WoW Cataclysm Blacksmithing Guide

World of Warcraft Cataclysm (WoW Cata) has many professions ranging from making consumables (Alchemy) and augmenting weapons (Enchanting), to gathering resources (Herbalism and Mining). Choosing the best profession requires knowledge of which build you want for your character. For Magic users, having a profession tailored for Magic like Alchemy or Jewelcrafting can benefit the items you have already equipped. For players who are into physical combat, one of the best professions is Blacksmithing. In this article, we will look at Blacksmithing and its best usage.

Why choose Blacksmith?

Choosing Blacksmithing as a profession can provide many rewards. Not only can players create weapons and Plate Armor using metals, but they can also craft utility items that can help them along the way. Blacksmithing is also one of the most useful professions in the game because players can take their crafted materials and sell them or put them up for auction in the Auction House to make cata gold.

Requirements for Blacksmith

There are some requirements to become a great Blacksmith. Mining is one of the most important of these because it allows you to farm as many metals as posssible. Mining also helps in cutting the cost of the materials you need to craft your weapon or armor. You can also opt to have Archaeology as your secondary profession because it allows you to discover and craft more powerful items.

Leveling up

After choosing your profession, the next step is to level up. In WoW Cata, professions can reach up to Skill Level 525.

For Blacksmithing, you should get to Skill Level 75 as soon as possible through crafting items and mining. This will make you adept at crafting powerful items later. Stalling this process may hinder your gameplay experience since Blacksmiths rely on crafting powerful items as they progress. The lower the Skill Level of the profession, the harder it is to advance later on in the game.

Item crafting

In this section, we will look at the basics of crafting to level up your Blacksmithing skill.

For starters, gathering Rough Stones and Coarse Stones can give you two important items: Sharpening Stones and the Grinding Stone. Sharpening Stones, depending on the material it was crafted from, increases the damage of weapons by at least 1 damage for one hour; while Grinding Stones allow you to craft the items you need for combat or for selling.

As you level up, gathering more precious materials like gold, silver, bronze, and copper will give you the ability to craft weapons and armor based on these materials. Just remember to craft the appropriate Grinding Stone needed for some of these items.

Another thing to mention here is you can craft some weapons without a Grinding Stone. These items are available to you at higher levels (210 – onwards) but they require a lot of precious and rare materials. To go around this, save the best Grinding Stones you have so you can create weapons and armor, sell them, and buy Cata items that you can’t craft yet.

Advantages of Blacksmith

There are numerous advantages to being a Blacksmith. As mentioned above, Blacksmiths create their own weapons and armor. This alone makes this profession invaluable since many players also rely on weapons and armor to deal and reduce Physical damage. Another major advantage of Blacksmiths is they can sell their crafted items for extra gold. Gold in WoW Cataclysm is an important currency since it gives players a stable economy to distribute in the game.

Items crafted by Blacksmiths, namely Bracers and Gloves, have been tweaked to have two gem slots for augmenting their capabilities.

Disadvantages of Blacksmith

Since you can choose only two main professions, Blacksmiths will always have Mining as a secondary profession. Adventurous players may choose anything other than Mining but that will not optimize the character’s Skill Level for both professions. However, there are other secondary professions that may be useful for Blacksmiths. For example, Jewelcrafting makes use of cutting gems for use in weapons or armor, which is especially useful for Blacksmiths who want to make use of the socket bonus they have when crafting Bracers or Gloves.

If you like to explore other professions to pair with Blacksmithing other than Mining, you are free to do so. Just be sure to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each when choosing your secondary profession.

Conclusion

Blacksmithing is an important P\profession in WoW Cataclysm. It allows you to make use of metals for crafting powerful weapons and armor, for selling off surplus crafted items for gold, and having a stable economy because of the large player base that relies on the Blacksmith’s wares. While it can be a fun and rewarding profession, being a Blacksmith requires players to put in the work.