Smithing Guide By Nep

Smithing Guide 0-100 Neptuna..Carbuncle Version 1.0 - September 2011

Welcome to my Smithing Guide! Other guides have done an awesome job, but I've been wanting to write this post level 75 cap increase, since it has changed the game, but more specifically, has changed the availability of crafting items. What I try to look for as well is synths where you can double dip, whether it be skilling up two crafts at once, or reusing materials for several synths. Smithing has a few bright spots along the way for profitable synths, but it also has its' hurdles. Deal with those how you see fit, you'll have to get across them one way or another. That being said, along the way secure materials however you see fit based on your servers' price/quantity and let's get crafting!!

One quick disclaimer, I don't factor in crystal costs for the most part when discussing npc'ing items. Procure them how you wish, but I've seen stacks of Fire Crystal go from 500gil to 4,000 gil in a matter of a few weeks, and back down again. Now that clusters stack to 12, it may be worth going out and farming up some, your choice though.

Guilds
Open 8:00-23:00, closed on Northern San d'Oria (E-6) Metalworks (E-7) Mhaura (G-9) Al Zahbi (H-9)

Guild Point NPCs Macuillie - Northern San d'Oria (E-6) Lorena - Metalworks (E-7) Item of the day can be found at Guild Pattern

Guild Test Item 8-10 Recruit     Xiphos 18-20 Initiate   Aspis 28-30 Novice     Bilbo 38-40 Apprentice War Pick 48-50 Journeyman Mythril Pick 58-60 Craftsman  Darksteel Falchion 68-70 Artisan    Bascinet 78-80 Adept      Bastard Sword 88-90 Veteran    Celata

Skillup rates

Skillups occur on both main and subskills independently. Skillups occur even if if your enhanced skill (natural + synth support + synth items) exceeds the cap.

For any craft above your natural craft skill below 50: 6 or farther from cap: somewhere between 66% and 75% chance to skill-up on a successful synth 5 or less from cap: somewhere between 66% and 75% chance to skill-up on any synth, broken or not

For any craft above your natural craft skill 50 or above: 6 or farther from cap: somewhere between 25% and 33% chance to skill-up on a successful synth 5 or less from cap: somewhere between 25% and 33% chance to skill-up on any synth, broken or not

Skillups on breaks will not occur if your natural skill is beyond 5 levels from the cap, even if your enhanced skill is within 5 of the cap.

Above 60, skillup increments are always 0.1.

Below 60, skillup increments can be 0.1 or 0.2.

For more info, the [http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/57123-Before-you-ask-a-stupid-crafting-question-read-this! Source] as found on BG.

When crafting 6+ levels away from cap, I suggest trying Kitron Macaron. These have been shown to decrease your break rate, and supposedly increase skillup rate. Feel free to do your own research on the latter part, but I'm a believer!

The Early Stages - Bronze
0-2 Bronze Ingot Synth these to cap. If more are needed, your best bet is to just buy from the Guild.
 * - Copper Ore x3, Tin Ore x1

2-4 Bronze Sheet Same as before, synth to cap, purchase from guild as needed beyond that.
 * Bronze Ingot x1

4~9 Bronze Spear - Woodworking (18) This is optional synth, if prices are low and you purchase materials from the guilds, you cover your costs NPC'ing. Decent bridge synth for Woodworking if you left off at Bolts or Maple Table.
 * - Bronze Ingot x1, Grass Thread x1, Ash Lumber x1

4-10 Bronze Scales How many of these you make depends on what you want to for the next 5 levels or so. If your Alchemy is to proper level, you can make boltheads of your choosing to 15. If so, don't focus on these too much. Otherwise, make a few stacks of these for the next synth.
 * - Bronze Ingot x1

10-15 Scale Cuisses - Leathercraft (5) Cheap synth, break even if you can get the cotton for cheap from the guild. Also a good synth to double up with Leathercraft a viable sub-craft for Smithing you'll most likely end up taking to 60. Make Sheep Leather to cap (Level 2) then use this synth to get to 5.
 * - Bronze Scales x2, Cotton Thread x1, Leather Trousers x1

10-15 Kaginawa - Clothcraft (29) Check your server for the profitability level on these. Ninja became popular (or they came out of hiding), and I made these before universal tools came out, so not sure how they stand now. I had better luck selling as 99 instead of toolbags. Either way, good way to get a few levels of Clothcraft, especially if your Leathercraft hit 5 before Smithing hit 15.
 * - Bronze Ingot x1, Manticore Hair x1, Grass Thread x1

The Iron Age
15-20 Iron Ingot Add your first zero. 50 gil ores just got replaced by 675 gil ores. Buy from Guild, if prices fluctuate in Sandy, you can head to Metalworks or Al Zahbi to check their stock levels. Make to cap, you'll need plenty of these down the road. Good news, after you hit 20 you can just buy these for the same cost of the 4 ores.
 * - Iron Ore x4

20-22 Iron Sheet Cap on these as well. You will need a lot. So much so I dropped 10k Guild Points early on to get the.
 * - Iron Ingot x1

22-26 Iron Scales Using Ctownwoody's idea of synthing one of these, then making one synth of Makibishi to level 23 works. From 23-26, make these and stockpile them until the 30's.
 * - Iron Sheet x1


 * The next four synths aren't great. This is the first hurdle you'll have to cross.  Try to get to 30 here.

