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How Leveling Smithing Works
Easiest Ways To Power Level Smithing - Rings Upon Rings
Additional Potions And Spells To Use For Bonus XP
A powerful Dragonborn is only made stronger with powerful gear, making Skyrim's Smithing skill essential to power level early on. As one of three crafting-centered skills in the game, Smithing opens up an entirely new avenue of items for players. You can create anything from dragon bone armor sets and expensive jewelry to powerful weapons - all to improve your abilities or fill your purse.
Related: Skyrim: How To Power Level Sneak
Fortunately, Smithing isn't a difficult skill to power level. In fact, new players can get stuck into Smithing so long as they are dedicated to grinding the game to refine this skill. Looking to craft high-tier items and more? Then keep reading below for a quick refresher on how Smithing leveling works and all the best tips to power level it efficiently.
Updated By Nathan Round on November 7th, 2022: We have populated this article with relevant links to articles that will benefit all you Skyrim players out there. Images have also been updated to give this guide a greater aesthetic.
How Leveling Smithing Works
Back in the days of the Xbox 360/PS3, you used to be able to take advantage of the age-old "Iron Dagger technique" to max out your Smithing levels. All a Dragonborn had to do was to craft hundreds upon hundreds of Iron Daggers - one of the cheapest items to make - and boom, level 100. Unfortunately, the game has since patched that exploit, changing how Smithing leveling works.
Now, Smithing will give experience based on the value of the item crafted rather than a flat amount per item. Similarly to Pickpocketing, you'll gain more experience in crafting higher-value items. So, in this case, it's best to focus on quality over quantity. You can also gain Smithing experience by improving a weapon at a grindstone or improving armor/shields at a workbench. The amount of experience granted for both processes depends on the strength of the improvement you make!
Easiest Ways To Power Level Smithing - Rings Upon Rings
Since Smithing levels are determined by the value of an item, the best way for you to quickly max out the skill is by crafting Gold Rings. While Gold Rings aren't the highest-value item in the game, they are surprisingly the most efficient item to forge. One Gold Ingot will net you two Gold Rings (as opposed to a single Gold necklace), allowing you to quickly mass-produce them at the forge. Even better, you can combine these Gold Rings with any gems you have to further increase their value. You can find gems by pickpocketing NPCs or stealing from Skyrim's shops. Now, with pockets laden with Gold Rings, you should end up with a Smithing skill of 100 and lots of expensive jewelry to sell. Applying enhancements will also increase the ring's value but may take longer to do.
To quickly get gold ingots, you'll need the Transmute Mineral Ore spell tome. You'll be able to find it within the Halted Stream Camp located north of Whiterun. This Alteration spell will allow you to turn any iron ore into silver and any silver ore into gold. After learning the spell, you can then buy out all the iron and silver from Skyrim's stores and transform them yourself into gold in no time. Alternatively, you could mine ore in caves yourself, but that will take significantly longer.
Here's an extra bonus for those of you who happen to already be at level 100 Enchanting - if you choose your Perks wisely, you can place a 25% cost reduction on four items. This will make your spell cost zero, allowing you to Transmute Mineral Ore to your heart's content.
Related: Skyrim: How To Power Level Enchanting
Additional Potions And Spells To Use For Bonus XP
Another method to power-level Smithing is by taking advantage of potions. Draughts like the Blacksmith's Potion or Elixir will give you anywhere from a 20 - 50% bonus to weapon and armor improving for 30 seconds. This means you'll be able to temper your gear for stronger enhancements, which in turn will boost your Smithing skill. If you decide to craft these potions yourself, this process will also significantly boost your Alchemy skill! These potions may lean on the expensive side (unless already you've power leveled your Sneak for stealthy stealing), but they'll grant some bonus experience at the grindstone. You'll be able to buy these potions from most Apothecary merchants.
If you're looking for a more magical solution, you can also make use of the Fortify Smithing enchantment. This enchantment can be learned by dis-enchanting an item that has Fortify Smithing already on it. You'll likely be able to find these enchanted items at blacksmith shops or by looting enemies. Once you know it, you can enchant jewelry or armor to stack the Fortify Smithing effect. This will increase your bonus to improving items at a grindstone, but it will not affect crafting at a forge.
And that covers all of our tips on power leveling Smithing! If you’re looking to Power Level other skills, be sure to check back here for more tips and tricks on quickly becoming the strongest Dragonborn possible.
Next: Skyrim: How To Power Level Conjuration
FAQs
While the easiest way to do this used to be by smithing iron daggers, a patch removed this glitch and changed Smithing leveling to scale with item worth rather than item quantity. This means that the fastest way to level up your Smithing attribute is by crafting gold rings.
What is the fastest way to level up Smithing in Skyrim? ›
The Fastest Way To Level Smithing
- Obtain the Warrior Standing Stone and sleep to earn 30 percent increased experience.
