The Goblin Cave in The Forge sits in an awkward spot between late-game flex and genuine progression upgrade. It dangles some of the highest-multiplier ores in the game behind a long and expensive questline, then undercuts that promise with extreme drop rates and stiff mining requirements. Whether it is “worth it” depends almost entirely on how far you are into the game and what you expect to get out of it.
How Goblin Cave access works and what it costs
The Goblin Cave is a hidden late-game dungeon in the Forgotten Kingdom, tucked behind a waterfall to the right of the Goblin King’s throne. You cannot walk in by default. Entry is locked behind the Goblin King’s questline.
The questline involves five quests and functions as an expensive key. Across those quests you:
- Pay roughly 75,000–85,000 gold in total.
- Hand over multiple rare gems, including Topaz, Diamond, Emerald, and Ruby.
Those gems drop from Basalt rocks in the Forgotten Kingdom at low rates. A Basalt Core can drop Topaz, Diamond, or Emerald, while Ruby only appears from Basalt Vein and needs at least a Mythril Pickaxe. That makes the key both gold- and time-intensive, even before stepping into the cave.
Once the questline is cleared, the Goblin King disappears permanently, and the cave door unlocks for good.
What is inside the Goblin Cave
Inside, the Goblin Cave is built around two pillars: crystal rocks and slimes.
- Crystal rocks. Colored formations (Crimson, Cyan, Earth, Light, Violet) form the core of the mining loop. They have high health (around 4,000 HP) and require strong pickaxes to break.
- Enemies. Slimes and Blazing Slimes patrol the area. They drop essence for gold and Slimite for forging, turning combat into a steady income source if you can clear them quickly.
- Hidden waterfall room. A waterfall on the left side of the cave hides a short tunnel leading to Tomo’s Cat, needed for the Lost Cat quest and the CatLover title and Professional Rescuer badge.
The cave is not a teleport destination. You must re-enter the Forgotten Kingdom and walk to the unlocked door each time.
The crystal ores: multipliers vs reality
The pitch for Goblin Cave is simple: the crystals inside have better multipliers than almost anything in World 2. That is true on paper, but the details matter.
Standard crystal ores
Each colored crystal rock can drop mid- to high-tier crystal ores with improved multipliers compared to most surface rocks:
- Crimson Crystal with a 3.3× forging multiplier.
- Blue Crystal with a 3.4× multiplier.
- Orange Crystal with a 3.0× multiplier.
- Green and Purple Crystals with similarly strong late-game multipliers.
These are listed around a 1/255 chance from crystal rocks, which is uncommon but not absurd. For regular crafting and selling, they represent a consistent bump over the “trash” ores from earlier areas.
Rainbow Crystal and Arcane Crystal
The real draw, and the source of most disappointment, is the two rare drops that can appear from any crystal rock inside the cave:
- Rainbow Crystal with a 5.25× multiplier, 1/5,000 drop rate, and a sell price of about 78.75 gold.
- Arcane Crystal with a 7.5× multiplier, 1/100,000 drop rate, and a sell price of about 112.50 gold, currently the highest sell value for any single ore in the game.
Both have no special traits attached. They are pure multiplier and gold. On paper, Arcane Crystal is one of the best base ores for forging builds. In practice, the 1/100,000 drop rate means many players can farm hundreds of hours without seeing a single one. Rainbow Crystal is more common, but still rare enough that targeting it as a main income source is slow.
For comparison, late-game Demonite (from outside the cave) sits at roughly 5.5× multiplier with additional burn and Demon’s Backfire passives and uses a significantly higher drop rate than Arcane Crystal. That gives Demonite more practical build value per unit of time despite the lower raw multiplier.
Pickaxe and gear requirements for Goblin Cave
The Goblin Cave is technically late-game content, but practically, it is closer to endgame. The crystals are tanky and gated by pickaxe tiers.
- You need a strong pickaxe such as Lad Eye or better to reliably mine the crystal rocks.
- Anything below that will struggle or be outright unable to break the crystals in a reasonable time.
- The crystals’ ~4,000 HP turns low-tier pickaxe mining into a chore, even if the game lets you chip away at them.
That is why many mid-game players feel “scammed” when they unlock the cave: they have just burned tens of thousands of gold and rare gems to access content they cannot mine efficiently yet. By the time you own pickaxes on the Lad Eye level or beyond, you are deep into endgame and already have multiple other ways to farm value.
Money-making in Goblin Cave: ores vs enemies
There are two main economic loops inside the cave: mining crystals for ores and farming slimes for drops.
Mining for income
Mining looks attractive at first. Even the “worst” crystals in the cave beat early volcanic ores for raw multipliers, and the loot table dangles Rainbow and Arcane Crystals as jackpots. In practice, a few issues show up:
- The rare crystal drop rates are extremely low. You can spend long sessions without seeing a single Rainbow, never mind Arcane.
- The time to break each rock is high unless your pickaxe and damage are very strong.
