blade

In the 1st year of your life in Trampoli in Rune Factory Frontier, obtaining the best weapons by creating them at your own Forge offers its own challenges. Some aspects of this are the practice needed to raise your Skills to the required Levels and the necessity of having the ultimate expansions of the Forge so that you can forge weapons that require the maximum of six ingredients.

If you have sufficient funds to purchase rare, slow-growing Seeds from Rosetta as well as Greenifier and Formula C from Lara at the Clinic, you can speed the process of obtaining some of the ingredients required for the best weapons, such as Emery Flower or Fireflower. Another ingredient used in many of the best weapons and tools is Little Crystal. This is not a Crop or Flower but rather is found in Rocks and Treasure Chests in Dungeons.

With respect to Little Crystal, you will be presented with another problem, which is the fact that the odds are against you. If you are one of those favoured by heaven, you may find it early in the game by smashing a Rock somewhere or by opening a Treasure Chest in one of the small chambers guarded by a Rune Stone Altar as described in previous sections of this Guide. If you are simply one of those players, like myself, who is not very lucky, you will be forced to endure many fruitless quests until you finally have one.

The best Hammer, The Hammer, can improve the odds of finding a Little Crystal inside a Rock but it requires both a Little Crystal and a Fireflower to forge. Even if you find a Little Crystal, you need to be able to harvest a Fireflower before you will be able to make one...

As you labour at the Forge to increase your experience and improve your Weapons, you may find other sources of frustration early in the game...

In Rune Factory Frontier, the level of any item created at Kitchen, Forge, Crafts Bench or Pharmacy can, at best, be only one level higher than the level of the ingredient with the LOWEST level. It can be forged one level higher if it is forged 'with expertise' by hitting the green in the gauge.

The level of a War Trophy depends on the specific Enemy who drops it and the location of that Monster. You will find this information in the Bestiary section of this Guide. The same type of Monster may drop different levels of the same item at different locations. Furthermore, if this Monster drops more than one item, each item may be assigned a different level.

Glue is an item in all Rune Factory games. In Rune Factory Frontier, you can obtain it as a War Trophy from an Orc Archer or you may find it by smashing a Crate or Urn or by opening a Treasure Chest in a Dungeon. The problem here is not one of finding Glue itself but of obtaining high level Glue.

The Orc Archer is one of the first hostile Monsters you will encounter and has a very low level. The Glue it drops tends to be Level 1 Glue. Early in the game, even if you have a decent level of experience, such as Level 50, you still will knock out Level 1 Glue from the Orc Archers you defeat (along with the two other items they drop in RFF). Most of the Glue found in Treasure Chests, Crates and Urns, likewise will be Level 1 Glue.

Note that a Tame Monster may drop one of his War Trophies when you release him back into the wilds, but the Level of that War Trophy will be the same as the item he drops in combat. It therefore has nothing whatsoever to do with his heart level at the time of his release.

Poised to create a Level 8 or Level 9 Defender to use in conjunction with a Durandel and some other fairly high level ingredients to create the Dragonslayer Sword, I was bedevilled by the fact that I could not obtain any Glue above Level 1. All the other ingredients for the Defender were at least Level 8, including the Gladius I had forged...

One therefore had a choice: create a Defender that is at Level 2 at best, essentially wasting the high level of the other ingredients or wait until one can obtain higher level Glue.

Level 10 Glue can be obtained from one of the Orc Hunters in the Tower of Birth randomly.

Remember that the actual Attack power of a Weapon will not change according to its Level but the amount of RP needed to wield it will decrease at higher levels.
The Dragonslayer has a Skill Level of 75 and is the best one-handed Sword one can forge without a Little Crystal. It is an ingredient in the Rune Blade, one of the very best one-handed Swords and one that possesses Rune Power.

In the circumstances, as the other ingredients are not difficult to obtain, it is best to 'waste' the high level of the ingredients and use the Level 1 Glue to create a Level 2 Defender. After all, even a Level 2 Dragonslayer is better than most of the other one-handed blades one can forge without a Little Crystal, and any high level project at the Forge raises Skill Levels faster than low level projects would. The Skill Level Requirement for a Smash Blade, the upgrade of the Luck Blade (one of my personal favourites) is Level 80 and that of the Rune Blade is Level 95. The Dragonslayer therefore is nothing more than a stepping stone on the path to perfection.

The effect of creating a higher level Weapon is not that of boosting ATK but rather of reducing RP Use. Here are the stats for a Level 1 Gladius and a Level 7 Gladius.
Gladius, Lv 1: 270G
Skill Level 18
ATK 23, REQ SKL 18, SP ATK 1, RP Use 6, FX Seal Defence
Gladius, Lv 7: 594G
ATK 23, SP ATK 1, RP Use 4, FX Seal Defence
Note that ATK does not change but that RP Use decreases with Level increase.

