Smithing (Skyrim)

Smithing is a skill in . Smithing is referred to as the art of refining raw materials and combining them to create or improve pieces of armor or weapons. It is one of the three crafting skills in Skyrim, falling under the Warrior playstyle, with parallels to alchemy for thieves and enchanting for mages.
==Mechanics==
Smithing is a multistage process with the number of stages depending on what items are being crafted and how raw the materials are. The process can be started at any intermediate stage if the right items are obtained, but every stage requires input materials, knowledge of the build, and its own tool. Input materials can be found in the world or purchased from vendors. Knowledge of new recipes can be acquired only through perks but some are available automatically. The tools listed below roughly outlines the end-to-end process.
===Smithing stations===
These stations, required for various stages in the smithing process, can be found in any main city and most villages. They are also frequently found in forts and dungeons or outside mines. See the individual station pages for more specific locations.
*Smelter – Used to craft ores or Dwemer scrap metal into ingots.
*Tanning Rack – Used to create leather from animal hides and leather strips from leather.
*Forge and anvil – Used to craft armor, weapons, and jewelry from ingots and other materials.
*Workbench – Used to improve armor and shields with ingots or leather.
*Grindstone – Used to improve weapons with ingots or leather strips.
===Racial bonuses===
Nord, Redguard, and Orc characters gain an initial five-point boost to Smithing.
==Leveling==
The following actions raise the Smithing skill:
*Crafting an item at a forge. Skill gain is dependent on the value of the item being crafted.Patch v1.5
*Improving a weapon at a grindstone. The skill gain is based on the strength of the improvement made.
*Improving an armor or shield at a workbench. The skill gain is based on the strength of the improvement made.
===Books===
The following books provide a permanent one-time increase to the Dragonborn's Smithing skill. See each book's page for a list of possible locations.
*Cherim's Heart of Anequina
*Heavy Armor Forging
*Light Armor Forging
*The Armorer's Challenge
*Last Scabbard of Akrash
*Oghma Infinium – choosing the Path of Might increases all Warrior skills, including Smithing, by five.
===Quests===
The following quests increase or help to increase the Smithing skill:
*Retrieve Rjorn's Drum for Giraud Gemane at the Bards College in Solitude.
*Retrieve Queen Freydis's Sword for Oengul War-Anvil in Windhelm
*Retrieve Night Falls on Sentinel for Rustleif in Dawnstar
*Retrieve The Last Scabbard of Akrash for Ghorza gra-Bagol in Markarth
*"Unfathomable Depths" grants the Ancient Knowledge Active Effect, which increases the rate of skill gain for Smithing by 15%.
===Trainers===
Level 	Trainer 	Location 	Prerequisites
Common	Ghorza gra-Bagol 	Markarth 	Give her The Last Scabbard of Akrash
Expert	Balimund 	Riften 	Collect 10 Fire Salts for him
Master	Eorlund Gray-Mane	The Skyforge in Whiterun 	Complete the "Take Up Arms" quest for The Companions.
Master	Gunmar 	Fort Dawnguard after completing "A New Order"	Only available with
===Growth curve===
The Smithing skill levels according to an exponential curve. This means each level costs proportionately more than the previous one.
===Beneficial equipment===
There are multiple objects and potions which benefit smithing within Skyrim. First are potions, which temporarily increases the smithing ability. There is also armor Enchanting which, depending on one's enchanting ability, can grant a much higher smithing ability as long as the user is wearing it.
==Perks==
The following chart lists the perks that become available to the Dragonborn as the skill is leveled up. In spite of the shape of the perk constellation implying otherwise, perks explicitly list their prerequisites (Daedric Smithing requires Ebony Smithing be taken first, and so forth).
Perk (Ranks) 	Requirements 	Description
** 	No requirement 	Can create steel armor and weapons at forges, and improve them twice as much.
 	Smithing 60,Steel Smithing 	Magical weapons and armor can now be improved.
** 	Smithing 30,Steel Smithing 	Can create Elven armor and weapons at forges, and improve them twice as much.
Advanced Armors**	Smithing 50,Elven Smithing 	Can create scaled and steel plate armor at forges, and improve them twice as much.
 	Smithing 70,Advanced Armors 	Can create glass armor and weapons at forges, and improve them twice as much.