26~30 Steel Bullet - Alchemy (48) These used to be the best bullets for Corsair, and they used to not drop from campaign, and I used to have people request me to make these for them, which was great. Now, not so much. If you have the Alchemy level, look and run the metrics on these, there may still be a market.
 * - Firesand x1, Steel Ingot x1

26~30 Iron Chain I don't recommend making these, at least not for 4 full levels. Chains can be HQ'd at high levels, and you won't have a use for this in your immediate future. I have, however, been in need of these on several occasions, especially with Guild Point items. Check AH, there may be a small market you can nail for a level or two.
 * - Iron Ingot x2

~31 Iron Finger Gauntlets Uses 2 Scales and NPCs for the price of one! Wish it was reversed, but it's not :/
 * - Iron Scales x2, Cotton Thread x1, Leather Gloves x1

~31 Tuck - Goldsmithing (8) This used to be a crazy idea to synth this up until the Sept '11 Update. Mythril Ingots on Carbuncle were, and have been for a long time, 5-8k. With the release of Conflux 8-11 in Walk of Echoes and a popularity increase in Voidwatch, these have plummeted to less than 2k. You're probably going to NPC these for a 1k loss, but they are used as an adventuring fellow upgrade weapon, so if you can unload some for a good profit, it wipes away that loss making this plausible.
 * - Mythril Ingot x1, Silver Ingot x1

30-35 Iron Cuisses - Leathercraft (5) If the Tuck synth works for you, great. Save your scales for here and burn through them. If it's after the servers come back up or there isn't a lot of people leveling up on your server, NPC these to the guild and you can make a small amount of gil here. Worst case you're close enough to break even to not notice.
 * - Iron Scales x2, Cotton Thread x1, Leather Trousers x1

35-36 Steel Sheet Ingots are 3.5k from Mhaura Guild on a good day. Turning sheets into scales and attaching to armor is a smithing staple early on. These apply to that process. After a maintenance, Steel Cuisses are a good NPC synth. After a few weeks (or days) they become about a 1k loss synth, maybe a little more. You're a few levels off, but that's what you'll want to do with these eventually. If these make sense for you to make (i.e. sheets aren't cheaper/readily available on the AH) get a level or two here. If not, move on to the next synth.
 * - Steel Ingot x1

~38 War Pick - Woodworking (6) Break even synth, cap on these. I'd recommend starting at 33 on these if the previous 2 synths don't work for you.
 * - Steel Ingot x1, Ash Lumber x1

38-40 Steel Scales Buy/make the sheets for 3.5k or less and make the scales. Check AH too, there may be someone looking to unload these for cheap.
 * - Steel Sheet x1

~41 Iron Mittens - Leathercraft (10) Synth. Npc. Get Leathercraft to 10.
 * - Iron Sheet x1, Lizard Skin x1

41-47 Mythril Pick - Woodworking (8) This used to be a great synth. If the ingots are around 2-3k on your server too, then it's now a GREAT synth. NPC's on average for about 7-8k. After maintenance these start out NPCing for 11k. Even if you buy the ores from the guild and make your own ingots for 6k, this synth is still the way to go.
 * - Mythril Ingot x1, Elm Lumber x1

47-53 Gorget You can get by NPC'ing these for break even. At the time I made these, they were going for 15k give or take on the AH so I dumped the 60 or so I made on a mule and sold them over time. Do what works on your server.
 * - Iron Sheet x1, Sheep Leather x1

The Darksteel Age Emerges
But those Iron Sheet's are still needed!

47-52 Darksteel Ingot Good bridge before Gorgets if needed. You will need these more than you'll want to if you're going to 100. Ores are readily available at this point in the game, and turning them into ingots can sometimes result in a 50% profit for you. Do as you please, but as this point only make a lot if planning to sell or you don't mind sinking a good bit of gil into your craft until a later date.
 * - Darksteel Ore x1, Iron Ore x3

52-55 Steel Cuisses Synth and NPC. If prices are in your favor (8k npc price), you'll make some gil. If not, you'll lose a little bit.
 * - Steel Scales x2, Cotton Thread x1, Leather Trousers x1