Blacksmithing

Learn the art of creating metal-based weapons and heavy armor, accomplished through a series of progressive improvements. Find your crafting station at smithies, usually where a Blacksmith vendor resides.

Blacksmithing is the art of forging quality heavy armor and metallic weaponry for fun and profit. Before you seek out a Blacksmithing Station (an anvil) that can forge the items you want, you must mine a reasonable supply of raw materials from the mountains of Tamriel. Combining different ingots, ores, and tempers makes the crafting of a variety of heavy armor and weaponry possible.

Any metal-based armor and weaponry can be deconstructed at a Blacksmithing Station for the raw materials and the traits they possess. Once these are further improved and traits added, you can create an ultimate suit of armor or metal weapon you can be justly proud of.

Passive Abilities

There are six Blacksmithing Passive Abilities:

Blacksmithing Passive Abilities

Ability	Name	Description	Prerequisite
	Metalworking	This allows access to the better-quality ingot types, from the relatively common Iron to the very rare Rubedite. If you want your items to be of increasingly better quality, and want to create items from a wider variety of ore, this is the main ability to pick from and constantly add points to.	10 Ranks at Levels 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and 50
	Keen Eye	When mining for ore, if you’re within 20, 30, or 40 meters of an ore deposit, it emits a glow—especially illuminating at night. To mine ore more quickly, or if you find ore-location tricky, pick this.	Three Ranks at Levels 2, 9, and 30
	Miner Hireling	Once per day (every 24 hours Ranks 1-2, and every 12 hours at Rank 3), and every time you log back in to your game (assuming a day has passed), your Hireling sends you ore and other random items related to improving your Blacksmithing, like tempers. This is helpful, and it’s another source of raw materials.	Three Ranks at Levels 3, 12, and 32
	Metal Extraction	Pick this to increase the chances of extracting a greater amount of ingots, tempers, and trait materials from each refinement action.	Three Ranks at Levels 4, 22, and 32
	Metallurgy	To research two traits for a weapon or heavy armor at once—or three once Rank 3 is unlocked—and lessen the research time by up to 25%, this is a must-have skill. Grab this when you’re fully committed to trait research.	Four Ranks at Levels 8, 22, 28, and 42
	Temper Expertise	When you’re improving an item, there’s a chance of failure. This mitigates that problem somewhat, increasing the chances of improving items with tempers. Since the higher-value tempers are difficult to come by and this allows you to more easily improve items without risking their destruction, it’s well worth picking.	Three Ranks at Levels 10, 25, and 40

Scavenging: Locating Ore

Those wishing to forge metal items should check the foothills of rocky outcrops, the insides of caves, and other rocky areas throughout Tamriel for the necessary raw materials. These take the form of ore from different rock deposits. There are 10 varieties, beginning with Iron. Look for small clumps of rock rich with veins of the ore material you seek. You produce a pick-axe (which doesn’t have to be bought; it’s automatically used), chip the ore out of the deposit, and receive around three to four of a specific ore type in your inventory. Keep chipping at different deposits until you have at least 10 of the same type, the minimum needed to forge into ingots during the refining process.

Once you’ve gone on an ore-mining field trip, you need to refine your ore. Thus the creation of ingots begins. The type of ore found in the wild improves as your level increases, as well as by upgrading your Metalworking Passive Ability. Half of the nodes that you come across are scaled to your combat level, while the other half meets the rank of this passive ability. The following table lists the available ores and when they are found:

Blacksmithing: Raw Materials

Raw Material	Type	Available	Metalworking Skill Rank Required
	Iron Ore	Level 1-14	1
	High Iron Ore	Level 16-24	2
	Orichalc Ore	Level 26-34	3
	Dwarven Ore	Level 36-44	4
	Ebony Ore	Level 46-50	5
	Calcinium Ore	Champion Rank 10-30	6
	Galatite Ore	Champion Rank 46-60	7
	Quicksilver Ore	Champion Rank 70-80	8
	Voidstone Ore	Champion Rank 90-140	9
	Rubedite Ore	Champion Rank 150-160	10

Refining: Processed Materials

Refined ore in the form of ingots is collectively known as processed material. It takes 10 pieces of raw ore to create 7-10 ingots. Ingots are then utilized in the creation of heavy armor and metallic weaponry. The type of ore indicates the level and quality of the equipment. To start with, transform the ore you’ve collected into ingots, and begin the crafting of items. Refining ore also has a chance to provide trait stones and tempers and is a great source for the materials.