Crafting guide

Bannerlord v1.4.8 · checked 2026-11-10 · updated 2026-11-12

This guide explains how smithing turns the pieces you pick into a weapon: where its weight, length, handling, speed and damage come from, what sets its tier, value and sell price, what decides the quality you roll, how new pieces unlock, and how to get the best weapon out of the pieces you have. Everything here was read out of the game's own code: the formulas were recovered from v1.4.6 and compared method by method against v1.4.8, where none of the compared methods changed (some could only be compared by their headers; Value and price has the details). No official module (SandBox, StoryMode, NavalDLC, BirthAndDeath) replaces the smithing, value or trade price rules. NavalDLC adds weapon pieces and lets the existing weapon types and their usages use them.

Each rule is written in words with a worked example. For the exact formulas, every edge case and links to the game code, see the deep dives: Weapon stats, Value and price, Smithing mechanics and Weapon templates. How the solver research behind some of the tips was done is on the Smithing solver page.

What unlocks what

The Smithing skill level each perk needs is in the Smithing guide.

How a weapon is built

Every crafted weapon comes from a weapon type (the game calls it a crafting template), such as the one-handed sword or the pike. A weapon type has up to four slots, blade, guard, handle and pommel, and you pick one piece for each. Axes and maces have no guard; the throwing axe has only a handle and a blade.

One item can have several usages, which are the ways it can be held: a two-handed sword can also be swung with one hand. All usages share the same pieces, weight and length, but each usage has its own grip and its own speed and damage. A usage is only there if every piece you picked is allowed for it.

How a crafted weapon gets its numbers, with the one-handed sword example at each step.

The tier score 1.4704 rounds to tier 1. It mixes 0.8207 from the stats and 2.445 from the pieces.

Worked example. The one-handed sword above has a wooden blade, a tier 5 guard, a tier 2 handle and a tier 1 pommel. Together they weigh 0.9 and reach 97. That gives handling 99, swing speed 106 and swing damage 21, thrust speed 97 and thrust damage 12. The rest of this guide follows the same sword through each step.

One smithing guide per weapon type, with the best pieces and results by tier. The full-precision template facts are in Weapon templates.

• One-handed sword
• Two-handed sword
• Dagger
• Throwing knife
• One-handed axe
• Two-handed axe
• Throwing axe
• Two-handed polearm
• Pike
• Javelin
• Mace
• Two-handed mace

Scaling a piece

Each piece has a scale slider from 90 to 110: the piece's size in percent. 100 leaves the piece as it is.

Scaled length = length × scale

Scaled weight = weight × scale for most pieces, but weight × scale × scale × scale for guards, pommels and the blades marked that way in the game files

• Scale: the slider value divided by 100.
• Length: the piece's length, and with it the point where the next piece attaches.

So scaling a guard or a pommel changes the weight much faster than scaling a handle or most blades.

The one-handed sword example with one slot, or every slot, scaled. Scale 100 is the design as it is.

Worked example. The one-handed sword weighs 0.9. Setting the guard to 90 brings it to 0.86 and the pommel to 90 brings it to 0.83, while the handle at 90 only brings it to 0.89. The blade at 110 makes the sword longer, 104 instead of 97, and swing damage goes from 21 to 22 while swing speed drops from 106 to 103.

What sets each stat

The stats follow from three things: how heavy the weapon is, how long it is, and how its weight is spread along it. The usage's grip then decides how hard the weapon is to swing and thrust.

Weight and length

Weight = the scaled weights of all pieces, added up

Length = how far the blade tip reaches from the handle

• Reach: the pieces stack from the handle, with the guard and blade above it and the pommel below. The handle, guard and blade add length; the pommel does not.

Worked example. The one-handed sword weighs 0.9 and has length 97. With every slot at 110 it weighs 1.08 and has length 105. The pommel at 110 makes it heavier, 0.98, but the length stays 97.

Handling

Handling says how easily the weapon turns in your hand. It falls as the weapon gets harder to turn around the grip.

Handling = 100 × ((1 ÷ (a × turning weight at the grip + b)) raised to a power below 1), rounded

• Turning weight at the grip: the weapon's resistance to turning around the hand. Weight far from the hand counts much more than weight near it.
• a and b: set by the grip, from the table below. One-handed: 1 and 0.7.

