» Wed Feb 19, 2014 6:59 am In beta, I worked with many of you assembling a guide to help people who wanted to get started in blacksmithing. This is the (current) result of people chipping in, updated to the February 7th beta, now that the NDA is lifted. I'm always looking for feedback, so if you have any, please post below. Additionally, feel free to use this guide however you wish; if you want to repost it or link to it on your guild websites, feel free. It's intended to get people started on blacksmithing (it helps people get started to ~level 20-ish) and I'll continue to update it as beta continues (and once ESO goes live), assuming I can find a host or three. 
If nothing else, expect a regularly updated guide once ESO removes the temporary tag on these forums, and (presumably) makes a Crafting forum. Anyway, read over, give feedback, use however you like. Enjoy!
Myrron’s Guide to ESO Blacksmithing
The Too Long, Didn’t Read Summary:
(Assuming you know how to use the anvil)
- Find a buddy*
- Make level 4 iron daggers. Buddy does the same.
- Give all daggers to buddy so (s)he can extract them
- Buddy gives all his/her daggers they made to you. Extract them all.
- Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4.
- Level up and eventually get the perk for the next tier of smithing (steel)
- Repeat all of the above with level 16 steel daggers.
- Level up and eventually get the perk for the next tier of smithing (orichalc)
- ??? (Will update as beta progresses)
- Win.
*- If you prefer solo smithing, extract them yourself. Prepare to work 3 times as hard, though. Literally.
For much, much more, please read below.
Welcome to the Elder Scrolls Online and the intriguing world of crafting! ESO currently provides six crafts, three “hard” crafts and three “soft” crafts. The hard crafts are blacksmithing, clothier, and woodworking, due to their much slower skillup rates and the ability to provide weapons and armor. The soft crafts are provisioning, enchanting, and alchemy, due to their fast skillup rate and the creation of consumables. This guide provides an in-depth look at the hard craft, blacksmithing.
First things first, what is blacksmithing in ESO and who should consider becoming one? Like other games, blacksmithing allows the crafter to create metal-based weapons and armor. It is important to note that shields are not made by a blacksmith, but are instead a product of woodworkers. Many items are “Bind of Equip” meaning they can be given or sold to others. Typically, there are some perks to crafting, such as “Bind on Pickup” items, which can only be used by the creator. In case there are some perks for blacksmiths such as this, it is recommended that anyone planning on using heavy armor and metal-based weapons (swords, axes, daggers, and maces, both 2-handed and one-handed) consider blacksmithing if they are picking up a craft.
So far, this is generic information, true for most MMOs and fantasy games. Let’s get down to blacksmithing as it relates to ESO!
1. Do you need to put any points into blacksmithing, buy a miner’s pick, or do anything in order to begin?
Nope! All you need is iron ore to begin, or metal-based weapons or armor in your inventory (not your equipped gear).
2. Ok, I want to level blacksmithing! Give me the basics. What do I need to begin?
First, realize that all crafts level up by acquiring “Inspiration Points (IP).” Creating an item provides IP. Taking an existing item and breaking it down (“extracting”) provides IP. To level up, you need a certain amount of IP. Basically, IP is the equivalent of experience points.
To begin gaining IP, you have one of two choices. You can go out into the world (or to a guild store) and acquire iron ore, or gather metal-based weapons and heavy armor that you have no use for. If you collect ore, you need at least 10 in order to begin. If you collect weapons/armor, you only need one item to get started.
3. Ten ore? Got it. Unused weapons/armor? Check. What’s next?
Find an anvil, which are typically in cities (but can be found out in the world). The first time you open up the blacksmithing UI (mouse over the anvil and select “Use” ( E ) ) you will see some in-game tutorials. Read over them, or if you’re like me, ignore it and worry about it later. The Blacksmithing UI has four main tabs along the top right in this order: Create, Enhance, Extract, and Research. To begin, go to “Extract.” Once selected, you will be given the choice to extract weapons, armor, or materials. If you have ore, select the “Materials” tab and the ore will appear as a choice. Alternatively, if you have weapons or armor to destroy, choose the appropriate tab. Next, pick (double-click) the item to extract, and it will be highlighted at the bottom of your screen. If you’re sure you want to extract it, do so by clicking the extract command ( R ). Extracting destroys the weapon or armor, and provides you with some of the raw materials used to create that item. In all cases, extracting ore, weapons, or armor will give you ingots (for example, extracting a heavy iron helmet will give you iron ingots). You may also get racial stones, quality enhancers, and trait stones depending on the item being extracted and luck.
