Hell Slayer is one of two limited-time Straight Sword variants added to The Forge with the Winter Expansion on Frostpire Expanse (Island 3). It sits in the Straight Sword family as a cosmetic event weapon, unlocked through Santa’s Christmas Shop and then rolled through the usual forging RNG.
Where Hell Slayer fits in The Forge’s weapon system
On Frostpire Expanse, Straight Swords still share a common pool that includes Falchion Sword, Gladius Sword, Cutlass, Rapier, and Chaos. Hell Slayer is layered on top of that pool as an extra cosmetic outcome rather than as a separate weapon type.
Once the blueprint is unlocked, Hell Slayer appears under the Straight Sword category in your forge menu as one of the possible results. It does not bypass normal crafting logic. You still forge a Straight Sword with ores and stats, and the game then rolls which specific variant you get. For Hell Slayer, that roll is a 1-in-20 chance.
Functionally, it behaves like a Straight Sword with its own unique model and attack animation. In practice, that means a longer blade, a noticeable swing pattern, and a standard five-hit light combo on basic left-clicks.
How to reach Santa and his Christmas Shop
Hell Slayer is not sold or dropped anywhere in the original islands. The only place to get its blueprint is Santa’s Christmas Shop on Frostpire Expanse.
Step 1: Travel to Island 3, Frostpire Expanse, using the island teleporter from your current hub. This moves you into the Winter Expansion zone, where all of the Christmas content lives.
Step 2: After spawning on Frostpire Expanse, head into the main hub area and look for a ship docked right by the spawn area. The Christmas event NPC, Santa, stands on this boat.
Step 3: Walk up to Santa and interact with him. You’ll see a dialogue with options, including a “Shop” option and access to special Holiday Tasks.
Santa’s boat is the event hub: it’s where you pick up daily Holiday Tasks and where you spend Xmas Tickets on limited items such as Hell Slayer, Candy Cane, the Candy Cane Pickaxe, totems, race rerolls, and the Christmas Pickaxe.
How Xmas Tickets work and what Hell Slayer costs
Santa’s inventory uses a temporary event currency called Xmas Tickets. Regular gold does not apply here.
| Item | Price (XMas Tickets) | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Hell Slayer | 200 | Straight Sword blueprint (limited) |
| Candy Cane | 1,200 | Straight Sword blueprint (limited) |
| Candy Cane Pickaxe | 800 | Pickaxe (limited) |
| Christmas Pickaxe | 3,600 | Pickaxe (limited) |
Hell Slayer is the cheapest of the Christmas Straight Sword blueprints at 200 Tickets. The blueprint description reads like flavor text, but it signals a couple of gameplay details:
- “A smithing blueprint for a blade feared by the underworld.” — Establishes it as a themed, cosmetic variant rather than an entirely new weapon class.
- “Requires rare materials to forge.” — Indicates that you’re expected to use higher-rarity ores when rolling for it if you want reasonable stats.
Once purchased, the blueprint unlocks the missing Straight Sword recipe entry tied to Hell Slayer across your account.
How to earn Xmas Tickets for Hell Slayer
The limiting factor for Hell Slayer is not difficulty, but time. You need to generate enough Xmas Tickets during the event window to afford the blueprint.
Step 1: Talk to Santa on Frostpire Expanse and choose the option to view his quests or Holiday Tasks. He will offer up to three tasks per day.
Step 2: Pick tasks that match your current gear level. Quests fall into three broad buckets: killing specific enemies, mining ores, or forging items. If your pickaxe is underpowered for Island 3 ores, combat or forging quests are more efficient early on.
Step 3: Complete the chosen tasks and return to Santa to turn them in. Each completed Holiday Task pays out a chunk of Xmas Tickets, enough that a single run of spider-killing on Island 3 can yield well over 100 Tickets.
With typical payouts, two good task cycles can pay for Hell Slayer’s 200 Ticket cost. Pushing for more expensive rewards like the Christmas Pickaxe simply takes more repetitions of the same process.
Buying the Hell Slayer Straight Sword blueprint
Once you have at least 200 Tickets, the actual purchase is straightforward.
Step 1: Return to Santa’s boat on Frostpire Expanse and interact with him again. Choose the “Shop” dialogue option.
Step 2: Scroll through the Christmas Store inventory until you find the Hell Slayer listing, identified as a limited Straight Sword blueprint with the flavor text about being feared by the underworld.
Step 3: Confirm the purchase. Your Xmas Tickets are deducted, and the Hell Slayer recipe is instantly added to your forge’s Straight Sword list.
There is no stock cap called out for Hell Slayer beyond its “Limited” event label, but you only need to buy the blueprint once. The unlock is permanent for your account even after Santa leaves.