The game counts the pommel as if it sat past the blade tip when it works out the turning weight, so a heavy pommel costs far more handling than its real position would.

Worked example. The one-handed sword has handling 99. With the blade at 110 it weighs 0.94 and is longer, and handling drops to 97. With the pommel at 110 it weighs 0.98 and is no longer, yet handling drops further, to 94. The pommel at 90 raises it to 102.

Swing and thrust speed

The game simulates the swing and the thrust: it pushes the weapon through a fixed angle in three stages, and the shorter that takes, the higher the speed.

Swing speed falls with the turning weight at the shoulder and with the drag on the swing

Thrust speed falls with the weight and the turning weight at the grip

• Turning weight at the shoulder: like the turning weight at the grip, but measured from the shoulder, so a long or top-heavy weapon swings slower.
• Drag on the swing: grows with the weapon's length. Per unit of reach it is 1.17 for one-handed and two-handed grips and 3.9 for wide grips, more than three times as much.
• Grip: a two-handed grip adds load but also more power and torque. The table below has the numbers for each grip.

Grip constants for each grip. Swing drag is 3.9 times the grip's drag factor, per unit of reach. Two-handed stage values are the one-handed value times a multiplier.

Worked example. The two-handed sword example is one item with three usages. Held in two hands it has swing speed 108 and swing damage 71; held in one hand (bastard grip) the same pieces give swing speed 95 and swing damage 56. A pike has the wide grip, so its drag is 3.9 per unit of reach against 1.17 for a sword, and its blades mostly have no swing at all.

Damage

Swing damage = swing strength × the blade's swing damage factor

Thrust damage = thrust strength × the blade's thrust damage factor

• Swing strength: the energy the weapon hands over when it hits at its best point along the blade. It grows with the weight and with the square of the swing speed.
• Thrust strength: grows with the weight plus a fixed extra mass, times the square of the thrust speed. Thrown weapons leave the extra mass out.
• Damage factor: a number on the blade, separately for swing and thrust. A blade without a swing or thrust has no damage of that kind.
• Damage type (cut, pierce or blunt): also comes from the blade.

Thrown weapons multiply their thrust strength (without the extra mass) by a fixed factor: 3.3 for throwing knives and 9 for javelins. Throwing axes use 2 × swing strength.

Worked example. The one-handed sword's wooden blade deals blunt damage: 21 on the swing and 12 on the thrust. With every slot at 110 the sword is heavier, and swing damage rises to 24 although swing speed drops to 99. With every slot at 90 it is lighter: swing speed 111 but swing damage 17.

Tier, value and price

Tier score

Tier score = 0.6 × tier score from the stats + 0.4 × tier score from the pieces

• Tier score from the stats: from each usage's damage, speed and length. The best usage counts most; a second usage adds a little. Swing damage counts 1.1 times as much as thrust damage, pierce damage 1.15 times and blunt damage 1.45 times as much as cut. Two-handed-only usages count 0.8, throwing knives and throwing axes 1.2, javelins 0.6.
• Tier score from the pieces: from the average tier of the pieces and the grade of iron they need.
• Rounded tier: the tier score rounded to a whole number, from 0 to 6.

Worked example. The one-handed sword scores 0.8207 from its stats and 2.445 from its pieces: 0.6 × 0.8207 + 0.4 × 2.445 = 1.4704, rounded tier 1.

Value

Value = 100 × (2.75 to the power of the tier score) × (1 + 0.2 × (appearance − 1)), plus 100 × (appearance − 1) when appearance is above 1, rounded down

• Tier score: from the section above. Every point multiplies the value by 2.75.
• Appearance: a number on the pommel, or the blade when there is no pommel. Below 1 it lowers the value, above 1 it raises it.

Tier score, value and price of the example weapons. Price is the sell price with Trade 86 and no market data.

Worked example. The one-handed sword's pommel has appearance 0.5, so the value is multiplied by 1 + 0.2 × (0.5 − 1) = 0.9 and nothing is added. With its tier score of 1.4704 that gives value 398. The two-handed sword's 4.3967, with the same appearance, gives 7,688.

