Need help with stats

[Liakim]

Long time reader, first time poster here. First of all please allow me to extend my gratitude to all of you who have posted such great info here on these boards, and to the providers/moderators for keeping it together.

That said, after reading TONS of posts about stats while smithing, I find myself still very confused. I have read some people say WIS/INT affect skillups, and STR affects success. I have also read people say max out STR, WIS, or INT because whichever is highest affects skillup rates.

So which is which? And being a human paladin, which stat should I concentrate on? As you can see from my profile, I have an entire set of gear STRICTLY for skilling, my desperate attempt at 255 WIS. With KEI and stat food, I am currently hitting about 251.........I think I have invested more in my gear than I have in the actual skill of blacksmithing thus far! With this setup my STR falls to a pathetic 140 or so.......

Perhaps I am merely at a bottleneck (84 Shadowscream combines at 195 skill and no skillups ARGH) but perhaps I am doing something wrong. Any/all suggestions you might have wiould be greatly appreciated. 'Tis my greatest hope that one day I can walk Norrath in a full set of Luminant Heraldic armor...........

Liakim, for Smithing it is the highest stat of str, int, or wis.

If it would be easier to get 255 str than 255 wis for you, do that, but if you have gotten 251 wis as a pally... I am impressed

That tradeskill gear is good because the 251 wis will help with every skill, not just smithing.

So far as anyone can tell (and this may start a debate) the only factor whatsoever for success is your skill level. Thats it, nothing else in the world matters. Naturally skill level is modified if you have a modifier, but strength, int, wis, buffs etc mean absolutely nothing except for skill-ups.

P.S. Closing your eyes and throwing the mouse at the wall, having it click combine as it hits has no proven effect on success, but more research is warranted.