Since the release of the Heavensward expansion, the tips/hints on rotations in Part 2 of the guide no longer applies. Each level beyond lvl 50 significantly changes your rotations for each of the old 1 star to 4 star items. e.g. by the time you reach level 53 or 54, you can easily 3 shot an old 3 star item with plain Careful Syn II. i70 Artisan Offhand, i60 Artisan Apron and other meldable i60 gear are no longer BiS (Best in Slot). So don't bother with Mastercraft Demimateria, Ehcatl Sealants or excessive overmelds anymore. All you need is pretty much just lvl up, and you can already handle any starred items with ease. The Lucis tool is still a great thing to have. If you have it, or very close to having it, you should get it. It's going to help a lot, because it has very impressive powers and can be worn as early as level 50 (and its dye-able, gigantic in size, and sooo pretty!). The Lucis tools can pretty much take you through lvl 50 to 57/58. But if you are not close to having Lucis, then don't bother. Just level up first, and make use of the new tools from Heavensward.

Part 1 of this guide still have a lot of valuable information for young rising crafters who have not reached lvl 50 yet.

As for post-lvl 50 crafting in Heavensward, please visit Part 3 of this guide:

FF14 Advanced Crafting Guide (Part 3 Heavensward) by Caimie Tsukino

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ff14-advanced-crafting-guide-part-3-heavensward-by-caimie-tsukino.156/

RETURN!

This is Caimie! I have returned for Storm Blood! The Survey Corps (AoT) on Zalera is still as prosperous as it has been, and is actively recruiting. Our FC house is located at Uldah Goblet Ward 1 Plot 5, and my former personal house at Ward 1 Plot 1 (#1 house in Uldah Goblet) has been transferred to Lukah Killu, a very lovely and competent lady who is now taking part in leading AoT. If you're interested in joining, please feel free to contact any of the AoT members, such as Lukah Killu, Elaine Strachan, Gnari Vah'mahl, Zavanis Lumireis, Birdy Rei, Nabeshin Nabeeeeshinn, Burnin Gundam, Darth Rok, Michiro D'bb, Hisoka, Asellus, Mar'ina etc. AoT always welcomes friendly people joining! :cat:

Warmest hugs,

Caimie

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FF14 Advanced Crafting Guide by Caimie Tsukino

-= A Tribute to All my Fellow Crafters =-

“The best crafter is not the one with the best stats, but the one who makes the best use of one’s stats” – Caimie Tsukino

Preface

This guide will be slightly different from most basic crafting guides. Apart from some basic information & mechanics, this guide is intended to be a "Crafting Encyclopedia" to inspire rising crafters to achieve a higher level of understanding in crafting. It may be longer & wordier, but in the end I hope someone can benefit from my experience, avoid the mistakes that I made, and able to succeed and enjoy end-game crafting in FF14.

As of June 2015, I have received some comments about how the rotations in this guide are vague / not well-presented. Well, what rotation?? My guide doesn't have a "Rotation Chapter" at all!! It is something that I intentionally did here. If you came here to look for rotations, you have come to the wrong place. I do have a "Ch12: Generating a Crafting Rotation" here, but it doesn't throw rotations at your face, or it will just spoil your game. In addition, I don't see copy & pasting rotations as a short-cut to success. Thus, my guide aims at inspiring you to create your own rotations. I may have some rotations listed in spoiler tags, but that's about it. All other things in there are just "hints/tip" to help you develop your own rotations. I recommend people reading the Cross Class Skills description in details (Ch10) & the chapter about generating rotations (Ch12). For starred items, Ch 27 in Part 2 should have given you enough hints. These hints should be sufficient for you to explore & build your own rotations.

It is 25th Aug 2017 today, and I can see that this guide is still very popular among learning crafters. I decided to update it, so the information provided will be more accurate.

Ch1: A Reason to Craft

What is the point of crafting? Why should I take up a crafting job?

(1) I want to be able to make my own gear/weapons that benefit my main DoW/DoM class!

(2) I want to make more gil and be rich!

(3) I want to make cute minions & beautiful furniture for my FC house!

(4) It seems fun! I think I like it!

All these are valid reasons, but each will lead you to a different path...

If (1) is your reason, you need to understand that, although HQ (High Quality) crafted gear are better than the free NQ (Normal Quality) ones you get from your main story quests, most crafted gear are not as powerful as those obtained from loot-rolling in dungeons. Almost any green/pink (background color) gear will slightly outmatch a HQ crafted gear of the same level. But since all the loots in dungeons have to be "rolled", you can’t expect to get everything from dungeons! Therefore, at lower levels, HQ crafted gear becomes a wonderful supplement for items you cannot obtain from dungeons. After your DoW/DoM is level 50, you'll be buying most of your gear with tomes (Tomes of Poetics) from Mor Dhona. Poetics gear (i120) can be further upgraded to i130 using more Poetics tomes to buy Carbontwine/ Carboncoat, and exchange at the NPC "Drake" who stands right next to Gerolt in North Shroud. Any Poetics gear (i120 or i130) will be stronger than a crafted gear (at most i110 or i115 for level 50) for a level 50. However, collecting tomes can be a very slow process. Thus, crafted gear can speed up the process by a lot, allowing faster increase of average item level (avg ilvl), which in turn allowing you to proceed quicker to higher dungeons and trials. Another cool feature about crafted gear is that they can attach "materia" to tweak your stats (Materia gear guide: http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/how-to-use-materia-to-tweak-stats-of-end-game-gears.38/). But the effort to make those items is enormous. You need to be close to an all-50 crafter, and you need to fully meld the HQ crafted gear with the best materia before you can enjoy the benefit.

If (2) is your reason, you need to understand that, although crafting can make more gil, it can also drain your gil. It’s like an investment… the more time & gil you put into crafting, the better stats you’ll acquire and the more expensive items you can craft to sell. The investment you need to make at end-game is in the amount of millions, but the gil return is also in the amount of millions. So think about this carefully, because along the way, you could be very poor depending on how much gil you spend on powering your crafting. If you stop investing gil at a point, you will have a very stable income, but your stats & income will stop increasing.

If (3) is your reason, then you can pretty much ignore the word “HQ” in crafting. For minions & furniture, there is no difference between HQ vs NQ. All you need is just completing the item. However, furniture of the highest level is still quite hard to make if you do not have ALL crafting classes at level 50. If you’re careless, you can lose a lot of precious crafting materials. It is recommended that you at least have Waste Not (LTW lvl 15), Piece by Piece (ARM lvl 50), Ingenuity II (BSM lvl 50) & Careful Synthesis II (WVR lvl 50).

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If (4) is your reason, then, WRONG! It’s not “it seems fun”! It IS fun!!! And you will LOVE IT! Why? Because crafting is like puzzle solving. You get a lot of satisfaction when you beat a tough puzzle. It is also solely dependent on just yourself. You don’t need to rely on anyone else in the game. It’s all in YOU! Furthermore, when you finished crafting an item, your name is imprinted at the bottom of the stats of it. So having a HQ difficult item with your name on can make you feel very proud. You can keep it, you can wear it, you can give it to someone, or you can sell it! The person who wears the gear will forever be seeing your name there, knowing that YOU are the magnificent crafter who made that gear/weapon.

Ch2: Picking a Few Main Crafting Classes for your DoW/DoM

The game is designed so that all crafting classes are intertwined with each DoW/DoM. You can’t take up just 1 or 2 crafting classes and expect to fully empower your main DoW/DoM. You need almost everything (except Culinarian) if you want to make all your gear for a single DoW/DoM. But since the most basic gear in the game are the chest piece, pants & weapons. I’m going to suggest the following as your MAIN crafting classes.

Abbrev for all the crafting classes:

WVR: Weaver

GSM: Goldsmith

LTW: Leatherworker

CRP: Carpenter

ARM: Armorer

BSM: Blacksmith

ALC: Alchemist

CUL: Culinarian

Gladiator (GLA)/Paladin (PLD) -----------> ARM makes armors, BSM makes weapons.

Marauder (MRD)/Warrior (WAR) --------> ARM makes armors, BSM makes weapons.

Pugilist (PGL)/Monk (MNK) --------------> LTW makes chest piece/pants/weapons, BSM makes some weapons.

Rogue (ROG)/Ninja (NIN) -----------------> LTW makes chest piece/pants, BSM makes weapons, ALC makes the final "pre-relic" weapon.

Archer (ARC)/Bard (BRD) -----------------> LTW makes chest piece/pants, CRP makes weapons.

Lancer (LNC)/Dragoon (DRG) ------------> ARM makes armors (LNC lvl 17 to start wearing Haubergeon, lvl 23 to start wearing Scale Mail armor), CRP makes weapons.

Thaumaturge (THM)/Blackmage (BLM) -> WVR makes chest piece/pants, GSM makes weapons.

Conjurer (CNJ)/Whitemage (WHM) ------> WVR makes chest piece/pants, ALC/CRP makes weapons.

Arcanist (ACN)/Summoner (SMN)/Scholar (SCH) -> WVR makes chest piece/pants, ALC makes weapons.

Notice that this is rather subjective… Honestly, you can pick anything you like, and it’s not gonna hurt. Most importantly, if you aim at becoming an "advanced crafter", you'll be aiming at all-50 anyway.

Ch3: The Benefits of Leveling All Crafting Classes to Level 15 for Cross Class Skills

Even if you’re only interested in 1 or 2 crafting classes, the best way to level crafting is really to take up ALL crafting classes at once, and level them all to level 15 before focusing on 1 or 2. This is because you get "Cross Class Skills" at level 15. By achieving all-15, you can acquire all these skills which can be used by ALL crafting classes, and it will make your crafting life a lot easier (See "Cross Class Skills" section below for more details).

(Visit here for a basic guide if you have no idea how to set up your Cross Class Skills: http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/crafting-101.13/)

The game is designed that all crafting classes are inter-dependent on each other at certain areas. So by taking up all crafting classes, the crafted products from one class will support another. E.g. metal ingots from BSM/ARM are constantly used by LTW/CRP, lumbers from CRP are frequently used by BSM, pieces of cloth from WVR are often used in LTW etc. So having more classes is always beneficial. But of course, leveling all crafting classes at the same time is almost impossible at higher levels (unless you’re oh-so-patient). So when you reached a point where you just can’t level them all, you will have to just focus down on a few classes, and buy stuff from market board to support your main crafting classes.

As to which class(es) to level to level 15 first, I would recommend the following:

(1) LTW, for Waste Not

(2) CUL, for Hasty Touch

(3) ALC, for Trick of the Trade

The 3 classes will give you the most important lvl 15 Cross Class Skills to allow you to HQ things at lower levels (For details of how to use these skills, please visit Ch10: Cross Class Skills below.). After getting these 3 to lvl 15, continue with the remaining classes for all lvl 15 Cross Class Skills.

After achieving "All-15" status, you may choose 1 or a few classes to push to lvl 50. If you intend to go into advanced crafting, you will need at least the following lvl 50 Cross Class Skills:

(1) Careful Synthesis II from lvl 50 WVR

(2) Byregot's Blessing from lvl 50 CRP

(3) Ingenuity II from lvl 50 BSM

(4) Innovation from lvl 50 GSM

(and hopefully Steady Hand II from lvl 37 CUL too!)

The remaining lvl 50 Cross Class Skills are also very important, but at least with the above 4 skills, you will be able to construct a basic "Byregot rotation" (see Ch12: Generating a Crafting Rotation), which allows you to start entering "end-game" of crafting.

As of Aug 2017 in Storm Blood, SINGLE CLASS crafters have become more viable. Specialist skills have become more powerful than ever, and regular crafting skills like Careful Syn III, Hasty Touch II, Manipulation II, Rapid Syn II, Prudent Touch etc. have made single class crafters more capable of getting the job done. However, the regular crafting skill "Byregot's Brow" is is still inferior to lvl 50 Carpenter's "Byregot's Blessing" when Inner Quiet stack is 6 or above. Also, although the regular crafting skill "Careful Syn III" is more powerful than lvl 50 Weaver's "Careful Syn II" and "Hasty Touch II" has a higher success rate than lvl 15 CUL's "Hasty Touch", "Careful Syn III" and "Hasty Touch II" are not CP-FREE skills. So they're not exactly completely replaced by their old cross class counterparts. Moreover, cross class skills like lvl 50 Armorer's Piece by Piece, lvl 50 Blacksmith's Ingenuity II and lvl 50 Alchemist's Comfort Zone received no replacements in Storm Blood, and yet they're still very regularly being utlized. Thus, many of these level 50 cross class skills are still a big bonus to have in Storm Blood. In summary, although one does not need to be an All-70 to be an effective crafter in Storm Blood, I would still highly recommend one getting at least All-50 status (Muscle Memory from lvl 54 CUL and Maker's Mark from lvl 54 Goldsmith are also recommended to obtain).

Ch4: The Importance of WVR & BSM to Crafting

The main sources of a crafting class's "craftsmanship" stats come from the mainhand tool, offhand tool & chest piece. WVR makes most of the chest pieces & pants for most of the crafting classes & gathering classes, and some hats & gloves too. Having a good WVR just makes life so much easier for crafting. Similarly, BSM makes all kinds of mainhand/offhand tools, and it’s just so beneficial to all crafting & gathering classes. I’m not saying the other classes are not important (GSM makes accessories, ARM makes CUL & ALC tools, CRP makes some boots, LTW makes belts, some boots, clothes & hats), but WVR & BSM are just wonderful to have.

Ch5: The Importance of CUL & food

People tend to neglect & underestimate the power of food. At levels as low as 10 to 15, perhaps it’s not that important. But eventually, you’ll learn that having good food feels like having an extra 10% power for everything (crafting, gathering, dungeons etc). And you level 3% faster for everything too. The most important of all is that you get Steady Hand II at level 37 CUL (see Ch10: Cross Class Skills). This is one of the most important cross class skills you’ll ever learn.

If you don't have access to good food yet, or if you don't feel like wasting your expensive crafting food. You can still use a STONE SOUP at any time. It cost only 37 gil, but it adds up to 17 CP for 30 min, which can be very powerful when you try to HQ something. Do not underestimate the power of 17 more CP. At end game crafting, veteran crafters pay millions of gil just to overmeld 1 to 2 more CP onto their gear. That's right, 1 or 2 CP can actually mean something to a master crafter. So please don't complain about a easy 17 CP. In addition, it adds 3% bonus exp, which is very nice. Don't underestimate the power of 3% bonus as well. When you're leveling so many classes from 1 to 70, 3% bonus exp is A LOT.

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Stone Soup - 37 gil for 17 extra CP, plus faster leveling! Why not? Stone Soup is sold by Alehouse Wench at Buscarron's Druthers (South Shroud 17, 19) and Grege at the Gold Saucer main counter.

Ch6: Gathering Classes to Support Crafting

Unless you are already a billionaire, it is quite important that you take up at least 1 gathering class to support your crafting classes. Instead of buying all your mats (crafting materials) from the market board, you can get mats for free if you have gathering classes.

Miner (MIN) supports mainly ----- GSM, LTW, ARM, BSM

Botanist (BTN) supports mainly -- CRP, ALC, WVR, CUL

Fisher (FSH) supports ------------- CUL

(There will be some overlapping.)

It’s a lot of work, but if you think you can handle, feel free to take up more than 1 gathering class. Having a gathering class also means that you can have a gathering retainer to do the work for you using ventures, which will also benefit your crafting & income too.

As a quick reminder, please explore each of the crafting guild's mat supplier & vendors at market place for cheap crafting mats. Don't do what I did: I once bought a Chicken Egg from the market board for 300 gil when I could have bought it at the vendor right next to the market board for 5 gil.

Ch7: Retainers to Support Crafting

Retainers provide storage space, sell items on the market, and gather raw mats to empower our crafting via "ventures". It is very beneficial to own lvl 50 retainers as they can help gather a great variety of things including shards & crystals for crafting.

We can have 2 retainers for FREE in the game. But we can all have up to 4 retainers if we just pay an extra ~$2 per month in our S-E subscription.

I have 2 lvl 50 MIN retainers, 1 lvl 50 BTN retainer, and 1 lvl 50 hunter retainer (Pugilist. Retainers cannot acquire Monk job. They cannot equip soul crystal. For this reason, we should save up a set of i100+ gear for our hunter retainer). It seems to work optimally for me, since this arrangement covers everything. If you don't plan to have 4 retainers, set 1 retainer as either a MIN or BTN, and set the other 1 as a hunter.

To unlock the venture function of retainers and details of how to do ventures, please see:

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Retainer_Ventures or

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Retainer_Ventures

IMPORTANT!

Keep in mind that both hunter & gatherer retainers can only be 5 levels below yourself, except when you're lvl 50, which they can reach lvl 50. Due to this reason, it is of utmost importance that you set your hunter retainer same as your main DoW/DoM, ideally a class at lvl 50. For the gathering retainer, set it to the same class as your strongest DoL. DO NOT try to diversify by setting your retainer to a BTN if you're a MIN. It won't work!

For hunter retainers (DoW/DoM), their average ilevel matters a lot. I suggest you get them to at least avg ilvl 80+ when they reach lvl 50 (need ilvl 85+ to get Silver Dye. ilvl 90+ can get rare minions.). For MIN/BTN, the stats "GATHERING" is what matters.

Many people don't know, you can actually buy extra unique untradable mainhand gathering/crafting tools (blue background tools, obtained from guild masters by completing lvl 50 class quests) from the Calamity Salvager. E.g. If you're a MIN, and you own a Mammon, you can give the Mammon to your retainer, and then buy a new one for yourself from the Calamity Salvager. This way, you can dramatically increase your retainers' gathering stats. For me, I even did some melding of gathering materia on my retainers' gear. Before I did these things, my lvl 50 MIN retainer was only bringing me 20 level 45-50 items per run. But after I gave her a Mammon & some materia melds, she brings back 30 items per run.

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The Mammon & Rauni (Level 50 Class Quest Reward). Extra Mammons /Rauni can be easily bought from the Calamity Salvager (Location: Limsa 11, 14; Uldah 12, 13; Gridania 10, 8) for your retainer.

Ch8: The Basic Mechanics of Crafting

I shall start off with some basic information here first. I'll try to run through them as brief as possible, then we'll proceed to the more advanced sections.

As everyone knows, crafting is simply: Within a given amount of durability (durab), use touches to hit 100% on the quality bar & use synthesis to hit 100% on the progress bar to complete the craft. 100% quality bar will guarantee you an HQ item (high quality), which has better stats than an NQ one (normal quality). A crafter has 3 kinds of stats: "Craftsmanship" contributes to the strength of your synthesis, "Control" contributes to the strength of your touches, and "CP" (Crafting Points) allows you to use different crafting skills. The RNG (random number generator) of FF14 is your greatest enemy. You can hit 96% quality, and it can sometimes still give you NQ more often than you expect. So you should always try your best to hit 100% quality.

- A graph showing how HQ rate is calculated from the % completion of the Quality Bar. When the Quality Bar is 50% filled, you only get 15% HQ success rate. However, an exponential increase occurs when the Quality Bar is between 70% & 80%. After that, it slows down again. When the Quality Bar reaches 95%, the HQ rate becomes somewhat linear.

Ch9: Basic Crafting Skills

These are skills that you will acquire in ANY crafting class. Their usages are very straight forward, and can easily be understood just by playing the game. If you have trouble understanding what the basic crafting skills do (like Great Strides, Steady Hand, Inner Quiet, Basic Synthesis etc), please visit the basic crafting guides:

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/basic-crafting.8/

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/crafting-101.13/

If you need further explanations to what "Inner Quiet" does, please visit:

http://ffxivrealm.com/threads/doh-cross-class-abilities.6948/#post-158506

Before you have acquired your "Cross Class Skills" (see below), you can still do well in crafting. There are some very basic tricks you can do, like the method of "baiting for conditions". Please see:

"Tricks" for beginner crafters lvl 20 or lower

Ch10: Cross Class Skills

These are skills that you will acquire at level 15, 37 & 50 of each crafting class. Each crafting class has its own unique "Cross Class Skills". As its name suggests, once a Cross Class Skill is acquired, it can be shared by all crafting classes. If you don't know how to set up Cross Class Skills for other classes, please visit 1 of those Basic Crafting Guides listed above.

As listed in Ch3 earlier,

the most important level 15 Cross Class Skills are:

(1) Waste Not, from lvl 15 LTW

(2) Hasty Touch, from lvl 15 CUL

(3) Trick of the Trade, from lvl 15 ALC

After these, you should acquire Manipulation (GSM 15), Careful Synthesis (WVR 15), Rapid Synthesis (ARM) and all other level 15 skills.

The most important level 37 Cross Class Skill is:

Steady Hand II, from lvl 37 CUL

And the most important level 50 Cross Class Skills are:

(1) Careful Synthesis II from lvl 50 WVR

(2) Byregot's Blessing from lvl 50 CRP

(3) Ingenuity II from lvl 50 BSM

(4) Innovation from lvl 50 GSM

OK, enough basics. We’re now moving on to advanced mode… I am not just going to explain how to use these Cross Class Skills in the most basic terms, but I’m also going to explain how these skills can benefit higher levels of crafting… hopefully giving the reader some inspiration.

Level 15 Cross Class Skills:

Waste Not (LTW) (56 CP) (a.k.a. WN)

Arguably the best level 15 cross class skill, Waste Not lets you consume only 5 durability for touch/synthesis for the next 4 steps. So Waste Not basically breaks down 20 durab into 4 pieces, so that you decrease only 5 durab for each touch/syn. This is probably the most CP-efficient way to add more touches/syn at lower levels. Beginners will soon learn that this skill is much better than Master's Mend. The cool thing about WN in advanced crafting is that you can leave 5 durab hanging. Let’s say, if you have 15 durab left when a WN is over, it’s actually equal to having 20 durab (See WN Case 1 & 2 below). Taking a “Trick of the Trade” (ALC lvl 15. See below) under WN is of course not ideal, as it consumes a step, but usually 1 Trick is ok, as it leaves the 5 durab hanging. This skill is extremely powerful for any 80 durab items, even for 2 star items.

WN Case 1:

Inner Quiet

Steady Hand

Waste Not (40 durab left)

Basic Touch (35 durab left)

Basic Touch (30 durab left)

Basic Touch (25 durab left)

Basic Touch ( 20 durab left) (WN ends)

Great Strides

Steady Hand

Basic Touch (10 durab left)

Basic Synthesis (0 durab left)

WN Case 2:

Inner Quiet

Steady Hand

Waste Not (40 durab left)

Basic Touch (35 durab left)

Trick of the Trade (35 durab left)

Basic Touch (30 durab left)

Basic Touch (25 durab left) (WN ends)

Steady Hand

Basic Touch (15 durab left)

Great Strides

Standard Touch (5 durab left)

Basic Synthesis (0 durab left)

- In both WN Case 1 & 2, you're able to touch 5x & syn 1x. But in Case 2, you're able to take in a Trick of the Trade for an extra 20 CP, which allowed you to substitute the last Basic Touch (under Great Stride) with a Standard Touch (of which its power is doubled because of the Great Strides before it).

IMPORTANT:

Be very careful if you plan to use WN TWICE in a rotation though. If you have already taken a Trick in the 1st WN, leaving 5 durab hanging, you cannot take another Trick in the 2nd WN. Else, the 5 durab will be "neutralized", and you actually lose a touch. This means your 2nd WN would only have bought you 1 extra touch instead of 2 with that 56 CP spent. Anyway, an alternative to using WN multiple times would actually be Master's Mend II (MM II) if you have enough CP for it. MM II is actually more CP efficient than WN. However, it has to be an item with more than 60 durability. And you gotta make sure you have enough CP to do everything else after performing MM II.

Special case when a Good pops right before you use Waste Not

Usually, you always want a Steady Hand (or Steady Hand II) to be activated right before it, so that the Steady Hand covers all 4 steps of WN. However, if a "Good" condition pops right after you used Steady Hand, and you insist on taking a Trick of Trade, then the last step of Waste Not will not be covered by the Steady Hand. Thus, it is important to understand your current need. If you really need CP, you CAN actually take the Trick of Trade. See below:

WN Case 3:

Normal ------ Steady Hand

Normal ------ Waste Not

Normal ------ Hasty Touch

Good --------- Trick of Trade

Normal ------ Hasty Touch

(3 touches completed, durab decreased by 15)

WN Case 4:

Normal ------ Steady Hand

Good --------- Trick of Trade

Normal ------ Waste Not

Normal ------ Hasty Touch

(3 touches completed, durab decreased by 15)

(1 more step of Waste Not still active and not covered by Steady Hand. But we abandon this step.)

Both Case 3 & 4 give exactly the same outcome. Thus, it is ok to to take a trick between Steady Hand & Waste Not, as long as you sacrifice 1 step of WN.

Keep in mind if you used the method in WN Case 4, you should NOT be taking another Trick if another Good pops during WN. Otherwise, you lose a step of touching.

If CP is not an issue, and if your planned to use all Basic Touches under WN anyway paired with a Steady Hand II to reach 100% fidelity, then I actually suggest not to take any Trick in the whole WN phase. This way, you can guarantee 4 successful touches covered by the Steady Hand II, instead of just 3.

Manipulation (GSM) (88 CP)

Restoring 10 durab after each step for the next 3 steps. This skill has some similarities with Waste Not. Both skills can reduce the decrease of durab so that you can touch more. So why is this requiring 32 more CP? That’s because there are a few things Manip can do, but WN cannot.

1st e.g., to utilize a Waste Not (WN), you need 20 durab, and you can touch 4x in there. But if you use Manip, you can touch 4x, and your durab will only decrease by 10 (See Manip Case 1 - 3 below).

2nd e.g., if you do something like a Steady Hand or Trick of Trade in the middle of Manip (which doesn’t consume durab), you will actually GAIN 10 durab, provided your durab is not currently at max.

3rd e.g., If you activated Steady Hand, and is about to use WN, but a Good condition popped, you can’t really make use of the condition. If you don’t immediately use your WN, you won’t have the following 4 touches covered under the Steady Hand. But for Manip, you have flexibility. After you use Steady Hand, if you get a Good condition, you can touch first to make use of the Good, and then do you Manip after. At the end you’ll still only lose 10 durab from 4 touches (See Manip Case 1 - 3 below). This skill is not so great at low levels when CP is a big issue, but it is particularly important for starred 40 durab items.

Manip Case 1:

Condition

Normal ------ Steady Hand II

Good --------- Waste Not

Normal ------ Basic Touch

(durab decreased by 20)

Manip Case 2:

Condition

Normal ------ Steady Hand II

Good --------- Manipulation

Normal ------ Basic Touch

(durab decreased by 10)

Manip Case 3:

Condition

Normal ------ Steady Hand II

Good --------- Basic Touch

Normal ------ Manipulation

Normal ------ Basic Touch

(durab decreased by 10)

- In Manip Case 1, the position of WN is inflexible. Therefore, you cannot make use of the "Good" condition for touches. In Case 2, Manip is used, and it results 10 less decrease of durab. In Case 3, the position of Manip is moved, so the 1st Basic Touch was able to take advantage of the "Good" condition. The resulting durab decrease is unchanged in the end.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT use Manip when your durab is down to 10 or 5. Manip restores 10 durab AFTER each step. If you're only 1 step from having 0 durab, your item will reach 0 when you touch, and botch before Manip restores the 10 durab. The only exception is if you know you will immediately use a skill that does not consume durability after the Manip, like Steady Hand II. Then it's OK to let durab fall to 10 or 5 before using Manip.

Hasty Touch (CUL) (0 CP) (a.k.a. HT)

Yes, I know this skill has only 50% success rate. But it’s equal to a Basic Touch that requires no CP, and that just makes it useful in many ways. Most of the time, you wanna pair this up with Steady Hand (+20% success), or even better, with Steady Hand II (CUL lvl 37) (+30% success). Sometimes, you spent all your CPs, but still have some extra durability left. Then it really doesn’t hurt to test your luck even if you use it without Steady Hand. This skill is not that useful for 1 star & 2 star crafting due to its low fidelity, but it’s indispensable for 3 & 4 star crafting, when CP is a big issue.

Careful Synthesis (WVR) (0 CP) (a.k.a. CS)

Everyone knows the pain of Basic Syn having only 90% success rate. That 10% always gets to you at the wrong time, right? Well, sometimes you can get away with Careful Syn. It provides only 90% progress, but it has 100% fidelity. You can back-calculate to see if you can finish your craft with CS. Let’s say you know your Basic Syn gives 84 progress. Then 90% of 84 would be 75.6. Remember this: ALWAYS round off to the lower number, so in this case, CS gives 75 progress. If you can do your math right, you can use less Basic Syn. Therefore, in some cases, you may use one less Steady Hand and save 22 CP for an extra Basic Touch instead of a Hasty T. This skill, however, is completely replaced by Careful Syn II when you acquire it at WVR 50.

Trick of the Trade (ALC) (gain 20 CP) (a.k.a. TT)

Trading a Good condition for 20 CP. We all love CP! It’s like free food! Everyone loves it! This skill is extremely helpful in so many ways, especially in 3 & 4 star crafting. But just be careful where you take your TTs. Over-taking of TTs at the wrong time will ruin your chances of touching. It’s like eating too much free pizzas, and you’ll end up getting sick.

Rumination (CRP) (0 CP)

Rumination turns an Inner Quiet stack into CP. At low levels, before you have Byregot’s Blessing, this is very useful. Together with a few lucky Tricks of T, Waste Not, Hasty T & Master Mend, you’ll be able to significantly lengthen your crafting rotation… and longer crafting rotation just means bigger chance of having more TTs, thus you’ll end up with a lot more CP and touch more in the process. You can have fewer than 250 CP, and still capable of touching 9 to 10 times on a 40 durab item (See spoiler below). Rum can just make the impossible become possible! Nevertheless, after you have acquired Byregot’s Blessing, you can completely ditch Rum. Both Rum & Byregot use up the IQ stack, so you can only pick either one, and Byregot is just better.

IQ=1: 15 CP

IQ=2: 24 CP

IQ=3: 32 CP

IQ=4: 39 CP

IQ=5: 45 CP

IQ=6: 50 CP

IQ=7: 54 CP

IQ=8: 57 CP

Caimie's old school Rumination rotation before having Byregot:

Spoiler Alert! (open)

Ingenuity (BSM) (24 CP)

Ingen lowers an item level so that both quality & progress are increased per touch or syn. It helps if you have no other skills to use, or if you're just lacking a tiny bit of craftsmanship to complete an item in 1 or 2 shots of synthesis. But the impact is small. So it's not a very useful skill in general. And when Ingen II kicks in at BSM lvl 50, Ingen I is almost completely replaced. Ingen II, however, is nearly necessary for anything beyond 1 star.

Rapid Synthesis (ARM) (0 CP)

50% chance of increasing progress by 250%. It’s more of a life saver to mend an error. It's not bad to have it in your arsenal if you have extra spaces in your cross class skill slots. But given a choice, I wouldn’t choose to use it even under Steady Hand II. [Note: Since Patch 2.4, this skill seems to be a valid tool to use for 4 star crafting or the making of i95 primal weapons (3.5 star), see Ch27.]

Level 37 Cross Class Skills:

Steady Hand II (CUL) (25 CP) (a.k.a. SH II)

Increase success rate by 30% in the next 5 steps. This is pretty much the only important level 37 cross class skill, and it’s really worth your effort to get it. The extra 10% of success rate over Steady Hand is enormous. With this, you can have 100% fidelity with Basic Touches. DO NOT underestimate the importance of BTs. Some people tend to neglect BT when they have acquired Standard & Advanced Touch. But you need to know that having many BTs in a rotation is the key to a strong Byregot's Blessing. Therefore, 100% fidelity for your BTs means 100% fidelity for your Byregot's powers. It makes the HQ-ing of your items more consistent & predictable. SH II also makes your Hasty T slightly more secure than using SH, reaching up to 80% success rate, which is critical for 3 & 4star crafting.

[IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG]

Brand of Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Earth (15 CP) (now only 6 CP since Heavensward!)

All these elemental synthesis… you can forget them for now. There are very few items in this game that has elemental aspects. Below ilvl 50, the only ones are the "Vintage" items. Any crafted items that starts with the word “Vintage", will have an elemental aspect. Progress of elemental items are HALVED. In such a case, elemental synthesis could help. But keep in mind that these Elemental Brands takes up 15 CP. If you have all those lvl 15 cross class skills above, you really don’t need these Brands of whatever. Just make sure you realize you need to save TWICE as much durability as you usually do on items of same level. [Note: Since Patch 2.3, these Brands can be used for crafting the i95 primal weapons (3.5 star items, see Ch27). These Brands are still useless before you reach that point though. And if you have over 453 craftsmanship, it's still better to avoid them.]

(NOTE: This skill is now VERY useful in Heavensward! Please visit Part 3 of this guide.)

Flawless Synthesis (15 CP) (GSM)

a.k.a. Useless Synthesis.

(NOTE: This skill is now VERY useful in Heavensward! Please visit Part 3 of this guide.)

Level 50 Cross Class Skills:

Waste Not II (LTW) (98 CP) (a.k.a. WN II)

Decreasing durab by half in the next 8 steps. Even though the 98 CP consumption makes it seem like something better than Waste Not (56 CP for 4 steps), in reality it's actually not. The problem of this skill comes from its inflexibility. Once it's activated, you need to do as much as possible within those 8 steps. As your SH/SH II only lasts 5 steps. There will be a few steps within WN II that are not covered by SH/SH II. If you spend a step for an extra SH, and then another step for TT, then you're left with only 6 steps. I mean, potentially, you could do SH II, WN II, touch x4, SH II, touch x3. But honestly, there are better rotations than this. In WN, you spend 56 CP, and it lasts 4 steps. So it's equal to 14 CP per step. In WN II, you spend 98 CP, but if it only last 7 steps (due to an extra SH inside), it's still equal to 14 CP anyway. If you take a TT, and end up with 6 steps, it's equal to 16.3 CP per steps, so you might as well use WN instead. Thus, even though this is theoretically the most CP efficient skill, in reality it is perhaps the most useless level 50 Cross Class Skill. (In Heavensward, this skill has become useful for some macros. But it's not necessary.)

Innovation (GSM) (18 CP)

Increases base control by 50% for the next 3 steps (including control gained from food, but excluding control gained from Inner Q). Needless to say, this skill is golden. The best combo I love is Great S, SH, Innov, Adv T, Great S, Adv T, Great S, SH, Innov, Adv T. If you have sufficient stats, it’s one of the fastest ways to push quality up on a low level item within 3 touches. Apart from this quick 3 touch use, Innov is also a wonderful skill to be used before a Byregot. If planned well, sometimes you can even share one Innov between the Byregot and the touch before the Byregot by fitting a Great Strides in between.

Careful Synthesis II (WVR) (0 CP) (a.k.a. CS II)

100% success rate, 120% progress. Can anything get better than this? Once you have this, you can completely substitute the Basic Syn button for any level 50 crafting class with this. Congrats! You can now remove the ever-annoying Basic Syn button (a.k.a. BS button, yes, it’s absolute BS) for eternity!

Comfort Zone (ALC) (66 CP) (a.k.a. CZ)

Investment of 66 CP, but gain back 8 CP for each step in the next 10 steps, i.e. gaining back 80 CP, resulting in a net gain of 14 CP in the end. When my friend first got this, she was like, “This is so useless! All that hard work for ALC 50 just for a few CP? I regret taking ALC!” I was like, “Are you serious? 14 CP is a lot!” At high levels of crafting, even 1 CP is important. We overmeld materia like crazy on our gear just to squeeze out that 1 extra CP. So pls don’t complain about a free 14 CP. I can’t say CZ is necessary, but it is very important for anything beyond 1 star. In 3 & 4 star crafting, think about using this 2x! Just be VERY careful to make sure you have enough steps to gain back the invested CP. If you miss 1 step, you only get back 72 CP, thus only a net gain of 6 CP. If you miss 2 steps, you actually lose 2 CP with this skill.

Byregot’s Blessing (CRP) (24 CP) (a.k.a. BB)

Increases quality at 100% efficiency, plus 20% for each bonus to control granted by Inner Quiet, performed at a success rate of 90%... Turning a big IQ stack into a single ultra-powerful touch at the cost of only 24 CP. BB is almost every crafter’s favorite. I call this the “Kamehameha” (google this if you don’t know what it is) of crafting. It’s true! You build up a stack of IQ, set up different buffs like Great S, Innov, Ingen etc., then BOOM, you send out your BB and fill up like half the quality bar all the way till 100%. It is definitely a skill that is cool as hell. This is a critical skill for anything beyond 1 star.

Kamehameha! (open)

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Ingenuity II (BSM) (32 CP)

Decrease item level for the next 5 steps, resulting in the increase of the power of both touches & synthesis. While WN is better than WN II, Ingen II is actually better than Ingen. You can get away with not using Ingen or Ingen II for 1 star 80 durab items. But you can’t get away with Ingen II for 1 star 40 durab, 2 star or higher. The more difficult an item is, the more important this skill becomes. The bonus quality it adds is small, but the progress per synthesis is almost doubled with Ingen II for 1 & 2 star items.

Piece by Piece (ARM) (15 CP)

Completing 1/3 remaining progress in one step at 90% success rate, ignoring craftsmanship and/or buffs. This skill was useless before Patch 2.2, since everything could be one or two-shotted under Ingen II back then. Probably that’s why they made it useful now for 3 & 4 star crafting. Don’t try to use this skill under Ingen II. It won’t make a difference. This skill is also essential for high level furniture. Without this, you cannot complete the very difficult 3 or 4-star furniture.

Reclaim (CUL) (55 CP)

90% chance of reclaiming your mats when synthesis fails. The idea of retrieving mats may be considered when we deal with much more precious mats for 2 star or 3 star crafting. However, the 2 problems of Reclaim are that it costs WAY too much CP (55 CP) and it only has a 90% success rate. When we deal with 3 star crafting, usually we do not know if we can HQ it or not until we finished our Byregot. But when we actually see our final quality being too low after the Byregot, we'll have no CP left to Reclaim. In contrast, if we try to Reclaim earlier, then it practically consumes all your CP and RUINS the rest of the synthesis (The true art of "Reclaim or not" lies in your ability to predict how much quality you can gain from the Byregot phase depending on how many IQ stacks you have & what buffs you can use with your remaining CP. Please visit the data chart in Ch28 for quality prediction calculations, and then use the graph in Ch8 to predict the final HQ rate. If your final HQ rate is way below 60%, you can consider Reclaim instead of proceeding to the Byregot phase. You may also try using this crafting simulator to help predict the outcome: http://www.ffxivcrafter.com/crafting.php). Sometimes the mats are so precious that it's absolutely devastating when we lose everything from a failed Reclaim. Yet, this is not uncommon with the notorious RNG (my life-time enemy!). I have lost a Cashmere Fleece before with Reclaim. Another friend of mine tried to Reclaim a Cashmere Robe of Casting once, and lost EVERYTHING. So the Reclaim button is asking us: "Do you wanna go on NQ this? Or do you wanna risk losing everything so that you may have a chance to try again?" Is this a useful skill? You decide.

Ch11: Crafting Conditions

During crafting, you will encounter different "crafting conditions". There are 4 types of conditions:

1) Normal

2) Good

3) Excellent

4) Poor

Conditions have nothing to do with synthesis (i.e. progress), and has everything to do with touches (i.e. quality). These are basics, so please visit some basic crafting guides if you need help. Good conditions pops up at about 1/4 chance (which feels like 1/6). Excellentpops up at about 1/20 chance.

Rules of Thumb for Conditions:

Conditions Rule 1 - After a Good condition, it's always followed by a Normal condition.

Conditions Rule 2 - After an Excellent, it's always followed by a Poor, and then a Normal.

Conditions Rule 3 - A touch at a Good condition adds extra 50% CURRENT QUALITY. Innovation, in contrast, adds extra 50% BASE CONTROL. When Inner Quiet (IQ) is 1, they are almost identical. However, when IQ is more than 1, Good condition will always give a higher bonus. Therefore, if you're about to use Innov before a touch but encounters a Good condition, skip the Innov. Even if you plan to have Ingen II after Innov to further buff your Byregot, the bonus coming from a Good condition is still better, provided that the IQ stack is high (like 6 or above). Therefore, usually, Good > Innov + Ingen II.

Conditions Rule 4 - A touch at an Excellent condition gives 4x quality of that from a touch at Normal condition. Therefore, if you're about to use any kind of buff before a touch or a Byregot, even if it's Great Strides or Ingen II, skip it. Do your Byregot first, then use your Ingen II afterward if necessary.

Conditions Rule 5 - A Basic Touch under Good condition (150% efficiency) is more powerful than a Standard Touch under Normal condition (125% efficiency). Therefore, in some situations, it is better to not take a Trick of the Trade, but use the Good condition for a touch if you're not in desperate need of CP.

Ch12A: Generating a Crafting Rotation

Basic crafting rotations usually consists of 4 approaches:

Approach 1 - Before you even have cross class skills, you want to use the "baiting" method to land most of your touches on "Good" conditions. Please see the following mini guide for details:

"Tricks" for beginner crafters lvl 20 or lower

Approach 2 - To be wasteful in CP, but pushes out the strongest touches within the shortest time. Each 10 durab spent will be used to greatly increase quality. This approach is used when you have sufficient stats (i.e. if you're a well-geared level 45 working on a level 30 item).

e.g. of a combo using this approach, where the Innovation is applied onto both Advanced Touches:

Inner Quiet

Great Strides

Steady Hand

Innovation

Advanced Touch

Great Strides

Advanced Touch

This combo burns all your CP fast, but also pushes quality extremely fast by maximizing the strongest quality skills. If you have enough CP, you can repeat this combo twice in a rotation. If you don't have Advanced Touch yet, you can use Standard Touch. And if you don't have Innovation yet, you can skip it.

Approach 3A - To be extremely conserving in CP, by pushing out as many weak touches as possible to build up a high Inner Quiet stack. Then spend most of the CP on recovering durability, and then continue to push out more touches until finally use Rumination to recover one last pool of CP, before finishing up with the last few touches (without Inner Quiet) and synthesis. This approach is used before Byregot's Blessing is acquired.

e.g. of a rotation with this approach please see "Rumination" in the above chapter. It basically utilizes a combo similar to this:

Steady Hand II

Waste Not

Hasty Touch

...where one Hasty Touch could be replaced by Trick of Trade if a "Good" condition pops up.

