This guide is here to help you navigate the different Blacksmithing specializations in War Within, so you can make the most out of Blacksmithing.
War Within introduces four new Blacksmithing specializations, unlocked at levels 25, 50, 60, and 75. Each one offers unique perks that can really change how you approach Blacksmithing.
I'll break down each specialization, showing you the best ways to spend your points and pointing out which paths might not be worth your time. By the end, you'll have a few example builds to kickstart your own talent build.
Table of contents
- Everburning Forge
- Means of Production
- Weaponsmithing and Armorsmithing
- Choosing a Specialization Build
- Build 1. Crafting Gear for Personal Use
- Build 2. Selling Blacksmithing Items at the Auction House
- Build 3. Completing Personal Crafting Orders
Everburning Forge
This specialization focuses on boosting your Ingenuity, Resourcefulness, or Multicraft. It also enhances your Ingenuity to refund more Concentration, up to a maximum of 100%.
Basically, this is the specialization you'd start investing in after you've already built a solid foundation in the other specializations. It allows you to optimize your build even further. I'd recommend putting points here only after you've spent some points in the other specialization.
Although it's not worth investing points into it early on, make sure to unlock this as your second or third specialization! It offers a cheaper alternative for leveling up.
Upon unlocking the specialization, you'll gain access to the Everburning Ignition recipe. This buff boosts your Ingenuity, Multicraft, and Resourcefulness for 10 minutes, but the benefits are directly tied to how many points you've invested in the Everburning Forge sub-specializations. Without investing points, this recipe won't have any effect.
Means of Production
The Means of Production specialization focuses on getting higher quality profession equipment, alloys, finishing reagents and consumable items. The center node provides extra skill points to all items covered by the sub-specializations and will also teach you the Artisan Blacksmith's Toolbox recipe.
Tools of the Trade
Learning this sub-specializations will teach you the Artisan Blacksmith's Hammer recipe. Investing more points into this will give you extra skill to both Profession Tools and Accessories. The two sub-specializations are quite clear-cut. Trade Tools boosts your skill with Profession Tools, while Trade Accessories enhances your skill with Profession Accessories.
Stonework
Provides additional skill points when crafting consumable stones that temporarily enhance your weapons and profession tools.
Fortuitous Forges
Improve your ability to make finishing reagents (Frameworks) and alloys. The two sub-specializations are quite clear: you gain extra skill points for crafting either Alloys or Frameworks.
Weaponsmithing and Armorsmithing
The Weaponsmithing and Armorsmithing specializations focus on crafting higher-quality weapons and armor.
You can learn one recipe for every armor slot with Armorsmithing, but not all weapon types are unlocked through specializations; some are obtained from drops or vendors. For instance, if you can use both 2H Mace and 2H Axe, it's better to focus on 2H Axe specialization because you can learn it without needing to purchase the recipe.
Check the table below for a full list of weapons available from each source.
Vendors and Drops
Charged Slicer currently gains skill points from the Sword Specialization, but this is a bug.
Item |
Type |
Specialization |
Recipe Source |
Charged Runeaxe | 1H Axe (Int) | Hafted - > Axes and Polearms | Drop: The Theater Troupe |
Charged Crusher | 2H Mace (Str, Agi) | Hafted - > Maces | Drop: Awakening the Machine |
Charged Facesmasher | Fist Weapon | Blades - > Short Blades | Vendor: Lyrendal Cost: 150x Artisan's Acuity |
Charged Slicer | 1H Axe (Str, Agi) | Blades - > Long Blades (This is a bug probably) | Vendor: Khaz Algar World Vendors Cost: 150x Artisan's Acuity, 1500x Kej |
Weapons from specialization
The table below outlines the points required to unlock a sub-specialization and a specific weapon type.
Item |
Type |
Specialization |
Everforged Mace | 1H Mace | Hafted (10) - > Maces (0) |
Charged Invoker | 2H Mace (Int) | Hafted (10) - > Maces (15) |
Everforged Greataxe | 2H Axe | Hafted (10) - > Axes and Polearms (0) |
Charged Halberd | Polearm | Hafted (10) - > Axes and Polearms (15) |
Everforged Warglaive | Warglaive | Blades (15) |
Everforged Stabber | Dagger (Agi) | Blades (10) - > Short Blades (0) |
Everforged Stabber | Dagger (Int) | Blades (10) - > Short Blades (15) |
Everforged Longsword | 2H Sword | Blades (10) - > Long Blades (0) |
Charged Hexsword | 1H Sword (Int) | Blades (10) - > Long Blades (15) |
Choosing a Specialization Build
There isn't a "best blacksmithing build" since everyone's playstyle and goals in the game are different. If you're focused on mass-producing alloys for the Auction House, your build will look different from someone who's aiming to craft epic weapons.
Below are three builds tailored to common playstyles. Feel free to adjust them to better fit your preferences, but a solid strategy in War Within is to specialize in one area first before branching out into others.
1. Crafting Gear for Personal Use
This build is ideal for players who want to make their own armor or weapons.
2. Selling Blacksmithing Items at the Auction House
If your goal is to produce and sell large quantities of reagents and consumables, this build is for you.