- Many weapons and tools you want to craft at this stage still draw heavily on volcanic or other non-cave ores.
If your only goal is gold per hour, pure mining in Goblin Cave often loses to more consistent ore routes elsewhere or to combat grinding.
Farming slimes for income
Slimes and Blazing Slimes inside the cave paint a different picture. Regular players describe these enemies as:
- Easy to kill relative to their rewards once you are late game.
- Consistent sources of essence, which can be sold for decent gold.
- Suppliers of Slimite, which can be forged into gear or items that sell for meaningful profit.
For players who already have access and combat power, running laps killing cave slimes can be more efficient and less frustrating than standing at a crystal rock praying for a 1/5,000 or 1/100,000 drop.
Quest and completion value: Tomo’s Cat and titles
Beyond raw gold and multipliers, the Goblin Cave is wired into a few progression and cosmetic systems.
- Tomo’s Cat and Lost Cat quest. Tomo’s Cat is hidden behind the cave’s waterfall. Reaching it completes part of Tomo the Explorist’s questline and awards a large XP boost, 25,000 gold, the CatLover title, and the Professional Rescuer badge.
- Logbook and index completion. The Goblin Cave has its own Logbook section. Players chasing 100 percent completion, logbook entries, and titles will need to unlock and clear it sooner or later.
- Future-proofing. The cave is flagged as late-game content and is expected to receive more mobs and possibly additional crystals in future updates, making it more relevant over time.
If you care about titles, badges, index checkmarks, and future content hooks, the Goblin Cave shifts from “waste of gold” to “necessary long-term unlock,” even if it is not the strongest short-term investment.
Community sentiment: why so many players call it a scam
There is a clear pattern in how players describe the Goblin Cave unlock:
- Mid-game and early late-game players tend to regret rushing it. They sink four or more hours of grind, plus 75,000–85,000 gold and rare gems, then discover they cannot mine effectively and the rare crystals almost never drop.
- Endgame players with strong gear and lots of spare gold are more neutral. For them, the cave is an optional side-grind, a slime farm, and a way to clear Goblin King and cat-related quests from their log.
- Many frame the Goblin King’s questline as a deliberate gold sink that feels like a scam if you expected a rich mining paradise immediately afterward.
That gap in expectations is the key problem. The in-game flavor text and crystal multipliers suggest massive rewards, but the actual design rewards patience, high gear, and a long-term mindset more than short-term profit seekers.
When Goblin Cave is worth it
Whether Goblin Cave is worth your time and gold depends heavily on where you are in The Forge’s progression.
If you are mid-game
At mid-game, when you are still working through World 2, upgrading weapons, and saving for key tools like the Demonic Pickaxe, unlocking Goblin Cave is usually a poor value.
- The questline eats a huge portion of your gold reserves.
- You likely do not have a Lad Eye–tier pickaxe, so crystal mining will be slow or impractical.
- The rare ore drop rates will not carry your economy or crafting roster.
In this bracket, it makes more sense to focus on proven upgrades: better pickaxes, weapons, and areas that directly boost your gold and crafting throughput. Goblin Cave can wait.
If you are late-game but not fully stacked
Late-game players with decent gear and around 100,000–150,000 gold are in a grey zone. The cave can be justified if:
- You have already bought the key late-game tools and weapons you care about.
- You want a new combat-oriented gold farm via slime grinding.
- You enjoy chasing rare drops even if the odds are very low.
However, if you still lack major upgrades, Goblin Cave remains a luxury purchase rather than a core milestone.
If you are endgame with money to spare
Once you are comfortably endgame with top-tier pickaxes (Arcane or better) and a surplus of gold, Goblin Cave becomes a reasonable next step.
- Slime farming can be a relaxing and efficient alternative to pure mining routes.
- The cave lets you finish the Goblin King and Tomo’s Cat questlines, earning titles, badges, and a solid 25,000 gold reward back from the Lost Cat quest alone.
- You unlock a dedicated late-game zone that is likely to receive more content in updates, so you are future-proofed.
At this point, the “is it worth it” question matters less in raw gold-per-hour terms and more in terms of completion, variety, and access to future systems. For that kind of player, the answer is closer to “yes, eventually.”
Practical recommendations
A few simple rules help decide whether to invest in Goblin Cave now or postpone it:
- Do not rush it early. If you are still in World 2 progression and do not have at least a Lad Eye–level pickaxe, save your gold.
- Prioritize core gear. Buy major pickaxes (including Demonic) and essential combat upgrades before touching the Goblin King questline.
- Treat rare crystals as bonuses, not a plan. Rainbow and Arcane Crystals are nice surprises, not reliable income streams.
- Value the cave for what it reliably offers. Think of it as a slime farming hub, a completionist requirement, and a late-game playground, not a guaranteed jackpot.
Viewed that way, Goblin Cave stops looking like a universal scam and instead reads as what it actually is: a pricey, long-term late-game zone that only pays off for players who have already solved their basic money and gear problems and are ready for a slow grind, rare drops, and completion goals.