Approach 3B - To be extremely conserving in CP, by pushing out as many weak touches as possible to build up a high Inner Quiet stack. Then spend most of the CP on a "finisher phase" consisting of 1 or 2 buffed strong touch(es). This approach is also used beforeByregot's Blessing is acquired.

e.g. of a "finisher phase" with 1 touch:

Great Strides

Steady Hand

Innovation

Advanced Touch

e.g. of a "finisher phase" with 2 touches:

Great Strides

Steady Hand

Innovation

Standard or Advanced Touch

Great Strides

Advanced Touch

Approach 4 - To be extremely conserving in CP, by pushing out as many weak touches as possible to build up a high Inner Quiet stack. Then spend most of the CP on a "Byregot phase", where you activate multiple buffs to power-up your Byregot's Blessing, releasing your "Kamehameha". This approach is used after Byregot's Blessing is acquired.

e.g. of a classic "Byregot phase":

Steady Hand

Great Strides

Innovation

Ingenuity II

Byregot's Blessing

(NOTE: Keep in mind that Ingen2 is not that powerful on quality, but particular for progress. Thus, this arrangement above is the most beneficial to progress, as it leaves 4 more steps of Ingen2 after your Blessing so that you can perform 4x Careful Syn II to complete a difficult item.)

e.g. of a "Byregot phase" with a Standard Touch & the Byregot buffed by a single Innovation. The Standard Touch is buffed by an extra Great Strides outside of Steady Hand:

Great Strides

Steady Hand

Innovation

Standard Touch

Great Strides

Byregot's Blessing

e.g. of a "Byregot phase" with a Standard Touch & the Byregot buffed by Ingenuity II & Innovation. This Byregot phase leaves 1 step of Ingenuity II after the Byregot, which can be applied to a synthesis step in the end for completion:

Steady Hand

Ingenuity II

Innovation

Standard Touch

Great Strides

Byregot's Blessing

(NOTE: This arrangement above is particularly good for any items that can be one-shot with a Careful Syn II under Ingenuity II. A good example would be something like "Rose Gold Nugget". But you do need to achieve 324 craftsmanship if you're level 50, or have the crafting class be ABOVE level 50, then you can have less than 324 craftsmanship to one-shot the item under Ingen2.)

Most people have trouble with 40 durability items. If you really need help, I have listed the following as an example of a complex rotation making use of multiple Cross Class Skills for lower level crafters:

SPOILER ALERT! 40 durab rotation here (open)

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Ch12B: Learn to Improvise and Modify Rotations on the Spot

Before I keep talking about crafting, I want to talk about martial arts… or at least “fantasy martial arts”.

Many of you are probably Americans, Australians, Europeans or even Japanese who have never heard of "Jin Yong’s Wuxia novels". Jin Yong (a.k.a. Louis Cha) is a famous Chinese novelist who wrote a number of famous “Wuxia” (fantasy martial arts) novels, and the stories have been so deeply rooted in the Chinese community for over 20 years that they have been publish in many different forms including comics, TV-series, movies etc. One of such novels was “The Smiling, Proud Wanderer”. In this novel series, the protagonist, Linghu Chong, by chance learned a very formidable sword style called “Nine Swords of Dugu” (The Nine Swords of Solitude). To learn the Nine Swords of Dugu, Chong at first had to learn 9 different basic sword techniques. After mastering each technique to its fullest, and able to perform them in “combos”, he was told to FORGET them all… The essence of the Nine Swords of Dugu lies in the ability in detecting the enemy’s techniques’ weaknesses, and then immediately formulates a technique/combo on the spot that targets them. Thus, it’s not bound to any particular forms or combinations, and is ever-changing. People cannot even steal or try to copy Chong’s “Nine Swords of Dugu”, because there was no particular technique or combo to steal from! It also makes the sword style unpredictable in fights. This is a great philosophy that applies not only to martial arts, but even to our real lives.

My philosophy of crafting is very similar. First, we have to grind and learn each individual basic crafting skill or cross class skill. Then we need to understand thoroughly what each skill does, and practice with them. Then we combine them into “combos” for use. When we plan for crafting something, we first have to measure our abilities: Find out what’s the minimum number of secure steps it takes for us to complete the item. Then we draft out a “blue print” (strategic plan)… i.e. a planned rotation that can utilize all our CP to the fullest. But when the actual crafting happens, we have to react on the spot according to the situation.

Take this as an example, if you are a very young level 20-ish Weaver, making a 70 durab item with very limited cross class skills, you can equip yourself with Trick of the Trade, Hasty Touch and Waste Not, and plan a rotation as follow:

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As you can see in these examples, in response to the "Conditions", one has to constantly modify their rotations to make them more powerful.

Do not underestimate your abilities as a crafter just because you are only level 20-ish. It takes some real skills to be a good crafter even at lower levels. The smarter crafter who can improvise will always be slightly stronger than those who cannot.

Ch13: Leveling Crafting Classes

There are many ways to level up your crafting classes. The most common ones include the following:

Ch13A: Tradecraft Leves

The fastest but also the most expensive way to level crafting is by "Leves". You're basically trading your gil for fast EXP (So if you're poor, then don't use this method! You have a choice! Don't do this and then complain about being poor!). Leves for crafting classes are called "Tradecraft Leves", which can be taken from the "Levemete" guy in the Adventure Guild of every major city. The available Tradecraft Leves in each city corresponds to the crafting class which you can pick up from that city. Therefore, GSM, WVR & ALC leves will be in Uldah's Adventure Guild. BSM, ARM, CUL leves will be in Limsa etc.

In Tradecraft Leves, the Levemete will ask you to submit certain crafted items to a particular guy in town or out of town, and you will earn crafting exp in exchange. Any HQ items you submit will earn you double exp. Thus, to conserve your leves allowances, it's always better to submit HQ. However, if you have a lot of leves allowances to spare, and if the NQ just happened to be something that can be easily obtained through certain guild supplier/vendor, you may consider submitting a large amount of NQ items instead.

There are 3 types of Tradecraft Leves:

(1) Repeatable leves: This type of leves usually requests a total of 3 identical items, and then after you submitted them, the guy will ask if you want to submit more. If you pick no, the leves ends here. But if you click yes, you can submit 3 more items. After that, the guy will ask you 1 last time if you want to submit more, and you can submit for the 3rd time. This whole process of 3 submissions will only cost you 1 leves allowance. Hence "repeatable". This type of leves is good if you have a lot of that particular item for submission, like ingots, lumbers or even fishes, which you may have a stack of 30 to 99 in hand. If the requested item is actually a gear/accessory, then it is not so ideal as it'll be very inconvenient to make and carry them. Also, this type of leves tend to give slightly less exp than the other 2 below.

(2) Local leves (non-repeatable): This type of leves requests only 1 item to be submitted to a guy in the same city. This is usually my favorite type of leves, as you don't need to make too many items, and the submission is local, making it convenient. Even though we call it "non-repeatable", you can actually take it as many times as you want. But it'll cost you 1 leves allowance each time.

(3) Traveling leves (non-repeatable): This type of leves requests only 1 item to be submitted to a guy in a nearby town. This type of leves gives the best exp per item, but it can be costly if too much traveling is involved. Similar to local leves, it costs 1 leves allowance each time, but you can do it as many times as you wish.

Ch13B: Grand Company Supply/Provisioning Missions

Apart from Tradecraft leves, Grand Company (GC) supply/provisioning missions are also a great way to level crafting & earn GC seals:

(1) If you hand in an HQ item, the exp & GC seals earned will be doubled.

(2) If the requested item has a gold star marked next to it, then the reward earned is also doubled.

(3) If the item has a gold star, and you hand in HQ, then the reward earned is QUADRUPLED (4x)! And this is one of the fastest way to earn GC seals!

Even after maxing all my crafting classes, I still occasionally do these provisions to earn GC seals. If I am out of time, I'd just do the ones marked with the gold stars.

Ch13C: Crafting Logs

The most solid way to level your crafting classes is the most classic way - just by crafting out every single item on your crafting log. Do not underestimate this. Yes, this is a longer path comparing with Leves, but this is also the most solid way for you to actually learn how to craft. And guess what? You're earning gil through this process instead of burning gil like you do with Leves. Back then, I was a silly noob who didn't even know about the existence of Leves. Thus I leveled 4 classes to level 50 without doing a single leves. But because of that, I became good at crafting, and also earned lot of gil for buying materia. Up until now, the most successful crafters I know are still the ones who actually took the time to craft out every single item on their crafting logs. Most of the time, I used my Miner/Botanist to gather huge amounts of ores/logs, and I would craft out a whole stack of HQ ingots/lumbers (40 durab items). Sure, you can quicksyn too, but quicksyn is also a very wasteful action. It burns though your mats and shards, but only gets about 1/4 of exp comparing to manual crafting when you push quality. I highly recommend you practice your crafting of HQ ingots & lumbers (40 durab item). Sell the HQ ones for gil, use the failed NQ ones for making HQ gear/weapons/tools, going through the crafting log. Then sell all those HQ items as well. You will become a BETTER CRAFTER this way, and you will be EARNING GIL while leveling.

Just remember, if you're leveling crafting classes by crafting, make sure you eat some food to increase exp gain by 3%. Also if you have enough Grand Company Seals, think about buying a "Company-issue Engineering Manual" from the GC. It gives a lot more exp when you craft. If your your FC is willing to spend FC credits, FC buff is also a nice exp bonus (can provide up to 10% bonus exp). Also, wealthy FCs are usually equipped with "crafting stations" in their FC houses. There are 8 different stations for 8 crafting classes. When you click on the corresponding station, you will be given a 10 CP bonus as long as you're level 60 or lower and as long as you stay inside that house.

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- Company-issue Engineering Manual, 1440 GC seals, provides 50% exp gain, with a cap of 20,000 total extra exp provided before vanishing

Ch13D : Ixali Beast Quests

Since Patch 2.3, Ixali Beast Quests have been added in the game. The reasons to do these quests are:

(1) You can get crafting exp if you're not level 50 yet.

(2) You can earn oaknots for buying precious crafting mats (especially Ehcatl Sealant which can only be obtained from the Ixali tribe).

(3) You can get the Ehcatl Smithing Gloves, which saves you from overmelding multiple class-specific end-game gloves.

Unlike other beast quests, Ixali quests consist of much crafting & gathering tasks. You'll be asked to craft many items using the Ehcatl Wristgloves that were given to you at the beginning.

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The gathering tasks only require low level gathering classes, but the crafting part gets pretty hard towards higher ranks.

(Rank 1) Neutral 150

(Rank 2) Recognized 360

(Rank 3) Friendly 510

(Rank 4) Trusted 720

(Rank 5) Respected 990

(Rank 6) Honored 1320

(Rank 7) Sworn

At Respected, you’ll be able to take 3 quests in Mor Dhona. You obtain 1 oaknots per quest, and up to a total of 3 oaknots per day.

At Honored, in addition to the 3 Mor Dhona quests above, you’ll be taking 3 quests in Coerthas Highland, and obtained 6 extra oaknots/day (2/quest). This makes Honored rank able to gain up to 9 oaknots a day.

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At Sworn, you’ll be able to buy Ehcatl Smithing Gloves (10 oaknots) & Ehcatl Sealant (8 oaknots, see later Chapter), which is a key item for obtaining the new Artisan's Offhands/Apron/Mitts/Culottes/Sandals (see Ch25).

Tips for Young Crafters on Ixali Quests

Ixali Tips 1: Use a level 50 crafting class to craft out your quest items, but switch to your lower crafting classes before you hand in your quests. This way, you can easily handle the quests, but gain benefits of exp for your lower classes.

Ixali Tips 2: At Rank 5 (Respected), a handicap will be placed onto you to ban you from using any cross class skills. My way of doing it was to use Weaver. I simply push quality with Great S + Advanced T under Steady H, and then let Careful Syn II finishes up with ease.

Ixali Tips 3: At Rank 6 (Honored), you'll receive either cross class handicap or CP handicap. Things like Isolator Components are quite demanding in quality for the CP handicap that the quests impose on us (Since Patch 2.5, they have significantly reduced the difficulty of Isolator Components. It may be good news for you, but I think they removed even the only challenge in Ixali, making it extremely boring now.). Make sure you DO NOT activate multiple crafting facilities at the same time. The CP handicap will stack, and you’ll end up with like 99 CP if you take up more than 1 crafting facility. After you finished each component, right-click onto the facility icon at the top of your screen to dismiss it before you take up the next component. There will not be enough CP for Comfort Z for these quests, so skip that. Start with Inner Q, and do your best to build a small IQ stack using Steady H II, Waste Not & Hasty T. Take some Tricks if you can, and push out a Byregot with Great S to wrap it up (You may not even need this anymore... too easy now).

PART 2: OUTDATED END-GAME ARR CRAFTING

*Updated 13 Aug 2015

This "Part 2" guide is a continuation of the original Advanced Crafting Guide:

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ff14-advanced-crafting-guide-by-caimie-tsukino.39/

IMPORTANT:

This "Part 2" guide contains information that is OUTDATED, and no longer applied in Heavensward.

For the most up-to-date crafting guide, please visit "Part 3" of Caimie's crafting guide:

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ff14-advanced-crafting-guide-part-3-heavensward-by-caimie-tsukino.156/

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Ch14: Builder of the Realm - The True Beginning of a Crafter

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The REAL FUN of crafting only just begins after you have acquired all level 50s, and obtaining the title "Builder of the Realm". Unlike a DoW/DoM job, which has only a few cross class skills, any level 50 crafting class is allowed to have like 10 cross class skills. Why? Because that’s what high level crafting is all about! It’s all about how you come up with a way to mix & match these skills to HQ that crafted item! This is why the real fun begins only after you have acquired ALL the different Cross Class Skills. You now have all the "tools" you need for your crafting career!

Below is a flow chart for you to see what's coming in your near future:

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Ch15: Acquisition of End-Game Crafting Gear

This may be a difficult task for a fresh lvl 50, or even for a fresh "Builder of the Realm" who does not have the proper gear yet. It's a chicken/egg problem. You need crafting power to craft your own gear so that you have the crafting power.

(1) I recommend buying the Militia Offhand from the Market Board (or asking someone to make it for you). The offhand will provide a lot of extra craftsmanship & control, which will help a lot in the making of 1 star items.

(2) A level 50 WVR will also help a lot here, since a strong WVR can craft a good number of end-game crafting gear.

Your end-game crafting gear are only 1 star 80 durab items (like Weaver's Gibus, Weaver's Gloves, Weaver's Swallowtail etc.), and they're relatively easy comparing to the 1 star 40 durab items (Twinthread, Darksteel Nugget, Hippogryph Leather etc.). Try to gather as much HQ mats as you can and then make your own HQ gear. Even though you may not be able to HQ the Twinthread, you may still be able to HQ your end-game crafting gear. Once you have produced enough gear, your crafting power will be increased much, and you may be able to HQ the 1 star 40 durab mats. And with HQ 1 star 40 durab mats, it'll be a lot easier to HQ the remaining of your end-game gear.

To acquire HQ 1 star 40 durab mats (like HQ Twinthread, HQ Rose Gold Nugget etc). You may choose to directly buy these HQ mats from market board (MB), or you can try to make your own. To make them yourself, it helps to have HQ raw mats (i.e. HQ Crawler Cocoon, HQ Gold Ore etc). Again, to obtain HQ raw mats, you may choose to buy from MB, or you can gather them yourself. To gather HQ raw mats, it requires a geared-up level 50 Miner/Botanist (please visit Caimie's Unspoiled Gathering Guide: http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ff14-unspoiled-gathering-guide-by-caimie-tsukino.53/). Sadly, it runs into a chicken/egg problem again as you need crafting powers to make end-game gathering gear. It is very hard for a fresh level 50 MIN/BTN who does not possess end-game gathering gear to gather Unspoiled Mats. There's no real solution to this. If you have enough cash to buy some HQ raw mats, you may do so and try to make your own gear. Otherwise, it might be easier to send mats to an established crafter so that she/he can help you out a bit. Once your gathering classes are geared up, and you have better access to free raw mats, then you can afford to practice on making HQ Twinthread, HQ Rose Gold Nugget etc. With a better supply of these mats, you should have no problem making all your end-game gear for every class. Visit Ch27 for hints on crafting rotations for all these items.

If you have the Ehcatl Smithing Gloves, you may choose to use this instead of the class-specific gloves. It saves you the trouble of overmelds. The Ehcatl Smithing Gloves can be shared by all classes. It provides 3 more control than fully melded class-specific gloves, but 3 fewer CP.

Ch16: Materia Overmelds (a.k.a. Forbidden Melds) on End-Game Crafting Gear

(*By popular demand, I have written a new Overmeld Guide for both crafting and gathering:

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ffxiv-crafting-gathering-gear-overmelding-guide-by-caimie-tsukino.50/

Feel free to visit the above guide for more information.)

When you are getting close to end-game crafting, it is inevitable that you will need to meld materias onto your final HQ crafting gear.

Question:

What is "Overmeld (or Forbidden Meld)"?

Answer:

Overmeld is to meld more materia onto a gear than the number of materia slots that the gear has.

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In this game, most clothing have only 2 materia slots, accessories have 1 slot, vintage items have 3 slots, and head/chest combined or pants/boots combined armors have 4 slots. However, ANY item that has at least 1 slot actually allows a maximum of 5 materia to be melded on it. Melding of materia into slots is an action that is 100% guaranteed success, while any more melds beyond that are "overmelds", and the chance of success is dramatically reduced. When an overmeld fails, the gear remains intact, but the materia is destroyed.

Overmeld is the worst thing for a crafter. It practically drains all that hard-work money you gain each day within a few minutes.

However, despite being expensive as hell, it is very important that you try your best to max out the stats cap when you overmeld a piece of crafting gear. In the past, we had to overmeld the i55 Class-Specific AF Gear (AF Gear = Artifact Gear, a.k.a. standard end game gear) of all 8 classes, each has 6 pieces of class-specific gear. It was insane, and it put us all into bankruptcy. Fortunate for you new crafters, S-E has now given out a lot of help to avoid the need of doing so.

Your i55 AF hat will later be substituted by the "Artisan's Spectacles (i70)" (see the "Artisan Crafting Tools/Spectacles" chapter below), so it's fine not to meld it to max.

If you have Ehcatl Smithing Gloves, you may skip the meldings of i55 class-specific gloves, and just use the Ixali ones. The Ehcatl gloves provide 3 more control & 3 fewer CP than the fully-melded i55 class-specific gloves. But its advantage is that it can be sharedamong all classes, saving the trouble of melding 8 pairs of gloves.

The old i55 Militia offhand is designed that you cannot max out all the stats, so it becomes a signature item that makes a crafter UNIQUE. You can be high in control or in craftsmanship. You can also add up to 3 extra CP on the offhand if you want (see "The Offhand" chapter below). However, i55 Militia offhand will eventually be replaced by the new i70 Artisan's Offhand. So avoid overspending on overmelding this old offhand. Use only Tier III materia or lower on the Militia.

With the exception of the above (hat, gloves, Militia offhand), you should overmeld the remaining gear to max for ONE CLASS only. Use this 1 class to:

(1) complete the Ixali Beast Quests so that you can acquire the shared Ehcatl Smithing Gloves,

(2) craft out the required HQ 2.5 star turn-in items so that you can acquire the Artisan's Specs (shared, i70), the new "Shared, Unmeldable i70 Artisan's Gear" (Artisan's Gown, Chausses, Artisan's Pattens... a.k.a. "shui70") & Artisan's Mainhand Tools (not shared, i70).

With the above shared gear, you can then escape from the need of overmelding other classes.

In Patch 2.5, the "Shared, Unmeldable i70 Artisan's Gear" (shui70) (Artisan's Gown/ Fingerstalls/ Chausses/ Pattens) were introduced to help crafters avoid the need of melding 8 classes. These new i70 gear are not crafted, but are obtained from Talan at Rev Toll by turning in HQ 2.5 star items, like HQ Silver Brocade. Although these are i70 gear, they are actually weaker than the fully-melded i55 gear by a very slight bit. However, it is a very nice addition to the game because: (i) shui70 is cheap! - acquisition cost is low because you just need to make those turn-in items, and the shui70 require no materia melds; (ii) once acquired, it can be shared by all classes, saving the trouble to overmeld 8 classes' i55 gear. With these gear, the Artisan's Mainhand Tools & Artisan's Specs, one can already proceed to 3 star crafting as long as they have some slight melds on their Militia Offhands.

Since Patch 2.4, "Shared, Meldable i60 Artisan's Gear" (shmi60) (Artisan's Mitts/Culottes/Sandals) have been added to the game (see Ch25). In Patch 2.5, they even added the Artisan's Apron (shared, meldable i60). After melding materia to reach their cap, these shmi60 are currently the BiS (Best-in-Slot) crafting gear that can be shared by all classes, and will replace the i55 class-specific chest/gloves/pants/boots or the shui70. However, the shmi60 are 4 star recipes (see Ch24) that require 3 Ehcatl Sealants (see Ch25, 26) & 1 Mastercraft Demimateria (see Ch21). So it is impossible for a fresh Builder of the Realm to acquire them, unless he/she seeks help from the best crafters on their server. Ehcatl Sealants & Mastercraft Demimateria are very difficult to acquire (see Ch21 Desynthesis & Ch26 Ehcatl Sealant). Furthermore, each fully-melded Artisan's Mitts/Culottes/Sandals only provide 3 extra control over a fully-melded original class-specific i55 gear, thus they're only a slight step up. The Artisan's Apron, however, does provide significantly higher stats than the i55 class-specific chest.

Since Patch 2.4, new Artisan's Offhands (i70) have also been added to the game. In contrast to the Artisan's Mitts/Culottes/Sandals, these new offhands are much more powerful than the old Militia offhands (+32 craftsmanship, +17 control). However, they're 3 star recipes that require 6 Ehcatl Sealants to make. So again, you will need to provide the mats to a strong 3 star crafter to do it for you. These offhands are class-specific, so you will have to meld 8 times for all 8 classes.

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The old Militia Spinning Wheel (HQ) provides 107 craftsmanship & 61 control. The new Artisan's Spinning Wheel (HQ) in Patched 2.4 provides 139 craftsmanship & 78 control. Thus, 32 extra craftsmanship & 17 control... a gigantic leap of power!

Since Patch 2.3, new crafting belt, choker and earrings have been introduced in desynthesis recipes of GSM & LTW (see Ch21 Desynthesis). As you can see from the above table, the stats cap for those items differ from the old accessories.

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The old Raptorskin Merchant's Purse (HQ) does not provide any CP, but can add up to 3 CP from melds. The new Dodore Belt (HQ), similarly, can add up to 3 CP from melds.

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The old Electrum Choker (HQ) comes with 30 CP, with 6 additional CP from melds. The new Rose Gold Choker (HQ) comes with 32 CP, with the same 6 additional CP from melds.

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The old Red Coral Earrings (HQ) comes with 28 CP, with 5 additional CP from melds. The new Mosshorn Earrings (HQ) comes with 32 CP, with 6 additional CP from melds.

In conclusion, these new accessories offer an extra 7 CP comparing with the old ones. Thus, before Patch 2.3, the maximum achievable CP value was 348 (or 391 after using Bouillabaisse HQ). After Patch 2.3, the maximum achievable CP value is 355 (or 398 after using Bouillabaisse HQ).

As mentioned before, each of your crafting gear can add up to 5 materia in total. i55 Class-Specific AF Hat, Chest, Gloves, Pants & Boots (LEFT gear) each has 2 slots for materia that allows melds with 100% success rate. On the 3rd meld, 4th meld & 5th meld, each meld will have your success rate reduced by a lot in a non-linear regression (shown in diagram below). You can imagine you may need about 15 to 20 materia to get the last meld successful. For accessories (RIGHT gear) and the belt, they have only 1 slot, so it's even harder to overmeld.

Technically speaking, tier of materia actually have a slight effect on melding success rate (comparison of the lines in the graph below). However, the difference is as small as 1 to 6%. If you're melding a Tier IV materia on your 1st overmeld, success rate is 29%. If it is a Tier III, it's 35%. If it's a Tier II, 41%. If it's a Tier I, 45%. However, a difference of 4 - 6% in S-E's retarded RNG is almost meaningless. It feels like whatever % you get, you'll still fail a lot anyway.

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Overmeld Rules of Thumb:

Overmeld Rule 1 - Most expensive always goes first - ALWAYS meld the most expensive materia first. Therefore, PLAN all your melds ahead, and determine the sequence of melds according to the prices you see on the Market Board.

Overmeld Rule 2 - Higher tier usually goes first - Materia of higher tier usually goes first because you don’t want to end up melding higher tier material in some late melds, which have a slightly lower success rate than lower tier on the same position. However, Rule #1 > Rule #2. If the lower tier is more expensive, meld the lower tier first.

Overmeld Rule 3 - Avoid using/overusing Tier IV when you can use Tier III or/and Tier II - It is silly to use Competence IV or Command IV when you can get away with 2 lower tier materia of the same type. A Command IV is nearly 20x the price of a Command III + Command I on my server. It’s a lot cheaper to overmeld with the latter method. Spending 20x more may be affordable if you’re only doing this once, but you will soon see that you need to do this many times. You’d be spending 20 million instead of just 1 million. But again, this estimation is based on my server’s materia prices. You should check your market board.

For more information about overmelds, please visit:

Caimie's Overmelding Guide

Ch17: The Offhand

Since Patch 2.4, Artisan's Offhands (i70) have been added to game. However, the cost of these offhands are extremely high due to the requirement of 6 Ehcatl Sealants and because it is a difficult 3 star item. I suggest you stick with the old i55 Militia Offhands first, and have them "partially melded" with Tier III materia or lower only if you plan to transition into the new offhands later. Save all the Tier IV materia for the Artisan's Offhands. Keep doing Ixali Beast Quests to acquire Ehcatl Sealants, until you become a prominent 3 star crafter to take on the task of making your own Artisan's Offhands. Alternatively, once you have collected all the mats, seek help from a very strong 3 star crafter to get you the new Artisan Offhands before you start overmelding with the Tier IV materia.

Overmelding of the old Militia Offhands (i55)

Below are offhand builds that suit the old Militia Offhands - as a mean of TRANSITION before you are able to acquire the Artisan's Offhands.

High Craftsmanship Build (11+ craftsmanship):

Command III (+3 control)

Competence III (+5 craft)

Competence II/III (+4/+5 craft)

(last slot open)

After acquisition of the "Supra Tool", people can have craftsmanship above 415 if they have at least 11 craftsmanship melded on their Militia Offhands. In 3 star crafting, this high craftsmanship results in 75 progress per Careful Syn II under Ingen II, which in turn allows the substitution of a "Piece by Piece" by a Careful Syn II under Ingen II. Normally, it takes 2x PBP + 3x CS II under Ingen II to complete a 3 star item. With 415 craftsmanship, you may use just 1x PBP + 4x CS II under Ingen II. Thus, increasing fidelity, and freeing 15 CP. Together with the extra CP from the new accessories, it's sufficient to use an extra Basic Touch.

Thus, for a high craftsmanship offhand build (11+ craftsmanship), although your touches will be weaker, you will have very high flexibility on ways to craft things.

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- Some of the strongest High Craftsmanship Builds on Militia Offhands that reach 11+ craftsmanship. However, there's no need to make Militia Offhands this strong now because of the new Artisan's Offhands that will eventually replace them.

High Control + Extra CP Build

Command III (+3 control)

Competence III (+5 craftsmanship)

Cunning II or III (+2/+3 CP)

(last slot open)

Although it sounds ridiculous, but I have found a good use for 2 extra CP squeezed out from the offhand in 3 star crafting back in Patch 2.2. It allowed me to substitute one Hasty T with a Basic T when the condition allows. And that just means a lot more fidelity for the final Byregot.

However, since Patch 2.3, the new accessories (Rose Gold Choker & Mosshorn Earrings) offer 7 extra CP. With this change, the 2 or 3 extra CP from offhand no longer give as much an edge. At this point, it seems wiser to add more craftsmanship or control instead.

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- Caimie's favorite offhand build for 3 star crafting back in Patch 2.2 - the "High Control + Extra CP" build. However, the function of the extra CP has diminished in Patch 2.3 due to the extra CP that came from the new Rose Gold Choker & Mosshorn Earrings.

Offhand Rules of Thumbs (old Militia Offhands):

Craftsmanship on Offhand:

(1) 5 craftsmanship = enough for most basic items & 3 star items.

(2) 6 craftsmanship = enough for i95 primal weapons if Supra Tool is acquired (hitting 410 craftsmanship)

(3) 11 craftsmanship = enough for a better rotation for 3 star crafting if Supra Tool is acquired (hitting 415 total craftsmanship).

CP on Offhand:

(1) Before acquisition of Rose Gold Choker & Mosshorn Earrings, 2 extra CP from offhand is beneficial to 3 star crafting.

(2) After total CP has gone over 347 (390 after eating Bouillabaisse HQ), extra CP from offhand is not that beneficial.

Control on Offhand:

- As many as you can get!

Overmelding of the new Artisan's Offhands (i70)

Unlike the old Militia Offhands, due to the strict requirements for 4 star crafting, the new Artisan's Offhands melds are quite inflexible. It's almost a universal thing to meld in the following way to satisfy 4 star requirements:

Command IV (+4 control)

Craftsmanship III/IV (+5/+6 craft)

Craftsmanship III (+5 craft)

(last slot open)

Most of us currently leave the last spot open in case we need certain stats in future patches.

Before Patch 2.5 which the Artisan's Apron was added, the melding of 15 craftsmanship on the Artisan's Offhand results in a total of 451 craftsmanship, just enough to fulfill the minimum requirement for 4 star crafting. The melding of 17 craftsmanship results in a total of 453 craftsmanship, allowing the use of alternative rotations for 4 star crafting & i95 Primal Weapon crafting (see Ch27).

After Patch 2.5, 453 craftsmanship can be achieved with the help of the Artisan's Apron, as well as with the help of the new Lucis Crafting Tools. Thus, you don't have to meld as much as 17 craftsmanship on the Artisan's Offhand anymore to access those alternative rotations. However, I would still recommend melding at least 15 craftsmanship on the offhand, as S-E probably expected us to have at least 15 craftsmanship there. It is possible that they may release new recipes that require very high craftsmanship to access.

Question:

Command IV & Competence IV are so expensive! Is it really worth buying one to make the offhand?

Answer:

If you intend to go as far as 3 & 4 star, the answer is yes, you should use Tier IV for the Artisan's Offhands. For the Militia Offhands, since they're only a transition, you may get away with less powerful materia.

Ch18: Spiritbonding to Make Your Own Materia vs Buying

Many people consider buying materia too expensive. Is there another way to obtain those expensive materia? Indeed, spiritbonding crafting tools/gear, then convert into materia is a viable option. All level 48, 49, 50 tools/gears like the Patrician's Coatee or Gloves can be converted into Tier III/ Tier IV crafting materia. They usually turn into Tier III, but once every ~10 times, you'll get a Tier IV. However, the process of generating your own materia is much slower than buying. In my opinion, it's much faster to aim at making a ton of gil, and then buy materia from the Market Board when you see that the price is right. Personally, I do BOTH ways - I actively spiritbond my own materia as well as buying from the MB.

There are a few tricks in spiritbonding that you need to know:

Spiritbond Rule (1) - Make sure the gear that you're spiritbonding is HQ. HQ gear bonds a lot faster than NQ.

Spiritbond Rule (2) - Melding/Overmeld ANY materia on a gear will make it spiritbond faster. I always meld 2 to 3 elemental tier I or Cunning I materia on my Patrician's Coatee to accelerate the process.

Spiritbond Rule (3) - You may wear crafting gear in dungeons to spiritbond them.

Spiritbond Rule (4) - Avoid spiritbonding tools/gear that are too high in item level. i55 items are very hard to spiritbond, but they don't give better chances of a Tier IV materia than an i50 or i48.

Ch19: Master Recipe Books

Since Patch 2.2, Master Recipe Books have been added to the game. These recipe books contain the super exciting 3 star recipes, as well as a few special 2 star recipes (a.k.a. 2.5 star items) that is needed to obtain the Artisan Crafting Tools & Artisan's Spectacles. You should NOT be making 3 star items until you have Artisan Tools & Specs (or Artisan's Offhand + Specs).

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To obtain Master Recipe Books, you need find a guy called "Talan" at the upper left corner of Revenant's Toll, and turn-in the following:

WVR: 5 Vanya Silk HQ

GSM: 5 Rose Gold Ingot HQ

BSM: 5 Darksteel Ingot HQ

ARM: 5 Darksteel Ingot HQ

CRP: 5 Treated Spruce lumber HQ

LTW: 5 Hard Hippogryph Leather HQ

ALC: 5 Growth Formula Delta Concentrate HQ

CUL: 5 Sauteed Coeurl HQ

(Visit Ch27 for tips on how to craft these items.)

Ch20: Artisan Crafting Tools / Artisan's Spectacles

Since Patch 2.2, Artisan Mainhand Tools/Specs have been added to the game for 3 star crafting. Artisan Tools (i70) are your 3rd-most powerful class-specific crafting tools in the game, and Artisan's Specs (i70) is currently still the strongest head gear that can be shared by all crafting classes.

Artisan Tools offer 32 more craftsmanship & 17 more control than the original lvl 50 class quest mainhand tool, which is A LOT!

Artisan Tools/Specs are obtained from "Talan" again at Rev Toll. To obtain an Artisan Tool for a class, you must possess the corresponding Master Recipe Book, and produce the following 2 star items to exchange for the tool.

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*Since Patch 2.45, the required HQ items for obtaining Artisan Tools have been dramatically reduced from 50 to 8/10/20. S-E did this to encourage people obtaining all Artisan Tools before Supra Tools. Also, the previous advantages of CUL & ALC in Artisan Specs production have been eliminated.

Artisan's Needle: 8 Silver Brocade HQ (2 Twinthread, 1 Silver Ingot)

Artisan's Chocobotail Saw: 8 Spruce Plywood HQ (1 Spruce Lumber, 2 Horn Glue)

Artisan's Cross-pein Hammer: 10 Darksteel Hook HQ (2 Darksteel Nugget)

Artisan's Raising Hammer: 10 Darksteel Wire HQ (2 Darksteel Nugget)

Artisan's Mallet: 10 Rose Gold Gear HQ (2 Rose Gold Nugget)

Artisan's Round Knife: 10 Gryphonkin Strap HQ (2 Hippogryph Leather)

Artisan's Alembic: 20 Spirits of Salt HQ (2 Volcanic Rock Salt & 1 Vitriol)

Artisan's Frypan: 20 Spicy Tomato Relish HQ (1 Dzemael Tomato, 1 Dark Vinegar, 1 Cinnamon, 1 Table Salt)

Artisan's Spectacles: 4 Silver Brocade HQ or 4 Spruce Plywood HQ, or 5 of any of the other HQ items above (but cannot mix & match)

(Visit Ch27 for tips on how to craft these items.)

Should I skip Artisan Tools & acquire Supra Tools directly?

Since Patch 2.3, new mainhand "Supra Tools" have been added (see Ch22). Supra Tools are more powerful than Artisan. But still, Artisan Tools are worth the time to get, as they're much cheaper & easier to acquire than Supra, yet the power increase is huge comparing with the original lvl 50 class quest tools. As of Patch 2.45, the requirements for obtaining Artisan Tools have been significantly reduced. It makes no sense to try to skip any Artisan to jump to Supra anymore. It is better to obtain them all Artisan first so you get sufficient powers for 3 star crafting.

Ch 21: Desynthesis & Desynthesis Recipes

Before you start desynthesizing anything, STOP! Please be aware that you only have 300 points 350 points (changed since Patch 2.5) to distribute among all your crafting classes for desynthesis. Thus, it is CRITICAL that you choose only 3 classes to level for desyn (with 3 classes at level 110, and the remaining 5 classes forced to remain at level 1... they can't go zero... and 15 points left which is useless). Once you raised the level of a class for desyn, it is very difficult to get it back down, and it may screw you over if you change your mind later to level desyn on another class. Please read Namasu's "How to Lock Desyn level & Choose what to Delevel" guide before proceeding.

Since Patch 2.3, a kind of skill called "Desynthesis" has been added to the game. This skill allows the breaking down of gear/accessories/fish (NOT crafting mats like ingots or lumbers!) to obtain precious items called "Demimateria" (a.k.a. Damn-it-materia, due to how hard it is to obtain one).

IMPORTANT:

"Desynthesis" & "Desynthesis Recipes" are 2 very distinct things. Even with just 1 crafting class at lvl 30, you can already learn "Desynthesis" (The quest for desyn starts at market place of any city). You can then start breaking down things to obtain demimateria. You need to submit 5 Fieldcraft Demimateria I & 5 Battlecraft Demimateria I to "Talan" at Rev Toll to obtain the new "Desynthesis Recipes". Each crafting class has its own unique Desyn Recipe, so you need to do this submission many times to obtain them all. However, if you're only a lvl 30 crafter, you probably cannot craft anything in those recipes. Desyn Recipes are like an extended version of the Master Recipe Books mentioned in Ch19. They're quite demanding in crafting stats. This is because the Desyn Recipes contain items that require "demimateria" to craft. Demimateria are not available in HQ, so most of the times you have to start with very low initial quality.

There are many types of demimateria (damn-it-materia):

(1) Battlecraft Demimateria I, II & III (BC1, BC2, BC3)

(2) Fieldcraft Demimateria I, II & III (FC1, FC2, FC3)

(3) Clear Demimateria I, II & III

(4) Mastercraft Demimateria (MD)

(5) Demimateria of Inferno/Vortex/Crag & Demimog Demimateria

(1) BC1 is used for obtaining Desyn Recipes. BC1 & BC2 are for crafting i90 accessories of DoW/DoM (GSM Desyn Recipe). BC2 & BC3 are for crafting Augmented i90 gear, which are sparking in appearance & in motion (LTW, WVR & ARM Desyn Recipes). BC3 is also used for crafting the new i95 Primal & Mog weapons.

(2) FC1 is used for obtaining Desyn Recipes and the new crafting accessories (Dodore Belt, Rose Gold Choker & Mosshorn Earrings). FC2 is used in WVR Desyn Recipe to make items in the Crescent Moon Nightgown set & some furniture. FC3 is for acquisition of the new crafting mainhand "Supra" tools & some exotic furniture.

(3) Clear Demimateria are useless. You can treat them as Allagan pieces: You carry them across server, and their value retains, thus allowing you to carry more cash to another server, more than the limit set by S-E.

(4) Mastercraft Demimateria are critical for obtaining the Supra Crafting Tools (See next chapter), and the shared meldable i60 Artisan's gear (Ch25).

(5) Demimateria of Inferno/Vortex/Crag & Demimog Demimateria are for crafting the new i95 Primal & Mog weapons.

Below is a list of what these damn-it-materia can be used for:

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Demimateria

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Augmented i90 gear & i95 Primal weapons are widely considered as 3.5 star items. The sparkling Augmented i90 gear has difficulty of 667, requiring one extra Piece by Piece.

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Despite i95 Primal weapons have only 445 difficulty, they have elemental aspects (similar to vintage items), thus all progress from synthesis are HALFED. This makes them 1 of the hardest items to HQ.

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Mastercraft Demimateria is necessary for obtaining the new "Supra Crafting Tools" & the shared meldable i60 Artisan's gear. GSM, BSM & ARM are the only classes that can obtain Mastercraft Demimateria.

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Desyn Recipe in Weaver allows you to craft the Crescent Moon Nightgown set.

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Alchemist's Desyn Recipe allows you to craft "AF gear Augmentation" (AF gear are the old class quest Artifact Gear, which you were able to wear since level 45). These Augmentation allows dying of the AF gear into any color you want.

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The desyn of rare big fishes such as the Gigantshark by CUL allows you to obtain glamour items like the Sea Breeze Summer Halter & South Sea Talisman.

How do I choose which class to train desyn on?

As mentioned before, we can only train up to 3 classes for desyn (3x level 110).

GSM is 1 of only 3 classes that can produce Mastercraft Demimateria (MD). It can desyn Artisan's Specs. Artisan's Specs cost less mats than other Artisan's Tools, but produces only 1 Mastercraft at a time, at a rate of about 1/6 to 1/10. GSM can also desyn Artisan's Needle, which produces from 1 to 3 Mastercrafts at a time, similar to BSM & ARM. GSM can also produce BC3 & FC3, although not efficiently. It is the most versatile class.

BSM is also very good for MD production, since it can desyn many Artisan Tools, including the Artisan's Chocobotail Saw (cost more mats than Artisan's Specs, but produces from 1 to 3 Mastercrafts at a time, rate unknown - probably also 1/6 to 1/10). It can also desyn a large variety of old primal/mog weapons (i60 to i80 from HM Primals/Mog) to produce primal/mog demimateria.

ARM is also very good for MD production. It can desyn Artisan's Alembic & Artisan's Frypan, similar to how BSM works.

CRP can desyn a large variety of old primal/mog weapons (i60 to i80 from HM Primals/Mog) to produce primal/mog demimateria.

ALC is the only class that can desyn Titan weapons. But it is also perhaps the hardest class to train to lvl 100.

CUL is a separate entity. Instead of breaking down food, CUL can only desyn fish. And the goal is to obtain exotic swimwears & minions like Assassin Fry by breaking down rare, expensive fishes like the Gigantshark & Ninja Betta.

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- Assassin Fry, a minion that will dive itself into water whenever it is above water.

LTW is the new class of highest potential & popularity in Patch 2.4. LTW can desyn Best Man's Gaiters & Bridesmaid's Sandals (i70 -> lvl 100 desyn will have 100% success rate) from city vendor for 6K gil each to obtain FC3. We thought this was a glitch before, but apparently, S-E is keeping it in the game. Thus, this class became the most gil & time-efficient class to produce FC3. One of the "byproducts" of desynthesis of Bridesmaid's Sandals by LTW is Spruce Lumber (NQ or HQ). Since Patch 2.45, one of the newest, most efficient way to produce MD appears to be Spruce Plywood HQ (for exchanging into Artisan's Specs or Artisan's Chocobosaw). Thus, these "byproducts" can actually be used for MD production. LTW can also produce BC3 at a reasonable rate.

WVR can also desyn Best Man & Bridal clothing for 12K gil each, making it the 2nd most desirable class for FC3 production. It can also desyn a large variety of dungeon drops (especially DoM gear), or crafted i90 gear to generate BC3. WVR also allows you to desyn the exotic swimwear from CUL for super rare items like Waterproof Cotton etc. These rare mats are for LTW to create even MORE exotic swimwear, like the Coeurl swimsuit set. Therefore, if you're a top notch Fisher, you may consider taking CUL desyn, and then later WVR desyn. They'll all fit together into 1 big production of very rare items. WVR cannot desyn any primal/mog weapon.

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- The glorious moment in Patch 2.4 when we found that the vendor item Bridesmaid's Sandals can be desyn into FC3 by LTW.

- By the way, someone asked me how one could get the inventory to look like this. The way to do it is: Character Configuration -> Control Setting -> Character -> Inventory Settings -> choose Expanded. Enjoy!

