1. Overview

Your base weapon and armor upgrade automatically as you level up (more on that below) — so the Forge is not where you get new gear. Instead, the Forge is where you customize the gear leveling gives you: socket proc gems for combat effects, repair durability, refine and upgrade gems, reroll your gear's bonus stats, and evolve relics for permanent boosts.

Together, these systems form the core of your character's combat power beyond raw levels. A well-forged build can make the difference between struggling on a floor and breezing through it.

2. The Gear System

Pixel Chicken uses an auto-scaling hero-gear system. You have two equipment slots:

• Weapon — sets your ATK and how your shots behave.
• Armor — sets your Max HP and DEF.

Here is the part new players most often miss: you do not loot or buy your weapon and armor. They upgrade automatically as your character levels up, advancing through eight tiers. Each tier is a stronger, renamed piece with a new signature ability, and its power keeps scaling within a tier as you gain levels. So the fastest way to stronger gear is simply to level up — and the Mountain levels you fastest.

Weapon and armor tiers unlock at player levels 1, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, and 250.

Weapons

Signature abilities are cumulative — each tier keeps the previous ones and adds a new trick on top.

Armor

Armor's primary stat is Max HP; it also adds DEF (and Thorns from Tier 3 on). The Hub store sells only healing supplies (Corn and Meat) — not gear. What you actually collect from chests and enemies is gold and proc gems, which you bring here to the Forge.

3. The Forge

Because your weapon and armor tiers come from leveling, the Forge focuses on everything around that: repairing durability, socketing and refining proc gems, evolving relics, and rerolling your gear's bonus stats (sometimes called tempering).

Rerolling Bonus Stats (Temper)

Your weapon and armor carry small bonus stats (affixes) on top of their base power. At the Forge you can pay gold to reroll one of them and chase a better roll:

• Pick the weapon or armor stat you want to reroll.
• Pay the gold cost — it scales with your player level.
• Most rerolls improve the stat, but some land neutral or slightly lower, so it is a gamble.
• There is a short cooldown between rerolls.

Keeping your gear repaired matters too: durability drops as you fight, and fully broken gear operates at roughly half power. A quick repair at the Forge restores it.

Tip: If you have the Forge Master talent (Cunning tree), reroll costs are reduced by 25%. Consider investing in it if you plan to reroll heavily.

4. Proc Gems

Proc gems add combat effects to your gear. When you attack, there is a chance for the gem's effect to activate (proc). You socket gems into your weapon at the Forge, and sockets unlock as you level up — at player levels 1, 25, 75, and 150 (four sockets total). Gems come in four families, and owning gems across multiple families grants a stacking bonus. A few popular examples:

Higher-tier gems have stronger effects but require a higher-tier weapon to slot. Beyond socketing, the Forge's Refine tab lets you recycle duplicate gems into Gem Dust, craft new gems, and upgrade gem ranks. The Gemologist talent (Cunning tree) increases all proc gem effects by 15%.

5. Relics

Relics are special items that provide permanent, passive bonuses to your character. Unlike gear, relics are not about ATK or DEF — each relic has a unique effect that changes how you play.

You can equip up to 2 relics at a time (the second slot unlocks at level 100). There are 10 named relics in the game, each with a distinct passive:

Relic	Passive Effect
Vampiric Fang	Lifesteal on attacks
Critical Eye	Increased crit chance
Shadow Cloak	Chance to dodge attacks
Spiked Mantle	Reflects thorns damage to attackers
Storm Conduit	Chain lightning on hit
Ember Heart	Burn damage on hit
Golden Idol	Increased gold find
Executioner's Mark	Bonus damage to low-HP enemies
Vitality Stone	Passive HP regeneration
Iron Ward	Flat damage reduction

6. Relic Evolution

Each relic can be evolved through 5 tiers, dramatically increasing its passive effect at each stage:

Tier	Power Level
Common	Base effect
Rare	Noticeable improvement
Epic	Strong — competitive for mid-game
Legendary	Powerful — shapes your playstyle
Mythic	Maximum power — endgame goal

Evolution is done at the Forge in the RELICS tab. Each evolution requires specific materials that drop from different content sources.

7. Relic Materials

Four types of materials are used for relic evolution. Each comes from a different part of the game, encouraging varied play:

Material	Source
Relic Shards	Chance from elite and boss kills (Mountain & Island Vale)
Dungeon Essence	Clearing Cursed Cellar phases (and Mythic Voids)
Boss Fragments	World and mega boss claims in Island Vale
Void Crystals	Clearing Mythic Voids

Higher-tier evolutions require more materials and rarer types. Plan your farming across all content sources for the most efficient progression.

8. Tips & Strategies

• Temper your best gear first. Don't waste gold tempering gear you'll replace soon. Wait until you have a high-tier piece before investing heavily.
• Match proc gems to your playstyle. Chain and Cleave are great for fast clearing. Freeze helps with survivability. Burn excels against bosses.
• Prioritize relic evolution over quantity. A single Mythic-tier relic is far more powerful than two Common-tier relics.
• Use the Cunning talent tree. Forge Master (-25% temper cost) and Gemologist (+15% gem effects) directly boost your forge output.
• Farm all content sources. Relic materials come from different areas — don't just grind Mountain floors. Run dungeons, fight world bosses, and explore Island Vale.
• Second relic slot at level 100. This is a major power spike — plan which two relics complement each other best.