Crafting

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Visit any city to find a Master Craftsman and learn a trade. Learning trades lets you craft weapons or armor, or even cook foods that temporarily boost stats.

— Crafting

Hero panel crafting icon.png Crafting is the process of turning component items, such as crafting materials, into equipment or consumables. There are nine different crafting disciplines, and initially only two can be active at a time on each character, but up to two more (for a total of 4) may be added using Additional Crafting Licenses from the Gem Store. A character may swap between learned crafting disciplines by paying a small fee, dependent on how high their discipline level is.

Crafted items usually look different from, but always have comparable attributes to, items of the same level and quality obtained through other methods, for example from loot or vendors.

Crafting disciplines[edit]

Crafting panel icon

To learn a craft, speak to the relevant master craftsman; they also answer basic questions and sell supplies for their craft. A character can only have two disciplines active at a time, or up to four with the purchase of Additional Crafting Licenses. They can pay a master craftsman to switch, at cost of 10 Copper coin per level already attained in the target discipline. Taking on a new discipline is always free, while switching back to a maxed discipline (at level 500) costs 50 Silver coin. Level progress is always saved.

Discipline Equipment Upgrades Other
Armorsmith tango icon 20px.png Armorsmith Heavy armor
(Used by soldiersguardians, warriors, and revenants)
Runes Metal boxes
Artificer tango icon 20px.png Artificer Magical weapons
(Foci, staves, scepters, and tridents)
Sigils Potions
Tonics
Tuning crystals
Chef tango icon 20px.png Chef - - Food and dyes
Huntsman tango icon 20px.png Huntsman Projectile weapons and off-hand utility items
(Short bows, longbows, pistols, rifles, harpoon guns, torches, and warhorns)
Sigils Maintenance oils
Jeweler tango icon 20px.png Jeweler Trinkets
(Amulets, rings, and earrings)
Jewels -
Leatherworker tango icon 20px.png Leatherworker Medium armor
(Used by adventurersengineers, rangers, and thieves)
Runes Leather packs
Scribe tango icon 20px.png Scribe - Sigils Decorations and consumables
Tailor tango icon 20px.png Tailor Light armor
(Used by scholarselementalists, mesmers, and necromancers)
Runes Cloth bags
Weaponsmith tango icon 20px.png Weaponsmith Melee weapons and shields
(Axes, daggers, swords, greatswords, maces, hammers, spears, and shields)
Sigils Sharpening stones
Leatherworking concept art
Jeweler discovery pane
Jeweler production pane

Crafting stations[edit]

Primary article: Crafting station

You can only craft at designated crafting stations, which are located in every city and certain zones. The crafting panel includes five tabs:

  • Discovery: Learn discoverable recipes by combining the ingredients.
  • Production: Craft equipment or consumables using known recipes.
  • Bank: Provides direct access to items in your bank.
  • Material Storage: Provides direct access to items in your Material Storage.
  • Wardrobe: Allows you to view items in your Wardrobe Storage.

Recipes[edit]

Primary article: Recipe

Recipes allow you to easily view the combination of ingredients needed to create an item. Each recipe must be unlocked through a specific method:

  • Most must be discovered at a crafting station.
  • Some are unlocked automatically when the appropriate crafting level is reached (mostly recipes for refinement and components).
  • Some can only be unlocked by using a recipe sheet.

Materials[edit]

Primary article: Crafting material

To craft an item, you must have the appropriate materials in your inventory, bank, or collections. You can collect these items by gathering, from loot, salvaging other items, or even by crafting. These materials are divided into tiers: higher-tiered materials — and a greater rank in the discipline — are required to craft items of higher level or greater rarity. The tier of a finished item is determined by the tier of its component parts. For example, tier 1 covers the most basic items, such as the Fine Green Wood Longbow created using t1 components (e.g. Green Wood Logs and a Green Inscription); the tier 6 equivalent is the Exotic Pearl Stinger, made with t6 components (e.g. Ancient Wood Logs and an Orichalcum Imbued Inscription).

This table provides an overview of the crafting materials in each tier; further details are available from the list of crafting materials. (Chef ingredients are covered elsewhere, as that discipline uses a different system.)