IMPORTANT: The price of FC3 seems to be very low nowadays. You may choose to just buy them instead of training LTW or WVR on desyn to make them.

Beware though, training desyn to level 100 requires sacrificing a crap load of NQ 3 star i90 gear (except CUL & ALC). When I was leveling my GSM, I used at least 60 i90 items to train to level 100. This means >60 NQ Gold Ingot (i.e. a lot of Raziqsand & Native Gold) & >120 NQ Terminus Putty (i.e. Tawny Latex & Filtered Water), plus a huge amount of clusters.

Tips on Mastercraft Demimateria (MD) Production

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By today, I have produced over 70 MD myself. I take pride that I have never bought a single one from the marketboard. However, I might just buy them in the future. The amount of work to produce MD are just tremendous. These MD are selling approximately 450K each on Zalera. In my opinion it's not too high for the amount of work put into it. From my experience, I have came up with the following rules/tips:

(1) If you intend to produce MD yourself, you should train your GSM, BSM or ARM to at least level 100. Why? Because at level 100, all i70 Artisan's Specs or Tools will be desynthesized at 100% rate. Really, these Artisan's Specs or Tools take forever to generate, and are very costly. You don't want to botch even a single one. So bite your teeth, and train yourself to level 100 please. Even if you're level 99.96, your desyn successful rate will only be 98.5%. And trust me, when you desyn enough times, that 1.5% will get to you at the worst time, and your Artisan's items will botch more frequent than you believe.

(2) Please produce HUGE batches of Artisan Specs / Tools for this production. The drop rate of a MD from a desyn can be as frequent as 1/6 or can be as infrequent as 1/20. It's an RNG game, and the only way to beat that RNG is by sheer number. If you try to desyn 2 to 3 Artisan's Specs per batch, you will very unlikely get a MD. If you go for the Artisan's Specs route, I suggest you prepare at least 2 & 1/2 stacks of 99 Spruce Plywood HQ to exchange for over 60 Artisan Specs all at once. If you go for the Artisan's Tool route (Artisan's Needle for GSM desyn, or other tools to be desyn by BSM/ARM), prepare at least 120 Silver Brocade HQ, and obtain at least 15 Artisan's Needle before you desyn them.

For detailed Desynthesis Guides, please visit the following:

Desynthesis Endgame Guide by Nyalia:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/181498-Desynthesis-Endgame-Guide

How to Lock Desyn level & Choose what to Delevel by Namasu:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...esynth-Level-and-Choose-What-Skill-To-Delevel

If you are just interested in producing demimateria for making money, please visit Lebensohl's desyn guide for gil-making:

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/desynthesis-leveling-guide.45/

Myths on Increasing Desyn Success Rate (& BUSTED here!)

There were rumors about how 100% spiritbonded or HQ gear having higher chance of desynthesis success rate. To hell with them! None of them was true! Desyn success rate has absolutely nothing to do with spiritbonding or gear quality. What actually matters is just the melding of materia on a gear! Each materia meld increases desyn success rate of an item by 5%. Therefore, for the desyn of expensive i70 & i90 gear, it is highly recommended that you meld ~4 materia on them. HQ gear does have a slightly higher rate for successful materia melding though. So if you're making the very expensive i70s, and planning to penta-meld them (penta-meld = melding 5 materia). Then you could consider making the gear HQ just to assist in melding. This effort of HQ-ing the item for melds is NOT worth for i90 though, because i90 are 3 star items, which are much harder to HQ. Just make NQ i90, and meld 3 to 4 materia.

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- Each materia meld increases desyn success rate by 5%.

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Bacon Broth is a food that can slightly increase desynthesis success rate, which can be useful if you plan to desyn large amounts of expensive gear. This food, however, is a 4 star item. HQ broth adds 5% success rate to desynthesis (Careful Desynthesis +2), but are very expensive. NQ ones are much cheaper, but only adds 2.5% (Careful Desynthesis +1).

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Tinker's Calm (see below) is NOT a food, but a potion that can increase desyn rate a lot more. NQ ones can increase success rate by 7.5% (Careful Desynthesis +3). HQ ones can increase success rate by 10% (Careful Desynthesis +4). However, because Tinker's Calm is not a food, its effect only lasts 5 min instead of 30 min.

NOTE: Since Tinker's Calm is NOT a food, you can actually use BOTH Bacon Broth and Tinker's Calm simultaneously to increase desynthesis success rate! If you use HQ calm + HQ broth, you can increase desyn success rate by up to 12.5%!!!

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Ch22: Supra Crafting Tools

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Since Patch 2.3, "Supra Crafting Tools" have been added to the game. Supra Tools (i75) are now the 2nd-strongest mainhand tools, 1 step above Artisan Tools (i70). They are the "Novus Weapons" of crafters. They require a ridiculous amount of grinding or $$$ to obtain, but they do not provide as much power increase. Supra Tools only provide 10 more craftsmanship & 5 more control over Artisan.

The purposes of Supra Tools are:

(1) Reaching 415 craftsmanship (need 11 craftsmanship on the old Militia offhand), allowing the substitute of 1 PBP with a CSII under Ingen II in the making of regular 3 star items (including i95 Mog Weapons).

(2) Reaching 410 craftsmanship (need 6 craftsmanship on Militia offhand), allowing the completion of i95 Primal Weapons (3.5 star item) with minimal steps & CP cost.

(3) Assists in the making of "3.9 star" Monstrosity Items for the acquisition of Master Recipe Books II.

(4) A minimum requirement to craft 4 star items.

To obtain Supra Tools, you need to hand in the following demimateria & special 3 star items (NQ) to Talan.

Urcaguary Supra (GSM) - Urcaguary, 3 Mastercraft Demimateria (MD), 5 NQ Calibrated Rose Gold Cog

Pinga Supra (LTW) - Pinga, 3 MD, 5 NQ Water-Hardened Hippogryph Strap

Clotho Supra (WVR) - Clotho, 3 MD, 5 NQ Intricate Silver Brocade

Vulcan Supra (BSM) - Vulcan, 3 MD, 5 NQ Balance Darksteel Hook

Kurdalegon Supra (ARM) - Kurdalegon, 3 MD, 5 NQ Reinforced Darksteel Wire

Ullikummi Supra (CRP) - Ullikummi, 3 MD, 5 NQ Reinforced Spruce Plywood

Paracelsus Supra (ALC) - Paracelsus, 3 MD, 5 NQ Concentrated Spirits of Salt

Chantico Supra (CUL) - Chantico, 3 MD, 5 NQ Rich Tomato Relish

*Notice you just need to make these items NQ. They're pathetically easy.

The only way to obtain Mastercraft Demimateria is to desyn i70 Artisan Specs/Tools (or Forager Tools). And the only classes that an desyn Artisan Specs/Tools are GSM, BSM & ARM.

The best way to obtain Artisan Specs is to make HQ Spicy Tomato Relish (CUL) or HQ Spirits of Salt (ALC). Thus, generating the famous Tomato Rush since Patch 2.3. As of Patch 2.45, HQ Spicy Tomato Relish/ Spirits of Salt are no longer the best way to obtain Artisan Specs. The newest best way appears to be HQ Spruce Plywood or HQ Silver Brocade, since it only takes 4 of them to get 1 Artisan Specs. The famous Tomato Rush is finally over. Spruce Plywood HQ is made from Spruce Lumber HQ, and Spruce Lumber HQ happens to be a "byproduct" of desynthesis of Bridesmaid's Shoes in the production of Fieldcraft III by LTW.

Each of those NQ items listed above (like Intricate Silver Brocade) takes 2 Fieldcraft Demimateria III (FC3) to craft. Thus, needing a total of 10 FC3 per Supra Tool.

The easiest way to produce FC3 is from desyn of Bridesmaid's & Best Man's shoes & clothing by LTW & WVR. Other classes can do it too, but not even close to their efficiency. However, CHECK Market Board first! Apparently, on some server, they're now DIRT CHEAP. You may choose to just buy FC3 instead of producing them yourself.

Alternatively, if you're rich, you can just BUY all these MD & FC3 from the market board, and save yourself from the grind (S-E really should not have made these items tradable. It's disgusting.). (FC3 is now really cheap on many servers!)

Once collected all the items, the Supra Tools are exchanged at "Talan" again at Rev Toll.

For more info, pls visit these threads on the forum:

http://ffxivrealm.com/threads/the-supra-crafting-tools.12359/

http://ffxivrealm.com/threads/ltw-became-the-king-of-desyn-3-9-star-items-discussion.12774/

Ch23: Lucis Crafting Tools

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In Patch 2.5, Lucis tools (i90) have been added, and are now the strongest mainhand tools in the game. They are "upgraded" from Supra Tools. Thus, you need to sacrifice your Supra to acquire Lucis. These tools are 31 craftsmanship & 14 control above Supra Tools. You can dye these new tools to any colors you like, including the metallic colors. Although, the tools themselves automatically let most colors appear as semi-metallic. So you don't necessarily need metallic dyes to make them glossy.

There are two independent parts to it that involves grinding a total of 928,000 GC seals.

(1) is grinding for GC seals to buy a crap load of untradeable Moonstones, which annoys and tortures me most, as this is boring as hell. (4000 seals x 20 Moonstones per class x 8 classes = 640,000 GC seals.)

(2) is grinding GC seals or Allied seals to buy a crap ton of untradeable mats for crafting the new 3 star 40 durab turn-in items, HQ x20. (600 seals x 3 mats per item x 20 item per class x 8 classes = 288,000 GC seals.)

For more information, please visit the following thread:

Lucis Crafting Tools in Patch 2.5

Ch24: Master Recipe Book II

Since Patch 2.4, these new recipe books have been added to the game. They contain the brand new 4 star recipes, which contains new i110 crafted gear, minions like the Nana Bear, and furniture like the Armoire.

To obtain the Master Recipe Book II for a class, you must hand-in the following special 3 star items to Talan at Rev Toll:

WVR: 3 Intricate Silver Brocade HQ

GSM: 3 Calibrated Rose Gold Cog HQ

BSM: 3 Balanced Darksteel Hook HQ

ARM: 3 Reinforced Darksteel Wire HQ

CRP: 3 Reinforced Spruce Plywood HQ

LTW: 3 Water-Hardened Hippogryph Strap HQ

ALC: 3 Concentrated Spirits of Salt HQ

CUL: 3 Rich Tomato Relish HQ

These items have 80 difficulty & 8965 quality. They are harder to HQ than the “3.5 star” i95 primal weapons or Augmented Gear. Hence, I’ve been calling them “3.9 star Monstrosity Items". In my opinion, even 4 star recipes do not match the difficulty of HQ-ing these items. It cost 2 Fieldcraft Demimateria III (FC3) to make 1 of these monstrosities, and there will be many failures. So one should prepare at least 15 FC3 per class. You will need more than a stack of 99 FC3 to get all the recipe books (for methods to acquire so many FC3s, please visit the Desynthesis chapter).

The game made these untradeable Monstrosity Items so difficult in order to separate the real skilled crafters from the rest. So people can’t easily buy their way out with gil. You really gotta craft your heart out (However, the recent addition of Artisan's Gear, Artisan's Offhand or even Lucis Crafting Tools have made them a lot easier.).

There are many ways to craft these Monstrosity Items, but the most commonly recognized approach is Reclaim. No matter what you do, you will be Reclaiming a lot. You will need to come up with a rotation to hit IQ10 or IQ11, and learn how to “bait” a Good condition on the Byregot to HQ these items.

If you need tips on how to make these items, please visit the following thread:

http://ffxivrealm.com/threads/ltw-became-the-king-of-desyn-3-9-star-items-discussion.12774/

And also Lebonsohl's Crafting Guide:

http://ffxivrealm.com/threads/lebensohls-guide-to-4-turn-ins.12833/

I have also added tips into Ch27 of this crafting guide.

Notice that the new 4 star recipes in these Master Recipe Books II have a VERY high requirement on craftsmanship & control (451 craftsmanship & 407 control!!!). Thus, even after you have successfully made 3x HQ 3.9 star Monstrosities, and acquired the new recipes, you must still possess the new Artisan’s Offhand with overmelds before you can craft any 4 star items.

Ch25: Artisan’s Offhands & Artisan's Gear

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Patch 2.4 has introduced the class-specific i70 Artisan’s Offhands & shared meldable i60 Artisan’s Mitts/Culottes/Sandals. Patch 2.5 has introduced the shared meldable i60 Artisan's Apron & shared unmeldable i70 Artisan's gear set. Below is the list of ALL Artisan's Offhands/Gear:

Class-specific Artisan's Offhands (i70) (3 star crafted items):

Artisan's File

Artisan's Claw Hammer

Artisan's Pliers

Artisan's Awl

Artisan's Grinding Wheel

Artisan's Spinning Wheel

Artisan's Culinary Knife

Artisan's Mortar

Shared, meldable i60 Artisan's Gear (abbr. "shmi60") (4 star crafted items):

Artisan’s Mitts

Artisan's Culottes

Artisan's Sandals

Artisan's Apron

Shared, unmeldable i70 Artisan's Gear (abbr. "shui70") (exchanged items):

Artisan's Gown

Artisan's Fingerstalls

Artisan's Chausses

Artisan's Pattens

(For melding caps of these items, please see Caimie's Overmelding Guide.)

Artisan's Offhand vs shmi60

The new offhand is a giant leap of power. Each Artisan's Offhand provides 32 more craftsmanship & 17 more control over the old Militia Offhand. Even unfinished with melds, the new offhand will outmatch the old Militia Offhands with full melds. The new offhand is not required to make the 3.9 star Monstrosity Items, but it definitely helps. I was rushing to get my recipes, so I made all those 3.9 star items without the new offhands, proving that it’s doable without the new Artisan's offhand & without Artisan's gear, but just a Supra Tool. But if you have a lot of trouble with them, you can wait until you possess the new offhand before acquiring your Master Recipe Book II.

The "shmi60" (Mitts/Culottes/Sandals) provide only very minor increase of stats. After fully-melded, these Artisan's gear only provide 3 extra control each over a fully-melded original i55 class-specific gear.

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In Patch 2.5, they added the new Artisan's Apron, which is a shmi60. Now this is a very interesting piece of equipment. You cannot max out all the stats cap with overmelds. The apron has a melding cap of:

18 craftsmanship

6 control

3 CP

However, you cannot max them all with the 5 available melds. So you have to sacrifice either 2 control, 6 craftsmanship or 3 CP.

Please see this thread for details:

http://ffxivrealm.com/threads/melding-cap-for-the-newest-artisans-apron-in-patch-2-5.13253/

If you follow my melding method of sacrificing 2 control, then your final apron will have 11 more craftsmanship & 1 more control over the old i55 chest.

The Artisan's Offhands are crafted from regular 3 star recipes that require 6 Ehcatl Sealants from the Ixali Beast Quests to make; whereas the shmi60 are 4 star recipes that require 3 Ehcatl Sealants & 1 Mastercraft Demimateria each.

In Patch 2.4, in order to craft 4 star recipes, one must possess:

(1) the Supra Tool (or Lucis Tool),

(2) a semi-melded new Artisan’s Offhand, and

(3) at least 1 of the new Artisan’s Mitts/Culottes/Sandals (or the Ehcatl Smithing Gloves!)

...to fulfill the strict requirement of 451 craftsmanship & 407 control. The game basically forces us to meld the new offhand. If we don’t meld it, we can’t even touch the 4 star recipes that we have acquired! You can't really use food to boost craftsmanship nor control since you need to use Bouillabaisse HQ for CP. Luckily, there's FC buffs & the Ehcatl Smithing Gloves! If you don't have enough craftsmanship or control, FC buff can allow you to temporarily get above the requirement. The Ixali gloves can also provide 3 extra control over your class-specific gloves. With the help of these things, you can then access 4 star recipes, test them out using the most economical way, and then make your own shmi60.

I suggest first obtaining the Artisan's Offhand for BSM (Artisan's File). This way you can have more confidence in making the remaining offhands for other classes. Next, followed by Artisan's Offhands of CRP, WVR, & LTW (in this order), which will allow you to craft the 4 star recipes of the Artisan's Apron, Sandals, Culottes & Mitts respectively (with LTW being least prioritized because Ehcatl Smithing Gloves already provides the same amount of control as the Artisan's Mitts. The Artisan's Mitts are only 3 CP better than the Smithing Gloves. CRP is prioritized before WVR because CRP can make GSM & WVR offhands!). WVR is also good, because you can then make your own Artisan's Apron early, but the Apron does not provide as much extra power as the Artisan's Offhand.

The shui70

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The shui70 added in Patch 2.5 (Gown, Fingerstalls, Chausses, Pattens) are obtained from Talan at Rev Toll. You need to hand in HQ 2.5 star 80 durab items to acquire them, similar to how you obtain Artisan's Mainhand Tools & Artisan's Specs.

The stats of these shui70 gear are not bad at all.

Artisan's Gown:

Craft 107

Control 35

CP 2

Artisan's Fingerstalls/Chausses/Pattens:

Craft 4

Control 35

CP 2

Compare them to the old class-specific standard i55 AF gear...

i55 Standard AF Chest (HQ base stats + melds):

Craft 92+16 = 108

Control 31+5 = 36

CP 3

i55 Standard AF Gloves/Pants/Boots (HQ base stats + melds):

Craft 4

Control 31+5 = 36

CP 0+3 = 3

Altogether, they have only 1 less craftsmanship on the chest, and only a slight bit less control & CP than fully-melded i55.

What does this mean? From now on, no one has to overmeld materia on 8 classes, ever, ever again (except the class-specific Militia Offhand, which you may still slightly meld it if you find yourself lacking a bit of stats). What you need is only 1 SINGLE class with i55 AF gear melded to near max, acquire the strongest shared accessories and meld them to max, do your Ixali for sealants & Ehcatl Smithing Gloves, craft your HQ 2.5 star turn-in items, and exchange for these i70 gear. Once acquired, you can use these gear for all 8 classes, and save yourself from any further melds. You do, however, need at least a few level 50 classes to make your own HQ 2 star 40 durab items to acquire Master Recipe before you have access to the HQ 2.5 turn-in items.

The shui70 are weaker than the shmi60. So the shmi60 are still currently the BiS. However, young crafters have no way to acquire those Mastercraft Demimateria to make those shmi60. The shui70 presents itself as a wonderful transition gear for someone to take on 3 star crafting. With the power to do 3 star, one has the ability to train desyn to level 100. And with the power of desyn & the power to massively produce HQ 2.5 star items, one can produce one's own Mastercraft Demimateria, for the acquisition of Supra Tools & the shmi60.

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Unfortunately, the shui70 are not desynable. As you can see from the above picture, the desynthesis option is not available on these gear. Thus, they cannot be used for Mastercraft Demimateria production.

Ch26: Ehcatl Sealants

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In Patch 2.4, Ehcatl Sealants have been added to the game. We need a ridiculous amount of these sealants to make the new crafting offhands & meldable Artisan’s gear (& gathering offhands/gear too). And this is 1 of the major reasons why we need to do Ixali quests every day.

Since we have 8 crafting offhands & 4 new artisan’s gear, 8x6 + 4x3 = 48+12 = 60 sealants needed. Each sealant = 8 oaknots. Thus 60 sealants = 60x8 = 480 oaknots. Since Patch 2.5, we can get 9 oaknots per day, so it's approximately 1 sealant per day. To be exact, we need 480/9 = 54 days to get enough oaknots for all the sealants we need. That’s nearly 2 months (and we’re not including the new gathering offhands yet)!

Ch27: Hints/Tips for End-Game Crafted Items from 1 Star to 4 Star

In this section, I will list out clues on how to craft ALL starred items. I will try my best NOT to just give away my rotations here, or that will just completely ruin your fun! Instead, I’ll give each of these items an overview, and just try to give some suggestions/tips on how to make them. Then it’s up to you to solve the puzzles. For the most difficult ones, I do have some rotations here listed under spoiler tags. Just remember that there are many different ways to craft things. My rotations are not necessarily the best for you, so you may need to modify them to suit yourselves.

Also, if you need help in predicting the outcome of a synthesis, try using this simulator:

http://www.ffxivcrafter.com/crafting.php

It helps a lot in predicting whether you can complete your remaining progress as well as quality outcome.

1 Star 40 Durability Items

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e.g. Twinthread, Rose Gold Nugget, Darksteel Nugget, Spruce Lumber etc.

(Durability: 40, Difficulty: 97, Quality: 2646)

This is your 1st real challenge after you have achieved All-50 & gotten the “Builder of the Realm” title. I understand that any single fresh lvl 50 can do this with the help of HQ mats. But HQ mats for these items are relatively rare. Plus, since these items are so widely used post-lvl 50, it’s quite important that you are able to make HQ ones from pure NQ mats. Then when you gather, you can use King’s Yield II instead of Unearthed II, allowing you to get up to 25 ores/logs per round instead of just 15 or 18. This difference in numbers may not sound like a lot to you. But you need to understand you may eventually need to make hundreds of these nuggets (for sales to sustain your high income to make up your high expense, to provide mats for higher lvls of crafting, & also to help obtain your Artisan Tools). You may run through stacks & stacks (1 stack = 99) of ores/logs. So small differences in numbers per gathering round really do add up. So master the way to make these items from NQ mats.

It is very obvious that the key to HQ-ing this is by powering your Byregot. Try to come up with a rotation that can fully power your Byregot with as many touches as you can squeeze out, and then 1-shot it with a Careful Syn II.

If you're really lacking stats, especially CP, you can try to use Hasty Touches to buy more CP. However, this is problematic, as Hasty Touches are very risky. There is a way to make nuggets from pure NQ mats at nearly 100% fidelity, and you DO NOT need to use a single Hasty Touch. All you need is 324 Craftsmanship, ~340 control & 349 CP (This is very low stats requirement. You don't need Artisan Offhand for this.). All you need is only Inner Quiet Stack 6 to HQ this item from pure NQ mats. Unless your stats is really low, otherwise, you don't need to push IQ to 8 to 9 by over-using Hasty Touches.

I really, really strongly recommend you to polish your rotation here so that you get ~100% fidelity every time from pure NQ mats. The same rotation you developed here will be directly used for 2 star 40 durab, and can also be tweaked into other rotations for 1 star 80 durab items, 2 star 80 durab items, and even 2.5 star HQ turn-in items for acquisition of Artisan Mainhand tools. You really need to learn how to make these nuggets without a single Hasty Touch... please.

Have trouble? Hint here:

Spoiler Alert! (open)

Don’t overly bang your head on using Waste Not. Try another similar skill... a skill that I mention in my crafting guide that may be better than Waste Not for 40 durab items. Think of a way to maximize the power of your Byregot. All you need really is just Inner Quiet 6. Use Control food to help (or CP food. See below.). FC control bonus buff will also be very helpful if you’re still weak. "In Control" (cost about 2K FC credits) adds 5 control, and "In Control II" (cost about 6K FC credits) adds 10 control. These bonuses can be significant to a fresh all-50. Don't forget to use Comfort Zone. You should have very few CP left when you complete the item.

(Apart from Control food, you can potentially use CP food too. But if you use CP food here, you'll need to modify your rotation later for 2 star 40 durab items, because you probably need to eat craftsmanship food to make 2 star 40 durab items. If you use CP food for 2 star, you will need 20 durab to complete the item instead of 10 durab like you have here with 1 star.).

Still have more trouble? More hints here:

Spoiler Alert! (open)

When you are lacking stats, you can try to use Hasty T's, and use CP to buy more durability to increase Inner Quiet for a stronger Byregot. Alternatively, you can first use a few Hasty T's to save enough CP for an Advanced Touch before the Byregot. This will also help with quality. But Hasty T's are, after all, risky. When you have enough stats, you should be able to completely omit the use Hasty T's, leaving only Basic & Standard T's. When you are able to do this, you will be able to consistently make HQ nuggets from pure NQ mats at 100% fidelity.

Keep in mind that Ingen II is the key to 1-shotting it. So you need it active for the Careful Syn II at the end. Ingen II is also capable of slightly increasing quality. So try to have your Byregot wrapped under all those Steady H/Steady H II, Great S, Innov & Ingen II. If you plan it carefully, you can actually have an extra touch wrapped under all these buffs right before the Byregot (except Great Strides), and still have 1 step of Ingen II left for the Careful Syn II.

1 Star 80 Durability Items

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e.g. Champion's Lance, Aeolian Scimitar, Weaver's Gloves, Miner's Shirt etc.

(Durability: 80, Difficulty: 195, Quality: 2646)

Once you have mastered the 1 Star 40 Durab, these will be just cake for you. Needless to say, now that the durab limitation is much relaxed, of course you can freely use Waste Not to your likings.

2 Star 40 Durability Items

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(for acquisition of Master Recipe Books containing 2.5 star & 3 star recipes)

e.g. Vanya Silk, Darksteel Ingot, Rose Gold Ingot, Hard Hippogryph Leather, Treated Spruce Lumber etc.

(Durability: 40, Difficulty: 116, Quality: 2921)

I have recently received a large amount of crafting requests from people asking me to help them craft these items, so that they can acquire the Master Recipe Books. If you're one of these people, please listen to my advice here. If you cannot make these items yourself, it is pointless to acquire those Master Recipe Books. Inside the books are all 3 star recipes, and 1 special 2 star recipe (2.5 star items). If you can't make a Vanya Silk HQ yourself, you can't really make Silver Brocade HQ anyway. So all you can do is just look at the recipes and do nothing.

If you had listened to my advice and polished your 1 star 40 durab rotation earlier, you now have something powerful in hand to work with, and you can directly apply the same rotation here for these Vanya Silk or Darksteel Ingots.

Frankly, before you have Artisan Tools/Specs, these are quite difficult to make HQ. But you NEED 5 of these items HQ to get your Master Recipe, & you need Master Recipe to get Artisan Tools. So apparently, you will have to make them without Artisan Tools first.

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Each of these items requires 9 Potash/Peacock Ore /Coke/Animal Fat etc. As we all know, these "GC mats" are expensive. They don’t come by easy (*Note: Apart from GC, you can now acquire them from Ixalia Beast Quest too!). So you don’t want to mess up here! My tips here: (1) You should use exactly the same rotation you use for 1 Star 40 Durab items. Didn’t I tell you to master that earlier? Well, now you understand why… (2) In order to 1-shot the item with a single Careful Syn II, you MUST have at least 390 Craftsmanship. I have tested & obtained the following results:

388 craftsmanship -> reach 115 progress in 1 shot under Ingen II

390 craftsmanship -> reach 116 progress in 1 shot under Ingen II

396 craftsmanship -> reach 118 progress in 1 shot under Ingen II

400 craftsmanship -> reach 119 progress in 1 shot under Ingen II

404 craftsmanship -> reach 120 progress in 1 shot under Ingen II

From the above data, we can deduce that every 3 craftsmanship give 1 extra progress for Vanya Silk or items with same difficulty.

Therefore,

388 give 115

389 give 115

390 give 116

391 give 116

392 give 116

393 give 117

394 give 117

395 give 117

396 give 118

397 give 118

398 give 118

399 give 119

Hence, the minimum craftsmanship is 390 to 1-shot a Vanya Silk. This amount of craftsmanship can be easily achieved if you have the Artisan Tools, but it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to achieve with only a few materia overmelds. This is why one NEEDS craftsmanship food, (like Rolanberry Cheesecake HQ or Shark Fin Soup) to make these 2 star 40 durab items (now you start to appreciate the power of CUL 50). But now, if you're using craftsmanship food, you cannot boost control with control food. Therefore, one should use as many HQ mats as possible, and request FC control buff as well. Once Artisan Tools are obtained and your craftsmanship is above 390, then you can use control food instead, and these items will become a lot easier.

[IMG]

Rolanberry Cheesecake HQ adds up to 40 craftsmanship. It is the classic food for a non-Artisan Tool crafter to craft 2 star 40 durab items. As long as you have at least 350 craftsmanship, you can use this HQ food to achieve 390 craftsmanship.

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Shark Fin Soup is a new food added to the game recently. It adds even more craftsmanship than Rolanberry Cheesecake, and it adds CP as well. I have never used this since I am way passed that point of needing food to make 2 star 40 durab items. It is a 3 star item though, and the ingredients (the Megalodon) are extravagant. But NQ Shark Fin Soup are not too expensive on the market. NQ Soup adds 10% craftsmanship, and total of up to 49 craftsmanship in theory, but you can never max it, because you will need 490 craftsmanship to gain that 49. Thus, if you plan to use this to achieve 390 craftsmanship, you will need at least 355 craftsmanship. Then the soup will provide 35 craftsmanship, giving you a total of 355+35=390.

2 Star 80 Durability Items

[IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG]

e.g. Gryphonskin Ring, Vanya Robe of Casting, Rose Gold Ear Screws, Heavy Darksteel Armor etc. (i70 items)

(Durability: 80, Difficulty: 233, Quality: 2921)

Once again, when you have mastered the 40 durab items, 80 durab items are cakes. Just a reminder that the higher level is the item that you’re making, the more essential Ingen II is for synthesis. So try to use Ingen II right before the Byregot (unless you're at Good or Excellent condition right before Ingen II) so that the Ingen II covers both the Byregot and the remaining synthesis steps. In some cases, if you have extra CP & durability left, you may even add an extra phase of 2 more touches under Steady Hand II to further power your Byregot. A Byregot under IQ8 without Innovation is actually more powerful than a Byregot under only IQ6 with Innovation. So you may consider skipping Innov to pull more CP for more touches if durability allows. Just do your calculations.

Special 2 Star 80 Durability Items

(a.k.a. 2.5 Star Items, for acquisition of Artisan's Tools/Specs)

[IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG]

e.g. Silver Brocade, Spicy Tomato Relish, Gryphonskin Strap, Darksteel Wire, Rose Gold Cog etc. for obtaining Artisan Tools/Specs

(Durability: 80 Difficulty: 419 Quality: 5257)

These are the 2-star items required to obtain the Artisan Tools and Artisan Spectacles. They are very demanding with quality, and should be considered "2.5 star". You should try to use as many HQ mats as possible. Yep, that just means you need a ton of Darksteel Nuggets HQ/ Twinthread HQ etc. Once again, didn’t I tell you to master the 1 star 40 Durab items? Now you see why I said you may need to make a lot of those… Anyway, just keep in mind here again that Ingen II is absolutely critical for the Byregot and for the synthesis. You can’t get away with that.

To assist in making these items, you may choose to use Control food or CP food. The rotation you use will obviously be different if you select either food.

[IMG] [IMG]

- Dagger Soup or Pan-fried Mahi-Mahi are very strong Control food. HQ Dagger Soup adds up to 27 control if you have >270 base control. HQ Mahi adds up to 31 control if you have >310 base control.

[IMG]

- Bouillabaisse is the strongest CP food. HQ adds up to 43 CP if you have >331 base CP.

The use of Bouillabaisse HQ will probably allow you to get a higher IQ stack, thus making the Byregot a lot stronger. It is, however, a pretty expensive food to use.

After you have acquired the Artisan's Tools/Specs, when you need to make thousands of Spicy Tomato Relish HQ for obtaining Mastercraft Demimateria for Supra Tools, it's better to macro the rotation. When you need to make THAT many Relish, the use of Bouillabaisse HQ maybe too wasteful. Below is a macro which gives 100% HQ Relish when using HQ Dzemael Tomatoes & HQ Dark Vinegar (you must already have Artisan's Tool/specs & a strong offhand).

Since Patch 2.45, Spicy Tomato Relish HQ is no longer the best way to obtain Artisan Specs for Mastercraft Demimateria production. The newest way seems to be Spruce Plywood or Silver Brocade. Yet, you will still need to massively produce these items, and the following macro will help if you start with a lot of HQ mats. You don't need to use extravagant CP food with this macro:

Spoiler Alert! Rotation here! (open)

Relish Macro1 (13 lines):

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Waste Not" <wait.2>

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Standard Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation"

Relish Macro2 (6 lines):

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II"

3 Star 80 Durability Items

[IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG]

e.g. Wolfram Ingot, Terminus Putty, Saurian Leather, Cashmere Cloth, Heavy Wolfram Cuirass, Cashmere Robe of Healing etc. (i90)

(Durability: 80, Difficulty: 445, Quality: 4980)

Congratulations! If you reached here, you’re quite a master already! Yet, the true challenge still lies ahead! 3 Star Crafting is not for the squeamish. 3 Star Crafting should NOT be done before you obtain your Artisan Tools/Specs. When you first do this, you will be surprised how each of your puny little touches or synthesis will give rise to almost nothing. Yet, don't be afraid. 3 star is very doable. Just as I suggested in the first sentence of this guide, it all comes down to whether you can make the most out of your stats. Can you utilize all those cross class skills in your hands? Can you utilize the build/ the strength of your Offhand?

[MISSING IMG]

Firstly, I can guarantee you that you will have at least a few failures before you can get this right. Unfortunately, 3 star crafting mats are quite expensive. When your 3 star mats are sold by Grand Company (9K GC seals), from dungeon drops, or from 2 star gathering nodes, you know you’re in trouble. My 1st advice to you, is the same 1st advice I got from my Sensei Nabeshin: Practice 3 star with CUL before trying anything else. CUL mats are much more affordable, and it’s the only way to “practice” before the real thing. Canard Breast & Dalamud Popoto are pretty cheap for 10 pieces. So you get to practice 10x with minimal spendings. That’s much more affordable than buying a Scheelite or Cashmere Fleece. 2 star gathering mats are also very cheap if NQ (whereas HQ is VERY expensive). So just easily pick up some NQ mats from the market board, and you can start cooking.

My 2nd advice to you, is to use Piece By Piece (PBP) before you do any Careful Syn II (CSII). PBP completes 1/3 of the remaining progress in 1-shot. So naturally, the more is your remaining progress, the more powerful PBP becomes. Each time your remaining progress reduces, the power of PBP reduces respectively. When it reaches a point that it provides less progress than a CSII under Ingen II, then you know you have overshot the limit of it, and you’ll have to complete the rest with CSII.

Thirdly, you'll find yourself not having enough CP. Bouillabaisse HQ, which adds 43 CP, is now the standard food for 3 star & 4 star crafting. Even with food, some Hasty T will be unavoidable. Yet, when HTs are involved, fidelity will always be a problem. That’s right, no one can have 100% fidelity on 3 star crafting. Everybody will depend a bit on luck when they use HTs. But at the end, what separates the best crafter out of the 2nd best is whether you can minimize the use of HT. If you can figure out a way to use fewer HTs, then you will have a bigger chance of HQ-ing the item, because each Inner Q stack is extremely important. 1 less touch due to a failed HT will make a big difference in the final outcome of the Byregot.

Fourthly, depending on how you build your Offhand, your rotation may differ a bit from other people. This is also what makes 3 star crafting interesting. If you go for a super high control build, you will be able to push out more quality per touch, and your Byregot will also be more powerful. If you go for a high craftsmanship build, and if you acquire the "Supra Tools" later, you may be able to substitute 1 PBP with a CSII under Ingen II, thus saving some CP for an extra Basic Touch. So many different variations in 3 star crafting, it’s really, really interesting…

Since Patch 2.5, people's stats have gone outrageously high. The way to craft 3 star items have changed considerably.

In Patch 2.2, our craftsmanship was below 415, the standard way to complete 3 star was:

PBP

CSII (under Ingen2)

Since Patch 2.3, with the availability of Supra Tools to reach 415 craftsmanship, the standard way became:

PBP

CSII (under Ingen2)

Since Patch 2.4/2.5, our craftsmanship level can reach over 445. We don't even need to use PBP & Ingen2 anymore. The best way seems to be just using Rapid Syn & CSII:

CSII

Yes, Rapid Syn is only 80% success rate under SHII. Chances are that you will fail one of them. But even if you fail Rapid Syn TWICE, you saved yourself 15 CP from PBP, and 32 CP from Ingen2. Meaning that you can now have an extra 47 CP to work with. With our already high CP pool now comparing to the past, most of the time we can add in an extra Comfort Zone (a 3rd one), resulting in another extra 14 CP. The longer the process is, also means more chances of Trick of Trades. In the end, it is very likely that we have soooo much CP that we can add in an extra Manipulation / Master's Mend / or Waste Not. This means we're likely to be able to touch 2 to 3 more times. This is a big deal, as the difference between IQ8 vs IQ10 is dramatic. If you get lucky, and all Rapid Syn landed, then you gain an extra touch too because it's 1 step shorter than the older rotations. With this rotation, you can even get away with NOT using any food at all too.

*NOTE: If your craftsmanship is higher than 500, then you CANNOT use the 3rd Rapid Syn, because 3x RS would have completed the item.

So far, one of the most difficult 3 star items to make is TERMINUS PUTTY HQ. The starting mats for putty are only available in NQ. So you are forced to start off your synthesis at zero quality. If you can hit >85% quality over 4/5 of the times, that's already very impressive. Luckily, we don’t need HQ putty to make HQ 3 star gear in this game. So don’t push yourself too hard.

[MISSING IMG]

Still have trouble? More hints here (Hint 1):

Spoiler Alert! (open)

Don’t just have your head stuck with Waste Not & Manip! Try something like Master Mend II! Also, have you considered using Comfort Zone more than once? The final Byregot phase will consist of all the buffs you can pull out from your arsenal, but depending on CP, you may or may not include Innov. You should have Ingen II activated right before the Byregot, so that you can complete the craft with the remaining steps under the same Ingen II.

Still have more trouble? Even more hints here (Hint 2):

Spoiler Alert! (open)

There are at least 2 approaches to 3 star crafting. One is going for less power but higher fidelity, the other is going for higher risk but stronger power.

For a 3 star GEAR (which is a final product, like Heavy Wolfram Helm or Saurian Belt of Striking), it is recommended that you use as many HQ mats as possible, and go for less power but higher fidelity. This is because if you fail to make this final product HQ, all precious mats are wasted. The key to consistently HQing a 3 star GEAR is to minimize the luck factor. Sometimes, you may be lucky enough to have so many Trick of Trades to use numerous Waste Nots, allowing you to hit Inner Quiet (IQ) 11 (max) just by pumping countless Hasty T. But that probably happens only once in a blue moon. You see, the more HTs you use, the less fidelity you have, and your chance of hitting high IQ will depend more on luck. This is NOT what you want to do for a 3 star GEAR. Why? Because each time you fail a HT, the lost durability is UNRECOVERABLE. Each lost touch is basically 1 IQ less in the end. Therefore, to achieve a rotation of higher fidelity, one should try use as few HTs as possible, and substitute them with as many Basic Touches (BT) as possible (under Steady Hand II). Try using NO Waste Not at all, but save all CP for Master Mend II & Basic T's. So it all comes down to calculations: Depending on how many CP you have gained after the first few buttons, you will be able to calculate the number of HTs & BTs you can afford to hit IQ9. Let’s say, your current CP value can afford 5 HTs & 3 BTs, aiming to hit IQ9. You will then start off with only 2 or 3 HTs, and then move on with BTs, and “anticipate/bait" for more lucky Trick of the Trade later. If luck does come, you can then continue to use more BTs until everything else becomes BT. So in the end, you may only have used 2 or 3 HTs, i.e. you may end up with something like 2x HTs + 5x BT + 1x HT (only 3 HTs, thus, high fidelity!). If luck does not come, then on your last few touches, you need to go back to using HTs so that you can still have a chance to hit IQ9. You will end up with something like 2x HTs + 3x BTs + 3x HTs.

For a 3 star MAT like Terminus Putty HQ, it is recommended that you go for a rotation of higher risk but stronger power. This is because all the mats for making Terminus Putty are only available in NQ. So you have to start your synthesis at quality zero. With this prerequisite, an 8-touch rotation is simply not powerful enough to HQ it. You need at least 9 touches (IQ 10) or even 10 touches (IQ 11) to do so. In this case, sacrifice most of your BT, and substitute them with HT to buy an extra Waste Not. This will require an extra Trick of the Trade, so good luck with that!

For a 3 star MAT like Cashmere Cloth, Wolfram Ingot or Saurian Leather, you may choose between the 2 approaches, depending on whether you start with an HQ Diluted Vitriol, HQ Ferberite & HQ Shroud Tea Leaves.

No more hints! Just give me the damn rotation already!

Spoiler Alert! Rotation here! (open)

The "Complete Breakdown" of the High Fidelity 8-Touch Rotation is shown below (This is an old school rotation from Patch 2.2 when crafters had as few as 345 CP before eating Bouillabaisse HQ, and as low as 404 craftsmanship, and we needed 2x PBP back then. We were already experts in HQ-ing 3 star items before the introduction of Supra Mainhands or Artisan Offhands in the game):

[IMG]

3 Star 40 Durability Items

[IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG]

e.g. Camlet, Lapdog Collar Bell, Enchanted Quicksilver, Fluorite Lens, Mummer's Daggers, Duck Broth etc.

(Durability: 40, Difficulty: 222, Quality: 4980)

In Patch 2.5, 3 star 40 durab items have been added as "turn-in" items for the acquisition Lucis Tools. You need 20x HQ crafted items per Lucis.

These 3 star 40 durab items are not as hard as the 3.9 star monstrosities for acquiring Master Recipe II (listed below), but they're still reasonably hard. Their quality bar is 4980, which is exactly the same as 3 star 80 durab items.

The good thing is, NQ ones can actually be handed back to Talan at Rev Toll to fully get back 3x GC untradeable mats and 1x the most expensive mat. So it's actually better to NOT use Reclaim like we did for the 3.9 star (because either way, you lose all your clusters anyway, but Reclaim only works 90% chance). And since we're not adding Reclaim in our cross class selection panel, we can now add 1 extra useful cross class skill for our synthesis. This is wonderful & exciting, as we were desperately out of cross class skill slots for 3.9 and 4 star items. What S-E did here opened up opportunities for us to create even more complex, more interesting, more flexible rotations!

Concerning rotations, I'm not gonna talk very much here to ruin everyone's fun. Let's just say, S-E this time gave us a challenge to force us to learn how to use Manipulation properly. Manipulation is practically the SOUL of this. I've always said in my crafting guide that Manipulation is a wonderful skill for high level 40 durab items (We veteran crafters recognized this as early as Patch 2.0 & 2.1. Check out this post I made before Caimie's crafting guide even exists!). And here it is in Patch 2.5, S-E wants us to put it into full use... and in conjunction with other skills... to a point even I am learning a lot from this. Everyone knows how to click that Manip button. But when is the best time? There are some basic rules to it, but it's still pretty variable. The key, is always keeping an eye on those icons above the screen, pay attention to when Comfort Zone or Steady Hand II are falling off (this affects WHEN to activate Manip), and also pay attention to how much durab is remaining (this also affects WHEN to activate Manip). Then make your judgement. Most of the times, deciding WHEN to activate Manipulation will determine whether you can HQ that item or not.

