Crafting & Enchanting

Forge System

The Forge is the central crafting interface in Vampires vs. Werewolves. It becomes accessible once your character reaches Level 15. Before that point, you are limited to purchasing gear from NPC shops and the Auction House — crafting is unavailable entirely.

Unlocking the Forge

Reach Level 15 with any character
Visit the Forge NPC in any major city (Nighthaven for Vampires, Ironmoor for Werewolves)
Complete the short introductory quest "First Flame" — it requires 5 Iron Shards and 2 Cloth Strips
The Forge menu is permanently unlocked on your account after quest completion

The Forge can be accessed from anywhere in the game world via the Crafting button in the main menu, except while in active combat or inside a dungeon room mid-fight. You do not need to stand next to the Forge NPC after the initial unlock.

Crafting Interface

The Forge interface has three panels:

Recipe Browser — search and filter all 302 known recipes by category, level requirement, material, or output item name
Crafting Queue — queue up to 5 craft attempts simultaneously (10 with Premium)
Crafting Log — a history of your last 50 craft attempts, showing outcome (success/failure), materials consumed, and item produced

Quality Tiers

Every successfully crafted item is assigned a quality tier at the moment of creation. The tier is randomly determined based on your Crafting Mastery skill level and a small luck roll. Higher quality tiers produce items with better base stats.

Quality Tier	Color	Stat Multiplier	Approximate Craft Rate
Common	Grey	×1.0 (base stats)	~55% of successes
Uncommon	Green	×1.15	~28% of successes
Rare	Blue	×1.30	~12% of successes
Epic	Purple	×1.50	~4% of successes
Legendary	Orange	×2.00	~1% of successes

QUALITY BOOST

Equipping a Master's Hammer consumable before crafting shifts the quality distribution upward for that single craft — reducing Common results by ~20% and increasing Rare+ results proportionally. Master's Hammers are obtainable from the Black Market and the Clan Store.

Recipe Categories

The game contains 302 crafting recipes divided across six categories. Recipes are unlocked by discovering them during gameplay — from dungeon drops, quest rewards, NPC purchases, the Black Market, and the Clan Store. You begin with 12 starter recipes after completing "First Flame".

Category	Recipes	Output Items	Key Materials	Min. Level to Craft
Weapons	68	Swords, axes, daggers, staves, bows	Iron Shard, Bloodcrystal, Moonstone	15
Armor	72	Helms, chest pieces, gloves, boots, shields	Iron Shard, Shadowleather, Boneplate	15
Jewelry	44	Rings, amulets, bracelets	Moonstone, Voidglass, Gold Nugget	20
Potions	55	HP potions, stat buffs, antidotes, elixirs	Nightbloom Herb, Crimson Root, Venom Sac	15
Runes	38	Combat, Defense, and Utility runes for socketing	Runic Dust, Moonstone, Shadowcrystal	25
Consumables	25	Scrolls, traps, bombs, banners, food buffs	Cloth Strip, Alchemical Powder, Iron Shard	15

Discovering Recipes

Recipes exist as Recipe Scrolls — items in your inventory. Right-clicking a scroll permanently teaches the recipe to your account. Scrolls can be traded on the Auction House before use, but become account-bound the moment they are learned.

Dungeon drops — each dungeon has a loot table that includes recipes appropriate to its level range; boss kills have the highest drop chance
Quest rewards — crafting questlines unlock entire recipe sets; completing the Weaponsmith questline unlocks 14 Weapon recipes at once
NPC vendors — each city sells up to 8 rotating Common and Uncommon recipes; stock refreshes every 24 hours
Black Market — the best source for Epic and Legendary recipes not available elsewhere
Clan Store — selected Rare recipes rotate through the Contribution Point store weekly

RECIPE COUNT

Not all 302 recipes need to be learned to craft end-game gear. The most efficient crafters focus on 20–30 high-demand recipes and master those. Quality tier and success rate improvements reward depth over breadth.