Crafting Material Tiers
Cloth Leather Metal Wood Gemstones
Tier 1 Bolt of Jute.pngJute Stretched Rawhide Leather Square.pngRawhide Bronze Ingot.pngBronze
Copper Ingot.pngCopper
Green Wood Plank.pngGreen Tiger's Eye Pebble.pngPebble
Tier 2 Bolt of Wool.pngWool Cured Thin Leather Square.pngThin Iron Ingot.pngIron
Silver Ingot.pngSilver
Soft Wood Plank.pngSoft Carnelian Nugget.pngNugget
Tier 3 Bolt of Cotton.pngCotton Cured Coarse Leather Square.pngCoarse Steel Ingot.pngSteel
Gold Ingot.pngGold
Seasoned Wood Plank.pngSeasoned Topaz Lump.pngLump
Tier 4 Bolt of Linen.pngLinen Cured Rugged Leather Square.pngRugged Darksteel Ingot.pngDarksteel
Platinum Ingot.pngPlatinum
Hard Wood Plank.pngHard Opal Shard.pngShard
Tier 5 Bolt of Silk.pngSilk Cured Thick Leather Square.pngThick Mithril Ingot.pngMithril Elder Wood Plank.pngElder Ruby Crystal.pngCrystal
Tier 6 Bolt of Gossamer.pngGossamer Cured Hardened Leather Square.pngHardened Orichalcum Ingot.pngOrichalcum Ancient Wood Plank.pngAncient Chrysocola Orb.pngOrb
Tier 7 Bolt of Damask.pngDamask Elonian Leather Square.pngElonian Deldrimor Steel Ingot.pngDeldrimor Steel
Xunlai Electrum Ingot.pngXunlai Electrum
Spiritwood Plank.pngSpiritwood

Creating items[edit]

The process of crafting items is extensive and varies by discipline. The two phases of creating items are discovery and production. A player must collect materials, discover the recipe if it isn't known, then create the item. Many crafted items have other crafted items as prerequisites; this can lead to a large tree of components needed for a certain item, the best example being legendary weapons.

Production[edit]

The production tab shows all available recipes. The color of a recipe's name indicates how close the recipe is to your current discipline level. The colors are the same as for item quality, progressing from orange for recipes near your current level to yellow, green, blue, white, then gray for recipes that no longer grant any crafting experience.

Red recipes appear when you are within five levels of the next 25-level interval, at which point they will automatically unlock.

The number after the recipe name indicates how many items you can craft using that recipe, based on the contents of your inventory, bank, and collections.

Salvageable crafted items can be automatically converted into Research Notes as it would be done with the Research Kit. This conversion is free, kit charges are not spent even if you have it in the inventory. Check the option "Automatically salvage output with a research kit" and agree with the warning that you will not receive the crafted item.

Discovery[edit]

The discovery tab allows you to attempt to mix and match components to find a new recipe. Drag and drop or double-click items to add (or remove) them from the mix. When using the discovery pane, you only see items which fulfill all of the following criteria:

  • The item is in your inventory or your bank/collections tab.
  • The item is part of an undiscovered recipe.

Items are highlighted in red when they are part of a valid recipe that require a higher crafting level to discover.

As you add (or remove) items, you can also see how many possible recipes remain. If there are none, you can press the reset button to start from scratch. Some recipes' ingredients may be beyond your current crafting level. Once a working combination has been entered, players will see one of the following icons:

Weapons
Armor
Trinkets
Other

This indicates that a valid combination for discovery has been entered; however, if quantities of one or more ingredients are insufficient, the Craft button will remain disabled. If you have the resources to make the missing item, a + button will be overlaid on its icon which will allow the player to make the item without returning to the Production tab. When sufficient quantities of all ingredients have been entered, the Craft button will be enabled and the item may be discovered, permanently unlocking the recipe in the Production tab for the character who discovered it.

Dialogue[edit]

Trial and error

Placing a crafting material in one of the available slots at a crafting station will result in one of the following messages:

Talk more option tango.png "[#] possible unknown recipes! Add more compatible ingredients!"
Talk end option tango.png "0 possible unknown recipes! Try removing some ingredients!"
Success!

If you find a valid combination of items and have sufficient quantities of each, you will see the following message.

Talk end option tango.png "This looks like something! Craft the item to save the recipe."

Crafting the listed item reveals its name and unlocks its recipe.

Notes[edit]

  • Remember that you may not have all the materials needed to complete a potential recipe, or some of the ingredients in a recipe may be beyond your current crafting level to use.
  • Multiple items can use the same list of ingredients, although each recipe must be learned separately. For example, a Large Green Haft and Small Green Haft each require two Green Wood Planks. Players can only discover the second recipe after learning the first.
  • A critical success in crafting will grant an experience bonus but does not add to the value or stats of the item crafted.
  • Once you have discovered all possible combinations for a material, that material will no longer display in the discovery panel.

