Skillups 188+ (help please)

[Vhalis]

Hi all,
Im currently at 200 with almost all of trade skills (188smithing, pottery and 195 tailor are the only ones below 200)...

Pottery and Tailoring I have no problems with (I know what recepies to go with) but Smithing Im stuck at; What should I do to skillup Smithing 188-200 (and above)?

Also, I am a Barbarian (SHM) and I have 10% mod item for smithing.

Thanks in advance for help

[eniamn]

enchanted velium bits. look at the thread its about 7 pages long last i remember i think. at 200 you can make etheral metal which will take you to 212 with your 10% mod then back to bits to 222. to get to 200 do the bits though.

[Vhalis]

Thanks for the info!

[Amanensia]

The LDoN recipes are pretty sweet too, if you do a lot of LDoN and especially if you can forage for the temper ingredients. I went from 189 to 200 on 144 combines. Just waiting for a few more AAs now before I can go any further...

[Vhalis]

Thanks for the info; as for ldon, I dont do much of it (dont like it that much) and I cant forage hehe.

I did the Enchanted Velium Bits recepie for a few minutes last night and got 1 skillup (188-189) in 9 combines, so it looks promissing

[mewkus]

Enchanted Velium Bits from 188 to 200
Ethereal stuff from 200 to 212 (since you have a 10% modifier)
then back to Enchanted Velium Bits

[Cavel]

Check out the Bazaar for the LDoN Tempers or parts for them. You can normally find the more common ones for around 5-10pp per item. Also if you are in a guild just let everyone in the guild know that you are smithing... My guild knows this and I have more tempers than I know what to do with now.

[Jowjo]

Where did you get a 10% smithing item? Is there a tradable one that I could buy?

Arent the gearlocks 5%?

Thanks

[eniamn]

beleive all no drop stuff from vex thal that has more than %5 mod. could be wrong though. lord knows i dont check that often as it would be out of my price range at any rate.

[Tenrin]

There's a 10% belt that drops in sanctus seru that's only wearrable by large races and iksar (not sure on that one).

[AbitooXev]

Massive Girdle of the Forge - 10%, Sanctus Seru, Praesertum Bikun, common (always drops?)
Gauntlets of the Dark Embers - 15%, VT, Semi Rare.
Hammer of the Ironfrost - 15%, Ssra, XTC, Rare

I am fortunate enough to use the Hammer, so I stopped blacksmithing at 222 (had an extra skillup using my leftover Shadowscream supplies).

I highly recommend anyone who can use the 10% girdle that they get it. The mob banishes, so bring a mage and some pets to tank. Not only does it give you an extra 10 "easy" skillups off Ethereal rings, but it also allows you to stop at 230 instead of 240 (unless you plan to 250 all skills).

As far as what to skillup on...
200-212 Ethereal Rings
212-220 Shadowscream or Velium. I did my skillups before the new velium path so I'm not familiar with it.
220-227 Aid Grimel quest - acid wash
227+ Shadowscream or ???

The Acid wash is probably fastest/easiest if you can get the assistance of a mage and/or wizard bots to reduce elevator time. The combines are about 2pp per combine, but lore so you have to go back to the quest giver between each combine for major annoyance factor.

Assuming you can get the camps uncontested, I still like shadowscream, it seems faster to farm than Velium, and I used all the velium pieces/bricks I could get my hands on for tailoring. Hardest (ok, most annoying) part about shadowscream is camping the beetles for your hammer/anvil. The Beetles seem to share spawns with silkworms based on the time of day, so you will get about half what you need than wait 30min before they spawn again.

[treyna]

Tonite I drove myself crazy. Had enough velium pieces for 135 combines. No CVT available so YES I made all my CVT. YES 540 celestial essences, 135 coldain heaters and 135 spell: enchant velium. Out of 135 combines, 6 skillups. I hear thats average, 1 skillup per 20 - 25 combines. I was in shock. So not wanting to spend another 6 hours farming velium I prepped for 20 sickle combined. Yes, ANOTHER 180 celestial essence, tunare dust, etc. Out of 20 sickle combines, 2 sickles, no skillups /cry. I'm just beside myself. I certainly don't remember TSing this difficult. I'm sick to tears of fighting with people trying to farm CC for velium. Nor am I enjoying the constant buff requests of those boxing and PLing in Velks. I don't do much LDoN, and honestly, when I do I tend to be healer so foraging isn't really on my mind when watching the party health. I'm just a few steps away from saying oh well, cuz really I'm losing my mind. The drop rate of velium is horrible ... I stopped farming when I did the *circuit* of miners from top to bottome of CC three times in a row and got ZERO velium drops. I'm really beginning to think it just isn't worth it to go on with smithing ><

[Dory]

People keep asking me about the enchanted velium combine and I steer them away from it every time. Every velium dropping zone is camped, often by 4 or 5 people all KS'ing each other for drops as people are charging 100pp+ per piece of velium in the bazaar. It's not worth the hassle. Eventually of course things will settle down and it will be less crowded but for now, avoid the enchanted velium bits if you can.
LDoN armor is the way to go till 212 even with enchanted velium. Why some people are paying 3 or 4 times as much to save themselves one or two extra combines is beyond me.
If you have to do enchanted velium bits then try in the dead of night around 2am pst. Check CC and if it's camped then try ToFS. But in all honesty, enchanted velium bits is not the panacea it's been made out to be. It's convenient for people with a few hundred thousand pp in their bank and nothing to spend it on but otherwise do LDoN armor. It's cheaper and easier and will only take you an hour more in total time to skill up then velium would.

[eniamn]

velious leather takes velium. always had a demand for it now smithing and tailoring have to compete. its just ugly. going to see about an ae group on wedding floor of tofs for exp and looting.

[Mahlig]

I have done 100 enchanted velium bit combines and gotten 1 (one) skillup. All of my velium will be for my tailoring. Humbug on that. Just gonna level up the bard a few more levels and 2-box the war in Hollowshade.