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1. Hammer or axe
2. Best mark
3. Relic or no?
4. Attach to havocs or no
5. Best vehicle to be 3 inches from to follow

Wait for the Codex to ask about the Hammer or Axe. My gut tells me the right answer will change, but the Hammer seems to be best for the Devastating Wounds

I would run one Undivided. He doesn't put out a lot of shots.

I would skip a relic unless he's your warlord. If he was, I would just take Eye of Tzeentch.

He doesn't really do anything for Havocs, so why put him in with them? Have him running around to heal vehicles and stuff.

The best vehicle to run him with is whatever one is in your army. I've used him to keep a Helbrute alive once or twice. I've had him unable to keep up with a Defiler.

+1 to Hit for vehicle would work best for Forgefiend. Helbrute have limited number of shoots and sometimes dies instantly - nothing to heal by Warpsmith.
Don't count on him to fight with anything with 3A and WS4+ : )

What about running him with a Lord of Skulls.

Los has better toughness than FF. Better range and about even for hit output but better strength and around equal damage.

I like mine running behind one or two vindicators

Would it be better to be farther away. Smith isn’t good on combat and getting close can nullify him. If he’s far with a powerful range tank they have to go to him. Thus if they do, you need that tank to be able up melee also. Making los better choice with high T and both savage melee and range

Lord of skulls wants to be in melee, though.
Forge fiends don’t.

I can't testify to what is competitively effective, but I have a warp forge in a campaign that players can discover... So there will be Slaanesh marked warpsmith who is the marshall to a noctolith crown, a pair of Forge fiends and a Helldrake.

I’ve had alright results having him follow a Land Raider. If it’s Nurgle, you can let your opponent get a few lascannon hits on it before dropping the invisibility strat, then heal up, whilst keeping the lascannons hitting on 2’s. Or if you fail a Ld test he can fix it. Main thing is have a few vehicles to hand - a helbrute and either a fiend or vindicator - so that if your opponent came loaded for bear, he’s not going to be left without a big mate to hand around with.

I’d say if you’re taking a Lord of Skulls it’a probably worth your while bringing him just for the +1 to hit, if he keeps it going longer even better.