On average, 10 iron ore yields 8 iron ingots. Extracting weapons and armor provides less, but provides the chance to get racial stones, item enhancers, and trait stones.
4. Ok, I got some ingots. Now what?
In order to create anything in ESO, you need ingots and a racial stone. At first, you can only create items made by your race. For example, a Breton needs to have Molybdenum, which can be bought from the NPC blacksmith for 21g each. If you have at least 3 iron ingots (preferably more) and at least one racial stone for your race, you can begin creating.
5. Ok, ingots, check. Stone, check. I wanna start!
To create weapons or armor, open up the blacksmithing UI. The “Creation” tab is opened by default. Choose either the Weapons or Armor sub-tab, and then you will see several rows of options. Let’s say you pick the “Weapons” tab. The first row allows you to scroll through and pick which weapon you want to make. For this example, let’s make a dagger, so you would scroll through until you find the dagger.
The second row asks you to pick which type of ingot you plan to use. At the start of the game, you will only have access to iron ingots, which is the first option. The second row also asks you to pick how many ingots to use. More ingots = higher item level (and thus, more power/defense). You can add ingots up until level 14, but keep in mind, if you make a level 14 item for your use, you need to be level 14 to equip it. Daggers take the least number of ingots, even at the maximum level, so they are a good item to make early on to raise your skill.
The third row gives you an opportunity to add a trait to your creation. Weapons have eight traits, and armor has eight different traits. Traits give your gear boosts, such as increased weapon speed, or bonus armor. In order to add a trait, however, you have to have Researched it and have the proper gem. At the start of the game, you likely will not have any traits yet, so for now, you can select “none” in the third row.
Finally, in the last row, you can pick what style (race) you want for your weapon. At first, you are limited to your race. However, there are ways in the game for you to learn other races’ styles, which we’ll get into later. For now, pick your race, and you will see that it will use up one racial stone in order to make the item.
After all selections have been made, click on the Craft button (or push “R”) and congrats, you made your first item, an iron dagger!
6. Ok, I know how to make things. Is this like Skyrim, where I just need to make iron daggers over and over? What’s the best way to level up?
Fortunately, unless you really liked making iron daggers, IP gains in ESO doesn’t rely on creating the same item over and over until level 50. These are the following ways to gain IP, from best to worst:
Extracting quest rewards, world drops, or items made by other people (higher level gives more) = best IP gain.
Creating your own weapons/armor (higher level gives more) = ok IP gains
Extracting your own created items = weak IP gains
Extracting ore = 0 gain. Do it for the love of ingots.
Ironically, the way to gain the most IP is not to create something, but to destroy something. The higher-level the item extracted, and the higher-quality it is (blue, green, white, etc), the more IP you will gain. So Extracting a level 14 blue item will give more IP than a level 14 green item, which in turn will give more IP than a level 14 white item. All will give more IP than a level 12 item of the same quality, and so forth. Furthermore, if you are given a much higher item (a dwarven dagger) and all you know how to make are iron items, you can STILL extract it, for huge IP gains! I wonder how much IP a level 50 item would yield if extracted by a level 1 blacksmith? Powerlevelling possibility, perhaps?
However, naturally, there is a limit to how many items you might have lying around. The next best way to gain IP is to create items. Creating level 14 weapons and armor provides the next highest amount of IP. It does not matter how many ingots you use, only item level determines the amount of IP gained. So don’t make chest armor, make belts! Don’t make 2-handed maces, make daggers! However, if you want the best bang for your buck, I recommend making level 4 iron items, not level 14. The reason will be listed below, but basically, when you factor in how many ingots it takes to make a max level item compared to how many lower-level items can be made with the same amount of ingots, you maximize your ingot use by making level 4 iron items.
