After the bomb was dropped and humanity’s life completely changed in Fallout 4’s Commonwealth, it’s no wonder those who survived quickly began to form factions and other groups to organize themselves. During their travels across the wastelands that remain of the Commonwealth’s former glory, the Sole Survivor is likely to run into a few select ones and even join some.

Other factions, however, are completely non-joinable. The Gunners for instance are a constant antagonist faction the player simply has to deal with. The same also goes for the Forged, an even smaller but very peculiar faction that can be insanely difficult to fight against early on in the game. Here’s what players absolutely need to know about them before facing them head-on.

10 Recruitment Issues

The Forged are a group of raiders like any other, in the sense that they want to grow their ranks as well and get as many supporters for their cause as possible. Their main purpose is simply to exist and thrive as a group.

However, according to information gathered during the quest Out of the Fire, the Forged have been struggling to recruit anyone, mainly because of how difficult it is to pass their initiation rituals. It’s probably why they’ve failed to grow.

9 Rivalry With The Gunners

The Gunners are perhaps the biggest raider faction out in the Commonwealth. They have a lot of power and influence across the entire area, so it’s hard to avoid them. Even the Forged came into contact with them, and it wasn’t pretty.

The two groups were initially enemies, since the Forged attempted to persuade some of the Gunners to join its ranks. Although the factions were able to come to a truce, it would be a lie to say there isn’t a form of rivalry still between these two.

8 Saugus Ironworks

The headquarters of the Forged is Saugus Ironworks, a former ironworks facility that was previously opened for wartime purposes. However, it now remains the main place of operation for the faction.

The facility is located just south of The Slog, nearby Dunwich Borers, to which a member of the faction has also been sent to acquire more iron for the Forged.

7 Initiation Rituals

What makes the Forged special from other raider gangs is that is organized specific initiation rituals. It’s never actually disclosed what kind of rituals they are, but one can assume they have something to do with fire and metal.

The rituals are known to be deadly, and few have been able to survive them. It’s mainly why the faction has struggled to find more worthy members.

6 Forged Names

Joining the Forged isn’t just about surviving the initiation, although it’s certainly the biggest and most important step. After that, however, members must also prove their undying loyalty to the faction.

To do this, they need to reject their past identities by adopting a new name, which often has something to do with fire and metal. Failure to adopt a new name could get a new member killed, even if they passed the rituals.

5 Extreme Punishments

Speaking of obedience, the Forged is a very hierarchical faction which strict rules. Members are expected to be on their best behavior and to follow leader Slag’s word unquestioningly, no matter what.

If anyone is caught disobeying or misbehaving, typical punishments include blinding, amputation, exile or even going out to execute the family of said member.

4 Fighting With Fire

As one would imagine from where the faction has decided to set up camp and simply from their name, the Forged prioritize weapons that involve fire. It’s common to see them use flamethrowers, as well as Molotov cocktails in combat.

That being said, many of them also have regular weapons like pistols and rifles, though even those tend to have a fire aspect to them.

3 Religion Of Fire

The Forged differ from other raider gangs and the Gunners in one important way: they seem to have some sort of a religious or otherwise spiritual aspect to them. It’s never actually explained how or why, but based on their habits and rules, this is very evident.

The Forged have a special relationship with fire and metal in particular, considering it not only their main weapon but also something they seem to enjoy testing themselves with. Many of the members have suffered burns and other heat damage as a result of this.

2 Atypical Gear

Raiders are usually recognized from their typical raider armor seen all around the Commonwealth. However, the Forged have a slightly different way of dressing and special gear that makes them easy to spot and unique among other raiders.

Their armor tends to have a caged or spiked appearance. Moreover, their leader Slag actually wears power armor, which isn’t a common sight among raiders.

1 The Shishkebab

The main reason why the Sole Survivor should care about the Forged is because defeating them during the quest Out of the Fire awards one of the unique, special melee weapons in the game: the Shishkebab.

This weapon is what Jake Finch uses to bribe his way into the Forged, and can be looted off of Slag’s corpse after the quest has been completed. The weapon is a sword, paired with a small flamethrower, and although it isn’t the strongest special weapon, it’s a pretty cool one nonetheless.

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