Trades: making gear

Five trades turn raw material into things you wear, shoot or carry: Iron Forging, Carpentry, Leatherworking, Sewing and Jewelry Making. Each sits at the end of a chain of three skills: one gathers, one refines, one makes.

The short advice, which is our reading of the tables below:

• No trade will dress you better than the quests do. The crafted beginner sets give +1 to one attribute a piece, while the rewards in What to wear from level 8 to 25 give +1 to +3 to all four. What a trade gives you early is armor class, bags, ammunition, bandages and tools.
• Take up Leatherworking whatever you play. The hides come off animals you kill anyway, the first bag is made at skill 1, and the whole Dexterity set is made by skill 12.
• An archer adds Carpentry for arrows, a mage adds Sewing for bandages and later for silk robes.
• Iron Forging is the slow one. It is worth it for a Strength character who wants the heaviest armor at level 10, and for anyone who wants to make the tools of all the other trades.
• Jewelry Making waits. It needs the Talazar's Revenge expansion, and its silver is mined in that expansion's lands.

Taskmasters, who hand out crafting orders for experience, stand in Lotor's Summer Palace and on Scarab Island. They ask for a subscription and level 10 in the trade, and are the fastest way to take a trade far: see Taskmasters. How skill gain works, and where the forges and vats are, is under Trades: how they work.

Mining, Smelting and Iron Forging

Worth it? Forging makes the iron armor with the highest armor class a level 10 character can wear, the tools of every other trade, and plain weapons. It suits a Strength character: Mining and Forging both use Strength and most pieces ask for 5 to 10 of it. It pays from character level 10, and it is the slowest trade to raise: about 700 ingots to skill 16 by our reckoning. The game's recipe table calls the trade "Blacksmith".

How to start. On Valinor the Blacksmith Trainer (753,112) gives a Pick Axe and the Blacksmith Guidebook (by AE Guides). From then on:

1. Click the Pick Axe, then a mountain, a boulder or a mine wall. Keep at a spot until it says "There is nothing to mine here". On Valinor the mountains are north-west of the castle. Rocks sometimes give gems as well.
2. At a forge, click the bellows beside it to light it, then click the ore, then the forge. That smelts the ore into Iron Ingots.
3. Stand next to an anvil, click the Blacksmith Hammer, then the ingots. The menu shows what you can make.

AE Guides does not say where the first Blacksmith Hammer comes from; smiths can make one at skill 5, and "Other Merchants sell armor, weapons, forging and carpentry tools" (Help Menu).

The fastest ladder. The figure per ingot is nearly the same for every weapon and tool of one or two ingots (about 4,250, plus 42 a recipe level), and far lower for most armor: a patch of 2022 cut the chainmail pieces on purpose. So make the highest small weapon or tool you can, and make armor only to wear it.

Do not level on these: Chain Coif (919 per ingot), Chainmail Gloves (1,826), any armor from skill 14 up (1,100 to 2,200), Long Sword (3,248).

By the rule above, with no failures and no bonus, this ladder takes about 410 ingots to skill 13, 680 to 16 and 1,460 to 25. You mine and smelt the ore for them yourself, so Mining and Smelting rise alongside.

Useful gear. For a weapon, "needs" is the level of its own weapon skill; for armor, your character's level. Delay is the weapon's speed figure in the game's table; lower is faster.

The steel set is the forged one of the three "craftable sets for low level players (10+)" that a patch of 2020 added: six pieces, +6 Strength and 93 armor together, 37 ingots, Forging 30 for the last. Against the Orcish Warrior set of level 20 (Plate +4 Str +3 Con with armor 30) it gives the same armor ten levels earlier and much less Strength. Our reading: forge the cheap pieces (helm, belt) on the way up, and do not chase skill 30 for the plate.

Beyond level 50 of the skill: the Thrallen set (Forging 38 to 50, enchanted thrallenite, worn from level 15, up to +3 Str +2 Con a piece; Talazar's Revenge), the Superior chain and plate pieces (40 to 70, level 20 and Strength 25, armor only), the Nightfall set (72 to 87) and ship's cannon. Forging makes no container.

Tools a smith makes for the other trades: Skinning Knife (1), Pick Axe (2), Leatherworking Tools (3), Saw (4), Blacksmith Hammer (5), Carpenters Tools (10), Scissors (16), Heavy Mining Pick (35).

