Im really demotivated to continue playing atm. I want to finnish smithing to have it out of the way. But having leveled 2 previous characters to 100 smithing was a nightmare. To do it again would be painful, I cant remember all the best things to level with and I hear they nerfed smithing speed aswell? (No more 1000x iron dagger?)

I know the basics, like using the combat stone (20% skill bonus) and sleeping (5% skill boost) but cant remember much more and with the nerf Im at a loss at how to level it without spending 10 000 gold.

Any advice? :/

Making jewelry should help.You should get the transmute spell and spam gold rings. It's a good start.

Fortify smithing potions count towards improving the skill, but fortify smithing enchantments do not.

I made tons of necklaces and rings, then used them to level enchanting by fortifying them with Sneak.

Quantity of items made/improved no longer determines the XP you get, it's now dependent on the value of the items themselves. To quickly level up smithing you should focus on making/improving the highest value items possible with the materials you have, and on obtaining higher value materials to use for that purpose.

Obviously without getting high enough to take perks for those materials you can't forge anything from them right off, however if you get them you should use them to temper whatever higher value items you find (or buy, if you've got the coin).

One good way to start making higher value items early on is to focus on jewelry, since you do not need any smithing perks to forge silver and gold items. While silver and gold ore/ingots are more expensive you can obtain and learn the Transmute spell which lets you turn iron ore into silver ore, and silver ore into gold ore. IIRC this spell cannot be bought from any vendor but there is a copy in Halted Stream Mine, located roughly north of Whiterun (usually the easiest to obtain early in the game). There is another copy in Ansilvund.

Once you have the Dwarven perk, Dwarven bows are a good way to go as Dwarven ingots/metal is often available in large quantities for free in Dwemer ruins.

Halted Stream Camp - 16 iron veins + transmute spell.

also (money raito raw-material/product) and fast level up
orcish armor http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Orcish_Armor#Orcish_Armor 1:5,1
steel plate armor http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Advanced_Armors 1:5,39

Temper the armors for level up and better price.

Oh yes, i forgot this as well~

Finish the quest Unfathomable Depths, it grants you a unique perk Ancient Knowledge which increases your Armor Rating by 25% *works with any armor, which is a nice bug*, and Blacksmithing increases 15% faster.

Kolskeggr Mine is stuffed with gold ore, you end up with about 22-23 gold ingots *45-46 gold ore* from there.

Get the transmute spell, buy tons of iron ore, turn it all into gold, make necklaces (you probably have tons of gems by now and if you don't you can get the prowler's profit from doing the stones of barenziah quest). On the other hand, you could get the Ancient Knowledge perk, get as much dwarven metal as you can carry and make dwarven stuff. Either way, it will still take you a while.

if you perk for heavy armor: there is an ebony mine at an orc stronghold not far from windhelm. it has tons of ebony ore (30-40 pieces) plus some iron. to visit that mine once in a while will help a lot. you are able to enter the mine without entering the stronghold.

Thanks alot for all the tips/help. Especially the one about ancient knowledge. After 350 hours of skyrim I never found/did that quest

Ok this is seriously INSANE.

I made like 10+ jewelry pieces and 15 dwarven bows, some dwarven armors and some random iron stuff and only managed to get from 28 to 36. That is WITH ancient knowledge and combat stone so 35% bonus to smithing skill. What the hell was bethesda thinking? Ill probably use 5+ hours to max it at this rate if not more &--#62;.&--#60;

Probably that it made no sense for someone to become a master blacksmith overnight without actually making anything of value.

This isn't anything new, you know - the change was made several patches ago.



In another news, I had to kill numerous dragons and visit a buttload to word walls just to learn all the shouts I wanted. It took my character WEEKS of in-game time. I don't know if I can get motivated to play a game where that kind of thing is necessary. WHAT THE HELL WAS BETHESDA THINKING?