Ruby in The Forge only spawns in the deep layers of the mine — it is not in the spawn table above Layer 4 — so you cannot get it with a starter pickaxe no matter how long you farm the surface quarry. The minimum setup is a Tier 3 (Steel) pickaxe, a light source, and access to Layer 4 or deeper. Once you have that, the fastest method is a fixed loop on the deepest layer you can survive, paced so the node respawn timer resets behind you as you circle back.
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Ruby requirements at a glance
| Requirement | Minimum | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Layer depth | Layer 4 or deeper | Ruby is not in the spawn table above Layer 4. Farming Layer 2 for an hour yields exactly zero Ruby, not “a low chance.” |
| Pickaxe tier | Tier 3 (Steel) | Gem-tier nodes have a hardness value that Tier 1–2 tools cannot damage. The node simply does not take hits, so the swing is wasted. |
| Light source | Any lantern or helmet lamp, plus spare fuel | Ruby renders as a dark red fleck on grey rock and is effectively invisible past a few studs in an unlit tunnel. |
| Node type | Gem vein (not standard rock nodes) | Standard rock nodes roll from the common ore pool only. Ruby comes from the separate gem-node roll. |
| Bag space | 3+ free slots | A full inventory mid-run means a wasted trip back to the shaft, which is where most of the lost hours go. |
What Ruby actually is
Ruby is the mid-tier gem ore in The Forge’s crafting tree — the material between the iron and steel tier and the endgame ores. Per the in-game Ore Index, it is classified as a gem ore, and that classification is the whole reason the route below matters: gem ores do not share the spawn rules of the common ores you have been mining, they spawn from a separate roll, and that roll is depth-gated. Ruby is used for gem-set tool upgrades, higher-tier forge recipes, and as a reliable sale item at the ore trader if you would rather buy your upgrades with gold.
How to get Ruby in The Forge: step by step
- 1. Get a Tier 3 (Steel) pickaxe first. Reason: gem nodes have a hardness value above Tier 1–2 damage output, so low-tier swings register nothing. Farming Ruby before this is not slow — it is zero.
- 2. Unlock the descent to Layer 4+. Reason: Ruby is depth-gated, not luck-gated. Paying for shaft access once converts every future session into a Ruby session.
- 3. Stock light and plan a bank trip. Reason: veins are dark and you will walk past them without a lamp; and dying deep with a full bag loses the run’s haul, so bank every 10–15 minutes.
- 4. Learn the vein’s visual tell before you start counting nodes. Reason: Ruby is a dark red fleck with a glossy highlight, roughly half the size of a standard rock node. Being able to spot it in half a second instead of two seconds is the single biggest speed gain available to you.
- 5. Use heavy/charged swings on gem nodes only. Reason: gem nodes carry their own HP pool, so a heavy swing removes more per hit — but it drains stamina, so spending it on common rocks is a net loss.
- 6. Run a loop, not a layer. Reason: nodes respawn on a timer. Sweeping a layer once and leaving means you spend the next ten minutes walking through empty tunnels.
- 7. Decide immediately whether to sell or forge. Reason: if you still need the Tier 4 pickaxe, selling early Ruby is usually correct — the tool pays for itself faster than the recipe does.
The math: how much Ruby per hour you should actually expect
Here is a worked example using the current 2026 build’s ore tables. Two inputs matter: how many nodes you break per hour, and what share of the node pool is Ruby on that layer.
A clean loop with no backtracking breaks roughly one node every 6 seconds, which is about 600 nodes per hour. A messy run with dead ends and a trip back to the shaft is closer to 250 nodes per hour — which is why the route section below matters more than the pickaxe tier past a certain point.
| Layer | Approx. Ruby share of node pool | Min. pickaxe | Realistic nodes/hr on a clean loop | Expected Ruby/hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Layer 2 | 0% | Tier 2 | ~700 | 0 |
| Layer 4 | ~0.3% | Tier 3 (Steel) | ~600 | ~1.8 |
| Layer 5 | ~0.5% | Tier 3 | ~570 | ~2.9 |
| Layer 6 | ~0.9% | Tier 4 | ~520 | ~4.7 |
| Layer 7 | ~1.6% | Tier 5 | ~500 | ~8.0 |
Nodes per hour stays roughly flat across layers because tougher nodes are offset by the higher-tier pickaxe you need to be there at all — so the Ruby share, not the swing speed, is what moves your yield.
Layer 4: 600 × 0.003 = 1.8 Ruby/hour. Layer 6: 520 × 0.009 = 4.7 Ruby/hour. That is 2.6× the yield for the same hour of play, purely from depth.
Now apply it to a goal. If a gem-set recipe needs 250 Ruby, Layer 4 works out to 250 ÷ 1.8 ≈ 139 hours. Layer 6 is 250 ÷ 4.7 ≈ 53 hours. Layer 7 is 250 ÷ 8.0 ≈ 31 hours. The conclusion is that you should not settle in at Layer 4 and grind: spend the first 6–8 hours there to fund the Tier 4 pickaxe, then move down, because every hour you spend on Layer 4 after that costs you more than an hour at Layer 6. This table reflects the in-game Ore Index for the current build; The Forge retunes ore tables between patches, so treat the shares as planning figures and confirm them in-game before committing to a long grind.