Quests that feed it

Quest	Where	What	Gives
Blacksmith TrainingAE Guides	The Blacksmith Trainer, Valinor (753,112)	Bring 10 Iron Ore, 10 Iron Ingots, a Small Dagger, a Light Axe (Forging 3), a Small Mace (5), then kill the Hobgoblin Blacksmith in the goblins' lair at Lanore	Pick Axe and guidebook at the start; 330, 660, 990, 1,320 and 2,887 experience pool for the first five steps (by AE Guides); the last reward is not recorded
13 pictures of Blacksmith Training Pick AxeAEBlacksmith HammerAEBlacksmith GuidebookAEBlacksmith TrainerAEIron OreAEIron IngotAEForgeAEAnvilAESmall DaggerAELight AxeAESmall MaceAEHobgoblin BlacksmithAEMap of the location of Hobgoblin BlacksmithAE
Gem ThievesAE Guides · Wiki	The Dalvon Miner, Fort Eastwatch	See Gem Thieves; the last step is Master Blaster (level 40)	Dalvon Miner's Ring: +5 Forging, +5 Smelting, +5 Mining, worn from level 14
20 pictures of Gem Thieves 10 DiamondsAE10 Diamonds (tooltip)AEDalvon Miners RingAEDalvon Miners Ring (tooltip)AEDalvon MinerAE10 DiamondsAE10 Diamonds (tooltip)AEDalvon MineAEKobold MinerAEKobold Miner (tooltip)AEKobold ForemanAEKobold Foreman (tooltip)AEMaster BlasterAEMaster Blaster (tooltip)AEDalvon Steel HelmAEDalvon Steel Helm (tooltip)AEDalvon Steel LeggingsAEDalvon Steel Leggings (tooltip)AEDalvon Steel ArmorAEDalvon Steel Armor (tooltip)AE
The Ways of MiningWiki	Russell, in the Flataga Mines (390,1317)	Mine the rock at 211,1256 in Ettin Valley, among level 54 Ettins	4,125 and then 61,000 Mining experience and a Fortified Mining Pick (by the wiki). By the client's table that is Mining 15 from nothing

Gear that helps and is within reach early: the Kobold Miner's Belt (+4 Str +4 Dex +5 Mining, level 15), which Kobold Miners and Foremen drop by Dragoneer's Den, so you may get one during Gem Thieves; and the Miners Helm (+5 Str +5 Int +10 Mining, level 15).

Lumberjacking, Milling and Carpentry

Worth it? For an archer, yes, from the first day: arrows and bolts are the first recipe, and bows, crossbows, staves and polearms follow. For everybody else it is the trade of boxes: an 8-slot crate at skill 5 and the 24-slot Storage Crate at 35. It costs nothing but time, since any tree gives logs.

How to start. The Carpentry Trainer on Valinor (753,116) gives a Lumberjack Axe, a Saw, Carpenter's Tools and the guidebook (by AE Guides).

1. Click the Lumberjack Axe, then a tree, until "There is nothing to chop here". Dead trees sometimes give kindling.
2. Click the Carpenter's Tools, then the logs: the first recipes are made of logs.
3. For everything from skill 5 on, mill planks first: click the Saw, then the logs.

The fastest ladder

Do not level on weapons that eat planks: a Giant Club gives 881 per plank, a Spear 990, a Heavy Crossbow 866. If the Iron Forging rule holds here, the ladder takes about 1,400 logs and planks to skill 25.

Useful gear

Tools it makes for others: Foraging Stick (1), Mixing Bowl (2), Mixing Spoon (4), Lumberjack Axe (7), Shovel (10), Empty Bucket (11), Farm Scythe (14), Alchemist's Mortar (27). Beyond skill 50 come the Heartwood and Greater Heartwood weapons, boat repair kits (45, 70, 90) and the mage staves up to the High Priests Staff (70).

Containers. What each holds and the weight it takes off are AE Database's; slots and skill are the game's.

The early ones are cheap: an 8-slot crate for one plank at skill 5, a 16-slot Chest for two at 24. The Storage Crate that Valinor's Farming trainer gives away is a skill 35 recipe of Fine Wood. Carpentry makes no quiver.

