In depth look at smithing

Hello thank you for coming here to learn about smithing, this guide will be a front to back opener to the smithing class.


Table of contents:
[I] Smithing overview
[II] Stats
[II-I] Swordsmith stats
[II-II] Gunsmith stats
[II-III] Hybrid
[III] Skills
[III-I] Expertise
[IV] Leveling
[IV-I] General leveling
[IV-II] Expertise leveling
[V] Builds
[V-I] Swordsmith builds
[V-II] Gunsmith builds
[V-III]Hybrid/SI build
[VI] Tarots
[VI-I] Swordsmith tarots
[VI-II] Gunsmith tarots
[VII] Soulstones
[VIII] Plasma overview
[XI] Credits
[XII] Update history

[I] Smith overview

A smith, be it gunsmith or swordsmith, is a character that is usually dedicated to making weapons for use or sale. They gather materials to try to forge weapons. It is a lot of work and few have the determination to level a smith to a high level. A character who has crafting as a subclass may not be as proficient in smithing as someone who is pure and also may lose out on expertise points for attacking based skills.

Swordsmiths create melee weapons which are useful for weapon making for melee characters.

Swordsmith skills

Gunsmiths create guns, long range weapons and shell casings that can be used in item mixing to create bullets. They are useful for weapon making for long range based characters.

Gunsmith skills
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[II] Stats

I do not currently know if these stats are properly increasing smithing chance or not on this server, until verified please Take these numbers as what would boost your slot chances if it is currently working.
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[II-I] Swordsmith stats

The main stats that effect swordsmithing are vitality and luck. Vitality adds 1% per every 10 points added while luck adds 1% for every 5 points. There are not many alternate builds you can use with this combination so it may be best to go pure swordsmith or a tanking skill based melee. If you go pure swordsmith I suggest you get vitality first because it will give you an advantage in terms of your health. Alternately you could go luck first if you wish, for better monster drops and more critical defense.
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[II-II] Gunsmith stats

The main stats for gunsmithing are Inteligence and Luck. Int adds 1% for every 10 points, similar to swordsmithing, and luck adds 1% for every 5 points. With this builds you could possibly go enhancer as a secondary class to make leveling easier and not have to rely on sponsoring until your character is complete. My suggestion is to go int first if you wish to be an enhancer, if not luck since int doesn't add much to pure gunsmiths.
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[II-III] Hybrid Swordsmith/Gunsmith

If you wish to go hybrid swordsmith/gunsmith please keep in mind you will probably not be able to max all 3 stats, however you can get two of the stats maxed and a little in the third. My suggestion would be pick what you want to focus on, be it gunsmithing or swordsmithing and stat yourself accordingly. Luck effects both so it may be best to start with that and build upon which stat you would like to as you progress

Alternately you could do hybrid gunner or hybrid melee. My suggestion would be to get your main attacking stat first (Speed for gunners, Strength for melee) and then get the rest luck, and a little bit of vitality or intelligence for your respective smithing class.
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[III] Skills

There are a lot of skills for both swordsmiths and gunsmiths so it may seem a little bit overwhelming. If you look closely at both the Swordsmith skills and Gunsmith skills you will notice that some of the items appear more than once. My suggestion to you is to pick skills in a way where you get as many item possibilities as possible.
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[III-I] Expertise

Both classes use their respective knowledge's, gun knowledge for gunsmiths and weapon knowledge for swordsmiths, as well as their respective item making expertise in the chain expertise. Blades for swordsmith and crafting for gunsmiths.

Quest to unlock Blades:  http://megaten.sesshou.com/wiki/index.php/Quest:_The_Road_to_Smithing

Quest to unlock Crafts:  http://megaten.sesshou.com/wiki/index.php/Quest:_Smith_Crown
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[IV] Leveling

To become a good smith you must level both your skills and your stats.
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[IV-I] General leveling
NEW WAY: Easy join a clan, have them run you through bronze until level 20
(turning in apples along the way, once level twenty your goal is to get to level 35 so that you can run celu silver runs either through the previous method except this time doing sugi silver runs or soloing easy bronze runs)

If you end up having trouble head to the beach in babel and grab a OP demon to help you along preferably one with an elemental advantage for the dungeon you plan on spamming.

Once you are lvl 35 and are able to solo(or party) and do celu silver runs its a cakewalk to gain cp & More apples then you will ever need for leveling.

(DONT FORGET INCENSE OF EXPERIENCE STACKS WITH APPLE XP GAINS)

OLD WAY:
What you would want to do is have friends level you to level 25 through sugi silver and then do your acts up to act 7 (Which is the highest you will be able to go at this time). After this what you want to do is up to you. There are many possibilities for what you can do. If you are an enhancer/gunsmith hybrid you can sponsor sugi silver or sugi gold until you have enough int to move on to enhancing in ichi gold (Most partys request 120~140 int). As a pure smith class there are less things you can do. My suggestion is sponsor sugi gold until it starts to slow down greatly for you (When that happens is up to you) and then sponsor ichi golds. If you happen to go law you could be a spawner for Dai once you're past 60.
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[IV-II] Expertise leveling


To start out you'll want to get Weapon knowledge (Gun knowledge) to class 1. Fastest way I've found is is using Synth (30 Soulshards from Kodama in Suginami bronze which is an excellent way to get your new character a few levels and bring those to St. Germain to obtain occultism, the only expertise that unlocks synthesis), and locking every other expertise associated with that chain expertise but weapon knowledge. I find I can get 1 class to 1 class and 5 ranks per 5x expertise incense up until Weapon knowledge reaches Class 6, after that it slows down so you may have problems.

Gun knowledge is a bit different. You can get it up to class 1 through a quest in home 3: Bring a Type 38 infantry rifle Dropped by Trolls in sugi silver, Gyuki in Nakano, ichi gold floor b10 dropped from the boxes and Velata in Shinigawa Catacombs to the weapon shop in home 3 to unlock class 1 Gun Knowledge). Easiest way I've found is getting Rapid to class 1 to get Magnificent 7 and just use that on slimes or the Lost Hua Po, alternatively on Pixies or Leader Pixies if those areas are full. You should have high MP recovery or a lot of MP recovering items.

To get blades and crafting to class 1 you must see the dwarf near the north terminelle in babel. He will give you a quest to bring 10 Opals if you do not have either blades or crafts, he will also ask you to get some materials and make a weapon (this can be store-bought if you do not wish to waste materials). If you already have either blades or crafts and you wish to get the second skill you must give him 10 Rubys and repeat the quest for the expertise you have not yet attained.

As of this moment, only way to raise blades/crafting past class 1 is to actually make items or get textbooks. My suggestion for swordsmithing is to gather a bunch of Iron, Cedar and Steel and make morningstars, with scattering pollen and etude sword/blade. Once you get your swordsmithing up to class 4.7 a good alternative is to learn the Sol Blade recipe and either farm or buy Asada Archives from people to make that.

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[V] Builds

[V-I]Swordsmith builds

Pure:
Blades: C6.5
Weapon knowledge: C9
Swordsmithing ends up with class 7 and uses 15500 points.
The above build is just for swordsmithing, and only gets you swordsmithing. Nothing else. It's a good point to work from and it's the basis for my other swordsmithing builds.

Pure 2 (The "I'm-really-fond-of-rush-or-spin-or-occult-or-I-can't-afford-lethes-build")
Blades: C6.5
Weapon knowledge: C9
Spin or Rush or Occultism: C1
This build costs 16500 points and is pure swordsmithing. If you don't feel like getting rid of rush, spin or occultism this is a good alternative to the pure build since you don't have to lethe those skills away.

Hybrid melee:
Weapon knowledge: C9
Blades: C6
Attack: C9
Survival: C2
This build gets retaliation to class 6.2, and swordsmithing to class 6.6.

Alternate hybrid build:
Weapon knowledge: C9
Blades: C6.5
Attack: C9
Survival: C1.5
This build gets swordsmithing up to class 7, and retaliation up to exactly class 6.
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[V-II]Gunsmith builds

Pure:
Gun knowledge: C9
Crafts: C7.2
Gunsmithing ends up with class 7 rank 5.
This build is the basis for gunsmithing, it gets you capped gunsmithing and nothing else. It uses 16200 expertise points.

Pure 2 (The "I'm-really-fond-of-rapid-or-I-can't-afford-lethes-build"):
Gun knowledge: C9
Crafts: C7.2
Rapid: C1
This build is for people who don't want to get rid of rapid, or can't afford lethes. It takes 17200 points. If you really don't want to get rid of rapid and you're going pure, it's okay since you don't really get anything else.

