Stonewards Upgrade Cheat Sheet: Forge Upgrades & Rings

Last verified: September 24, 2026 — Game version: Stonewards Early Access 0.2.2 hotfix on top of 0.2.0 “Later Summer” (current). Facts come from official Steam sources and verified player reports.

The Blacksmith in Stonewards turns your mined resources into power. Offer an item, then pick one upgrade from a randomized set. This cheat sheet lists every upgrade option reported by Early Access players, what it does, and when to take it.

How Upgrades Work

1. Offer an item at the forge to roll a set of upgrades.
2. Pick one from the choices shown. Each player in the same session sees a different set, so coordinate with your team.
3. Rings are capped at 4. You can only equip four rings at a time, so prioritize the ones that fit your build.
4. Blacksmith max level is 999 as of Hotfix 0.1.5, so the upgrade pool scales much further than it did at launch.
5. The pool itself changes with patches. Difficulty Ring was pulled in 0.2.0 while it is reworked, effects that hit their effective maximum stop being offered, and Gold can appear as a fill option when there are not enough Ring upgrades to fill the choices.

Character Stat Upgrades

Upgrade	Effect	Build Notes
Dig Strength	Mine faster and break walls quicker	Strong opener for every run; reaches the pink-wall resource layer faster (community gameplay, 01:08; 01:25)
Player Attack	Increase melee and weapon damage	Reliable frontline scaling; warrior/miner priority
Sprint Speed / Movement Speed	Move faster in the mine and base	Pairs well with dig strength for deep mining loops
Armor	Reduce incoming damage	Best for frontline tanks and solo runs
Max Health	Increase HP pool	Take when survival is the bottleneck
Max Stamina	Increase stamina pool	Useful for charged heavy attacks and charged mining swings
Crit Rate	Higher chance to deal critical hits	Great with heal-on-crit rings
Crit Damage	Critical hits hit harder	Pick after you have crit rate
Damage to Elites/Bosses	Bonus damage against strong enemies	Strong in later waves when bosses stack up (community gameplay, 03:03)

Ring & Tome Effects

Rings are the long-term scaling layer. Higher-rarity versions of the same effect are stronger, so a “good fit” rare ring can beat a “perfect name” common ring.

Effect	Type	Notes
Heal on Crit	Ring / Tome	Restores health when you crit; one Spanish-language run showed a 26% heal-on-crit roll (community gameplay, 18:12)
Headshot Bonus	Ring	A purchasable headshot ring appeared in the shop in one run (community gameplay, 01:11)
Melee Attack Speed	Ring	Helps warrior/miner builds clear waves faster
Crit Rate / Crit Damage	Ring	Stack with matching character upgrades
Jump Height	Ring / Upgrade	Reported in the forge upgrade pool; value not confirmed (community gameplay, 54:57)
Difficulty Ring / Tome	Ring / Tome	Reported from the forge pool in Early Access (community gameplay, 54:57); removed from the upgrade pool in 0.2.0 while the developer reworks it (official)
Compass Range	Tome	New in 0.2.0 (official). Effect scope is not documented by the developer
Team Attack	Tome	New in 0.2.0 (official) — a team-wide attack tome
Team Max Health	Tome	New in 0.2.0 (official) — a team-wide health tome
Precious Treasures	Tome	New in 0.2.0, reworked in 0.2.1: +20% chance of an extra item per upgrade instead of a guaranteed +1, and values above 100% can grant several extra Tomes (official)
Forge Boost	Tome	New in 0.2.0; 0.2.1 lowered how much each upgrade reduces the XP needed to level (official)
Craft Speed	Ring / Upgrade	Reduces crafting downtime between waves (community gameplay, 54:57)

What the 0.2.x Patches Added to the Pool

Patch	Pool change
0.2.2	Gold Ring multiplier capped at 200x
0.2.1	Gold Ring: +8% Gold per upgrade (was +3%), now multiplicative; Precious Treasures: +20% chance per upgrade instead of a guaranteed +1; Forge Boost lowered; common Treasure Chests hold fewer Tomes
0.2.0	New tomes — Compass Range, Team Attack, Team Max Health, Precious Treasures, Forge Boost; Difficulty Ring removed while it is reworked; Gold can appear when the Ring pool is short; values above 100% can trigger multiple times

Quick Picking Rules

• First forge visit: Dig Strength > Movement Speed > Max Stamina.
• Frontline warrior: Player Attack > Armor > Max Health.
• Solo miner: Dig Strength > Movement Speed > Crit Heal ring.
• Archer/Mage: only commit after you can consistently craft arrows or charge shots safely; otherwise stay melee.

For build archetypes, read our best builds tier list and best upgrades guide.

Sources

• The Boys are Dwarves (community gameplay): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-XuIMMYeW8
• Official Steam store page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4502710/
• Official Steam announcements hub: https://steamcommunity.com/games/4502710/announcements/
• Steam Community discussions: https://steamcommunity.com/app/4502710/discussions/

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