Smithing is among the 18 Skills in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This skill focuses on the player’s ability to forge and improve gear, including weapons and armor. It is one of the three crafting skills alongside Alchemy and Enchanting.
Leveling up the Smithing skill unlocks different possibilities of forging new weapons and armor sets. As players level up their smithing, they can craft high-tier armor and weapons in Skyrim. Besides crafting, this skill also unlocks the ability to upgrade or improve the weapon or armor on a workbench. This skill is important when players need higher-rating armor sets and weapons for their crusade. In this guide, we shall look into various ways we can use to level up Smithing in Skyrim.
Best Exploits to Level Smithing to 100 Fast
An easy technique to reach 100 Smithing level in Skyrim is collecting as many metals (bronze, silver, gold) as possible and making rings on the forge. This technique levels up your smithing very quickly.
To speed up this process further, you can use Smithing buffs. The best option for this is to craft a Fortify Restoration Potion. You will also need a Fortify Smithing Enchanted item (Ring, Amulet, CIrclet) that increases the Smithing.
Use the Fortify Restoration portion first. After that, equip the enchanted item. Once done, head to the nearest grindstone and upgrade any iron sword or dagger you possess. The objective here is to smith and upgrade a low-tier weapon as much as possible. Doing so for 2-4 will be enough to easily max out your Smithing Skill. If you do not have an enchanted item, then you can always replace it with a Fortify Smithing Potion. As for the materials required to craft or upgrade, you can use the duplication glitch in Whiterun using any follower.
One other method that players have been using is to craft high-tier items. Crafting and then Upgrading high-tier armor and weapons grant more XP, but they are also time-consuming. Remember that you can always sell the crafted items and then smith more items to gain XP.
Trainers, Quests, and Books
Like every other skill, Smithing also has a list of trainers to help players gain a certain skill level. Note that each type of trainer has a maximum level to which they can train a player’s skill. They do require a certain amount of gold per level-up. Adept (Level 50), Expert (Level 75), and Master (Level 90). Following are the names, types, and locations of the Trainers in Smithing:
- Ghorza gra-Bagol (Adept, Markarth)
- Balimund (Expert, Riften)
- Eorlund Gray-Mane (Master, Whiterun)
- Gunmar (Master, Fort Dawnguard)
Apart from trainers, Skill books can also be utilized to gain up to 5 levels instantly in a skill. Note that there are multiple copies for each book, and after using one copy, the rest of the copies of that certain book become useless. The names of Skill books in Smithing and one of their locations are given below:
- Cherim’s Heart of Anequina (Quicksilver Mine, Dawnstar)
- Last Scabbard of Akrash (Gallows Rock)
- The Armorer’s Challenge (Tower of Mzark)
- Light Armor Forging (Embershard Mine)
- Heavy Armor Forging (Gloombound Mine)
Some small quests even aid in leveling up your Smithing skill. These quests are given by specific NPCs in Skyrim. Their names and locations are given below:
- Rjorn’s Drum (Solitude)
- Oengul War-Anvil (Windhelm)
- Rustleif (Dawnstar)
- Ghorza gra-Bagol (Markarth)