The most efficient Ruby farming route
Start at the deep shaft landing, take the left branch — the right branch is longer and has more dead ends — and follow the wall clockwise, hitting the three gem-spawn tiles on the north face, then drop to the lower shelf and sweep the two tiles there before riding the elevator back up. A full lap runs about 110 seconds, and the node respawn timer is roughly 90 seconds, so by the time you return to the first tile it has refilled.
That timing is the entire trick: your loop should be slightly longer than the respawn timer. Shorter and you stand around waiting on empty tiles; much longer and you are walking instead of mining.
- Group up. Three or four players on the same lap in different branches covers roughly three times the tiles for the same wall-clock time.
- Server hop if the layer is picked clean. If you finish two full laps with zero gem nodes, someone else is running your route. Hop rather than wait.
- Avoid peak hours on crowded servers. Contested layers are the single most common reason a correct route underperforms.
Which route fits your situation
| Your situation | Best route | Why |
|---|---|---|
| No Tier 3 pickaxe yet | Farm copper and iron on Layers 1–3 and sell | Ruby yield is zero below Tier 3. The fastest path to Ruby is funding the pickaxe first, not looking for gems. |
| Tier 3, light armor, solo | Layer 4 loop, bank every 15 minutes | Lowest death risk, roughly 1.8 Ruby/hr, and safe enough to run without a group. |
| Tier 4, decent armor, solo | Layer 6 loop | Best rubies-per-hour per unit of risk — about 4.7/hr with manageable mob pressure. |
| Tier 5 with a 3–4 player group | Layer 7, split the ring into quarters | About 8 Ruby/hr solo, more with coverage, but it is not survivable without armor and a group. |
| You need 10–20 Ruby for one recipe | Buy from the player shop or trade | At 1.8 Ruby/hr, 20 Ruby is an 11-hour grind. Buying with gold you already have is almost always the better trade. |
No Ruby after an hour? Check these five things
- You are above Layer 4. Check the Ore Index entry for Ruby — if it lists a minimum layer, that is the gate. Fix: descend, do not keep farming.
- Your pickaxe is below the node’s tier. Check: swing at a gem vein and watch the HP bar. If it does not move at all, you are under-tiered. Fix: upgrade before returning.
- You are breaking the wrong nodes. Crimson-toned common ores look similar in bad light. Check: look at the node label or compare against the Ore Index icon. Fix: light your tunnel properly so the glossy fleck is visible.
- Someone else is running your route. Check: two clean laps with zero gem nodes. Fix: switch branches or hop servers.
- You are selling Ruby by accident. Check: your “sell all” habit at the trader. Fix: keep-lock the gem slot so a bulk sell cannot take it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What layer does Ruby spawn on in The Forge?
Ruby enters the spawn table at Layer 4 and its share of the node pool climbs with depth, reaching roughly 1.6% by Layer 7 in the current build. Above Layer 4 the chance is zero, not small, so there is nothing to farm on the upper layers. Confirm the exact minimum in the in-game Ore Index, since ore tables are retuned between patches.
What pickaxe do you need to mine Ruby in The Forge?
A Tier 3 (Steel) pickaxe is the minimum, and Tier 4 or Tier 5 is needed to farm the deeper layers where Ruby is actually common. Under-tiered tools do not mine gem nodes slowly — they do not damage them at all, which is why an hour with a starter pickaxe produces nothing. Upgrade the pickaxe before you invest time in the descent.
Can you get Ruby from the surface quarry?
No. The surface quarry rolls from the common ore pool only, and Ruby is a gem ore on a separate roll that is depth-gated. Any guide telling you to farm the quarry for gems is describing a different game or an older build. Spend that time on Layers 1–3 farming the ore you can actually sell to fund your Steel pickaxe.
How long does it take to farm 100 Ruby?
At the Layer 4 rate of about 1.8 Ruby per hour, 100 Ruby is roughly 55 hours; at Layer 6’s 4.7 per hour it drops to about 21 hours; at Layer 7 it is around 13 hours. The gap between those numbers is the argument for moving down as soon as your pickaxe allows it. Grouping with three other players on the same lap cuts these figures substantially because it triples tile coverage.
Should you sell Ruby or forge with it?
Early on, sell it — the gold from a few Ruby usually funds the next pickaxe tier faster than the recipe it unlocks, and the pickaxe raises every future hour’s yield. Later, once you are farming Layer 6 or 7, forging is the better use because the gold value of Ruby becomes trivial next to the tool upgrades it buys. The crossover point is roughly when your hourly Ruby income exceeds what a single recipe needs.
Does Ruby spawn on every server?
Yes — the spawn table is the same on every server, so there is no “lucky server” to hunt for. What differs is competition: on a crowded server the deep layers may be stripped by other players, which looks like a low spawn rate but is really a route conflict. If two clean laps produce nothing, hop servers rather than change your technique.
