Every sword you forge in ForgeTax has its own progression, and watching a basic blade transform into something completely different is one of the fun parts of the game. As you keep increasing its grade, the sword’s appearance changes at certain milestones.
In this guide, we will go through the different sword evolution paths in ForgeTax, including the normal sword families and the special blades available from the ghost merchant. I will also explain how the game decides which family a delivered sword belongs to.
One thing you should know before getting started is that a sword remembers the highest grade it has reached. So if you push a blade to a high grade and later lose a level because of Damage, its appearance will not go backward. This makes the evolution system much easier to understand once you know how the milestones work.
ForgeTax Sword Evolution Guide
A newly delivered sword starts with the basic Worn Sword appearance.
As you forge it, its appearance changes at specific grade milestones. The important evolution points are:
+0, +2, +4, +6, +8, +10, +12, +14, +16, +18 and +20.
The important part is that these changes are based on the highest grade the sword has ever reached.
For example, if you take a sword to +12 and then a Damage result drops it to +11, it will still have the +12 appearance.
The First Three Forms
All normal delivered swords share the same beginning.
+0 — Worn Sword
Every standard sword starts as a Worn Sword.
At this stage, the game has not yet separated the blade into one of its specialized families.
+2 — Refined Sword
Reach +2 and the sword changes into a Refined Sword.
This is the first visual upgrade you will notice.
+4 — Decent Iron Sword
At +4, every normal delivered sword becomes a Decent Iron Sword.
From here, things start getting more interesting because the sword’s eventual family begins to determine its later appearance.
The +6 Stage
The form your sword receives at +6 depends on the delivery lane it came from.
When the game gives you the normal three swords, they are distributed across three different lanes in a shuffled order. This means the three swords you receive together cover all three lanes.
The lane is one of the hidden factors that determines the sword’s eventual family.
The Family Is Decided at +10
There is another hidden factor attached to each delivered sword.
When the sword arrives, it receives a hidden 50/50 branch. When the blade reaches +10, the delivery lane and this hidden branch work together to determine its family.
After that, the sword follows that family’s unique evolution path through the higher grades.
So you cannot simply choose a Citadel Sword or Holy Sword whenever you want. The sword’s delivery information determines which path it belongs to.
Citadel Sword Evolution
Citadel Swords start looking like ordinary iron weapons but eventually become enormous fortress-like blades.
Their progression includes:
- +6: Thick Iron Sword
- +8: Portable Iron Door
- +10: Angry Hunk of Metal
- +12: Biting Blade
- +14: Shard of Magic
- +16: Awakening Blade
- +18: Something’s Off with This Greatsword
- +20: Double-Plated Greatsword
The completed family is known as the Continent-Cleaving Iron Citadel.
If you are working toward the Citadel Sword Mastery achievement, you need to take a Citadel Sword all the way to +20.
Holy Sword Evolution
Holy Swords take a much more traditional legendary-weapon route.
Their later forms are:
- +6: Lightbound Silver Sword
- +8: Blessed Blade
- +10: Dawnblade
- +12: Blade of the Worthy King
- +14: Sword of the Promised Dawn
- +16: Excalibur
The final form is Excalibur.
Reaching this form is also important for the Holy Sword Mastery achievement, which unlocks the Dawn Scabbard relic.
Sawblade Evolution
Sawblades are exactly what they sound like: swords that gradually become increasingly ridiculous cutting machines.
The progression goes through:
- +6: Is This a Saw or a Sword?
- +8: Plate-Chewing Sawblade
- +10: Interlocking Steel Sawblade
- +12: Steel-Grinding Shredder
- +14: Mountain-Cutting Saw
- +16: Unstoppable Gears of Ruin
The final form is Unstoppable Gears of Ruin.
Reaching +20 with this family counts toward Sawblade Mastery and unlocks Ceaseless Driveshaft.
Dragonfang Evolution
Dragonfangs gradually turn into increasingly powerful dragon-themed weapons.
The progression is:
- +6: Young Dragon’s Fang
- +8: Dragonscale Blade
- +10: Bristling Dragonblade
- +12: Winged Wyvernblade
- +14: Blade of the Dragon King’s Breath
- +16: Demon Blade: Dragonslayer
The final form is Demon Blade: Dragonslayer.
If you are collecting relics through achievements, getting this sword to +20 unlocks Dragon Heart.
Runeblade Evolution
Runeblades follow a magical progression and become more powerful-looking as their grade increases.
The forms include:
- +6: Runescribed Blade
- +8: Awakening Runeblade
- +10: Overcharged Blade
- +12: Archmage’s Arcane Engine
- +14: Reality-Cracking Blade
- +16: Akasha, Blade of Genesis
The final form is Akasha, Blade of Genesis.
Forging a Runeblade to +20 completes the Runeblade Mastery achievement and unlocks Perfect Mana Core.
Splitblade Evolution
Splitblades have a particularly unusual progression.
Their forms are:
- +6: Broken but Still Together
- +8: Blade That Hates Being Alone
- +10: Blade That Commands Blades
- +12: Shameless Blade
- +14: Lord of a Thousand Swords
- +16: Sovereign of Blades
The final form is Sovereign of Blades.
Taking one of these swords to +20 completes Splitblade Mastery and unlocks Seal of Twins.
Ghost Merchant Sword Families
The ghost merchant sells several special sword types that do not follow the same family system as the normal delivered blades.
These swords have their own dedicated evolution paths, with a new form appearing every two grades.
The three major special families listed here are World Tree, Fishblade and Funerary Sword.
World Tree Sword Evolution
World Tree swords start out looking more like pieces of wood than weapons.
Their progression is:
- +0: Fallen Branch
- +2: Surprisingly Sturdy Branch
- +4: Club That Refuses to Break
- +6: Late-Blooming Club
- +8: A Seed Begins to Stir
- +10: This Used to Be a Branch
- +12: A Forest in a Bud
- +14: Thousand-Year-Old Tree
- +16: Tree of the Wellspring
- +18: Tree That Holds the World
- +20: Yggdrasil, the World Tree
The final evolution is Yggdrasil, the World Tree.
Getting this sword to +20 also completes World Tree Mastery and unlocks Eternal Seed.
Fishblade Evolution
Fishblades have one of the strangest progression paths in ForgeTax.
Instead of becoming a normal legendary sword, they slowly transform through a collection of increasingly unusual fish-themed weapons:
- +0: Kelp-Wrapped Blade Shard
- +2: Cuttlebone Knife
- +4: Crab-Shell Sawblade
- +6: Frozen Tuna
- +8: Fish Skewer
- +10: Grilled Fish Skewer
- +12: Pufferfish Mace
- +14: Coral Altar Blade
- +16: Whale Jawblade
- +18: Kraken Tentacle
- +20: Leviathan’s Fang
The final form is Leviathan’s Fang.
Taking a Fishblade to +20 completes Fishblade Mastery and unlocks Abyssal Pearl.
Funerary Sword Evolution
Funerary Swords use a death and graveyard theme for their entire progression.
The forms are:
- +0: Rusty Coffin Nail
- +2: Shroud-Wrapped Grave Knife
- +4: Gravedigger’s Shovel
- +6: Broken Tombstone Greatsword
- +8: Coffin-Lid Greatsword
- +10: Bell That Wakes the Dead
- +12: Torch of Wandering Souls
- +14: Gravekeeper’s Scythe
- +16: Uprooted Grave
- +18: Graveyard of the Dead
- +20: Key to the Underworld
The final form is Key to the Underworld.
This family is also connected to Funerary Sword Mastery. Reaching +20 unlocks Undertaker’s Ledger.