In this episode of the Bannerlord Perks guide we will look at the Smithing skill perks. By the end of this video, you will have a complete understanding of what each one does and which to pick based on your specific needs. I put timestamps in the description for your convenience and without further ado, let’s get started!
Level 25 – Efficient Charcoal Maker: This perk is great for a few reasons – it triples the output from refining hardwood, saving money and inventory space as well as increases early game smithing XP gain by 3x. We gain 15xp per charcoal made, so 45 instead of 15.
Level 25 – Efficient Iron Maker: Without the perk, we normally convert 1 iron ore into 2 crude iron, but with the perk we get 3 crude instead.
The pick here is Efficient Charcoal maker as it’s extremely useful. Iron Maker can be good if you plan on roleplaying, not allowing smelting of weapons. Other than that, I can’t imagine any reason to take iron maker.
Level 50 – Curious Smelter: Unlocking parts is one of the most important aspects of smithing and this perk dramatically increases the unlock rate. Smelting a weapon unlocks parts 2x as fast as crafting that same weapon, and this perk doubles the rate effectively making it 4x faster than crafting. In testing, we see 107 new parts unlocked without the perk and smelting the same weapons with the perk 155 new parts, an increase of 45%. It’s not 100% more because of the way unlocking XP works – it get’s progressively harder the more parts you unlock so no TaleWorlds mathematics here!
Level 50 – Steel Maker: Typically, higher tier weapon crafting requires higher tier crafting materials. This perk allows us to refine lower tier materials into higher – two iron into 1 steel. For now, crafting materials are easy to obtain by buying specific daggers and smelting them, but once these are fixed, these perks will become crucial!
The pick here isn’t so straight forward – I think the optimal play is to have one designated smith in the party to be the smelter, taking curious smelter perk. Everyone else should take steel maker. I prefer to make my highest level smith the curious smelter for massive XP gains.
Level 75 – Curious Smith: As stated previously, crafting is half as fast at parts unlocks as smelting, so this perk makes crafting on par with smelting without the smelting perk. It’s not as good as the previous, but can still be helpful. Crafting the starting weapons without the perk unlocked 13 new parts, and repeating the same crafts with the perk unlocked 21 new parts, or a 62% increase.
Level 75 – Steel Maker 2: This perk allows us to refine two steel into 1 unit of fine steel. Again, once they patch the crafting materials for some cheap weapons this perk will become key, but for now it’s not necessary.
The pick here is similar to the previous – One main smith should take curious smith with the other party members taking steel maker 2 as support smiths.
Level 100 – Experienced Smith: The first bonus stats roll perk! This gives us a 10% chance to get extra stat points to our crafted weapon – 2 points randomly distributed. We can see from testing, this roll gave us +1 to swing speed and +1 to swing cut damage. We also see a relations gain from completing a crafting order.
Level 100 – Steel Maker 3: Like the other steel maker perks, this one refines 2 units of fine steel into one unit of Thamaskene steel. There are very few weapons that smelt down and give Thamaskene steel, so this perk is actually quite important. Unfortunately, the secondary perk giving relations gains for completed crafting orders does not currently work.
This pick is subjective – Personally I like to take experienced smith on the character that will have the highest smithing skill, and steel maker 3 for all of the support smiths. I like to have a chance at bonus stats on the high end crafted weapons, which won’t be possible on the lower smithing skill characters. If you only have one smithing character, then steel maker 3 should be considered since it’s very difficult to get Thamaskene still without it.
Level 125 – Practical Refiner: This perk reduces the stamina cost for each refining action taken. We can see from testing, refining costs 2.5% stamina at level 300 without the perk, but only 1.25% with the perk which is half.
Level 125 – Practical Smelter: This perk does the same thing, but for smelting weapons. In the testing, we can see exactly 4% stamina cost per smelt without the perk, and only 2% with the perk, again exactly half.
The pick here is easy – if the character has the curious smelter perk, then practical smelter has a great synergy here. If the character mostly picked the steel makers perks, then practical refiner is perfect. If you’re still not sure, I think refining is used more often than smelting since everything needs charcoal so practical refiner is a good pick.
Level 150 – Controlled Smith: Much like the athletics perks, these are both S tier. This one gives +1 attribute point to the control group.
Level 150 – Vigorous Smith: As stated previously, this perk gives a +1 attribute to vigor.
The pick here depends on the character build – Mostly melee pick Vigorous smith and mostly ranged, pick controlled smith. If you use both equally, then either can work well. Personally, I prefer vigor or control in most cases.
Level 175 – Artisan Smith: This perk reduces the trade penalty for selling crafted weapons. For the testing, we crafted a 2H sword with different blade tiers and checked the sell price with and without the perk. Without the perk, all 5 weapons sell for a combined value of 128,427 Denars. Picking up the perk, these same 5 will sell for 167,397 Denars, or a 30% increase. Not bad!
Level 175 – Practical Smith: Stamina costs can vary wildly depending on what type of weapon you are crafting, but it’s safe to say that of all the smithing actions we can do, crafting is the most expensive. This perk helps reduce the stamina cost per craft by half, which means less time waiting for stamina to replenish.
