Smithing Guide by Godofgods

Smithing guide 1-60 by Godofgods 

The following guide is what worked best for me. I'm currently 60 on Smithing. I hate farming materials, most will be focused on easily farmable materials or materials bought from Npc's/Ah. All my research was done either on ffxiah.com or San d'Oria/Bastock Ah. Also all prices listed were current prices at the time i leveled this craft. (Early 2009)

Smithing Tips
1. Ctownwoody: As always, be sure to check Ctown's guide. One of the best smithing guides on here. Check his smithing guide here - I also used the same format from his guide.

2. The Mining Myth - Most people consider mining to either be a great savoir or a great waste. They can be both. Some times mining can pay off, but be carefull! The main source of money in mining is selling what you get. Smithing is based on improving the ingredence. EX if you mine 10k worth if meterials, use it in syths and make an item worth 8k, then you did not just save yourself 8k. You lost 2k. If you can sell what you mine for more then the item you want to synth, then do that!

3. Profite - Smithing is not a profitable synth to level. A lot of times youre simply fighting to break even. However its used as a sub-craft in most other crafts so you eventuly have to level it. Granteed, their are a select few synths that you can profite a little bit on.

4. Camp AH - Simple enough. If the AH doesnt have what you need at any given moment, wait and keep a close eye on it. With it being diffacult to break even at times, you dont want to over pay for jacked up items. Also keep in mind, their are two main smithing guilds. One in sandy and one in bastock. (Al zabi to, but shouldnt need to go their). So if an item is not on one ah, check the other two!

5. Think for yourself! - Dont always assume what is in a guide will autopmaticly work for you. Research the items, cost, availablity on your server and see what will or will not work for you!!!

6. Basic FYI, if you haven't realized yet, the more room in your gobbie bag the better.

7. Sub-crafts - Strangly enough for a craft that is a very comman sub-craft, leveling this does not require many. The most common one is Leather crafting up to 12. However it gets their gradualy so you can start with a very low lvl and still succed. (I personaly started at 2) Their is one optional synth towrads the end that requires woodworking 60-62. But it can be avioded. And their is one bridge synth of alchemy 49.

Guide
''Note: any synth that you can use to level, and then use the resulting item to level again is a great plan! This goes for most lumber.''

0-10

 * Bronze Ingot (2)-Fire Crystal, Copper Ore x3, Tin Ore - Well.. gotta start some where lol. These can be a bit profitable at times. Most high level people or none crafters dont want to bother making these for their needs. Thats where you come in! Copper Ore runs 9gill at sandy guild, and Tin ore 30 gill = 57gill + crystal. At AH they go for 3-4k a stack... need I say more?

NOTE Taking a profitable synth well past cap is a good way to get funding for up comeing levels. (And beleive me, youll need it.)


 * Bronze Sheet (4)-Fire Crystal, Bronze Ingot - Make some more ingots or use any left over. Add a fire crystal and your set. Simple. These however dont sell very often, but thats of no concern because u need them for the next sytnth.


 * Bronze Scales (10)-Wind Crystal, Bronze Sheet - Bronze sheets cost 150 at sandy guild. OR make your own ingot for 57gill. Add some crystals and youve got your scales! Unfortionitly, these dont sell well at all and only npc for 26-27 gill. Considering whats to come, that loss is nothing! Besides, sell a stack of ingots, and your money is back! :p - Take this to cap.

TEST ITEM: Xiphos(8): Fire Crystal, Giant Femur, Bronze Ingot x2 - Craft one or buy one, doesnt matter. A bonecraft subskill of 2. Not a big issue.

11-20

 * Bronze Bolt Heads (14)-Wind Crystal, Bronze Ingot - Again, very simple. Enjoy it while you can. Once again these dont sell well, even if you have woodworking and can make them into arrows. Npc for 1 gill however. The loss is minamile tho. Expecaly considering the long chain starting next.

NOTE From this point on smithing will start become very expencive. Ill try tofocus on synths that will ultimatly result in getting most of your gill back.