Time gated recipes[edit]

Some items have a time gate and limit the number of times an item can be crafted in a period of time. This is usually for high level crafting materials like ectoplasm refinement. The purpose of time gating is to make crafting valuable for players who have invested into crafting. All items have a limit of one per day (daily), which reset at 0:00 like other daily activities. These items include:

Item Rarity Discipline(s) Rating Ingredients
Charged Quartz Crystal.png Charged Quartz Crystal Rare Other 0
Clay Pot.png Clay Pot
(Learned from: Recipe: Clay Pot)
Rare ArtificerArtificer tango icon 20px.png 400
Dragon Hatchling Doll Adornments.png Dragon Hatchling Doll Adornments
(Learned from: Recipe: Dragon Hatchling Doll Adornments)
Exotic JewelerJeweler tango icon 20px.png 400
Grow Lamp.png Grow Lamp
(Learned from: Recipe: Grow Lamp)
Exotic JewelerJeweler tango icon 20px.png 400
Lump of Mithrillium.png Lump of Mithrillium Ascended JewelerJeweler tango icon 20px.png 400
Plate of Meaty Plant Food.png Plate of Meaty Plant Food
(Learned from: Recipe: Plate of Meaty Plant Food)
Rare HuntsmanHuntsman tango icon 20px.png 400
Plate of Piquant Plant Food.png Plate of Piquant Plant Food
(Learned from: Recipe: Plate of Piquant Plant Food)
Rare ChefChef tango icon 20px.png 400
Vial of Maize Balm.png Vial of Maize Balm
(Learned from: Recipe: Maize Balm)
Masterwork ArtificerArtificer tango icon 20px.png 400
Dragon Hatchling Doll Eye.png Dragon Hatchling Doll Eye
(Learned from: Recipe: Dragon Hatchling Doll Eyes)
Exotic ArtificerArtificer tango icon 20px.png 450
Dragon Hatchling Doll Frame.png Dragon Hatchling Doll Frame
(Learned from: Recipe: Dragon Hatchling Doll Frame)
Exotic HuntsmanHuntsman tango icon 20px.png 450
Dragon Hatchling Doll Hide.png Dragon Hatchling Doll Hide
(Learned from: Recipe: Dragon Hatchling Doll Hide)
Exotic LeatherworkerLeatherworker tango icon 20px.png 450
Glob of Elder Spirit Residue.png Glob of Elder Spirit Residue Ascended ArtificerArtificer tango icon 20px.pngHuntsmanHuntsman tango icon 20px.pngWeaponsmithWeaponsmith tango icon 20px.png 450
Gossamer Stuffing.png Gossamer Stuffing
(Learned from: Recipe: Gossamer Stuffing)
Exotic TailorTailor tango icon 20px.png 450
Lump of Mithrillium.png Lump of Mithrillium Ascended ArtificerArtificer tango icon 20px.pngArmorsmithArmorsmith tango icon 20px.pngHuntsmanHuntsman tango icon 20px.pngLeatherworkerLeatherworker tango icon 20px.pngTailorTailor tango icon 20px.pngWeaponsmithWeaponsmith tango icon 20px.png 450
Spool of Silk Weaving Thread.png Spool of Silk Weaving Thread Ascended ArmorsmithArmorsmith tango icon 20px.pngLeatherworkerLeatherworker tango icon 20px.pngTailorTailor tango icon 20px.png 450
Spool of Thick Elonian Cord.png Spool of Thick Elonian Cord Ascended ArtificerArtificer tango icon 20px.pngArmorsmithArmorsmith tango icon 20px.pngHuntsmanHuntsman tango icon 20px.pngLeatherworkerLeatherworker tango icon 20px.pngTailorTailor tango icon 20px.pngWeaponsmithWeaponsmith tango icon 20px.png 450
Heat Stone.png Heat Stone
(Learned from: Recipe: Heat Stone)
Ascended ArmorsmithArmorsmith tango icon 20px.pngLeatherworkerLeatherworker tango icon 20px.pngTailorTailor tango icon 20px.png 500

Locations[edit]

Crafting stations and master craftsmen are found together in every city and certain zones for all crafting disciplines other than Scribe, which are found only in Guild halls.

Kryta
Maguuma Jungle
Shiverpeak Mountains
Ascalon
Heart of Maguuma
Ring of Fire
Crystal Desert
Cantha
The Mists

Skill level[edit]

Each discipline has a maximum level of 500, except Jeweler and Scribe, which cap at 400. Generally, every 75 levels, access is granted to a new tier of recipes. Although you can unlock recipes for higher level items early, you will be unable to craft the requisite components until you obtain a comparable crafting level.

