Blacksmithing!!!

[DrMrLordX]

Hello. I am a retired level 73 blacksmith(and 60 weaver, 37 carpenter, 60 leatherworker), and I thought I'd share some advice with the lower-level blacksmiths on how to raise skill as quickly and easily as possible. Also please note that at skill 50+, skill gain slows down by a LOT.

I would also advise that you craft on the day with the same element as your crystal or lightsday. Don't bother trying to make HQ items while gaining skill. And ALWAYS use Advanced Image Support!

I have included approximate cost of producing the item mentioned where possible, though ultimately, your costs will vary from server to server.

skill 0-2
bronze ingots
fire crystal + 3xcopper ore +1xtin ore(~178 gil)

Don't use beastcoins unless you have saved up a bunch of them on your own. They are expensive. Buy copper ore from the San D'Oria blacksmith's guild, blacksmith/goldsmith in Bastok, or
goldsmith in Mhaura.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 2-4
bronze sheets
fire crystal + bronze ingot(~278 gil)

Just use the ingots you made getting to 2 skill. You should have about 2 stacks. That should be enough to get you to 4 skill. Go ahead and process your extra bronze ingots into sheets anyway, because you'll want them for . . .

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 4-6
bronze scales
wind crystal + bronze sheet(~378 gil)

You will likely not make any profit selling these, so save them up, or sell them to slightly more advanced smiths if you are desperate. If you save them up, you can use them later on scale armor suits.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 6-10
bronze bolt heads
wind crystal + bronze ingot(~278 gil)

Easier just to buy bronze ingots off others for this, at least on Midgardsormr. Bronze bolt heads themselves are worthless, and the bronze bolts you can make with them don't sell very well, at least not on Midgardsormr. Your mileage may vary. I would advise selling these to the guild npc or a standard npc, taking the almost complete loss, and moving on with your life(and your craft)

I have heard one report that bronze scales can be made until 10 skill, but I was unable to get past 6 skill myself. It's possible something was changed in a patch, but I can not confirm this. Bronze bolt heads may also get you to 11 skill, but again, I can not confirm this.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 10-15/16
scale mail suits OR tin ingots
Scale mail suit = earth crystal + cotton thread + sheep leather + leather vest + 2xbronze scales(~1800 gil)
Tin ingot = fire crystal + 4xtin ore(~220 gil)

Depending on your server's economy, one or the other may be more wise. On Midgardsormr, I could make scale mail suits at an average of 1800 gil per suit, which was okay, because I wound up selling them at about 2k per suit. Keep in mind that the overall frustration caused by this skill range can be mitigated by stopping your craft of scale mail and/or tin ingots at 15 skill, instead of 16(which is how high you can get off these items). Note that the new tin ingots apparently can be made from skill 10-16, or thereabouts. They are cheaper to make than scale mail, and are used in the production of various alchemical items(batteries, spark weapons).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 15/16-20
iron ingots
4xiron ore + fire crystal(~2100 gil)

These can be made and sold at a profit if you buy ore from the AH on midgardsormr: Cost to produce in Midgardsormer: about 2100 gil(500 for ore, 90-100 for crystal). Cost to sell on Midgardsormer: varies between 26-30k for a stack of 12. In any case, iron ingots are useful anyway, so you won't be harmed by saving them up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 20- ~23
iron sheets
fire crystal + iron ingot(~2200 gil)

Trust me on this. Sheets sell well on their own, or can be used for . . .

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 23-26
iron scales
wind crystal + iron sheet(~2300 gil)

Just use the sheets you got getting to 23(or is it 22? I don't remember how far iron sheets will take you)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 26-30: iron finger gauntlets OR iron visors OR iron scale greaves OR iron chains OR iron masks
gauntlets = earth crystal +2xiron scale + cotton thread + leather gloves
greaves = earth crystal +2xiron scale + cotton thread + leather highboots
iron visor = wind crystal + iron scale + iron sheet + sheep leather
iron chain = earth crystal + 2xiron ingot(~4200 gil)
iron mask = earth crystal + iron sheet + brass sheet

