FFXIV Crafting Guide: Leveling 1-90 (Endwalker 6.x)

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Joni hails from Virginia and currently resides in North Carolina, though she spends a large portion of her time in Eorzea these days. Of course, sh... Read more

Reviewed by Ashley Johnson

To many players, crafting is one of the most daunting activities that Final Fantasy XIV has to offer. The mechanics are pretty complex and can be tough to master, but the work is worth the reward. Crafting is one of the most profitable activities in FFXIV, and there’s more than one way you can make money with it.

This week, we’ll be telling you how to level up your crafters and start making gil in this FFXIV crafting guide. Let’s get started!

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FFXIV Crafting Jobs

FFXIV currently offers eight crafting jobs known as the Disciples of the Hand. Each job has a unique flavor and makes a wide variety of items. You can start unlocking crafter jobs after you reach Level 10 in your starting class.

The following list will give you the location for each job’s unlock quest and a brief, non-comprehensive description of what each job does:

• Armorer can be unlocked in Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks (x10, y15) by speaking to G’wahnako to start the quest “Way of the Armorer.” As the name suggests, Armorers specialize in making armor, primarily for tanks and physical DPS jobs. They can also make frying pans for Culinarians.
• Blacksmith can be unlocked in Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks (x10, y15) by speaking to Randwulf to start the quest “Way of the Blacksmith.” Blacksmiths have a lot of overlap with Armorer, but they focus more on making weapons instead of gear.
• Culinarian can be unlocked in Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks (x9, y7) by speaking to Charlys to start the quest “Way of the Culinarian.” Culinarians make food, which grants all kinds of temporary stat boosts.
• Alchemist can be unlocked in Ul’dah — Steps of Thal (x9, y13) by speaking to Deitrich to start the quest “Way of the Alchemist.” Alchemists specialize in making consumables like potions, elixirs, and other cures and buffs. They can also craft some weapons for White Mages and Summoners, and they can make orchestrion rolls.
• Goldsmith can be unlocked in Ul’dah — Steps of Thal (x10, y13) by speaking to Jemime to start the quest “Way of the Goldsmith.” Goldsmiths make jewelry, making them one of the most useful (and lucrative) crafters, as all jobs use these accessories.
• Weaver can be unlocked in Ul’dah — Steps of Thal (x13, y13) by speaking to Maronne to start the quest “Way of the Weaver.” Weavers primarily make gear for caster and gatherer jobs, but they can also make a lot of popular late-game glamour items that sell for tons on the market boards.
• Carpenter can be unlocked in New Gridania (x10, y12) by speaking to Corgg to start the quest “Way of the Carpenter.” Carpenters specialize in furniture, which makes them a great pick for anyone interested in decorating their in-game house. They can also craft a handful of weapons.
• Leatherworker can be unlocked in Old Gridania (x12.5, 78.3) by speaking to Randall to start the quest “Way of the Leatherworker.” Leatherworkers can make gear for a wide variety of combat jobs, but that means that they require a wide variety of materials to do so.

Crafting Basics

Before we dive into the levelling process, we should explain how crafting works. It’s not as simple as having the materials, selecting a recipe, and making the craft. The crafting system in FFXIV is almost mathematical at times, but don’t let that intimidate you. If you really struggle with the mechanics, there are tons of other players who figure out the best crafting macros and share them with the community.

Let’s start by breaking things down. When you unlock your first crafter job, you will gain access to the Crafting Log. The Crafting Log displays the recipes you have access to at your level, the materials needed to make them, and any other requirements. As you level up, you’ll unlock a new page of recipes every time you reach a level ending in 3 or 8. Generally, you can craft recipes up to five levels above your own.

Crafting Stats

Character stats are very important for crafters in FFXIV. They heavily influence your synthesis success rates. Here’s a quick overview:

• Craftsmanship influences the amount that your progress bar fills when you perform synthesis.
• Control influences the amount of quality gained when you use actions to increase it during synthesis. More control means you have better chances of making an HQ craft.
• Strength influences HQ chances for Blacksmith’s primary tool and Armorer’s secondary tool.
• Dexterity influences HQ chance for Goldsmith and Weaver’s primary tools and Carpenter’s secondary tool.
• Vitality influences HQ chance for Carpenter, Armorer, and Leatherworker’s primary tools.
• Intelligence influences HQ chance for Alchemist’s primary tool and Goldsmith and Leatherworker’s secondary tools.
• Mind influences HQ chance for Culinarian’s primary tool and Blacksmith and Weaver’s secondary tools.
• Piety influences HQ chance for Alchemist and Culinarian’s Secondary tools.

