The Complete Guide to Smithing in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

Smithing in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is one of the most valuable and versatile skills you can develop. It lets you craft powerful weapons, earn a steady income, and stockpile useful materials. Whether you’re aiming to master the forge or just make a little extra gold, here’s everything you need to know.

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Getting Started: How to Level Up Smithing Quickly

The key to levelling smithing is simple: keep doing it. Every time you craft, smelt, or refine, you earn experience. And yes, smelting down weapons — even cheap ones — gives XP too, making it a fast way to train early on.

A proven strategy:

• Fight bandits.
• Loot their weapons.
• Smelt them for materials and XP.
• Repeat.

This cycle builds your smithing skills quickly with minimal effort.

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Choose the Right Perks

As your smithing level rises, you’ll unlock perks that improve efficiency, reduce stamina use, and unlock advanced materials. Some essential early perks include:

• Practical Smelter – Reduces stamina cost for smelting.
• Efficient Charcoal Maker (Level 25) – Converts 1 hardwood into 2 charcoal (instead of 2 hardwood into 1 charcoal).
• Steel Maker III – This lets you craft rare Thamaskene steel, required for top-tier weapons.

These perks can make or break your progress, so choose wisely based on your goals.

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Watch Your Stamina

Smithing consumes stamina, which gradually depletes with every action at the forge. Once you’re out, you’ll need to rest in a town or do other activities until it recovers.

Tips:

• Monitor your stamina bar before long smithing sessions.
• Assign companions to Smith when you’re low on stamina (note: they get the XP, not you).
• Increase your Endurance attribute to improve stamina and unlock smithing focus points faster.

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Essential Materials for Smithing

You’ll need a range of materials to keep crafting and refining. These are the most important:

• Hardwood – Refined into charcoal.
• Charcoal – Required for smelting and crafting.
• Crude Iron, Iron, Steel, Fine Steel, Thamaskene Steel – Used for different weapon tiers.
• Iron Ore – Can be refined into usable metal.

A great way to gather materials early on is by smelting down looted weapons — especially wooden ones, which also give you hardwood.

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How to Always Have Enough Charcoal

Smelting requires 1 charcoal per item, so running out can bring everything to a halt.

Here’s how to avoid that:

• Refine hardwood at the forge to create charcoal.
• Loot wooden weapons (like spears and bows) to recover hardwood.
• Unlock the Efficient Charcoal Maker perk ASAP to double your output.

This simple loop keeps your operation going without constantly buying supplies.

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Why Smelting = Easy Money

Surprisingly, smelting weapons is often more profitable than selling them whole. Many basic weapons, when broken down, yield raw materials worth more than their sale value.

Before selling anything:

• Smelt it and check the value of the components.
• Sell the parts instead for extra profit.

This method builds up both your coin purse and your resource pool – a win-win.

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Always Craft Within Your Means

When crafting weapons, you can adjust properties like length, weight, and blade type. But if the design is too complex for your current skill level, you risk failure — which wastes time and materials.

Tip: Stick to blueprints that match your current abilities. As your skill improves, you’ll unlock more complex parts and better stats with less risk.

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Smithing in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord isn’t just about forging swords – it’s a powerful tool for economic stability, battlefield strength, and character progression. Whether you’re a full-time smith or just using it as a side hustle, learning how to manage resources, stamina, and skill growth pays off quickly.

Forge smart, smelt often, and don’t forget to pick up that Efficient Charcoal Maker perk early on!

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