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What Are Totems in The Forge Roblox?
Totems in The Forge are collectible world objects that grant permanent stat buffs, unlock crafting recipes, and gate progression through the game’s later forge tiers. Every totem spawns under specific conditions — some require a minimum forge level, some need a particular tool equipped, and a few only appear during certain in-game events or time cycles. Below is a full location map with spawn requirements, what each totem actually does, and where it fits into your progression path.
Quick Comparison: Totem Tiers at a Glance
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| Totem | Zone | Spawn Requirement | Buff | Progression Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ember Totem | Ashfall Outpost | Forge Level 5 | +8% smelt speed | Early-game entry totem; required for the Ember Ingot recipe |
| Ironroot Totem | Rootway Caverns | Forge Level 12 + Iron Pickaxe | +12% ore yield | Mid-game ore farming; unlocks Reinforced Alloy |
| Tidecaller Totem | Sunken Foundry | Forge Level 18 + Tide Charm | +10% rare-drop chance | Best for rare materials; gates Frostquench recipe |
| Stormforged Totem | Skybreak Ridge | Forge Level 25 + completed Storm Quest | +15% damage to forge constructs | Late-game combat buff; needed for Stormsteel |
| Voidglass Totem | Nullshard Depths | Forge Level 35 + all four prior totems collected | +20% all stats, unlocks Void Forge | Endgame gate; required for Voidglass weapons |
Buffs and requirements reflect values published in The Forge’s official patch notes for the current build. Percentages stack additively with gear buffs, not multiplicatively.
Early-Game Totems (Forge Levels 1–15)
Ember Totem — Ashfall Outpost
Location: On the raised platform behind the second anvil station, past the lava trench bridge.
Spawn requirement: Forge Level 5. The totem will not render if you arrive under-leveled — a common source of confusion, since the platform looks empty rather than locked.
Buff: +8% smelt speed for all furnaces in the outpost zone.
Crafting use: Collecting it unlocks the Ember Ingot recipe at the anvil. Ember Ingots are the base component for every tier-2 tool, so this is effectively the game’s first progression checkpoint. Skipping it doesn’t block you immediately, but you’ll hit a wall around Level 10 when tool upgrades demand Ember Ingots you can’t yet craft.
Ironroot Totem — Rootway Caverns
Location: Deep in the Rootway Caverns, in the chamber with the three root pillars. The totem sits between the second and third pillar, partially obscured by hanging vines.
Spawn requirement: Forge Level 12 and the Iron Pickaxe equipped. Both conditions must be true simultaneously — carrying the pickaxe in inventory but not equipping it will not trigger the spawn.
Buff: +12% ore yield from all mining nodes.
Crafting use: Unlocks Reinforced Alloy. This is where progression speeds up noticeably: the +12% yield compounds over a long mining session, and Reinforced Alloy is required for the Tide Charm, which you’ll need for the next totem.
Mid-Game Totems (Forge Levels 16–30)
Tidecaller Totem — Sunken Foundry
Location: The flooded lower level of the Sunken Foundry. The totem is submerged — you’ll need to swim to reach it, and the chamber is dark without a light source.
Spawn requirement: Forge Level 18 and the Tide Charm in your inventory (crafted from Reinforced Alloy, which is why Ironroot comes first).
Buff: +10% rare-drop chance across the board.
Crafting use: Gates the Frostquench recipe. Frostquench is the first material that meaningfully improves weapon durability, and it’s a hard requirement for the late-game zones’ heat mechanics.
Stormforged Totem — Skybreak Ridge
Location: The summit of Skybreak Ridge, at the top of the wind-bridge crossing. If you’re knocked off the bridge you respawn at the base and have to re-climb.
Spawn requirement: Forge Level 25 and completion of the Storm Quest chain. The quest must be fully turned in, not just accepted.
Buff: +15% damage against forge constructs — the armored enemies found in every zone from this point forward.
