1. Overview

The Forge is your one-stop shop for gear progression in Pixel Chicken. Located in the Hub, it handles three key systems: gear tempering (upgrading weapons and armor), proc gem socketing (adding combat effects to your gear), and relic management (equipping and evolving relics for permanent power 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 a hero-gear system with two equipment types:

• Weapons increase your ATK stat, directly boosting damage dealt.
• Armor increases your DEF stat, reducing damage taken.

Gear comes in multiple tiers. Higher-tier gear drops from harder content — pushing deeper into the Mountain or exploring dangerous Island Vale biomes rewards better equipment.

You can also buy gear from the Barn (shop) in the Hub, though the best gear is earned through gameplay.

3. The Forge

The Forge lets you temper your equipped gear. Tempering permanently increases the ATK or DEF bonus of a piece of gear. Each temper costs gold, and the cost increases with each level.

How Tempering Works

• Select a piece of gear in the Forge interface.
• Pay the gold cost to temper it one level.
• The gear's stat bonus increases permanently.
• There is no failure chance — tempering always succeeds.
• Cost scales with temper level, so plan your gold spending wisely.

Tip: If you have the Forge Master talent (Cunning tree), tempering costs are reduced by 25%. Consider investing in this talent if you plan to temper 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). Four gem types are available:

Gem	Effect	Best For
Chain	Damage chains to a nearby enemy	Clearing groups of enemies quickly
Freeze	Chance to freeze the target briefly	Survivability — stops enemies from attacking
Cleave	Attack hits multiple enemies at once	AoE damage in dense packs
Burn	Applies a damage-over-time burn effect	Boss fights and tough single targets

Gems are socketed into gear at the Forge. Higher-tier gems have stronger effects. 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
Uncommon	Noticeable improvement
Rare	Strong — competitive for mid-game
Epic	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	Elite and boss kills across all content
Dungeon Essence	Clearing dungeon phases in the Mountain
Boss Fragments	Defeating world bosses in Island Vale
Void Crystals	Rare drops from the hardest content

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.