Smithing bottleneck — is there a faster path than the iron dagger grind?

[RiftenWanderer]

I'm on my second playthrough (PC, no mods this time) and I'm level 18, but my Smithing is stuck at like 35. I know the iron dagger thing works, but it feels brain-dead. Is there actually a quest or location that gives you enough ore / bars early on to level it naturally, or am I stuck grinding either way? Playing a melee build so I actually want decent armor by level 30.

 

[TamrielTactician]

Honestly, the iron dagger grind is faster than you'd think if you do it right, but I get why it feels tedious. That said, there's no quest that dumps enough ore on you early to skip it entirely.

Your best bet is to mix it. Grab whatever ore you find naturally - there's iron veins scattered around (Halted Stream Camp is literally next to Whiterun if you haven't looted it), and loot weapons off bandits and draugr. Smelt those down and craft something useful instead of daggers. Steel plate armor, shields, whatever your build needs. It levels smithing the same way, just feels less pointless since you're actually gearing up.

One thing that helps: get the perk that lets you craft multiple items at once (the one in the smithing tree that speeds up crafting). Knocks a lot of the tedium out. And if you're playing with mods on PC, there's stuff that increases ore yields or makes smithing a bit less grindy, but sounds like you're going vanilla this time.

By level 30 you should have decent armor if you're actively crafting stuff you use. Just don't expect to hit Daedric or anything fancy - that takes a while. Steel and Elven will get you through most of the early-mid game fine.

 

[WhiterunModder]

Yeah, that's solid advice. I'd add that if you're actually using the stuff you craft, you're also getting Smithing XP from repairs down the line, so it's not like the grind totally stops after level 30 anyway. Might as well build toward armor you'll wear.

One thing I'd push back on though - don't sleep on the Transmute ore spell if you find it early. There's a spell tome somewhere in the game (I think it's in a dungeon, not 100% sure of the exact location) that lets you turn iron ore into gold ore and gold into silver. If you stumble across it, you can basically turn trash iron into something worth crafting. Silver and gold stuff levels you faster than iron and doesn't feel completely pointless since it sells okay.

Also fwiw, on my second playthrough I just... didn't worry about having perfect armor at level 30. Enchantments matter way more than you'd think early on, and even basic iron plate with a decent enchant will carry you through Bleak Falls Barrow and the first Dwemer ruin no problem. By the time you're level 35-40 and actually have Smithing up to where you want it, you can craft something better and just move on. The game's more forgiving than people make it sound.