Crafting Materials

Materials are the consumable ingredients required for crafting. They stack in your inventory and are destroyed upon craft attempt (whether the craft succeeds or fails, though partial returns apply on failure — see Craft Success Rate). Materials can be farmed, purchased from NPC shops, and traded on the Auction House.

Primary Materials

Material	Tier	Primary Source	Secondary Source	Main Use
Iron Shard	Common	Zone 1–4 monsters; Mining nodes	NPC Shop (10 gold each)	Weapons, Armor, Consumables
Cloth Strip	Common	Zone 1–3 humanoid enemies	NPC Shop (8 gold each)	Armor, Consumables
Nightbloom Herb	Common	Gathering nodes (Night zones only)	Zone 2–5 creature drops	Potions, Elixirs
Crimson Root	Uncommon	Zone 5–7 gathering nodes	Dungeon 3–5 room drops	Advanced potions, buff elixirs
Moonstone	Uncommon	Zone 4–6 Elite monster drops	Auction House	Jewelry, Runes, Epic Weapons
Shadowleather	Uncommon	Shadow Stalker enemies (Zone 5+)	Auction House	Light armor pieces, gloves
Bloodcrystal	Rare	Vampire zone bosses; Dungeon 4–7 boss drops	Black Market (rotation)	Epic Weapons, Bloodcrystal Runes
Boneplate	Rare	Werewolf zone bosses; Dungeon 4–7 boss drops	Black Market (rotation)	Heavy armor, shields
Runic Dust	Rare	Disenchanting unwanted Rare+ gear	Auction House	Rune crafting, enchanting reagent
Voidglass	Rare	Dungeon 7–9 boss chest	Black Market (occasional)	Epic Jewelry, Grand Enchanting Runes
Shadowcrystal	Epic	Dungeon 8–10 boss exclusive drop	Very rare Auction House listing	Legendary Weapons, Rune Words
Gold Nugget	Uncommon	Zone 6–8 Mining nodes (rare yield)	Auction House	Jewelry, cosmetic crafts

Disenchanting

Any Rare or higher item can be disenchanted at the Forge to yield Runic Dust. Disenchanting permanently destroys the item. The amount of Runic Dust returned scales with the item's rarity and level:

Rare item: 1–3 Runic Dust
Epic item: 4–8 Runic Dust
Legendary item: 10–20 Runic Dust

IRREVERSIBLE

Disenchanting cannot be undone. There is no confirmation prompt for items below Legendary rarity. Double-check your selection before confirming — many players have accidentally disenchanted hard-earned Epic weapons.

Craft Success Rate

Every craft attempt has a success chance — it is not guaranteed to produce the item. The base success rate is 60% for all recipes. This can be improved significantly through character progression and gear choices.

Success Rate Formula

CRAFTING SUCCESS RATE

Success % = min(95%, 60% + (Crafting Mastery × 0.5%) + (INT × 0.1%))

Crafting Mastery — a passive skill unlocked in the Skills panel; max rank 40 (+20% total)
INT — Intelligence stat; each point contributes +0.1% to success rate
Success rate is capped at 95% — a 5% failure chance always exists
Example: Crafting Mastery rank 20, INT 50 → 60% + 10% + 5% = 75% success rate

On Failure

When a craft attempt fails, the materials are not entirely lost. The game returns a partial refund of ingredients to your inventory:

Common materials — 50% of the stack is returned (rounded down)
Uncommon materials — 40% returned
Rare materials — 25% returned
Epic materials — 10% returned

The gold cost component of a recipe (if any) is fully lost on failure — only physical material ingredients are partially refunded. This makes high gold-cost recipes significantly riskier to attempt at low Crafting Mastery.

