UO Blacksmithy Skill Guide

Blacksmithy is Ultima Online's metalworking trade, letting a character forge weapons, shields and heavy armor from ingots. All work is done with a smith's hammer or sledgehammer while standing beside a forge and anvil, so most smiths set up next to a town's smithy or carry a portable forge. The skill pairs naturally with Mining, which supplies the ore that is smelted into the ingots every recipe consumes.

Blacksmiths produce the bulk of the game's metal gear: daggers and swords, maces and hammers, plate and chain armor, and a wide range of shields. Colored ores such as valorite or verite carry their own resistances and bonuses through to the finished piece, which is why high-end smiths hunt rare ore for their best work.

Skill gain is based on the difficulty of the item crafted. Start with basic weapons, then move to more complex armor pieces. Smelting and recycling items saves ingots and helps manage cost.

When a Grandmaster smith produces an item of exceptional quality, that item gains improved durability and, on many pieces, the maker's name. Whether a given recipe can be signed, keep its material color, or demands a learned recipe is shown per item in the crafting menu. The key rules to remember while training:

• Maker's Mark: exceptional items in these categories can be stamped with the crafter's name, which raises their resale value.
• Retains Color: the finished item keeps the hue and properties of the colored ingots it was made from.
• Requires Recipe: some items cannot be made until you have learned the matching recipe scroll.
• Skill Required: the listed number is the minimum to attempt the item, not a guarantee of success; your real odds rise as your skill climbs above it.
• A talisman with a smithing bonus adds to both your effective skill and your chance of an exceptional result, which the on-page calculator lets you factor in.

Because success chance scales with how far your skill sits above an item's minimum, efficient training means always crafting something you can just barely make. The table below summarizes how the smithy menu is organized and the skill band each category spans, so you can pick the right project for your current level.

The following low-requirement items are cheap, ingot-light choices for the earliest points of the skill: