Synthesis (Final Fantasy XIV)

FFXIV Synthesis Overview — A Lalafell character performing Synthesis.

Synthesis, commonly known as crafting, is a gameplay mechanic in Final Fantasy XIV. It is the function of Disciples of the Hand, and can be used to craft weapons, armor, tools, and many other products.

Synthesis is not required for the main scenario, and is therefore optional, but can earn players a lot of gil and allow them to craft equipment for their own classes. While it is likewise not necessary, leveling up a Disciple of the Land class allows the items for Synthesis to be more easily acquired.

Process[]

Synthesis is begun from the Crafting Log, and any Disciple of the Hand class can perform synthesis as soon as their appropriate tool is equipped. Other than the tool, Synthesis requires materials and crystals to function.

Classes[]

The following classes are Disciples of the Hand and can perform Synthesis:

Name	Proficiency
Alchemist (ALC)	Can transform materials into restorative or enhancing medicines. They can also create weapons for White Mages, Summoners, and Scholars.
Armorer (ARM)	Works with ores and metals to produce heavy armor and shields. They can also create tools for Culinarians and Alchemists.
Blacksmith (BSM)	Works with ores and metals to create weapons and tools. They can create weapons for Paladins, Warriors, Dark Knights, Gunbreakers, Monks, Samurai, Machinists and Dancers, and tools for Botanists, Miners, Leatherworkers, Carpenters, Armorers, Blacksmiths, Goldsmiths.
Carpenter (CRP)	Works with lumber. They can produce weapons for Bards, Dragoons, White Mages, and Black Mages, and tools for Fishers, Goldsmiths, and Weavers. They can also create a vast array of housing furniture, as well as some shields and accessories.
Culinarian (CUL)	Works with items from various crafting classes and reagent items to create food, which can be consumed to gain buffs. Unlike other crafting classes, they do not make gear for other classes, but the buffs the food provide can be helpful in many situations.
Goldsmith (GSM)	Works with gems and metal. They can create accessories, weapons for Black Mages, Red Mages, and Astrologians, and tools for Weavers.
Leatherworker (LTW)	Works with hides, furs and pelts to create leather-based equipment. Can create medium armors for combat classes and well as most gathering armors, in addition to gear for gathering classes. They can also make accessories, some Monk weapons, and glamour equipment.
Weaver (WVR)	Works with fabric and fiber to create cloth-based equipment. Can make light armors for crafting and caster classes. Can also create a large amount of glamour equipment.

Crafting[]

Crafting is begun by selecting the recipe from the Crafting Log, and then selecting the Synthesize option. Once the Synthesis has begun, the crafter will take actions to finish the final item. Each action depletes an items' durability stat, but there are several abilities which can restore durability. They can either increase the quality or the progress. Many actions cost CP to use. The quality at completion will determine the odds of an item becoming High quality when synthesized. quality lies on an exponential scale, where the odds of a High quality synthesis is not increased by much until after half an item's quality is gained, at which point the chance will rise much more rapidly with quality increases. The quality is generally increased when aiming to achieve High quality, but quality increases will provide a bonus to experience gained upon completion. As a result, those leveling their crafting classes are encouraged to aim to increase quality as much as possible, even if not aiming for a High quality synthesis.

Mechanics[]

FFXIV Synthesis Menu — The Synthesis menu.

CP[]

Each Adventurer has a set CP, or Crafting Points. The CP will decrease when abilities are used, and once the CP runs too low, certain abilities can no longer be used. For this reason, it is wise to be conservative with CP, particularly when lower levelled.

Attributes[]

There are only two attributes which help with Synthesis, both of which gear, materia and levels increase like other attributes:

Attribute	Effect
Craftsmanship	Increases the amount of progress that can be gained when using abilities such as Basic Synthesis, and helps finish the item faster.
Control	Increases the amount of quality that will be gained when using abilities such as Basic Touch. Ideally, both stats should be raised as high as possible to make the process much faster, as this allows the Adventurer to gain more value for each ability that uses up durability, in addition to more value out of their CP.

