Steel Smithing Perk
| Steel Smithing | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skill Requirement | None |
| Perk Requirement | None |
| Tempering Material | Steel Ingot |
| Improvement | Doubled |
| Perk ID | 000CB40D |
Steel Smithing is the entry perk of the Smithing tree in Skyrim and the only one with no skill requirement, so it can be taken the moment you spend your first perk point. It lets you forge steel armour and weapons, and it doubles the effect of tempering them at a grindstone or workbench.
Every other branch of the tree hangs off this perk. Both Elven Smithing and Dwarven Smithing list it as their prerequisite, as does Arcane Blacksmith, which means there is no route to the higher materials that skips it.
Sets Unlocked
- Steel armour and weapons at any forge or anvil.
- Double improvement on steel gear, so a steel sword reaches a given quality tier at roughly half the skill a perkless smith would need.
- Bonemold armour, if you have the Dragonborn add-on installed.
- The Vigil armour sets from Creation Club, unlocked through the quest Unholy Vigil.
Steel gear is tempered with Steel Ingots, smelted from one Iron Ore and one Corundum Ore. Iron and corundum are both common enough that steel stays cheap to work with all the way through the mid game, which is the main reason it is such a good levelling material.
Notes
The improvement bonus is the real value of the perk, not the recipes. Without a material's perk you need skill 31 to reach Superior quality and 100 to reach Flawless. With the perk those thresholds drop to 22 and 57. The same pattern holds at every tier.
Smelting
Steel ingots are unique in that they are the only ingots requiring two different ore types. The following materials smelt a single steel ingot:
- Corundum Ore (1)
- Iron Ore (1)
Smelting is not governed by the Smithing skill itself, so it grants no experience; only forging and tempering do.
Tempering Quality
| Quality | No perk | With perk |
|---|---|---|
| Fine | 14 | 14 |
| Superior | 31 | 22 |
| Exquisite | 65 | 40 |
| Flawless | 100 | 57 |
| Epic | 134 | 74 |
| Legendary | 168 | 91 |
Counts As Steel
The perk covers more than the steel set itself. Everything below tempers at the doubled rate once it is taken, which is easy to miss because none of it is called steel.
| Equipment | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Steel | Forged, or common loot from about level 6 |
| Imperial | Worn by the Imperial Legion across the civil war |
| Nord Hero | Forged at the Skyforge after Glory of the Dead |
| Ancient Nord | Draugr barrows, and the base for Nord Hero gear |
| Wolf | The Companions set, forged at the Skyforge in Whiterun |
| Dawnguard | Sold by Gunmar at Fort Dawnguard, needs the add-on |
Smithing Perk Categories