Extracting items you made yields some IP, but not much. It’s actually much, much better to extract items a buddy made, so I recommend pairing up with someone when Blacksmithing.
Finally, extracting ore does not provide any IP at all. Sorry.
7. Why am I making level 4 iron daggers if I get the most IP from making level 14 iron daggers?
It’s math. It takes 3 iron ingots to create a level 4 dagger. It takes 8 ingots to make a level 14 dagger. If you add the amount of IP gained from making and extracting a level 4 dagger and divide by 3 (the number of ingots used), and compare it to the IP gained from making and extracting a level 14 dagger and divide by 8, basically you get more IP per ingot by making level 4 iron daggers. The same calculation is true for level 16 steel daggers vs any other steel level. I do not have calculations for anything above steel.
8. So what’s the deal with traits?
Traits are bonuses you can add to a weapon or piece of armor, such as enhanced weapon attack speed, or bonus armor. You can add a trait to an item if you have done two things first: Researched the trait, and have a gemstone for that trait in your inventory. Let’s begin with Researching…
9. What is Researching?
In the blacksmith UI, the fourth tab is “Research.” If you run across an item with a trait, you can destroy the item in order to learn the trait (much like Skyrim’s way to learn enchantments). Weapons have eight traits that can be researched, such as Precise (increases weapon and spell critical values) and Defending (increases armor and spell resistance). Armor also has eight traits, such as Sturdy (less decay on that item when killed) and Exploration (increases XP gains when discovering new locations). However, there are two catches.
Catch #1- Unlike Skyrim, when you learn a trait, you learn it ONLY for one item slot. For example, if you learn the Defending trait from a pair of boots, you can ONLY enchant boots with Defending. If you want to add Defending to a helmet, you have to wait until you can find a helmet with that trait, and then spend time Researching it (which, if you remember, destroys the item). Just because you know Precise for one-handed maces does not mean you can add it to a sword, a dagger, or even a 2-handed mace. In other words, to create a full set of armor with Exploration, you must first find existing armor for every armor slot with that trait, and then spend the time Researching all of those slots. Which brings me to catch #2…
Catch #2- Researching takes time. A lot of time. The first trait for an item takes 6 real-time hours to learn. (Time continues if you exit the game, fortunately). The second trait for the same item takes 12 hours. The third trait takes 24 hours. It doubles each time. So for a single slot (for example: gloves), it will take a total of 63 days to learn all eight traits. This is assuming, of course, you run across 8 pairs of gloves with all 8 traits across them. And that 63 days only maxxes out all 8 traits for gloves…don’t forget, you also have boots, helmets, belts…
Oh yeah, you don’t gain IP from Researching. Sorry. However, each hard craft’s Researching timer is independent from one another. In other words, you can be Researching a trait for blacksmithing, another one for clothier, and a third trait for woodworking all at the same time.
10. So I learned a trait. How do I add it to my gear?
Let’s use our dagger example. You found a dagger with Precise on it, Researched it, and now you know the Precise trait for daggers. Adding the trait to a new item is pretty easy. Precise requires a ruby. When you attempt to make a dagger, have a ruby in your inventory or in your personal bank. You will notice that when you are in the Blacksmithing UI, under the Creation tab, you can scroll across on the third row (the Traits row) until you find the ruby, which should no longer be red (unavailable). Leave the ruby selected, and proceed to make the dagger. Congratulations, you have a dagger with the Precise trait!
11. Can I learn all traits?
No, there are two traits that currently cannot be learned: Ornate and Intricate. The Ornate trait simply increases the gold you get when you sell the item to a vendor. Intricate increases the IP gained when you extract that item (though it is bugged as of the February 7th beta). Neither trait can be Researched.
12. So what’s the deal with racial weapons? How do I make a Daedric weapon?
You begin the game only able to make gear of your race. However, there are blue-quality books scattered around the world that, once used, teaches you how to make items from another race. These books can be anywhere- chests, urns, desks, you name it. It is completely random, too. For example, on my second character, I ran across the Khajiit racial crafting book in a chest in the starter zone (before I ever escaped). Fortunately, the books are BoE, so you can trade them or sell them. An alt character can put one in in the bank in order to allow your crafter to pick it up and read it (your bank is shared across all of your characters). Also fortunately, you need only find one book, and it unlocks all racial gear in all three of the hard crafts- woodworking and clothier in addition to blacksmithing.
Once you learn another race’s style, in the blacksmithing UI, under the Creation tab, you can scroll across the fourth row until you find the gem for that race. Of course, you need to have that gemstone in your inventory, but remember, all racial gemstones are sold by blacksmith NPC vendors, who are usually near their anvils, for 21g each. You may also gain racial gemstones by Extracting gear, so you might not need to buy one!
Basically, in order to make a Daedric suit of armor, you only need to find a Daedric racial crafting book once, on any character, and send it to your blacksmith. Once you read it, that character can craft anything Daedric, from weapons to armor.
13. What’s the Enhance tab? How do I improve items I make?
Enhancing allows you to upgrade your weapons and armor’s quality. A white-quality weapon can be Enhanced to a green-quality weapon. A green-quality gauntlet could be Enhanced to a blue-quality gauntlet. The item level remains the same, but improving the quality will increase the weapon’s damage or the armor’s defense rating. (For example, a white level 4 dagger’s damage is 11, but a green level 4 dagger’s damage is 16.) Any traits you have on the item also get buffed, too.
You can Enhance any item you possess. If it is BoE, it remains BoE. In order to Enhance an item, you must possess the proper temper. For example, in order to Enhance a white item to a green item, you need honing stones. Each honing stone gives you a 20% chance of success. If you have five honing stones and wish to use them all, you have a 100% success rate for Enhancing the item. You can try to Enhance an item below a 100% success rate, but if you fail, the item is destroyed. To move up the quality chain, you need different tempers at each step. For example, to Enhance a green item into a blue item, you need dwarven oils, not honing stones.
Tempers can be obtained by Extracting items of that quality (Extracting green items has a chance of giving you honing stones, Extracting blue items might give you dwarven oil, etc.) Adding skill points in Metallurgy gives you better chances of getting tempers when Extracting. You can also get tempers from your hireling. And putting skill points into Temper Expertise reduces the number of tempers needed to reach 100% success rate. For more information about blacksmithing skill points, see #14 in this guide below.
14. Skill points and blacksmithing. Tell me about them.
When allocating skill points, there is a “Crafting” section that, when opened, reveals perks for all six crafts. The blacksmithing skill line has six different skills which you can put perks into. The first skill, Metalworking, is the only “required” one if you plan to max out blacksmithing. You automatically begin with 1/9 points in Metalworking. Additional points unlock the ability to use higher-level ingots. For example, at 2/9, you can create items made with steel. 9/9 opens up the use of Voidstone ingots. As for the non-essential skills…
Keen Eye: Ore is a helpful perk at night. When you get near ore on the ground (within 20m), it glows with a yellow-ish hue. Additional points in this perk cause the ore pile to glow from further away (30m with two points, 40m with three points). Personally, I don’t know if I would max this perk out, but I plan to put at least 1 point here for night farming.
Miner Hireling is interesting. Once a day, you receive a letter in the mail with an attachment. Upon opening the attachment, you can gain ore, stones, and item enhancements. It’s not much, but you can get higher-quality ore than what you can use (I was getting ore used to create steel ingots when all I could craft was iron gear), so it might be a nice way to stockpile ore for future use. Additional points in this perk can provide more items/ore per day.
Metal Extraction basically increases the amount of items you get back when you Extract. More skill points spent here yields even higher amounts back. Pretty self-explanatory. Similarly, Metallurgy reduces the time spent researching, and allows for the ability to research multiple traits at once. It won’t take 63 days to learn all eight traits per slot if you have this perk maxxed out! Temper Expertise is also pretty self-explanatory. Instead of 5 honing stones needed to improve an item, you will need less. More points spent = much less than 5.
15. Ok, I know the basics. What advanced tips do you have, Myrron? I keep hearing about set bonuses…what’s up, buddy?
Spread out around Tamriel are secret workshops. They have a unique icon on the map; it looks like a campfire with a hammer and chisel crossed beneath. Crafting anything in one of these workshops can add a set bonus to the item. The bonus activates if you have enough of the set pieces equipped. These “set bonuses” are separate from traits, and yes, you can create an item with both a trait and a set bonus. Furthermore, the set bonus activates no matter what kind of armor type you have on. For example, you could wear a cloth helmet, a woodworking shield, and a heavy armor boots and gain the benefit from the 3-piece set.
Once you enter the workshop, seek out the anvil. When you open the Anvil, you will notice two new tabs under the Creation tab called "Set Weapons" and "Set Armor." There is a Research requirement in order to create set items. In the level 5-15 zones, the secret workshops require you to have completed research on two traits on items. So for example, if you already know "Training" and "Infused" for heavy armor boots, you are qualified to create the "Sabatons of Death's Wind." (You are not required to attach either of those traits to your boots, you simply have to have 2 unlocked traits to qualify to make the boots.)
The Set Item's stats are identical to normal weapon and heavy armor stats, and are BOE. However, if you wear three items from the set (3 armor pieces, 2 armor and 1 weapon, or 1 weapon, 1 shield, and 1 armor), you gain the set bonus. It is recommended if you want the bonus full-time to put it on three pieces of armor. If you have a weapon that is part of your set bonus, and you swap weapons, you break the bonus.
To give a concrete example of item sets, I will provide the three sets found in the level 5-15 zones. Be assured there are many other secret workshops still waiting to be found, and I would bet that the high-end workshops will require more than 2 Researched traits in order to be used. So begin Researching as early as possible! The 5-15 sets:
Death's Wind set- bonus: (3) "If struck by a melee attack while below 35% health, triggers an area of effect knockback. This effect can only happen once every 3 minutes." Workshop locations: Glenumbra -Go to Chill House (SW of Wyrd Tree Wayshrine). Aldmere Dominion- NW of Vulkhel Guard there is Eastshore Islets Camp. Ebonheart Pact- unknown.
Night's Silence set- bonus: (3) "While hidden increase health regeneration by 40%." Workshop locations: Glenumbra- Island east of Hag Fen Wayshrine that has Mesanthano's Tower. Aldmere Dominion- unknown. Ebonheart Pact- unknown.
Ashen Grip set- bonus: (3) "10% chance to breathe fire for X (value determined by item level) flame damage on melee hits. This can only happen once every 4 seconds." Workshop locations: Glenumbra - North of Cath Bedraud there is Par Molag Workshop. Aldmere Dominion- unknown. Ebonheart Pact- unknown.
16. So I ran across a blacksmithing skill book. What does it do?
Blacksmithing skill books increase your blacksmithing skill by 1. So a level 8 blacksmith will automatically jump to level 9. Like in Skyrim, if you are, say, 95% of the way to level 9, and you read a skill book, it boosts you to 95% of the way to level 10.
17. Did you do anything stupid while learning all of this?
Yes. When I began blacksmithing, my character did not own a helmet, shoulders, or a belt. I said to myself, hey, I can make all of those! Go me! I proceeded to create level 1 items of each for my level 6 Templar. It was soon afterwards when I figured out that I could increase the item level of my creations by increasing the number of ingots used. So I promptly re-made the helmet, shoulders, and belt at level 6, thus wasting the ingots I used when I made the level 1 items.
18. Are you there reader? It’s me, Myrron.
If you read through this entire guide, wow. What a trooper. It’s over 4000 words long. Hopefully some of it helped. I plan to keep it updated as best I can. The content contained in this guide is based on the state of the game in Beta version 0.17 (February 7th). I am always looking for feedback on this guide (or additional information to include) and can often be found on the Tamriel Foundry forums, in my guild (Elder Moot), or in ESO US server. See you at the smithy in Tamriel!
--Myrron
at least for the colorblind like me, its a bit pale and require alot of concentration lol. Sure i can always highlight tho ^^.