Diablo 3 Blacksmithing Leveling Guide

Before we jump into the specifics of what it takes to level up Blacksmithing, here is a quick Diablo 3 guide to how the Blacksmith works and the functions that are available to it.

Blacksmithing is not actually a profession you learn in Diablo 3 but rather a skill you can use via the Blacksmith, which is an NPC available in New Tristram. Once you complete the Shattered Crown quest in Act 1, the Blacksmith becomes available for use. Once you get access to the Blacksmith, you can craft any time by talking to him in New Tristram.

The Blacksmith has three primary functions: Salvaging items, crafting armor, and crafting weapons. Salvaging items allows you to break down items of magic quality or higher into materials that are used for crafting. Rare items break down into rare components whereas magic items break down into magic components. Note that magic items (blue quality) have a 5% chance to break down into rare crafting materials (yellow quality).

There are four grades of salvaged material, each one corresponding to a different difficulty level. Items found in Normal mode will break down into items found in Nightmare mode, and so on for each of the difficulty levels. Here is the list of materials:

Normal: Subtle Essence (magic), Fallen Tooth (rare)

Nightmare: Shimmering Essence (magic), Lizard Eye (rare)

Hell: Wishful Essence (magic), Encrusted Hoof (rare)

Inferno: Exquisite Essence (magic), Iridescent Tear (rare), Fiery Brimstone (legendary). Note that Inferno mode is the only mode which offers legendary crafting materials.

Once you salvage your leftover items, you can turn these into equipment via your Blacksmith. The higher level you reach with your Blacksmith, the better the gear you can craft. Below, you will discover what levels are available to the Blacksmith and how to progress from level to level.

There are 10 ranks available to the Blacksmith and progressing from rank to rank is not free. In this section, we will go over what these ranks are and what the cost is for getting to the next rank.

Rank 1: Apprentice - Cost: 10000 gold (5 steps, 2000 gold each)

Rank 2: Journeyman - Cost: 20000 gold (5 steps, 4000 gold each)

Rank 3: Adept - Cost: 30000 gold (5 steps, 6000 gold each)

Rank 4: Master - Cost: 35000 gold and 5 pages of Blacksmithing (5 steps, 7000 gold each but the final step requires 5 Pages of Blacksmithing)

Rank 5: Grandmaster - Cost: 75000 gold and 25 pages of Blacksmithing (5 steps, 15000 gold and 5 pages of Blacksmithing each).

Rank 6: Illustrious - Cost: 75000 gold, 20 pages of Blacksmithing, 5 Tomes of Blacksmithing (5 steps, 15000 gold and 5 pages of Blacksmithing each; final step requires 5 Tomes of Blacksmithing instead of Pages of Blacksmithing).

Rank 7: Magnificent - Cost: 100,000 gold, 25 Tomes of Blacksmithing (5 steps, each costing 20,000 gold and 5 Tomes of Blacksmithing)

Rank 8: Resplendent - Cost: 100,000 gold, 20 Tomes of Blacksmithing and 5 Tomes of Secrets (5 steps, each costing 20,000 gold and 5 Tomes of Blacksmithing; the last step requires 5 Tomes of Secrets instead of Tomes of Blacksmithing).

Rank 9 - Glorious - Cost: 200,000 gold, 25 Tomes of Secrets (5 steps, each one costing 40,000 gold and 25 Tomes of Secrets)

Rank 10 - Exalted - No cost; as soon as you hit level 10 you are finished.

Note that you can find Pages of Blacksmithing are found in Nightmare mode from fighting enemies, Tomes of Blacksmithing found in Hell mode, and Tomes of Secrets are found in Inferno mode. Tomes of Secrets also seem to be used in the rarest crafting recipes, making them especially valuable.