The Gladius is an ingredient in the Defender. To create the Dragonslayer, you must forge both a Defender and a Durandel Sword.

Defender: 660G
Skill Level 45
ATK 47, REQ SKL 45, SP ATK 2, RP Use 6, FX Defence +20
Ingredients: Gladius, Gold, Turtle Shell, Insect Hide, Glue

Durandel: 730G
Skill Level 48
ATK 55, REQ SKL 48, SP ATK 2, RP Use 6
Ingredients: Cutlass, Gold, Glittering Edge, Knife Piece, Warrior Medal

Dragonslayer: 1870G
Skill Level 75
ATK 99, REQ SKL 75
Ingredients: Defender, Durandel, Platinum, Magic Talon, Sharp Fang, Wet Scale

Ultimately, when you have one or two Little Crystals, you should upgrade your trusty Luck Blade to a Smash Blade and your Dragonslayer to a Rune Blade:

Smash Blade: 2400G
Skill Level 80
ATK 109, REQ SKL 80, SP ATK 4, RP Use 54, FX Poison Defence, Seal Defence
Ingredients: Luck Blade, Platinum, Magic Talon, Sharp Talon, Glittering Edge, Little Crystal

Rune Blade: 3210G
Skill Level 95
ATK 121, REQ SKL 95, SP ATK 4, RP Use 81, FX Rune Power
Ingredients: Dragonslayer, Little Crystal, Water Rune Stone, Rock Rune Stone, Tree Rune Stone, Grass Rune Stone

If you are fortunate, however, and have high levels of combat experience, you may be able to obtain Lv. 10 Glue as a War Trophy from one of the Orc Archer’s more powerful cousin, an Orc Hunter, at the higher levels of Whale Island.

Even if you manage THIS, however, you are left with the problem of obtaining a high level Little Crystal. The Little Crystals found in the Towers in the Floating Chamber area are location-specific:

Tower of Birth: Little Crystal, Lv. 1
Tower of Life: Little Crystal, Lv. 2
Tower of Rebirth: Little Crystal, Lv. 4
Tower of Glory, Little Crystal, Lv. 8

To obtain a Little Crystal at Level 10, you probably need to forge The Hammer, upgrade it with Scrap Iron to Level 10, then increase your levels of Experience with THAT as you smash rocks in various dungeons, hoping that one will contain a Little Crystal.

With a Level 8 Little Crystal from the Tower of Glory, you can forge a Level 9 Weapon or Accessory if you do so ‘with expertise’.

Rune Factory Frontier is logical and fair to some extent. You start with low level ingredients to create low level weapons and accessories. As your experience and skills increase in every activity, you can collect ingredients at higher levels to create high level Weapons and Accessories.

N.B. You will find all Recipes now in my Rune Factory Frontier Cookbook Recipe Guide at:

Rune Factory Frontier Cookbook Recipes Guide

Beginner's Guide to Easy Forging Projects in Rune Factory 2

I made this little video tutorial strictly for players who are embarking upon the earliest adventures in the 2nd Generation of Rune Factory 2. I had intended to make a video featuring the most advanced Weapons and Equipment but decided this would be more useful.

Sharpening your Skills and Weapons in Rune Factory 2

As I have received quite a few emails from players asking how best to increase their skills at the forge in Rune Factory 2, I decided to write a little post about that.

When you begin to work at the Forge, you cannot think as much in terms of making the items you really want as making the items that are within reach of your poor Skills.
Fortunately, the lowest level of project is that of upgrading your basic old Rusty Tools. These all require no more than Level 5 Skill and although your chances of success are not guaranteed, each time you attempt a project at the Forge, your Skill Level will increase a little, even if not by an entire Level.

As with any Skill Levels, whether in farming, combat, cooking or forging, actual Levels will increase more slowly as you reach higher Levels. In other words, to raise your Level from 1 to 2 requires little effort, but to raise it from 10 to 11 will take far longer.

Success in terms of any project is NOT what determines a Skill Level increase, happily. It is practice that increases Levels, whether or not you actually succeed or fail! You therefore will benefit each time you attempt a project at the forge, even if the result is a Failure again and again. Your Skill Level ultimately will increase, giving you a better chance of success with the project at hand as you continue to attempt it.

As soon as you have upgraded your Basic tools to the next level, you should upgrade them once more, as the second upgrade requires only Level 9 Skill at the Forge and you will find those Tools far superior to the basic Tools.

