Blacksmith

“Used to improve infantry, archers, cavalry, towers, Town Centers, Castles, and Viking Longboats.”

—Age of Empires II description

The Blacksmith is a research building in Age of Empires II that becomes available once the Feudal Age is reached. The Blacksmith provides technologies to improve the attack and armor of infantry, cavalry, and archers. Defensive structures and some ships also benefit from the archers' attack upgrades.

Tactics and placement Edit

As a building incapable of attacking or producing units, the placement of a Blacksmith must not be given much thought. All it needs to do is provide researches and optimally stand until it is done doing so. Once all necessary technologies have been researched, the Blacksmith is a completely useless building and can freely be deleted. Having a Blacksmith is prerequisite to get access to the Siege Workshop. Losing the Blacksmith does not lose the access to the Siege Workshop. In some rare cases, having two Blacksmiths can be of help if time is of essence. But generally speaking, the Blacksmith researches fast enough to make a second one redundant.

Blacksmith upgrades are of key importance in any stage of the game and should be researched as soon as possible. Generally speaking, it makes more sense to upgrade the armor of melee units before their attack because that improves their fighting capabilities against ranged units as they live longer and can close the gap easier. For ranged units, it is the other way around, they should have the highest possible damage output in order to prevent melee units from reaching them at all.

Technologies Edit

Clicking on the icon links to the corresponding page.

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Availability grid Edit

The following table shows the availability of the technologies for every civilization. Technologies that are available to all civilizations are not shown in the table. An 'X' in the last column indicates that all technologies are available. So 8 of the 31 civilizations have access to all Blacksmith upgrades.

= Available

= Unavailable

Civilization										All
Aztecs
Berbers										X
Britons										X
Bulgarians
Burmese
Byzantines
Celts
Chinese										X
Cumans
Ethiopians
Franks
Goths
Huns
Incas
Indians
Italians										X
Japanese
Khmer
Koreans
Lithuanians
Magyars
Malay
Malians
Mayans
Mongols
Persians
Portuguese										X
Saracens										X
Slavs
Spanish										X
Tatars
Teutons
Turks										X
Vietnamese
Vikings
Civilization										All

Further statistics Edit

Building strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Nothing
Weak vs.	Everything
Upgrades
Hit points	Masonry (+10%)  Architecture (+10%)
Armor	Masonry (+1/+1, +3 building armor)  Architecture (+1/+1, +3 building armor)
Line of Sight	Town Watch (+4)  Town Patrol (+4)
Conversion defense	Faith  Heresy
Construction speed	Treadmill Crane (+20%)

Civilization bonuses Edit

• Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
• Byzantines: Blacksmiths have +20%/+30%/+40% HP in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age. Town Watch is free.
• Chinese: Technologies that benefit Blacksmiths and Blacksmith technologies are 10%/15%/20% cheaper in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Incas: Villagers benefit from Blacksmith infantry technologies.
• Magyars: Forging, Iron Casting, and Blast Furnace are free.
• Malians: Blacksmiths are 15% cheaper.
• Persians: Researching Town Watch and Town Patrol is 10%/15%/20% faster in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.
• Spanish: Blacksmiths are built 30% faster. Blacksmith technologies cost no gold.

Team bonuses Edit

• A team containing Bulgarians: Blacksmiths work 50% faster.
• A team containing Lithuanians: Researching Faith and Heresy is 20% faster.
• A team containing Malians: Researching Masonry, Architecture, and Treadmill Crane is 80% faster.

Changelog Edit

The Age of Kings Edit

• Blacksmiths always have 2100 HP.

The Conquerors Edit

• Heresy introduced.

The Forgotten Edit

• Blacksmith HP staggered: 1,800/2,100/2,100 in the Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age.

History Edit

“Iron-working technology had been learned by the barbarian tribes of Europe prior to the fall of Rome and was carried forward into the Dark Ages. Iron working was done at the blacksmith, named partially for the black iron worked there and for the black soot that covered the workers each day. At the blacksmith iron was forged and hammered into tools, weapons shields, and armor. The ability to make superior weapons and armor became a highly prized and well-rewarded skill. Blacksmiths, armorers, and weapon makers moved into the rising middle class.”

Gallery Edit

All Feudal Age Blacksmiths in The Age of Kings and The Conquerors

All Feudal Age Blacksmiths introduced in the HD expansions

All Castle Age Blacksmiths in The Age of Kings and The Conquerors

All Castle Age Blacksmiths introduced in the HD expansions

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