This article describes how to get Smithing to level 100 in Skyrim in the most efficient way. Before a recent patch, the simplest way to accomplish this was to mass produce iron daggers; now it is no longer possible, because the level of Blacksmithing increases according to the value of the object created and no longer according to the quantity. For this reason, the fastest strategy to level up Smithing at the moment is to create gold rings.
Steps
Step 1. Learn how the method works
Gold rings require a single resource, a gold bar, and there is a base-level spell that allows you to turn iron, the least expensive and easiest to find mineral, into gold. This makes gold rings the easiest, quickest, and cheapest items to produce in large quantities to level up Smithing efficiently.
- By crafting lots of gold rings, your character's Smithing level will quickly rise;
- You can sell gold rings for significantly more than the cost of a unit of iron, so you will also generate a profit;
- Gold rings are also preferable to iron daggers because they don't require leather strips and don't weigh you down too much if you build hundreds of them.
Step 2. Obtain the Transmute Ore spell
You can find it on a table next to a bed in the Interrupted Stream camp, northwest of the Whitewatch Tower (approximately north of Whiterun).
- To learn the spell, just find the corresponding book in the "Books" section of the inventory and select it;
- There is no minimum level requirement, so you can use it right away if you have enough Magicka to do so.
Step 3. Make sure you have enough Magicka
Most characters start with 100 Magicka, and the cost of the mineral transmutation spell is 88 Magicka. This means that you will be able to use it, but only once; if possible, find clothing that increases your magical power pool (or that reduces the cost of alteration spells), or choose Magicka as an attribute to increase as you level up.
- By completing the quests of the College of Winterhold you will be rewarded with equipment and items that increase Magicka's supply.
- One way around Magicka's problems is to "wait" for an hour each time your supply runs out. This way you will recharge your magical power in a fraction of the time you should normally wait.
Step 4. Go to the Whiterun Blacksmith
Whiterun is the first major city you come across in history. Once you enter, you will find yourself just inside the city gates and you will notice that the blacksmith shop is the first building on the right.
Step 5. Buy some iron
You can do this in some Whiterun stores:
- Warmaiden's: the blacksmith's shop himself. Talk to Ulfberth War-Bear inside to purchase items;
- Adrianne: Whiterun's blacksmith, you can often find her outside busy at the furnace. Offers a different (albeit smaller) selection of items than Ulfberth.
- Belethor Emporium: You can find this shop to the right of the main staircase in the square with the well. Belethor runs a general store and usually has a few iron units at his disposal;
- Once you have made a sufficient profit from the sale of the gold rings, you will be able to purchase gold and silver units from the Warmaiden's shop.
Step 6. Turn all the raw iron into gold
Equip the Transmute Ore spell, use it once to turn a unit of iron into silver, then again to turn silver into gold. Repeat until all iron or silver supplies are exhausted.
As mentioned earlier, you can use the "Wait" command to recover Magicka after casting a spell
Step 7. Make gold bars
Go to the furnace behind the Warmaiden's shop, select it, then choose the option Gold until it turns gray.
Each gold bar requires two units of raw gold, so at the end of the operation you will have half the gold you had in your inventory
Step 8. Make gold rings
Once you have the gold bars, all you have to do is create the rings themselves. Open the forge, select JEWELS, find the item Gold ring and select it until it turns gray.
With one gold bar you can make two rings
Step 9. Sell the rings to Belethor
Once you run out of gold bars, you can sell the rings for a profit. Warmaiden's will not purchase non-combat related items, while Belethor is willing to do so.
If the value of the rings you created exceeds Belethor's budget, purchase items (such as more raw metal) to make up for the difference
Step 10. Wait 48 hours in the game
When the wait is over, merchant inventories and budgets will be reset. At that point, you can repeat the entire cycle: buy as much iron (including silver and gold) as possible, transmute all minerals into gold, bullion bottoms and use them to create rings.
Thanks to this method your character will level up and you will have the possibility to use skill points to unlock talents and improve your attributes (Magicka, Stamina and Health). Consider spending the points to increase your Magicka pool and your Alteration abilities to make the process easier
Advice
- In the port of Riften you can meet the character "From-Deepest-Depths"; talking to him once you reach level 14, he will give you a volume. Complete the mission and return the volume to receive a permanent 15% increase in the experience gained in Blacksmithing.
- You can obtain the ore directly by digging in the various mines scattered throughout the game world (which you can recognize by the icon in the shape of a pickaxe) if you prefer not to purchase them. You need a pickaxe to dig.
- While Whiterun is the best place to level up Smithing early in the game, you can do so wherever the tools you need are available.
