Smithing (Skyrim)



Smithing is a skill introduced in Skyrim.

Description
It falls under the Warrior play-style and as such, acts as its crafting skill, (similar to the Mage's Enchanting and the Thief's Alchemy).

Smithing differs from the Armorer skills of previous games in that it revolves around improving weapons' functionality and creating new weapons and armor, rather than just repairing old damaged weapons.

Players may find it unbalanced that mage armor spells are considerably more powerful than regular armor. Even at lower levels, adept-level spells such as Stoneflesh and Greater Ward can reach armor values as high as 320. Such armor boosts are temporary, however, and consume exorbitant amounts of magicka. It is important to note that for advanced players, smithing can be extremely powerful when enchantments and potions are synergized well in its favor. Done correctly, it is possible to over-smith an item to over 4X base defense and value which is much more powerful than anything achieved solely using mage armor.



Smithing is one of the easiest professions to level. It does take a while, but there are a couple of ways to make smithing go up faster. One is to make a lot of leather armor because it does not require many materials, and another way is to go into dwarven ruins and collect vast amounts of scrap metal to melt down. One more example is to go to the mines near Markarth because they are full of gold and silver you can use to make jewelry. This usually is the best way because jewelry does not weigh much and can be sold for a large amount of money. When combined with using the Spell Transmute, turning iron ore into silver and gold ore to smelt, making jewelry can be extremely profitable.

Another easy way to level smithing, particularly at the early levels, is to head to the Halted Stream mine just north of Whiterun. This mine contains enough veins to produce around 50 iron ore. It also contains a lot of other valuable materials. Smithing this ore into Iron Daggers provides experience while only requiring one ingot and one strip of leather each. Note that two quests in Whiterun can also be done here, from Ysolda and Amren. Smithing can be leveled up extremely quickly this way,and players can choose to purchase iron ores and leather strips from people at forges instead. It is much quicker this way. The forge at Riverwood also has many iron ores there. It is advisable to activate The Lover Stone, which allows all skills to be raised 15% faster. Even better, The Warrior Stone, which will allow Warrior class skills, Smithing included, to be raised 20% faster.

Governing Guardian Stone: The Warrior.

Tools
NOTE: If money is the goal, selling hides from wild animals (depending on the species), may be more profitable than tanning the hides, crafting items and selling them.
 * Forge and Anvil - Used to craft armor, weapons and jewelry.
 * Workbench - Used to upgrade armor and shields.
 * Grindstone - Used to upgrade weapons.
 * Smelter - Used to change ores into ingots (does not increase any skill).
 * Tannery Rack - Used to create leather/leather strips from animal hides (does not increase any skill).

Locations
The required in-game objects to perform smithing, (i.e. forges, Grindstones and workbenches) can be found in any main city or village and sometimes in forts and dungeons.
 * Smelters appear in most major cities in addition to Kynesgrove, Stonehills Mines, (near Mzinchaleft), Bilegulch Mine and Shor's Stone to aid in clearing Dwemer ruins. Riften and Solitude do not have a smelter.
 * Forges appear in all major cities and most mines, in addition to Northwatch Keep, and Riverwood.
 * Grindstones appear in all major cities in addition to Fellglow Keep, and Riverwood.
 * Tannery Racks appear in all major cities in addition to Riverwood.
 * Workbenches appear in all major cities in addition to Riverwood.
 * Anvils, used like forges, appear in Fellglow Keep.
 * All of these tools can be found in Whiterun, near the main gate to the city just off to the right. This is a very useful smithery since Breezehome is next to it and can be purchased, which permits the storing of smithing materials right next door to the forge. The Skyforge is also located in town.
 * There are also many spots in the wilderness and various caves that also have crafting stations. An entire forge suite is not needed for smithing, even just an anvil will suffice. (The character will start hammering away on a heated rod regardless, even in an ice cave with no furnace).

Books
The following books level up the Smithing Skill:


 * Cherim's Heart
 * Heavy Armor Forging
 * Light Armor Forging
 * The Armorer's Challenge
 * The Last Scabbard of Akrash

Related Quests
The following Miscellaneous/Daderic Quests increase the Smithing Skill:
 * Retrieve Queen Freydis' sword for Oengul War-Anvil in Windhelm
 * Retrieve Night Falls on Sentinel for Ruslief in Dawnstar
 * Retrieve The Last Scabard of Akrash for Ghorza gra-Bagol in Markarth
 * Retrieve Rjorn's Drum for Giraud Gemane in The Bard College in Solitude, (note: also increases Block, Two-handed, One-handed, Heavy Armor and Archery.)
 * Choose to read the Path of Might from the Oghma Infinium at the conclusion of Discerning the Transmundane. (note: also increases Heavy Armor, Block, Two-Handed and Archery.)