Sell price

Selling a weapon costs a penalty that grows with its tier score, and the selling party leader's Trade skill shrinks it. The town's market sets the rest; the Trading guide explains markets and penalties in full.

Sell price = value × market factor ÷ (1 + penalty), rounded down

• Market factor: the town's price level for weapons, between 0.8 and 1.3.
• Penalty: 0.06, plus 1.5 for selling equipment, plus 0.25 for every tier score point above 1; then divided by 1 + 0.002 × the party leader's Trade skill.

Sell price of the one-handed sword example (value 398, tier score 1.4704) with no market data, so the market factor is 0.8.

Worked example. The one-handed sword (value 398) sold at market factor 0.8 by a party leader with Trade 86 has penalty 1.4314 and fetches 130. With Trade 0 it fetches 118, with Trade 300 it fetches 155.

Difficulty and quality

Difficulty

Difficulty = 50 × the average piece tier, weighted by slot, rounded

• Slot weights: blade 100, handle 60, guard 20, pommel 20. The blade counts five times as much as the guard.
• Pieces that need no materials are left out.

Smithing difficulty is the average of each piece's tier times 50, weighted by slot and rounded. Pieces that need no materials are left out.

An order needs Smithing skill + 50 at least the order's difficulty. This is a solver test result, measured with the formulas outside the game, not read from the game's code.

Worked example. The one-handed sword's blade is tier 1, guard tier 5, handle tier 2 and pommel tier 1. Difficulty = 50 × (100 × 1 + 20 × 5 + 60 × 2 + 20 × 1) ÷ (100 + 20 + 60 + 20) = 85. Its wooden blade and pommel need wood, so they count.

Quality chance

When you craft, the game rolls a quality: Poor, Inferior, Common, Fine, Masterwork or Legendary. The quality picks the weapon's modifier.

Gap = Smithing skill − difficulty, counted only up to 300 either way

• Smithing skill: of the hero at the forge.
• The higher the gap, the more the odds move from Poor and Inferior toward the better qualities.

Chance of each quality with no smith perks. The gap is Smithing skill minus the weapon's difficulty; it counts only up to 300 either way. Skill shown for the one-handed sword example, difficulty 85.

With smith perks, for the same example (difficulty 85):

Each quality's weight rises or falls with the gap along an S-curve of steepness 0.018, centred on its midpoint. The weights are then scaled to add up to 100%.

Each bonus is taken evenly from the qualities the perk does not exclude, with any shortfall carried to the next one, and the chances are scaled to add up to 100% again.

Average piece tier below 3.5: quality stops at Fine. From 3.5 to below 4.5: it stops at Masterwork. From 4.5: any quality.

The smith perks add a flat bonus to one quality: Experienced Smith adds 10% to Fine, Master Smith 7.5% to Masterwork, Legendary Smith 5% to Legendary, plus 0.2% per skill point above 275. Each bonus is taken evenly from the qualities the perk does not exclude, with any shortfall carried to the next one, and the chances are scaled to add up to 100% again. Experienced Smith never takes from Masterwork or Legendary; the Smithing mechanics deep dive lists what each perk excludes.

Worked example. The one-handed sword (difficulty 85) at Smithing 185 has a gap of 100. With no perks the chances are 58.7% Common, 19.9% Fine, 12.6% Masterwork and 5.8% Legendary. Experienced Smith lifts Fine to 29.9% and lowers Common to 51.8%.

Quality cap

Average piece tier below 3.5: at most Fine. From 3.5 to below 4.5: at most Masterwork. From 4.5: any quality.

• Average piece tier: the plain average of the tiers of all pieces in the design.

A roll above the cap is brought down to the cap.

Worked example. The one-handed sword's pieces average tier 2.25, so even a Legendary roll comes out Fine. The mace example's pieces average 4.67, so it can roll Legendary, but its difficulty is 222.

Unlocking new pieces

Smithing and smelting earn research points for the weapon type you used. When they reach the amount below, one new piece of that weapon type opens.