Craftsmanship and Control will be important no matter what job you pick, and you should focus on getting gear, food, and crafter materia that increase these two above all else. The rest of the stats are good to understand, but not important for gearing.

Synthesis

Synthesis is the act of crafting. When you select a recipe, you can begin synthesis. Here’s where things can get complicated, but don’t worry! It’s easier than it looks.

A new window will open, displaying several pieces of information:

• Progress shows how close you are to completing a craft. The bar gradually fills as you perform actions. When the bar is full, the craft is done.
• Durability determines how many actions you can take before you fail to synthesize the craft. If your durability bar empties before your progress bar is full, the craft fails.
• CP stands for “Crafting Points” and is displayed beside your HP bar. This is your job resource for all crafters. Using certain actions during synthesis will decrease your CP, while others will restore it.
• Quality determines your chances of making an HQ (high quality) item. You can increase the quality bar by using certain actions or crafting with HQ materials.
• Condition displays the different states of an item during synthesis. Each state only lasts a round, and you can use certain actions to capitalize on them to do things like increase quality or restore CP. The states are Poor, Normal, Good, and Excellent.

When trying to craft an HQ item, you have to figure out how to increase the progress bar and quality bar without depleting the durability bar. This requires you to carefully choose actions to manage your CP. When you’re not gunning for that HQ craft, you don’t have to worry about this as much. That being said, levelling up fast is largely dependent on making HQ items and meeting quality thresholds.

When you hit Level 10 in a crafter job, you unlock quick synthesis, which allows you to automatically create as many of a given item as you can without performing synthesis manually. There is a small chance of failing quick synthesis if you are attempting something outside of your skill range, but there is also a small chance of attaining HQ crafts from quick synthesis. You win some, you lose some.

Desynthesis

All things made can be unmade. Even things you didn’t make can be unmade. Once you reach Level 30 in any crafter job, you can complete the quest “Gone to Pieces” (found in Ul’Dah — Steps of Thal at x14, y10) to unlock desynthesis.

Each crafter job has its own desynthesis skill level. If the job’s skill level is higher than the recommended level for a given item, it can be desynthesized. Desynthesizing items will increase the skill level for the job used.

This process will break down an item into the materials used to create it. It can also give players special items that are only obtainable through desynthesis. The higher your skill level is compared to the item’s level, the better your chances of getting a treat. For example, desynthesizing a Gigantshark with Culinarian can yield one of two rare glamour items — the South Seas Talisman or Sea Breeze Summer Halter. Creation and destruction are two sides of the same coin, and both of them give great results in FFXIV.

Materia Melding

You have certainly encountered materia with your combat jobs. Materia is extracted from gear with 100% spiritbond, and max level players meld materia to their gear to increase its stats.

Once you reach Level 19 in any crafter job, you can complete the quest “Waking the Spirit” (found in Central Thanalan at x23, y13) to unlock materia melding. Now you don’t have to find Melder NPCs or ask other players to do it for you!

At Level 25, you will be able to unlock overmelding by completing the quest “Melding Materia Muchly” (located in the same place). Overmelding allows you to meld more materia to a piece of gear than normally allowed, but only certain pieces of gear can be overmelded. This process takes a lot of time and materia, meaning it’s something that should only be done to max level, Best-in-Slot (BiS) gear.

Where to Get Crafting Materials

Crafting materials (commonly referred to as “mats”) can be acquired from all kinds of content. You can get material drops from:

• Killing enemies
• Drops from trials and raids
• Following treasure maps
• Completing quests
• NPC merchants
• Gathering them yourself with the gatherer jobs (Fisher, Miner, and Botanist)
• The market board
• Desynthesis

The quickest way to acquire materials is by purchasing them, whether it is from NPCs or other players on the market board. For the levelling process we’re going to outline below, it is recommended you have 3–5M gil in order to purchase the necessary materials. If you’re not buying the materials, settle in for a long gathering journey and check out our guide for the Disciples of the Land!

Crafting Leveling Process

Welcome to the leveling portion of our FFXIV crafting guide. There are a few different methods for levelling crafters. Some are faster, but require more gil. Some are cheaper, but they take much more time. How you level your crafters depends on your in-game funds and your patience.

It is worth noting that if you are a free trial player, you do not have access to the market board. This means you will have to level everything manually and gather materials yourself (unless you have a very generous friend with a subscription).