Trainers

 * Ghorza (Adept): Markarth
 * Balimund (Expert): Riften
 * Eorlund Gray-Mane (Master): Skyforge, Whiterun

Smelting
Ores can be smelted to produce ingots for use in smithing. Normally, two pieces of the same ore are required to create an ingot; an exception to this is the Dwarven Metal Ingot, which is smelted from scraps of Dwemer metal. Another exception is the Iron Ingot, which only takes one piece of ore per ingot, and the Steel Ingot, which takes one Corundum Ore and one Iron Ore.

Smithing Perks
The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up

Some of the following armor and weapon pages are going to be split for editorial reasons, but have not yet been.

IMPORTANT NOTE: it is not possible to take all light armor/weapons perks (to the left) up to dragon and then take daedric! All heavy armor/weapons perks ( to the right) have to be taken in order to be capable of getting the daedric smithing perk.

Weapon and Armor Enhancement
Weapons and armor can be improved using either a Grindstone (Weapons) or a Workbench (Armor). The level of improvement is based off whether you have the skill relating to the item (i.e. Steel Smith for improving a Steel Sword). Legendary is the final named upgrade, but you can continue to upgrade the armor/damage of your equipment with smithing levels over 100. You can use smithing armor enchantments and smithing potions to raise your smithing level over 100.


 * 1) Unmodified Item
 * 2) Fine
 * 3) Superior
 * 4) Exquisite
 * 5) Flawless
 * 6) Epic
 * 7) Legendary

Exploit For Overpowered Weapons And Armor
Using Alchemy, enchanting and smithing, ultimate weapons can be made. To do this, start by using Alchemy to create potions of "Fortify Enchanting", which allows the player to create stronger enchantments of "Fortify Alchemy". The player can now create a stronger potion of "Fortify Enchanting" and so on building on each other. The process is described below.

Usually the player can make a set of four items of +25% alchemy skill for any fortification skill like alchemy and enchanting. There is an exploit in which you can wear a Falmer helmet over a circlet and both have stacked effects [Tested PS3,Xbox360 andPC]; quite useful for this. So now make 25% fortify alchemy enchantments on the Falmer Helmet, any ring, any necklace, and gloves/bracers and a circlet. Note that the falmer helmet and circlet can both be worn at once. Wear all of the enchanted equipment and make a fortify enchanting potion. With this potion, you should be able to create fortify 29% alchemy and smithing enchantments. Also while enchanting try to be quick as potion lasts for 30 seconds. Note that there is a cap of 29% fortifying alchemy and smithing enchantments so going over this number is not possible. Using this you should be able to create 147% "Fortify Smithing " potion [Tested PS3]. Also a 37% "Fortify Enchanting " potion can be created but since 29% has been reached its not much useful for this but quite good for other enchantments.

Using this we would get 4 x 29% smithing gear and 147% smithing potions. Using these, staggeringly powerful weapons and armors can be made and improved.

'''Note: For armor there is a cap of 80% damage reduction. This equates to an armor rating of 567. Anything above this combined armor rating is a waste and does not result in any further benefits or damage reduction.'''
 * By combining Alchemy/Smithing/Enchanting and armor skills and perks, it is very easy to reach the 'armor cap' with low-level armor, such as Elven or Steel. This could be intentional, as it provides players with a way to be able to use armor they prefer the looks of without being easily killed.

For this process to be possible it is required to have 100% in enchanting, alchemy and smithing with the relevant perks.

Note: This process uses the falmer helmet worn over circlet glitch which ultimately allows a potion of 147% fortify smithing potion and 37% enchanting potion to be brewed.

New found addition: If you have the "Extra Effect" Enchanting Perk which allows you to put two perks on a weapon, you can put the first Enchant on a weapon as a weapon skill such as Paralyze, and the second Enchant as Fortify Smithing, this can give you a maximum of 29% Fortify Smithing weapon. Newer Addition : doing the last one only looks like you're enchanting a weapon with Fortify Smithing: you don't actually gain its effects.

Note: Completing "The Companions" quest chain allows the Dragonborn, when using the Skyforge (Only the Skyforge can be used), to produce "Nord Hero" weapons and armor.

Note: Climb up the top of the Mountain above the Throat of the World and find a pickaxe with a +5 to Smithing abilities. You can then disenchant the item and reenchant a less heavy dagger. I used a Grand soul Gem expecting it to raise the Smithing abilities more but it still only gave a +5.