Quests that feed it

Quest	Where	What	Gives
Carpenter TrainingAE Guides	The Carpentry Trainer, Valinor (753,116)	Bring 10 Logs, 10 Planks, 20 Arrows, a Mixing Bowl (Carpentry 2), a Mixing Spoon (4), then kill the Goblin Carpenter at Lanore	All four tools at the start; the same pool rewards as the smith's; the last reward is not recorded
11 pictures of Carpenter Training Lumber Jack AxeAESawAECarpenters ToolsAECarpenter GuidebookAECarpentry TrainerAEPlankAEArrowsAEMixing BowlAEMixing SpoonAEGoblin CarpenterAEMap of the location of Goblin CarpenterAE
Mukk The LumberjackWiki	Mukk, east of the spawn gate west of Vrethpool	Carry firewood to his wife Renn inside the south wall of Hothbra, and lunch back. No fight; the road passes New Korelith	About 36,000 and 33,000 experience and 33,000 Lumberjacking experience (by the wiki): Lumberjacking 12 from nothing
Fellow ArcherWiki	Klaresh, Lotor's Castle (258,1151)	Asks for 12 Planks, which you can now mill yourself	Archery experience; see Other skill quests on Krythan

Skinning, Tanning and Leatherworking

Worth it? Yes, for everyone, from level 1. Hides come from the animals you hunt anyway, the first bag is made at skill 1, and the leather set for level 10 is finished at skill 12 with 12 pieces of leather. It suits a Dexterity character best, since both Skinning and Leatherworking use Dexterity and the sets ask for it. The recipe table calls the trade "Leathercrafting".

How to start. The Leatherworking Trainer on Valinor (753,108) gives a Skinning Knife, Leatherworking Tools and the guidebook (by AE Guides).

1. Kill an animal, open the corpse with Space, click the Skinning Knife, then the carcass. The in-game guidebook names cows, bulls, rabbits, snakes, wargs, bears, wolves, deer, sheep and rams. On Valinor, AE Guides names the Dredge Spider, Snake, Grass Viper and Deer.
2. At a tanning vat, click the hide, then the vat: that tans it into Leather. A Potion of Tanning does the same away from a vat, for less experience (patch notes of 2021).
3. Stand at a leatherworking bench, click the tools, then the leather.

Each of the three towns has a farm with Sheep (level 2), Cows (4 or 5) and Rams (8) close by, in the game's own table of what roams where: north of Krog around 3064,3708, south-west of Silvest around 1024,1440, and west of Whisperdale around 321,3422. Deer (3) and Snakes (2) are all around every town.

The fastest ladder

If a recipe far below your skill still teaches in full, which nobody has tested, the Leather Cap stays the best use of plain leather all the way to 22: about 1,370 leather by the Iron Forging rule. Do not level on the Small Belt (840 per leather) or on anything of Zombie Skin (60 to 130 per skin).

Useful gear

Two sets stand out.

The leather set is the second of the craftable level 10 sets: six pieces, +6 Dexterity and 70 armor together, for 12 leather and skill 12. A new archer can wear all of it the day he reaches level 10, where the quests give one piece at a time: the Hard Leather Cap of Krog (+2 Str +1 Dex +2 Con, armor 15) is better than its cap, the Shadow pieces (+1 or +2 to all) better than its gloves and leggings. Wear the leather set until those come in.

The Undying set is new: a patch of 10 January 2026 added Zombie Skin as "a low level crafting material to leatherworking. No tanning required". All seven pieces are skill 15 recipes and give +21 Dexterity, +14 Intelligence and +9 Constitution together, for 165 skins, worn from level 25 with 30 Dexterity. That is more Dexterity than the Night Elf Archer set of level 20 gives (+16). Zombie Skin drops from Rancid Zombies (level 7) and Zombies (13) by AE Database; Rancid Zombies roam north of Silvest around 1127,1198 and east of Whisperdale around 648,3331, in the game's table of what roams where. Our reading: for an archer or a Dexterity mage this is the best thing a beginner's trade makes. No player source describes it yet, so see the last section.

The plain pieces (Sandals, Padded, Gladiator, Studded and Hardened armor, skill 2 to 41) carry no bonus and less armor than the set; skip them. Beyond: the "Superior" pieces of Quality leather (skill 24 to 45, armor only), the Enchanted Quality Leather set (61 to 74, level 45, Str 20, Dex 40), Wyvern Leather (65 to 85, level 70) and the dragon sets at 100.