The last thing you should do before you begin is make sure you are able to unlock The Firmament. In order to do this, you must have a combat job at Level 60 and have completed the main story quest “Litany of Peace”. This will unlock the quest “Towards the Firmament,” which can be picked up in Foundation (x9.7, y 1.5) from the Recruitment Notice.

If you choose not to go The Firmament route, there are other EXP opportunities that we will go over later. That being said, the method presented here is going to be the fastest. It can also be used for all crafters, whether you choose to level them together or one at a time.

EXP Bonuses

There are a handful of ways to make your levelling process less of a drag. Many of these may be familiar, as they are also applicable for combat jobs:

• Road to 70 (Preferred Worlds): If you are lucky enough to be on a Preferred World, you will have a +100% EXP bonus to all jobs up until Level 70.
• Eating Food: Eating any food provides a +3% EXP bonus.
• Engineering Manuals: These items that grant a +150% EXP boost and can be obtained from various scrip exchange NPCs and your Grand Company respectively.
  • Note: the Squadron Engineering Manual only gives a +20% EXP boost.
• Free Company Buffs: The Helping Hand buffs provide various crafting EXP boosts, but these will only be available to you if you are in a Free Company that chooses to use them.
• Bonus EXP Gear: If you recruit a friend or are recruited by a friend, you will receive the Friendship Circlet, which gives a +20% EXP boost up to Level 26. If you preordered Endwalker, you will have received Menphina’s Earring, which gives you a +30% EXP boost up to Level 80.

Levels 1–21

The first stage of levelling is simple and straightforward. You will want to unlock all the jobs and start chipping away at your Crafting Log for each, completing job quests as they come. Job quests will give you basic gear and decent EXP.

You can get materials from the Guild Supplier inside the guild hall of whichever job you are levelling. They sell everything you need to make the low level recipes in your Crafting Log, and their offerings are affordable.

Once you hit Level 10 on your first crafter, you will unlock quick synthesis across all crafter jobs. Use quick synthesis to grind out crafts for the rest of this stage.

Levels 21–73

Once you are over Level 20, you will be able to start working in The Firmament. [Check out our guide to The Firmament!] Speak to Potkin to unlock Ishgard Restoration Recipes in your Crafting Log. These recipes are primarily made with materials from the Diadem, the gatherer-focused half of The Firmament. You can gather them yourself or purchase them off the market board (this is where that 3–5 million gil comes into play).

In addition to purchasing materials, you will want to seek out crafting gear vendors to buy gear as you level up. Here are the vendors and locations for each level:

• Level 21 and 41: Syneyhil, the Fieldcraft Supplier — Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks (X 6.3 Y:11.9)
• Level 53: Evrardoux, the Fieldcraft Supplier — The Pillars (X: 6.5 Y: 9.5)
• Level 63: Shichiho, the Tools Supplier — Kugane (X: 12.7 Y: 12.2)
• Level 71: Vernarth, the Tools Supplier — The Crystarium (X: 9.3 Y: 14.4)

Crafting and turning in items for the Ishgard Restoration will grant you extra EXP, but you will have to make sure you are meeting the required thresholds for the turn-ins. To do this, you need to make sure you have appropriate stats, and you have to figure out a crafting rotation that works.

The ideal crafting rotation will increase the quality of the item as high as possible without depleting durability. Rotations will depend on the stats of your gear and tools, as well as any buffs from food you eat. If you want to figure it out on your own, it can be a time and material consuming process. Thankfully, the community has got your back. You can use tools like FFXIV Teamcraft to help with rotation calculations, and there are many players who have come with a wide variety of ideal gear sets, food, and rotations. Crafting can be flexible, so find out what works best for you!

Up until Level 73, you will continue to make Ishgard Restoration recipes for turn-ins. During this period, we recommend that you ignore your job quests in favor of levelling quickly.

Levels 73–75

You will probably be quite tired of The Firmament by now, and I’m happy to tell you that you can leave. At Level 73, we recommend that you go back and complete all job quests that you previously ignored. The EXP from this will get you to Level 75, at which point you can unlock Collectables and Master Recipes in order to enter the next stage.

Pick up the quest “Inscrutable Tastes” from Morgayne in Foundation (x10.1, y10.4). Completing this quest will unlock the ability to craft collectables.