For these items, we can at most get around 400 initial quality with HQ mats, which surprisingly, actually made a difference for me sometimes (for my GSM). However, I still tend to avoid expensive HQ mats like HQ ferberite or HQ shroud tea leaves. I did my BSM and LTW starting from zero quality and it was still fine. I used HQ mats for GSM because it only asked for HQ Siltstone Whetstone & HQ Basilisk Whetstone, which are just so easy to make or even cheap to buy.

[IMG]

- My average was about 16 to 17 /20 HQ. Best record was 19/20 HQ.

I started off with CUL, thinking it would have been cheaper like how the old 3 star in Patch 2.2. But not really... In reality, it wasn't cheaper at all. There is no class that is specially cheaper and can be used as a practice (But there are classes that are particularly expensive like BSM & ARM, which involve Scheelite.)... Well, it all comes down to which class you have the most mats available, or cheapest on the market board. Since there is no "practice class", the crafting simulator from http://ffxivcrafter.com/ actually do helps quite a bit, especially with completion predictions. So far, the simulator is telling me that a critical craftsmanship level occurs at 467, where Rapid Syn can be used once alone, and then a CS II under Ingen II can wrap up everything. We obviously don't have that much craftsmanship level. Even with my new Artisan's Apron, and with my Artisan's Offhand with 2x Competence IV + 1x Competence III, I'm only having 464. Other people who did 3x Competence III will only have 462. But with the help of FC buff, we can gain an extra 5 craftsmanship, and that should be theoretically enough even if you have only 462 craftsmanship (I never tested this though!).

If you don't have the luxury of FC buffs, it's ok. You can still make this item, but you need Ingen II to cover that Rapid Syn of yours. Thus, you will have to use Ingen II very early so that if your Rapid Syn fails, you can still mend it. After that, a CSII alone at the end can finish it. Don't put Ingen II, Rapid Syn and CS II all together at the end, hoping Ingen II to wrap the Byregot. It's not worth that risk of botching with a late Rapid Syn. Alternatively, you can use 3 steps for completion... Rapid Syn, CS II, CS II is a viable completion method as well especially if CP is an issue, but durab is not.

Interestingly, I am finding the need for a few more CP in the making of these items. So I melded 3 more CP on the last slot of some of my classes' offhands. It really did help! But I don't know if this is a wise choice or not until the next patch or Heavensward arrives.

Need more hints? See below:

hints! (open)

Usually, activating Manipulation when durab is 20 or 15 is the best. This way, if the condition is "Good" after activating Manip, you can take a Trick of Trade, and just let durab increase by 10. In contrast, if the condition is "Excellent", you can do a touch instead. Thus, this arrangement allows maximum flexibility, because sometimes 2 Trick of Trades do come up before Manip's 3 steps run out, which will gain back a full 40 durab (or 35 durab), and not have any durab wasted. However, if you foresee that you will be using the Steady Hand II button or Comfort Zone button right after Manip, then you actually want durab to go down to 10 or 5. This way, when you use SH II or CZ, your durab will rise back to 20, and still allows the flexibility of taking 2 Trick of Trades.

Still have trouble making this item? See hints below:

More hints!!! (open)

Depending on how many Tricks I got, I sometimes even use a 3rd Comfort Zone. From my experience, I dare say, if you have >190 CP when your 2nd CZ falls off, you can feel pretty comfortable throwing down a 3rd CZ right there, before proceeding to another round of Manipulation (or Waste Not).

One major decision near the end, is to judge whether you have enough CP for another round of Manip or not. If you're sitting on IQ7+, and u have ~150 CP left, 35 durab left. That is obviously not enough to do more CZ or Manip. What I will do is activate Steady Hand II, pop Ingen II, then push out a Hasty under the Ingen II, push out a Basic T under the Ingen II, Great Stride and then Byregot, and leaving 1 round of Ingen II for the CSII to complete the item. I will not be able to take any Tricks during this final phase, nor will I have any CP left for baiting a Good on the Byregot, but I can be pretty comfortable with my last 2 touches slightly buffed by Ingen II, reaching IQ9+ for the Byregot, and ensuring completion. If you need 2 CSII's to complete it, you could leave out 1 touch in the above arrangement, and you will have 2 steps of Ingen II at the end for 2x CS II.

Another major decision near the end, is if you wanna try push out more IQ stack. Let's say, I have only IQ6 this time, ~150 CP and 35 durab, the above is obviously not going to generate sufficient power (IQ8 or less). I will then do Steady Hand II, Waste Not (2nd time in the rotation), and then 4x Hasty Touches.

Case (1): If there is no Trick of Trades, this will lead me into trouble, as I will reach IQ10 (or IQ9 if one failed), but only 15 durab left with 69 CP. This is not enough to do Great Strides, Ingen II, Byregot, CS II. But I can still BAIT for the good at this point. I will activate that Ingen II first to ensure completion, and hope a Trick pop up right there. If it does, take it, and then do the Great Strides, Byregot, and the finish with CS II.

Case (2): If there's a Trick right before the WN, take it! This will mean reaching IQ9, leaving 1 step of WN hanging at 20 durab without Steady Hand II covering. Use that step to do a CSII first. This leave 15 durab left and 59 CP. But I no longer require Ingen II for completion. I can now comfortably push out Great Strides + Byregot (but only at 90% success rate, and I have failed this before too), and finish up with a second CSII.

Case (3): If the Trick comes during the 4 steps of WN, take it, and Hasty Touch 3x only (reaching IQ9). I will have 20 durab left, but I have enough CP now to perform Great Strides, Ingen II, Byregot (at 90% success rate), and then finish up with CSII.

Special 3 Star 80 Durability Items

(a.k.a. 3.5 star items)

[IMG] [IMG]

e.g. Augmented Cashmere Robe of Casting, Augmented Saurian Shirt of Striking etc. (the "sparkling" i90)

(Durability: 80, Difficulty: 667, Quality: 3735)

The difficulty of making these augmented gear is that they require 1 extra Piece by Piece. That means 15 less CP & 10 less durab to work on quality. Also, the amount of initial quality you can get from HQ mats is very small. This means you are forced to use a risky rotation with almost all HTs to try to squeeze out more touches. But at the end of the day, it's just a glamor item. I'd not use Reclaim on it since it's too risky to lose all those precious demimateria. Completion is more important.

Since Patch 2.4/2.5, if your craftsmanship is higher than 445 (but lower than 500), you can use the following method for completion:

PBP

CSII

This is basically the same as the 3 star completion method listed above except adding an extra PBP at the front. This completion method saves a lot of CP, and can also potentially save a touch. Once again, the additional CP could potentially become an extra Comfort Zone (3rd), which means even more CP to potentially add an extra Manip/MM/WN.

Special 3 Star 80 Durability Items

(a.k.a. 3.5 star items)

[IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG]

e.g. i95 Primal Weapons like Inferno Blade, Inferno Claws, Van of the Vortex, Spine of the Vortex, Tremor Shield etc. (i95)

(Note: i95 Mog Weapons are actually just REGULAR 3 star items)

(Durability: 80, Difficulty: 445, Quality: 4980)

i95 Primal Weapons are currently the 2nd-most difficult item to HQ in this game. Due to having Elemental Aspects, all progress are HALVED. They kind of qualify being called "4 star" in my opinion. You need at least 410 Craftsmanship to complete the item using Elemental Brands. And if you are a 4 star crafter with >453 Craftsmanship, it's even better since you don't need to use the Elemental Brands.

*IMPORTANT:

- Please be careful that "i95 Mog Weapons" are NOT considered "Primal Weapons". Mog weapons have no elemental aspects. Thus, they are just regular 3 star items!

Crafting i95 primal weapons with only 410+ Craftsmanship:

I came up with this number by testing on regular 3 star mats, and then confirmed the results by crafting actual i95 weapons.

[IMG]

To achieve this, I recommend the acquisition of the "Supra Tools", maxes out ALL stats (including those +1 craftsmanship on pants & boots) on ALL gear with overmelds, and possess at least 6 Craftsmanship on the old Militia Offhand to make up a total of 410+ Craftsmanship (or you can simply own the new Artisan's Offhand, and your craftsmanship will be way over 410). To counteract on the elemental aspect problem, you can make use of the "Elemental Brands" or even Rapid Syn. However, Rapid Syn is way too risky. As you can see from the pics in the Desynthesis chapter above, it takes 3x Primal Demimateria, 10x Battlecraft Demi III, & 1 special item from Extreme Primal to make such a weapon. Failing is NOT an option! Worst case scenario, make it NQ! DO NOT use Reclaim! Since there's simply no room for "tests", please use the above test results to plan your rotation. You will need 3x Piece by Piece if you don't have the Artisan's Offhand. Also, REMEMBER TO THE VERY DEEPEST OF YOUR HEART, THAT YOU WILL NEED TO SAVE 15 CP FOR THAT ELEMENTAL BRAND. ADD 15 CP TO YOUR FINAL BYREGOT PHASE'S CALCULATION! This is very different from regular 3 star crafting. If you fail to remember this, you will fail the completion of the weapon, and waste over 8 million gil of mats. In summary, comparing to a normal 3 star item, you have 30 CP less & 10 durab less to work with. Also remember, that Byregot and Elemental Brands have only 90% success rate. So try to have a Steady Hand before both of them (Actually, I once did the Byregot & Brand without a SH to pull enough CP for Great Strides. It eventually paid off, but such a big risk... my heart nearly popped).

Checklist before you start making your i95 weapon:

(1) Did you load up the appropriate cross class skills including the Elemental Brand?

(2) If you have more than 1 offhand, are you using the appropriate one?

(3) Check craftsmanship to make sure it's over 410.

(4) Did you request the appropriate FC buff?

(5) Did you eat your Bouillabaisse HQ?

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- To HQ an i95 weapon really needs both skills & luck.

Crafting i95 primal weapons with 453+ Craftsmanship:

Since Patch 2.4, new Artisan's Offhands have been introduced. Craftsmanship level can now hit over 451 to perform 4 star crafting. I have found a new way to craft these i95 Primal Weapons. Apparently, if you have 453 craftsmanship, you can complete the Weapon with only 5 steps! You can use 1 less PBP & you do not need to use the Elemental Brand:

PBP

Rapid Syn (under Ingen II)

Careful Syn II (without Ingen II)

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Indeed, Rapid Syn are risky, but you can now do it early under Ingen II, and you won't need Ingen II again at the end for the Careful Syn II. With 1 less PBP and without the need of Elemental Brand, you will be saving 30 CP & 1 extra step for quality, which is a biiiggg biiiggg deal. Even if 1 Rapid Syn fails and took an extra step, you're still gaining 30 CP... totally worth it!

Crafting i95 primal weapons with ~495 Craftsmanship:

After acquisition of Lucis Tools, our craftsmanship goes to around 495. I found that at 495 craftsmanship, Rapid Syn under Ingen2 would give rise to 101 progress. Thus, the rotation for 453+ craftsmanship won't work. It'd complete the item on the 2nd Rapid Syn under Ingen2.

If you have 495 craftsmanship, you can actually omit the Ingen2 entirely from your rotation. So you can remove it from your cross class panel, and substitute it with something else more useful, like Innovation or Manipulation. Rapid Syn alone gives 73 progress. So you do need an extra CS II in the end. But omitting the Ingen2 from the rotation saves you 32 CP, which can be utilized for something else, like a 3rd Comfort Zone plus an extra Manipulation in your rotation, which potentially gives 3 extra touches.

The rotation now becomes:

1st PBP ------- gives 146 progress

2nd PBP ----- gives 98 progress

Rapid Syn --- gives 73 progress

CS II --------- gives 35 progress

If, by chance you need to use CS II under Ingen2, it gives 48 progress... just so you know.

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- Newest i95 Primal Weapon, Lift of the Vortex, for the Astrologian in Heavensward (today is 19th June 2015. The weapon is so new that it is not googleable yet!). Our crafting rotation has been changing so much every time our stats increase... We gotta stay on top!

Special 3 Star 80 Durability Items

(a.k.a. 3.9 Star Monstrosity Items, for acquisition of Master Recipe Books II of 4 star recipes)

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e.g. Rich Tomato Relish, Intricate Silver Brocade, Concentrated Spirits of Salt, Balanced Darksteel Hook, Reinforced Darksteel wire etc.

(Durability: 80, Difficulty: 801, Quality: 8965)

These "Monsters" are currently the most difficult item in this game to HQ. They are harder than the 3.5 star i95 Primal Weapons, thus I call them "3.9 star". They are even harder than 4 star recipes in my opinion.

"Reclaim" is a skill that you MUST load up for making these items. You will be Reclaiming a lot. Another skill you will need is "Rapid Syn". You need it to shorten the completion steps, to buy more steps for quality.

You will need to somehow reach IQ10 or IQ11 to even have a chance to HQ it. If you're only having IQ10, you will need a Good condition on the Byregot to get the job done. IQ9 is hopeless. Even a Good condition on the Byregot will not help if you're only at IQ9.

For completion of the item, you can use the following 3 different ways:

Method 1 (only need about 415 craftsmanship or less):

PBP

Rapid Syn (w Ingen2) (done early so that if failed, you can redo)

Careful Syn II

Method 2 (only need about 415 craftsmanship or less):

PBP

Rapid Syn (w Ingen2) (done late so that the Ingen2 will cover the Byregot to help with quality. But if failed, item will botch)

Careful Syn II

Method 3 (requires 423 craftsmanship or more):

PBP

Rapid Syn (alone) (done early so that if failed, you can redo)

Rapid Syn (w Ingen2) (done late so that Ingen2 will cover the Byregot to help with quality. But if failed, item will botch)

Careful Syn II

Method 4 (requires 480+ craftsmanship, Lucis Tool already acquired):

PBP

Rapid Syn (alone) (done early so that if failed, you can redo)

Careful Syn II (w Ingen2, 32 CP)

Method 5 (requires 492+ craftsmanship, Lucis Tool already acquired):

PBP

Rapid Syn (alone) (done early so that if failed, you can redo)

Careful Syn II (w Ingen1, 24 CP)

Serious Spoiler Alert! Full rotations of the first 3 methods above here:

3.9 star rotation spoiler (open)

*NOTE: NOT all classes can fit all the Cross Class Skills listed in these rotations. For e.g. GSM lacks 1 Cross Class Slot. In that case, you will have to sacrifice 1 skill. It can be Waste Not, which you sacrifice the chance of 2 extra touches for 56 CP (but you can still add more touches with Manipulation), or it can be Reclaim if you're confident. You may even sacrifice Rapid Syn, and save up more durability in the end for completion with more Careful Syn II under Ingen2. It's really up to you! Be flexible! Notice that although GSM has 2 less touches without Waste Not, it has a natural "Innovation" which you can utilize in the final Byregot phase. This is a luxury which other classes don't have.

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The most important thing is really not about the inflexible rotations, but the way to improvise and think on the spot. This is because there will be numerous failed Hasty Touches. But if you have been taking many Trick of Trades at suitable positions, you have a chance to mend it.

Usually, I'll end up with a lot of extra CP near the end... It's a choice to make whether to use all Hasties or swap one or two into Basic T. And this "choice" kinda distinguishes you from average crafters.

With normal 3 star items, the best crafters will swap out as many Hasties with Basics to increase fidelity, leaving as few CP left as possible at the end. Here with 3.9 star items, it's different. Sometimes, we wanna go all Hasties and leave as many CP as we can near the end (as shown by "2" & "3" below):

(1) - If I know I can hit IQ11 (you know this around IQ8 or 9), I swap out all my remaining Hasty to Basic T (or even Standard/Advanced T) to make sure I get the IQ11, and have just enough CP to finish the Byregot phase.

(2) - If I can only hit IQ10, I'll risk with all Hasties, and save as many CP as I can to bait for a Good on the Byregot. I can usually bait at least 1 more step with my extra CP. I would continuously press Steady Hand II /Great Strides until I get a Good, and making sure I have enough steps of Ingen II left for the rest of the synthesis (if i'm using rotation #2 or #3). I leave 55 CP behind before I give up the baiting. If I don't get a Good, I Reclaim. Be discipline here. If you don't see a Good in time, Reclaim it.

(3) - If I can only hit IQ9 (i.e. two steps blew up, which is quite common), then I will spend all my extra CP on Master Mend (92 CP), Waste Not, or Manipulation (only GSM has it because no cross class space for this in other classes), just so that I can hit IQ11. If CP is too much of an issue for the remaining Byregot phase, I would even skip the Steady Hand II here on that 3 extra Hasty Touches. If I can land 1 or 2 Hasties, that gives "hope". If IQ9, there's no "hope". IQ9 is simply not enough even if your Byregot lands on a lucky Good. So might as well test your luck on getting more ToTs later by extending the process and hitting IQ11. You do need enough CP for Steady Hand II, Great Strides, Ingen II & Byregot at the end to make use of the IQ10 or 11 (cost 113 CP) (in Rotation 2 & 3 above). Otherwise, just Reclaim.

(4) - When I get an Excellent, I consider swapping out the Hasty with a Basic, so I get it 100% fidelity (unless I really lack CP). If the Excellent come at a very late touch, I might even consider doing a Standard Touch on it. It works very well if you are already sitting on IQ9+ and has extra CP. The extra 25% efficiency from a Standard T over Basic T is multiplied by 4x.

(5) - If an Excellent appears at a time where I don't have Steady Hand active, I still touch it with either Basic or Standard Touch. It's better to risk a 70% touch or a 32-CP 80% touch there than placing a Steady Hand on an Excellent, and then suffering Poor on the next touch. If the touch fails, at least your Steady Hand will land on the Poor, and your next touch is back to normal.

(6) - Do NOT touch on an Excellent if it's BEFORE your Inner Quiet. You lose an IQ stack!

(7) - If you have extra durability for more touches even after reaching IQ11, keep pushing touches before your Byregot. At IQ11, even a single Hasty Touch can help to increase quality by a lot. Your IQ will not increase any further, but any more quality increase from single touches will help.

Sometimes, these little choices/decisions would make a big difference on the final outcome, and here with these Monstrosity 3.9 items, this is exactly the case. And this is why manual crafting > macro, and it's a lot of fun.

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- Even with IQ11, it is still not enough to reach 100% HQ rate... These items are monsters...

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- A rare lucky Excellent on the Byregot helped out a lot!

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- I acquired all the Master Recipe Book II's without the new Artisan's Offhands. I didn't even have any Artisan's gear on me except the Artisan's Specs & Supra tools. I was wearing most just i55 gear, i70 specs and a Supra Tool. You don't have to rush like me though. If you get the Artisan's Offhands & the shared Artisan's gear first (or even Lucis Tools now in Patch 2.5), things will be a lot easier.

4 Star Items

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e.g. Arachne Velveteen, Wootz Ingot, Wootz Cuirass, Arachne Robe, Arachne Bandana of Scouting, Kirimu Coat etc.

(Durability: 80, Difficulty: 586, Quality: 5783)

Finally, we have arrived at the ultimate 4 star crafting! 4 star crafting has a very strict requirement of 451+ craftsmanship & 407+ control. You must possess (1) the Supra Tool, (2) the new Artisan's Offhand with overmelds, and (3) 1 of the 3 new Artisan's Mitt/Culottes/Sandals, or the Ehcatl Smithing Gloves, in order to hit these requirements.

4 star is tougher than 3 star for sure, but not by too much. The rotations are somewhat similar, except a harsher requirement on quality. Just like 3 star, if you start off with a significant amount of HQ mats to boost initial quality, then it's not too difficult. The really hard ones in 4 star are really the "mats" like Arachne Velveteen where you have to push quality from zero. For a 3 star Terminus Putty, if you can get IQ10 or IQ11, then it's nearly guaranteed 100% HQ. In 4 star, not quite. You basically needs IQ10 or IQ11 to even have a chance to HQ it, and then you really needs some luck on baiting a Good condition on the Byregot.

For progress, 4 star also has a harsher requirement. If you have 451 craftsmanship (minimum for doing 4 star), you can use this 5 step completion method...

Completion Method #1:

PBP

Rapid Syn (without buff)

Careful Syn II (under Ingen II)

Or you can use this 6 step method...

Completion Method #2:

PBP

Careful Syn II (without buff)

Both methods are very viable, and are capable of getting the job done.

ERRATUM:

I have previous wrongly posted the requirement for Method #3 as "452 craftsmanship". I sincerely apologize for this error.

Alternatively, if you have 453 craftsmanship, you can actually use this 5 step method...

Completion Method #3 (need 453 craftsmanship):

PBP

Rapid Syn (without buff)

Careful Syn II (without buff)

The advantage of #1 is that it's only 5 steps, leaving 1 extra step for quality. It has only 1 Rapid Syn that can be done early, so the risk is low. It utilizes Ingen II near the end, so it adds 1 extra step for baiting a Good for the Byregot, but this also means 32 extra CP needed near the end.

The advantage of #2 is that it is highly secure (PBP has 90% success rate even without Steady Hand), and very flexible on the aspect that you can push progress any time when Steady Hand has fallen off. E.g. if you're 1 step away from reactivating Comfort Z, or if you're at 30 or 25 durability which you are 1 step from using Master Mend II, activating a new Steady Hand II will be suboptimal. In this case, using a plain PBP or CSII would be a very nice choice so that the 5 steps of Steady Hand II can be maximized after clicking Comfort Z or after using Master Mend II. The disadvantage of #2 is that it is costly on CP to use so many PBPs. If a PBP fails, it'll cost even more CP. Also it is obviously involving 6 steps, so you have 1 fewer step for quality.

The advantage of #3 is that it is theoretically the most CP efficient. The whole completion process apparently only need 15 CP on 1 PBP. You don't even need Ingen II in you arsenal. However, notice that now you have to use 2x Rapid Syn under Steady Hand II, and it is more risky. And if 1 Rapid Syn fails, that's 3 steps under a Steady Hand II gone. So it does eat away 2 to 3 steps from a 25 CP Steady Hand II. Luckily, Ingen II is not required here, so an extra 32 CP is saved as well.

Personally, I prefer the #3, but that's just my choice. You can do any of the above, and it should still work.

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4 star mats are now sold by Auriana at Rev Toll (See pic below).

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Ch28: Calculation of Byregot Strength under Different Buffs

How much quality can a Byregot under Great S, Innov & Ingen II give at IQ9 vs IQ10? And if I sacrifice Innov for a Basic Touch instead of a Hasty to increase fidelity on the touch, is my final Byregot going to be stronger or weaker? These difficult questions can be answered by the following figures. Data collected from a 3 star item (Popoto Pancakes i90):

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As you can see from Fig 3, the Byregot without Innov at IQ10 (highlighted in bright green under blue column) is actually weaker than the Byregot with Innov at IQ9 (highlighted in pink). However, the quality gain from the extra Basic Touch (highlighted in green under red column) plus the Byregot without Innov at IQ10 would give more quality than the Byregot with Innov at IQ9 alone. But of course, if you save the 18 CP for Innov, and you succeeded in the last Hasty, you'll get the strongest Byregot. Furthermore, by including Innov before the Byregot, you added 1 more step to "bait" for a Good or Excellent condition. If you get an Excellent any time before the Byregot, feel free to skip all those Great S/Innov/Ingen II. If you get a Good after Great Strides, you may skip Innov/Ingen II & go directly to the Byregot.

Ch29: Furniture, Minions & Glamor Clothing

“I wanna make the Demon Wall Sculpture decoration! I also want the Magic Broom minion & the Spring Dress!!!”

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If making furniture, minions & glamor clothing are all you care, then you can pretty much ignore your control stats and forget about pushing quality. This is because quality does not matter for furniture & minions at all (For glamor items, even if you make it HQ, it’s really to show off how good a crafter you are. And the HQ can only be seen if you’re actually wearing that dress/skirt. If you glamor something with it, the HQ of course would not show up.). The only thing that matters is that you complete the synthesis. So, as you may expect, crafting low level items of such are easy as cake. As for higher level items, you would expect Piece By Piece, Waste Not, Ingen II & Careful Syn II to play major roles. Please be careful that the hardest furniture actually has higher difficulty than 3 star gear/weapons. So it takes more PBPs to craft them. But it’s really THAT simple. Just make sure you use enough PBP under WN & Steady Hand, and you’ll be in great shape. You'll notice that many of these top furniture, minion or glamor clothing require some very precious mats that can worth up to a million gil or more. Thus, make sure you have the above cross class skills before trying any of them.

Also, be careful when you craft any furniture that has Elemental Aspects like the Tidal Wavesoul Fount or Ice Chandelier! Your progress from Careful Syn II will be reduced by half! You don't necessarily need to load up the Water Brand or Ice Brand, but you must use enough Waste Not/Piece by Piece under Steady Hand before switching to Careful Syn II under Ingen II. Having Rapid Syn ready in the arsenal as a back-up is also a good idea.

Here is the data for a basic non-elemental aspected 3 star furniture. You can see what you need to complete the item here:

Spoiler Alert! (open)

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Acknowledgement

Special thanks to my genius crafting sensei Nabeshin Nabeeeeshinn for his support and pointers throughout my crafting career. Thanks to my wonderful crafting colleagues Picka Peppa & Pieris Angelika for helpful discussions. Also, thanks to my dear friends Nubonaga Oda (Evil Nero), Raven Karasu, Zero Maverick, Mina Arinelle, Kirito Leatherby, Dsparil Heretic, Tsumiki Miniwa, Jackie Wolf & Zueex Destino for helpful resources. Special thanks to the "Mushy-Tailed" Retainer Fox for gathering mats for me for my acquisition of Lucis crafting tools. Last but not the least, thanks to my gaming partner, Valestia Tsukino, for her constant support on all sorts of things in the game.

PART 3: HW CRAFTING

*Launched 11 Aug 2015

*Latest update 7 Dec 2017

This guide is a continuation of the original FF14 Advanced Crafting Guide by Caimie Tsukino:

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ff14-advanced-crafting-guide-by-caimie-tsukino.39/

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ff14-advanced-crafting-guide-part-2-by-caimie-tsukino.49/

FF14 Advanced Crafting Guide (Part 3 Heavensward) by Caimie Tsukino

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Ch30: Post-lvl 50 Crafting in Heavensward

Much like battle classes, all Heavensward crafting contents are beyond level 50 (with the exception of the new battle classes that starts from lvl 30). Thus, this guide is designed to accommodate crafters post-lvl 50. If you are not level 50 yet, please visit the original Caimie's Crafting Guide (Part 1). It contains information to help you understand about crafting, cross class skills, construction of rotations and ways of leveling. If you do not have Careful Syn II, Ingenuity II and Byregot's Blessing yet, please acquire them before moving beyond lvl 50. In this guide (Part 3), we will only be focusing on the new contents added in the Heavensward expansion, which substitutes the outdated end-game contents in ARR (covered in Caimie's Crafting Guide Part 2). If you are a gatherer, and is looking for a gathering guide, please visit my Heavensward gathering guide here.

Ch31: Can I level just a single class? What class(es) should I level first?

Unfortunately, ALL classes should be leveled to gain an advantage. Much like A Realm Reborn (ARR), all Heavensward (HW) recipes require mats from multiple classes. So having more classes can greatly save gil from buying crafted mats. Gathering classes & Retainers will also help a lot with acquisition of raw mats. Technically, you CAN just level a single class, but it will cost you a lot of gil.

In addition, before the release of HW, S-E said you don’t need to level all classes, but can just choose to level a single class, and still able to excel and make high level items. It’s not a lie, but it’s close to a lie. The new Whistle system & Specialization Crafting Skills indeed give a chance for single-class crafters to do any end-game item. But that new Whistle system is very luck-dependent, and not very reliable. So, most level 50 cross class skills are still needed. Together with other reasons, I recommend being an all-60 after all.

Despite the need of all classes, I do recommend focusing on the following 4 classes first:

(1) CRP – it makes most of the primary HW end-game accessories (notice that it’s NOT GSM anymore in HW), which can be worn at lvl 56 (Hallowed Chestnut Ring), 58 (Hallowed Chestnut Armillae) & 59 (Hallowed Chestmut Necklace). CP is the KEY to success, thus gaining early access to these accessories is very important. I would even suggest to overmeld them as early as possible to further boost your craft/control/CP. CRP also makes the offhand tools for WVR & GSM. So it's definitely a high priority to level CRP.

(2) BSM – it makes most of the mainhand / offhand tools that you’ll need (apart from WVR, CUL & ALC mainhands).

(3) WVR – makes crafting/gathering gear - lvl 53 crafting/gathering gloves, chests, pants. lvl 53 crafting shoes. lvl 54 crafting belt. lvl 55 crafting hat, chest, pants. WVR also makes your initial end-game crafting hat, chest, pants, and initial end-game gathering pants.

(4) LTW – makes crafting/gathering gear - lvl 51 crafting/gathering gloves, chests, pants, boots. lvl 53 gathering chest, pants, boots. lvl 55 gathering hat, chest, gloves, boots. lvl 55 crafting gloves, boots. LTW also makes your gathering belts, and your initial end-game crafting/gathering gloves, boots & belts, and initial end-game gathering chest & hat.

Other classes are still important:

GSM now only makes 1 primary HW end-game accessory, which are the Dragon Fang Earrings (can be worn at lvl 57). So of course it's not as important as it used to be in ARR. However, things like Hardsilver Ingot & Aurum Regis Nugget are used in a lot of recipes. GSM also makes the mainhand tools for WVR, and the crafting/gathering head piece for lvl 51. So it really doesn’t hurt to have GSM leveled early too. GSM lvl 54 also gives “Maker’s Mark”, which is a pretty good cross class skill to be used with Flawless Synthesis, and is something that can be used to assist the new Whistle System (see later chapters below).

ARM is good to provide CUL & ALC mainhand tools.

CUL gives the new cross class skill “Muscle Memory” at lvl 54 (see later chapters for details), which is very good for crafting any 70 or 80 durab items above level 57. New food like “Baked Onion Soup HQ”, are also very strong and helpful (although if you have already stocked up with Bouillabaisse HQ from ARR, they work very nicely too). It gives slightly more CP than the old Bouillabaisse HQ, and also provides that extra craftsmanship that sometimes can be critical in completing certain items with 1 less Careful Syn II.

ALC is a funny one. Basically, you need crafted mats from ALC all the times when you’re leveling other classes. So you’re “forced” to level this. Personally, my ALC reached level 58 without even doing a single leves. I had to constantly use it to craft things to power other classes.

Apart from DoH classes, it's also quite important to level up some DoL classes like Miner and Botanist, which can save yourself a lot of gil from buying mats off the market board. Make sure you level up at least 1 retainer as a DoW/DoM (same as your lvl 60 main) and at least 1 retainer as Miner or Botanist (Personally, I think Miner retainer is more helpful post-lvl 56, but Botanist retainer is still very helpful from lvl 50 to 55.). Retainer ventures can sometimes get you free mats more efficient than yourself! In Heavensward (post lvl 50), your retainers can trained up to the same level as your character.

Ch32: Leveling Crafting Classes from 50 to 60

Similar to ARR, there are many ways to level your crafting classes, and I recommend using a combination of them.

Ch32A: Tradecraft Leves

First of all, every day you should consume 5 to 6 Tradecraft Leves to keep that total allowance lower than 100. This allows extra leves to flow in each day. This should be a top priority every day.

However, if you're between level 50 to level 52, DO NOT overuse leves too early. You want to save most of your leves for your higher levels. At lvl 55+, you should be doing more leves, and at lvl 58+, you should be massively grinding leves.

Now, which leves? In a recent patch, they have strongly nerfed the exp from level 45 leves in Adventure Guilds of all 3 major cities. So don't bother with them anymore. Someone did say the Mor Dhona leves still works ok (but I haven't confirmed). But anyway, if you're level 50, you should be taking level 50 leves from Foundation (near the big aetheryte).

To choose which leves to take on, you have to consider the following:

(1) Avoid any leves that asks for more than 1 item. This sort of leves give good exp per leves, and they maximize allowances, but they deplete your mats way too fast, and will get you broke in no time. I recommend leves that only ask for 1 item.

(2) Usually there will be 2 choices, so find out what mats is needed for the 2 leves items. Are they expensive? Pick the one that uses fewer mats, or uses cheaper mats.

(3) Pay attention to the "Recipe Level". Avoid taking on recipes higher than your own levels. By now you should be able to distinguish "Recipe Level" from "Item Level". There are 3 kinds of "levels" you have to deal with. "Recipe Level" is listed on the crafting log but NOT on the item itself. It determines the difficulty of the item for the crafter. "Item Level" (a.k.a. ilvl) is listed ON the item. It contributes to the final "average ilevel" when the item is being worn, and each ilvl has its own melding cap. And the "Level" listed below the "classes" ON the item refers to the "Minimum level of that class to wear the item". When I said pay attention to "Recipe Level", I mean the information on the crafting log, not the item itself. E.g. if the Recipe Level is 54, then you should not be attempting to make it when you're only level 51. You can do it, but it'll be very difficult to HQ it. Level 51 should be able to take on a level 51 recipe with ease, and perhaps level 52 too.

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- Avoid recipes with higher Recipe Levels than your current crafting class's level.

After selecting your leves, try your best to craft and hand in HQ items to double the exp. This will save you money and leves allowances. The only time(s) you would hand in NQ items, is if the NQ finished product is actually very cheaply available on marketboard (MB), much cheaper than buying the mats. Alternatively, you're trying to take on a leves item of a recipe lvl much higher than your own crafter's level, so you know you have trouble making it HQ. Or if you have so many allowances to spare, you just feel like burning them. Then ok, go ahead and turn in NQ stuff for your leves.

Ch32B: “Collectables” turn-ins

The new “Collectable System” allows you to gain exp by turning in requested items. I will give you a more detailed explanation about how this system works in the later chapters. This method gives less exp than leves. But it is a viable alternative if you run out of leves.

Ch32C: Grand Company Supply/Provision Missions

Surprisingly, this is perhaps the most effective way of leveling. If the item has a gold star, you should try your best to hand in an HQ item (unless the mats are so expensive it's just out of your budget). Starred items give 2x exp. HQ items give 2x exp. Handing in an HQ item when the item is starred would give 4x EXP. That’s one single item for almost half the exp bar. So don’t miss your daily GC turn-ins.

Now, with all those GC seals from turn-ins, you should buy "Company-Issued Engineering Manual". We will discuss this below.

Ch32D : Moogle Beast Tribe

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Moogle Beast Tribe was introduced in the later patches of Heavensward. The crafting in Moogle Beast Quests are soooo ridiculously easy that they can barely be called crafting. But the quests give soooo much EXP that it should not be missed. You should be doing this daily if you're leveling between level 50 to 60. For more details in unlocking Moogle Beast Tribe please visit: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Moogle_Daily_Quests

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- You also get this really cool mount when you complete the Moogle Beast Tribe!

Ch32E: Commercial & Company-Issued Engineering Manuals

In Heavensward, when you take up your "continued" class quests from the corresponding crafting classes' guilds, you will be given 3x "Commercial Engineering Manual" per class. DO NOT waste them. They provide a bonus of 150% exp and up to 300,000 exp, but it only lasts 20 min. Save these precious manuals for later use (like level 55+). Instead, go buy "Company-Issued Engineering Manual" with GC seals (1440 seals each). These manuals are much more affordable since you'll have plenty of GC seals from doing GC Supply/Provision Mission. These weaker manuals provides only a bonus of 50% exp and 20,000 exp max before vanishing. But they last up to 3 hours, so you can take your time with your crafting. Despite the smaller exp it gives, it's a great thing to use for level 50 to level 54 crafting. I always popped one when I was massively grinding HQ 1 star 40 durab items (see below). Since the "Commercial Engineering Manual" has only 20 min, you cannot utilize the 300K bonus exp quick enough if you're crafting HQ items manually (even with macro). So, use the precious Commercial manuals when you're doing quicksyn at level 55+. Quicksyn will allow you to fully use up all the bonus 300K exp before the 20 min mark.

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- 3x free Commercial Engineering Manual are given per class at the beginning of every class quest in HW. Only 3 per class, so use them wisely on Quisksyn. They can also be purchased with Blue Scrips (see later chapters below about Blue Scrips). But I do not recommend wasting your Blue Scrips on them.

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- Buy "Company-Issued Engineering Manual" to handle your daily crafting of HQ items.

Ch32F: Leveling by Actual Crafting

Much like ARR, this is one of the most solid way to level crafting. To effectively do this, you should be using any cheap CP food like Stone Soup from the Gold Saucer to add CP advantage and gain the extra 3% exp. You should be using the Company-Issued Engineering Manual mentioned above. And if possible, you should request FC buff on crafting exp.

At level 50, it's relatively difficult to handle level 51 or 52 recipes. I recommend doing the old ARR 1 Star 40 durab items to level up (e.g. Rose Gold Nugget, Darksteel Nugget, Spruce Lumber etc.). Those items usually require minimal mats, and you can stack them to save inventory space. Furthermore, you can macro them. At this point, I'd like to share the old school Ultimate ARR 1 Star Rotation here, so that you can macro it for your old ARR 40 durab items:

The Ultimate Rotation for 1 & 2 Star 40 Durab Items in ARR

(a.k.a. Rotation of the Year, Diamond Rotation, Perfect Rotation):

*Requires 324 Craftsmanship if you're level 50. Requires only 294 Craftsmanship if you're level 51!

*Requires 349 CP - modify the rotation to use less CP as you see fit.

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Manipulation" <wait.2>

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Standard Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II"

(If you are level 50, and lack the Craftsmanship and/or CP for this, you may try to use some strong food like “Baked Onion Soup". Visit the later chapter "Crafting Food in ARR & Heavensward" for details.)

Developed by Sensei Nabeshin & a few other crafters back in 2.0, and extensively studied and modified by me, this rotation was the ultimate rotation for 1 star & 2 star 40 durab items in ARR. I am sure other strong crafters out there would have come to a consensus of the same rotation too (so it's hard to say who "invented" it). This rotation reaches only IQ6, but it gives 100% HQ rate for 1 star 40 durab items made from pure NQ mats (from quality zero). At that time, we were only using the original lvl 50 class quest mainhand tools, fully-melded Militia offhands & fully-melded i55 AF gear. We didn't even had 349 CP (the accessories introduced in Patch 2.3 later made a big difference). Sensei Nabeshin pushed craftsmanship to its limit by pentamelding his offhand, and substituted Ingen2 with Ingen1 to buy just enough CP for the Standard Touch. As for me, I had a high control offhand build instead of high craftsmanship, so I couldn't use Ingen1 to complete the item in one-shot. Thus, I substituted Standard Touch with Basic Touch, and used SH II instead of SH to create a rotation that needed only 338 CP. And then I used strong control food to make up the difference. Alternatively, I used a cheap CP food so that I could hit 349 CP to use Ingen2.

The beauty of this rotation is that it combined the best lvl 50 skills of multiple classes, and arranged everything so perfectly to maximize the power of every action and to utilize almost every CP. It doesn't contain any Hasty Touch, so there will not be any failed steps. In addition, the rotation perfectly fits the maximum 15 lines of a macro, so you can perform the macro with just 1 button. Furthermore, it was also a flexible rotation in manual crafting, where you can delay on the use of Manip by 1 step, and touch earlier if a "Good" condition pops on the Manip step. You can also skip Ingen2 or Innovation to do the Standard Touch first if an early "Good" appears. It was the "Diamond Rotation" that lasted over a year of A Realm Reborn. It definitely qualifies as the “Rotation of the Year”!

Today, in HW, this ultimate rotation still has its place. Crafters these days are all wearing Artisan gear with luxurious overmelded accessories that provides much more stats than the old days, so anyone can easily macro this rotation to massively produce ARR 1 star 40 durab items for exp with a single button. Notice that 2 star 40 durab items actually don’t give that much more exp than 1 star, but the mats are more expensive. So I would avoid those. Also, if you have desynthesis trained up in ARR, you can consider breaking down 1 star 80 durab items, and use the mats to remake those items again for leveling. E.g. if you have GSM desynthesis, you can make "Aetheryte Ring" after making those Rose Gold Nuggets. Each ring only uses 1 nugget. And when you desyn a ring, you get back 1 nugget. So you lose nothing except catalyst. This is one of the easiest ways to level up with minimal cost.

One of the classic ways to craft 1 star & 2 star 80 durab items like the Aetheryte Ring, was to modify the ultimate rotation by substituting Manipulation with Waste Not. This is because durability is no more an issue, so Waste Not can be utilized. This modification will use up 10 extra durab, but frees up 32 CP, which you can now put into other uses. Depending on your preference, you can stick with IQ6 for the Byregot, or you can choose to add more touches before the Byregot using the extra CP.

For instance, the 2nd part of the ultimate rotation:

Steady Hand

Ingenuity II

Innovation

Standard Touch

Great Strides

Byregot's Blessing

Careful Synthesis II

… can be modified into:

Steady Hand II

Basic Touch

Steady Hand

Great Strides

Ingenuity II

Byregot's Blessing

Careful Synthesis II

*requires 346 CP

… see how we have now increased IQ stack by 2 for the Byregot? We abolished the use of Innovation in this case, but kept Ingen2 so that it covers the last 2 Careful Synthesis II, making us able to complete the item in 2 steps. If you have the extra CP, feel free to add in Innovation before Ingen2, or feel free to substitute the last Basic Touch with Standard Touch. The arrangement of the skills in the Byregot phase was done so that any time when a "Good" or "Excellent", we can react appropriately. E.g. if we did Great Strides first before Steady Hand II, and if an Excellent pops, then our Byregot will only be at 90% success rate. However, if an "Excellent" pops right after SH II in the above arrangement, we can Byregot it right away at 100% success rate. Similarly, if a "Good" pops after we use Great Strides, we can skip Ingen2 and Byregot right away etc.

To effectively craft out old ARR 1 star or 2 star 80 durab items for leveling, we can now utilize the following macro. This rotation was developed by Lebensohl when we already obtained Lucis. Our stats were just high enough that we can use a single button to make any 1 star or 2 star 80 durab item HQ from pure NQ mats.

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Standard Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Advanced Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.2>

/ac "Advanced Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II"

*Requires 352 CP

The beauty of this rotation is its SPEED. It's only 15 lines, and can be fitted into a single macro. Thus, you can massively produce any 1 or 2 star 80 durab items from NQ mats with a single button. This was the macro I used to make my HQ Aetheryte Rings & Bouillabaisse HQ for leveling GSM & CUL in HW.

Keep in mind to always pop a food to gain that 3% bonus exp (I recommend the 37 gil Stone Soup from Gold Saucer for the extra 17 CP), use a Company-Issued Engineering Manual, and if possible, and request FC buff on crafting exp if it's available. With all these bonus exp, you will be able to level up pretty quickly.