Each crafting level grants a percentage of total experience needed based on your current crafting level.

percentExperience = ceiling( craftingLevel / 100 )
Crafting Level Experience per Level
0-100 1%
101-200 2%
201-300 3%
301-400 4%

Crafting levels are grouped into ranks.

Level Rank
0-74 Novice
75-149 Initiate
150-224 Apprentice
225-299 Journeyman
300-399 Adept
400-499 Master
500 Grandmaster

Achievements and titles are also awarded for attaining certain crafting skill levels.

Crafting experience[edit]

Crafting in a non-maxed discipline earns crafting experience (CXP). In addition, characters earn normal experience at the same time. Leveling a crafting discipline to 500 is equivalent to gaining 10 levels, while leveling to 400 gains approximately 7 levels. Due to the accelerated experience gain below level 15, you may have better results if you start crafting at low levels.

To gain the first level of a discipline requires 500 CXP. Each subsequent level requires an additional 1% (rounded down):

xp_req(N) = floor(xp_req(N-1) * 1.01)

This formula caps at level 400; 401-500 each require 24028 experience per level.

The total CXP required to reach level 400 in a discipline is 2,396,677, and to reach level 500 is 4,799,477.

The CXP gained when crafting a recipe is based on the total experience required for the next level, scaled by the type of recipe you are crafting and how far your current level is above the required level for the recipe:

xp_gain(N) = xp_req(N+1) * multiplier * (1.0 - (N - N_min) / span)

where N is your crafting level, N_min is the minimum level required to craft the recipe, and multiplier and span depend on the type of item being crafted. If you are span levels above the recipe's level, you receive no CXP for it.

Type Multiplier Span
Refinement 0.3 25
Part 0.6 25
Item / Food 1.4 40
Exotic Equipment 1.85 250

Example: if your crafting level is 59 and you craft a req 50 part, the parameters are xp_req(N+1) = 864, multiplier = 0.6, span = 25, N = 59, and N_min = 50. Plugging those into the equation:

864 * 3/5 * (1.0 - (59-50)/25) = 332

Thus, you earn 332 CXP for crafting that recipe.

Bonus experience is earned for the following actions:

  • Discovering a recipe grants a bonus of 100-150%.
  • Getting a critical success also grants +50% bonus CXP.
  • Crafting a Masterwork item gives double expected xp (+100%). This is additive with discovery (so +200%).
  • Crafting a Rare item gives +225% xp, or +325% for a discovery.
  • Crafting Exotic equipment does not grant any bonus experience, so a discovery only doubles the experience earned.

A collapsible table of the experience needed to reach each level, as well as the total experience necessary, follows:

Crafting experience modifiers[edit]

There are a few ways to increase the chance to gain bonus crafting experience. Each effect allows characters to increase crafting skill levels more efficiently.

Effect Source Bonus experience Bonus critical crafting chance Notes
Crafting Critical Chance Boost (fifty percent).png +50% Crafting Critical Chance Boost Crafting Booster
Enchanted Reward Boost
50%
Magic Find Boost.png Item Booster Heroic Booster
Item Booster
Item Booster (masterwork)
Enchanted Reward Boost
50%
Nourishment (Birthday Blaster).png Guild Crafting Boost Guild Enhancement 6-20% Percentage based on guild enhancement level; requires an expansion
Mastery point (Central Tyria).png Productive Downtime Pact Commander mastery track 15%[1] 10% Requires an expansion
  1. ^ Due to a bug with this mastery, provides +15% instead of +10%.

Gallery[edit]

Notes[edit]

  • The crafting process never fails.
  • When crafting a stack of items, the process speeds up progressively: each item queued will craft in half the time of the previous item. For example, if it takes two seconds to create a single bronze ingot, it will take only one second to create the second, and a half second to craft a third. There is a limit to how fast items can be crafted.
  • Every character can learn all recipes and create the same products regardless of profession or race.
  • When changing disciplines on the same character, previously discovered items will be revealed even if they are at too high a level to be crafted. For instance, if an artificer at rating 150 changes to a weaponsmith on the same character, that character would be able to see the refined crafting materials (Iron Ingot, Soft Wood Plank, etc.) and Inscriptions (Soft, Iron Plated, etc.) that had been discovered as an Artificer, but would not be able to craft them until reaching the required level.