How to Unlock Desynthesis in FFXIV

Last updated on Feb 20, 2022 at 12:00 by Kaguraa 1 comment

Welcome to the guide on Desynthesis in Final Fantasy XIV. This guide covers the basics of Desynthesis, including its uses, how to unlock it, and how to level it efficiently.

1.

Desynthesis

Desynthesis is a system for Disciples of the Hand that allows you to break down items (e.g. dungeons, trials, and crafted) into the requisite crafting materials and other materials.

In order to unlock Desynthesis, you must reach Level 30 with any Disciple of the Hand class. Keep in mind that you can only desynthesize items where you meet this level requirement. For example, you cannot desynthesize items on a Level 20 class even if you have it unlocked on a Level 30 class. So if you wish to desynthesize items on any class, you will need to have them all Level 30. The full list of requirements can be seen below:

  • Unlock Quest: Gone to Pieces
  • NPC/Location: Syntgoht - Ul'dah - Steps of Thal (x14.0, y10.0)
  • Level 30 on your desired Disciple of Hand
  • