Guide for Leveling Blacksmithing

Blacksmithing is one of the most expensive professions to level in the World of Warcraft. However, it is also one of the most beneficial, because it offers players that decide to take this path the opportunity to craft some of the most powerful weapons and heavy armor in the game. Though blacksmithing is most beneficial to warriors and paladins, other classes can benefit from the profession as well. Also, any class can take up blacksmithing as a profession as a way to make money by selling crafted items. It is all just a matter of personal preference, and if blacksmithing is your preference, then this is the article for you.

Instructions

1. Set one of your two professions to the blacksmithing profession. In order to practice blacksmithing in the World of Warcraft, you have to claim it as one of your professions. To do this, go to the nearest town that has an anvil in it, and there will usually be a blacksmithing trainer near the anvil or forge. Talk to the blacksmithing trainer, and tell him that you would like to set blacksmithing as one of your professions in order to begin.

2. In order to make leveling your blacksmithing skill easier and much less expensive, it is helpful to set mining as your second profession. With mining as your second profession, you will be able to mine many of the materials you need to level your blacksmithing skill out of veins that you come across every now and then during your travels. If your character is already at a high level and you have a lot of gold, then setting mining as your second profession is not necessary.

3. The cheapest way to begin on most servers is to craft rough sharpening stones until you are blacksmithing level 25, followed by rough grinding stones to level 65, and finally coarse sharpening stones up to level 75. Make sure to speak to the blacksmithing trainer again afterwards to raise your blacksmithing rank to journeyman before continuing past 75. Otherwise, your blacksmithing levels will not increase as you craft new items.

4. Craft coarse grinding stones until you reach blacksmithing level 100, followed by silver rods up to level 105, rough bronze leggings to level 125, and heavy grinding stones to level 150. Talk to the blacksmithing trainer again to upgrade to the expert blacksmithing rank.

5. Materials are now going to become a lot more expensive and rare, so make sure you have a lot of gold left. Craft golden rods until you reach blacksmithing level 155, followed by green iron leggings up to level 185, golden scale bracers to level 200, solid grinding stones to level 210, golden scale bracers again to 215, and steel plate helms to level 235. Talk to the blacksmithing trainer again to upgrade to the artisan blacksmithing rank.

6. Craft mithril spurs until you reach blacksmithing level 250, followed by dense sharpening stones up to level 260, mithril spurs again to level 275, imperial plate bracers to level 295, and imperial plate boots to level 300. Talk to the blacksmithing trainer one final time to upgrade your blacksmithing rank to master blacksmithing.

7. After blacksmithing level 300, the materials used become ridiculously expensive, so be prepared to either spend a lot of gold or time acquiring everything you need. Craft fel weightstones until you reach blacksmithing level 305, followed by fel iron plate belts up to level 320, fel iron chain tunics to level 325, lesser runes of warding to level 330, adamantite cleavers to level 340, lesser runes of shielding to level 350, and adamantite weightstones to level 360.

8. Your last 15 levels depend on whether you are Scryer or Aldor. If you side with the Aldor, then you will want to craft flamebane gloves until you reach blacksmithing level 370, followed by flamebane breastplates up to the final blacksmithing level of 375 (at least until the next expansion). If you consider yourself a Scryer, then you will want to craft enchanted adamantite boots until you reach blacksmithing level 370, followed by enchanted adamantite breastplates up to the final blacksmithing level of 375 (again, at least until the next expansion).

Tips & Warnings

• If it is cheaper on the server that you play on to craft something that isn't listed on this guide, then craft the cheaper item! Though this guide provides the cheapest path to blacksmithing level 375 on most servers, the economies of different servers may make certain items a lot cheaper or more expensive than normal, and you will just have to observe your server's auction house and market trends to determine whether or not one blacksmithing path is cheaper than the other.

• To make up for some of the costs associated with leveling your blacksmithing skill, remember to sell your BoE crafted items on the auction house, and your white/gray crafted items to an NPC vendor!

Resources

• A Slightly Different Blacksmithing Path with Material Descriptions and Comments