3. Completing Personal Crafting Orders
This build is geared toward players who want to craft weapons or armor for others using the Personal Crafting Order system.
Build 1. Crafting Gear for Personal Use
The Weaponsmithing or Armorsmithing specializations will be your main focus in this build. You can ignore the the other two specialization for now.
Thanks to the new Concentration mechanic, you don't need to invest too many points in any category to craft top-quality weapons or armor. You won't be able to produce many of them since Concentration regenerates slowly, but that's okay because you'll be limited by the Spark of Omen, a Bind on Pickup (BoP) crafting reagent. You only get one every two weeks.
Choosing between weaponsmithing and armorsmithing
First, decide whether you want to craft a weapon or armor first. Weapons usually offer a bigger upgrade for a single slot, so starting with weapons is a solid choice. However, focusing on armor first will unlock recipes for multiple slots, giving you the ability to craft gear for more slots overall.
Weaponsmith Example Build
Scroll back in the guide to find the table listing all available weapon types, and choose the one you want to focus on.
Here's an example: Let's say you wanted to craft a 2H Axe. Your build order would look like this:
- Hafted (10) - To unlock the sub-specializations.
- Axes and Polearms (15) - To learn the 2H Axe recipe.
- Weaponsmithing (30) - This will give you +80 Skill boost for all weapon types. It's the largest bonus you can get for any single weapon, so it's much more efficient to max this out before focusing on the sub-specializations.
With this build you should already be able to craft a maximum quality weapon using Concentration with Q3 materials.
Armorsmith Example Build
Going Armorsmithing is a bit more straightforward than Weaponsmithing. Each sub-specialization tree will teach you an epic armor recipe for its specific slot. There are three main sub-specializations, each branching out into three different armor slot.
You can't really go wrong with any of the Armorsmithing sub-specializations. If I had to pick one, I'd probably go with Sculpted Armor first. It covers two armor slots that offer significant stat gains and includes Feet armor. This way, even if my set items occupy the other slots, I'll still have something valuable to craft and wear. Large Armor is also a great choice if your class can use Shields.
- Large Armor (Left) : Chest, Legs, Shields
- Sculpted Armor (Middle) : Head, Shoulder, Feet
- Fine Armor (Right) : Waist, Wrists, Hands
Here's an example: Let's say you picked Large Armor. Your build order would look like this:
- Start by learning the sub-specialization. In this example, I pick Large Plate Armor.
- Large Plate Armor (30) - Invest 30 points into it, this will unlock the recipes for all three armor slots in that category.
- Armorsmithing (30) - This will give you a +75 skill boost for all armor types and allow you to use optional reagents and embellishments in every armor slot. This is a significant advantage for Patron Crafting Orders, because you often can't complete some of them because they have Missives or embellishments.
With this build you should already be able to craft a maximum quality Chest, Legs, Shields using Concentration with Q3 materials.
Spending the Rest of your Points
If you started with Armorsmithing, your next step should be to focus on Weaponsmithing. Conversely, if you began with Weaponsmithing, then switch to Armorsmithing.
After getting your needed recipes from both specializations, you can either focus on unlocking more recipes from the specializations, or you could get the Resourcefulness sub-specialization from Everburning Forge. This could save you some materials when you craft your armors.
You can also shift your focus to crafting higher-quality profession equipment for yourself or your alts. Scroll down in the guide to the Personal Crafting order builds, there you will find en example for Profession Equipment build.
Build 2. Selling Blacksmithing Items at the Auction House
This build focuses on the Means of Production specialization. This is where you'll find all the sellable items. You can safely ignore Weaponsmithing and Armorsmithing, and you should only put points into Everburning Forge much later.
The left side focuses on Profession Equipment, which are BoP (Bind on Pickup) and not sellable at the Auction House, so we'll skip those in this build (though you can still sell the green-quality ones). We'll focus on the middle and right sub-specializations.
List of Blacksmithing Items You Can Sell
Below you can find the full list of Blacksmithing items that you can specialize into and sell at the Auction House.
Alloys | Weapon Stones | Tool Enhancement | Frameworks |
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Which items to focus on first?
Alloys have the highest gold-making potential, especially early on when Q3 alloys are in high demand. However, lots of players will likely go for this specialization first, so you'll face heavy competition. Plus, since all of these items are sold on the region-wide auction house, you'll be up against sellers from across your whole region and should expect frequent undercuts.
Here is how I would rank the gold making potential of these specializations:
- Alloys
- Weapon Stones
- Frameworks
- Tool Enhancement
Example Means of Production Build
Once you pick which item category to focus on, aim to get enough skill points to craft the item without needing Concentration.
To achieve maximum skill for a specific item, you'll need to:
- Level Blacksmithing to 100.
- Max out everything that leads to that specialization category.
- Equip all three blue profession tools.
That's all there is to it. There aren't any extra skill points hidden in other specializations.
To put it all together, here's an example. Let's say you want to craft Alloys. Your build order would look like this:
- Means of Production (10)
- Fortuitous Forges (15)
- Alloys (20)
- Fortuitous Forges (15 -> 30)
- Means of Production (10 -> 30)
That's a total of 80 knowledge points.
