Crafting & Equipment

Understanding the Crafting System

Crafting is fundamental to progression in Of Ash and Steel. Nearly every piece of equipment, consumable, and tool you'll use must be crafted from gathered materials. The crafting system is deep and rewarding, with material quality, crafting skill, and recipe knowledge all playing crucial roles in the quality of your creations.

Crafting Stations and Tools

Basic Crafting (Hand Crafting)

Many basic items can be crafted without specialized stations directly from your inventory. Hand-craftable items include:

• Basic tools (stone knives, axes, hammers)
• Simple weapons (wooden spears, clubs, slings)
• Primitive clothing and bandages
• Torches and basic fire-starting materials
• Simple food preparation and water containers

Crafting Stations

Advanced crafting requires specialized stations built at your base or found in the world:

• Campfire: Cooking food, boiling water, basic smelting. Required for most food preparation and provides warmth. Can be built anywhere with minimal resources.
• Workbench: Woodworking, weapon maintenance, detailed crafting. Essential for creating quality tools, weapons, and wooden structures. Requires basic construction materials.
• Forge/Anvil: Metalworking, weapon and armor smithing, advanced repairs. Necessary for any metal equipment. Requires significant resources and specialized location with high heat.
• Tanning Rack: Processing hides into leather, creating leather armor and clothing. Essential for leather goods. Simple construction from wood and rope.
• Alchemy Station: Potion brewing, poison crafting, medicine creation. Unlocks consumable crafting. Requires glassware and specific ingredients.
• Loom/Sewing Station: Cloth production, clothing creation, cloth armor. Needed for fabric-based equipment. Medium resource investment.

Material Quality and Rarity

Quality Tiers

Materials come in different quality levels affecting final product stats:

• Poor Quality: Common but inferior. Produces weak items with reduced durability and effectiveness.
• Standard Quality: Average materials suitable for everyday crafting. Balanced cost-to-benefit ratio.
• Fine Quality: Above average materials that create superior products. More rare and valuable.
• Exceptional Quality: Rare high-quality materials. Creates powerful equipment with enhanced properties.
• Legendary Quality: Extremely rare materials with unique properties. Used for the best equipment in the game.

Material Sources

• Common Materials: Found everywhere through basic gathering. Sufficient for starter equipment and consumables but limits long-term potential.
• Uncommon Materials: Requires specific locations or higher skill to identify and gather. Provides noticeable quality improvement.
• Rare Materials: Found in dangerous areas, from powerful enemies, or through completing challenges. Significant power increase.
• Unique Materials: Boss drops, quest rewards, or hidden locations. Extremely powerful and often required for special recipes.

Weapon Crafting

Melee Weapons

Creating effective melee weapons requires understanding component quality and assembly:

Basic Components

• Blade/Head: Primary damage component. Metal quality determines damage and durability.
• Handle/Haft: Affects weapon balance and stamina costs. Wood quality impacts weapon speed.
• Guard/Pommel: Defensive components. Better materials improve blocking and balance.
• Binding Materials: Holds components together. Quality affects durability and failure rate.

Weapon Categories

• Swords: Require metal blade, handle, guard. Balanced weapons suitable for most situations. Iron tier suitable for early game, steel for mid-game, rare metals for endgame.
• Axes: Similar to swords but emphasize head weight. Better against armor but slower. Excellent for both combat and utility (woodcutting).
• Maces/Hammers: Heavy blunt heads on sturdy handles. Best armor penetration but highest stamina cost. Simple to craft but resource-intensive.
• Spears: Long hafts with pointed tips. Can use metal or bone tips. Best reach, lowest material cost, ideal for beginners.
• Daggers: Small blades with minimal handles. Fast and cheap to craft. Excellent backups and stealth weapons.

Ranged Weapons

• Bows: Require flexible wood, string, and craftsmanship. String quality (animal sinew vs spider silk) dramatically affects draw strength and durability.
• Crossbows: More complex than bows, requiring metal components and precise assembly. Higher damage but expensive to craft and maintain.
• Ammunition: Arrows and bolts must be crafted. Shaft wood, fletching, and arrowhead materials all affect performance. Broadheads for hunting, bodkins for armor.