Depending on your server, these may or may not sell well. They do not sell well on Midgardsormr. Note that the iron scale pieces all sell well to the guild npcs if you can't sell them to players, though you will still take a loss. The loss is least severe on visors. You may also get a lot of failures if you try iron scale pieces at 26! Your other choices are to make iron chains or iron masks, but these do not sell well on the open market, at least not that I can tell. I made iron chains from 26-29 and got lucky by selling all my chains to one guy(Manapy rules). Some people make iron masks, but these seemed almost as bad economically as iron chains. Again, your mileage may vary.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 31-36
steel sheets
fire crystal + steel ingot(~3300 gil)
Just buy the ingots off the AH. On Midgardsormr, it's only 37k-40k per stack. Er, was.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 36-40
steel scales
wind crystal + steel sheet(~3400 gil)
These may or may not sell well to skill ~50 blacksmiths on your server. I had one customer(Negimaru rules!) who bought all my steel scales at 3500 gil apiece. I made a profit off those.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 40-41
iron mittens
earth crystal + iron sheet + lizard skin
These require around 10 leatherworking. If you can manage that, this is an easy, cheap way to gain skill. You can sell them to the Bastok blacksmithing guild for up to 2700 gil apiece. Keep in mind that you probably won't be able to gain blacksmithing skill on these past 41. They seem to raise leatherworking too, up to 10, if you don't have it already(I did them with leatherworking 9).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 41-45
iron subligars
earth crystal + iron sheet + lizard skin + cotton cloth
You can gain leatherworking up to 12 on these, too. These sell to the Bastok blacksmith's guild for 3560 odd gil, max. Keep in mind that the guild only buys around 18 of any one item per day(maybe only 16?), and that the price they pay will drop for a few days after you sell a lot of them(and will rise back to the max price later).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 45-49
steel visors
wind crystal + iron scales + steel sheet + sheep leather
The only reason I advocate this synth is the fact that you can sell them to the San D'Oria Blacksmith's guild for 5040 gil apiece, max. That amounts to a decent return, but you are losing money doing it. Steel visors will sell in Jeuno to players sometimes(they're level 48 steel scale for crying out loud), but at least on Midgardsormr, they uh, don't sell all that swiftly. I would not advise skilling up steel finger gauntlets or greaves at this point.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 49-52
Darksteel ingots
fire crystal + 3xiron ore + darksteel ore(~7000-8000 gil)
This is expensive, and you will scream in pain when you lose a chunk of darksteel ore. Well, nearly. These can be sold at a profit, however, and they do sell fairly well. Sell them to players, of course. You should be able to get at least 1k profit per ingot. Possibly more. Please note that after 50 skill, skill gain slows down a lot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 52-55
Darksteel sheets
fire crystal + darksteel ingot(~7100-8100 gil)
This is an easy synth if you have lots of darksteel ingots left over after getting to 52 skill. It's nice not having to juggle all that ore. Getting to 53 skill off this was very, very slow, but it picks up afterwards, and it turns out you can make these until 55 skill! What a deal! Skill AND you can sell them for a profit.

And . . . that's it for now!

I'll add more details to a message later in this thread.

[TokeN]

thanks, i jsut started smithing and im glad u told me not to buy beast coins that would have been alot of money down the drain. And because of that i reaced level 2 really easily. There should be one of these guides for every craft.

[DrMrLordX]

Just doin my best to help people avoid some of the pitfalls I fell into while crafting.