One of the reasons why I leveled this way from level 50 to 52, was because Heavensward mats were expensive when the expansion was first released. But lately the prices are dropping fast, so the mats have become more accessible… to a point which Gold Ore / Darksteel Ore are actually becoming more expensive than Mythrite Sand to make Mythrite Nuggets (or their equivalents in other classes). If that's the case, you may consider switching to Mythrite Sand for massive production of Mythrite Nuggets instead of Rose Gold / Darksteel Nuggets. However, Mythrite Nugget is a level 51 item, so doing it at level 50 will be difficult. You can still do it, but it'll take much longer time. I suggest taking on it after reaching level 51.

Keep in mind that in order to take on the new challenges of level 51+ recipes, you can’t just macro everything. The rotation I gave out above are only sufficient for ARR items. To take on HW items, you will need to manual craft first, and rely on a lot of Hasty Touches and use more durab recovery skills like Manipulation, Waste Not and Master’s Mend II. I’m not going to give out these rotations here. I’m sure you can figure out the best for yourself. Yet, at around level 54, you will be able to effectively macro your Mythrite Nugget using that old ultimate rotation.

The point of me throwing the above rotations and macros at you, is so that you can effectively and massively make ARR 1 star items to grind that early 50+ levels. Once you passed that point, you should try to develop new rotation & macros to handle the new HW items.

Ch33: Tips for lvl 50 Crafters Who Do Not Have Best-In-Slot Gear from ARR

A lot of rising crafters do not have the overmelded BiS gear from ARR, but are trying to level their lvl 50 classes in Heavensward. If you are still using the i50 Patrician Set, and never did your Ixali Beast Quests to acquire Ehcatl Sealants, then don't bother with the i60 Artisan Apron. You should at least complete your level 50 class quest, acquire your original lvl 50 mainhand tools (i55), and get at least some class-specific i55 gear from the quest (Don't forget to acquire an HQ i55 Militia Offhand at the very least! You should be able to easily craft it yourself!). Then you should try to level up to level 51, and aim for the i65 Archaeoskin Crafting Set (made by LTW, can be equipped at lvl 51):

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If you're undergeared, you may have trouble crafting these Archaeonskin gear yourself. If that's the case, I would recommend you BUYING these gear. Unfortunately, there's no NQ version available from vendors or quests, so you will have to acquire them from a crafter friend or from the marketboard. You can try to do it yourself though if you have faith in your own abilities. Some strong talented crafters can do it themselves despite undergeared.

In Heavensward, the lowest level crafting accessories cannot be equipped until lvl 52 to 54 (i70 & i90):

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Because of this, I recommend acquiring the old ARR crafting accessories and lightly meld them with Cunning materia (for CP). DO NOT waste your Competence (for Craftsmanship) and Command materia (for Control) at this point. Save them for later!

[IMG] [IMG]

i55 Militia Wristlets and i55 Aetheryte Rings are a MUST for level 50. You really should acquire these items, as they are not that expensive or difficult to make, but they will help bridge the gap between level 50 and level 53+.

[IMG] [IMG] [IMG]

i55 Rose Gold Choker, i55 Mosshorn Earrings and i55 Dodore Belt require demimateria to craft. Thus, they're expensive to acquire. They will help you a lot if you can get them. They can serve their purposes from level 50 to 53, until you reach level 54 which you can equip the i90 Holy Cedar Necklace and i90 Holy Rainbow Apron. However, if you cannot afford them, you can still live with Electrum Choker and Raptorskin Merchant's Purse for the time being. Personally, I do NOT recommend the i55 Mosshorn Earrings that much since it can be replaced soon by i70 Yeti Fang Earrings at level 52 (and this is much cheaper). So you might as well live with the old Red Coral Earrings until you reach level 52.

Keep in mind that slightly more CP is usually more beneficial than slightly more Craftsmanship or Control. To minimize cost, it's better to simply meld some Cunning III materia on your temporary accessories (or not meld at all if cost is an issue).

Once you have acquired the Archaeoskin Crafting Set and some new Heavensward accessories, you will have successfully transitioned from being an undergeared ARR lvl 50 crafter to a well-geared leveling crafter in HW.

As for offhand tools, you can stick with the old Militia Offhand until level 53. If you're an all-50, you should be able to craft your own Militia Offhand even if you're undergeared.

New mythrite mainhand tools are available as early as level 52 and new offhand tools are available as early as level 53. If you have BSM leveled up (as I suggested in the earlier chapter), you will be able to make most of your own tools (and CRP makes WVR and GSM offhands). If you have LTW and WVR leveled up, you'll be able to make your own gear. Most importantly, if you have CRP, you can take care of most of your accessories, and your GSM will let you make your earrings.

IMPORTANT:

Keep in mind that each level in Heavensward (lvl 50+) is a gigantic leap of powers. For instance, it is very difficult or a level 50 crafter to make lvl 51 recipes like Mythrite Nugget or Cedar Lumber. But once you reach level 51/52 (and assuming you're well-geared), you can pretty much 1 shot it with a Careful Synthesis II under Ingen2.

Each time you level up, the old ARR 1 to 4 star items will become significantly easier. By the time you reach level 53/54, you can easily handle ARR 4 star items.

The difficulty of an ARR 4 star recipe is identical to that of a level 53 recipe in Heavensward. Where as the difficulty of an ARR 3 star recipe is approximately between that of level 51 and level 52 recipe.

This is why, in the previous chapter, I recommended all level 50 crafters to take on GC turn-ins, leves and massively craft ARR 1 star items to level up to 51 or 52 before taking on Heavensward recipes.

If you have to take on a recipe above your own levels, you may consider using the new Name of [element] skill from HW together with the old Brand of [element] from ARR. They tend to give very good progress even on non-elemental-aspected items. Please see later chapter "Heavensward New Cross Class Skills" below for details.

The level 53 NQ crafting gear set (the "Rainbow Crafting Set", made by mostly Weaver) can be obtained mostly by doing level 53 class quests in Heavensward.

The level 55 NQ crafting gear set (the "Ramie Crafting Set", made by mostly Weaver) can be obtained also by doing level 55 class quests. It can also be obtained from a Moogle Merchant/Vendor at the Churning Mist.

At level 58, you can acquire the Adept Gown using Blue Scrips (Optional. Please see later chapters on Scrips and Adept Gear Set).

The level 59/60 NQ adamantite crafting tools can be obtained from a merchant at Dravanian Hinterlands inside the cave near bottom left corner of the map. Although, you should try to obtain HQ ones if possible, since you will be using these for awhile.

At level 60, you can then acquire the Chimerical Set from Master Recipe III (see later chapters), which is your "Initial End-game Gear", ready for overmelds.

As for suggestions on rotations, please see "Ch32E: Leveling by Actual Crafting" and "Ch46: How to effectively craft 35 durab items in Heavensward?"

Crafters who are undergeared may not be able to use the macros listed in Ch32E, but one can take the concept from them, and modify them into rotations that can achieve higher IQ stacks with fewer CP.

Some valid variations of rotations for 80 durab items include:

Comfort Zone

Inner Quiet

Steady Hand II

Hasty Touch

Careful Syn II

Comfort Zone

Master's Mend II

Steady Hand II

Waste Not

Hasty Touch

Steady Hand II

Hasty Touch

Innovation

Basic Touch

Great Strides

Byregot's Blessing

Careful Syn II

This rotation requires 373 CP. Use a Bouillabaisse if you need. Can't afford so much CP? Try use Master's Mend or Manipulation instead of Master's Mend II, and do fewer touches then! ... Really, just be creative! Do anything you like! Creating rotations is the fun part! Come up with something that works for yourself!

Ch34: The Collectable System & the Blue/Red Scrips System

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In HW, instead of having special “turn-in items” like Spicy Tomato Relish (ARR special 2 star) or Intricate Silver Brocade (ARR special 3 star), we now have “Collectables” for turn-ins. The idea of Collectables is to basically use existing items for turn-ins instead of creating new items for the game.

We now have a button called “Collectable Synthesis” which we learn very early in our "continued" lvl 50 class quests. You can turn it on/off any time during your crafting session. When it is on, the item you crafted will become an untradable “Collectable”, and can only be used for turn-ins. Collectable items are also non-stackable. Thus, each Collectable item consumes 1 inventory space.

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The value of Collectables are measured by “Collectability”, which is a number directly translated from quality. When you press the “Collectable Synthesis” button, the HQ Rate % will not show any numbers anymore (but quality bar will still show the amount of quality). When the item is completed, its collectability will be calculated base on how much quality you managed to push out. The NPC will only accept collectables with sufficient Collectability. Items with insufficient Collectability can still be utilized by right-clicking the item, and using the “Lower Quality” function to turn it into a regular NQ item.

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- Lower the quality of any Collectable items that are too low in Collectability. It will turn the item into a regular NQ item for sale or consumption.

Collectables are to be turned in at the "Collectable Apprasier" NPC at either Mor Dhona or Idyllshire. You can start turning in Collectable items very early, yet you will only get exp but nothing else when you’re lvl 55 or below. I do not recommend this unless you’re already out of leves.

After level 56, the collectables you turned in will give you “Blue Crafter's Scrips”. It is basically a “currency” that allows you to buy many items, including Master Recipe III, the Adept Gear Set, Delineation, crafting mats etc. At level 60, you will have access to “Red Crafter's Scrips”. Every 50x Red Crafter's Scrips allow you to purchase 1x “Rowena’s Token (Red Crafter’s Scrip)” (which is a ridiculously long name). Anyway, it’s another currency that allows you to exchange for end-game tools/gear (i180).

[IMG]

- Red Scrips are capped at 450 per week. Unlike Esoretics that resets every Tue, scrips reset every Thursday.

There are Blue/Red Crafter’s Scrips & Blue/Red Gatherer’s Scrips, and they don’t mix. Crafter’s Scrips are earned via crafting. Gatherer’s Scrips are earned via gathering. The scrips for Disciple of the Hand (DoH) & Disciple of the Land (DoL) are completely separated.

At the "Collectable Appraiser", the gold star next to an item indicates more favorable return of scrips per item for that particular day. The bonus scrips are approximately 10%. So the more scrips an item gives, the more that 10% bonus will be. Thus, this works particularly well for non-CUL items, as they give more scrips per item. Coming from ARR, we all know CUL mats are usually cheaper, very gatherable, and not many mats need to be crafted. Thus, we always loved to submit CUL items in the past for turn-ins. However, S-E has now set up it here that CUL gives only 1/4 to 1/5 of the scrips of other classes (axxholes!). So despite CUL mats easier to obtain & cheaper, we have to work 4 to 5 times harder if we’re to submit CUL items for scrips. Anyway, it all comes down to (a) your budget, (b) your access to mats, and (c) your time to choose to submit CUL items or not.

Pay attention to the timer at the bottom right of the "Rowena's House of Splendors" panel from the Collectable Appraiser. The items listed on the panel changes every 24 hours. Make sure you have sufficient time to craft and hand in your items before the timer hits zero, or you will be stuck with your collectables, and jam your inventory for days.

Also, notice that you can access the same list from ANYWHERE. If you're on a PC, press "Ctrl U" on keyboard, and you will be able to see what items are being requested by the "Rowena's House of Splendors". If you're on PS4, you can also access the same panel from your main menu (logs).

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- "Collectable Appraiser" & "Scrip Exchange" NPCs are located at both Mor Dhona & Idyllshire. The Appraiser NPC allows you to turn in Collectables for Blue & Red Scrips at the "Rowena's House of Splendors" panel. Notice the timer at bottom right of the window. The items change every 24 hours.

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The Scrip Exchange NPC at Mor Dhona allows you to spend Blue Scrips ONLY, while the NPC at Idyllshire allows you to spend both Blue & Red Scrips. Red Scrips are to be spent in exchange for "Rowena's Token (Red Crafter's Scrip)".

[IMG]

- One does NOT always need to go to Mor Dhona or Idyllshire to check on what items are being requested from the Collectable Appraiser. If you're on a PC, press "Ctrl U" on your keyboard to open this panel. You can then scroll down, and check the "Rowena's House of Splendors". Both the list of items and the timer can be found there. This can save you the trouble of many unnecessary teleportations.

[IMG]

- The Splendor Vendor at Idyllshire allows you to use your "Rowena's Token (Red Crafter's Scrip) to buy i180 crafting tools & gear. For a comparison between i180 vs the crafted i170 of the same gear, please visit the later chapter below "Tips on Crafting Heavensward 2 Star Items".

This new Collectable system does have its advantage for S-E to monitor the game. First, S-E won’t have to create a bunch of special recipes that are of no further use after turn-ins. They can now easily turn any existing items in the game into a turn-in item. Second, S-E can easily modify the difficulty of turn-ins just by changing the numbers for minimum collectability, or the amount of scrips you earn per item. To players, this system also has its advantages and disadvantages. E.g. even if you failed to craft something that can be turned in, you can easily use the “Lower Quality” function to change the item back into a normal NQ item for sale or for use. Disadvantage is that if you forget to click that “Collectable Synthesis” button (which happens a lot), you would have crafted a normal HQ item, and it cannot be used for turn-in purpose.

Ch35: The Adept Gear Set (Purchased using Blue Scrips)

Adept gear can be purchased with Blue Scrips, and can be worn as early as level 58. Apart from the chest piece, all other gear will actually make you lose CP & craftsmanship in exchange for the high control. Thus, if you already have the max melded BiS gear (Best in Slot) from ARR, I do NOT recommend you getting anything other than the Adept chest piece. The chest piece is a nice upgrade since you sacrifice only 3 CP, but in exchange for a large amount of craftsmanship & control. Using the Adept chest, you can push WVR strong enough to earn its Master Recipe III, and then craft out the Chimerical end-game gear set for yourself. So the Adept chest is a great choice to serve as a “stepping stone”. If you DO NOT have BiS from ARR, then perhaps 1 more piece of Adept gear would be of benefit to you. But I would discourage anyone from getting any more than that.

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- Apart from the Adept's Gown, I do not recommend other Adept's gear if you already have BiS from ARR.

Ch36: Master Recipe III

The new HW Master Recipe III can be purchased using Blue Scrips at "Scrip Exchange" NPC of Mor Dhona or Idyllshire. Each Master Recipe III cost 360 Blue Scrips per class. Master Recipe IIIs contain recipes for your initial HW end-game gear & mainhand tools. They also contain class quest items required for level 60 crafting class quests. The recipes also contain many cool items such as exotic minions, bardings & furniture. Master Recipe IIIs also contain 1 star recipes such as Chivalric Coat of Fending / Maiming & Seafood Stew. In Patch 3.07, 2 star recipes have been added. 2 star recipes include i170 gear, such as the Forgemaster's Redingote. 2 star recipes also include mainhand, offhand & accessories for crafting classes (For gathering classes, mainhand & gear are NOT craftable. Only gathering accessories are craftable.). However, 2 star recipes require mats from Favors & Ephemeral Nodes, which is a pain.

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- "Hive Barding" & "Expanse Barding" from Armorer Master Recipe III

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- 2 star recipes such as the "Forgemaster's Redingote" require mats from Ephemeral Nodes & Favors. Please see my Heavensward Gathering Guide Ch11 & 12 for details. For tips on crafting 1 star & 2 star items, and for a comparison of this i170 vs i180, please visit Ch 46 & 47 of this guide.

Ch37: Initial End-Game Crafting Gear at level 60

Your Initial End-game Set is also known as "the White Gear" since your next gear upgrade after this will have a green or blue background.

Shared Gear:

Chimerical Felt Turban of Crafting (WVR Master Recipe III)

Chimerical Felt Doublet of Crafting (WVR Master Recipe III)

Serpentskin Halfgloves of Crafting (LTW Master Recipe III)

Dragonskin Belt of Crafting (LTW regular recipe)

Chimerical Felt Skirt (WVR Master Recipe III)

Serpentskin Shoes (LTW Master Recipe III)

Shared Accessories:

Hallowed Chestnut Necklace (CRP regular recipe)

Dragon Fang Earrings (GSM regular recipe)

Hallowed Chestnut Armillae (CRP regular recipe)

Hallowed Chestnut Ring (CRP regular recipe)

Mainhand Tools:

Adamantite Alembic (ARM Master Recipe III)

Adamantite Saw (BSM Master Recipe III)

Adamantite Cross-pein Hammer (BSM Master Recipe III)

Adamantite Ball-pein Hammer (BSM Master Recipe III)

Aurum Regis Creasing Knife (BSM Master Recipe III)

Adamantite Frypan (ARM Master Recipe III)

Aurum Regis Texture Hammer (BSM Master Recipe III)

Griffin Talon Needle (GSM Master Recipe III)

Offhand Tools:

Adamantite Mortar (BSM regular recipe)

Adamantite Claw Hammer (BSM regular recipe)

Adamantite File (BSM regular recipe)

Adamantite Pliers (ARM regular recipe)

Adamantite Awl (BSM regular recipe)

Adamantite Culinary Knife (BSM regular recipe)

Dragonscale Grinding Wheel (CRP regular recipe)

Birch Spinning Wheel (CRP regular recipe)

Ch38: Overmelding of Initial End-Game Crafting Gear

As mentioned in Ch31, I recommend melding the accessories as early as possible, to gain an advantage when you are still leveling. You can start utilizing new rings at lvl 56 (made & melded by CRP), new earrings at lvl 57 (GSM), new bracelet at lvl 58 (CRP) and new belt (LTW) + choker (CRP) at lvl 59.

You want to achieve 718 Craftsmanship & 695 Control to access 2 star items. These values, however, cannot be achieved by overmelding alone (well, you CAN, but you will need to heavily meld mainhands and offhands too, for all your classes, which I refuse). The best way is to pair up your overmelds with the use of end-game crafting food to achieve the desired stats. To view a selection of food, please visit the later chapter "Crafting Food in ARR & Heavensward" below.

I have chosen to use Seafood Stew HQ (+50 CP, +31 Control) to help me achieve the required Control stats for 2 star items. Thus, my control is lower than the 2 star requirement.

When I first started overmelding, it was uncertain what the best way of overmelding was. So as you can see, I did not finished pentamelding my gear... I left some room to meld more stats later (which I did on 25 Aug 2015, see below).

I have, however, discovered that 728 Craftsmanship is a very beneficial amount for 1 star crafting as well as for lvl 59 items like Marron Glaze. 728 Craftsmanship allows the use of the following completion method for 1 star items:

Muscle Memory (368 progress)

Rapid Syn (215 progress)

CS II (103 progress)

(Please see the later chapter: Tips on Crafting Heavensward 1 Star Items)

728 Craftsmanship also shortens the completion steps of Marron Glaze by 1 step (Please see the later chapter: Heavensward Crafting Data Sharing). Technically, you just need 725 Craftsmanship to do this for Marron Glaze. But it doesn't hurt to push to 728 so that you're ready for 1 star recipes.

At the moment, most of my classes are only sitting on 718 craftsmanship. I can use a Baked Onion Soup (see chapter: Crafting Food in ARR & Heavensward) to add more craftsmanship + CP when I do 1 star, but I am considering melding more materia on my shared gear.

Notice that even the penta-melded gear/accessories of mine did not reach the max melding cap of those items. These Heavensward initial end-game gear/acessories are designed so that one cannot max them unless one uses Tier V materia, which are currently not worth your money. But I have maxed my CP on all shared gear. Because it allows me to be more flexible with rotations. To me, CP > craft/control. With more CP, I can get away with weaker stats.

*Update 25 Aug 2015

At this point, I have added more materia onto my gear. I have add 5 more Craftsmanship onto my chests (final meld), and completed the last meld on my ring with a +2 Craftsmanship. So my total Craftsmanship is 725 (& 735 for CUL due to offhand melds). As for control, I have added 3 more control onto each of my Hat, Gloves, Pants & Boots. Therefore, my final stats without food is now 725 Craftsmanship, 678 Control, 397 CP for most class. I really wish I can push 3 more Craftsmanship on my shared gear, but the Hat, Gloves, Pants & Boots can only add 2 more Craftsmanship each (only 2 crafts left on the cap). I do not want to do the 5th meld on those gear just to push 2 Craftsmanship. If possible, I want to meld 3 more control on each of them in the future. I feel like this will be a better way to max the cap. So I haven't done any more melds yet.

Apparently, if I am to do 2 star, 725 Craftsmanip is sufficient, so I'll eat a Seafood Stew. If I am to do 1 star and needed >728 Crafts, I can simply eat a Baked Onion Soup. So it's not like I need to push my base Craftsmanship stats above 728 with overmelds at the moment.

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- This pic shows my stats for most of my classes before 25 Aug 2015. This stats was achieved with the overmelds shown in the pictures below. It was very sufficient for 1 star, as long as I eat a Baked Onion Soup. My base CP before food was 397 CP. But I only needed 395 when I eat a NQ Stone Soup for my daily crafting of any none-star items.

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- I found 728 craftsmanship to be beneficial to 1 star rotations. That was discovered by repetitively making Seafood Stew. As you can see in the above pic, I tested this by adding more and more Competence III materia on the CUL offhand. Thus my CUL has 728 crafts (this was before 25 Aug 15). I do not have any melds on mainhands or offhands on any other classes. (Update 25 Aug 15: I went back to the shared gear, and added more craftsmanship & control. See below for details.)

In order to save cost, pretty much all my mainhand and offhand tools are like these:

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I only added CP+3 and CP+1 on my mainhand and offhands. It saves me a lot of overmelding work, since my minimum 2 star crafting requirements all come from shared gear.

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DO NOT follow how I melded these rings! As u can see, Control is capped at 6. Thus, there's no reason to use a Command IV on the first meld, and a +2 Control on a later meld. One could have used 2x Control III instead.

So the best way would be something like this:

Competence III

Command III

Cunning III

Competence I

Reminder: ALWAYS check the prices of materia, and start from the most expensive to least expensive!!!

I recommend pentamelding these rings as early as lvl 56 to gain an advantage of the extra CP they provide. But as you can see, I didn't even finish melding the 2nd ring. That 2 Craftsmanship didn't seem to matter much before I did any 1 star item, especially if I use Baked Onion Soup.

*Updated 25 Aug 2015: I finished melding the ring to gain +2 Craftsmanship.

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DO NOT follow how i melded these earrings!!! This was a silly way to do it!

The smart way is:

Cunning IV

Competence IV

Command III

Commend III

This way you dont have to overmeld a tier IV on the 4th meld, which saves a lot of money!

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These were done correctly. So you can follow my melds here.

But again, please check the prices of materia on your server and start from the most expensive.

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The chest piece has a lot of Craftsmanship that you can fill. So I decided to go ZERO control here.

*Update on 25 Aug 2015: I added 5 more Craftsmanship on the last meld (right panel).

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Upper Panel: As you can see, for my hat, gloves, pants & shoes, I have left much room for more melds later.

*Update on 25 Aug 2015: I added 3 more Control per gear on the 4th meld. And then after that, I added either another 3 control, 2 craftsmanship or nothing.

Ch39: Overmelding of i170 (2 star) End-Game Crafting Gear

Stats comparison of token-traded i180 vs crafted HQ i170 (with melds):

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Because of the requirement of Tier V materia to max-meld the chest, mainhand and offhand, I have decided NOT to bother with overmelding them, but only to add 4 CP to each of the mainhands and offhands (see below). As of 24/11/15, I have also temporarily melded 18 craftsmanship onto the chest using cheap materia (Competence III, III, III, I) to help me go over the threshold of 845 craftsmanship. Because 845 craftsmanship allows me to use my super rotation for 1 Star 35 durab Specialist Recipe (See Ch50 below). I believe it'd be wiser to wipe these temporary melds, and then properly overmeld them after we have more access to Tier V materia in the future.

I have always been a big CP person. More CP allows more flexible rotations on macros, less Hasty Touches, and sometimes better chances to save a dire situation with a lot of Hasty fails. So I crafted the HQ i170 accessories for myself early, and penta-melded early, before other i170 gear.

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- This Armillae cannot be maxed to meld cap with pure Tier IV materia. So I have left out a bit of Craftsmanship. I have maxed both CP & Control here. It provides 52 CP, 8 Control, and 5 Craft (Craft is not maxed here, max cap is at 9 Craft). The i130 Hallowed Chestnut Armillae HQ provides 49 CP, 7 Control, 6 Craft (not maxed). The 3 extra CP you can get from the i170 Armillae is of higher importance than Control or Craft.

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- The i170 Necklace has exactly the same melding cap as the Armillae. On this item, I have decided to leave room for the last meld. It also revealed to me that the max cap for Craftsmanship is actually 9. At this point, I can either meld 3 more Craftsmanship or 4 more Control. It really comes down to the need, so I think I'll leave the last meld open for now. Just like the i170 Armillae, this item provides 3 extra CP than the i140 Hallowed Chestnut Necklace. Clearly, CP is something to be maxed. Control vs Craft is your choice.

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- I have maxed the cap for this ring. It provides 27 CP, 8 Control, 9 Craft. The i110 Hallow Chestnut Ring HQ provides 24 CP, 6 Control, 7 Craft. The 3 extra CP you can get from the i170 ring is of higher importance than Control or Craft.

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- The CP here is maxed. There is still 4 more Control or 3 more Craft left, which I can add in the future. I overmelded it this way, so later I can choose to meld Command III or Competence II / III. These earrings provide 4 extra CP over the i120 Dragon Fang Earrings.

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- There's no point to pentameld our i170 mainhands and offhands yet. I have only added 4 CP onto my mainhand & offhand. Keep in mind that, when you try to craft your i170 mainhands & offhands, acquiring the offhand is actually more beneficial than acquiring the mainhand. This is because our initial end-game gear is i150 on mainhand and i140 on offhand. So the 30 ilvls on offhand makes the upgrade a bigger improvement than the 20 ilvls on mainhand.

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- The chest has A LOT of stats to max. It is impossible to max it using only Tier IV materia. Thus, I decided NOT to meld anything at all at the moment. *Update 24/11/15: I have added 4 cheap materia onto the chest - Competence III, III, III, I. This is a temporarily meld that provides 18 more craftsmanship for me, and I may wipe it clean in the future to meld with Tier V materia in the future.

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- I have maxed the melding-cap on these hat & gloves with only Tier III & IV materia. Please feel free to follow my way of melding. On the 3rd meld, if you prefer to overmeld with Command Materia III instead of IV, it's probably ok too. In the end, you will only lose 1 control from the hat and lose 1 control from the gloves. But you should try to max all 9 craftsmanship.

ECONOMICAL MELDING ALTERNATIVES

If you cannot afford enough Tier IV, then substitute the 3rd Command IV with a Command III to leave out 1 control:

Command IV (Control +4)

Command III (Control +3)

Competence III (Craft +5)

Competence II or III (Craft +4)

*Notice on my server Competence III is cheaper than Competence II. So I used III instead.

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- I have maxed the cap on these pants & boots as well. Whether to start with the Cunning IV first or Command IV first depends on the price of those materia during the melds. These items were tougher to max than the hat & gloves since they require Tier IV on the 4th meld.

ECONOMICAL MELDING ALTERNATIVES

If you cannot afford a Tier IV on the 4th meld, feel free to max the CP early, then substitute the Command IV with a Command III on the 4th meld to leave out 1 control:

Cunning IV (CP +4)

Command IV (Control +4)

Command III (Control +3)

Competence I (Craft +1 capped)

Alternatively, you can also do this and leave out 1 craftsmanship:

Command IV (Control +4)

Cunning III (CP +3)

Cunning I (CP +1)

If it is still too expensive for you, you can even do this and leave out 1 craftsmanship & 1 control:

Command IV (Control +4)

Command III (Control +3)

Cunning III (CP +3)

Cunning I (CP +1)

The most important thing is to max out CP!!!

Do not forfeit CP!

Ch40: Soul of the Crafter & Specialization

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In HW, S-E has created "Specialization" for crafting classes. You can choose up to 3 classes for Specialization, and let those classes equip a "Soul of the Crafter". The class(es) will then gain access to some new Heavensward crafting skills.

At level 55, you will be able to take a quest from Lydirlona at Mor Dhona. She will give you 3 Souls of the Crafter. In order to equip the Soul Crystal, you need to go and visit Alderan (The Pillars, 14, 10). There, you will be able to select the class(es) that you want to equip the Soul Crystal(s) (see this thread for details: http://ffxivrealm.com/threads/how-the-heck-do-i-equip-that-soul-of-the-crafter.14615/). After that, just equip the Soul Crystal like any DoW/DoM jobs.

Before Patch 3.1, specialization is NOT needed for anything yet, so most of us have only selected 1 class, and saved the other 2 Souls for later use. Once your choice is made, it is very difficult to change. In order to change, you need to buy a new Soul of the Crafter using 480 Red Scrips. That's more than 1 week's work. So it's a big switching cost.

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- Lydirlona (the NPC for acquiring your 3 initial "Soul of the Crafter"), Scrip Exchange NPC and Collectable Appraiser NPC at Mor Dhona. The pic also shows how I purchased the ALC Master Recipe III from the Scrip Exchange NPC. (There has been people asking me before about how to get the inventory expanded like this. It's simple. Go to: Character Configuration -> Control Setting -> Character -> Inventory Settings -> choose Expanded.)

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- Alderan (the NPC to let you choose your specialization and equip your "Soul of the Crafter").

After Patch 3.1, specialization is needed to craft "Specialist Recipes", including the ingots/ cloths/ leathers for the making of i185 Sky Pirate's gear (battle gear). ARM / LTW / WVR / GSM all make some i185 gear, while BSM makes only ingots, which GATES the making of all ARM items and some GSM items. Nevertheless, "Specialist Crafting Skills" (see next chapter) are still not needed to make any of these items.

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- Sky Pirate's Jacket of Striking (Leatherworker Specialist Recipe)

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- Sky Pirate's Mask of Striking (Goldsmith Specialist Recipe)

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- Sky Pirate's Coat of Fending (Armorer Specialist Recipe)

Ch41: The Whistle System & Related Specialist Skills

Heavensward crafting introduced the new "Whistle System", which is an addition to our existing Inner Quiet system. At the moment, this system is NOT necessary yet for the current Master Recipe III items. However, we expect the mastering of this system is required to craft very difficult items that are to come in the future new patches. So it's good to learn your whistles right now.

"Whistle While You Work" (WWYW, CP cost 36) is a skill that creates a stack of 11 Whistles. The Whistle stack (W stack) is basically paired with the following actions into one package:

(a) Satisfaction (15 CP recovery)

(b) Trained Hand (32 CP) (progress + quality same time)

*All these skills require you to equip your "Soul of the Crafter" to use.

There are other specialization skills too (like Innovative Touch & Byregot's Miracle). But the other skills can work OUTSIDE the Whistle system. Where as, the (a), (b), (c) above makes the most basic "package" of the Whistle system. Without them, your Whistle system won't have enough power to function well.

Ch42: Heavensward New Specialist Skills

Whistle While You Work (36 CP)

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Grants a Whistle stack of 11. One Whistle used for each step that material condition is Good or Excellent.

Increases the effectiveness of certain crafting actions when the stack size is a multiple of three.

Progress increases significantly when stack size reaches 0 and effect wears off.

So far, Kylus and Kakera Kiseki have reported that synthesis (progress) gains an additional 50% efficiency when used at W stack 9/6/3. I have confirmed this myself (Careful Syn II, which normally gives 120% efficiency becomes 170% efficiency at W9/6/3).

As for the efficiency of touches (quality), it is UNAFFECTED by W stack 9/6/3.

When the W stack reaches 0, a special action called "Finishing Touches" will automatically occur (see pics below). This action will give 200% efficiency on progress, and consume 10 durability. To be frank, this gives more trouble than benefit! If you have not finished working on quality yet, it may prematurely completes your item. Since it's an automatic action, you can't even stop it. So we have to be very careful if our W stack is at 1.

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- "Finishing Touches" occurs automatically when the Whistle stack reaches zero. It causes more problems than benefits if the quality bar is not completed. (And why the heck is it called "touches" anyway, there's only 1 action, and it's not a quality-increasing action, but a progress-increasing action! It should have been called "Finishing Synthesis"! LOL!)

Satisfaction (cost 0 CP, recovers 15 CP)

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- Don't you just freaking love that icon? \ ^o^ / *WOOT*

Whenever Whistle stack is 9, 6 or 3, you want to use Satisfaction to recover 15 CP. However, before you use Satisfaction, you have a choice of making use of the W stack 9/6/3 for pushing progress. If you decided to push progress, and if the condition turn doesn't change, you can then collect your Satisfaction afterwards. However, if a "Good" popped after you pressed a synthesis, both the Satisfaction & Trick of the Trade buttons will be available at the same time. You can then only choose 1. In this case, you should collect the 20 CP using Trick of the Trade, and give up the 15 CP of Satisfaction.

Trained Hand (32 CP) (16 CP) (a.k.a. TH)

(As of Patch 4.05, CP cost has been reduced from 32 to 16)

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Significantly increases both progress and quality.

Efficiency: 150%

Success Rate: 80% 100% (As of Patch 4.05, success rate has been buffed from 80 to 100%)

Available only when Inner Quiet and Whistle stack sizes are identical.

Trained Hand is one of the best skills in Heavensward crafting. Normally, it provides 150% efficiency for Progress & 150% efficiency for Quality.

Notice that:

(1) Progress is affected by the W stack. When W stack is 9/6/3, you will get 50% additional efficiency for Progress (200% total). Quality is unaffected by the W stack.

(2) Quality is affected by conditions and buffs. E.g. under "Good" or "Excellent" conditions, the 150% efficiency on quality is multiplied by 1.5 or 4 respectively. Quality is also affected by skills like Great Strides or Innovation.

Thus, if you're sitting at W stack of 9/6/3, Trained Hand could be a good idea if you want to gain more progress. Alternatively, if a "Good" pops up when Trained Hand is available, activating it could be nice too, as it will provide a huge amount of quality. And, if you really want to work on your quality, clicking Great Strides when Trained Hand is available is a viable option (this allows you to bait for a "Good" for 1 step as well). If you get a "Good" condition after clicking Great Strides, the Trained Hand will provide you with a ton of quality (the W stack won't change until the Good is over, so no worries). This does require a total of 64 48 CP though (GS 32 CP, TH 32 16 CP), which is a lot. But the quality you gained may be so strong that you don't even need a buffed Byregot anymore. Let's say, if W stack is at 6 or 3 and an Excellent pops up, a single Trained Hand may send your quality bar to max and nearly complete your progress bar as well. The only issue here is that you gotta watch out for premature completion of the item if your W stack is 9/6/3. Also, because TH is expensive (32 CP), it's quite important to have Steady Hand or Steady Hand II active when you click that TH button. If you don't have it active, you should click on SH/SH II first. This action also allows 1 extra step to bait for a Good. (As of Patch 4.05, success rate has been buffed from 80 to 100%. So no Steady Hand / Steady Hand II is needed.)

The biggest disadvantage of this skill is that you gotta be very careful how much progress it gives. If you had previously made use of the W stack 9/6 to push progress, Trained Hand may one shot and completed the item before you finish working on quality. So pay special attention when you use this skill. It is better to use it early before a lot of progress is done yet.

In conclusion, Trained Hand is a very powerful skill, and is totally worth your CP if you do it right.

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- The 2 pics shows how I used Trained Hand at Whistle Stack 6. Thus, progress increased by 200% efficiency and quality by 150% efficiency. After this, I was able to take Satisfaction for 15 CP.

Nymeia's Wheel (18 CP) (a.k.a. NW)

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When durab is low, you can use Nymeia's Wheel to recover durab with the cost of your remaining Whistle stack. Interestingly, in contrast to most of our original predictions, this skill actually recovers MORE durab when the W stack is LOWER.

Nymeia's Wheel restores:

10 durab at 9 - 11 Whistle Stack

20 durab at 4 - 8 Whistle Stack

30 durab at 1 - 3 Whistle Stack

It is by far the most CP efficient skill for durab recovery if you can get down to W stack of 3 or lower. However, getting down that W stack is a luck-dependent thing. So don't count on it.

Hence, Master's Mend II is not going to be replaced. We will still need MM II for our first durab recovery for any 70 or 80 durab item.

Innovative Touch (8 CP) (a.k.a. IT)

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Costing only 8 CP, Innovative Touch is essentially a Hasty Touch with with even less success rate, but grants 3 steps of Innovation effect if successful. The problem is the low fidelity. So far, it has a big tendency to fail when we need that Innovation effect... and it BACKFIRES at you, as you will lose a touch when it fails without leaving you any Innovation effect afterwards. To be frank, I'd rather save up 10 extra CP to spend 18 CP on a proper Innovation. This skill is only good when you really need that extra power, and is really wishing to gamble for it.

Heart of the [Crafting Class] (45 CP & cost a delineation bought with Blue Scrips)

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Every 10 Delineation cost 250 Blue Scrips. So each Delineation = 25 Blue Scrips. It's not a lot, but is still a chunk of time & money. The real problem is not the scrips, but the 45 CP which you invested for 7 steps of "higher chance of Good". It's a big chunk of your precious CP, and yet since Good condition does not come in 2 steps in a row. You will probably get about 2 to 3 goods in those 7 steps. Is that worth 45 CP? I don't know. The true function of this skill is yet to be revealed.

Ch43: Heavensward New Basic Crafting Skills

Precise Touch (18 CP) (a.k.a. PT)

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The "Additional Effect" of increasing IQ by 1 is on top of the IQ increase of a regular touch. Thus, Precise Touch gives 2 IQ stacks. Face the fact, this is probably the best new skill in Heavensward. It's the most reliable skill, and its effect is gigantic. Back in ARR, I have already proposed that it's NOT always the best choice to take Trick of Trade. Sometimes, a Basic Touch at Good condition is actually better since it gives 150% efficiency (Please see Part 1 of this guide, Crafting Condition chapter). Now? with PT, S-E has made it even clearer to us that we really should try to make a choice between Trick or touch.

There are been 2 theories concerning the use of Precise Touch -

Theory 1: You should take Precise Touch as early as you can, so that your Hasty Touches afterwards will be stronger because of the higher IQ stack and higher bonus control.

Theory 2: You should not take Precise Touch early, but take Trick of Trade first, so that you know you will have more CP for later.

It's debatable. I personally like to take a Trick of Trade on my first "Good". For the 2nd Good, I may still take a Trick or I may use Precise Touch. On the 3rd Good, I definitely will use Precise Touch. So I guess I tend to favor Theory 2 a bit more. But it really comes down to the circumstances.

(If it's Excellent condition, no-brainer, just hit it! LOL!)

Ch44: Heavensward New Cross Class Skills

(these skills do NOT require the "Soul of the Crafter" / specialization)

Muscle Memory (a.k.a. MuMe) (6 CP) (Can only be used on 1st step)

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[Learned at CUL lvl 54]

Completes 1/3 of remaining progress in 1 step at 100% success rate. This skill is golden (especially in macros). It's the new Piece by Piece, but better... in the sense that it's 100% success rate and cost only 6 CP (PBP is 15 CP at 90% success rate). The only disadvantage of this skill is that you can only use it ONCE, on the 1st step.

Maker's Mark (a.k.a. MaMa) (20 CP) (Can only be used on 1st step)

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[Learned at GSM lvl 54]

"Reduces Flawless Synthesis CP cost and durability loss to 0. Effect duration determined by current progress. Available only on the first step."

Advantages:

(1) One huge advantage of using MaMa + Flawless Syn (FS) is that it gives rise to many extra steps for a high difficulty item. This is critical when you're trying to use the new Whistle system. That 8 to 10 extra steps may be all you need to get a few "Goods", and bring down the Whistle stack, so that the Whistle system can actually function properly. (Thanks to Kakera Kiseki for this input!)

(2) FREE progress using multiple Flawless Syn! Basically nothing is consumed. No CP loss, no durab loss (except the 20 CP for Maker's Mark, and you can recover most of that from Comfort Zone anyway). Each Flawless Syn gives only 40 progress. But it can add up to quite a bit given enough steps.

Disadvantages:

(1) Fidelity issue & completion steps calculation issue. The annoying thing about Maker's Mark + Flawless Syn is that Flawless Syn has only 90% success rate. And if you wanna add in that Steady Hand, that's an extra 22 CP to spend, and you lose 1 step of Maker's Mark. I do NOT recommend doing so, and suggest to just gamble on that 90% success rate. But this also creates a second potential issue - the amount of progress it gives is actually difficult to be predicted. You could get 240 progress for one item, but you could get 160 for the same item next time, which make the calculation of completion steps a pain.

(2) MaMa & MuMe are MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. Both skills can only be activated on 1st step. Thus, if you use Maker's Mark, you can't use Muscle Memory. Also, Muscle Memory is only 1 shot at 100%; where as Maker's Mark + Flawless Syn is many shots at 90%. The more difficult the item is, the longer the duration is, and the more chances you may fail some Flawless Syn.

(3) Maker's Mark + Flawless Syn do consume 2 Cross Class Skills slots. This could be a problem sometimes.

(4) IT IS FREAKING SLOW - when your difficulty is 3000 or above, it will give you over 30 steps of free Flawless Syn, and it takes FOREVER to craft that item! So yeah, although you bought yourself a lot of room with that 30 steps for CP recovery and free progress, it takes a big chunk of patience (in real life) to do it... Comparing with MuMe, although MuMe is weaker, MuMe only takes 1 step - BAM - and it's already finished.

Details and Advanced Usage of MaMa

Lyna Thokaan reported that the duration of Maker's Mark depends on the difficulty (total progress required to complete the item). Maker's Mark gives 1 stack per 100 progress required, rounded up. Therefore,

100 difficulty will give 1 stack,

101 difficulty will give 2 stacks,

200 difficulty will give 2 stacks,

201 difficulty will give 3 stacks, etc.

If no other skills are used, and if all Flawless Synthesis landed successfully, it will add up to ~40% of the total progress, at the cost of 20 CP and no durability loss.

For HW 1 star items, we get 12 steps of MaMa.

For HW 2 star items, we get 15 steps of MaMa.

Since both 1 & 2 star items have more than 10 steps of MaMa, if you just activate Comfort Zone (CZ) on your 2nd step (after MaMa is activated), you will get back 14 CP by the time you finish all steps of MaMa. Thus, in the end, you would only have spent 6 CP - exactly the same amount as MuMe. Yet, your progress may be even MORE than MuMe. Furthermore, unlike MuMe which consumes 10 durab, you would not have consumed any durab at all if you used MaMa+FS. Thus, for 1 & 2 star items, it is for sure that MaMa is BETTER than MuMe! However, it does consume 1 extra Cross Class Slot, which sometimes can be a problem. Given sufficient Cross Class Slots, ALWAYS use MaMa instead of MuMe for 1 & 2 star items!