Increasing your Smithing Skill

 * Before beginning a focused Smithing leveling session, picking up the Warrior Stone buff will increase Smithing by 20% and sleeping in an owned bed increases all skill leveling 10% (Well Rested effect), unless one is a werewolf. If the player is married and sleeps in the marital home, the Lover's Embrace bonus is 15%.
 * The easiest and least expensive way to level up your smithing skill is to collect as many pelts as you can and use a Tanning Rack to craft the pelts into leather and Leather Strips. Make sure you make twice as many Leather Strips as you do leather. Use a Forge to craft Leather Bracers using the leather and leather Strips. You can also sell the leather bracers crafted to a merchant for a small amount of gold. A video tutorial of this fast and cheap leveling method can be seen here.
 * ​Another easy (although not the quickest), way to increase your Smithing skill is to go to the Dwemer ruins at Markarth. After the enemies are cleared, collect as many Dwemer Metal items as possible (make sure they can be used at the smelter). Bring the Dwemer Metal to the smelter next to the smithy in Markarth and smelt the items into Dwarven Metal Ingots to use on Dwarven daggers or bows. Use some of the ingots to upgrade them as well. It will take some time, but is probably one of the fastest and cheapest ways to level up smithing. Also, the cost of any extra materials will be offset by the profit from selling the finished items.
 * There are large amounts of Dwemer Metal in the Dwemer Museum, where you can also work on your lockpicking skill.
 * A similar method to increasing your smithing skill is a bit more expensive. At level 20 to 30 it is very easy to find Iron Ingots or Iron Ore from trading and smith shops. Buy all you can from every town and craft and refine iron daggers, as they are the cheapest item to create at 1 ingot. It will not give as much skill, but you can create many more daggers from the same amount of materials as the Dwarven items.
 * Another fast way to get Smithing experience is to go to the Kolskeggr mine East of Markarth and mine gold ore. Smelt it down to ingots and craft jewelry at the forge (use any jewels available to increase the value and the amount of experience gained). The mine yields somewhere around 40 gold ore.
 * A similar yet more profitable way of increasing both your skill level and potential coin is investing in iron ore and instead of creating iron daggers, use the Transmute spell and either smith gold ring after gold ring or stockpile the gold ingots to combine with precious gems. (Amethysts and garnets are relatively common but can not be combined with gold so make sure that if you wish to make silver ingots you must use transmute to change the iron ore into silver ore, then drop the silver ore from your inventory, transmute another iron ore then pick up the dropped silver ore then smelt a silver ingot straight away. If you don't drop the silver ore then transmute will change the silver ore into a gold ore. This is obviously quite tedious so magic regen apparel or magic regen potions quicken up the process).
 * One of the best and fastest ways the Dragonborn can increase his/her Smithing skill is by doing this simple task. First, make sure you have lots of Leather Strips. Then go to Solitude (Northwest corner of the map). Next, go to the Solitude Blacksmith. You will find Beirand just outside the door. You will then need to go inside the door (Solitude Blacksmith). You will find that there lots of Iron Ingots inside the Solitude Blacksmith. Steal them all (but make sure the Blacksmith's Apprentice isn't looking), then go to the forge outside and use them all to make Iron Daggers. This can be done once every 32 days, so do it whenever you can.

Profiting from Smithing

 * Most profitable items with smithing (work in progress): All Daedric Items are the #1 best investments, especially when upgraded. Then comes the Glass Bow, worth 820 - which can be made with 2 refined malachite and 1 refined moonstone (upgrade in workbench with 1 refined malachite to double its value). Next are Gold Rings, worth 75 (x2) - made with 1 Gold Ingot (especially profitable with Transmute or Banish spell).
 * A good way to make money and raise skills is to smith iron daggers costing very little and then enchant them, bringing up their sale price from 10 to as high as 2635 septims (depending on the enchantment). This method increases your speech, smithing and enchanting, not to mention the gold. Keep in mind that costly items can easily exhaust a merchant's gold, as most low level merchants have less than 1000 gold.
 * Another easy way to make some extra gold is to buy all of the steel plate armor a shop has as well as corundum ingots/ore and then upgrade them.
 * Using apparel that has the enchantment of Fortify Smithing will yield more profit, sometimes adding hundreds to the value while giving more smithing experience.
 * It's cheaper to buy ore from merchants and smelt it. Then hunt down animals for pelts and use the pelts to make leather and leather strips to craft with. With Azura's Star (either version, since The Black Star allows the use of humans for Grand souls), one can enchant items without buying soul gems.

Bugs

 * If you improve a weapon on the Grindstone, and then go in to your inventory and look at the damage difference (the number in brackets in either red or green, depending on whether that weapon has a positive or negative improvement on the weapon's damaged that you're holding) you will notice that the difference is based on the weapon's damage difference before you improved it. To resolve this, either equip another weapon, or unequip your current weapon. (PC)
 * While using the Blacksmith Forge, the animation your character performs whilst you decide on what armour you're going to make glitches rather noticeably. First, the metal strip that has been placed in the furnace is already attached to the player's arm, and it is obviously not meant to be there due to this next point. The player then makes a move to pick out a strip of metal from the furnace, but just grasps at thin air. The player then turns to the Anvil to begin using the hammer on the metal's hot end. But the hot end is up by the player's elbow, and the cold bit is near the Anvil, but not actually on the Anvil, so the hammer is just hitting the Anvil's surface while the cold metal is around the bottom. And to finish, the player then puts the cold end of the metal into the cooling trough, and it hisses as though something hot just got put into cold water, which it obviously didn't. (PC/PS3/XBOX360) (Bug remains for PC on Patch 1.3 and for PS3 on Patch 2.02)

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Skills

 * See: Skill (Skyrim)

Videos
The Ultimate Smithing Guide - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4l3cEW8Wcw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onOYn6d0Vas