Methods for forming non-volatile storage elements in a non-volatile storage system are described. In some embodiments, during a forming operation, a cross-point memory array may be biased such that waste currents are minimized or eliminated. In one example, the memory array may be biased such that a first word line comb is set to a first voltage, a second word line comb interdigitated with the first word line comb is set to the first voltage, and selected vertical bit lines are set to a second voltage such that a forming voltage is applied across non-volatile storage elements to be formed. In some embodiments, a memory array may include a plurality of word line comb layers and a forming operation may be concurrently performed on non-volatile storage elements on all of the plurality of word line comb layers or a subset of the plurality of word line comb layers.