Forgeborn Scathe, Laevatain's signature sword in Arknights: Endfield, requires three specific essence stats to reach full power: Intellect Boost, Attack Boost, and the Twilight passive. Getting all three stats on a single essence is the main endgame grind, and understanding where to farm and how to optimize your runs will save you weeks of wasted stamina.
Quick answer: Farm essences for Forgeborn Scathe at the Wuling alluvium near the monitoring station, which is the only location that can drop all three required stats. Always use engraving permits (tickets) to guarantee stat rolls; farming without them wastes stamina.
Why the Wuling alluvium is your only option
The first four alluviums in Valley IV can only drop two of the three stats Forgeborn Scathe needs. One location drops Intellect Boost and Twilight but no Attack Boost. Another drops Attack Boost and Twilight but misses Intellect Boost. Only the Wuling alluvium near the monitoring station rolls all three stats together, making it the mandatory farming location if you want a perfect essence.
This limitation applies to very few weapons in the game. Oblivion has the same constraint with its Intellect, Arts Boost, and Twilight combination. Every other six-star weapon can find a compatible alluvium in Valley IV, which costs far less regional currency to farm. If you're building other weapons, check the essence compatibility list in your Operation Manual before committing to Wuling runs.
Using engraving permits to guarantee stats
Engraving permits (called tickets in-game) are the single most important resource for essence farming. Without a ticket, the odds of rolling your desired stats are so small that farming becomes pointless. A ticket forces the game to guarantee at least one secondary stat and one skill stat on every drop, then lets you pick which of three main attributes appears.
You can buy 10 cheaper tickets per week from the Stock Redistribution store in each region once you've upgraded it enough. More expensive tickets exist, but the weekly batch is usually sufficient. Most players find they accumulate more regional currency than they can spend, so buying tickets is rarely a bottleneck.
Each Wuling run costs 80 stamina with a ticket. At normal stamina recovery (200–360 per day), you can realistically do four runs daily without spending premium currency. This means roughly 12–20 runs per week, or about two weeks of consistent farming to land a perfect three-stat essence if luck is average.
Exploration level and drop rates
Your exploration level directly controls how many essences drop per run. At exploration level four, you get one legendary essence per run. By exploration level seven, that jumps to three legendary essences per run. Since you're farming at Wuling, push your exploration level as high as possible by completing main story trials before committing heavy stamina.
Higher exploration level means you see more essence rolls per run, which increases your chances of hitting the perfect stat combination. This is why many players wait until late game to farm Forgeborn Scathe essences—the time investment in story progression pays off immediately through better drop rates.
Etching essences after you find them
Once you land an essence with all three stats, the real grind begins. Etching upgrades individual stats by sacrificing other golden essences or spending coolant gel (a resource you earn from failed etch attempts). Each stat can reach a maximum of plus six for the first two stats and plus three for the skill stat.
Success rates drop dramatically as stats get higher. Early upgrades (plus one to plus two) have very high success rates, but going from plus five to plus six becomes extremely low. Most players focus etching resources on the skill stat (Twilight) and one main stat rather than trying to max everything, since coolant gel costs become prohibitive at high levels.
Lock any perfect essence you find in your inventory to prevent accidentally using it as upgrade material. This is a common mistake that wastes weeks of farming.
Why Wuling farming is expensive
Wuling alluviums cost more regional currency per ticket than Valley IV equivalents. The earning rate for Wuling currency is also lower than Valley IV currency, making each run proportionally more expensive. Additionally, Wuling currency is needed for gear etching (a separate endgame system), so you're competing for the same resource pool.
If you're building multiple weapons, prioritize Valley IV alluviums first. Only commit to Wuling farming for Forgeborn Scathe and Oblivion, the two weapons that genuinely require it. For everything else, you'll find better alluviums in earlier regions that cost less and drop just as effectively.
Who should farm Forgeborn Scathe essences
Main DPS characters and hypercarries benefit most from perfect essences because they use every stat on the weapon. Laevatain, who wields Forgeborn Scathe, scales directly with Intellect, Attack, and the Twilight passive, so maxing all three is worthwhile for her.
Support characters and sub-DPS units may only need the weapon skill stat maxed, since they don't benefit equally from main stat boosts. You can use lower-rarity essences on these characters and skip the Wuling grind entirely. Evaluate each character's scaling before deciding whether a perfect essence is worth the stamina investment.