Crafting Mastery Progression

Mastery Rank	Success Bonus	Quality Bonus	How to Advance
Rank 1–10 (Apprentice)	+0.5% per rank	None	Craft any recipe
Rank 11–20 (Journeyman)	+0.5% per rank	+1% Uncommon+ chance	Craft Uncommon+ recipes
Rank 21–30 (Expert)	+0.5% per rank	+2% Rare+ chance	Craft Rare+ recipes
Rank 31–40 (Master)	+0.5% per rank	+3% Epic+ chance	Craft Epic recipes only

INT INVESTMENT

INT is primarily a magic damage stat, but its crafting bonus makes it valuable to hybrid builds. A crafter investing 80 INT gains +8% success rate on top of Crafting Mastery — bringing a fully invested Master crafter close to the 95% cap without needing additional consumables.

Enchanting

Enchanting adds a random bonus stat to any piece of gear that does not already have an enchant slot filled. Unlike socketing (which uses pre-defined rune bonuses), enchanting generates a bonus from a stat pool — the exact stat and value are randomised each time.

How to Enchant

Open the Forge and select the Enchanting tab
Place the item you want to enchant in the enchant slot
Select an Enchanting Rune from your inventory — rune tier determines the quality of the bonus
Pay the gold cost (varies by item level and rune tier)
Click Enchant — the item receives a random bonus stat instantly

If the item already has an enchantment, the new enchant replaces the old one. This allows re-rolling to fish for a better stat. The old enchant bonus is permanently lost on re-enchant — it cannot be saved or transferred.

Enchanting Rune Tiers

Rune Tier	Gold Cost	Bonus Range	Stat Pool	Source
Minor Enchanting Rune	200 gold	+1 to +3 to a single stat	STR, DEX, DEF, HP, LCK, INT	NPC Shop, Dungeon drops (Zone 1–4)
Major Enchanting Rune	800 gold	+4 to +8 to a single stat	STR, DEX, DEF, HP, LCK, INT, ATK%	Dungeon drops (Zone 5–7), Auction House
Grand Enchanting Rune	2,500 gold	+9 to +15 to a single stat, or a compound bonus	All stats + compound bonuses (e.g. +5 STR +5 DEX, or +8% Crit)	Dungeon 7–10 boss drops, Black Market, Clan Store

Compound Bonuses (Grand Rune only)

Grand Enchanting Runes have a chance (~15%) to produce a compound bonus — two stats simultaneously on a single enchant slot. These are highly sought after and make Grand Rune-enchanted items significantly more valuable on the Auction House.

Battleborn — +5 STR, +5 DEX
Ironwall — +8 DEF, +30 HP
Shadowstep — +6 DEX, +4 LCK
Bloodrage — +7 STR, +4 INT
Fortune's Edge — +6 LCK, +4 DEX

RE-ENCHANTING RISK

Re-enchanting destroys the previous bonus with no undo option. If you receive a Grand Rune compound bonus on the first try, strongly consider keeping it rather than re-rolling for a marginally better single stat. Many veterans regret re-rolling compound enchants.

Rune Socketing

Rune Socketing is a separate system from enchanting. While enchanting adds a random stat to a gear piece's enchant slot, socketing inserts a crafted Rune into a dedicated socket for a fixed, predetermined bonus. Rune sockets are available on gear with a socket icon in the item tooltip.

Socket Availability

Common & Uncommon gear — no sockets; cannot be socketed
Rare gear — 1 socket
Epic gear — 1–2 sockets (varies by item)
Legendary gear — 2–3 sockets

Sockets on gear cannot be added or removed — they are part of the item's fixed properties when it drops or is crafted. To extract a rune from a socket, use a Socket Pry tool (available from the NPC Shop for 300 gold). The extracted rune is returned to your inventory; the socket becomes empty again.

Rune Types

There are three rune families. Each family has five tiers (I through V), with Tier V being the most powerful. Higher-tier runes require rarer materials to craft.