Notice that if you activate CZ on your 2nd step, and if you try to take a Trick of Trade during MaMa, your CP will hit over max, and you will fail to gain CP. The clever Katlyna (Katrisa Ashe) has developed a simple method to solve this. After using MaMa, CZ, then follow up with Inner Quiet. This will immediately consume 18 CP (which is necessary for your rotation later anyway). This way, you can then afford to take in 1 Trick. However, notice how CZ, IQ and Trick all consume a step of MaMa each. Thus, you will lose 3 steps of MaMa with this strategy. Since we usually don't waste 22 CP and 1 step of MaMa on Steady Hand, we must expect at least 2 to 3 Flawless Syn (FS) to fail during MaMa. Thus, if you do this for a 1 star item, 12 - 3 = 9... 2 more failed FS... = 7. You will likely only have 7 successful FS left, which means your progress will only be 7 x 40 = 280. This is significantly less than MuMe, which would have given 360 progress. Yet, you may have more CP and your durab would not have decreased at all if you used MaMa+FS instead of MuMe.

Also, keep in mind it is important that you DO NOT use any "touches" for quality durab the string of Flawless Syn when MaMa is active (not even if an Excellent shows up). Otherwise, you further waste your MaMa steps.

Flawless Synthesis (a.k.a. FS) (0 CP & 0 durab loss when paired with Maker's Mark)

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[Learned at GSM lvl 37]

Increases progress by 40 at 90% success rate (cost 15 CP if not paired with Maker's Mark). Old skill from "A Realm Reborn". Used to be totally useless. Now becomes very useful for HW 1 star & 2 star crafting.

Name/Brand of Element (15 CP / 6 CP)

Name of Water / Fire / Earth / Wind / Lightning (15 CP)

Brand of Water / Fire / Earth / Wind / Lightning (6 CP)

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For the next 5 steps, Brand of [Element] efficiency is increased. Increase determined by current progress.

Only one Name of [Element] action can be used per synthesis.

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The tool tips failed to explain how strong this can actually be beyond its use on Elementally Aspected items. For most of the 35 durab items (non-elemental, including recipe lvl 58 Adamantite Nugget & lvl 59 Scale Glue), the pairing of these two skills would actually let you 1-shot the item. For Scale Glue, that usually requires 3x CS II for completion, the 21 CP spend on 1-shotting it maybe worthwhile. For 70 durab items (non-elemental, like recipe lvl 58 Marron Glaze), Name+Brand of Water. will let you reach over 50% progress with 1 shot, which is also extremely nice. It is more effective than Ingen1 or Ingen2 in some cases. However, since its efficiency is based on (1) your craftsmanship, (2) remaining progress, and (3) recipe level, it's very difficult to predict how much progress it gives until you tested it. So far, I actually do not favor the use of it for Heavensward 1 star items. For 1 star items, Name+Brand seem to not do enough progress for the CP invested (see data in the last chapter below). I prefer to use Muscle Memory + Rapid Syn combo if craftsmanship is above 728, since RS is CP-free. As for lvl 58 items, Name+Brand is certainly effective in 1-shotting the items. However, I have already developed macros for them that relies on CS II, and the macro can be used for every class... Thus, the use of Name+Brand will only create inconvenience for me when I use macros, because not every class will have the same Name+Brand.

Comparison of Byregot's Brow vs Byregot's Miracle vs Byregot's Blessing

Byregot's Brow is a Basic Crafting Skill acquired at level 51.

Byregot's Miracle is a Specialist Crafting Skill acquired at level 58.

Byregot's Blessing is an old school Cross Class Skill acquired at level 50 Carpenter.

Byregot's Brow (18 CP)

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(NOTE: As of Patch 4.05, Brow no longer require "Good" or "Excellent" condition to be used. Also, its success rate is increased to 100% if the the user is a Specialist [Soul Stone equipped].)

Byregot's Brow is a "mini Byregot" that can only be activated during "Good" or "Excellent" conditions. It has a base efficiency of 150%, so it's HIGHER than Byregot's Blessing's base efficiency. However, each IQ stack only give rise to an extra 10% power increase, where as Blessing has 20%. Thus, Brow is STRONGER than Blessing when IQ stack is lower than 6, but Blessing is STRONGER when IQ is higher than 6. Supposedly, Brow is a good skill to be used if you're making an item that does not need more than IQ6. Sadly, since you have no control over when a Good will pop, you cannot plan this skill! Also, this skill has only 70% success rate, so SH II must be active to ensure its success. What's the chance of making an item that needs only IQ5, and having a "Good" condition right after you click Steady Hand II & Great Strides? Pretty slim, huh? So that just makes this skill relatively useless. As of Patch 4.05, Brow no longer require "Good" or "Excellent" condition to be used. Also, its success rate is increased to 100% if the the user is a Specialist. Thus, it is a valid substitution for Byregot's Blessing when IQ is lower than 6 (for Specialists). It is still a viable substitution for Blessing when IQ is higher than 6, but it is expected to be much weaker than Blessing.

NOTE: Romanosovsky has found a way to make Byregot's Brow useful in macro crafting:

http://ffxivrealm.com/threads/ff14-...ng-new-crafting-skills-by-romanosovsky.15458/

It basically involves fitting Brow before Innovation and/or Ingen2 to bait for the skill. This avoids the activation of Innov or Ingen2 during an Excellent condition, which leads to a Poor falling onto Byregot's Blessing. It is definitely a valid thing to use if you're macro-ing 1 star or 2 star items. However, since Brow is only 70% success rate, remember to use Steady Hand II instead of the usual Steady Hand to ensure safety in the final finisher phase. (Unfortunately, since Brow is no longer available only on "Good" or Excellent, this wonderful use of Brow in macro is no longer valid.)

Byregot's Miracle (16 CP)

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(NOTE: As of Patch 4.05, Miracle's potency (efficiency) has been buffed from 100%+10% per IQ stack to 100%+15% per IQ stack.)

Byregot's Miracle is another "mini Byregot". The good thing about this skill is that it only consumes half the IQ stack. If the IQ stack is odd number, it will retain 1 extra IQ stack over half. (i.e. IQ5 will be cut down to IQ3). I have proposed that this skill may be useful if we have a very difficult item that even IQ11 cannot HQ. In such a case, we may push IQ to 5 or 7, then use Great Strides + Byregot's Miracle to consume half the IQ stack for a powerful quality move. Then gain back that lost IQ stack quickly via Precise Touches, and use Byregot's Blessing as a final blow at IQ10 or 11. However, currently, I do not know an item that can utilize this hypothetical rotation yet. So the power of this skill is yet to be revealed.

UPDATE: As of Patch 4.1, Byregot's Miracle is finally useful for Special 2 star recipes in Stormblood! Please see Ch60 in Caimie's Stormblood Crafting Guide.

Byregot's Blessing (24 CP)

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Still the ultimate "Kamehameha" of the crafting game, this skill is indispensable. None of the new Heavensward mini Byregots can replace it. So, on that sense, S-E's claim that single class crafter may prevail in HW is somewhat inaccurate... Without a proper Blessing from lvl 50 Carpenter, how the heck can someone craft the difficult items with just the mini Byregots? I guess what S-E meant, was that you don't need to have every class at lvl 60 to play HW end-game (since there's not many cross class skills in HW anyway), but you will still need most of your classes at least level 50.

Ch45: The Functions of the Whistle System and Advice

Before the acquisition of Trained Hand and Nymeia's Wheel, the only 2 functions of the W stack are:

(i) CP recovery using Satisfaction,

(ii) stronger synthesis actions at W stack of 9/6/3.

The CP recovery only happens when you manage to get all 3 Satisfactions (which you get a net gain of 9 CP). If you can't get enough "Good" conditions to lower the W stack to 3, you actually LOSE CP. I recommend NOT to use the Whistle at all if you don't have Trained Hand & Nymeia's Wheel. You should NOT use Whistle either if the synthesis process is too short for you to get down to W stack of 3. For a 35 or 40 durab item under level 59 recipes, if you are not making enough progress with your synthesis, it's better to use Ingen2 to buff your Careful Syn II, or just use Rapid Syn instead, which is free. Don't bother with Whistle While You Work.

(i) & (ii) are NOT mutually exclusive. However, if you click Satisfaction first, your W stack will drop, and you won't be able to use (ii) anymore. In contrast, if you push a synthesis button first, you may still use Satisfaction afterwards if the condition does not change. If a "Good" or "Excellent" pops, then you miss your chance of using Satisfaction, but you can take 20 CP from Trick of Trade instead. If the condition doesn't change, you can actually keep pushing Careful Synthesis II, and you will keep getting 170% efficiency. Personally, I either don't push Careful Syn II at all, or even if I do, I will only do it once, and then I'll usually take that Satisfaction before it goes away.

After acquiring Trained Hand (TH) & Nymeia's Wheel (NW), the Whistle system gains 2 extra functions:

(1) TH allows you to strongly push progress + quality at the same time in 1 step at the cost of 32 16 CP,

(2) NW allows you to recover 10 to 30 durab at the cost of 18 CP... hopefully 30 durab when the W stack reaches 2.

You wanna use NW at W stack 2, because you wanna grab that last Satisfaction at W3, and that leaves you W2 which doesn't have any other functions... If W goes to zero, the automatic action "Finishing Touches" is rather dangerous. So I suggest forget that, and just grab your 30 durab with NW if you have that 18 CP.

Unfortunately, (2) is luck-dependent since you may or may not get as much as 30 durab recovery if your W stack is not low enough.

Thus, Trained Hand is actually the main hero here. You will get it, because your IQ stack is constantly increasing. Whether it's at stack of 6 or stack of 9, it will likely run into a moment which the IQ stack and W stack are the same. And when it comes, prioritize TH over Satisfaction or Trick of the Trade (if you use Satisfaction or Trick of the Trade, TH will NOT be available anymore). TH is currently one of the biggest function of the W stack.

This brings us to another topic about Precise Touch. We all love Precise Touch. But imagine if your IQ is at 6 and W stack at 7. Then a Good condition comes, and you used Precise Touch. Your IQ will jump to 8, while your W will drop to 6. You will then miss your Trained Hand, and this could be a big nightmare. My advice? Keep a good eye on those stacks and be careful when you use Precise Touch. In a case like this, one should probably take a Trick instead, and let the W stack fall to 6. Then with the extra CP, use Trained Hand while both IQ & W stacks are at 6. Progress will increase by 170% while quality will increase by 150%, which is well-worth your 32 16 CP. However, if the condition was "Excellent" instead of just "Good", you may consider skipping Trained Hand entirely, and just Precise Touch it.

Conclusion

The Whistle system is best to be used together with Maker's Mark + Flawless Syn, which adds many extra steps for the W stack to fall. This system is only good for items with very high difficulty, which generates many steps of Maker's Mark, allowing the W stack to fall down earlier. This will lead to CP recovery and the Whistle system to actually function at 9/6/3. This will in turn give you even more extra CP, and advantages of pushing extra progress at 9/6/3. The Whistle and the CP will then allow Trained Hand to function properly. And in the end, you may even use Nymeia's Wheel to recover even more durability. In contrast, if you are dealing with a low difficulty item, the Whistle system will actually hurt you. Currently, most of us have picked 1 class for specialization, but we are saving our other Soul Crystals to decide on our other specialized classes later.

Ch46: How to effectively craft 35 durab items in Heavensward?

I saw a few threads on Reddit. It looks like a lot of people are having trouble with the 35 durab items. And even those who claimed to be doing fine apparently have been promoting the use of WN, which I was shocked. So I constructed the following figures. Hope it helps.

- Forgot to add: if "Excellent" condition pops any time under active SH II, just Precise Touch it. Even if durab is at 15 when it pops (like the example #2 above), Precise Touch it anyway, let durab fall to 5, then Manip, and then use SH II (even if the previous SH II hasn't ended yet), and let durab float back to 15, before you Hasty Touch again.

- If "Excellent" pops when SH II is not active, then just take a Trick.

Caimie's Macro Rotations for Crafting 35 Durab Items

The reason to develop these macros is to have the ability to massively produce leathers and ingots for sale or for crafting final products. My macros make use of ZERO Hasty Touches, so they took away the risk factor. You will always get a good minimum amount of quality from it. There will not be any failure steps. If the percent HQ rate is too low in the end, you will need to either obtain stronger control stats, CP stats to generate a stronger rotation, or simply use a bit more HQ raw mats.

[IMG]

The above are just the rotations, below are the actual macros for lvl 58, 35 durab (as for lvl 60, you can easily modify from this using the rotations above):

Caimie 35 durab macro (open)

/echo adamantite nugget part1 begins

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Waste Not" <wait.2>

/ac "Precise Touch"

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Precise Touch"

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Precise Touch"

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.4>

/ac "Precise Touch"

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/echo adamantite nugget part1 ends

/echo adamantite nugget part2 (412CP) begins

/ac "Manipulation" <wait.2>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Precise Touch"

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Precise Touch"

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.3>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II"

/echo adamantite nugget part2 ends

I also have a lower CP version of the Part 2 macro. It omits the extra Great Strides but uses a Standard Touch for the last touch before Byregot:

/echo adamantite nugget part2 (394CP) begins

/ac "Manipulation" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Precise Touch"

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Standard Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.3>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II"

/echo adamantite nugget part2 ends

Keep in mind that macro is great and efficient, but it requires a lot of stats (especially CP) and it's inflexible in improvising. Manual crafting will always produce much better results.

Ch47: Crafting Food in ARR & Heavensward

Rolanberry Cheesecake

HQ: 15% Craftsmanship, 40 max

NQ: 12% Craftsmanship, 32 max

Shark Fin Soup

NQ: 10% Craftsmanship, 49 max. 4% CP, 14 max.

HQ: 12% Craftsmanship, 61 max. 5% CP, 18 max.

This food adds even more craftsmanship than Rolanberry Cheesecake, and it adds CP as well. It is a ARR 3 star item (from the original "Master Recipe"), and the ingredients (the Megalodon) are extravagant. But NQ Shark Fin Soup are not too expensive on the market.

Stone Soup (NQ)

CP +10%, 17 max

The old NQ Stone Soup sold at 37 gil each by the NPC at Gold Saucer is still a very awesome food for general purposes. I always have a whole stack in hand, and I pop 'em at will for my daily crafting. Most of my HW end-game macros & rotations were constructed to utilize a total CP of 412. Thus, a base CP value of 395 plus the use of Stone Soup (+17 = 412) will be sufficient for most situations.

Bouillabaisse HQ

CP +13%, 43 max

The classic end-game food from ARR is still quite useful and strong in HW. It is now relatively cheaper, but is still a luxury comparing to Stone Soup.

Baked Onion Soup HQ

CP +13%, 48 max

Craft +4%, 28 max

Baked Onion Soup is basically an upgraded version of the Bouillabaisse from ARR. Apart from more CP, it also adds craftsmanship, which can be very important for many situations where you may be lacking a slight bit of progress to complete your items.

Emerald Soup HQ

Craft +12%, 75 max

CP +5%, 19 max

Emerald Soup is currently the strongest craftsmanship food in the game. "Bullion Cube" (a Blue Scrip mat) is required to craft this, and so this is not a cheap item.

Clam Chowder HQ

Control +10%, 58 max

CP +4%, 15 max

Clam Chowder is currently the strongest control food in the game.

Seafood Stew HQ

CP +15%, 50 max

Control +5%, 31 max

Seafood Stew is a new CUL Master Recipe III item. It is currently the strongest CP food in the game.

Ch48: Tips on Crafting Heavensward 1 Star Items

[IMG] [IMG] [IMG]

e.g. Chivalic Coat of Fending / Seafood Stew / Thavnairian Bustier / Chivalric Coat of Striking

(Master Recipe 1 Star Item. 589 Control required. No minimum craftsmanship required.)

Diff: 1116

Quality: 8377

Durab: 70

Muscle Memory = 368

Piece by Piece = 368 for 1st, 246 for 2nd

____________________________

(Craftsmanship 682, Control 650)

Rapid Syn = 200

Careful Syn II = 96

Suggested:

Not recommended stats for 1 star

____________________________

(Craftsmanship 718, Control 666)

Rapid Syn = 212

Rapid Syn under Ingen2 = 385

CS II = 101

CS II under Ingen2 = 185

Suggested completion methods:

Muscle Memory (368)

Piece by Piece (246)

Rapid Syn (212)

CS II (101)

Muscle Memory (368)

Rapid Syn (212)

CS II under Ingen2 (185)

____________________________

(Craftsmanship 725)

Rapid Syn = 214

CS II = 102

____________________________

(Craftsmanship 727)

Rapid Syn = 214 ....(same as 725 craftsmanship)

CS II = 103 ............(increased by 1 over 725 craftsmanship)

____________________________

(Craftsmanship 728)

Rapid Syn = 215 ....(increased by 1 over 727 craftsmanship)

CS II = 103 ............(same as 727 craftsmanship)

Suggested completion method (my favorite @728 craftsmanship):

Muscle Memory (368)

Rapid Syn (215)

CS II (103)

____________________________

(Craftsmanship 734)

Rapid Syn = 216

CS II = 104

____________________________

(Craftsmanship 739)

Rapid Syn = 218

CS II = 104

____________________________

(Craftsmanship 758)

Rapid Syn = 224

CS II = 107

____________________________

(Craftsmanship 763)

CS II = 108

CS II w Ingen2 = 197

New Completion Methods (@ 763 craftsmanship):

Maker's Mark (12 steps)

FS (40x6 = 240)

CS II w Ingen2 (197)

CS II (108)

Maker's Mark (12 steps)

FS (40x9 = 360)

CS II w Ingen2 (197)

____________________________

(Craftsmanship 783)

CS II = 111

CS II w Ingen2 = 202

New Completion Methods (@ 783 craftsmanship):

Maker's Mark (12 steps)

FS (40x5 = 200)

CS II w Ingen2 (202)

CS II (111)

Maker's Mark (12 steps)

FS (40x8 = 320)

CS II w Ingen2 (202)

____________________________

(Craftsmanship 811)

CS II w Ingen2 = 210

New Completion Methods (@ 811 craftsmanship):

MaMa (12 steps)

FS (40x7 = 280)

CS II w Ingen2 (210)

Progress breakdown at 763, 783 or 811 craftsmanship:

[IMG]

Caimie's Macro for 1 Heavensward 1 Star Items

I have developed my own 1 star macro (457 CP), which I find extremely effective despite my hatred for Hasty Touches:

Caimie HW 1 star macro (open)

At 763 craftsmanship, one can afford 2 failed Flawless Syn.

At 783 craftsmanship, one can afford 3 failed Flawless Syn.

At 811 craftsmanship, one can afford 4 failed Flawless Syn.

Caimie HW 1 star part1 - 457CP

/ac "Maker's Mark" <wait.4>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Flawless Synthesis" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/echo HW 1 star part 1 ends... *MEOW :3

Caimie HW 1 star part2 - 457CP

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Waste Not II" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.3>

/echo HW 1 star part 2 ends... *MEOW :3

Caimie HW 1 star part3 - 457CP

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Master's Mend II" <wait.3>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.3>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.3>

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.3>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II"

*Take away Innovation to save 18CP if necessary.

Total number of Hasty Touches = 12

Plus the use of Innov + Ingen2 to boost quality

So, despite the use of Hasty, it's very secure with quality. You can easily afford 4 failed Hasty and still do fine.

The following is a newer version of my 1 star macro, which my craftsmanship has reached over 900. Muscle Memory gives 368 progress, so as long as each of the CS II under (ingen2) gives at least 187 progress, then it's fine to use. What's good about this macro is that it is super FAST! Only 30 steps are needed, which fitted perfectly into 2 macros.

NEW HW 1star part1 460CP

/ac "Muscle Memory" <wait.4>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Waste Not II" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

NEW HW 1star part2 460CP

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.3>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Master's Mend II" <wait.3>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.3>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.3>

/ac "Byregot's Brow" <wait.3>

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.3>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II"

Total number of Hasty Touches = 11

Plus the use of Innov + Ingen2 to boost quality, plus a "Byregot's Brow" baiting to avoid Excellent condition falling onto Ingenuity II (which will lead to the Poor landing on Byregot's Blessing). But since Byregot's Brow has only a 70% chance of success, so we have to use Steady Hand II on the finisher phase, which leads to 3 more CP being used.

[IMG]

- I did my first 1 star with as low as Craftsmanship 682, Control 650, but it was a bit too dangerous. I recommend at least 728 Craftsmanship to handle it.

Ch49: Tips on Crafting Heavensward 2 Star Items

[IMG]

- It is extremely difficult to acquire the mats for i170 2 star gear. Please visit my Heavensward Gathering Guide. See "Ch11: Ephemeral Nodes & Aetherial Reduction" & "Ch12: The Nightmare of Favors" for details of how to play the gathering game of Folklore Legendary Nodes, Ephemeral Nodes and Concealed Nodes (Favors) to get the mats. Concerning my personal nightmare experience with Favors, it be found on this thread.

e.g. Hammermaster's Waist Apron (i170), Astral Silk, Griffin Leather

(Master Recipe 2 Star Item. 718 Craftsmanship & 695 Control required.)

Diff: 1436

Quality: 9430

Durab: 70

Possible Completion Methods:

Method (1) [data below from 730 Craft]

(DON'T use this. It's not good enough!)

MusMem or PBP (473)

PBP (317)

PBP (232)

RS (213)

CS II (102)

Method (2) [data below from 730 Craft]

(Effective when it works. But risky when RNG goes bad.)

MusMem (473)

RS w Ingen2 (357)

CS II w Ingen2 (171)

CS II (102)

Method (3) (Rath's Rotation) [data below from 730 Craft]

(Highly recommended for people with minimal stats!)

Maker's Mark

Steady Hand

PBP (473) (protected)

PBP (317) (protected)

Flawless Syn#1 (40) (protected)

Flawless Syn#2 (40) (protected)

Flawless Syn#3 (40) (protected)

Flawless Syn#4 (40)

Flawless Syn#5 (40)

Flawless Syn#6 (40)

Flawless Syn#7 (40)

Flawless Syn#8 (40)

Flawless Syn#9 (40)

CS II (102)

*unprotected Flawless Syns can afford failing 2 times.

*Method (3) was derived from Rath's rotation (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/250973-3.05-Crafting-Rotation-lv-60**-Materials-Gear)

I personally favor Method (3). Despite it looking complicated, and despite using 2x PBP that cost 30 CP, it's actually the most secure of all, and most CP efficient of all. The number of completion steps is also just 5 (because Maker's Mark + Flawless Syn does not consume durab), so it's exactly the same as Method (2). In fact, Method (2) has a pretty big chance of failing 1 Rapid Syn, it probably needed 6 steps. So that makes Method (3) even more superior. Maker's Mark gives 15 steps of Free Flawless Syn for a 2 star item. 1 step used for Steady Hand, 2 steps used for PBP, you still have 12 steps left. Out of the 12 steps, you need 9 successful Flawless Syn. 3 of the 12 steps will be covered by the Steady Hand. So you just need 6 successful Flawless Syn out of 9 steps. Assuming you take 1 Trick of Trade or use Comfort Zone somewhere, you have 8 steps left. Among the remaining 8 steps of Maker's Mark, you can afford to fail 2 Flawless Syn, and still be totally fine. If you have bad luck and failed 3 out of 8. You will need to sacrifice 1 touch, and use 1 extra CS II. If you failed 4 out of 8. Your extra CS II will still cover it. So it's no difference from failing 3 out of 8. Alternatively, if you failed 2 Flawless Syn very early and you're very scared, you can pop an extra Steady Hand to cover the remaining Flawless Syn. But in doing so, you sacrifice you chance to take a Trick of Trade, and instead of gaining CP, you now have to spend an extra 22 CP. So I do not recommend this. I'd rather sacrifice 1 touch to do an extra CS II.

The 3x CS II in Method (3) are also very flexible. You can fit them anywhere in your rotation while you're working on quality.

For a rotation like this, just keep in mind to activate Inner Quiet after all Maker's Mark steps are finished. It's very, very common for people to forget the Inner Quiet button after struggling with Maker's Mark.

Full Rotation Break Down (Spoiler Alert!):

Method (3) - Rath's Rotation (open)

[IMG]

For Method (3), the optimal Craftsmanship level is 776, as this amount gives 109 progress per CS II. Thus, it reduces the need of one Flawless Syn. You will only need 1110 progress from MaMa+FS, and can still complete the item with 3x CS II after the FS's. This means, you can safely take 1 Trick of Trade during your string of FS's, and can still afford 2 FS failures.

Another optimal Craftsmanship amount is 860, as this amount gives 122 progress per CS II. Thus, it further reduces the need of another Flawless Syn. You will only need 1070 progress from MaMa+FS, and can still complete the item with 3x CS II. This means, you can safely take 2 Trick of Trade during your string of FS's, and can still afford 2 FS failures. It is difficult to achieve 860 craftsmanship with the use of Seafood Stew HQ. But with the help of Baked Onion Soup HQ (which adds 28 craft), one just needs 832 craftsmanship. This amount is achievable as long as you have nearly all HQ i170 gear, and it does NOT require max melds on everything.

Method (4) [data below from 734 Craft]

(Specially designed for BSM, which lacks 1 Cross Class Slot for Method 3 while keeping Innovation or Reclaim)

MusMem (473)

CS II w Ingen2 (172)

CS II (103)

Theories behind Method (4):

Personally, I favor Rath's PBP + MaMa rotation Method (3) a lot, especially when that rotation only require the minimum 718 Craftsmanship. In all other classes other than BSM, Rath's rotation allows you to take either Innovation or Reclaim with you. For crafting of mats, I will load up Innovation, to further increase my HQ rate. For crafting of final products, I will load up Reclaim, just so that if 6 Hasties fail in a row (it can happen if you craft enough), you have a chance to Reclaim it back. However, BSM in particular does not have enough Cross Class slots to utilize that rotation while maintaining Innovation or Reclaim. This is because Rath's rotation does not utilize any BSM cross class skills. Thus, if you use Rath's rotation on BSM to craft a final product, then you will not have Reclaim at your disposal, which I personally feel rather risky. I have previously been using the Method (2) above for BSM. It works, but it is still quite risky. Especially if you fail 2 or 3x RS, then you're in grave danger of having to waste CP on redo-ing the Ingen2.

Disadvantages and Advantages of Method (4):

Therefore, I developed Method (4) (see full rotation breakdown below). The disadvantage of it is that it requires 7 steps for completion. Thus, 2 more steps than Method (2) & Method (3), meaning fewer touches in the end, and a lower IQ stack. However, it's 100% risk-free. You will not have to worry about the danger of having to redo Ingen2 for some extra Rapid Syn in Method (2), which will cost you a lot more CP. It also requires 734 Craftsmanship. The advantages of it though, is that you can keep BOTH Innovation & Reclaim, which is extremely helpful. The addition of Innovation there is almost equal to an extra guaranteed touch. This rotation also cost very few CP for completion: Rath's rotation needs MaMa (20 CP), SH (22 CP) and PBPx2 (15 CP) = 72 CP, with CZx2, which the first CZ recovers 14 CP, and may have a chance for Trick of Trade during the string of FS's (Hence 72 - 14 = 58 CP, and potentially 38 CP if a Trick is taken). My Method (4) requires only 6 CP on MusMem and 32 CP on Ingen2 = 38 CP, but has no chance of Trick of Trade (Hence 38 CP only, without the need of Trick). Thus, you can see that minimum CP requirement for Method (4) is even lower than that of Method (3).

In fact, if you are willing to spend some time modifying it, you can even take out either Innovation or Reclaim, then you can substitute MusMem with MaMa and Flawless Syn. In the end, you will get back the MaMa advantage of being able to take a Trick of Trade, and also have 10 extra durab for touches. You just need to measure and calculate the amount of progress you get from your CS II under Ingen2, and match them up with the progress you can get from MaMa+FS.

Full Rotation Break Down (Spoiler Alert!):

Method (4) - BSM Rotation (open)

[IMG]

IMPORTANT:

When you have reached 818 craftsmanship, the 5th CS II under Ingen2 in this rotation would actually prematurely complete the item. So is this a bad rotation that cannot be used for stronger stats? Hell no! Rotations are highly flexible! There are more than one solution to this.

Solution 1: You can easily adjust by delaying your Ingen2 by 1 step, i.e. use a naked CS II first, and then activate Ingen2, and then do 4x CS II under Ingen2 (See below).

Solution 2: Even better, now you can allow 1x Trick of Trade during the 5 steps of Ingen2! How cool is that! But in order to be safe, you should plan to activate Inner Quiet later! If no "good" appears, and no Tricks could be taken, then use Inner Quiet to consume the 5th step of Ingen2. You can then resume to your 5th CS II (See below).

You see? Think! And the solutions are all here!

[IMG]

Now instead of having a problem, it actually became an advantage - flexibility in gaining more CP!

Method (5), (6), (7), (8)...etc:

For details of other strong 2 star rotations...

Please visit Katlyna (Katrisa Ashe)'s "Heavensword 2* Red Scrip Crafting Rotation" thread on the official forum:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/258727-Heavensword-2*-Red-Scrip-Crafting-Rotation

Please visit Jade-Nephrite (Jade Nephrite)'s "3.05 Crafting Rotation lv 60** Materials / Gear" thread on the official forum:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/250973-3.05-Crafting-Rotation-lv-60**-Materials-Gear

Both Katlyna and Jade are extraordinary crafters that have been actively developing better 2 star rotations. You can pick up some very neat 2 star rotations from the above 2 threads!

[IMG]

- BSM doesn't have enough Cross Class Skill slots to accommodate Completion Method (3) while maintaining "Reclaim". Method (3) requires Maker's Mark, Flawless Syn & Piece by Piece. Method (2) requires Muscle Memory, Rapid Syn & Ingenuity II. Innovation was abandoned in both classes here to fit in Reclaim.

[IMG]

- Alternatively, Method (4) is also great for BSM, which allows Innovation to be kept because it does not need Rapid Syn.

[IMG]

- Prove of principle that Method (4) works fine.

[IMG]

- The crafting of 2 star items wasn't difficult at all. It was the gathering of mats that was hell.

[IMG]

Penta-melded i170 hat vs i180 (open)

[IMG]

Penta-melded i170 gloves vs i180 (open)

[IMG]

Penta-melded i170 pants vs i180 (open)

[IMG]

Penta-melded i170 shoes vs i180 (open)

[IMG]

- Comparison of the crafted NQ i170 vs HQ i170 vs the token-traded i180 chest pieces:

(i) HQ i170 is slightly weaker than i180 before overmelds. But i170 is stronger after penta-melding.

(ii) i170 requires expensive materia to penta-meld (nightmare of the bank-breaking overmelds). i180 doesn't need any expensive meld.

(iii) NQ i170 is significantly weaker than the other two, and should be avoided at all cost.

(iv) i170 requires much fewer Red Crafter's Tokens, but requires a lot of Red Gatherer's Tokens to do "Favors" (nightmare RNG gathering). i180 requires a lot more Red Crafter's Tokens, but does not require Red Gatherer's Tokens at all.

(v) i170 can be dyed into different colors, but i180 cannot.

(vi) i170 can be sold on the market. i180 is unique untradable.

2 Star Crafting Raw Data:

MusMem = 473

Piece by Piece = 473 (1st PBP), 317 (2nd PBP), 232 (3rd PBP)

Craftsmanship = 725

CS II = 101

Standard Syn = 127

Craftsmanship = 727

CS II = 102

Craftsmanship = 730

Rapid Syn = 213

CS II = 102

Rapid Syn with Ingen2 = 357

CS II with Ingen2 = 171

Craftsmanship = 734

Rapid Syn = 215

CS II = 103

Rapid Syn with Ingen2 = 359

CS II with Ingen2 = 172

Craftsmanship = 735 (same as 734 craft):

CS II = 103

Rapid Syn with Ingen2 = 359

CS II within Ingen2 = 172

Craftsmanship = 766

CS II = 107

Craftsmanship = 776 (Optimal for Method 3: only needs 1110 progress from MaMa+FS)

CS II = 109

Craftsmanship = 818

CS II = 115

CS II with Ingen2 = 193

Craftsmanship = 828

CS II = 117

Craftsmanship = 846

CS II = 119

Craftsmanship = 860 (Optimal for Method 3: only needs 1070 progress from MaMa+FS)

CS II = 122

NOTE:

I did my first 2-star item at 730 Craft, but you don't need 730! I don't know what's the lowest possible for the following completion Methods (1) & (2). But at least for Method (3) (Rath's rotation), you can have as low as the minimum of 718 Craftsmanship and still be fine!

A final collage of my Heavensward 2 star crafting accomplishments:

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All 8 DoH classes in Heavensward AF gear:

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I did used Reclaim 2 times throughout the course of crafting all these gear for all 8 DoH classes (and the offhands for Miner & Botanist). Luckily not a single final product has gone NQ yet.

As for intermediate crafted mats, My NQ rate is approximately 1 out of 20-ish:

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Ch50: Tips on Crafting 1 Star 35 Durab Items (Specialist Recipe)

e.g. Titanium Alloy Ingot, Pterodactyl Leather

(Master Recipe 1 Star 35 Durab Item.)

Diff: 558

Quality: 8377

Durab: 35

High Fidelity 1 Star 35 Durab Rotation #1

(High Craft/Control/CP rotation)

[IMG]

Note:

If you do not have the required craftsmanship lvl, you can substitute Basic Touches with Hasty Touches, and spend that CP on a Standard Synthesis, replacing a Careful Syn II.

However, the lower control will have to be supplemented by more BT->HT substitutes to buy stronger touches in the finisher phase (and you lose the fidelity). Thus, CP > control.

Apart from high fidelity, another beauty of this rotation is that it's "Standardized". Unlike my usual Hasty Touch Rotation (11 touches) that requires much improvising, this rotation is simple and short, and you can just click through the buttons without thinking too much, and no touches will fail.

This is a macro-able rotation, but I do not recommend doing it in a macro unless you have a crap load of mats to waste on.

This rotation was streamlined-ly designed for people with very high stats, but does not require max melds on everything. As you can see below, I have max melded my Hat, Gloves, Pants, Boots, and near-maxed-melded accessories. But I have only added 4 CP on mainhand & offhand (Cunning III, I --> cheap!). And I have only added 18 craftsmanship on the chest with nothing else (Competence III, III, III, I --> cheap!). I did those cheap melds on chest and tools because I want to wipe and re-meld later with Tier V materia in the future.

[IMG]

I don't even have the new belt yet, which would have provided me with the tad bit more control needed for 100% HQ rate.

Even with White Gear, one can still achieve the required 817 craftsmanship for the alternative base stats:

[IMG]

I'm just lacking 3 crafts here, which I could easily meld on a tool. My tools here are again only melded with 4 CP each.

However, to do it with white gear would mean lacking much control. Thus, it will further depend on Precise Touches, and substituting Basic T's with Hasty T's to exchange for stronger touches in the finisher phase.

High Fidelity 1 Star 35 Durab Rotation #2

(Low Craft rotation and Low Craft/ Low CP rotation)

By incorporating Maker's Mark, I generated a Low Craftsmanship version and a Low Craftsmanship/Low CP version of my high fidelity rotation for those who don't have the high stats. The actual craftsmanship requirement is unknown, but it's somewhere between 770 and 783 craftsmanship (possibly 780 or 781). CP can be as low as 407 base CP (+ the use of Seafood Stew HQ to reach 457), harboring 1 Hasty Touch in the rotation. You can have even lower CP than that, but you will need to use more Hasties. It also appears that these versions of my rotation actually provides slightly more quality than the original. These rotations can afford 1 failed Flawless Syn. There's either 1 Basic Touch at 90% or 1 Hasty Touch at 80%. So it's not 100% secure. But they're much more secure than spamming 10 Hasties. And if there's one Precise Touch, the product will very likely be HQ.

[IMG]

You gotta admire how perfectly those Comfort Zones are placed. There are just enough steps to fully utilize 2x CZ.

It doesn't mean the original rotation #1 was useless. #1 is still a faster version of it that does not depend on the luck of Flawless Syn. All steps are 100% secure in the original version.

High Fidelity 1 Star 35 Durab Rotation #3 - The "Brand-Name" Rotation

(High Craft/Control/CP rotation that uses Elemental Brands)

Here is another rotation that utilizes Ingen2+Name+Brand, which one-shots the item. This "Brand-Name" Rotation requires 857 craftsmanship (Thanks Blueruckus for this, and I have confirmed it myself). You can use Baked Onion Soup to reach this high craftsmanship level. The CP here has been customized for the use of the soup (it does NOT require 472 CP, which only Seafood Stew can provide). And the 3rd Insecure Variant of it can actually reach IQ9. Thus, you can get away with less control and achieve higher powers. But of course, the more power you seek, the less fidelity you have.

[IMG]

Special thanks to my gaming partner Valestia for supplying me with a ton of Competence I materia for testing the minimum amt of craftsmanship for this!

Ch51: Heavensward Crafting Data Sharing

In order to benefit leveling crafters, I have included my crafting data here so people can know approximately what it takes to complete an item.

Important Note:

Most data were taken from 495 craftsmanship. I was on Lucis mainhand and Artisan offhand most of the time, except a few data taken at level 59 or 60, which I swapped into a stronger offhand.

35 and 40 Durab Items

Mythrite Nugget

Recipe level: 51

Difficulty: 169

Durab: 40

Level 50

Progress is 70 from CS II alone

Progress is 86 from CS II under Ingen2 (2x will complete)

(Conclusion: level not quite suitable, but can still do it with Ingen2)

Test:

Eat a Sharkfin soup HQ (Original craftsmanship = 495. Final craftsmanship = 554)

Progress is 78 from CS II alone

Progress is 97 from CS II under Ingen2

(Conclusion: Doesn't help)

Level 51

Progress is 159 from CS II alone

Progress is 191 from CS II under Ingen2 (one shot it)

Level 52

Progress is 172 from CS II alone (one shot)

Progress is 191 from CS II under Ingen2 (one shot)

Level 53

Progress is 184 from CS II alone (one shot)

Progress is 191 from CS II under Ingen2 (one shot)

At lvl 53, the original Nugget Rotation macro (6 touch, no hasty) gives 80% quality.

At lvl 53, the 365 CP version of Nugget Rotation (eaten a Stone Soup) macro gives 100% quality.

Level 55

Progress is 191 from CS II alone (one shot)

Mythrite Rivets

Recipe level: 51

Difficulty: 210

Durab: 40

Level 52

Progress is 159 from CS II alone (need 2x to complete)

Progress is 190 from CS II under Ingen2

Level 55

Progress is 191 from CS II under Ingen2

Mythrite Ingot

Recipe level: 51

Difficulty: 251

Durab: 40

Level 53

Progress is 158 from CS II alone

Progress is 190 from CS II under Ingen2

Level 55

Progress is 174 from CS II alone

Progress is 190 from CS II under Ingen2

Grade 1 Strength Dissolvent / Larimar

Recipe level: 53

Diff: 293

Durab: 40

Level 54

Progress is 145 from CS II alone

Progress is 190 from CS II under Ingen2

(1x CS II alone + 1x CS II under Ingen2 = completion)

Grade 1 Mind Dissolvent / Hardsilver Nugget / Titanium Nugget / Ramie Cloth / Dhalmel Leather

Recipe level: 54

Difficulty: 320

Durab: 40

Level 54

Progress is 126 from CS II alone (3x will complete)

Level 55

Progress is 146 from CS II alone

Progress is 190 from CS II under Ingen2

(1x CS II alone + 1x CS II under Ingen2 will complete)

Level 56

progress is 161 from CS II alone (x2 will complete)

Level 57

Progress is 168 from CS II alone (2 shot it)

Level 58

Progress is 176 from CS II alone (2 shot it)

Wing Glue / Star Ruby

Recipe level: 55

Difficulty: 348

Durab: 35

Level 54

Progress is 96 from CS II alone

Progress is 189 from CS II under Ingen2 (x2)

Level 55

Progress is 126 from CS II alone (x3)

Progress is 190 from CS II under Ingen2 (x2)

Hardsilver Ingot / Hallowed Water / Holy Ramie Cloth / Dragon Leather

Recipe level: 56

Diff: 376

Durab: 35

Level 56

Progress is 126 from CS II alone (3x will complete it)

Progress is 186 from CS II under Ingen2

Level 57

Progress is 147 from CS II alone (3x will complete it)

Progress is 191 from CS II under Ingen2 (2x will complete it)

Aurum Regis Nugget / Amphiptere Leather

Recipe level: 58

Diff: 431

Durab 35

Muscle Memory: 142 (conclusion: dont use!)

Level 58

Progress is 145 from CS II alone (3x will complete)

Level 60 (equipped with new offhand, craftsmanship > 500)

Progress is 175 from CS II alone (3x will complete)

When craftsmanship >670, 2x CS II alone will complete the item.

Scale Glue / Birch Syrup

Recipe level: 59

Diff: 459

Durab 35

Craftsmanship = 725

Name of [element] (15 CP) + Brand of [element] (6 CP) --> 1 shot complete!

70 and 80 Durab Items

Rainbow Sash of Aiming (lvl 51 Recipe)

Difficulty 339

Durab: 80

Level 53

Progress is 184 from CS II alone (2x will complete)

Mythrite Patas / Mythite Star Globe / Cedar Crook (lvl 51 Recipe)

Difficulty: 421

Durab: 80

Level 51

127 progress from CS II alone (need 4x)

190 progress from CS II under Ingen2 (need 1x, +2x CS II alone)

Level 52

Progress is 159 from CS II alone (x3 will complete)

Progress is 190 from CS II under Ingen2

Level 55

187 progress from CS II alone (need 3x)

Mythrite Needle / Mythrite Lump Hammer (lvl 52 Recipe)

Difficulty: 503

Durab: 80

Level 53

Progress is 158 from CS II alone (2x + 1x under Ingen2 will complete)

Progress is 190 from CS II under Ingen2

Level 55

Progress is 174 from CS II alone

Progress is 190 from CS II under Ingen2

Hardsilver Saw (lvl 55, ilevel 100) / Ramie Turban of Crafting

Difficulty: 697

Durab: 70

Muscle memory: 230

Level 56

Progress is 145 from CS II alone

Progress is 190 from CS II under Ingen2

Dragon Fang Earrings / Hallowed Ramie Sash of Casting

Diff: 752

Durab: 70

Muscle Memory: 248

Level 56

Progress is 126 from CS II alone (need Muscle Memory + CS II alone x4)

Level 57

Progress is 145 from CS II alone

Progress is 188 from CS II under Ingen2

Level 58

Progress is 160 from CS II alone

Level 59 (was I using the Artisan offhand or the new offhand? I forgot...)

Progress is 168 from CS II alone (muscle memory + 3x CS II to complete)

Aurum Regis Bracelet of Slaying

Diff: 863

Durab: 70

Muscle memory = 284

Level 59 (using new gear and offhand, craftsmanship >550)

Progress is 167 from CS II alone

Progress is 210 from CS II under Ingen2

Level 60 (using new offhand, craftsmanship > 500)

Progress is 175 from CS II alone

Progress is 206 from CS II under Ingen2

Progress is 219 from Standard Syn

Marron Glace (lvl 59 recipe)

Diff: 919

Quality: 7339

Durab: 70

Muscle Memory = 303

(Craftsmanship @ 718)

CS II gives 204 progress (need MusMem + 4x CS II to complete)

(Craftsmanship @723)

CS II gives 205 progress (need MusMem + 4x CS II to complete)

(Craftsmanship @725)

CS II gives 206 progress (need MusMem + 3x CS II to complete) --> ideal!

(Craftsmanship @728)

CS II gives 207 progress (need MusMem + 3x CS II to complete) --> ideal!

Name+Brand of Water (from zero progress) = 518 progress

(Name+Brand of Water + 2x CS II to complete) --> ideal if you have less craftsmanship!

Name+Brand of Water (from 518 progress) = 324 progress

(If your craftsmanship is so low that your CS II gives less than 201 progress,

then use Name+Brand of Water x2 + CS II to complete the item in 3 steps!)

Morel Salad / Deep-Fried Okeanis / Chimerical Felt Doublet of Crafting (lvl 60 recipe)

Diff: 956

Quality: 7851

Durab: 70

Muscle Memory = 315

(Craftsmanship @728)

Name+Brand of Water (from 315 progress) = 370 progress

Name+Brand of Water (from 315+370 progress) = 247 progress

Seafood Stew (Master Recipe 1 Star)

Diff: 1116

Muscle Memory = 368

(Craftsmanship @728)

Name+Brand of Water (from zero progress) = 258

Name+Brand of Water (from 258 progress) = 218

(Craftsmanship @728)

Name+Brand of Water (from 368 progress) = 203

Name+Brand of Water (from 368+203 progress) = 170

Name+Brand of Water (from 368+203+170 progress) = 247

A Real Reborn Master Recipe Items

Old 3 star item

level 52

Progress is 192 from CS II alone (3x will complete the item)

Progress is 192 from CS II under Ingen2 (No Effect!)

Old 4 star item (equivalent to Heavensward lvl 53 recipes)

level 55

Progress is 191 from CS II alone (4x will complete the item)

Progress is 191 from CS II under Ingen2 (No Effect!)

Progress is 193 from Muscle Memory (dont use!)

PART 4: SB CRAFTING

Launched on: 24th Sep 2017

Latest Update: 14th Dec 2017

This guide is a continuation of the original FF14 crafting guide series by Caimie Tsukino.

If you have not reached level 50 yet, please visit Part 1 of the guide for helpful information regarding old A Realm Reborn (ARR) contents:

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ff14-advanced-crafting-guide-by-caimie-tsukino.39/

Part 2 contains outdated ARR endgame contents:

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ff14-advanced-crafting-guide-part-2-by-caimie-tsukino.49/

If you have not reached level 60 yet, and is working on Heavensward's contents, please visit Part 3 of the guide:

http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ff14-advanced-crafting-guide-part-3-heavensward-by-caimie-tsukino.156/

FF14 Advanced Crafting Guide (Part 4 Stormblood) by Caimie Tsukino

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Ch52: A Summary of Changes in Crafting in Stormblood

(Single-class crafter vs omni-crafter? Old skills vs new skills?)

The biggest change in crafting in Stormblood is the addition of new "Basic Crafting Skills" (skills that are automatically acquired by any crafting class as long as they reach the required levels). Previously, in A Realm Reborn (ARR) and Heavensward (HW), certain cross class skills are considered "essential". Crafters must acquire them if they were to do end-game crafting. Now, with the addition of the new Basic Crafting Skills, new Specialist Skills and the revamping of certain existing skills, single-class crafters become viable. I'm not saying they will be as strong as omni-crafters. People with multiple level 50 cross class skills will still have a bigger edge. But at least if you really insist, you can still play end-game crafting with a single level 70 DoH (Disciple of the Hand) class.

Please be aware that, despite many cross class skills now having a basic crafting skill version that can be obtained between level 60 and 70, there are still many cross class skills without a "replacement" (I put "replacement" in quotations because they aren't exactly completely replaced. Most of the new skills just offered stronger, CP-consuming "alternatives"). For instance, Muscle Memory (CUL 54), Piece by Piece (ARM 50) and Ingenuity II (BSM 50). These cross class skills that are important for progress received no "replacements" in Storm Blood. So having them in your arsenal is still a great advantage. Important CP-recovery skills such as Trick of the Trade (ALC 15) and Comfort Zone (ALC 50) also received no "replacements", and so they are still as useful as they have always been. In fact, even though Byregot's Brow (level 51) has been buffed to become a viable "alternative" for Byregot's Blessing (CRP 50), Blessing is still far more superior when IQ stack is as high as 9 to 11. Thus, comparing with the new Stormblood skills, many old cross class skills are still the choices of actions if you have them in your arsenal.

Most of the "replacements" (or more like "alternatives") skills provide stronger power than their cross class counterpart, but requires extra CP to be invested. One thing in Storm Blood is that our CP pool has been greatly increased to compensate this issue. Thus, we can comfortably use the new "replacements". But just keep in mind that the cross class, CP-free versions of these skills may still play a role when more difficult recipes arrive in later patches.

Old "Essential" Cross Class Skills ------------------------> New Basic Crafting Skills in Stormblood

Hasty Touch (CUL 15) ---------------------------------------> Hasty Touch II (lvl 61)

Manipulation (GSM 15) / Waste Not II (LTW 50) ------> Manipulation II (lvl 65)

Rapid Synthesis (ARM 15) ---------------------------------> Rapid Synthesis II (lvl 63)

Careful Synthesis II (WVR 50) -----------------------------> Careful Synthesis III (lvl 62)

Byregot's Blessing (CRP 60) ------------------------------> Byregot's Brow (lvl 51) (Not a new Basic Crafting Skill, but a revamped one. Previously only 70% success rate and available only on "Good" or "Excellent", now in Storm Blood 100% success rate if Specialist, and can be activated any time)

In summary, if you're a brand new crafter who's just getting started, I'll still recommend you getting at least an ALL-15 status -- level up all your DoH to level 15 to acquire all level 15 cross class skills. This is a pretty easy thing to do, but its impact is gigantic. After that, if you are only interested in a single crafting class, that's ok. With Storm Blood's changes, you may select that one class to be a specialist class, and level up only that one class all the way to lvl 70. However, do not expect the leveling of that one class to be easy. Just like in ARR and HW, classes are inter-dependent on each other's crafted mats. Thus, you will be force to buy a lot of things from the marketboard (MB). If you're a crafter who already has multiple classes close to level 50, or if you intend to go deep into crafting anyway, I suggest you push multiple classes to at least level 50 (and CUL to 54 for Muscle Memory, and GSM to 54 for Maker's Mark too), and get those important level 50 cross class skills, as they will definitely be beneficial down the road.

Ch53: New Skills and Revamped Old skills in Stormblood

Basic Crafting Skills:

Hasty Touch II (level 61) (5 CP) (a.k.a. HT2)

Increases quality.

Efficiency: 100%

Success Rate: 60%

Despite the 10% higher fidelity than Hasty Touch, it's not exactly a true replacement of Hasty Touch... Under Steady Hand II, it's only at 90% success rate. But in this game, as long as it's not 100%, then you will eventually see a string of failed touches one day, even at 90%. It's just what the RNG is like. Also, although 5 CP may not sound like a lot, when you try to reach IQ9 or IQ10 in a rotation, you'll still need 8 to 9 touches, which means it's an extra 40 to 45 CP investment comparing with Hasty Touch. Sometimes, we could have put that CP into something else more important in our rotation. I'm not saying Hasty Touch II isn't better. It is better than Hasty Touch due to the slightly higher fidelity. But it does come with a cost.

Careful Synthesis III (level 62) (7 CP) (a.k.a. CS3)

Increases progress.

Efficiency: 150%

Success Rate: 100%

It's strong. It's good. This is a very powerful and versatile skill for progress, and can almost replace Careful Syn II except that it costs 7 CP. It does completely replaces Standard Synthesis, since CS III has the same power as Standard Syn of 150% efficiency, but Standard Syn cost 15 CP and has only a 90% success rate. Thus, once you acquired this skill, you can remove the Standard Syn button from your hotbar forever.

Rapid Synthesis II (level 63) (12 CP) (a.k.a. RS2)

Increases progress.

Efficiency: 300%

Success Rate: 60%

It is superior to its ARM level 15 counterpart, Rapid Syn, on the sense that it provides slightly more progress and has a slightly better success rate. It does, however, cost 12 CP, whereas Rapid Syn cost nothing. So if you use it more than once in a rotation, it does burn off your CP pretty fast.

Patient Touch (level 64) (6 CP) (a.k.a. PaT)

Increases Inner Quiet stack by one (up to 11) when successful, halves stack upon failure.

Efficiency: 100%

Success Rate: 50%

Don't let the tool tip fool you! It says "increases IQ stack by 1". But it actually means "additionally by 1". This is an additional IQ stack on top of the normal IQ stack you gain per touch. Thus, Patient Touch adds a total of 2 IQ stacks per successful touch. For a measly 6 CP cost and at 80% success rate when paired with Steady Hand II (same as a Hasty Touch, but costing 6 CP), it allows you to add 2 IQ stacks per touch... that's ridiculously powerful. But of course, it comes with a price - if any Patient Touch fails, you will lose half your IQ stack, i.e. if you try to use Patient Touch at IQ7 and you failed, you will lose 10 durab, and your IQ will drop to IQ4. Because of this, Patient Touch is NEVER used when your IQ is more than 4 or 5. In fact, I personally ONLY use it when IQ is 1. Because at IQ1, you got nothing to lose. If it fails, you're still at IQ1 anyway. If you were planning to use Hasty Touch on your first touch, then there's no reason not to replace it with a Patient Touch. If you really need the power and wanna gamble with it, you can use it on your first two touches, in the hope that if both touch land fine, you'll reach IQ5 right away at only a cost of 12 CP. Just be prepared to take the consequences when it fails. Because of the nature that Patient Touch is normally used on your first touch (unless you need 100% fidelity, and chose to use Basic, Precise or Prudent Touch), it seems the name "Impatient Touch" would have fitted it better! LOL! Anyway, long story short, in conclusion, Patient Touch is the perfect replacement for your first Hasty Touch.

Manipulation II (level 65) (96 CP) (a.k.a. Manip2)

Restores 5 points of durability after each step for the next 8 steps. Each step overwrites all other durability-restoring actions.

NOTE: This skill is locked behind level 65 class quest. You have to complete the level 65 class quest for a particular class in order for that class to use this skill. In other words, you need to complete level 65 class quest for every class in order for every class to own this.

This is an extremely important skill to acquire... In Stormblood, the most important, strongest, new crafting skills are arguably Manip2 and Prudent Touch (see below). The two skills form an incredible combo that can be used to tackle even 2 star recipes in Storm Blood.

Interestingly, although Manip2 is supposed to be an improved version of Manipulation (Manip), it is more than just an upgraded Manip. Manip2 is also kind of a replacement for Waste Not II (WN2) (98 CP) as well. WN2 is well-known for being the most CP-efficient skill for adding 4 more steps (assuming at least 7 steps are being utilized to consume durab). However, it is also infamous for being inflexible, since you cannot take multiple Trick of Trades in the middle of it (please see Caimie's Crafting Guide (part 1) Ch10 for details), and I personally dislike it in manual crafting. In contrast, the old Manip is very flexible, but is a skill that is mostly used for 40 or 35 durab items only. We rarely use Manip for 80 or 70 durab items due to it not being as CP-efficient as WN, WN2 or Master's Mend II. Manip2 has the advantages of WN2 of being super CP-efficient (even more CP efficient than WN2), yet it has the flexibility of Manip (allows multiple non-durab consuming steps to be performed in the middle of it, as long as durab is not maxed).

Once you have acquired this skill and Prudent Touch, Manip2 pretty much replaced both WN2 and Manip, and can be used in 80 durab items as well as 40 durab items.

Prudent Touch (level 66) (21 CP) (a.k.a. PrudT)

Increases quality.

Efficiency: 100%

Success Rate: 70%

Unavailable when Waste Not or Waste Not II are active.

As mentioned above, this is another must-have in Storm Blood. Together with Manip2, it forms an incredible combo that can be used to tackle both 80 and 40 durab items.

At first, 21 CP for a touch sounds expensive. But once you have taken into account the advantage of halving durability loss per touch and having 100% fidelity, you'll find that it's actually ridiculously CP-efficient. It is rather difficult to explain, but if you look at the following 2 mock runs, you will have a better idea (I didn't use Comfort Zone here, for the sake of making it simpler)...

[IMG]

As you can see, the one that utilizes PrudT and Manip2 is easy, straight forward, secure, flexible and CP-saving. Whereas the other rotation that utilizes Hasty Touch and Master's Mend II is complex, inflexible (had use a CS II to reduce durab, in order to execute MM2), risky (multiple HT failures) and burns more CP than the PrudT rotation.

Focused Synthesis (level 67) (5 CP) (a.k.a. FocS)

Increases progress.

Combo Action: Observe

Combo Bonus: Increase success rate to 100%

Efficiency: 200%

Success Rate: 50%

Considering the fact that it gives 200% efficient at 100% success rate (when performed right after Observe), a total of 12 CP (7 CP on Observe, 5 CP here) is really quite nice for what it can accomplish. The only drawback is that because of its need to pair up with Observe, it takes 2 steps to perform its function, so it's difficult to buff multiple FocS's with a single Ingenuity II.

Focused Touch (level 68) (18 CP) (a.k.a. FocT)

Increases quality.

Combo Action: Observe

Combo Bonus: Increase success rate to 100%

Efficiency: 150%

Success Rate: 50%

To be frank, I have not played much with FocT yet. Pairing it up with Observe means the total CP cost is 25 CP. 150 efficiency does mean that it is as powerful as an Advanced Touch, which would have cost 48 CP otherwise. It also has 100% success rate comparing to Advanced Touch with 90%. On these aspects, it's certainly a desirable skill. The problem is that, much like FocS, due to it requiring two steps to complete, it's difficult to buff it together with other skills. For instance, it's hard to think of a way to fit it and a Byregot's Blessing under a single Innovation. e.g. when we were using Advanced Touch, we could do:

- Steady Hand

- Innovation (only lasts 3 steps)

- Advanced Touch

- Great Strides

- Byregot's Blessing

This combo utilized a single Innovation, and buffed both the Adv T and the GS+Byregot at the same time. But with Observe+FocS, there is no way to fit them in like the above. However, if you're just going to fit Observe+FocS into a rotation as an extra touch (without buffs), Observe+FocS is actually a great choice since it has the same power as Adv T, but cost fewer CP and without the need of Steady Hand. In any case, it seems useful in manual crafting. But in macros, it may not be suitable since it occupies 2 lines instead of 1 line. Every line in macros is just... precious.

Initial Preparation (level 69) (50 CP) (a.k.a. Init Prep)

May reduce CP consumption while status is active. When a specialist, cancelling the status grants the use of a single Specialty action.

Available only on the first step.

The CP consumption reduction is totally random. It can happen with an action that cost a lot of CP, or it can happen with an action that cost barely any CP. It's completely unpredictable. Personally, I found the 50 CP investment to be a waste if I am not using a specialist class that can use "The Triple R's" (see below). Sometimes, I can't even get back the invested 50 CP from the random CP reduction. Thus, I think we should only use Init Prep if we're dealing with a specialist class, and plan to use "The Triple R's".

Revamped Old Basic Crafting Skills:

Observe (level 13) (used to be 14 CP, now only 7 CP)

Do nothing for one step.

Does this skill really does nothing? Of course not. If it really does nothing, the button wouldn't exist in the first place and cost you CP! Back in the old days in A Realm Reborn, Observe was a valid skill for the "baiting" of a "Good" condition at a desired step. For instance, if you're already at your final push of quality before your Byregot's Blessing, let's say you planned to use: Steady Hand (22 CP), Great Strides (32 CP), Innovation (18 CP), Blessing (24 CP)... After you activated Innovation, you had 38 CP left. In that case, you can afford to spend another 14 CP on "Observe" to do nothing, in the hope that a "Good" or "Excellent" will appear on the next step for the Blessing.

Now in Storm Blood, this has become even easier to execute as the CP requirement has been reduced from 14 to 7 CP. But its greatest function now in Storm Blood, is to pair up with "Focused Synthesis" or "Focused Touch" (See details of these skills above).

Byregot's Brow (level 51) (18 CP)

Increases quality. Inner Quiet effect ends upon use.

Efficiency: 150% plus 10% for each bonus to control granted by Inner Quiet

Success Rate: 70% (100% if Specialist)

Previously, Brow is available only when condition is Good or Excellent. Now in Storm Blood, it can be used even when condition is normal, making it a viable alternative for Byregot's Blessing for single-class crafters (especially Specialist, because that increases success rate to 100%). Comparing to Blessing (which efficiency is 100% plus 20% for each IQ stack), Brow is stronger when IQ stack is 5 or lower. Brow and Blessing are same in strength when IQ=6. Blessing is stronger when IQ is 7 or above. Thus, Brow isn't exactly the best replacement for Blessing, since at end-game, we are usually sitting at IQ9 or above before we proceed to our Byregot finisher phase anyway. So Blessing is still a better choice. But at least, with the help of Brow, single-class crafters become viable.

New Specialist Skills (a.k.a. Specialist Actions, Specialty Actions):

"The Triple R's":

- Reflect

- Refurbish

- Reinforce

...are 3 powerful new specialist skills that are mutually exclusive. They all stem out from Init Prep. But you can only choose to use one in your rotation.

Reflect (level 69) (0 CP, but cancels Initial Preparation)

Increases Inner Quiet stack by three (up to 11). Can only be used when Initial Preparations is active.

Reflect is a solid skills that instantly adds 3 IQ stacks. The most commonly used method is:

- Init Prep

- Comfort Zone

- Inner Quiet

- (push progress with whatever method until near completion, to give more steps to Init Prep to save CP)

- Reflect

- (then push quality with touches)

- Finisher Byregot Phase

- Complete the remaining progress.

The advantage of this approach is that it increases IQ stack before you use your first touch, so that all the touches that come afterward will be strengthened by the bonus control from the high IQ stack. Investing 50 CP on Init Prep for an early guaranteed extra 3 IQ stacks? Well yeah, it's valid! However, its disadvantage is that it cancels out Init Prep very early, therefore Init Prep will not help much with CP reduction in the rotation when we try to push quality. Thus, we try to delay this as much as possible by pushing progress first, before Reflect is executed.

Refurbish (level 69) (0 CP, but cancels Initial Preparation)

Restores 65 CP. Can only be used when Initial Preparations is active.

Refurbish basically transforms your 50 CP investment in Init Prep into a 65 CP return in the end. From this calculation along, it is just a net gain of 15 CP. However, due to Init Prep being active throughout your rotation, you may have saved a significant amount of CP. Since the CP reduction from Init Prep is totally random, we just don't know how powerful this Init Prep + Refurbish is until the very end of your rotation.

Reinforce (level 69) (0 CP, but cancels Initial Preparation)

Restores item durability by 25. Can only be used when Initial Preparations is active.

The fact that it adds 25 durab instead of 30 is rather tricky. It means that before you use Reinforce, you need to make sure you're not having any 5 durab overhang. Otherwise, the effect of Reinforce would be equal to adding 20 durab only when the two 5 durab overhangs join together. As long as one is careful with 5 durab overhangs, one can actually gain 3 extra steps of actions using the 50 CP invested in Init Prep. 50 CP for 3 extra steps is extremely CP-efficient, as compared to 92 CP for a Master's Mend or 88 CP for a Manipulation. Together with the CP conserved by the active Init Prep throughout the rotation, Reinforce is considered quite powerful.

Revamped Specialist Skills:

Byregot's Miracle (level 58) (16 CP)

Increases quality. Inner Quiet stack is halved upon use.

Efficiency: 100% plus 15% for each bonus to control granted by Inner Quiet

Success Rate: 70%

Since Storm Blood, this skill has been buffed from 100% plus 10% per IQ stack to 15% per IQ stack. It sounds good, but so far, Byregot's Blessing at IQ11 has been quite sufficient to HQ even 2 star items. So we haven't used this skill much. We have no desires to mess around with a weaker Miracle, and then struggle to get the IQ up again for a final Blessing. Until S.E. releases some crazily difficult recipes, I believe Miracle will just be remain unused on the back-burner.

As of Patch 4.1, special 2 star recipes have been added, and this skill is finally serving its purpose. In contrary to what we originally predicted, after using Miracle, we don't need to rebuild the lost IQ stack. We just need to use a buffed Byregot's Brow on the remaining IQ stack, and the resulting quality gain will still be higher than using Byregot's Blessing alone. Please visit

Ch60: Special 2 Star Recipes in Stormblood and Ch61: Discussions Regarding Special 2 Star Recipes below for more details.

Trained Hand (level 59) (16 CP)

Significantly increases both progress and quality.

Available only when Inner Quiet and Whistle stack sizes are identical.

Efficiency: 150% (for both progress and quality)

Success Rate: 100%

Since Stormblood, the cost of this skill has been reduced from 32 CP to 16 CP, and the success rate has been buffed from 80% to 100%. I always thought Trained Hand was powerful, now it just got even better. For more details about this skill, please visit Ch42 of Caimie's Crafting Guide (Part 3 Heavensward).

New passive ability:

Stroke of Genius (level 70)

May increase maximum CP on the second step of synthesis. Increase guaranteed when a specialist.

This passive ability increases maximum CP and current CP by 15 after you clicked your first action. It will happen 100% if you're on a specialist class. But it only happens sometimes if the class is NOT a specialist. Thus, for a single-class crafter (with specialist), this passive ability somewhat replaced Comfort Zone (ALC 50), with the exception that it can only happen once per rotation, whereas Comfort Zone is something that one can use more than once per rotation. For an omni-crafter's non-specialist class, this is not a reliable source of CP, so one cannot take it into account when designing macros. In manual crafting, if it happens to be activated by chance, then one just have to treat it as a lucky 15 CP bonus.

Ch54: Bridging the gap Between Heavensward and Stormblood

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(Picture adapted from Denton County Homeless Coalition website)

Not everyone has a fully-melded Ironworks crafting set from Heavensward to bridge over to Stormblood. This chapter here is dedicated to help those with sub-par gear sets to transition more smoothly into Stormblood crafting.

In Stormblood, the lowest shared crafting gear set ("left" gear) is the Bloodhempen set (i180) and it requires level 61 to equip.

For tools:

The lowest mainhand (MH) in Stormblood is i190 and it requires level 62 to equip.

The lowest offhand (OH) in Stormblood is i200 and it requires level 63 to equip.

For accessories:

The lowest belt in Stormblood is the Ruby Cotton Apron (i190) and it requires level 62 to equip.

The remaining “right” gear (Larch accessories) are all i200, and it requires level 63 to equip them.

For the level 63 OH, you will actually get a FREE NQ one by completing the level 63 class quest. This is why the NQ ones are so cheap on the market (see pictures below). However, although the HQ one are much more expensive, they do have much better stats. The best way, of course, is to craft out the HQ one yourself (or ask a strong crafter to help) instead of buying one from the marketboard.

There were 4 crafted end-game crafting sets in Heavensward:

(1) i150 white gear set (shared), i160 white tools & i140 white accessories.

(2) i170 crafted blue gear set (class-specific), i170 blue tools & i170 green accessories.

(3) i170 carbonweave gear set (shared) (no new tools & accessories for this set)

(4) i190 ironworks gear set (shared), i195 blue tools & i190 blue accessories.

As for Red Scrip/Token exchanged gear sets, there were 2 sets in Heavensward:

(1) i180 exchanged blue gear set (class-specific), i180 blue tools and i180 green accessories.

(2) i200 exchanged blue gear set (class-specific), i200 blue tools. (These are "upgraded" from the exchanged i180 set.)

Crafted gear sets are obtained by… apparently, crafting (Duh, Captain Obvious!), and the recipes are from Master Recipe Books. So try to be up-to-date with those Master Books as you will always need them.

Exchanged gear sets are obtained by the following procedure on the Splendor Vendor and/or Scrip Exchange NPC at Idyllshire:

(i) Craft out the required collectable and exchange for an appropriate counterfoil at the Splendor Vendor.

(ii) Exchange the counterfoil plus Red/Blue Scrip Tokens for i180 gear.

(iii) Exchange Red Scrips for goblin tokens.

(iv) Exchange i180 gear plus goblin tokens for i200 gear on the goblin Grinmox.

Logically, you want to be as well-equipped as possible and reach level 61 before entering Stormblood crafting (to craft level 61 recipes or above). So try your best to obtain the strongest gear set/tools you can afford while not breaking your bank. Ideally, you want to avoid all "class-specific" gear sets since they are definitely not as economical as the "shared" gear sets. But since tools are always class-specific, it is ok to acquire any tool you like.

In my opinion, I doubt anyone will need anything as strong as Ironworks gear to transition into Stormblood. If you have the mats, and CAN craft an HQ Ironworks set, by all means go do it (or ask someone to help). The Ironworks are strong, and can let you play all the way until level 65. But if you are not in position to get Ironworks, it is fine. Just go for something like the Carbonweave set. As a level 60 crafter, you can probably craft it out yourself. The mats for the Carbonweave set are quite affordable. Otherwise, even just using i150 white gear is ok.

If you want the i180 or i200 scrip-exchanged MH or OH, it is fine too. All you need is some grinds on red scrips, then do your exchange. These tools are quite strong, and can be used until level 65 as well. But they cannot be melded with materia.

Once you have decided on your "best gear set", you want to lightly meld some materia on them to increase your stats. Since Patch 4.1, we can now freely remove materia from gear (see Chapter 64: Materia Removal below for more details). So feel free to meld ANY Tier IV or lower materia, because you can always retrieve them back at 100% rate. You can meld some Tier V too if you wish, but you may not be able to get them back later since you will have only 80% chance of retrieving them. DO NOT waste Tier VI materia here please. And don't do any crazy overmelds. Personally, I highly recommend boosting your CP if you're a skillful crafter. With CP, you can become super flexible with your rotation designs. I do not oppose to the idea of melding craftsmanship or control though, at an affordable manner.

With a lightly-melded i170 or i150 set, you should have no problem grinding to level 61 by crafting level 58 stackable crafted mats. Once you have reached level 61, the quality penalty will be lifted, and you will have an easier time crafting out your HQ Bloodhempen set (i180) yourself, which is probably a lot cheaper than buying from the marketboard. The key to crafting out the HQ Bloodhempen set is to be at level 61 or above. Each level's impact is pretty big. So all you need to do is GRIND your levels until you can overcome the hardship. In other words, if you find yourself still having trouble crafting level 61 recipes at level 61, then GRIND your way to level 62 first before trying the level 61 recipes again. Once you have crafted out your Bloodhempen set, you can transfer your materia over from your old gear to the new gear set. You will gradually reach level 62 and then 63, and should have no problem crafting out your own HQ MH tools, HQ OH tools and HQ accessories as well. At that point, congratulations! You will have successfully transitioned into a well-geared crafter in Stormblood. (Keep in mind to retrieve any melded materia before converting any old gear into new materia! Read chapter 64below!)

With the HQ Bloodhempen set (i180 level 61), you should have no problem making the HQ Ruby Cotton Set (i200, level 63). With HQ Ruby Cotton Set, you can pretty much grind to level 70. Perhaps you can change a tool or a chest along the way (I prefer to upgrade my tools once along the way to level 70), but there's no need to get every single pieces of upgrades before you reach level 70.

NOTE (13th Nov 2017):

NoahG (Camille Gainsborough from Hyperion) has a suggestion for people who would like to spend nearly no gil. NoahG can confirm that you can even be wearing the Adept's Gown (only i130) bought from Moogle vendor using Carved Kupo Nuts, and still be able to farm Red Scrips for CUL. Then with a well-geared CUL using the exchanged i200, you can cheaply macro a ton of Baklava collectibles and continue farming Red Scrips until you can gear up your WVR and LTW to make a full set of HQ Bloodhempen gear.

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- The i190 Ironworks set is very expensive to buy. It's good if you can obtain one since it can last until level 65, but it is not necessary.

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- The i170 Carbonweave set is very sufficient for crafting things at the beginning of Stormblood (from level 60 to level 63/64).

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- If you cannot afford the Carbonweave set, the i150 white gear is still ok. Just don't waste too many materia overmelding it since you can replace it with the Bloodhempen set at level 61. Remember to retrieve your materia from the old gear set when switching to a newer gear set.

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- The i140 Hallowed Chestnut (white) accessories are OK. Even if you're using them, you can still do fine. Since you will be switching to another set of accessories in Stormblood, you do not need to penta-meld them like I did back in HW.

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- The i170 Astral Birch and Aurum Regis accessories are very strong, and can be utilized until level 63/64.

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- The i190 Ironworks accessories... To be frank, you really don't need to spend so much gil on accessories as they can be replaced by the i200 Larch accessories at level 63.

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- The Bloodhempen set (with Gaganaskin Halfgloves and Shoes) is the lowest crafting gear set in Stormblood, which can be equipped at level 61.

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- The Ruby Cotton Apron (i190, level 62) and Larch accessories (i200, level 63) are the lowest crafting accessories in Stormblood.

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- The lowest MH tools in Stormblood require level 62 to equip. The pictures above demonstrates how big the differences are between the stats of an HQ tool vs the stats of an NQ tool.

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- The lowest OH tools in Stormblood require level 63 to equip. The pictures above demonstrates how big the differences are between the stats of an HQ tool vs the stats of an NQ tool. But at the same time, the NQ tool only costs 825 gil!!! This is because the NQ tool can be obtained for FREE from level 63 class quests.

Ch55: Leveling Methods (from lvl 60 to 70)

The leveling approaches in Storm Blood are, in general, very similar to ARR and HW:

(a) Grand Company Supply/Provision Missions are as good as they have always been. This is something that you should be doing each day assuming the items requested by the GC isn't too expensive. Sometimes the item you need may actually be cheaper to be purchased directly from the marketboard (MB) than to make it yourself. So make sure you check the availability of each of these item on the MB before you start crafting them. Personally, I play on a PC. So without even visiting the GC, I would press the keys "Ctrl U" on my keyboard to open up the listed of wanted items by the GC supply missions. Then just copy item name, and paste it onto the opened window of the MB. Then check price, and buy if it's cheap. If it's expensive, then I start considering crafting it myself. As we all know since ARR, "STARRED" items give 2X EXP. Handing in HQ items also give 2X EXP. Handing in an HQ item to a "STARRED" item on the list gives a superb 4X EXP. And it is because of these crazy 4x EXP turn-ins that GC supply missions are sometimes much better than leves or collectables.

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- Open the marketboard (MB) window together with the GC provision missions item list. Then just copy and paste the names to the MB to check how cheap or how expensive each item is. Then decide on buying or crafting it.

(b) Tradecraft Leves are still as fast and expensive as they have always been. Stormblood's Tradecraft Leves are located in Kugane. Once you have unlocked this place via the main story quest, you can then access these leves. However, I strongly advice against using leves too early. They're just a luxury. 9/10 people I know, they would complain that leves drained their gil. And they would complain how poor they are when leveling DoH classes. This should not happen! Don't throw your cash too quickly into leves when you're still as low as level 61 to 65. You CAN use them, but I would recommend not to go overboard and break your bank. Personally, I used some leves around level 67 to 69 to help push EXP. Keep in mind you don't always have to use the highest leves available. You can always click on a lower level leves, and utilize them if you find them to be more cost-efficient.

(d) Custom Deliveries are relatively new crafting contents. Custom delivery for "Zhloe Aliapoh" was introduced near the end of Heavensward. Custom delivery for "M'naago" was introduced in Stormblood (Please see Chapter 65: Custom Deliveries for more details). Both are very good for earning EXP between level 60 and 70. What's most amazing about them is that you can earn a ton of Red Scrips and Yellow Scrips along the way, which are very useful in buying gear, materia and crafting mats.

(e) Leveling by actual crafting is as effective as it has always been. To make the most out of it, one should employ the following methods when leveling by actual crafting:

----- (e1) Log off in FC houses in order to gain "resting EXP bonus" (the blue bar on your EXP bar). Crafting inside FC houses or inside your private chamber inside an FC house will also continuously increase your resting EXP bonus even though you're crafting but not resting in there.

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- As long as you're inside the FC house or FC house private chamber, your resting EXP bonus (blue bar pointed by the red arrow above) will continue to grow, regardless whether you're online or offline.

----- (e2) Use food to gain an extra 3% bonus EXP, as well as to gain more CP for better rotations (See Chapter 58 below for more details).

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- Any food can provide 3% bonus EXP.

----- (e3) Ask your FC to activate FC buffs for you. "Helping Hand II" can increase your EXP gain by 10%. Also, some FCs may have crafting facilities. These facilities can increase CP by 10 for free if you're level 60 or below, and as long as you stay inside the FC house.

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- Helping Hand increases EXP gain by 10%.

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- Crafting facilities can increase CP by 10 if you're level 60 or below.

----- (e4) Pop a Commercial Engineering Manual (150% EXP boost, up to a max of 300,000 EXP, lasts 1 hour). These things are bought with scrips at any Scrip Exchange NPC. Alternatively, Squadron Engineering Manuals (20% EXP boost, NO MAX LIMIT, lasts 2 hours) are pretty good too. The Company-issue Engineering Manual from Grand Companies used to be pretty good too back in ARR. But in SB, they provide way too few EXP before they expire. So they're not useful at all in Storm Blood.

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- Commercial Engineering Manuals are pretty good. Each cost only 30 Red Scrips now. Great value.

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- Squadron Engineering Manuals are pretty good too. They only provide +20% EXP, but they have NO MAXIMUM LIMIT, and each lasts 2 hours instead of 1 hour.

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- With only a maximum of 50K EXP points, Company-issue Engineering Manual are too weak for leveling in Storm Blood.

Ch56: Leveling Strategies (from lvl 60 to 70)

I believe the best strategy would be to utilize multiple methods for leveling. When I was between level 60 and 64, I used a combination of (a) GC Supply Missions, (e) Leveling by actual crafting, and occasionally used (b) Tradecraft Leves. When I reached higher levels, I started using more leves to accelerate the process.

When I was leveling at the beginning of Stormblood, M'naago's custom delivery was not even introduced into the game yet. But these days, I have heard of numerous feedbacks about (d) Custom Deliveries giving a very generous amount of EXP. So I think adding that into your leveling strategy would be very beneficial.

Below, I will explain my strategy of how to execute (e) Leveling by actual crafting... Basically, you want to be able to macro your way through the crafting of stackable HQ crafted mats, so that you can just keep pushing 1 or 2 buttons to get the job done (while watching TV or movies). Keep in mind to try your best to utilize (e1) to (e4) whenever you are leveling by actual crafting. They really add A LOT more EXP!

From level 60 to 61:

At lvl 60, it is extremely difficult to craft lvl 61 recipes. So I'd rather go back and grind the old Heavensward recipes until lvl 61. For e.g., Adamantite Nugget (lvl 58 recipe) and equivalent recipes are the highest level of stackable crafted mats. Since they're stackable, they're very convenient for macro-crafting.

When I was at end-game Heavensward, I was in materia-melded i190 Ironworks gear set (but not all Ironworks accessories... I had a few pieces of i170 melded accessories), and I was using i195 tools (melded with only CP). My CP pool was 473 after consuming HQ Baked Onion Soup.

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Thus, I streamlined all my macros to fully utilize that amount of CP. Below was the macro for me to craft Adamantite Nugget and equivalents when I was level 60:

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Standard Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Advanced Touch" <wait.4>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Advanced Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Master's Mend" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Advanced Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II"

So after executing (e1) to (e4) above, I just keep pressing the macro button to make HQ adamantite nuggets. Keep in mind that EXP comes from how much quality you push on the quality bar per synthesis. Hence, unless you really have trouble HQ-ing a product, do your best to AVOID USING HQ raw mats, as it will reduce the amount of EXP gain per crafted product. If you have access to only HQ raw mats, right click ("Square" button on PS4) on it, and select "Lower quality" to turn the raw mats into NQ.

Since the rotation above was constructed to fit my own stats, you will have to determine if you can use it with your own stats. I recommend the crafting simulator to test this:

FFXIV Crafting Optimizer

http://ffxiv-beta.lokyst.net/#/simulator

Steps to use it:

- Click "Crafter Attributes" at the top horizontal menu, and enter your own stats there.

- Click on "Simulator" at the top menu again. Select the class and recipe.

- Click "EDIT" on the right side of the screen.

- You can now freely test the outcome of different crafting skills.

Now keep in mind that, despite the crafting simulator being an extremely convenient tool, it is NOT 100% accurate. So if it tells you that you need 1035 craftsmanship for something, don't go for exactly 1035 craftsmanship. Always shoot for a slightly higher number to prevent yourself from botching a synthesis.

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- Adamantite Nugget and equivalent recipes (lvl 58 recipes) are great for macro-crafting between lvl 60 to lvl 61. Avoid using HQ raw mats because they will reduce the amount of EXP gain per synthesis. (NOTE: Be careful that Scale Glue for ALC is actually a lvl 59 recipe. You may need to fix your macro.)

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- FFXIV Crafting Optimizer is an extremely convenient tool to test rotations.

From level 61 to 62:

At lvl 61, you can now start making the stackable 40 durab items in Storm Blood (like High Steel Nugget, Koppranickel Nugget, Bloodhempen Yarn etc... with 558 difficulty). You can use exactly the same rotation above for these recipes.

From level 62 to 64:

At lvl 62, you can now make the stackable High Steel Ingot and equivalents (842 difficulty). To handle these items, I used the following 2-part macro:

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Waste Not" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch II" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/ac "Master's Mend" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch II" <wait.3>

/echo 2-Butt 842 Diff 1 ends! 472 CP <se.2>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.4>

/ac "Master's Mend" <wait.3>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Precise Touch"

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II"

/echo 2-Butt 842 Diff 2 ends! 472 CP <se.2>

Again, I'd like to remind you that I constructed these rotations/macros for my own. So I strongly suggest using the FFXIV Crafting Optimizer to determine whether you can utilize them with your own stats. For instance, check to make sure you can complete the item with your current craftsmanship level.

From level 64 to 66:

At level 64, you can now make Oroshigane Ingot, Durium Nugget and equivalents (1058 difficulty). To handle these items, I used the following macro:

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Manipulation" <wait.2>

/ac "Patient Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Manipulation" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/echo 2-Butt 1058 Diff part 1 ends! <se.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Hasty Touch II" <wait.3>

/ac "Manipulation" <wait.3>

/ac "Hasty Touch II" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.3>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.2>

/echo 2-Butt 1058 Diff part 2 ends! <se.2>

Catch up on your class quest at level 65 or 66

At level 65 or 66, you must work on your class quest and make sure you obtain Manipulation II to pair up with Prudent Touch that you will obtain at level 66. As mentioned in the previous chapter, these two skills form an incredible combo that can be used to tackle almost anything down the road. So it is essential to obtain them ASAP, and incorporate them into your rotations.

From level 66 to 68:

At level 66, you can now make Tama-hagane Ingot, Durium Ingot and equivalents (1205 difficulty). To handle these items, I used the following macro:

/ac "Muscle Memory" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Manipulation II" <wait.3>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.3>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/echo 2-Butt 1205 Diff 1 ends! (469CP) <se.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis III" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis III" <wait.2>

/echo 2-Butt 1205 Diff 2 ends! (469CP) <se.2>

From level 68 to 70:

At level 68, you can now make Molybdenum Ingot, Palladium Nugget and equivalents (1353 difficulty). To handle these items, I used the following macro. The first part of the 2-part macro is actually the SAME one as above for level 66 to 68, but the second part was changed to increase progress gain in order to complete the item:

/ac "Muscle Memory" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Manipulation II" <wait.3>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.3>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/echo 2-Butt 1205 Diff 1 ends! (469CP) <se.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.4>

/ac "Observe" <wait.4>

/ac "Focused Synthesis" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.2>

/echo 2-Butt 1353 Diff 2 ends! (467CP) <se.2>

Ch57: Level 70 Stormblood Endgame Rotations

At level 70:

After acquiring level 70, and after crafting out your own set of i290 white gear, you can then refine your macros for 40 durab items (1353 difficulty) and 80 durab items (2952 difficulty).

The following macros require very minimal stats from level 70 crafters. When I developed these macros, I had 1265 craftsmanship and 1126 control. You can likely have less stats than this, and still use these macros. Check on the crafting simulator above if you have doubts. The beauty of these macros is that they have extremely low CP requirements. So you can massively craft things without food or using just Stone Soup.

No-food Macro for 40 Durab 1353 Difficulty Items:

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Manipulation II" <wait.4>

/ac "Precise Touch"

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/echo 1353 Diff part 1 (425cp No Food) <se.2>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.4>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.2>

/echo 1353 Diff part 2 (425cp No Food) <se.2>

The following macros are particularly good for Red Scrip and Yellow Scrip grinding:

Stone Soup Macro for 80 durab 2952 Difficulty Items:

(Stone Soup costs only 37 gil from the Gold Saucer)

/ac "Muscle Memory" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.2>

/ac "Manipulation II" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Patient Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/echo 2952 Diff part 1 (448CP) <se.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Precise Touch"

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.3>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis III" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/echo 2952 Diff part 2 (448CP) <se.2>

No-food Macro for 80 durab 2952 Difficulty Items:

(This one require slightly higher control stats than the Stone Soup macro above, but it requires less CP)

/ac "Muscle Memory" <wait.3>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/echo 2952 Diff part 1 (425CP) <se.4>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.2>

/ac "Observe" <wait.3>

/ac "Focused Synthesis" <wait.3>

/ac "Observe" <wait.3>

/ac "Focused Synthesis" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis III"

/echo 2952 Diff part 2 (425CP) <se.7>

Ch58: Food and Medicine for Crafting in Stormblood

Crafting Food

So far, the best food of choice appears to be Tempura Platter. The NQ version can be purchased from a vendor located at Kugane (12.2, 12.7) for 2,186 gil. The HQ version has to be crafted, and is widely considered the strongest CP food in Storm Blood. It is often used for 2 star crafting.

HQ Baked Onion Soup from Heavensward is still a pretty powerful food for crafting in Storm Blood. The mats are really cheap, and as a level 70 CUL, it's extremely easy to mass produce them. So I actually used these when I was leveling my classes from 60 to 70.

Each food has a duration of 30 min. But in Stormblood, up to 2 of the same food can be used at the same time to increase the duration to 1 hour.

