Smithing loop plateau—when does crafting gear actually beat dungeon loot?

I'm on my third playthrough (level 31, playing vanilla on Switch) and I keep hitting this weird wall where the stuff I'm crafting doesn't feel noticeably better than what I'm finding in dungeons. I've got Smithing at 60-ish and I'm making steel and iron gear, but a random Elven sword I looted yesterday still outperforms what I'm forging. Am I just not far enough in the tree yet, or am I supposed to be enchanting everything I make to make it worthwhile? Feels like I'm wasting ore for no reason right now.

You're actually hitting a real plateau, but it's not what you think. The problem isn't that smithing is bad—it's that you're still in the tier where dungeon loot and crafted gear are basically equivalent. Steel and Iron are entry-level, and Elven stuff you're finding is already a step up from what you can make at Smithing 60.

The jump happens when you unlock the perks for the next tiers. You need to push toward Dwarven and Orcish smithing (there's a perk for each), and more importantly, grab the perk that lets you craft advanced materials like Moonstone and Orichalcum. Once you're making Elven and Glass gear yourself, you'll actually outpace dungeon drops because you control the quality and can enchant it.

Enchanting is the real multiplier, though. A plain crafted sword is just a sword. An enchanted one is actually worth your ore. If you haven't started Enchanting yet, that's worth a grind—even just slapping a frost or shock enchant on your stuff makes a noticeable difference.

On Switch, you don't have access to any smithing overhauls that speed this up, so yeah, it does feel grindy for a bit. But once you hit like Smithing 75-80 and have a few enchantments backing you up, you'll stop picking up loot entirely because your gear will be better. Stick with it.

Yeah, that's solid advice. One thing I'd add: don't sleep on the perks that boost the quality of what you make, not just what you can craft. There's a perk (I think it's called something like "Smithing Mastery" or just the top-tier perk in the tree?) that straight-up increases the damage of weapons you forge. That's the real game-changer alongside the material tiers—you're not just making Elven stuff, you're making better Elven stuff than what you'd loot.

Also, and this might sound weird, but don't underestimate the psychological shift. Once you start seeing your own gear actually outperform that random Elven sword, you'll stop comparing yourself to dungeon loot. You'll be the one making the good stuff. It's less about the math and more about hitting that moment where it clicks.

The enchanting thing is real though. On my Switch run I basically had to accept I'd be grinding Enchanting alongside Smithing, which sucked, but it made the whole loop feel purposeful instead of just... ore smelting simulator. Even a basic Fortify Health enchant on armor you made yourself feels leagues better than unenchanted crafted gear.

Stick it out to 75 and you'll be fine.