- If you have the Aetherial Crown, align with the Lover Stone as well for 45 percent increased XP gains.
- Craft Iron Daggers at any forge until you reach Smithing level 30.
The Smithing Formula
The three tools that use and improve the Smithing skill are grindstones, workbenches, and forges. Anvils also count as forges. Players can gain Smithing experience by using the improvement tools, but the fastest way to improve the skill is by crafting new items in a forge.
Who can train you to level 100 in Smithing? ›
Skyrim Smithing Trainer Locations
There are four Smithing trainers in all of Skyrim. Ghorza gra-Bagol is Adept level, and found in Markarth. In Riften, you'll find Balimund, who's Expert level. In Whiterun, Eorlund Gray-Mane is a Master level trainer for those who are members of the Companions.
How many iron daggers to get 100 Smithing? ›
TIL it takes 2338 iron daggers to get a Nord's base smithing skill of 20 up to 100. Back before the 1.5 patch I remember you only needed 400ish daggers to do it. Ah, the good old days.
What is the most efficient Smithing XP? ›
Smelting gold bars at the Blast Furnace becomes the fastest viable training method at level 40. This method costs money, and it can be fairly expensive depending on the Grand Exchange prices.
Can you boost Smithing level? ›
When the Smithing cape is equipped, it allows the coal bag to hold 36 coal instead of 27 and provides the experience-boosting effect of the goldsmith gauntlets. Is available to free players. Depending on type of stew, any skill except Hitpoints can be boosted or reduced by 0 to 5 levels randomly.
What is the max Smithing improvement in Skyrim? ›
If your Smithing is 100 you can improve items to Flawless if you don't have the Perk for that item class, and at 57 if you do. That is the max improvement you can do without an item class' Perk. With the Perk and Smithing of 74 you can improve to Epic. With the Perk and Smithing of 91 you can improve to Legendary.
How to level up fast in Skyrim? ›
24 Clever Ways to Level Up As Quickly As Possible In Skyrim
- 1 Use Muffle or Clairvoyance repeatedly.
- 2 Sneak attack either Hadvar or Ralof.
- 3 Summon and banish creatures.
- 4 Cast the Detect Life spell in busy locations.
- 5 Use Telekinesis while fast-traveling.
- 6 Learn the Equilibrium and Fast Healing spells.
With smithing 100, players will be able to craft the best armor and weapons in Skyrim with Daedric and Dragon supplies, and they will net a solid profit from selling all of their handcrafted Dwarven Bows.
Jewelry can hep you level up the quickest. Get gold ore by using the Transmute spell to turn iron ore to silver ore to gold ore. Look for gems to use for rings and such or complete No Stone Unturned for an abundance of gems. After doing all this, I got my smithing from 15 to 100 in a few hours.
How many gold rings to max out in Smithing? ›
You need exactly 669 gold ingots to smith gold rings to maximise your Smithing skill from level 17 to 100.
Who is the best Smith in Skyrim? ›
Eorlund Gray-Mane is a master blacksmith in Whiterun. He is widely regarded as one of the best smiths in all of Skyrim. He can be found working at the Skyforge next to Jorrvaskr in Whiterun.
What is the fastest way to max Smithing in Skyrim? ›
Since Smithing levels are determined by the value of an item, the best way for you to quickly max out the skill is by crafting Gold Rings. While Gold Rings aren't the highest-value item in the game, they are surprisingly the most efficient item to forge.
Does the iron dagger trick still work? ›
Iron dagger spam is still effective, just not *as* effective. You still get a minimum amount of XP per item smithed so spamming a ton of worthless items is still more effective for leveling up than trying to create higher value items like chestplates.
How many nails do you need for 100 Smithing? ›
Then once you reach lvl 80, get Ebony Smithing, and smithing some Ebony Warhammers. Then get to lvl 90 and smith some Daedric Warhammers. And then finally get to lvl 100. But to answer your question, you'd probably need 10,000 nails to get to lvl 100.
How many smithing stones do I need to level up? ›
From the chart, you can see that for any given upgrade tier, you will need 12 stones of each type to reach the next upgrade tier (excluding the final tier for a +25 weapon). Once you have located all the Bell Bearings to buy Smithing Stones 1 through 8, it will cost 129,000 Runes to upgrade a weapon to +24.
What is the fastest way to get smithing stones? ›
You'll find them anywhere, but the best way is to collect the Smithing-Stone Miner's Bell Bearings and give them to the Twin Maiden Husks. They will allow you to buy as many as you want, so forget running around for 10 hours every time you want to upgrade a new weapon and just go right for these.
How many dwarven ingots for Smithing 100? ›
Players should have around 300 Dwarven ingots just from the Nchuand-Zel Dwarven ruins area alone, but there are plenty of more ways to obtain these ingots, such as the inventory or blacksmiths, or the other Dwarven ruins in Skyrim.
