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Perhaps befitting its fiery nature, training Smithing in Old School RuneScape provides massive bursts of experience (XP)-per-hour, but can also burn up your money at an alarming rate. There are, however, ways to make profit alongside your training, but this requires sacrificing the incredible XP rates that the skill is notorious for.

RELATED: Old School RuneScape: Beginner Tips

Whether you're a new player just starting out, or a seasoned veteran with millions of gp to spare, you will be able to obtain fast XP rates through one method or another. If you want to earn the coveted Smithing Skillcape and unlock the ability to smith high-level armour and weapons, then we've got you covered.

Old School RuneScape screenshot of the laval section of the Giants Foundry

Your Smithing journey will be a long one, so it's a good idea to create a solid plan for levelling to make the end of your grind seem more attainable. Although keeping your options open and switching between activities is a good idea to break up gameplay, you should have a general roadmap in mind - here's a good one to follow:

Level Range

Method

Equipment Required

Notes

1-29

The Knight's Sword quest

One Redberry Pie, a Pickaxe that you can use at your Mining level, and two Iron Bars.

Completing this quest will take you from level 1 to level 29 Smithing.

29-33

Sleeping Giants quest

Three Oak Logs, One Wool, 10 Nails, a Hammer, a Chisel, and a Bucket of Water (or Ice Gloves).

Completing this quest will take you from level 29 to level 33 Smithing.

24/33-40

Smithing Iron Items

A Hammer, and lots of Iron Bars - five per Platebody made, and three per Warhammer made.

From level 24 you can smith Iron Warhammers, and from level 33 you can smith Iron Platebodies.

40-99

Smelting Gold Bars at the Blast Furnace

A Bucket of Water, the Goldsmith Gloves, and lots of Gold Ore.

Although you can do this without the Goldsmith Gloves, they massively increase your XP rates and are the only reason that this method is worth the massive money losses.

33/40-99

Giants' Foundry

A Bucket of Water (or a pair of Ice Gloves), a Hammer, and lots of metal bars: you should bring the highest-level metal bar that you can smelt at your Smithing level, although at level 70+ Smithing you gain the most XP-per-sword by using an alloy consisting of 14 of your highest-level bar, and 14 of your second-highest-level bar.

This will take some getting used to, but when you master it, the Giants' Foundry can give you great rewards. It's also great as a break from the Blast Furnace.

Questing And Smithing Platebodies

Old School RuneScape screenshot of Varrock Anvil

As is the case with many of Old School RuneScape's skills, one of the best ways of fast-tracking your Smithing training at the early levels is through questing. There are many quests that give Smithing XP in the thousands, and completing the right ones can easily catapult you all the way to level 30 Smithing and beyond.

For example, Sleeping Giants is a very quick and easy quest that gives you 6,000 Smithing XP, and completing it is also needed to unlock the Giants' Foundry for further Smithing training. The Elemental Workshop series of quests are in a similar position, with Elemental Workshop I providing 5,000 XP and Elemental Workshop II giving you 7,500 XP.

The Knight's Sword is a particularly good quest to start out with: it only requires level 10 Mining but earns you a whopping 12,725 Smithing XP on completion, which can take you all the way from level one Smithing to level 29, with level 30 Smithing just around the corner.

Old School RuneScape - screenshot of the White Knights' Castle

Although this is more than enough to unlock the Giants' Foundry, the most popular Smithing training method - smelting Gold Bars at the Blast Furnace - is only accessible at level 40 Smithing, so you will find yourself a little short of XP after your questing. The best way to bridge this gap is to smith Iron equipment at the anvil just south of Varrock West Bank: from level 24 you should make Iron Warhammers, and then from level 33 to 40 you should focus on Iron Platebodies. You will lose money while Smithing in this way, but it will only be a very small amount, since you should reach level 40 Smithing very quickly.

Blast Furnace

Old School RuneScape screenshot of  Keldagrim

Using the Blast Furnace for Smithing XP has been the most popular way of training the skill for a long time. It is essentially a player-operated batch furnace that you can use to smelt multiple bars at once for large bursts of XP. Although the requirement of needing willing players to operate the various aspects of the furnace may seem alienating, this can be overcome by logging on to one of many Blast Furnace worlds, on which Dwarves automatically operate the furnace for you.

All you will need to worry about is loading up the Conveyor Belt with your chosen ores, waiting for those ores to pass through the furnace, collecting your smelted bars from the end of the conveyor, and then banking your bars and withdrawing new ores for smelting. Rinse and repeat, and you'll have level 99 Smithing in no time. Just make sure you bring a Bucket of Water, or a pair of Ice Gloves, to cool the smelted bars down before you can touch them. It's also a good idea to bring some weight-reducing clothing, such as the Graceful set, if you can.

Old School RuneScape - screenshot of Varrock West Mine

If you have the money to burn, smelting Gold Bars at the Blast Furnace provides the highest xp rates of any Smithing training method, and at over 300,000 XP per hour, it is one of the fastest training methods for any skill in the entire game. These XP rates rely on you having access to the Goldsmith Gloves, which are earned by completing the Family Crest quest - without these, your XP rates will be slashed in half and smelting Gold Bars is not recommended.

You can access the Blast Furnace in Keldagrim by starting The Giant Dwarf quest - once you've entered the Blast Furnace for the first time, you can return there by using the corresponding Grouping Teleport, or by taking a mine cart from the Dwarven Mine or the Grand Exchange.

Smelting Gold Bars can be very expensive, however, and so isn't for everybody. You can instead smelt regular bars in the Blast Furnace if you prefer, although Iron Bars and above will require you to bring along the requisite Coal as well. For this reason we recommend bringing a Coal Bag so that you can get more ores out of your bank per trip. Smelting regular bars, from Iron all the way up to Runite, will net you decent XP rates - around 70,000-100,000 XP-per-hour - and tidy profits to boot.

Giants' Foundry

Old School RuneScape screenshot of the Waterfall section of the Giants Foundry

The Giants' Foundry is a more recent addition to Old School RuneScape, and provides a great alternative to the Blast Furnace for players who are looking for a more fun, interactive experience that both makes money and boasts decent XP rates. The Giants' Foundry also rewards skilled and careful play, meaning that your effort is being directly translated into profit.

You'll need to smith massive, Hill Giant-sized swords in the foundry to earn rewards such as additional moulds and the Smiths Outfit, which grant additional bonuses in the foundry. For more details on how to work the foundry and extract as much experience as possible, check out our Giants' Foundry guide.

NEXT: Old School RuneScape: Melee Combat 1-99 Guide