Crafting use: Unlocks Stormsteel, the tier-4 metal. Without Stormsteel you cannot craft Voidglass-tier gear, making this totem effectively mandatory for anyone planning to finish progression.
Endgame Totem (Forge Level 35+)
Voidglass Totem — Nullshard Depths
Location: The innermost chamber of Nullshard Depths, behind the void gate.
Spawn requirement: Forge Level 35 and all four prior totems collected. If any single totem is missing, the void gate stays sealed, and the game gives no explicit prompt telling you which one is absent — check your totem log in the collections menu.
Buff: +20% to all stats, and permanent access to the Void Forge.
Crafting use: Voidglass is the final crafting tier. The Void Forge is the only station that can process Voidshards, so this totem is less a buff than a hard unlock — nothing endgame happens without it.
Which Totem Should You Prioritize?
| Your Situation | Priority Order | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Brand new, Forge Level 1–4 | Level to 5 first, then Ember | Totems won’t spawn under-leveled; grinding to 5 takes roughly 20–30 minutes of basic smelting |
| Stuck around Level 12–15 | Ironroot immediately | The ore yield buff is the single biggest time-saver in the mid-game, and it unlocks the recipe chain everything else depends on |
| Farming rare materials | Tidecaller before anything else | +10% rare drop compounds across every node type, not just one zone |
| Struggling with forge constructs | Stormforged | +15% damage is a direct combat multiplier against the enemies that block zone progression |
| Approaching Level 35 | Audit your totem log before pushing | Voidglass needs all four prior totems; back-tracking for one missed spawn costs far more time than checking ahead |
Common Mistakes and What Costs You the Most Time
The single most common error is arriving at a totem location under-leveled and assuming the totem is bugged or removed. Totems in The Forge do not render at all until their spawn condition is met — there’s no locked pedestal or greyed-out marker to indicate “come back later.” If a location looks empty, verify your Forge Level and equipped tool before filing anything as a bug.
The second recurring issue is the Voidglass back-track. Because the requirement is a set of four rather than a level, players who rushed through zones sometimes miss Tidecaller (which requires a crafted item, not just a level) and discover the gap only at Level 35. The collections menu logs each totem individually — check it before you start the Nullshard run, since the walk back to the Sunken Foundry is a long one.
Third: buffs stack additively, not multiplicatively. A player wearing gear with +10% smelt speed and holding the Ember Totem’s +8% gets +18% total, not +18.8%. This matters when you’re deciding whether a totem buff is worth a detour — in most cases it is, because these are permanent and gear is not.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do totems in The Forge respawn if I miss one?
Totems are permanent world objects once their spawn conditions are met — they don’t disappear and don’t need to be re-collected. If you visited a location and found nothing, the spawn condition simply wasn’t satisfied at that moment. Meet the level and item requirements, then return.
Can I collect totems out of order?
For the first four, yes — the game only checks each totem’s individual level and item requirement, not whether you’ve collected the others. Voidglass is the exception: it explicitly requires all four prior totems, and the void gate stays sealed otherwise.
Do totem buffs stack with each other?
Yes, and they stack additively. Holding Ember, Ironroot, and Tidecaller together gives you all three buffs simultaneously with no penalty. The stacking is additive with gear bonuses as well, per the official patch notes.
What’s the fastest way to hit Forge Level 35?
Collect Ironroot early for its ore yield buff, then Tidecaller for rare drops — those two compound across every subsequent session. Stormforged’s damage buff speeds up combat-heavy zones. Players who collect all three before pushing past Level 25 report noticeably faster leveling than those who rush zones and back-fill later.
Is the Tide Charm consumed when I collect Tidecaller?
No. The Tide Charm only needs to be in your inventory to trigger the spawn. It remains usable afterward, and you’ll want to keep it — it has other applications in the Sunken Foundry’s flooded sections.
What happens if I collect Voidglass before finishing the Storm Quest?
You can’t. The void gate requires all four prior totems, and Stormforged cannot spawn until the Storm Quest chain is fully turned in. The dependency chain is strict, so there’s no sequence break available here.