Forging Hell Slayer after you unlock the recipe
Buying the blueprint does not grant the sword directly. Instead, it enables Hell Slayer as a possible outcome when you forge a Straight Sword. That outcome has a 1-in-20 chance.
Step 1: Go to any forge crucible and open the weapon crafting menu. Select the Straight Sword category.
Step 2: Load your recipe with higher-rarity ores, ideally legendary or better. Players who successfully rolled Hell Slayer typically used Frostpire Expanse ores they had been hoarding, such as high-multiplier legendary and mythical ores, even when the resulting stats were not perfect.
Step 3: Confirm the craft and check the result. If you don’t see Hell Slayer’s distinctive long, demonic model, you rolled into another Straight Sword variant, such as Rapier, Cutlass, or Chaos.
Each forge attempt is an independent 5 percent roll for Hell Slayer. There is no pity counter or guarantee. Some players get it on an early try, others burn through a batch of ores before it finally lands.
Once you do roll it, it lands as a normal weapon entry in your inventory with whatever stats your ore combination produced. From there, you can upgrade and rune it like any other sword.
Recommended ores and expectations for Hell Slayer stats
The blueprint description emphasizes “rare materials,” and that matches how the sword is being chased in practice. Hell Slayer is not locked to specific Frostpire Expanse ores, but treating it like an endgame cosmetic means you generally want to roll it on a strong base.
Some common patterns from early Winter Expansion play:
- Use legendary ores for most slots. Legendary ores in Frostpire Expanse already reach 8x multipliers. Even a “bad” roll on traits or secondary stats can still produce a serviceable damage profile if the base multipliers are high.
- Add one or more mythical ores when available. Mythical options like Ice Sight push multipliers into double digits. Combining several legendary Snow White ores with a single mythical often results in a very high damage-per-second potential regardless of which Straight Sword variant you roll.
- Expect to refine later. Because Hell Slayer is only a 1-in-20 outcome, the odds of landing it with perfect ores and perfect traits on your first try are low. Many players choose to roll for the appearance first, then treat their first Hell Slayer as a proof of concept before grinding for a better-stat reroll.
Hell Slayer’s performance in combat depends more on the underlying ore multipliers, traits, and rune setup than on the cosmetic label itself. The sword can feel underwhelming if rolled on mostly defensive or low-damage ores; with high-multiplier Frostpire ores and proper runes, it becomes a viable straight melee option for Island 3 content.
Upgrading and rune choices for Hell Slayer
Once Hell Slayer is in your inventory, it goes through the same upgrade and rune pipeline as any other weapon.
Step 1: Spend gold and essences at the upgrade NPC to push Hell Slayer through its upgrade tiers. Fully upgraded examples shown in early gameplay use standard upgrade paths and consumed whatever essences the player already had on hand.
Step 2: Socket runes that shore up Hell Slayer’s weaknesses. A popular early pairing is double Drainage (life steal) runes, which let you heal while trading blows against new Island 3 enemies and bosses. This compensates for aggressive play where you stay in melee range and eat a few hits.
Step 3: Test the sword against Frostpire Expanse enemies. Early fights against spiders, golems, and the new bosses show Hell Slayer holding its own, especially when paired with life-steal runes and decent armor. It will not instantly trivialize content, but the combination of consistent swings and sustain makes it feel steady and reliable.
Runes focused on attack speed, life steal, or burst damage all work, depending on whether you want Hell Slayer to be a safe all-rounder or a more high-risk, high-reward weapon. The important point is that its rarity lies in the cosmetic drop rate, not in a fundamentally stronger stat template than the rest of the Straight Swords.
Event timing and what happens after January 7, 2026
The entire Santa event — including Xmas Tickets, the Christmas Store, and the Hell Slayer blueprint — is bound to a fixed Winter window. It starts on December 25 and ends on January 7, 2026.
During this period, Santa remains on Frostpire Expanse with his shop and daily Holiday Tasks. Once the event ends, Santa’s boat disappears, his quests are no longer available, and you cannot buy Hell Slayer or Candy Cane blueprints anymore.
Players who already bought Hell Slayer keep the blueprint unlock on their accounts. They can continue to forge Straight Swords and roll for Hell Slayer as an outcome whenever event rules allow the cosmetic to appear. New players, or those who skipped the event, will not have another path to the blueprint unless the developers decide to rerun or reintroduce it in a future seasonal event.
For anyone eyeing Hell Slayer, that makes the priority clear: reach Frostpire Expanse, use Santa’s Holiday Tasks to bank at least 200 Xmas Tickets, buy the blueprint while Santa is still docked, and then decide how deep you want to go on ores and upgrades once the sword finally drops.
