Skyrim Smithing Guide

Smithing Perks, Crafting Materials and Armor/Weapons Lists

Skyrim's Smithing skill lets you play blacksmith and craft weapons and armor. As the skill progresses you will unlock perks that let you create and improve more types of weapons and armor. This crafting system is quite satisfying to use, as materials you find in the world's mines, acquired with coin or thievery from shops, or from killing wild game can be put to use at a forge and push your Dragonborn's attack and armor stats higher. This guide will teach you all you need to know about progressing the skill and making strong armor you can Enchant to gear your Dragonborn with the most powerful armor and weapons Skyrim has to offer.

How to Get Started Smithing in Skyrim
There are various things you need to create items in Skyrim. Most important is a smithy, where you will find the various equipment. I suggest Warmaiden's which is just to the right when you enter the city of Whiterun. There, you'll find not only the smithing equipment, but also two shopkeepers � one often outside, and one inside. They are very helpful when you need a few materials to finish an item, and Adrianne Avenicci will even give you a small tutorial quest on blacksmithing that will help you get a couple decent starting items and introduce you to the five things you need to smith:

Anvil and Forge: Using either the anvil or forge will let you make weapons, armor and jewelry from the materials in your inventory.

Workbench: The workbench is used to temper and improve the armor rating of gear.

Grindstone: This will let you improve weapons by sharpening them, raising their damage rating.

Smelter: Allows you to take raw metal ores and turn them into the ingots you need to craft items and improve weapons/armor. When fighting dwemer machines, you may also find scrap metal that can be smelted to make Dwarven Metal Ingots.

Tanning Rack: Lets you turn animal hides into leather, and cut leather down into leather strips. Strips are always used when making weapons and armor. You'll get 4 leather strips per leather you break down.

Getting Materials for Smithing
Mines are the primary source of materials for mining, unless you're a thief. The best thing I can do for a newbie player is introduce them to the mining page on UESP. There, you will see a list of materials under the Mine Locations heading. Follow the links to see a list for each type that has the number of veins available in various locales. Further, you will find maps to help you find the ores you need. The ore in mines will respawn after about 30 days game time. If you do a lot of traveling, that can pass faster than you think. Another option is to rob blacksmith shops � the best target by far is the Blacksmith in Solitude Overall, leather and leather strips are very cheap and factor little into your profits later on. Leather can be made from animal hides that you get from killing things like Elk, Wolves and Sabre Cats. Otherwise, just buy the leather directly from a smithing vendor.

Raising Smithing
Whenever you craft an item, you'll gain Smithing experience proportionate to the value of the item. So, focus on making more expensive gear that has a lower material cost, such as Helmets and War Axes. Improving items on the workbench or grindstone will also grant XP.

You can use the Transmute Mineral Ore Alteration spell found in Halted Stream Camp to make iron into silver, and silver into gold that can be crafted into gold necklaces, which you can then enchant. You'll raise four skills at once doing this though, and that may push your enemies' power higher while your gear lags behind.

Since Smithing is so resource-intensive to level, you should absolutely use the Warrior Stone from the Guardian Stones southwest of Riverwood � this will increase your Smithing and other Warrior Skill increases by 20%. Sleeping in a bed can also help, and those at the inn in town will work just fine.

Improving Items
Items can be improved to higher quality as you raise Smithing, using a workbench for armor and grindstone for weapons. If you've already improved an item, you can bump it up to the next grade when your Smithing level is high enough. You can improve items made of any material without that material's perk, but you will not be able to do it nearly as well. Items' quality ratings are unlocked at the following smithing levels WITH the material's relevant perk.

So, if you had the Glass Smithing Perk and a pair of Glass Boots and were level 54 in Smithing, you would make the boots Exquisite. Items continue to gain stats beyond level 91 in Smithing, Legendary is simply the last identifier. In order to push item stats to the max, we need Fortify Smithing.

Making Better Gear: Fortify Smithing
Fortify Smithing is an effect that can be enchanted to gear, allowing you to make your own set of Blacksmithing equipment that will make your armor and weapon improvements more potent. You can find it by disenchanting gear with the effect. Chest, Gauntlets, Rings, and Necklaces can all have this Fortify effect. You can push this further by using fortify enchanting potions to make the resulting fortify smithing enchantments more potent. To learn more, see the Enchanting Items and Boosting Strength section on the Enchanting guide. This effect can also be acquired by drinking a potion. Blisterwort, Glowing Mushroom, Sabre Cat Teeth and Spriggan Sap all offer the effect, allowing you to make your own.