Armor Crafting

Armor Types and Protection

Light Armor (Cloth/Leather)

• Low protection but high mobility and low stamina penalty
• Ideal for stealth, ranged combat, and explorers
• Easier to craft and repair than heavy armor
• Components: Treated leather, cloth, padding, bindings
• Can be reinforced with metal studs for improved protection

Medium Armor (Reinforced Leather/Chainmail)

• Balanced protection and mobility
• Suitable for versatile playstyles
• Requires both leather working and basic metalworking
• Components: Leather base, metal rings or plates, padding
• Best all-around choice for most players

Heavy Armor (Plate/Scale)

• Maximum protection but significant mobility penalty
• Designed for frontline combat and tanking
• Resource-intensive and requires advanced smithing
• Components: Metal plates, leather straps, padding, rivets
• Incredible defense but makes stealth nearly impossible

Armor Slots

Complete armor sets include multiple pieces:

• Helmet: Head protection, affects vision and hearing
• Chest Armor: Torso protection, most important defensive piece
• Gauntlets: Hand protection, affects crafting and weapon handling
• Leggings: Leg protection, affects movement speed
• Boots: Foot protection, affects stealth and movement noise
• Shield: Active defense equipment, blocks attacks at stamina cost

Equipment Enhancement and Modification

Weapon Upgrades

• Sharpening: Increases damage temporarily. Requires whetstones. Regular maintenance for peak performance.
• Reinforcement: Adds durability using metal reinforcements. Permanent improvement but resource-intensive.
• Enchanting/Imbuing: Adds special properties (fire damage, armor penetration, etc.). Requires rare materials and knowledge.
• Grip Modification: Change handle materials for different stamina costs or special bonuses.

Armor Upgrades

• Padding Improvement: Better padding increases comfort and reduces stamina penalties. Uses cloth and leather.
• Plate Addition: Add metal plates to leather armor for increased protection without full heavy armor penalties.
• Weather Treatment: Apply oils and treatments for resistance to specific environments (waterproofing, insulation, etc.).

Consumable Crafting

Cooking and Food Preparation

• Basic Cooking: Roasting meat and vegetables. Simple but effective nutrition. Improves over raw ingredients.
• Advanced Recipes: Stews, soups, and complex dishes providing special buffs (stamina regeneration, health bonuses, temporary stat increases).
• Preservation: Smoking, drying, salting food for long-term storage. Essential for extended expeditions.

Alchemy and Medicine

• Healing Potions: Various strengths of health restoration. From basic bandages to powerful elixirs.
• Antidotes: Cure poison and disease. Specific recipes for specific ailments.
• Stamina Potions: Restore or boost stamina regeneration. Critical for extended combat.
• Buffs and Enhancements: Temporary stat increases, resistance to damage types, improved perception, etc.
• Poisons: Applied to weapons for additional damage over time or debuffing effects on enemies.

Crafting Skill Progression

Skill Categories

Crafting skills improve through use, unlocking new recipes and improving crafted item quality:

• Blacksmithing: Metal weapons and armor. Higher skill allows working with better metals and creates more durable items.
• Leatherworking: Leather armor and goods. Skill improves tanning quality and unlocks advanced leather techniques.
• Carpentry/Woodworking: Wooden weapons, tools, and structures. Better skill yields stronger wood items and efficient material use.
• Alchemy: Potions, poisons, and chemicals. Skill unlocks powerful recipes and increases potion potency.
• Cooking: Food preparation. Higher skill creates better meals with stronger buffs and less waste.

Leveling Crafting Skills

• Craft items regularly within your skill range
• Experiment with new recipes to gain skill faster
• Use higher quality materials for increased skill gains
• Learn from books and NPCs to unlock advanced techniques
• Complete crafting-related quests for bonus experience

Resource Efficiency

Minimizing Waste

• Higher crafting skill reduces material waste during crafting
• Recycle failed crafts or damaged equipment for partial material recovery
• Plan crafting projects to use materials efficiently
• Salvage found equipment for materials rather than discarding

Prioritizing Crafts

Focus limited resources on highest-impact items:

• Primary weapon should be your best quality craft
• Backup weapons can be lower quality
• Chest armor deserves better materials than other armor pieces
• Tools used frequently should be high durability
• Consumables can use cheaper materials for bulk crafting