Containers

The only quiver any trade makes is the Wyvern Leather Quiver at skill 100. A miner should make an Ore Pouch.

Quests that feed it

Quest	Where	What	Gives
Leatherworking TrainingAE Guides	The Leatherworking Trainer, Valinor (753,108)	Bring 10 Skinned Hides, 10 Leather, a Leather Cap, a Sling (Leatherworking 4), Leather Leggings (6), then kill the Goblin Leatherworker at Lanore	Knife, tools and guidebook at the start; the same pool rewards; the last reward is not recorded
12 pictures of Leatherworking Training Skinning KnifeAELeatherworking ToolsAELeathercrafting GuidebookAELeatherworking TrainerAECarcassAETanning VatAELeather WorkbenchAELeather CapAELeather SlingAELeather LeggingsAEGoblin LeatherworkerAEMap of the location of Goblin LeatherworkerAE
Zebra Hide Gear	Patrick Darby, Newtown (Tides of Fate)	50 Panthers, then 30, 50 and 150 Zebra hides at Skinning 45, 55 and 65	Zebra Hide Leggings, Cape and Armor (by the wiki)

Sewing

Worth it? For bandages, from the first day: one piece of Cloth makes ten of them at skill 0 (patch notes of 2021), and since 2026 your First Aid bonus counts when you heal with them. Beyond that it is the mage's trade: the wool set gives Intelligence at level 10, and the silk robes are as good as a mage's quest robe. The chain is the longest of all (grow or find the fibre, spin, weave, sew), which is why we would not start it before the others. The recipe table calls it "Tailoring".

Where the cloth comes from

String and Cloth also drop ready-made from slimes, by AE Database: Slimy Ooze (4), Filthy Sludge (7) and Viscous Mold (12) drop both, Green Slime (6) Cloth. Slimy Oozes are all around Whisperdale, and three of these four are the creatures of "Oozing on the Job".

How to start. Spin the fibre at a spinning wheel, weave the thread at a loom, then click Scissors and the cloth. Provisioners sell Scissors (Help Menu), a smith forges them at skill 16, and the Tailoring Trainer on Valinor (736,108) hands a pair out during her quest (by AE Guides). Spinning and Weaving are skills of their own and rise as you go.

The fastest ladder

A patch of 2022 reworked the early cotton, silk and wool recipes ("xp/difficulty at early levels"), and the figures above are the table's after that.

Useful gear

The wool set is the third craftable level 10 set: seven pieces, +7 Intelligence, +3 Nature and 53 armor, 14 pieces of fabric, Sewing 27 for the robe and 15 for the rest.

The Silken Robe has no requirement at all in the game's table, so a level 1 mage can wear it, and it matches the Clockwork Robe of level 20 (+3 Con +6 Int, armor 20). It needs Sewing 31, though. Our reading: a mage who sews should aim at Silk Gloves (13) early and the Silken Robe later; one who does not should ask a tailor for the robe.

Beyond skill 50: the Shadoweave set (47 to 60, level 30 to 50, Int 50 to 100, up to +16 Int on the robe; Talazar's Revenge), Shimmering Silk and Verdant Soluri (58 to 92), Moonsilk (81 to 96, level 95), sails.

Containers

Dragoneer's Den, written in 2005, has these at much lower skills (Cloth Sack 3, Large Sack 6, Gem Bag 10, Bag of Many Things 33). The game's table is used here.

Quests that feed it

Quest	Where	What	Gives
Tailor TrainingAE Guides	The Tailoring Trainer, Valinor (736,108)	By the game's quest table: 10 Raw Silk, 20 String spun from cotton, 10 Woolen Fabric, 20 Bandages, a Short Cloak (Sewing 4), a Cloth Dress (7) for Lord Trembley's daughter. No fight	Scissors on the way; the last reward is not recorded
11 pictures of Tailor Training ScissorsAETailoring TrainerAERaw SilkAESpinning WheelAESilk ThreadAELoomAESilk ClothAEAESilk CapAEClothAECloth DressAE
Oozing on the Job	Azulum the Tanner, Whisperdale (394,3479)	15 Slimy Oozes, 20 Green Slimes, 25 Large Slimes, 30 Viscous Molds	Reward unknown, but the slimes drop String and Cloth on the way

AE Guides describes an older Tailor Training made of silk only; it was redone in 2022 and fixed in 2025.