 * Iron Ingot (20)-Fire Crystal, Iron Ore x4 - Welcome to Iron.. and please except my condolences... Iron Ore cost 675 each at either guild. And the ingot cost 2700. But right now you need the skill form making them. Take these to cap and hold onto them.

TEST ITEM: Aspis: Fire Crystal, Ash Lumber, Bronze Sheet x2 - Make or buy, which evers cheaper.

21-30

 * Iron Sheet (22)-Fire Crystal, Iron Ingot - Use all them Iron Ingots you jsut made here. Take to cap absolutly. This is a profitable synth for a very importent reason. Iron Sheets are the most commonly used item in smithing and you will go through a ton of them. If you have enough patience to make enough for your own uses plus some for the Ah then by allmeans go for it. Again tho, hold on to these for another synth.


 * Iron Scales (26)-Wind Crystal, Iron Sheet - Noticing a simple pattern yet? I sure hope so. Unload the sheets, and take this to cap. And of course, hold on to them.


 * Steel Bullet (30)-Fire Crystal, Steel Ingot, Firesand - Alchemy 49 as a MAIN craft. A slight twist. It will still level up smithing just the same tho. This is primaraly a bridge synth. You cant make Steel Ingots yet so you'll have to check the AH. And their not cheap at all. Since you'll need Alch for this, you can make your own firesand if its cheaper then the AH. These are very common bullets. Check the price their going for and the price of the meterials to determine the max you should spend on the ingots. Try not to spend to much.

TEST ITEM: Bilbo: Fire Crystal, Silver Ingot, Iron Ingot-  Goldsmithing 7 sub-craft, so youll probably just buy one.

31-40

 * Iron Cuisses (35)-Earth Crystal, Iron Scales x2, Cotton Thread, Leather Trousers - Leathercraft 5 subskill. Time to use those scales now. The importent thing here is not only the smithing skill but the leathercraft skill if you dont already have it. While the obvious is importent, make sure you cap on leathercraft lol. You can also check out Iron Greaves. Same basic recipe but cap is 36

The gill sum up for Iron. For twelve Iron Cuisses, you'll need 24 Iron Scales (two per synth). One ingot + crystals = one Iron Scales 2700*24=64,800 A stack of Cotton Thread runs about 6k = 70,800 + crystal These Npc for up to 5800gill or 6200 from the guild itsself. *12 = 69,600 - 74,400 So ultimitly its a break-even synth. Just taks a while to get their.

TEST ITEM War Pick: Fire Crystal, Steel Ingot, Ash Lumber - Woodworking 6 sub-craft. Buy or make, what evers cheaper.

41-50

 * Iron Mittens (41)-Earth Crystal, Iron Sheet, Lizard Skin - Leathercraft 10 as a sub-craft. This is why getting lvl 5 was so importent before. And the same thing applies, youll need to get it to 10 on this syth as well. If you farm the Lizard Skin it'll be a break-even synth, otherwise youll lose the cost of the skin. Npc these to the Bastock guild. Perhaps your first time their is youve benn operating in sandy :p


 * Iron Subligar (45)-Earth Crystal, Iron Sheet, Lizard Skin, Cotton Cloth - Leathercraft 12. I would strongly suggest turning in a test item to the tanners guild in sandy to get past lvl 10 Leathercraft. A stack of Iron Sheets will run 32,400 if you make them. Lizard Skin 4-5k and Cotton Cloth 8-9k = 44,400~46,400. These Npc for 3000-3200 = 38,400. A little bit of a loss if you dont farm anything. But still not that bad if you didnt.

TEST ITEM: Mythril Pick:  Fire Crystal, Mythril Ingot, Elm Lumber - Make or buy, as always.

51-60
NOTE Now it starts to get very very expencive. Loss or profit will determine entirly on your fail rate. (Which i dont find appealing, expecaly since mine was high at this point) This is also the start of very few alternitives in synthing options, unless your will to lsoe a LOT of gill.