On a side note . . . I have yet to see any sites listing the item requested for the tests given at 48 and 58 skill. They are:

48 skill: mythril pick(um, I think? 38 skill was war pick, so 48 is . . . ehh I'll stand by my story)

58 skill: darksteel falchion

Anyway, more crafting advice:

skill 55-56
steel greaves
earth crystal + 2xsteel scales + cotton thread + leather highboots

Joy, more steel scale crap. These cost about 7k per item on Midgardsormer to manufacture(will vary wildly from server to server), and sell to the guild in San D'Oria for 4200 apiece, at most. Can you say nearly 3k loss per synth? I knew you could. On the plus side, these will sell in limited numbers in Jeuno, depending on your server. Try not to over-saturate the market too badly. There might be something better to make at this skill level, but I don't really know what. Breastplates, gauntlets, and schlaegers are in this skill range, but they do not seem economically viable compared to steel greaves.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 56-66
nodowa
earth crystal + iron sheet + silk thread

What a let-down. The Nodowa is a fountain of skill, but no fountain of gil. I was figuring I'd get 5k per nodawa selling to NPCs. No such luck! Players on Midgardsormr do not buy these, at all, and they sell to NPCs for about 2750, or to Tenshodo shops for just under 3k(and only in small quantities). However, the recipe is simple, you can make a lot of them, and you can skill up on them for a loooooong time. The losses are somewhat disappointing in light of all the failures I've gotten on them from 56-59, but one you hit 59, it seems to be easy-street. 58-59 is really rough. Tough it out, or pick a different synth(your choice) until you hit 59. Once you get up around 62 skill or so, expect to be making upwards of 40-50 nodowa per skill point. I kid you not.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

skill 66-73
darksteel pick
fire crystal + darksteel ingot + elm lumber

I got bummed out doing these until I tried selling them to a standard NPC vendor. Then all I could say was "whoa". 12,484 gil per pick with Hero-level fame. Cha-ching! Even with overpriced darksteel and elm, you can still do well. It is possible to make a profit selling these things to npcs, some of the time. Not all of the time. This is a good time to invest in Fire moghancement!

more to come later.

[Kurgan]

Awesome. Very helpful! I agree that every craft should have a guide like this. I am sure you can take a look at the recipe list for Blacksmith and compare this guide to the recipe list for other crafts, find which item is least expensive to synth, and then continually synth it until level up.

[BALD TARU TARU]

this should be a sticky...

[DrMrLordX]

The main risk behind looking at lists is

a). lists aren't always correct(for example, many lists, even the one on Killing Ifrit, have a leatherworking synth of air crystal + 2xsheep leather = Sollerets. Sollerets require something like . . .41 goldsmithing to make, I think. The correct item here is Solea). Sites don't even agree on the skill needed for this synth! It only requires 4 leatherworking, in reality. I used this synth to get my leatherworking to 9, though I think you can take it up to 11 if you want. It's a terrible money-sink though. As is most low-level leatherworking.

b). Sometimes expensive synths are better because the product sells well on the open market on your server. You CAN raise blacksmithing from 21-26 making spathas, but they don't sell for anything worth mentioning on Midgardsormr, so the relatively small cost to make them(3xbronze ingot + 1xlizard skin) is negated by the fact that you'll probably wind up dumping them on NPCs for around 300-350 each.

In the end, your crafting strategy has to be based on the market. You have to choose synths based on availability of components and the price/demand for the product. Making stuff that either won't sell in volume, or won't sell for a decent return per-item, is a recipe for bankruptcy and frustration.

So, the guide I've listed here is weighted pretty strongly on the economy on Midgardsormr. You might be able to get away with crafting different stuff on other servers, and you might even make some cash doing it, though I'm fairly certain that the things I listed in my guide will do well on any server(except bronze bolt heads, hah).

One thing to remember is that you shouldn't craft stuff that comes as a quest reward(especially a low-level quest reward). Bronze subligars, spathas, rabbit mantles, lauan shields, etc. None will sell well, or so I would imagine. Elm staves, ugh!

[Socrates]

bump for great info.

@blmsmithing lv 6.

[Socrates]

hey, DR, you know anything about lightning crystals and goblins equipment?

i've been trying to find some info on that but no avail.

[DrMrLordX]

This is fairly common knowledge among japanese blacksmiths, I think, so I guess I can divulge information on this without risk. That and I'm not so dependant on goblin gear for money anymore heh.

Anyway.