Jewelry Making

Worth it? Its rings and amulets are the best crafted gear for a low character: +1 to an attribute from level 10, +2 or +3 with health from 15, +4 from 20. But the trade needs the Talazar's Revenge expansion, and silver ore comes from moss-covered rocks in that expansion's lands (by Dragoneer's Den), the snow lands north of Valmond that this guide gives as level 100 country. A beginner cannot gather for it. Take it up when you have the expansion and a way to get Silver Ingots; until then, ask a player who makes jewelry.

How to start. Jewelers Tools (value 1,000 gold in the item table), and ingots smelted at an ordinary forge with Iron Smelting. Silver Ore needs no Mining level, Gold Ore needs 45 and Dark Ore 70 (by Dragoneer's Den's jewelry page; its shop page says 60 for all three). No bench is named by any source.

The fastest ladder. There is none to choose: every recipe carries 2,000 per Silver Ingot, 2,500 per Gold Ingot and 3,000 per Dark Ingot, whatever it makes (one recipe, the Band of the Imp, has 1,900). Make what you or a buyer will wear. By these figures a silver ingot teaches less than half of what an iron ingot teaches a smith.

Useful gear

Against the quest rewards: the Ring of Sozal gives +1 to all four and 10 health, the Warg Eye Amulet +2 to all at level 20. A Ring of Brawn or a Choker of Focus gives more of your one main attribute five levels earlier. Beyond 50 come the Dark rings and torcs (63 to 79, level 42 to 50) and the Shadowed pieces (80 to 92). Jewelry Making makes no container; the Jewelry Case is a carpenter's.

Quests that feed it. None found.

Salvage

Salvage takes a made or found item apart and gives back up to half of its material (by Dragoneer's Den). There are five skills, one per trade: Metal, Leather, Wood, Cloth and Jewelry Salvage, each with its own Salvage Tools (value 250 gold; 1,250 for jewelry). All of it belongs to Talazar's Revenge. Since 2025 the result counts your tools, gear and attributes, and since 25 January 2026 Valinor's provisioner sells Cloth Salvage Tools. For a beginner with the expansion it is a way to turn the weapons you forged for skill back into ingots; without the expansion, sell them.

Construction

Building a house needs the Construction expansion (which needs Sands of Creation) and VIP to keep it. Houses stand on a housing map of their own since March 2024, reached by portals outside Krog, Josody and Parian and in Lotor's Summer Palace. It is no beginner's business, but it is what the gathering skills are for later: by Dragoneer's Den a foundation asks for 10,000 gold, 500 Iron Ore and 500 Logs, and every house for stacks of ten fabricated materials. The first of each kind are within a beginner's skill: Wood Joists (Carpentry 10, 50 Logs), Cinder Block (Forging 10, 50 Iron Ingots), Wooden Truss (Carpentry 25, 30 Planks).

What we could not find out about gear trades

• Any tested advice on leveling a trade. Every ladder above is our reading of the recipe table's figure, which was checked against the server for seven Iron Forging recipes only.
• Whether a recipe far below your skill still teaches in full. Our own play go three levels down. The Scissors, Leather Cap and Woolen Slippers steps rest on it.
• What decides success. The recipe table has a second number per recipe that looks like a difficulty; nothing shows how it is used. In our own play, recipes of the skill's own level failed 5 times in 8.
• What the Blacksmith, Carpenter, Leatherworking and Tailor trainers give at the end, and where the first Blacksmith Hammer comes from.
• What tools cost in shops and which shop sells which. The figures given are the item table's values.
• Where spinning wheels and looms stand outside Valinor, and exactly how wool is taken from a sheep.
• Whether carpentry needs a bench: the wiki says yes, the in-game guidebook describes none.
• How many arrows one try makes today. Dragoneer's Den said 6 per log in 2005, the recipe now takes 3 logs, and a patch of 2021 tripled the output.
• Whether a crafted bow must still be strung. The recipes name the finished bow; the item table also holds "Unstrung" bows, and Dragoneer's old list made those.
• Which slot each Undying piece takes, whether the set has a bonus, and how fast Zombie Skin drops. The set is in the game's table and one patch note; no player source describes it.
• How many rings can be worn at once.
• Whether the skill requirements of Dragoneer's Den for materials (30, 45, 70) still hold. Its pages on this date from 2004 to 2021.
• The rewards of "Oozing on the Job".

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