Hybrid:
Gun knowledge: C9
Shot: C3
MC: C2
Crafts: C7.2
Curse: C2
Demonlogy: C2
This build ends up with Class 3, rank 8 Sharp Shooting, class 5 rank 1 Magic Bullet, and Class 7 rank 5 gunsmithing. It uses 25200 expertise points.

Enhance/Smith:
Curative: C8
Support: C5
Bless: C2
Crafts: C7.2
Gun Knowledge: C3.8
This build gives you class 5 enhance, allowing you to easily level this type of character without the need to sponsor. It also gives you 6.5 gunsmithing and once you reach level 90 you can take away enhance to cap gunsmith or possibly become a SIer.
[V-III]Hybrid/SI build

You can find common SI builds , FOR EXAMPLE:

Gun Knowledge: C5
Crafts: C5
Weapon Knowledge: C9
Blades: C7

For gunsmithing however you could use which is the inverse of the above build.

Crafts: C7
Gun Knowledge: c9
Blades: c5
Weapon Knowledge :c5
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[VI] Tarots

Your tarots are an important part of your build, since they add either the stats you're using for smithing or extra damage stats. You can pick what you want.
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[VI-I] Swordsmith Tarots

Damage:
III~IV of swords [10+] (Adding 3 to 5 strength, respectively)
Jikouten [40+] (+2 strength, +1 vitality)
Bishamoten [50+] (+2 strength, +1 vitality, +2 extra strength if chaos)

Smithing:
Omoikane [20+] (+1 int, +2 luck, Magic-1)
Kirin [35+](+1 int, +2 luck, Magic tolerance-2%)
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[VI-II] Gunsmith Tarots

Damage:
III~IV of cups [10+] (Adding 3 to 5 speed respectively)
Hresvelgr [35+] (+3 speed, -3 vit)

Smithing:
Omoikane [20+](+1 int, +2 luck, Magic-1)
Kirin [35+](+1 int, +2 luck, Magic tolerance-2%)
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[VII] Soulstones

Soulstones give bonuses to your stats and are as equally important as tarots. The stones I list can be for both classes, with some minor modifications needed in cases where the stone is redundant or takes away from the stats you need.

Shoes: High pixie [10+] (Magic+2, Int+2, Force resist+5), Azumi (Str+2, Luk+2, Ice resistance+5)
Bottoms: Komoukouten [40+] (+10int, -5vit) [You'll want to pick either Komou or Jiko for the bonus to your class unless you are a hybrid smith then you'll want both for a bonus of 5 int and 5 vit]
Top: Jikouten [45+] (+10 vit, -5 int) [Swordsmithing], Ganga [25+] (Int+2 str -3) [Gunsmithing]
Arms: Gorgon [30+] (Null stone), Pallas Athena [70+] (Null stone, If player is law +1 str, +1 magic, if player is chaos -10% rush damage)
Face: Virtue [35+] (+5 Int, -5 vit) -Only do if you are gun smith, because it takes away from vitality-, Omoikane [25+] (+2 int, +1 luck if synth at class 2 or above additional +2 int, +1 luck)
Head: Thoth [40+](Null muddle if int above 50, +10max HP, -5 strength, if Law +15 MP), Omiokane [25+]
Extra, ring, earring: Kikuri-Hime [18+] (+1 magic, +1 int) [Gunsmiths], Santa frost, Shishimi frost [11+] (+1 to all stats)
Back:Hresvelgr [60+] (+10 speed, +5 int, -10MP regen, if law with 20% hp or less +50% long range damage)[Gunsmith], King frost [40+] (Level x 0.5% void ice, if chaos +30HP to party) [Chaos swordsmith]
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[VIII] Plasma overview

You are probably familiar with plasmas by now if you have obtained the fuel tank needed to get smithing but here's a section on them anyway

Plasmas are glowing balls of light. They can be white, yellow, blue or red. The story says that plasmas are souls of the dead who died in the great destruction. Upon conversing with a plasma a small minigame window appears with a bar that travels across the screen. You must click on the button when the bar is inside the different colour area to unlock the plasma and be able to take the items. If you fail to successfully open the plasma it will vanish unless you are attacked. If you are attacked it will remain locked and you can try again after defeating the monster that is attacking you.

Different plasmas have different difficulties depending on their color or location.