Dwarven Smithing 	Smithing 30,Steel Smithing 	Can create Dwarven armor and weapons at forges, and improve them twice as much.
 	Smithing 50,Dwarven Smithing 	Can create Orcish armor and weapons at forges, and improve them twice as much.
** 	Smithing 80,Orcish Smithing 	Can create ebony armor and weapons at forges, and improve them twice as much.
 	Smithing 90,Ebony Smithing 	Can create daedric armor and weapons at forges, and improve them twice as much.
Dragon Armor 	Smithing 100,Glass or Daedric Smithing	Can create dragon armor and weapons* at forges, and improve them twice as much.
* Dragonbone weapons can only be created if is installed.
** Bonemold armor can be created with Steel Smithing, Chitin armor can be created with Elven Smithing, Nordic armor and weapons can be created with Advanced Armors, and Stalhrim armor and weapons can be created with Ebony Smithing if is installed.
==Improvement==
The table shows what quality improvement an item will achieve based on Smithing level and if the Smithing perk for the item is taken or not.
Items can still be improved once they reach Legendary, but the description will not change.
Quality 	Skill Required	Skill Required	Effect	Effect
Quality 	Without Perk 	With Perk 	Armor 	Weapon
Fine 	14 	14 	+2 	+1
Superior 	31 	22 	+6 	+3
Exquisite	65 	40 	+10 	+5
Flawless 	100 	57 	+13 	+7
Epic 	134 	74 	+17 	+8
Legendary	168 	91 	+20 	+10
Each additional quality level beyond Legendary improves Armor by 3.6 and other items (weapons, helms, boots, etc.) by 1.8. The skill related to the item will also affect how much it does. So the bonus is significantly larger on the armor on someone with the corresponding skill.
Alchemy and Enchanting can improve results significantly via the Fortify Smithing effect allowing for greater improvements at a given level than the table shows. Combining both alchemy and enchanting to improve one another and then combining both to improve Smithing as much as possible can be very powerful.
The improvement of armor and weapons requires one smithing material per item improved. These items can be obtained by tanning, smelting, or other means of obtaining items.
Smithing Category 	Crafting Material
Long Bow 	Firewood
Hunting Bow 	Leather Strips
Leather 	Leather
Hide 	Leather
Fur 	Leather
Vampire 	Leather
Forsworn 	Leather
Iron 	Iron Ingot
Studded 	Iron Ingot
Steel 	Steel Ingot
Imperial 	Steel Ingot
Nord Hero 	Steel Ingot
Ancient Nord 	Steel Ingot
Wolf 	Steel Ingot
Dawnguard 	Steel Ingot
Dawnguard Heavy 	Steel Ingot
Red Eagle 	Steel Ingot
Valdr's Lucky Dagger	Steel Ingot
Vokun 	Steel Ingot
Ghost 	Ectoplasm
Scaled 	Corundum Ingot
Banded Iron 	Corundum Ingot
Steel Plate 	Corundum Ingot
Dwarven 	Dwarven Metal Ingot
Elven 	Refined Moonstone
Morokei 	Refined Moonstone
Orcish 	Orichalcum Ingot
Ebony 	Ebony Ingot
Daedric 	Ebony Ingot
Glass 	Refined Malachite
Nordic Carved 	Quicksilver Ingot
Stalhrim 	Stalhrim
Chitin 	Chitin Plate
Chitin Heavy 	Chitin Plate
Bonemold 	Bone Meal
Dragonplate 	Dragon Bone
Dragonscale 	Dragon Scales
Falmer 	Chaurus Chitin
Nightingale 	Void Salts
Jewelry 	*
* The only known piece of jewelry that can be improved is the Aetherial Crown, with a Dwarven Metal Ingot. However, since it has no armor rating, only its value will be increased.
==Achievements==
==Strategies==
Click to show a list of Smithing strategies.	 	 	
*Crafting iron daggers is a good start, as the materials are common and cheap.
*Crafting Leather items can be an effective method if the Dragonborn hunts animals that produce hide upon their death.
*Crafting jewelry levels up the skill faster (the more valuable the items, the faster it does).
