Basic Info:
Platform: Steam
Issue Type: Gameplay
Game Mode: Online Official
Server Type: PvP
Map: Exiled Lands
Server Name: 1590
Mods: =MODS=
Bug Description:
The armor penetration blacksmith only gives a 1% penetration boost. Was this nerfed? Intended? If so it seems pointless to use. The last time someone posted about this was 2-3 years ago and it got no response…lol…smh
Bug Reproduction:
Just craft the same weapon with the damage smith and the penetration smith.
My understanding is that the amount of armor penetration is based on the weapons’ base value and therefore varies by weapon (although the percent change should be the same). 
It might be helpful if you list which weapon(s) you’re crafting and included what their starting and resulting stats are.
I feel it is working as intended. 
Not sure why this is marked as a solution. I have double checked this issue with venom infused daggers and lemurian trident. In both cases the armor penetration is increased by 1%.
You say that the armor penetration varies by weapon base value but that the % change is the same? This doesn’t make much sense to me. You feel that it is working as intended? Or is it actually working as intended?
Edit: Apparently the forums will mark any reply as a solution. Outstanding lol
The “solution” box is unchecked genius, until you (or a forum admin) put a check in that box, it is not a solution.
I will use the Venom-Infused Daggers as an example. They start with a base armor penetration of 9% (crafted with no thrall) and get 11% if crafted with an Edgesmith (added 2%). If you were to craft the Venom-Infused War Axe instead, it starts with 0% armor penetration base and therefore can’t be raised (0 + 2% = 0). Hopefully this makes more sense to you.
Yes, I feel it is working as intended, obviously I didn’t write the code, nor do I work for Funcom, so I can’t be positive.
Wrong re: the solution check box. All you need to do is look at every reply and see it marked as solution.
My issue with the armor penetration is not base stats vs stats with the penetration smith per se (though it’s still terrible). The issue is that if you use an attack damage smith vs an penetration smith, the pen smith only gives 1% more pen without the damage increase.
I feel that this can not be working as intended.
Edit: I don’t know how the game calculates damage exactly. But if you pretend you have a 100 damage attack against someone with 50% dmg reduction, it makes way more sense to have 10 more dmg rather than 1% more penetration.
Edit: Ok now I see how the solution checkbox works. Its checked whether it is “marked” or not. Just terrible design.
Yes, every reply gives YOU the option to select it as a solution, you are the only one that sees that as an option because you are the one that created the thread and therefore you (or a forum admin) get to decide what is a solution. Go ahead, give it a try, place a check mark in one of the replies, you are welcome to remove the checkmark afterward.
I’m sorry that you don’t agree with how armor pen works, but it has been working this way for many years and it works nicely, IMO. Regardless of whether or not we like it, I don’t think it is a bug, I feel it is working as intended.
Best of luck.
Yeah this is why I prefer tempersmiths over all other blacksmiths because the differences between the T4 values of the combat stats aren’t worth it and these guys can make legendary repair kits. I mean at most you are talking about 10 points of damage difference from a bladesmith if the weapon is doing 100 and like 1% difference in AP from an edgesmith if you are looking at 10% AP.
I do 
Like @DaVice said, it depends on the weapon that you craft with said edgesmith and also on the target you are planning to fight with said weapon…
An edgesmith has a 1.222 modifier on Armor Penetration
As a comparison, the bladesmith has 1.06
So again, like DaVice said, it is a percentage bonus of the original armor penetration of the weapon.
What does that mean?.. That if you want a big armor penetration bonus, then you have to craft a weapon that already has a decent amount of it on.
If you take the Obsidian Hammer, which has the third highest armor penetration from basegame weapons and the best from the craftable ones. (other 2 being Blade of 7 winds and World Breaker)
it has a base damage of 51 and armor penetration of 51.75%
If you then proceed to hit a target with that weapon… and the target happens to be… a fairly armored one… like maybe the Rhino boss, sporting 7500 armor
Hitting it with the first Light attack opener. That one has a modifier of 1… so it does the full damage that’s written on the weapon. (let’s ignore strength bonuses and such for simplicity)
The Rhino boss’s damage reduction clocks in at 93.75% from the armor value mentioned above
And due to how Armor mitigation is a curve and tones off (even before this level), there isn’t a target in the game where the edgesmith would lend a significant advantage, even the Arena Champion, sporting 19k armor will take 35.3 damage from the bladesmith one and 34.6 from the edgesmith one
It’s obviously going to perform way worse on non-armored targets. Like going up against your average Cimmerian Berserker, who’s sporting a lovely 479 armor, providing 48.91% damage reduction
Weapon A (bladesmith): 49.09
Weapon B (edgesmith): 44.29
Frost Giant at 122 armor, 19.61% reduction
Weapon A: 57.42
Weapon B: 50.1
Etc.
Conclusion:
While it is not a bug and the stat is working as intended, I agree that it’s not balanced and poor edgesmith cannot really compete with the others due to how armor penetration was reverted back to the old multiplicative formula with Age of Sorcery.
It could probably use a buff probably even as much as a 1.56 modifier instead of the 1.222 (which puts it on par with the bladesmith vs a target with 50% damage reduction in case of this Obsidian Hammer if everything else stays the same, still less effective for other weapons)
It irritates me too. I have 3-4 large chest of weapons (basically most of the unique and high-end crafted), and only used the edgesmith to craft like… 3? of all of them.
In my thinking, edgesmiths should give a flat 20% bonus to weapons under 20% AP by default. If the weapon’s AP exceeds that 20%, the edgesminth should add percentage-based 20%, not the flat 20%.
(Numbers are random, I just got this idea.)
So if a weapon has 9% AP by default, crafted with edgesmith, it would have 29%.
If a weapon has 50% AP, with the edgesmith, it would be 60% (20% of the 50% is 10, so 50+10=60%)
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