After these projects have been completed, you will struggle a little as you attempt to raise your Forging Skill from Level 10 to Level 20. There are few new projects that can be completed with guaranteed success initially at Level 10. You will be obliged to fail again and again unless you are extremely lucky, and indeed, luck will determine success at this stage!

This is where you may wish to upgrade the Steel Sword, as it requires only Level 14 Skill and uses only a single piece of Iron for each upgrade.

Useful items and upgrades between Level 10 Skill and Level 20 Skill include:

Steel Sword Upgrade, Level 14
Ingredients: Steel Sword, Iron

Staff Upgrade, Level 17
Ingredients: Staff, Bronze, Emerald

Silver Staff Recipe, Level 18
Ingredients: Rod, Rock, Silver, Apple, Cheap Cloth, Sparkle String

Defender Upgrade, Level 19
Ingredients: Defender, Iron, Bronze, Silver

Bronze Shield Upgrade, Level 20
Ingredients: Bronze Shield, Bronze x 2

Needle Spear Recipe, Level 20
Ingredients: Spear, Spore, Strong String, Plant Stem, Iron, Bronze

There are other Recipes as well between Level 10 and Level 20, but the ones I have listed do not require any ingredients that are difficult to procure.

There are some Recipes for two-handed Weapons at these Levels as well, but I personally would advise players to use one-handed Weapons with a Shield in the early stages of the 2nd Generation to improve your chance of survival in combat with powerful Monsters.

Although you have two Accessory Slots that can be equipped with defensive items, a Shield can add a few Defence points as well. Even with ‘Cure’ and ‘Medication’ to restore your HP during combat, you give yourself more protection if you equip a Shield. That effectively means that two-handed Swords, combat Axes and Hammers are to be avoided until your character acquires higher Statistics in terms of his/her personal Level as opposed to Weapons Level.

Although making the Basic Weapons that Tanya sells at her Smithy will increase your Skill Levels, most of those require quite a few ingredients. The items needed are not difficult to obtain, but the quantity of ore needed to produce one Basic Weapon can equal that required for three upgrades of the same Weapon. Whether you choose to use your ore to forge the Basic Weapon yourself or whether you choose to buy the Basic Weapon from Tanya, then perform many upgrades with the ore you have collected is a matter of personal preference in the end.

Incidentally, although you need to have the 'Recipe' in order to create a Weapon or item successfully at the Forge, you do not have to highlight it in the Menu. As long as you place the correct ingredients in the 'Forging Box', you can attempt the project. The success rate will be diaplayed as zero simply because you have not highlighted the Recipe, but the actual success rate will be determined as always by your Skill Level.

An important limitation to 'Upgrades' should be noted here. The highest upgrade to an item that you can make is Level 10. After that, the Weapon or Accessory no longer will increase in capacity. Performing upgrades after an item has reached the maximum Level 10 WILL continue to increase your Skill Level but it will not improve the actual item.

Nonetheless, at a very early stage in the 2nd Generation, you can perform the following upgrades to make it possible for rather low quallity weapons to operate at a far higher capacity:

Windsword: Level 10, Attack 47
Leather Boots: Level 10, Defence 11

These are only two examples of items I particularly like but the principle applies to any Weapon and Accessory.

By the way, if you are wondering whether you 'waste' upgraded weapons or accessories by using them as ingredients to create a new item rather than using a Level 1 weapon or accessory, the upgraded item is NOT wasted by any means.

Using a Level 1 Windsword as an ingredient in creating an Aerial Blade will result in a Level 1 Aerial Blade. Using a Level 10 Windsword, on the other hand, results in a Level 3 Aerial Blade.

Unfortunately, the upgraded item only 'counts' towards the result when it is a Weapon or Accessory in its own right. In other words, using a Level 5 Wind Crystal or Level 5 Quality Cloth in any Recipe will not have any more value than a Level 1 Wind Crystal or Quality Cloth. Where it is an item that you have upgraded yourself, however, it will improve the Levels of the resulting item.

Finally, to answer a player's question, you CAN trade items with other players using the Wi-Fi link at the Mirror on the upper floor of the Farmhouse. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but remember that one of the major goals in Rune Factory and Rune Factory 2 is to increase your own Skill Levels so that you can create the BEST items in the game. As I explained earlier in this post, upgrading your own items at the Forge or Workbench is one of the few ways by which you can increase your skill levels early in the 2nd Generation. There is a good reason for EVERYTHING usually in any Harvest Moon game. Yes, you could trade your Level 1 Windsword back and forth with another player to upgrade it, but that would keep your own Forging Skill at its existing level. It would be better to upgrade your own items in the early stages of the 2nd Generation and use the trading option LATER, once you have achieved the Skill Levels that allow you to create the best items in the game!