By using these tactics, taking perks in Smithing, an armor specialization boosting your armor rating (light/heavy), and Enchanting, you can smith lower quality gear to have extreme armor as effective as Daedric or Dragonplate due to Skyrim's armor cap (80% damage reduction at 567 armor). Your weapons will also deal incredible damage, particularly with those specializations. Power-leveling smithing alone can push your gear far ahead of your enemies, outpacing their power without weapon skills � so long as you can acquire the high-grade materials you need to do this at an early level.

Skyrim Smithing Perks and Crafting Gear Stats and Components List

I decided to lump this section together, as Smithing perks only serve to unlock new recipes for the forge, aside from one: Arcane Blacksmith. Unlocked at level 60 Smithing, and only requiring the first perk, Arcane Blacksmith lets you improve magical weapons and armor � meaning gear you find with magical effects or had previously enchanted can be improved on the grindstone/workbench as you level Smithing.

All Arrow and Crossbow Crafting Requires the Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard DLC. You can make arrows without doing anything special, but crafting Crossbows requires you to side with the Dawnguard and can only be done in Fort Dawnguard at Gunmar's Forge. Crossbows and Crossbow Bolts come only in Steel and Dwarven materials.

No Perk Required

All players can start Smithing by making the following gear. You have light armor (leather and hide), iron heavy armor, and iron weapon recipes to start making your first gear. Hide Armor is also available to craft, but being weaker than Leather and requiring the same materials, I'm not bothering to list it. Leather items require 1 Leather to improve, Iron requires 1 Iron Ingot.

Steel Smithing (no level requirement, Makes Heavy Armor)

I'm not bothering to list Imperial Armor here, which is also unlocked with this Perk. It has similar material requirements to Steel armor, but the defense of Iron. You'd only want to use it for aesthetics, if you happen to like it. All Steel items require a Steel Ingot to improve.

Elven Smithing (level 30 Smithing Skill, Makes Light Armor)

Elven Weapons and Armor require one Moonstone Ingot to improve.

Advanced Armors (Level 50 Smithing Skill, Makes Heavy and Light Armors)

Both light and heavy varieties require 1 Corundum Ingot to improve.

Glass Smithing (Level 70 Smithing Skill, Makes Light Armor)

Glass Weapons and Armor require one Refined Malachite Ingot to improve.

Dwarven Smithing (Level 30 Smithing Skill, Makes Heavy Armor)

All Dwarven gear requires 1 Dwarven Metal Ingot to Improve.

Orcish Smithing (Level 50 Smithing Skill, Makes Heavy Armor)

All Orcish Armor and Weapons require an Orichalcum Ingot to improve.

Ebony Smithing (Level 80 Smithing Skill, Makes Heavy Armor)

Daedric Smithing (Level 90 Smithing Skill, Makes Heavy Armor)

Daedra Hearts are used to craft Daedric armor and weapons. A guaranteed way to be able to farm Daedra Hearts is to get to level 20 and do the Pieces of the Past quest. Toward the end are a few Dremora who, after the quest's completion, will respawn once every few days. The trouble is, there aren't many of this enemy type in Skyrim other than those. What few hearts are out there are scattered around the world. As the expensive option, Daedra Hearts can be bought from Enthir as well as Babette of the Dark Brotherhood. Otherwise, most alchemist merchants have a chance to sell them once in a while, though they are expensive. Thankfully, improving Daedric weapons and armor does not require another heart, instead only one Ebony Ingot is needed.

Dragon Smithing (Level 100 Smithing Skill, Makes Heavy and Light Armor)

Dragonscale requires Dragon Scales to improve, Dragonplate requires either Dragon Bones or Scales, while Dragon Weapons all require Dragon Bones. While Dragonplate offers less armor than Daedric, it is easier to obtain. Dragon Weapons are the most powerful in the game.

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Vladimir Verilas says...

Hey I'm Vladimir, call me Vlad for short. If there's anything I find in Skyrim, I'll be sure to post it with you guys.

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29th September 2016 11:48pm

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