Values[]

When beginning Synthesis, items have different values which can be raised or decreases:

Value	Effect
Durability	Indicates how many more abilities an unfinished item can sustain before it breaks. durability can be increased - or the loss of it reduced - in order to allow more abilities to be used beforehand. 10 durability is lost with the use of each ability, which can be reduced to 5.
Progress	Indicates how far an item has gone before it can be finished. If an item runs out of durability before the progress bar is filled, the process will fail; the items can be lost if the process fails, but this is not guaranteed, and using the ability Reclaim can raise the chance of the ingredients not being lost to 90%. When progress is full, the item is always completed, so it is best to increase quality as much as possible beforehand.
Quality	Indicates the chance of an item being High quality or how much EXP bonus will be gained from the finished product. This should ideally always be increased as much as possible to increase the EXP earned and increase chance of HQ product. For Collectable Synthesis, this determines the item's collectability.
Condition	Is not a bar that can be raised or a numerical value like the others, but can either be "Excellent", "Good", "Normal" or "Poor". It effects the increase in item quality when using the Touch commands. Excellent gives a large bonus to quality and has a 10% chance of occurring and will only occur after Normal condition; Good gives a moderate bonus and has a 25% chance of occurring and only after a Normal condition; Normal gives no bonus; Poor reduces the increase.

High quality[]

Upon beginning the Synthesis process, there will be an initial quality value assigned to an item. While typically 0, using high quality items in the Synthesis process can increase the initial quality by up to half the bar. By raising the quality of an item using abilities, the quality bar will be filled more. In addition to the bar, there is also an HQ and percentage below it. This is the chance for the item to be High quality when Synthesis is finished. The goal is to raise this bar as high as possible, as this will increase the chance as well as the EXP bonus. It is possible, but in many cases difficult, to fill the bar and achieve a 100% chance for an item to be HQ. Using

Some items cannot be made into high quality, such as dyes and furniture, and are marked as such in the Crafting Log. The quality achieved will still affect EXP awarded however.

Quick Synthesis[]

Many recipes allow quick synthesis, which automatically produces items in a batch based on amount of ingredients available. This process can speed up the creation of components such as ingots, but each item only has a slight chance to be high quality regardless of quality of ingredients, and has a slight chance to fail. Some recipes, such as Master recipes, do not support Quick Synthesis.

Desynthesis[]

Item Desynthesis allows any class which has unlocked it to break pre-existing items down to make different ingredients used in Synthesis. Weapons, armor, tools and other items can be Desynthesized to produce the ingredients which originally created them. Each Disciple of the Hand class has its own skill level for Desynthesis, which affects the chances of its success and the amount of materials yielded. Skills for Desynthesis are independent.

Item Desynthesis is unlocked after completing the quest Gone to Pieces in Ul'dah, and requires a level 30 Disciple of the Hand class.

Collectables[]

High-level crafters can create collectable items, which can be traded for EXP, gil, and crafters' scrips. The items requested often changes each day, and each has a minimum rating to be eligible for trading. Collectables cannot be equipped, traded, or sold for gil, and cannot be stacked in inventory. A collectable item has a collectability rating, which is determined by the total numerical quality achieved during synthesis, and improves the item's value when traded in.

Shared abilities[]

The following abilities are shared between all crafting classes, though their icons may differ.

Class Actions[]

