Path of Idle workshop guide: forge costs, ceilings and stop points
Forging never fails. It walks an item up the equipment level table one level at a time, so a level 100 item at forge +20 carries the core stats of a level 120 item. The only thing between an item and its ceiling is the bill, and the bill is large: taking a level 100 item from +0 to +50 costs 16,390,461 gold at full price, or 8,195,229 with all five Workshop price reduction upgrades.
What forging changes and what it does not
Forging does not add a separate bonus. The item reads its core stat multiplier from the level table at its own level plus its forge level.
| Item level | At +0 | At +10 | At +25 | At +50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 1.00x | 1.61x | 2.78x | 5.39x |
| 50 | 1.00x | 1.31x | 1.86x | 2.97x |
| 80 | 1.00x | 1.21x | 1.56x | 2.25x |
| 99 | 1.00x | 1.18x | 1.46x | 2.02x |
Forging multiplies a low level item much harder than a high level one, because the level table’s early rows are close together. A level 20 item at +50 more than quintuples its core stats. That does not make it a good item: its affix ceiling, wear requirement and prices all still come from its own level of 20, and its maximum affix level is stuck at 2.
So forging is how you make a high level item great, not how you rescue a low level one. Which items deserve the spend is covered in gear quality. The equipment levels page has the whole table.
The ceiling is a Stele tier, not gold
Every item starts capped at forge level 3. Each Workshop level raises that ceiling, and each Workshop level waits on a Stele tier of the same number.
| Workshop level and Stele tier | Forge cap |
|---|---|
| none | +3 |
| 1 | +5 |
| 5 | +13 |
| 10 | +25 |
| 15 | +37 |
| 20 | +50 |
If you have gold and your forge stops early, the answer is a Stele tier. That is the single most common reason a well geared team stops improving.
The bill
Each forge step reads the price rate of the level it is leaving, so the cost accelerates sharply. On a level 100 item, going from +0 to +1 costs 12,179 gold and going from +49 to +50 costs 909,881.
| Item level | To +10 | To +25 | To +50 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 18,759 | 181,945 | 1,317,537 |
| 50 | 70,499 | 683,732 | 4,951,186 |
| 80 | 156,729 | 1,520,041 | 11,007,271 |
| 100 | 233,379 | 2,263,430 | 16,390,461 |
Five Workshop upgrades cut forge prices by a combined 50%, so every number above halves once they are bought. The forge calculator prices a specific item and target for you.
Forge prices stop rising at item level 100. A level 150 item costs exactly the same per forge level as a level 100 one, while carrying much better stats. That makes high level items strictly cheaper to improve, not more expensive.
Runestones from +11 onward
Forge levels are free of runestones up to +10. From the step at +10 to +11 onward, every level also costs runestones, and the family depends on where the item is worn: weapons, amulets and rings take attack runestones, and all four armour parts take defense runestones.
A full climb from +0 to +50 consumes 60 runestones: 15 each of quality 1, 2, 3 and 4. Quality 5 is not needed for forging at all.
Where those runestones come from is covered in the runes guide.
Socketing and refining
Socketing puts a rune into a socket and adds its affixes to the item. Sockets only exist on Common and Fine items at level 20 and above, and the first three read as a runeword when they match a recipe in order. A socketed rune rolls 2 affixes at base weight 100 and 3 affixes at base weight 80, and Workshop upgrades raise the 3 affix weight to 160, which makes 3 affixes more likely than 2 once fully upgraded. Four upgrades cut socketing prices by a combined 60%.
Refining spends bone to reroll quality:
| From | Success | Failure | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common | Legendary | Rare | 10% to 22% |
| Fine | Set | Rare | 10% to 22% |
| Legendary | Mythic | destroyed | 15% to 25% |
Three upgrades cut refining prices by a combined 45%. Two more raise the Legendary to Mythic success rate from 15% to 25%. Even fully upgraded, three attempts in four destroy the item.
An item that has sockets can no longer be refined, so the two paths are exclusive, and the equipment database shows what each item can roll. Decide which one an item is for before you forge it.
Where to stop
Item level 90 is where the affix ceiling stops rising, at max affix level 9. Below that, a higher level item can roll strictly better affixes.
Item level 100 is where forge prices, trade rate, corruption price and refine price all stop rising. Above it, everything gets better and nothing gets more expensive.
Forge level is worth pushing as far as your Stele allows on your main damage dealer’s weapon, and much less far on everything else. On a level 100 item, going from +25 to +50 costs about six times what going from +0 to +25 does, so six items at +25 usually beat one item at +50.