Research needed = √(100 ÷ pieces in the weapon type) × (9 × pieces already unlocked + 10)

• Pieces in the weapon type: how many pieces the weapon type has in all. Weapon types with many pieces need fewer points per piece.
• Pieces already unlocked: for that weapon type. Each unlocked piece makes the next one dearer.

Research points needed to unlock the next piece, by the number of pieces in the template and the number already unlocked.

Worked example. A weapon type of 100 pieces with 1 unlocked needs √(100 ÷ 100) × (9 × 1 + 10) = 19 points for the next piece.

Which piece opens and who gets it:

• The new piece is picked at random among the lowest-tier pieces of that weapon type that are not open yet and not hidden by the game.
• Unlocks belong to the weapon type for the whole campaign, not to one hero: a companion at the forge uses the same unlocked pieces.
• Smelting a weapon and smithing a weapon both earn points, more for a more valuable item. Curious Smelter and Curious Smith raise the gain; the Smithing mechanics deep dive has the formulas.

Materials, stamina and XP

Materials = every piece's materials, plus 1 charcoal

• A piece's materials: wood, or iron of a grade from crude iron up to Thamaskene steel. Refining the top three grades needs the Steel Maker perks.

Smelting a weapon gives the materials back, except that one unit of its best iron grade comes back one grade lower, and smelting costs 1 charcoal. Smithing costs stamina, more for a higher-tier weapon, and gives Smithing XP that grows with the weapon's value; an order gives more XP than a free build.

Worked example. The one-handed sword's guard needs one unit of fine steel and its handle one unit of the second iron grade; its blade and pommel need wood. Crafting it uses those plus 1 charcoal.

Smithing orders

These rules come from the game's code unless marked otherwise.

• An order passes when the sum of the crafted weapon's stats, with its quality modifier, reaches the order's sum and the damage types match. There are no per-stat minimums.
• Taking an order needs Smithing skill + 50 at least the order's difficulty (a solver test with the formulas, not read from the game's code; the difficulty table above lists the skill for each example).
• Beating the order's sum pays a little extra gold, and failing pays only part of the reward (measured with the formulas, not re-checked; the numbers are in Smithing mechanics).

Worked example. The one-handed sword example has difficulty 85, so an order of difficulty 85 needs Smithing 85 − 50 = 35 or more. For the mace example's 222 it is 172.

Getting the best weapon from your pieces

1. Pick the weapon type by the usage you want. Each usage has its own grip, and the grip changes speed and damage with the same pieces. Each weapon type's guide lists its usages and how many blades each can use.
2. Pick the blade first. It sets the damage factors and the damage type, and it counts most for difficulty.
3. Scale for your goal. Bigger means heavier and longer, which usually gives more damage and less speed and handling. Smaller usually gives the opposite.
4. Watch the pommel. A heavy pommel costs handling and swing speed far beyond its weight.

The solver research tested this with the formulas, not in the game: with every slot at 90 it found the exact best speed and handling, and its best-damage swords and maces kept the scale near 110.

Worked example. The one-handed sword with every slot at 90 has swing speed 111 and handling 104 but swing damage 17. With every slot at 110 it has swing damage 24 but swing speed 99 and handling 91.

Practical tips

• Difficulty never stops you crafting. It only lowers the quality odds, so you can craft high-tier designs early if you accept worse quality.
• High-tier pieces lift the quality cap. Below an average piece tier of 3.5 nothing comes out better than Fine, whatever your skill and perks.
• Value grows fast with tier score. Every point multiplies it by 2.75, and the pieces' tiers and iron grades make up 40% of the tier score.
• Blunt weapons are worth more. Blunt damage counts 1.45 times as much as cut for the tier score, so a mace is worth more than a cut weapon with the same damage.
• Sell with a good trader. Trade skill shrinks the selling penalty: the same sword fetches 118 at Trade 0 and 155 at Trade 300.
• Pieces unlock for the whole campaign. Any hero can use what one hero researched, so let a companion smith with your pieces.
• Expect low-tier pieces first. A new unlock is always one of the lowest-tier pieces you have not opened yet.
• Wide grips hate length. Polearms with a wide grip have more than three times the swing drag, so a longer pole swings much slower.