Smithing (Skyrim)



Smithing is a new skill introduced in Skyrim. Smithing is one of the 18 skills and falls under "The Warrior" play-style. As such, it acts as The Warrior's crafting skill as opposed to The Mage's Enchanting and The Thief's Alchemy.

In order to utilize this skill you must visit a Blacksmith's shop or Smithy. Inside is a forge (for creating new weapons and armor from raw materials), a grindstone (to improve weapons), smithing bench (to improve armor) a smelter (to change raw material into ingots), and a tanning rack (to turn pelts into leather, and leather into strips).

It moves away from the Armorer Skills of previous games, in that it revolves around improving weapons functionality.

Players may find it unfair that mage armor is fairly more powerful than regular armor, specialy in lower levels, reaching values as high as 320 armor solely with Adept-level spells (Stoneflesh and Greater Ward), however these players should remember that mage armor is temporary, and somewhat magicka-consuming.

Governing Guardian Stone: The Warrior

Locations
The requisite in-game objects to perform smithing (i.e. forges, grindstones, workbenches) can be found in any main city or village.
 * Smelters appear in all major cities in addition to Kynesgrove
 * Forges appear in all major cities and most mines, in addition to 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 the most useful spot to perform, considering the Skyforge is in the same town, and the house next to it can be purchased, storing extra materials.
 * There are also many spots in the wilderness and various caves that also have crafting stations. You do not need an entire forge to craft; 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 your Smithing Skill:

Cherim's Heart of Anequina Heavy Armor Forging Light Armor Forging The Armorer's Challenge

If you are a member of the Companions, Eorlund Greymane in Whiterun trains the Smithing skill at Master level. (up to 90)

Tools

 * Workbench - Used to Upgrade Armor
 * Smelter - Used to Smelt Ore into Ingots
 * Forge and Anvil - Used to Forge/Craft Armor, Weapons and Jewlery
 * Tanning Rack - Used to Create Leather/Leather Strips from Hide
 * Grind Stone - Used to upgrade Weapons

Smeltable Items
The following items are smeltable:
 * Large Decorative Dwemer Strut (2x Dwarven Metal Ingot)
 * Large Dwemer Strut (3x Dwarven Metal Ingot)
 * Bent Dwemer Scrap Metal (3x Dwarven Metal Ingot)
 * Large Dwemer Plate Metal (3x Dwarven Metal Ingot)
 * Small Dwemer Plate Metal (3x Dwarven Metal Ingot)
 * Solid Dwemer Metal (5x Dwarven Metal Ingot)
 * 2 Moonstone Ore (1x Refined Moonstone Ingot)
 * 2 Malachite Ore (1x Refined Malachite Ingot)
 * Iron Ore (1x Iron Ingot)
 * Silver Ore
 * 2 Gold Ore (1x Gold Ingot)
 * 2 Quicksilver Ore (1x Quicksilver Ingot)

Creatable Items
The following are Weapons or Armor that become available to create as the skill is leveled up:

Hide ArmorLeather ArmorIron Armor and Weapons</li>Studded Armor</li>Steel Armor and Weapons</li>Imperial Armor and Weapons</li>Dwarven Armor and Weapons</li>Elven Armor and Weapons</li>Orcish Armor and Weapons</li>Glass Armor and Weapons</li>Ebony Armor and Weapons</li>Daedric Armor and Weapons</li>Dragon Armor and Weapons</li></ul> Note: Not a complete list

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

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 how skilled you are at smithing and wether you have the skill relating to the item (i.e. Steel Smithing for improving a Steel Sword). Legendary is the maximum possible upgrade level.

The chart below shows the skill levels for each improvement tier for both with and without the related skill. Note that Epic and Legendary improvements are not possible without the related perk.

An easy way to level up smithing is by making Iron Daggers, they only cost 1 Leather Strap and 1 Iron Ingot. The materials are easily bought from Vendors. Note, however, that forging Iron Daggers will always lose money - at higher levels, it may be worth experimenting with profitable higher tier materials to offset some of the materials cost. Once the player reaches 90+ Smithing, and the Daedric perk, they should be high enough level for Alchemists to start stocking Daedra Hearts, allowing around 1000 - 2000 gold profit per item. The gains can be increased further by buying any filled Soul Gems and training Enchanting at the same time.
 * 1) ==Tips==

Another good tip if you have a lot of Leather is to make Hide Bracers, which cost 1 Leather and 2 Leather Strips. Leather is the cheapest thing to buy from a blacksmith, and it is easily tanned from animal skins allowing you to level up without exerting a lot of time or money. You can turn 1 Leather into 4 Leather Strips at any tanning rack.

You can also improve Hunter's Bow or Longbow on the Grindstone. The former requires one leather strip (which is easily obtained from wild animals and tanned from Leather purchased from shops), and the latter only requires 1 piece of Firewood (which is free, obtained by chopping wood). Alternatively, hide and leather armors can also be improved (with leather), should the player not have a lot of Hunter's Bows (numerous enemies in the game - early at least - wear leather items). Another easy and cheap way to level up smithing is making leather Items. You can gather Hides and Pelts from various woodland creatures all over Skyrim, tan them into Leather and Leather Straps and craft Leather Armor or Hide Armor from them. Upgrade and sell them for profit afterwards.

After running dwarven areas you should have a large supply of Dwarven Metal Ingots. You should use these along with Iron Ingots to make Dwarven Bows (2 Dwarven Metal Ingot, 1 Iron Ingot) and improve them using the Grindstone (1 Dwarven Metal Ingot). This should easily take you to higher smithing levels without a huge money loss, potentially a gain, especially if your speech is high or you have put level points into it.

One good way is using the Transmute spell from the Alteration school. Iron Ore can be transmuted into Silver Ore, and then further transmuted into Gold Ore. 2 of these gold ore are turned into gold ingots (using the Smithing skill) and then further turned into 2x gold rings (again using the Smithing skill).

The first smelter found in game is in Whiterun at the blacksmiths shop

Eorlund Greymane at Skyforge offers training in Smithing.

Ghorza gra-Bagol offers training in Smithing. Completing her quest to retrieve a book for her will increase your Smithing.

An easy way to level smithing and enchanting is to buy or find the Soul Trap spell. Buy lesser or petty soul gems and soul trap and kill any animal that drops pelts. After you fill the soul gems, go to a leather rack and make some leather straps. Then go to a forge to make hide bracers and enchant them using the gems. That way you can level both skills at once, saving money in the long run.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Skills

 * See: Skill (Skyrim)