*The Dwarven Smithing perk not only allows the Dragonborn to create and improve their own set of Dwarven armor and weapons early in the game, but also to make these items—especially Dwarven Bows—to sell. The gold spent making them can be earned back by trading with 20% better prices, which can be achieved by getting Haggling perk in the Speech skill tree or enchanting any wearable items with Fortify Barter.
*Crafting Elven Swords at Smithing level 60 or 70 can be more efficient than Dwarven, although it is more expensive.
*If the DLC is installed, making construction materials helps to level up fast, making nails levels up Smithing the fastest compared to making other construction materials.
*As to show the impact of the value of the item for raising the skill, it takes to raise Smithing from 15–100 crafting of:
**245 Gold Diamond Necklaces needing 245 Gold Ingots and 245 Diamonds
**1550 Gold rings needing 775 Gold Ingots
**2348 Silver rings needing 1174 Silver Ingots
*Completing The Companions questline allows the use of the Skyforge to produce "Nord Hero" armor and weapons. The Skyforge is the only location for crafting these items.
*To maximize skill gain, complete the quest "Unfathomable Depths" to obtain the Ancient Knowledge ability, activate the Warrior Stone, and sleep in a bed to obtain the Rested Effect or Lover's Comfort effect. If the add-on is installed, obtain and equip the Aetherial Crown. The Lover Stone can be used as an alternative to the sleeping effects, if, for instance, the Dragonborn is a lycanthrope.
*The Transmute Mineral Ore can be used to convert Iron Ore to Silver Ore, then Gold Ore. Despite the time and Magicka costs, it significantly improves yields while simultaneously raising the Alteration skill and Smithing skills.
*Smithing two gold rings from one gold ingot, enchanting them, and then selling them for profit will increase the Smithing and Enchanting skills simultaneously, as well as leveling the Speech skill and making a profit for the Dragonborn. This can be repeated infinite times.
*When improving an item at a grindstone or workbench, the Fortify Smithing yields additional experience as well as improve the sale value of the item being improved.
*Blacksmiths and general goods merchants sell iron ore inexpensively in small amounts.
*All mines and Dwemer ruins provide raw materials for Smithing, such as Dwemer artifacts and scrap metal; making Dwarven armor and weapons from this scrap is one way of quickly leveling Smithing, although this tactic is only effective with the Dwarven Smithing perk. The ingot yield to weight ratio, from least to most weight, is:
{|class="wikitable sortable"	Piece	 	Ingot yield
Small Dwemer Plate Metal 	2 	3	
Large Dwemer Plate Metal 	2 	3	
Bent Dwemer Scrap Metal 	2 	3	
Solid Dwemer Metal 	25 	5	
Large Decorative Dwemer Strut 	15 	2	
Large Dwemer Strut 	20 	3	
==Trivia==
*Being a Combat skill, Smithing is affected by the Warrior Stone power and the Seeker of Might ability.
*Like using Soul Gems with Enchanting, stolen ingots used in smithing do not cause the improved object to become stolen. An improved stolen object remains stolen, whether or not the ingot used was stolen.
*Combining Ancient Knowledge with the Warrior Stone will cause this skill to increase 35% faster.
==Bugs==
* If you have a shield equipped while using the forge a slight animation bug occurs.
* After improving a weapon at a grindstone, the red and green totals, that indicate the damage increase or decrease, may only register the weapon's base value prior to being improved.
**Solution: To resolve this, either equip another weapon, or un-equip the current weapon.
* Minor cosmetic glitches may occur during the armor selection window when a Smithing station is activated.
* Smithing stations fail to activate. The view switches to third person and stops, but after a second or two, movement restores and the crafting menus do not appear.
**Fix: Reload previous save.
** Going into hiding, then using a combat spell, such as Flames, on a blank section of wall should re-focus the view and reset the station.
** Using the console command player.tai should fix the issue.
==See also==
*Skills
*Ore
*Ingot
*Crafting
==Appearances==
*
*
==References==
de:Schmiedekunst (Skyrim)
es:Herrería (Skyrim)
fr:Forgeage (Skyrim)
it:Forgiatura (Skyrim)
ja:Smithing (Skyrim)
nl:Smeden
pl:Kowalstwo (Skyrim)
pt:Smithing (Skyrim)
ru:Кузнечное дело (Skyrim)
uk:Ковальство (Skyrim)
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