Spending the Rest of your Points
There are two main directions you can take from here:
- Everburning Forge: Invest in the Everburning Forge specialization to boost your Multicraft and Resourcefulness, which will help you optimize your build further.
- Max Out All Items: Focus on maxing out each tree so you can craft every item at maximum quality.
If you're already making a good profit from your items, go ahead with Everburning Forge. However, if the specialization you chose isn't working out or isn't as profitable as you hoped, consider switching to a different one. Switching within the same sub-specialization will only require 20 points to max out another tree.
Build 3. Completing Personal Crafting Orders
This build focuses on crafting maximum-quality weapons, armor, or profession equipment for others through the Personal Crafting Order system.
One important thing to keep in mind is that Crafting Orders are not cross-realm. You'll only be competing with players on your own realm, which also means if you're on a lower population realm, you'll have fewer customers.
Max. Quality and Concentration
Before diving into how to spend your knowledge points, it's important to understand the role of Concentration, so you understand why I believe it's important to specialize in one recipe and prioritize boosting your Blacksmithing skill first.
Concentration lets you craft an item at a quality one tier higher than your base skill would normally allow. The amount of Concentration required depends on how much skill you're missing, but there is always a minimum amount of Concentration that you have to spend. For instance, even if you're only short by 1 skill point, you'd still need around 300 Concentration to craft a quality 5 item. Since Concentration regenerates at about 240 points daily, you're limited to fulfilling only one Crafting Order per day at max quality until you max out your build. (unless you get lucky with Ingenuity procs).
The primary goal of this build is to reach a point where you can craft at least one recipe at max quality without relying on Concentration. Those who achieve this milestone the fastest are likely to earn the most gold, as they'll be able to fulfill an unlimited number of Crafting Orders.
Weapons, Armors or Profession Equipment?
First, you'll need to decide which type of gear you want to focus on. Weapons tend to be very popular early on, but that also means more people are likely to specialize in them. On the other hand, if there are only a few "Legs Crafters" on your realm, focusing on crafting legs might turn out to be more profitable than going for a more popular option.
What I can confidently say is that there will be demand for every type of gear and profession equipment, so whichever path you choose, there will be someone out there who wants that item crafted.
Profession Equipment
The upside of focusing on profession equipment is that with just 100 points, you can craft 8 different recipes. However, the downside is that there's typically lower demand for these items, and players are often more willing to accept lower quality since the quality doesn't impact the +skill they gain from them.
Weapons
Weapons are always in demand, making them a safe choice, but they come with more competition. Maxing out the Hafted sub-specialization tree allows you to craft three different weapons at maximum quality, while the Blades tree lets you craft four or five. (There's an embellished dagger, but more on that later.)
One of the weapons in each specialization isn't unlocked directly through the specialization but can be obtained from a vendor or a drop, depending on which specialization you're focusing on.
Armors
The downside to focusing on armors is that you can only craft one max-quality armor for a single slot with the same amount of knowledge points you'd use for the other specializations. To craft three armor types at max quality, you'll need to spend an additional 60 points. However, there's likely to be less competition, so if you're the only Shield crafter on your realm, you could dominate the market.
This is how I would rank the slots:
- Head, Chest, Shield, Legs, Shoulder
- Feet
- Gloves, Belt
- Wrist
Example Builds for fulfilling Crafting Orders
Here are some example builds. Each sub-specialization functions similarly, so you can use these as a guide and adjust the slots based on your preferences.
Armorsmithing
Let's say you want to craft armor for Hands slot. Your build order would look like this:
- Large Plate Armor (30)
- Armorsmithing (30)
- Gauntlets (30)
I would go for Armorsmithing (30) before maxing out Gauntlets because that allow you to use optional reagents and embellishments in every armor slot. This is a significant advantage for Patron Crafting Orders, because you often can't complete some of them because they have Missives or embellishments.
Weaponsmithing
For example, if you want to craft Axes and Polearms, your build order would look like this:
- Hafted (10) - To unlock the sub-spec.
- Axes and Polearms (20) - To get both recipes and the big +15 skill bonus
- Hafted (10 -> 25) - To get +10 Skill bonus, learn another weapon recipe and unlock Finishing Reagents
- Weaponsmithing (30) - This will give you +80 Skill boost for all weapon types
- Axes and Polearms (20 -> 25)
Profession Equipment
- Means of Production (10)
- Tools of the Trade (30)
- Pick Trade Tools as your first sub-spec, so you can add missives to profession Tools sooner.
- Trade Tools (20) - I'd prioritize maxing out Tools first because there's likely to be higher demand for Gathering Tools. You can customize the stats on these tools to offer significant bonuses, which could make them more appealing to buyers.
- Means of Production (10 -> 30)
- Trade Accessories (20)
You can swap maxing out Trade Accessories first if you think those will have lower competition.
Spending The Rest of your Points
Start filling out all weapon on armor slots in your chosen specialization until you unlock all recipes. When you enough costumers and don't really need more recipes then max out Everburning Forge (40) and Discerning Discipline (20) to get some Resourcefulness.