The first thing to cover is the items used to forge weapons in Genshin Impact. There are four types of raw materials that can be gathered in the game. And all four are used to forge items, as well as weapons. These forging materials can be found by breaking rocks on the world map. Iron Ore is used to forge enhancement ore, and is the most common forging ingredient you will find. Next are White Iron Chunks, which can be used to form Fine Enhancement Ores. Lastly, Crystal Chunks are used to forge Mystic Enchantment Ore. All of these items can be found near caves, mines, and mountains. White Iron Chunks specifically can be found often between Brightcrown Canyon and Wolvendom.
There is one last kind of material that can be found, called Magical Crystal Chunks. These can only be found when you reach World Level 4 later in the game. These crystals can be refined into weapon EXP materials by using Original Resin. The resin is also used to complete missions with the Ley Line Blossoms, and you only get a certain amount per day unless you use Primogens to reset the counter.
The next type of ingredients are weapon prototypes. These items, when combined with the above-mentioned materials, are what are used to forge whole new weapons. So naturally, these prototypes are a little harder to find.
All of these prototypes are normally found after defeating bosses, as they will drop them with other loot. Northlander Bow Prototypes are used to forge 4-star bows for characters like Amber. Northlander Catalyst Prototypes can be used to forge 4-star catalysts, the spell books used by characters like Lisa. Characters like Noelle benefit from Northlander Claymore Prototypes, which are are used to forge 4-star claymores. Northlander Polearm Prototypes are used to forge 4-star polearms for characters like Xiangling. Lastly, you guessed it, Northlander Sword Prototypes are used to forge 4-star swords for characters like the Traveler, Jean, and Kaeya. The 4-star weapons are the highest that can be made by forging, as 5-star weapons must be obtained by wishing for them. There are 10 different weapons you can forge in total, two for each type.
On the next page, we go deeper into forging.