Action	Level	CP Cost
Basic Synthesis	1	—
Basic Synthesis	Increases progress. Efficiency: 100% Success Rate: 100%
Basic Touch	5	18
Basic Touch	Increases quality. Efficiency: 100% Success Rate: 100%
Master's Mend	7	88
Master's Mend	Restores item durability by 30.
Hasty Touch	9	—
Hasty Touch	Increases quality and requires no CP. Efficiency: 100% Success Rate: 60%
Rapid Synthesis	9	—
Rapid Synthesis	Increases progress. Efficiency: 250% Success Rate: 50%
Inner Quiet	11	18
Inner Quiet	Grants a bonus to control with every increase in quality. Bonus stacks up to 11 times.
Observe	13	7
Observe	Do nothing for one step.
Tricks of the Trade	13	—
Tricks of the Trade	Restores 20 CP. Available only when material condition is Good or Excellent.
Waste Not	15	56
Waste Not	Reduces loss of durability by 50% for the next four steps.
Veneration	15	18
Veneration	Increases the efficiency of Synthesis actions by 50% for the next four steps.
Standard Touch	18	32
Standard Touch	Increases quality. Efficiency: 125% Success Rate: 100% Combo Action: Basic Touch Combo Bonus: CP cost reduced to 18
Great Strides	21	32
Great Strides	Increases the efficiency of next Touch action by 100%. Effect active for three steps.
Innovation	26	18
Innovation	Increases efficiency of Touch actions by 50% for the next four steps.
Name of the Elements	37	30
Name of the Elements	For the next three steps, Brand of the Elements efficiency is increased by up to 200%. Increase determined by current progress. Can only be used once per synthesis.
Brand of the Elements	37	6
Brand of the Elements	Increases progress. Efficiency: 100% Success Rate: 100%
Final Appraisal	42	1
Final Appraisal	The next action that would complete item synthesis will instead leave one progress point remaining. Effect active for five steps.
Waste Not II	47	98
Waste Not II	Reduces loss of durability by 50% for the next eight steps.
Byregot's Blessing	50	24
Byregot's Blessing	Increases quality. Inner Quiet effect ends upon use. Efficiency: 100% plus 20% for each bonus to control granted by Inner Quiet Success Rate: 100%
Precise Touch	53	18
Precise Touch	Increases quality. Additional Effect: Increases Inner Quiet stack by one (up to 11) Efficiency: 150% Success Rate: 100% Available only when material condition is Good or Excellent.
Muscle Memory	54	6
Muscle Memory	Increases progress. Efficiency: 300% Success Rate: 100% Additional Effect: Efficiency of your next Synthesis action is increased by 100% Available only on the first step. Additional effect is active for five steps.
Careful Synthesis fka. Careful Synthesis III(Renamed in patch 5.1.)	62	7
	Increases progress. Efficiency: 150% Success Rate: 100%
Patient Touch	64	6
Patient Touch	Increases quality. Additional Effect: Doubles Inner Quiet stack (up to 11) when successful, halves stack upon failure Efficiency: 100% Success Rate: 50%
Manipulation fka. Manipulation II(Renamed in patch 5.0.)	65	97
Manipulation fka. Manipulation II(Renamed in patch 5.0.)	Restores 5 points of durability after each step for the next eight steps.
Prudent Touch	66	25
Prudent Touch	Increases quality at half the durability cost. Efficiency: 100% Success Rate: 100% Unavailable when Waste Not or Waste Not II is active.
Focused Synthesis	67	5
Focused Synthesis	Increases progress. Efficiency: 200% Success Rate: 50% Combo Action: Observe Combo Bonus: Increases success rate to 100%
Focused Touch	68	18
Focused Touch	Increases quality. Efficiency: 150% Success Rate: 50% Combo Action: Observe Combo Bonus: Increases success rate to 100%
Reflect	69	24
Reflect	Increases quality. Efficiency: 100% Success Rate: 100% Additional Effect: Increases Inner Quiet stack by three Available only on the first step.
Preparatory Touch	71	40
Preparatory Touch	Increases quality at greater cost to durability. Additional Effect: Increases Inner Quiet stack by one (up to 11) Efficiency: 200% Success Rate: 100% Durability Cost: 20
Groundwork	72	18
Groundwork	Increases progress at greater cost to durability. Efficiency decreases by half when durability is below durability cost. Efficiency: 300% Success Rate: 100% Durability Cost: 20
Delicate Synthesis	76	32
Delicate Synthesis	Increases both progress and quality. Efficiency: 100% Success Rate: 100%
Intensive Synthesis	78	6
Intensive Synthesis	Increases progress. Efficiency: 400% Success Rate: 100% Available only when material condition is Good or Excellent.
Trained Eye	80	250
Trained Eye	Increases quality by 100%. Available only on the first step. Recipe level must be at least 10 levels below yours.

Specialist Actions[]

Specialist actions are only available when the appropriate soul crystal is equipped.

Action

Level

CP Cost

Careful Observation

55

—

Specialist Action

Do nothing for one step, preserving the status of any actions presently in effect.

A crafter's delineation is used upon execution.
Can only be used up to three times per synthesis.
This action does not increase step count.

Traits[]

Action	Level	Description
Practice Makes Perfect	15	Allows you to execute trial synthesis.
Basic Synthesis Mastery File:Basic Synthesis Mastery from Final Fantasy XIV icon.png	31	Efficiency is increased to 120%.
Quality Assurance	63	Slightly increases chances of material condition becoming Good.
Rapid Synthesis Mastery	63	Efficiency is increased to 500%.