Levels 75–80

You will now turn your focus to crafting collectables and turning them in to Collectable Appraiser NPCs. Collectable Appraisers are located in Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, Ul’dah, Mor Dhona, Idyllshire, Rhalgr’s Reach, and Eulmore. Collectable Appraisers will grant you with White Scrips, which you can take to Scrip Exchange NPCs to trade for rare and valuable items. This includes the ideal gear for this stage, the Handsaint’s Crafting Armour and Tools, as well as Master Recipe Books.

The materials you will need at this stage will most likely cost you more than anything prior to this, so make sure to keep an eye on the market board and see if prices drop before buying a bunch of items.

Levels 80–90

Endwalker has raised the level cap to 90, but the process for getting your crafters there will continue with collectable crafting. Once you hit level cap, you should turn your attention to acquiring some of the new max level crafting gear for yourself so you can make whatever you want and start turning a profit on the market board!

Crafting Quests

There are two other sources of EXP for levelling crafters. Using these methods will take longer than grinding it out in the Firmament, but it will offer a more diverse experience. If you don’t care about maxing out your crafters as fast as possible (or if you don’t have a ton of gil to buy the gear and materials to do so), here are two more EXP sources for you.

Beast Tribe Dailies

As the name implies, Beast Tribe Dailies refresh on a daily basis and provide a consistent source of EXP as well as a wide variety of other rewards.

In A Realm Reborn, the Ixal provide crafting quests. To unlock them, talk to Scarlet in New Gridania (x9.9, y11.4) to pick up the quest “A Bad Bladder”.

In Heavensward, the Moogles provide crafting quests. To unlock them, talk to the Seething Stonemason in The Churning Mists (x27, y34) to pick up the quest “Tricks and Stones.”

In Stormblood, the Namazu provide crafting quests. To unlock them, you will have to complete two different quest chains in Yanxia — “Courage the Cowardly Lupin” from Fukudo (x30.9, y17.8) and “Perchance to Hanami” from Ochimi (x30.3, y18.3). These chains will lead you to “Something Fishy This Way Comes,” which is given to you by the Floundering Namazu in The Azim Steppe (x17.4, y37.5).

In Shadowbringers, the Dwarves provide crafting quests. Things are equally complicated here as well — complete the two aether current quests “Village of Woe” (Kholusia: x15.3, y28.6), and “A Disagreeable Dwarf” (Kholusia: x12.4, y9.2) to unlock the quest “Ronitt to the Rescue.” Completing it will lead to “It’s Dwarfin’ Time,” which will unlock the dwarf tribe quests.

Levequests

Just as there are battlecraft levequests for combat jobs, there are tradecraft levequests for crafter jobs. You can unlock levequests at Level 10 by visiting the Levemete NPC in your starting city’s Adventurer’s Guild.

Until Level 50, tradecraft leves will be spread across the three starting cities: Gridania, Ul’dah, and Limsa Lominsa. Level 50–58 leves will be in Ishgard, Level 60–68 leves are in Kugane, and Level 70–78 leves are in the Crystarium.

You have a limited amount of leve allowances listed at the bottom of your quest journal. You gain three allowances every twelve (real time) hours.

Levequests are straightforward: you pick one up, and it tells you what item to make and how many. HQ items will give you more EXP. Some levequests will ask you to turn in items three times; these are the best way to maximize your EXP gain.

Crafting Endgame

So you’ve made it to max level with one (or all) of your crafters. What now?

There are multiple avenues for you to pursue. For one, you are capable of making anything you can get the materials for. You can craft high level gear, weapons, and consumables for yourself and your friends. You can also offer up materia melding services (and charge a fee if you’re particularly money-minded).

If you want to make back all the money you might have spent getting to this point, you can turn your eye to the market board and start making things that will sell. Big ticket items vary from server to server, so keep an eye on the things that are selling high and craft to the demand. Good areas to target are:

• Raid food
• Popular glamour items
• Popular furnishings
• Materia
• Items gained from crafter scrip turn-ins
• Accessories (necklaces, bracelets, rings)
• Glamour prisms and dispellers

Look at the items that sell high on your server and go from there! Keep in mind that the market board is a competitive place. It’s in your best interest to check on your items every now and then to adjust prices based on the recent sale history.

Join the High Ground

We hope you enjoyed our FFXIV crafting guide! Some small tweaks with Endwalker’s release have made crafting a tiny bit easier and there are more players in the game now than ever, so there’s never been a better time to pick up crafting. Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media for more FFXIV crafting and gathering guides.

Happy gaming!