Hellfire Forge and Sentient Equipment

The Hellfire Forge stands as a second pillar of the art, twin to the Ara Vitae itself. Where the altar works with Essentia Vitae, the Forge consumes Spiritus, reshaping raw malice into Sentient Tools, Spiritus Gems, Arcane Ash, reagents, and many things besides. No practitioner of Vitaemancy can progress far without one.

Drawing from the Aura

Crafting in the Forge spends the Spiritus stored in the Spiritus Gem placed in its gem slot. To keep that reserve from running dry, a gem seated in the Forge continuously absorbs Spiritus from the chunk's Aura, at the same rate a Spiritus Crucible fills a gem (10 per tick per Aspect). Saturate the local Aura with a Crystallum Fractura farm and the Forge can run unattended, its gem refilling as fast as crafting drains it.

Harvesting Spiritus

Before you can put the forge to use, you must collect Spiritus, the residual spiritus scoured from slain creatures. Two paths open the door.

Throwing Daggers

Bows and crossbows serve their purpose well enough, but sifting through gravel for flint and plucking chickens for feathers is beneath a Vitaemancer of your caliber. Throwing Daggers require no ammunition and carry rather devious secondary effects. The basic Iron variant is forged at the Tabula Vitae with a Novicius Orb and a handful of materials.

Dagger	Notes
Iron Throwing Dagger	10 damage with a moderate cooldown. Every wound binds spectral motes to hostile creatures; slain marked quarry yields Raw Spiritus. The only path to your first harvest before a Sentient Sword is at hand. Looting increases the drop.
Syringe Throwing Dagger	Slightly less damaging, cheaper to forge. Creatures slain by it have a chance to yield a Tabula Ampoule (or more if the quarry is hearty). Crush an ampoule near an Ara Vitae for 500 EV directly into the altar (unaffected by runes).
Amethyst Throwing Dagger	Matches Iron in damage but yields no Spiritus. Its purpose lies elsewhere: 8 Amethyst daggers + a Lingering Alchemy Flask in the Athanor produce Tipped Amethyst Throwing Daggers.
Tipped Throwing Dagger	Each strike delivers the flask's effect to the target, as though it had walked through a lingering cloud.

Sentient Sword

The Sentient Sword is a far more elegant instrument of Spiritus collection. It may feel sluggish when first drawn; the blade feeds on the Spiritus you carry, growing sharper with every fragment. A Spiritus Gem brimming with essence is essential to unlocking its true potential. Right-click to recalibrate the blade's attunement after acquiring a large quantity of Spiritus, or when experimenting with a new Aspect. All Sentient equipment can be repaired with a Binding Reagent in an anvil.

Sentient Tools

The success of the Sentient Sword has inspired further experimentation. If a blade can be imbued with Spiritus, the same logic extends to a pickaxe, an axe, or a shovel. All Sentient equipment is highly receptive to enchantment.

Tool	Behavior
Sentient Pickaxe	Without Spiritus, scarcely better than iron. With a full Spiritus Gem, surpasses even Netherite, cleaving through stone as though it were clay.
Sentient Axe	Slightly above iron unpowered. With a full gem, rivals Netherite and gains a significant damage boost; formidable as a weapon for those who do not mind its heft.
Sentient Shovel	A noticeable improvement over iron even unpowered. With a full gem, earth and gravel part before it like water.
Sentient Scythe	A beast of a different nature. Slower and less devastating per blow than the sword, but its sweeping arc delivers full damage to every creature in reach; ideal for hordes. Still functions as a hoe.

Sentient Armor

To create Sentient Equipment, you require Iron Armor, the Arcane Scribe Tool, a Binding Reagent (forged in the Tabula Vitae), and at least a Common Spiritus Gem charged with sufficient Spiritus. What emerges is no longer mere metal; it is alive, and it learns from you.

The Ritual of Binding

Inscribe an Alchemy Array, apply the Binding Reagent as base, then place your Iron Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, or Boots as catalyst and step back. The resulting armor begins equivalent to iron, but possesses 100 Upgrade Points that it will spend as it grows alongside you. Sentient Equipment rivals Diamond in resilience and is repaired in an anvil with additional Binding Reagent.

The armor is alive, and it watches everything you do. Be deliberate in what you teach it. Hold sneak while examining a piece to see what it has learned so far.

Specialisation

The armor shifts, adapts, and strains to assist you in whatever task it observes. It grows in many directions at once, but its capacity is finite; trying to master everything yields mastery of nothing. Consider forging multiple sets, each trained for a specific purpose, such as a miner's set, a warrior's set, or an explorer's set. The Vitaemancer has devised Rituals to assist with focused training, and another to imbue armor with a greater capacity for growth. See Sentient Armor for the full upgrade and downgrade catalog.

Explosive Charges

Mining by hand and felling trees one swing at a time is beneath a practitioner of Vitaemancy. Compact charges of compressed Spiritus detonate on contact; hurl them at offending stone, timber, or anything else you wish unmade.

Each charge can be enhanced by Anointing it with certain reagents and a measure of Spiritus:

• Fortunate (or Fortunate II for augmented charges): broken blocks yield Fortune loot.
• Heated Tool: broken blocks are smelted on the spot.
• Soft Touch: broken blocks are affected by Silk Touch.
• Voiding: worthless debris is annihilated rather than dropped.

Charge	Effect
Shaped Charge	Obliterates a 7x7x7 cube on the face it strikes; drops blocks as though pickaxe-mined. Cuts through Obsidian.
Augmented Shaped Charge	11x11x11 cube; also accepts Fortunate II.
Deep Shaped Charge	Bores a 7x7x9 corridor straight through whatever it strikes.
Deforester Charge	Strike a log or leaf and up to two stacks of wood come down with leaves stripped.
Deforester Charge II	Fells up to 8 stacks of logs, shearing all connecting leaves.
Controlled Charge	Destroys only blocks identical to the block it strikes, seeking outward (up to 3 stacks).
Controlled Charge II	As above, devouring up to 8 stacks.
Fungal Charge	Consumes up to 3 stacks of fungal material (giant mushrooms, Nether fungi).
Fungal Charge II	Annihilates up to 8 stacks of mushroom material in a single detonation.

Other Forge Products

The Hellfire Forge also produces Spiritus Gems (the storage cells for raw Spiritus), Arcane Ash (used to inscribe Alchemy Arrays), Crystal Clusters (Tier 5 altar capstones, made from Sculk + Tabula Aetherea + Weak Blood Shard + Nether Star), and a host of intermediate reagents. Consult JEI for the full list.

See also: Spiritus, Aspects and Crystals (where Spiritus is gathered and aspected), Sentient Armor (the full upgrade tree for Sentient Equipment), Alchemy Arrays (the binding ritual surface), Tabula Vitae, Flasks and Anointments (where the Binding Reagent used for repairs is forged).