Personally, I prefer practical smith as it will help unlock all weapons parts and craft tons of weapons for sale quickly. I never find a town that can buy all of the weapons I craft so I don’t find trade penalty reduction useful. 30% is a pretty good increase in sale price though, so it might be worth considering!
Level 200 – Master Smith: This is the only option for this level and gives a chance for another stat bonus roll. Master crafted weapons get +5 stats randomly distributed as you can see here. This is a great perk to pick up!
Level 225 – Enduring Smith: This perk gives a +1 attribute point to endurance, which is an S tier perk. Keep in mind, you cannot go above 10 attribute points, so if you’re already at 10 then this perk would be wasted.
Level 225 – Fencer Smith: This perk gives +1 focus point to both 1H and 2H skills.
1 Attribute point adds 0.5 to the learning rate and 14 levels to the max level cap for 3 skills and 1 focus point adds 1.25 learning rate and 40 skill cap to a single skill. Doing the math, the attribute point adds 1.5 learning rate total and 42 levels to the max level cap and the focus points add 2.5 learning rate and 80 levels to the max level cap. If we are basing our decision for the best pick on maximizing learning rate and levels, then the focus points from Fencer smith is the pick. However, attribute points are far fewer to come by and is the only way to reach higher levels like 300+, so if you need the extra attribute point to hit higher perks, then enduring smith is the pick. For me, Enduring smith is the pick 100% of the time, but you can make your own choice based on the analysis.
Level 250 – Sharpened Edge: This perk adds extra damage to nearly all swing damage stats. We can see from testing, it adds +1 damage to daggers, +3 to high damage 2H swords, nothing to swingable polearms that also can thrust, and +3 to swingable only polearms. Quick note, this perk also works for maces, both 1H and 2H and nearly all weapons that do swing damage. The wording is bad, it’s not cut damage but swing damage it boosts.
Level 250 – Sharpened Tip: Similar to the previous perk, this one adds an extra point into a weapon’s thrust damage stat. The dagger, 2H sword, thrust polearm, pike and 1H mode of Javelins all get +1 to thrust damage.
The pick here is a tough one – they are both extremely good and useful. Thrust damage is lower overall, but keep in mind that thrust damage also negates more armor than swing cut damage. I generally go with sharpened edge since I prefer swing damage, but if you use a lot of thrusting weapons then sharpened tip is great as well.
Level 275 – Legendary Smith: This is one of my favorite perks in the game. With most parts unlocked, we gain access to some extremely potent weapons. Add in +10 stats and it can almost feel like we are using cheats! Keep in mind, the stats from the 250 perk need to be subtracted to know the true bonus stats, in this case we get a +2 to swing damage without and bonus rolls which means we get +10 extra stats to this weapon. One final note, bonus stats are distributed randomly, so not all legendary rolls are created equally. For example, if you get a +5 to swing damage, but the weapon is already doing 140+ without the bonus stats, then those extra points would be much better off being rolled into the swing speed stat line, which would dramatically increase the damage per second. My preference is to get the damage up to the lethal threshold, around 120 – 130 or so, making 1-shots against armors targets guaranteed, and then try to get the rest of the bonus stats into the swing speed and handling stats.
We are nearing the end of the video, which means it’s time for the bonus!
The Glass Cannon – Most of the previous bonuses revolved around a Chad character that can tank many shots and keep going. This time, we will craft a custom set of daggers and throwing knives, max our movement speed out and become the glass cannon of Bannerlord! We start with our main melee dagger and a legendary roll giving over 60 damage and 105 swing speed! Next we craft 3 sets of throwing knives with decent stats. And since we are going for speed here, we don’t need any armor or HP perks, but will take 4 movement speed perks and high athletics. Pairing this with no armor and light weapons, we will have max movement speed. We start by testing our build against a gang in a city fight. We can clearly see the advantage of high movement and attack speed as the enemy doesn’t have a chance to react. For the second fight, we can outrun everyone and pick them off with our throwing knives. Each hit is a 1-shot. Now let’s see how well we can do against armored targets through a prison break. No need to take chances, just move back and pick them off as them come close. These two guard are cut down before either have a chance to attack once, lighting speed! Now for the real test – open field battle. Our movement speed is similar to cavarly, it’s really nice! We start by skirmishing against the enemy infantry, lobbing knives into their lines but take some shots from their ranged troops. This is the Achilles heel of this build as taking damage of any type is devastating. We hunker down behind the tree and wait for our troops to move up. Up close, we can see how dangerous our custom dagger is, dealing well over 150 damage per strike and 1-shoting everyone. Our movement speed is too much for any thrust or overhead strike, easily avoiding those hits. A great tactic here is to move in for a hit, then quickly back out, negating the need for accurate blocking. You can’t hit what you can’t reach! Once the battle starts to get a bit messy, we can switch to our knives once more to continue our rampage. This guy uses his forehead to catch our knife, well done sir! Eventually we take a menavlion to the face and go down, but the battle was really fun and I can’t recommend this build enough! The knives were a bit of a meme, but taking a shield and mace or high end two handed weapon can be even more potent!
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