Tempura Platter NQ [HQ]

CP +12% (max 43) [HQ: +15% (max 54)]

Crafts +4% (max 42) [HQ: +5% (max 53)]

Vendor location: Kugane (12.2, 12.7)

Cost: 2,186 gil (for NQ only)

Baked Onion Soup HQ

CP +13% (max 48)

Crafts +4% (max 28)

Crafting Medicine

Apart from food, medicine has now been introduced to the crafting world in Stormblood. Each medicine has a duration of 15 min, and can be used in conjunction with food. So you can have both the food buff and the medicine buff together simultaneously.

Personally, I haven't used any Competent Craftsman's Tea or Commanding Craftsman's Tea, because I haven't found a need for them yet. But I have tried NQ Cunning Craftsman's Tea and HQ Cunning Craftsman's Tea. I found them to be quite useful, especially for Stormblood 2 star and special 2 star crafting.

Each medicine has a duration of 15 min. The effect of medicine cannot be stacked. That is, you cannot use two of the same medicine at the same to increase duration. The 2nd medicine will simply overrides the first, and the duration will refresh at 15 min.

Cunning Craftsman's Tea

CP +4% (max 10) [HQ: +5% (max 13)]

Duration: 15 min

Competent Craftsman's Tea

Craftsmanship +2% (max 20) [HQ: +3% (max 25)]

Duration: 15 min

Commanding Craftsman's Tea

Control +2% (max 20) [HQ: +3% (max 25)]

Duration: 15 min

Ch59: Master Recipe Books V, 1 Star and 2 Star Recipes in Stormblood

Master Recipe Books V were released at the beginning of Stormblood. As of Patch 4.15, they contain 1 Star, 2 Star and Special 2 Star recipes, and will likely to have even more starred recipes added in future patches (NOTE: Some Stormblood 1 Star recipes are located in just the list of regular recipes, and some are located in Master Recipe Books IV as well). The books are purchased using 900 Red Scrips each from the Scrip Exchange NPC located in Rhalgr's Reach.

[IMG]

- Master Recipe Books V are located under the 2nd option (Red Crafters' Scrip Exchange (Lv. 61)). Click the "Others" tab to show the books (see below).

[IMG]

- Each Master Recipe Book V cost 900 Red Scrips.

1 Star Recipes:

3149 Difficulty, 14071 Quality, 70 Durab.

Minimal requirement by the game: 1100 craftsmanship, 1080 control.

Since 2 star crafting requires 1320 craftsmanship and 1220 control (see below). All crafters are expected to overmeld their i290 gear to reach at least the 1320/1220 stats.

There are many 1 star rotations out there. Below is the one that I generated to fit my own stats. This rotation can be used by anyone with at least 1320 craftsmanship, 1220 control and 490 CP. It will reach 100% HQ for any 1 star item using pure NQ mats.

Caimie's 1 Star Macro:

/ac "Muscle Memory" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.2>

/ac "Manipulation II" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/echo 1 Star Macro #1 complete <se.3>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Piece by Piece" <wait.3>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Ingenuity II" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis III" <wait.2>

/echo 1 Star Macro #2 complete <se.5>

2 Star Recipes:

3543 Difficulty, 15837 Quality, 70 Durab.

Minimal requirement by the game: 1320 craftsmanship, 1220 control.

It is recommended to achieve slightly higher craftsmanship than the minimum. I would suggest at least 1330 or higher in craftsmanship after consuming food. This is because some of the rotations below requires 1330 craftsmanship. 2 star crafting has long been considered "MACRO-SOLVED". It is not anything new or difficult. We can effectively macro 2 star recipes from zero to near-max quality if we include the use of 1 Patient Touch in the rotation. Else, using a little bit of HQ mat will allow you to utilize a rotation with all touches at 100% fidelity. Below is a list of different 2 star rotation macros. All of them work fine. It really depends on your stats, and which you like most.

Katlyna:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/337993-Stormblood-1*-and-2*-Crafting-Macros

Evian:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/338261-Evian-s-2-star-macro-(94-HQ-from-all-NQ-materials.-Potential-for-100-HQ.)

Taylor1480:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/338125-Level-70**-HQ-macro(all-NQ-mats-no-RNG-skills)-Specialist

Caimie:

http://ffxivrealm.com/threads/storm-blood-2-star-rotations.16483/ (pasted below)

Not trying to beat anyone here. Storm Blood 2 Star has long been macro-solved already. Just sharing my rotations here for everyone to analyze together (and I'm not claiming these to be my own rotations, I started off with other people's and then eventually modified to reach these). I have listed 3 variants of the same 2 star rotation below (shown in Pic 1).

[IMG]

Version 1:

[IMG]

Version 2:

[IMG]

Version 3:

[IMG]

Version 3 (when 1 Precise Touch was executed to replace a Basic Touch or Standard Touch):

[IMG]

Version 1 made use of one Patient Touch to reach IQ11, and that's enough to bring the quality from zero to nearly max. But if Patient fails, it'll end up with IQ9. It also contains a potential Precise Touch on the Basic Touch step using the following:

/ac "Precise Touch"

/ac "Basic Touch" <wait.3>

which will execute Precise Touch instead of Basic Touch when a "Good" appears (shown in Pic 2).

Version 2 replaced the Patient Touch with a Basic/Precise Touch. So this version gives a solid IQ10, but as we can see, IQ10 can only reach approx 82% HQ rate (shown in Pic 3). If a "Good" happens on any of the Basic Touch though, it'll automatically be replaced with Precise Touch, and will reach IQ11.

Version 3 moved one of the Basic Touch to a later step, and replaced it with Standard Touch. The reason why the Basic/Precise Touches were placed in early steps in Version 2 is because if any of the Precise Touch was executed, the IQ stack will rise faster, and more quality would be gained from the Prudent Touches. But here, we moved Standard Touch to near end, so that it can be benefited by the high IQ stack. In the end, this adds an extra 2% HQ rate, bringing the total to ~84% (shown in Pic 4). If any of the Basic Touch or Standard Touch is replaced by Precise T, it'll immediately reach 100% HQ rate (shown in Pic 5).

In conclusion, if you want every step to be 100%, you will need a tad bit of HQ mats (to get about 2K quality). If you want to go from zero to near-max quality, you will need at least one Patient Touch (80% success rate for 1 step) to reach IQ11.

Ch60: Special 2 Star Recipes in Stormblood

Special 2 Star Recipes (e.g. Snailfish Oil, Ala Mhigan Fiber):

6377 Difficulty, 28506 Quality, 70 Durab.

Minimal requirement by the game: 1320 craftsmanship, 1220 control.

*Specialist Recipes - Crafter's Soul Crystal is required to craft these recipes.

These special 2 star recipes are significantly harder than the regular 2 star recipes in the previous chapter. As of Patch 4.1, we can acquire i320 left gear. Even after overmelding them to near-max, we still cannot effectively macro these recipes without the use of HQ mats.

To craft these special 2 star recipes, one can either use:

(1) MaMa rotation

(2) Initial Prep rotation

MaMa rotation will be a lot stronger, but it is horrendously long.

Initial Prep rotation is a lot shorter, but it lacks power.

MaMa rotation relies on a bit of RNG. But as long as we're not too unlucky, we can increase the quality bar from ZERO to near-max. So no HQ mat is needed. There are many MaMa rotations out there, I am listing my own below with explanations.

Caimie's MaMa Rotation for Special 2 Star Recipes

After consuming food,

Craftsmanship: can be as low as 1330, but preferably 1441 or higher.

Control: can be as low as 1220, but preferably 1318 or higher.

CP: can be as low as 475, but preferably 510 or higher.

Phase 1 (MaMa Phase - consists of Initial Phase, PBP Phase and FS-spam Phase)

Initial Phase (take any Trick of Trades available):

- Start off with Maker's Mark (MaMa).

- Activate Comfort Zone (CZ).

- Activate Inner Quiet (IQ).

PBP Phase (Do not take Trick of Trades on the 1st "Good"):

- This phase consists of Steady Hand II (SH II), Piece by Piece (PBP) x3 and a Patient Touch (PaT). The point is to push progress, get a jump on the IQ stack, and most importantly, reduce durab from 70 to 30, so that Manip2 can be used next without overshooting max durab.

- If a "Good" pops any time during this phase when you're going to use PBP, use the Patient Touch on it to gain 1.5x quality.

- If a 2nd "Good" pops, take the Trick of Trade (ToT).

- If your Patient Touch fails, you have 1 more chance to do it again while SH II is active.

- If you're just so unlucky that 2x Patient Touches fail, abandon it for now, and proceed with the next step.

- If your 1st Patient Touch succeeds, you will have 1 step of SH II left. At this point, don't waste it. Do a Flawless Syn to use it up.

- Now durab is 30 or 20.

- Activate Manip2 (the point of this is to burn away a big chunk of CP as early as possible while not overshooting max durability, which maximizes the amount of ToTs to be taken during FS-spam phase). Now PBP Phase is complete.

FS-spam Phase (Take all Trick of Trades freely until CP is maxed):

- Keep spamming Flawless Syn (FS) (at 90% success rate) while refreshing CZ whenever it falls off. And take ALL available ToTs until CP is maxed.

- If an Excellent pops early in this phase, I recommend ignoring it, and take the ToT, since it's more important to make sure you have sufficient CP.

- If an Excellent pops very late in this phase, and you already have plenty of CP (taken at least 4 to 5 ToTs), you have the choice of gambling with a naked Precise Touch (70% success rate). If succeeded, you will increase your IQ from 3 to 5, and will increase quality by a lot at the cost of 18 CP and 10 durab. If failed, instead of gaining CP, you will lose 18 CP together with 10 durab.

- Keep spamming FS until MaMa falls off, or until just before completion of the item.

Phase 2 (Quality Phase - consists of 3 rounds of touches)

Round 1 of Touches:

- SH II, and then spam Prudent (you can also mix in some Hasty Touches to save CP, but it will decrease durab faster). During this phase, refresh CZ if it falls off.

- You want durab to fall to 50 or less, so that you can use Manip2 before the 2nd round of touches.

- If you have very much maxed out CP in Phase 1, you can choose to use Precise Touch if a Good happens. Definitely use Precise Touch if an Excellent happens.

- If you are far from maxing out CP in Phase 1, you can choose take ToT here instead.

- Before entering Round 2 of Touches, activate Manip2 to recover durab.

Round 2 of Touches:

- Pop SH II

- Activate Ingenuity (Ingen1, 24 CP)

- Spam Prudent Touches and/or Hasty Touches until SH II falls off.

- Can take ToT or use Precise Touch if a Good shows up. Definitely Precise Touch if an Excellent shows up.

- Refresh CZ one more time before entering Round 3 of Touches.

Round 3 of Touches:

- Pop SH II

- Activate Ingenuity (Ingen1, 24 CP)

- Spam Prudent Touches and/or Hasty Touches until durab is 25, and make sure to save at least 167 CP for your Finisher Phase (and 7 more CP if you need to use CS III to complete the item instead of CS II).

- If you run out of CP and yet SH II fell off, you can still keep using naked Hasty Touches until durab = 25.

- Try to aim at finishing this round at 25 durab instead of 30 durab. Letting it fall to 25 basically means letting yourself having 1 extra touch.

- You MAY refresh CZ one more time in this phase depending on the situation. If you know for sure you will have enough steps to retrieve all the invested CP, you can do one more CZ. Otherwise, leaving it out is not going to hurt. Ironic enough, the more CP you have obtained in the earlier phases, the more "room" you will have to execute one more CZ (even though if you have taken enough ToTs already, then you actually don't need CP as badly).

Phase 3 (Finisher Phase - using the "Miracle+Brow" approach)

- Activate SH II

- Activate Great Strides (GS)

- Activate Ingen2

- Activate Innovation (if a Good appears before you use Innovation, you can skip Innovation here and press Miracle first, then press Innovation after the Miracle).

- Use Byregot's Miracle (Specialist Action) (Your IQ will then drop from 11 to 6)

- Activate GS

- Use Byregot's Brow

(The reason we use the "Miracle+Brow" approach is because it is stronger than the "Blessing" approach. Please see explanations in the next chapter below.)

- Finish up with either a CS II or CS III. This synthesis will still be under the influence of Ingen2. If you need a CS III to complete the item, make sure you saved another 7 CP for it.

- A mock run of the Caimie's MaMa Rotation for Special 2 Star Recipes using the simulator (1 more CZ could be placed right before the 3rd touching phase, but it completely depends on how many CP you have obtained before that point):

[IMG]

- Same mock run as above, but with 1318 control, showing that it can finish the item at ~100% HQ rate:

[IMG]

Below are a few screenshots to show you that one can go from zero to max on the quality bar once you have over 1318 control:

[IMG]

Initial Prep Rotation for Special 2 Star Recipes

MaMa Rotation is strong, and allows the pushing of quality from zero to max. However, it's wayyy too long. If you want a shorter rotation, you have to use the Initial Prep Rotation approach. There are many Initial Prep rotations out there. I am listing two below. Both utilizes only actions with 100% fidelity. So there's zero RNG involved. However, both rotations cannot increase quality from zero to max. It is necessary to use some HQ mats. If you have approximately 1500 control, you can use just 2 HQ mats, and it will bring your final HQ rate to ~91%.

The first one is by Tony Greco (Actually he learned it from someone else, and modified it... I don't really know who's the original person who built this. I also modified it slightly here). Tony claimed that this rotation works with as low as 1500 craftsmanship. Required CP is approximately 528. Keep in mind that Initial Prep may or may not reduce the CP consumption of certain skills before it is dissipated on the step of Reflect. Thus, the total CP required could very well be lower than 528.

[IMG]

The second rotation is by Tayler1480, and slightly modified by me. The original rotation utilized another "Observe+FocSyn" at the end instead of the CS II shown below. So the craftsmanship requirement was lower, but it required more CP. Here, I utilized 1584 craftsmanship (approx amount... simulators are never accurate with progress... do not trust the minimal value!), and managed to complete the item with a CS II as the finishing step. This saves a significant 12 CP, reducing the CP requirement from 543 to 531 CP (after materia overmelding, you can reach this amount of CP using both food+medicine), and also reducing the number of steps to a perfect 30. So we can put everything into two macros.

[IMG]

Comparing the two rotations, the modified Tayler rotation gives a tad bit more quality. But it requires a bit more craftsmanship and 3 more CP as well. Tayler's rotation is also 2 steps longer than Tony's.

Below is the 2-part macro I wrote for the modified Tayler rotation above:

Macro Name: SB 2.5* P1 (531CP)

/ac "Initial Preparations" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.2>

/ac "Specialty: Reflect" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Piece by Piece" <wait.3>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Manipulation II" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Ingenuity" <wait.2>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

Macro Name: SB 2.5* P2 (531CP)

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/ac "Ingenuity" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>

/ac "Observe" <wait.3>

/ac "Focused Synthesis" <wait.3>

/ac "Observe" <wait.3>

/ac "Focused Synthesis" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II"

Here is a 3-part macro to break the above 2-part macro into 3 parts. This can prevent the Blessing to fall onto a "Poor". Here you are allowed to stop and check the condition on the Ingen2 step. If it's Excellent there, manually press Blessing, and then do Ingen2 and the rest of the synthesis.

/ac "Initial Preparations" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Inner Quiet" <wait.2>

/ac "Specialty: Reflect" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Piece by Piece" <wait.3>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Manipulation II" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/ac "Comfort Zone" <wait.2>

/ac "Ingenuity" <wait.2>

/echo Special 2 Star #1 (531CP) ends <se.3>

/ac "Steady Hand II" <wait.2>

/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>

/ac "Steady Hand" <wait.2>

/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>

/ac "Innovation" <wait.2>

/echo Special 2 Star #2 (531CP) ends <se.4>

/ac "Ingenuity" <wait.2>

/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>

/ac "Observe" <wait.3>

/ac "Focused Synthesis" <wait.3>

/ac "Observe" <wait.3>

/ac "Focused Synthesis" <wait.3>

/ac "Careful Synthesis II" <wait.3>

/echo Special 2 Star #3 (531CP) ends <se.7>

Ch61: Discussions Regarding Special 2 Star Recipes

Ingenuity II is Now Essential

At 1441 craftsmanship and 1261 control (using HQ tempura), I have obtained the following data from Special 2 star recipes:

CS III = 346

CS III w ingen2 = 447

CS II = 277

CS II w ingen2 = 358

At IQ11, GS, (No Ingen2), Innov, Blessing = 6087

At IQ11, GS, Ingen2, (No Innov), Blessing = 9516

At IQ11, GS, Ingen2, Innov, Blessing = 11565

As we can see, Ingen2 is NECESSARY, and it's stronger than Innov. This is very different from ARR or HW crafting which "Good" > Innov+Ingen2. Here, Ingen2>Good. GS+Innov+Blessing on Good will get only 6087 x 1.5 = 9130 quality. Thus, GS+Blessing on Good is completely out of the question. GS+Ingen2 is ESSENTIAL. Only after that, if you get a Good, you can skip Innov for the Blessing.

Because of this, the sequence of actions in the final Blessing phase must also be altered comparing to ARR and HW crafting. The ideal sequence used to be:

SH, GS, Innov, Ingen2, Blessing

...with Innov and/or Ingen2 being dispensable if a Good appears after GS.

Now it is changed to:

SH, GS, Ingen2, Innov, Blessing

...with GS and Ingen2 being just as important as each other, and only Innov is dispensable if a Good appears after Ingen2.

"Miracle+Brow" > "Blessing"

At 1251 control and at IQ11, I did the following test on Finisher Phases:

Finisher Phase Variant A:

SH II, GS, Ingen2, Innov, Miracle (IQ down to 6), GS, Brow.

Finisher Phase Variant B:

SH, GS, Ingen2, Innov, Blessing.

In Variant A, the Miracle gave 9540. The Brow gave 5021. Total = 14561.

In Variant B, the Blessing gave 11448.

The quality difference between the two variants = 3113.

Variant A needed a total of 167 CP.

Variant B needed a total of 128 CP.

The CP difference between the two variants = 39 CP.

At IQ11, my Prudent Touch or Hasty Touch under Ingen1 gives 1487. Thus, you can imagine if I am using Variant B (with Blessing), I must do two at least 2 more Touches under Ingen1 at IQ11 to be just on par with Variant A. And I have an extra 39 CP to do that. Prudent Touch cost 21 CP. Thus, even two of them will cost 42 CP. Chances is that 39 CP is not going to be enough for 2x Prudent (especially we need these touches to be under SH II and Ingen1). It is more likely that we'll just end up with 2 extra Hasty Touches instead. Because Hasty Touches are not 100% secure, it seems difficult for us to do enough with that extra 39 CP to obtain 3113 more quality in Variant B.

Therefore, I believe Variant A is stronger, in general.

In conclusion, we should save up 167 CP to do the "Miracle+Brow" ending instead of saving 128 CP for the "Blessing" ending.

However, if one runs into a situation where there're plenty of durab left, but just not enough CP, one could forfeit the Miracle+Brow approach to immediately gain access to 39 more CP. By activating SH II at least, one can at least push 5 more steps of Hasties to burn off those extra durab (hopefully add up to ~3K quality). And then proceed to the 128CP-Blessing finish.

Can't Improve Initial Prep Rotations with "Miracle+Brow"

Since both Initial Prep rotations utilized the "Blessing" approach, some friends and I tried very hard to improve the Initial Prep rotations with the "Miracle+Brow" approach. However, to our dismay, we were unable to invent anything better than the above. This is because, although the "Miracle+Brow" approach has been proven stronger in a MaMa rotation, there were just too many restraints when we are dealing with an Initial Prep rotation, including limited durab, limited CP, limited number of macro lines and limited ways of fitting skills together in a more effective way. Since the rotations here utilizes only 100% secure touches, my friends and I wondered if we could subtitute the Prudent Touches with Patient Touches to increase quality despite introducing RNG. However, we found that when we substitute the Prudent Touches with Patient Touches, we start losing durab too fast, and at the end, we simply don't have enough durab to do as many as 7 touches as these rotations. Hence, despite introducing RNG and reaching the same IQ stacks, there was a reduction of quality due to having fewer actual touches made. Our conclusion is that the above two Initial Prep rotations are probably as good as they can get.

Ch62: Strategies of Acquiring i320 Left Gear and i325 Mainhand Tools

As of Patch 4.1, the game has introduced the i320 left gear (shared white gear) and i325 mainhand tools (MH) for crafters and gatherers. No belt, no accessories and no offhand tools were released in Patch 4.1. The new gear and tools are all Special 2 Star Recipes (Specialist Recipes). As usual, WVR makes the head, chest and pants. LTW makes the gloves and boots. BSM makes the MHs of BSM, ARM, CRP, GSM, LTW, MIN and BTN. ARM makes the MHs of ALC and CUL. GSM makes the MH of WVR.

Comparing with the i300 yellow scrip gear/tools released in Patch 4.05, these crafted gear are much more worth your time to obtain. The i300 yellow scrip MH costs 1300 yellow scrips each. Whereas the i325 crafted MH costs only 750 yellow scrips each (needed 3 "alchemics", see below). Plus, the i325 can be melded with more CP, so they're much more desirable than the i300 tools.

3x Snailfish Oils are required to make each i325 MH. And 2 to 3x Ala Mhigan Fibers are required to make each i320 left gear. To craft Snailfish Oils and Ala Mhigan Fibers, one needs a raw mat called "Gyr Abanian Alchemic", which costs 250 Yellow Scrips each at the Scrip Exchange NPC at Rhalgr's Reach. 1 alchemic makes only 1 oil or 1 fiber. So it's a pretty big yellow scrip grind.

[IMG]

- Gyr Abanian Alchemic costs 250 yellow scrips each at the Scrip Exchange NPC at Rhalgr's Reach.

Both Snailfish Oil and Ala Mhigan Fiber recipes belong to our beloved ALC. Thus, it is highly recommended that you first switch one of your Specialists to ALC to facilitate the making of these items. In fact, your first priority will be to gear up your ALC to max, so you can more easily HQ these items.

As of Patch 4.1, we can switch specialist classes up to 3 times per week. To switch specialists, you need to bring with you a "Soul of the Crafter" and speak to Alderan at Foundation. New "Souls" can be purchased with 480 Red Scrips at any Scrip Exchange NPCs. Details about Alderan please visit Caimie's Heavensward Crafting Guide Ch40.

At this point, instead of quickly becoming a BSM specialist to make the majority of MHs, it is actually more beneficial to first become an ARM specialist, so that you can make the i325 Alembic for your ALC. Then become WVR/LTW specialists to make the i320 left gear. Alternatively, you can ask a veteran crafter friend to help out in crafting some items, so you don't have to switch around your specialists. If you have a GSM specialist friend, you may also ask her/him to make you the MH for your WVR, which will help out in crafting your i320 head/chest/pants.

Once you have geared up your ALC fully, and have your gear/tool melded, STOP USING MAMA ROTATIONS! You will likely have sufficient power to macro your Oils and Fibers using the Initial Prep rotation (together with some HQ mats). This will make your life a lot easier than spending decades doing MaMa rotations on Oils/Fibers.

At this point, while keeping your ALC specialist, you can now change one of the other two specialists into BSM specialist. With your new i320 left gear set melded, craft out your BSM tool first. Then with your BSM fully powered, you can then more easily craft out the remaining i325 MHs. (EDIT 19/11/2017: In fact, you don't need HQ Snailfish Oil / Ala Mhigan Fiber anymore! You can use 3x NQ Snailfish Oil but HQ everything else to macro your remaining i325 tools! Don't struggle too much in obtaining HQ raw mats for HQ oil!)

Ch63: Overmelding of i320 Left Gear and i325 Mainhand Tools

By popular demand, I have added this chapter here regarding materia melding on the new i320 gear and i325 tools.

As mentioned in Ch59, I think a safe amount of craftsmanship would be 1584 (This stats is with the soul gem! Without the gem would be 1564.) (could be lower than this, I'm not sure). This amount will allow the use of my modified Tayler's Initial Prep rotation. If you have this amount of base craftsmanship, you don't have to use HQ Tempura Platter for special 2 star recipes. Instead, you can a Control+CP food, such as HQ Seafood Stew (from Heavensward). This way, you can further boost control to help with quality.

For CP, it is a consensus that it should be maxed (or at least near-maxed) on every item.

For control, it's just a matter of as much as you can afford. For instance, if you cannot afford as many Command VI as I have used below, then just use Command V instead, but plan your melds, so that anything more expensive than Command V goes onto the gear first.

The strategy of materia overmelds has never changed since ancient times in ARR. First, you plan your 5 materias that can max, or nearly max out all 3 types of stats. Beware of the stats caps, and avoid unnecessary expensive materia that provides no extra benefits. Then, you judge your sequence of melds according to (1) price, (2) amounts of materia you have, and (3) success rate. Price is the most directly relevant to your sequence of melds. Always start off with the most expensive materia, and work your way towards the cheaper ones.

Just like old times, the bad strategy would be: "Oh, I can use a bit more CP right now, so lets meld some CP now!", or "Oh, I got a lot of competence materia. I can afford melding a few right now!" These are terrible ideas. Usually, CP materias are cheaper while command materia (for control) are the most expensive. So even though I said above that maxing CP is more important than maxing control, it would be foolish to start off your melds with CP materia. You want to save up enough slots later down the road so you can max out your CP, but you usually want to start off with command or competence materia (well, unless you found that the current price for CP materia is actually highest, then ok, you start off with CP materia). Again, check the prices of each materia you plan to use, and plan your sequence of melds ahead of the game.

FYI, Tier VI materia can only be fitted into the first overmelding slot. That is, if your gear has 2 slots for in-slot melds. You can fit up to a total of 3 Tier VI materias on that gear. Once you reach the 2nd overmeld, the game will automatically deny your use of Tier VI materias.

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- I have 1589 craftsmanship, but it is not necessary to have this much. 1584 or lower could be fine too. As for CP, you really want to aim as high as possible. NOTE: This is one of my specialist classes, so some stats come from the Soul Crystal.

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- For my chest piece, there is still 1 slot left. I have not decided to add what stats yet. The chest here still has 1 CP available to be obtained, and much control or craftsmanship to be obtained. For the pants on the right side, it now seems to me that the use of Tier VI competence materia there was not necessary. I could have used a Tier V (+11 craft) instead. I would have 3 craftsmanship less, but it's something that is ok.

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- These 3 gear were all done properly. I have no regrets with how they were done. I recommend you all to follow.

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- The belt and the accessories are both i290 from Patch 4.0. No new belt/acc were introduced in 4.1 yet.

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- The Earrings, Necklace and Bracelets have the same melding caps. So one could do exactly the same melds on all 3 of them. For me, however, I pushed a tad bit more craftsmanship (5 more) on the Necklace. It is not necessary, but I like it. For the Bracelets, I started off with a CP+6 materia there, because at that time, CP+6 was a lot more expensive than Craftsmanship+11. So once again, current prices of materia are the major dictators of melding sequence.

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- As you see here, I preferred to have 1 ring having more control while the other ring having more craftsmanship. You don't have to follow me. You could put more crafts or more control on both rings. It really depends on what ultimate stats you're shooting for.

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- I have really been slacking with melding on mainhand and offhand tools. I just don't like the idea of doing bank-breaking melds on all 8 tools for all 8 classes. So I just melded CP materias there. Each of these tools can hold up to 5 CP. I am still missing 1 CP to be melded on the mainhand, but it's not critical.

Ch64: Materia Removal

Since Patch 4.1, a new function has been implemented to remove materia from gear. In the past, the only way to remove materia is to go to the Mutamix goblin at the Bonfire, Black Brush Station, Central Thanalan. It cost 200 gil to "WIPE" off all materia from a piece of gear, and all the materias would be destroyed in the process. Today, we need not suffer from this no more! All we need is just "right-click" (on a PC) or "Square button" (on a PS4) on a piece of gear, then select "Retrieve Materia", and we can remove materia one-by-one and then reuse them again:

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(1) the sequence of materia removal is opposite to that of your sequence of meld, i.e. you start off by removing the ones that were melded last, and gradually work towards the ones that you melded first.

(2) Tier I, II, III, IV materias have 100% removal rate. Tier V is at 80% and Tier VI is at 40%. These numbers are unaffected by the position/slot of the materias, i.e. an overmelded materia has the same removal rate as an in-slot melded materia.

(3) Materia removal is FREE of charge.

This new feature is extremely useful, because:

(i) We can now "recycle" materia! So after we acquiring a piece of stronger equipment, we can now retrieve all those precious materias from the old gear before converting the gear into a new materia, and then use the retrieved old materia on the new gear. Thus, we now have to keep in mind: AFTER SPIRITBONDING IS COMPLETE, ALWAYS REMOVE ALL MATERIA BEFORE CONVERTING THE GEAR INTO A MATERIA. Similarly, before turning in any equipment to the Grand Company for seals, make sure you retrieve all your materia first!

(ii) It allows "temporary melds" on a piece of gear. For instance, if one does not have enough gil/materia for penta-melding a new piece of i320, then one can temporarily meld in some cheaper CP materia. OR, meld in a Tier VI materia first, and then temporarily meld in some cheaper CP materia. Later, one can remove the cheap CP materia, and then continue the expensive overmelding process on top of the Tier VI that was already melded there.

(iii) It greatly encourages spiritbonding of new gear into materia. As we can now temporarily meld materia onto our crafting gear (to speed up the spiritbonding process, and to provide the needed stats), and then later retrieve most of those materias before converting the gear.

Ch65: Custom Deliveries

As of Patch 4.1, we now have two sets of Custom Delivery missions that can be completed each week:

(1) Zhloe Aliapoh - at Idyllshire (Need to do your Heavensward Main Story Quest until you have access to Idyllshire)

(2) M'naago - at Rhalgr's Reach (Need to do your Stormblood Main Story Quest until you have access to Rhalgr's Reach)

These Custom Deliveries award Yellow Scrips, Red Scrips, EXP and gil. They are the FASTEST and CHEAPEST way to earn Yellow Scrips, and they award a ton of EXP if you have not reached level 70 yet. So one should unlock them as soon as possible and complete them each week. Yellow Scrips are currently mostly used for buying Gyr Abanian Alchemic from the Scrip Exchange NPC at Rhalgr's Reach for i325 tools and i320 gear. Red Scrips can be used to buy Tier V materia from the Scrip Exchanges at Rhalgr's Reach, Idyllshire or Mor Dhona.

To unlock Zhloe's quests, you must first complete the quest "Go West, Craftsman" at Mor Dhona.

To unlock M'naago, you must first speak to Galiena at Rhalgr's Reach (x 9.8, y 12.5).

Each week, you're allowed to turn in only up to 6 of the requested collectables to M'naago (and another 6 to Zhloe). So try your best to turn in only the ones with the highest collectability/collectable ratings, so that you can maximize the Red Scrips & Yellow Scrips gain.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

- BEFORE you max your "5 Hearts" with Zhloe or M'naago, the item of request will be switched every time you "rank up". So DO NOT make more than 3 collectables each time, or you will just end up jamming your inventory with collectables that cannot be submitted!

- AFTER you max your "5 Hearts", then no "rank up" will happen anymore. Thus, you can make 6 of the same collectables in a row since Zhloe or M'naago will receive all 6 of them without changing to another item.

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- Zhloe is located at (x 4.7, y 6.5) at Idyllshire.

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- The Scrap Salvager at Idyllshire (x 5.9, y 7.3) is where you buy the mats to craft your items for Zhloe's custom delivery quests. Remember to turn on "Collectable Synthesis"!

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- M'naago is located at Rhalgr's Reach (x 14.4, y 9.5).

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- The Material Suppler at Rhalgr's Reach (x 9.7, y 11.8) is where you buy the mats to craft your items for M'naago's custom delivery quests. Again, remember to turn on "Collectable Synthesis"!

Ch66: Fieldcraft / Battlecraft Demimateria III (FC3 & BC3) and Mastercraft Demimateria

To craft the i325 mainhand tools and the i320 crafting gear in Stormblood, you will need Mastercraft Demimateria and Fieldcraft Demimateria III (FC3) respectively. This created a sudden need for these demimateria on the market. Mastercraft demi's can only be obtained via desynthesis. And the cheapest items to obtain them are the i70 Artisan tools and gear.

Since Patch 4.15, i70 Artisan Mainhand Tools, Artisan's Spectacles and multiple Artisan Gear can now be purchased directly from Grand Companies using GC seals. Artisan's Specs and Artisan Gear has the potential to drop only 1 Mastercraft per desyn, whereas Artisan Tools can drop between 1 to 3 Mastercrafts each time. The rate of Mastercraft dropping from desyn is between 1/4 to 1/8. It is a consensus now that the tools are a better choice to desyn than the specs and gear due to its potentials to drop 3 Mastercrafts, but ultimately it still depends on luck. Artisan Tools now cost 7,500 GC seals each, and Artisan's Spectacles / Gear cost 5,000 GC seals each (Artisan's Gown cost 6,500 seals).

Back in ARR, only BSM, ARM and GSM can desyn Artisan Tools & Specs (GSM can desyn the Artisan Needle & Specs. ARM can desyn frypan and alembic. BSM can desyn the remaining tools). Artisan Gear could not be desynthesized back then. Thus, only these 3 classes can obtain Mastercraft Demimateria de novo by desynthesis. But now in Stormblood, we can desyn Artisan Gear, including the Artisan's Gown [WVR], Artisan's Chausses [WVR], Artisan's Fingerstalls [LTW]and Artisan's Pattens [CRP]. Thus, even WVR, LTW and CRP can obtain Mastercrafts now. However, Chausses, Fingerstalls and Pattens only give at most 1 Mastercraft per desyn, so BSM, ARM and GSM are still having an edge. (I don't know about the Artisan's Gown. It may drop more than 1 Mastercraft. I have never tried.)

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- Artisan Tools are now available from Grand Company for 7,500 GC seals.

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- Artisan's Spectacles and other Artisan gear are also available for 5,000 seals. But these items can only drop at most 1 Mastercraft per desyn.

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- Here is the evidence, showing you that even Artisan's Pattens can be desyn by Carpenter into Mastercraft. I got this one after desyning 1x Artisan's Fingerstalls and 5x Artisan's Pattens. So the rate of Mastercraft I got here was 1 out of 6. At least, I took the effort of spending 30,000 seals to prove that it works, and to give you this data!

7,500 GC seals seem like a lot. But if you're running Stormblood dungeons and rolling for gear drops. You can easily earn enough seals. Each Stormblood dungeon gear drop is worth about 1200 to 1300 seals each when you turn them in as "Expert Delivery" to the GC. Thus, if you intend to earn seals for the purpose of generating Mastercraft Demi's, you might as well level up your tank classes or healer classes by running Stormblood dungeons and loot for gear. Killing two birds with one stone! Don't forget to do your Trial and Leveling Roulette each day. They also give you a lot of GC seals. Nevertheless, if you find that the 7,500 seals is just too much for you, you can indeed still go back to Talan in Mor Dhona, and obtain your Artisan Tools using the old school ARR method of turn-in's.

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- The old method of obtaining Mastercraft Demimateria is still valid, done via Talan in Mor Dhona.

Back in ARR, it required level 100 desynthesis to be able to securely desyn i70 tools. Now they have adjusted it so that the level for desyn is similar to the ilevel of the item which you can desyn. Thus, you only need about level 70 now to desyn the i70 Artisan Tools.

As for the generation of FC3s, they can be obtained by desyning the Artisan Tools as well, but the cheapest way is still by desyning Bridesmaid's Sandals purchased with gil from Rianne in Uldah (below is a picture from my old crafting guide Part 2).

- The glorious moment in Patch 2.4 when we found that the vendor item Bridesmaid's Sandals can be desyn into FC3 by LTW.

- By the way, someone asked me how one could get the inventory to look like this. The way to do it is: Character Configuration -> Item Settings -> Character -> Inventory Settings -> Inventory Interface / Retainer Inventory Interface -> choose "Expanded". Enjoy!

Ch67: The Training of Desynthesis in Stormblood

I heard a lot of people had their desynthesis trained up to around level 150 to 160-ish back in Heavensward, and then faced some problems with further training in Stormblood. This is because regular level 59 recipes from Heavensward only goes up to ilevel 145. i150 items in Master recipes 3 can be utilized. But after that, i160, i170 and i180 gear (HW 2 star recipes) are very expensive to make. The lowest level 61 recipe in Stormblood is already i255 gear. Thus, there is a huge gap of about 100 levels in the middle, without easy items for leveling desynthesis.

At this point (Patch 4.18), we really don't know if desynthesis has any important use in future Stormblood patches apart from just generating FC3, BC3 and Mastercraft demi's. If you only need Mastercrafts, then there's really no point in leveling desyn beyond level 70. If you don't even have level 70 desyn yet, you can make use of the vendor items from Silver Bazaar to complete your beginner's training of desyn (see pic below).

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- This vendor at the Silver Bazaar sells i55 items which can be used for training desynthesis.

Yet, some of us, including myself, like the idea of "having it ready just in case". We anticipate that desyn may be useful for obtaining certain items for the newest relic/anima weapon in Stormblood in the near future. It could be a new cash cow for us. Desyn is also a useful skill to breakdown useless loots from daily Expert Roulette for generating BC3 for sale or crafting glamor weapons. If you're having the same mind set as I do, then you are welcome to level desyn to around 300. As to how to bridge that huge gap between i160 and i255, here are some tips...

First, of course try to push as hard as you can with i145 (level 59-60 recipes in your regular crafting log) and i150 (in Master Recipes 3) items.

Then, as you can see in the pic below, you can buy Kingcake (CUL), Adamantite Francesca (BSM), Titanium Alloy Mirror (ALC) and Dispelling Arrow (CRP) for 5K seals each from Grand Companies to train desynthesis. These items are equivalent to i160 gear.

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- Kingcake (CUL), Titanium Alloy Mirror (ALC), Adamantite Francesca (BSM) and Dispelling Arrow (CRP) can be purchased with GC seals for training desynthesis.

For classes that don't have such items from the GC, like GSM, you can easily farm for loots just by doing light farming for your anima weapon. Alexander 1 Savage (the one with the two Oppressors) is extremely easy to farm. And people don't bother to get the loots. You can grab them all, and they're i190 accessories, which are extremely good for bridging the gap.

Thoroughly search through your Housing Recipes and Master Recipes, and see if you can cheaply make some suitable furniture that is within budget for desyn training (Master Recipes contain housing items too!). Master Recipes sometimes also contain glamor gear that may not be too expensive to make. Make sure you go through every single item on these recipes to find anything that you can utilize.

The i220 Eikon gear set (HW 3 star recipes) in Master Recipes (4) is actually not so bad. They are still expensive, but are more affordable than the i160/i170/i180 in Master Recipes (3). You just need to meld more materia on them, and pop a Tinker's Calm and/or Bacon Broth. After that, i250 (HW 4 star recipes) in Master Recipes (4) can be utilized even though they're quite expensive.

In addition to crafted items, Poetics tomes-exchanged gear (i230) from Idyllshire are also great for training desyn. You can purchase them cheaply from Hismena. Items for LTW, ARM, WVR and GSM are all easily available there. Just be a smart person, and AVOID the chest piece and pants if you can since they're more expensive (If you're WVR, just go for the caster or healer hat or equivalents). AVOID the belts as well, since they have only 1 slot for materia (If you're LTW, just go for the boots).

As for BSM, CRP and ALC, they can still use this method. But they need to buy weapons. So they can first buy 10x Rowena's Token (Lore) and 1x High-Capacicity Tomestone from Hismena, and then exchange for weapons from Bertana. The total cost of each weapon will be 500 poetics... basically a bit more than double of that for LTW, ARM, WVR and GSM.

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- Eikon gear of i230 can be easily purchased with Poetics tomes for desyn of LTW, WVR, ARM and GSM. Avoid the chest piece and pants if you can since they're more expensive.

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- For BSM, CRP and ALC, one can purchase weapons instead. So buy Rowena's Token (Lore) and High-capacity Tomestone from Hismena (1st pic above), and then exchange for the weapons from Bertana (2nd pic above).

Materia Melds (and Overmelds) Can Increase Desyn Rate

There were rumors about how 100% spiritbonded or HQ gear having higher chance of desynthesis success rate. To hell with them! None of them were true! Desyn success rate has absolutely nothing to do with spiritbonding or gear quality. What actually matters is just the melding of materia on a gear! Each materia meld increases desyn success rate of an item by 8% (used to be only 5% back in ARR). HQ gear does have a slightly higher rate for successful materia OVERMELD though. So if you plan to craft some very expensive items for desyn (and was planning to heavily overmeld them), then you may consider making the gear HQ just to assist the overmelding process.

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- Back in ARR, each materia meld increased desyn success rate by 5%. Now in Stormblood, each meld increases desyn rate by 8%.

Please be aware that only crafted gear can be used for overmelding. Tome-exchanged gear can only perform in-slot melds. And since Tier I materia has the highest overmeld rate, it becomes extremely popular on the market for the purpose of desyn training. This is also the reason why elemental Tier I materia are actually useful. As to other types of Tier I materia, like Dexterity or Mind Materia I, they can only be used for in-slot melds, but CANNOT be used for overmelds. This is because "Primary Stats" cannot be overmelded. Only "Secondary Stats", like crit, determination or elemental resistance etc. can be overmelded. Thus, you can still use Dexterity Materia I to help with desyn by putting them into slots (you can even use Tier II or Tier III since it's in-slot anyway!). But if you intend to overmeld, then you will need elemental or secondary stats materia. If Tier I of them are not cheaply available on the market, you can consider using Tier II.

- A chart I made back in ARR to demonstrate the success rate of each overmeld for different tiers of materia.

Food and Medicine that Can Assist with Desynthesis

Some food and medicine provides the effect of "Careful Desynthesis". Back in ARR, Careful Desyn +1 will add only 2.5% desyn rate. Now in Stormblood, Careful Desyn +1 will add 4% desyn rate.

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Bacon Broth is a food that can slightly increase desynthesis success rate, which can be useful if you plan to desyn large amounts of expensive gear. This food is an ARR 4 star item in Master Recipes 2. HQ broth adds 8% success rate to desynthesis (Careful Desynthesis +2). NQ broth adds 4% (Careful Desynthesis +1).

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Tinker's Calm (see below) is NOT a food, but a potion that can increase desyn rate a lot more. NQ ones can increase success rate by 12% (Careful Desynthesis +3). HQ ones can increase success rate by 16% (Careful Desynthesis +4). However, because Tinker's Calm is not a food, its effect only lasts 10 min (used to be only 5 min back in ARR).

NOTE: Since Tinker's Calm is NOT a food, you can actually use BOTH Bacon Broth and Tinker's Calm simultaneously to increase desynthesis success rate! If you use HQ broth + HQ calm, you can increase desyn success rate by up to 8%+16% = 24%!!!

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- HQ Tinker's Calm (+4 Careful Desynthesis) adds 16% success rate to desyn (used to be only 10% back in ARR). However, the effect of the medicine only lasts for a very short 10 minutes.