Staticticly it is a vry profitable synth, and it can be. The problem here is the fail rate. If you fail and lose one darksteel ore, thats an immidate 7~9k loss. Plus you cant sell it. So you're basicly down to break even if you fail 1 outa 12. Fail 2 and your lossing money in a big way. So i realy dont care for it.
 * Darksteel Ingot (52)-Fire Crystal, Darksteel Ore, Iron Ore x3 - Some people call this synth the 'Licences to print gill' ... I beleive they have a licence to be an idiot. I absolutly hate this synth, and any synth involving darksteel while leveling. So naturly theirs a fair amount in this secton -_- ; Darksteel Ore runs around 7k each, Iron Ore 675 each = ~9k per synth. A stack of these can sell up to 120k. 9k*12=108,300.


 * Gorget (53)-Fire Crystal, Iron Sheet, Sheep Leather - A decent alternitve, tho a bit of a stretch from Iron Subligar (45). The sheet is 2700+crystal*12= 32,400 stack of sheep leather around 8k = ~40k. These only npc at Bastock and for about 2300. 27,600 for 12. Their is however two good things about thsi synth. One, if you fail a synth, your not losing anyway near as much as the darksteel ingots. Two; they sell fairly well on jeuno AH sometimes up to a few a day for around 5k each. Between the two, you can come out of this at break-even. (Or porfit if you wait long enough)

This is where you get lucky. At least from my point of view. I searched all the recipes on wiki in this range, looked over every guide made, and came up short. Either the meterials needed were extremly rare, or a synth was at a major loss that i simply wasnt going to do. I spent about 2 weeks searching befor i found this grrrrrreat! synth.


 * Steel Ingot (56) - Fire Crystal, Djinn Ash, Iron Sandx4 - Hope your in the mood to travel some. The ash can be farmed or bought on AH for ~15k a stack. The sand you can buy in Norg for 436 each. Thats abought 36k for a single stack. But they sold for 45k o.o Just what you need. Expecaly if you had a bad day on the lst few synths. And can also prepare you for the next ones.


 * Darksteel Bolt Heads (62) - Fire Crystal, Darksteel Ingot - !!ONLY!! do this is you have 60-62 woodworking. And for good reason. If you only have smithing this is a MAJOR loss. The bolt heads stack to 99 and each synth yeilds 6 heads. thats 16.5 (17)ingots to make a stack. Avg ingot is 10-12k * 17 = 170k - 204k to make a stack. The stack sells on ah for 90k. 0.o I still dont get that one. The woodworking will allow you to turn the heads into usable (and sellable) bolts. And ill run through the math for this. Keep in mind, farming for this synth will help. Lumber is available at sandy guild.

Darksteel Ingot:120k + Wind crystal:500 (Avg) = 72 Darksteel bolt heads

120,500 + 23,760:(72)Yew Lumbers + 3,000(72) Earth Crystals = 147,260

147,260 + 1440:Carnation/quiver = 148,700 Total.

72 boltheads * 33 arrows/synth = 2376 arrows 2376 / 99(1)stack = 24 stacks or 2 (12)stacks of quivers.

A 12 stack can AH for up to 70k. Since youll make 2, thats 140k.

Now keep in mind theirs a lot you can do to reduce the cost and even make it break-even or profitable. Farm the crystals needed. Make the darksteel ingots rather then buying them. Each one will help. Of course this whole formula is based on no fails. So do yourself a favor, dont synth on darksday, always use adv synth support, face the right direction, look into moghancment to reduce any lost items should you fail. Every one of these helps. The only down side to this synth is that it take a good while to complete.


 * Nodowa (66)-Earth Crystal, Silk Thread, Iron Sheet - If you actuly took a look at the cap first youll notice quite a jump. Infact a bit to far of a jump for me, which is why i resorted to the darksteel bolts above. If your takeing these on from 56 then Adv Sup. is a must. +1 equip will help out to. Do everything you can to minamize failing and loss of meterials. You can npc them to Silver Owl of the Tenshodo in Port Bastok for about 2800.

Congradulations on reaching 60!! Defenitly a hard earned rode. Feel free to post any comments or suggestions below, i try to check them often. And since I havnt gone to sleep yet on the day i typed all this up, i havnt bothered to go back and check or proofread any of this yet lol, jsut to tired atm. Hope this guide helped!! ~ Godofgods ~