Rune Family	Bonus Type	Tier I Example	Tier V Example	Key Material
Combat Rune	Offensive stats (STR, DEX, ATK%)	+2 STR	+10 STR or +5% ATK	Bloodcrystal, Runic Dust
Defense Rune	Defensive stats (DEF, HP, damage reduction)	+3 DEF	+15 DEF or +80 HP	Boneplate, Runic Dust
Utility Rune	Support stats (LCK, INT, XP%, gold%)	+2 LCK	+10 LCK or +5% XP gain	Moonstone, Runic Dust

Rune Crafting Recipes

Runes are crafted at the Forge using the Runes category (38 recipes total). Each tier requires increasingly rare materials. Tier IV and V runes also require Shadowcrystal, making them endgame crafting targets.

Tier	Min. Crafting Mastery	Base Success Rate	Notable Materials
Tier I	Rank 1	60%	Runic Dust ×2, Iron Shard ×3
Tier II	Rank 5	60%	Runic Dust ×4, Moonstone ×1
Tier III	Rank 15	60%	Runic Dust ×6, Moonstone ×2, Bloodcrystal ×1
Tier IV	Rank 25	60%	Runic Dust ×10, Voidglass ×1, Shadowcrystal ×1
Tier V	Rank 35	60%	Runic Dust ×15, Voidglass ×2, Shadowcrystal ×3

STACKING RUNES

If a Legendary item has 3 sockets, you can insert three different rune families, or even stack three Combat Runes for maximum offensive output. Stacking the same rune family in multiple sockets provides additive bonuses — three Tier V Combat Runes provide +30 STR total.

Rune Words

Rune Words are powerful named set bonuses that activate when a specific sequence of three runes is socketed into the same item, in the correct order. The sequence matters — inserting the runes in the wrong order produces no Rune Word effect, though the individual rune bonuses still apply normally.

Rune Words are some of the most powerful bonuses in the game. They require items with at least 3 sockets, which means only Legendary gear with 3 sockets can hold a Rune Word. The Rune Word bonus is displayed separately from individual rune bonuses in the item tooltip.

Known Rune Words

Rune Word Name	Required Runes (in order)	Rune Word Bonus	Best Slot
Crimsonblade	Combat III → Combat V → Combat IV	+15% weapon ATK, +8 STR, ignores 10% of enemy DEF	Legendary Weapon
Ironveil	Defense IV → Defense III → Defense V	+25 DEF, +120 HP, 5% chance to block all damage from a hit	Legendary Chest Armor
Moonwhisper	Utility II → Combat II → Utility IV	+12 LCK, +6 DEX, +8% XP from all sources	Legendary Jewelry (Ring or Amulet)
Voidcaller	Utility III → Combat IV → Defense II	+10 INT, +8 STR, +10% damage to undead and beast enemies	Legendary Weapon (INT builds)
Bloodpact	Combat V → Defense I → Combat III	+12 STR, +8 DEF, lifesteal: heal for 3% of damage dealt per hit	Legendary Weapon (sustain builds)

Activating a Rune Word

Obtain a Legendary item with exactly 3 sockets
Ensure all 3 sockets are empty before beginning (use Socket Pry tools if needed)
Open the Forge → Socketing tab
Insert runes one at a time in the exact sequence listed for the Rune Word
After the third rune is inserted in the correct position, the Rune Word name glows gold in the item tooltip and the bonus activates immediately

ORDER IS CRITICAL

Inserting runes out of order does not trigger the Rune Word. The individual rune bonuses still apply, but you will not receive the set bonus. To correct the order you must extract all three runes with Socket Pry tools (900 gold total) and re-insert them in the correct sequence.

RUNE WORD DISCOVERY

The five Rune Words listed above are confirmed by the community. Additional undiscovered Rune Words are believed to exist for combinations involving Tier I and Tier II runes exclusively, but none have been confirmed as of Version 1.0.0. Experimenting with rare combinations in a spare item is encouraged.