Removed actions[]

The following abilities have been removed. Removed abilities will still appear on the hotbar, their icon greyed out icon with a red strikethrough. They will have no effect and must be removed by the player. The given statistics represent their last form before their removal.

Action	Level	CP Cost
Steady Hand	9	—
Steady Hand	Improves action success rate by 20% for the next five steps. Removed in patch 5.1.
Ingenuity	15	22
Ingenuity	For the next five steps, effectiveness of Touch and Synthesis actions is increased. Removed in patch 5.2.
Master's Mend II	25	160
Master's Mend II	Restores item durability by 60. Removed in patch 5.1.
Standard Synthesis	31	15
Standard Synthesis	Increases progress. Efficiency: 150% Success Rate: 90% Removed in patch 5.1.
Steady Hand II	37	25
Steady Hand II	Improves action success rate by 30% for the next five steps. Removed in patch 5.1.
Advanced Touch	43	48
Advanced Touch	Increases quality. Efficiency: 150% Success Rate: 90% Removed in patch 5.1.
Collectable Synthesis	50	—
Collectable Synthesis	Use existing recipes to create collectables without increasing step count. Removed in patch 5.3.
Byregot's Brow	51	18
Byregot's Brow	Increases quality. Inner Quiet effect ends upon use. Efficiency: 150% plus 10% for each bonus to control granted by Inner Quiet Success Rate: 70% (Specialist 100%) Removed in patch 5.0.
Satisfaction	55	—
Satisfaction	Specialist Action Uses one Whistle to restore 15 CP. Success Rate: 100% Available only when the Whistle stack size is a multiple of three. Removed in patch 5.1.
Whistle While You Work	55	36
Whistle While You Work	Specialist Action 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. Finishing Touches is used when stack size reaches 0 and effect wears off. Finishing Touches Efficiency: 200% Finishing Touches Success Rate: 50% Removed in patch 5.1.
Innovative Touch	56	8
Innovative Touch	Specialist Action Increases quality. Additional Effect: Innovation Efficiency: 100% Success Rate: 40% Removed in patch 5.1.
Nymeia's Wheel	57	18
Nymeia's Wheel	Specialist Action Restores item durability. Amount determined by current Whistle stack. Whistle effect ends upon use. Success Rate: 100% Removed in patch 5.1.
Byregot's Miracle	58	16
Byregot's Miracle	Specialist Action 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% Removed in patch 5.1.
Trained Hand	59	32
Trained Hand	Specialist Action Significantly increases both progress and quality. Efficiency: 150% Success Rate: 100% Available only when Inner Quiet and Whistle stack sizes are identical. Removed in patch 5.1.
Hasty Touch II	61	5
Hasty Touch II	Increases quality. Efficiency: 100% Success Rate: 60% Removed in patch 5.1.
Rapid Synthesis II	63	12
Rapid Synthesis II	Increases progress. Efficiency: 300% Success Rate: 60% Removed in patch 5.1.
Initial Preparations	69	50
Initial Preparations	May reduce CP consumption while status is active. When a specialist, canceling the status grants the use of a single Specialty action. Available only on the first step. Removed in patch 5.1.
Specialty: Reinforce	69	—
Specialty: Reinforce	Specialist Action Restores item durability by 25. Can only be used when Initial Preparations is active. Removed in patch 5.1.
Specialty: Refurbish	69	—
Specialty: Refurbish	Specialist Action Restores 65 CP. Can only be used when Initial Preparations is active. Removed in patch 5.1.
Specialty: Reflect	69	—
Specialty: Reflect	Specialist Action Increases Inner Quiet stack by three (up to 11). Can only be used when Initial Preparations is active. Removed in patch 5.1.
Rapid Synthesis III	72	24
Rapid Synthesis III	Increases progress at greater cost to durability. Efficiency decreases significantly when durability is below 20. Efficiency: 600% Success Rate: 60% Durability Cost: 20 Removed in patch 5.1.
Reuse	74	60
Reuse	Grants Reusing. Chance to become available upon reaching maximum item quality. Reusing Effect: A portion of ingredients used to synthesize item are returned to your inventory when synthesis is complete Removed in patch 5.2.
Trained Instinct	80	250
Trained Instinct	Increases quality by between 30 and 100%. Available only on the first step. Recipe level must be at least 10 levels below yours. Removed in patch 5.1.