Robust swords do more damage, and sometimes have slightly better stats (amount of damage blocked, chance to inflict status effects, that sort of things). That's the only difference I think.

If you're wondering about crafting, I didn't find it necessary to craft steel swords during the game. You get good enough ones during the game either as loot or as quest rewards.
Crafting a good silver sword definitely came in handy in early chapter 2 though.

Yeah I'm looking at the silver sword ones. Just need 5 more silver ore for it.

If you need silver ore, it's very rare to find it outside of blacksmith inventories.

However, if you leave the immediate area and come back, they'll have replenished their inventory. It's very easy (and not very expensive) to buy enough silver ore that way.

Actually, it's probably the only way to get enough silver ore to craft the decent silver swords, since there are no silver mines in-game.

Thanks for the advice. I have no access to part of the new town so yeah I don't think I can leave yet. But I am going to make that new silver sword, even if it's the last thing i do. Btw wasn't there a recipe to craft silver ore? i think I may have forgotten to get it.

I don't think there is. Never noiticed one anyway, and I tried to buy all the recipes and books in game, since I had more money than I needed.

I'm going to say that I detect a slightly slower swings for the robust weapons, compared to their non-robust counterparts. I prefer quick animations so I can roll and evade, so I stick with the non-robust weapons, myself, and I do notice I'm able to dodge much easier when I do...

Anyone have encounter bug "Robust Kadwein Sword" in Chapter 2? After you craft it, the sword is nowhere to be seen in your inventory.

Some of the crafting recipes appear to be bugged and don't work atm. The "Robust kadwein sword" is one of those. Though frankly, I don't see why you need it since you can find swords that are almost as good for free from the beginning of chapter 2 (at least on Roche's path).

The reason is the price is relatively cheap and i have most of the ingredient / item and i found it is more exciting when you successfully craft your own weapon rather than found it by accident or buy from blacksmith (the damage and bonus for some craft weapon is little bit higher too).

But thank you for telling me so i can confirm it was a bug. Then i can reload my previous autosave so i don't have to was my orens on this weapon.

If I buy a formula ( Robust *sword of something*) it says +17% Bleeding +17% Poison. OK
I go to the smithy and when I select it the percentages are different. Every time I select the formula I get different stats. I understand the formula varies [15-50%] when listed on sale, but why upon crafting?

After a few tries I got a +50% sword!