Goblin helms, masks, mail, and armor can all be "broken down" via lightning crystals or cut apart by wind crystals to make raw materials. We blacksmiths need only concern outselves with the mail and helms.

lightning crystal + goblin helm = 1 bronze ingot OR 1 iron ingot OR 1 steel ingot

lightning crystal + goblin mail = 3 bronze ingots OR 2 iron ingots OR 1 steel ingot

The exact skill needed to execute this synthesis is unknown to me, but I started doing it at 22 skill. You can make a lot of money off this if you get a lot of iron or steel, and if goblin mail/helms sell cheaply on your server. Or you can farm your own. I do a little of both, really. I still get a lot of failures with this at 60 skill, though it's no so bad anymore. Instead of frequent failures, now I just too much bronze(boooo).

Wind crystals are easier to handle with goblin helms/mail, but also yield less exciting results. Helms can yield either 1 bronze sheet or one iron sheet, while mail will yield 3 bronze sheets or one iron sheet. I've never seen steel sheets from either one. I've heard at least one report that using wind crystals in this fashion will sometimes give skill at around skill 20 or so. I uh, can't really confirm this. I don't seem to get any skill at skill 50+ while doing this.

While I'm at it, you should also know that lightning and wind crystals can be used with quadav backplates, and I'm certain that lightning crystals can be used with quadav helms and antican pauldrons. The pauldrons and backplates will sometimes yield darksteel, though you need at least 60 blacksmithing skill to get this result(I think). I got my first darksteel ingot from a backplate the other day, and I'm pretty happy about it.

Finally, lightning crystals can be used on just about ANY piece of craftable equipment. Whether or not you can break it down seems to be based on your skill with the craft skill(s) that was(were) used to contruct it in the first place. What you get as result seems to be a semi-random pick from the list of components needed to make the object. For example, breaking down a yew wand yields yew lumber, but when I did the same to a kunai, I got a lizard skin. Go figure.

[Socrates]

wow, very useful information.

just too bad it's so high lv >.<

but thanks to you, I got to lv 10 today. I hope to churn out some good stuff soon. thx again.

[cnick]

DrMrLordX,

Great write-up on Blacksmithing! Definitely the hardest part about crafting is knowing the synthesis recipes that give the lowest loss

I'm curious though. Reading through your guide, I noticed that you didn't point out that one skill level that finally allows you to bring in the big bucks. Is there one? Or is even level 50, still too low to rake in a good enough profit.

[hadokenx]

DrMrLordX thanks alot for this great guide I was so happy to see someone do one of these.

I just would like to add that tin ingots can infact be used to raise skill from around 10-15 and are relatively cheap (although you arent going to make hardly any money back).

[Socrates]

nice find on the tin ingots hadokenx.

fire crystal + 4 tin ores = tin ingot
120gil + 120gil = ??gil
very low failure rate at lv10

in half an hour, it got me from 10-12 for about 6k worth of materials and left me with 24 tin ingots. now i have 73gil left in my coffers. >.<

regarding the sells of tin ingots, on my server, the selling rate is rather sporadic in sandoria AH. under the history, two stacks sold at 10k, but i assume they are hard to sell because they are sold on dates far apart from each other. I'm hoping to hand them off at the break even point if possible


i would prefer making tin ingots to bronze rods/scale however, because you don't need a large gil base; tin ingots are also stackable.

if you guys find some uses for tin ingots, share the info. ^^'

[Kurgan]

The toughest part of black smithing I've found, is affording the fire crystals if you don't have any. I think it's time I just switched to one of my lower level jobs and go crystal farming in ghelsba, or stay with my warrior and go farming for crystals from goblins out in the dunes or deeper into fort ghelsba or the grotto.

1500-2000 gil for a stack of 12 crystals starts to get too pricey. I don't mind paying the shop's price for the copper/tin ores at the moment.

I raised my blacksmithing level from 2 to 4 in about 45 minutes or so, but after spending about 8k gil on crystals and materials.

Time to take up mining/logging/fishing to get gil, too, I think.

[Dragonhope]

Good guide. I'm a level 28 Leatherworker but am planning to do other crafting as well. A Friend of mine showed me this thread and I found it to be very helpful.

Now...why isn't this stickied yet?