How many combines from 188 to 220?

[lohengrim]

I will be doing shadowscream from 188 to 220, and my str its at 280...how many combines should i expect per skillup? Thanks

[Zhorn]

Depends how lucky you feel.

Some peeps get a skill up per 10 combines. Some report 20 combines per skill up.
Then you might bad patch and need 60 to 300 combines. Then you might get 5 in a row!
(I was lucky, I only struck 1 bad streak of 60 combines (in my low 200's) and maybe 2 of 40-ish combines).

As you can see its pretty random but a good rule of thumb is about 15 to 20 combines per skill up. MAYBE less before you hit 200, maybe MORE afterwards.

If you do hit a bad patch where the RNG (random number generator) hates your guts, go camp out, do something else for awhile, relax then maybe go back and try some more combines.

EDIT: Don't forget to get your two "easy" points at 210. At 210 skill+geerlok you can skill up two points (to 212) on Etheral Brick combines (Etheral brick + Etheral temper + file).
If you score a +10% mod item you can do this from 200 to 212 or if somehow by a miracle (and I mean miracle) you get a +15% mod item you can do this from 192.

[frynque]

combine rates

i've been tracking my rates since i hit the wall (188).

basically it appears with 230+ wis and 245+ str you can assume about 60-80% combine success with SS and Acryila combines, differences being for the individual pieces trivial.

skill bumps, on the other hand, are going to be rare. if you're doing SS, do it in 40 combine runs. anything less will be a test in frustration as you can expect about 1 skill bump in 20-60 combines. Acrylia seems to offer me about 1 skill bump every 10 combines, but dont get me started on my VI rant about drop rates and insane bazaar prices.

a possible money maker alternative once you hit about 205 is mistletoe sickles. all ingredients are vendor bought, and the final combine, though trivial above 250, is doable around 200 at a break even pricing of 2k per sickle (i sell at 2k and break even on cost).

good hunting and may the smithing gods bless you
Frynque Trolkins
Troll smith of Xev

[Araon]

I have found it consistently takes me a little more than 20 combines to get 1 skillup, going from 188 to 220. I have done nearly exactly 700 combines since 188 to get to 222.

[Koner]

Skillups just plain SUCK. Since the infamous May patch last year I have done over 1000 (not quite 1100 yet) NON trivial attempts. I have gone from 188 to 195 in that time. I'm averaging somewhere around 115 attempts per skill up. I'm sure its just MY bad luck and nothing to do with SOE's bad programming though.

[Zopharr]

The real question is, how is your Karma with the smithing gods?

Average is 650-1k combines to get from 188-220. If you've been bad, though ...

[Zeralenn]

I must have been very, very bad because I am stuck at 192.

I did DE enchanted plate gorgets from 191 to 192, did 5 combines and got the skillup.

Been working on DE cultural boots and bracers (triv 195). I have done 102 combines of these suckers and haven't gotten a skillup yet.

Although people tried to come up with reasons for this (including one person who said it was because I was using a geerlok -- geerloks have no effect on base trivials) I am just having an exceptionally bad karma with the RNG right now. Nor does a geerlok affect my INT, which is 255 with KEI, and the highest I can get it at my level. All my INT twinks are on other slots.

I wonder if there is an Innoruuk equiv to St. Jude?

...Zera

[Bennan]

From 20 to 40 combines, on average, is a good expectation for each skill up point.

But honestly, things can and do go all pear shaped.

[Zhorn]

Yep its best to expect the worst then be REALLY happy when you average 8 attempts per skill up (like I did til my 200's).

[Ilona]

Just recently started smithing with my cleric as well.
So far have done 80 attempts at field plate (old human cultural), with just one lousy point to show for it.

I REALLY hope it's going to get better soon!

[Reflan]

Some folks who are just reaching their maximum str/wis/int will lose some points in that stat when they equip a geerlok, so for them, there will be the possibility of fewer skill ups than they might otherwise get. I lose either 15 or 20 WIS equipping a geerlok, myself, and it brings my wisdom down a few points.

[Dunthor Warsmith]

When they changed the inherent difficulty of getting a smithing skillup I was around 207. From 207-215 I usually get about 1 skillup in 17 attempts, but that's a pretty small sample

But one thing to remember in your average, 180-200 is generally much harder than 200-210, so the first twelve points (189-200) will raise the overall average.

[tenniel]

my experience

From 187 to 201 I used Field Plate gorgets/bracers/helms since I am human. Don't ask how much cash I spent because I stopped calculating past 30k. But don't let this discourage you. I was in the mood to spend cash and NOT in the mood to farm =) Yet it took me about the same as everyone above... Approximately 1 skill up per combine. Although I hit some spots where 40 combines yielded 1 skill up, my next 40 combine session yielded 3 skill ups.

But one thing to remember in your average, 180-200 is generally much harder than 200-210, so the first twelve points (189-200) will raise the overall average.

This is so very true. Best thing to do, is to hold a skilling session when you can attempt 40 or more times. Anything less can be frustrating, like attempting 25 times with no skill up =(

Best of luck to ya,
Tenniel

[B_Delacroix]

I am a half elf smith, 270 str.

I went from 191 to 192 smithing with 50 shadowscream bracer combines. Need to farm more shadow and shrieking substance to make more tries. Competition for shadows is fierce on Karana during my play times.

[OberonMiM]

i find that the shadows are the easest part to get. I choose to hunt in shadoweavers near the tunnel leading to padual. There i just hit sense undead run to mob. Kill it in one round. Loot if shade. Rinse and Repeat

Maybe a working hallowshade war will help the rest of it though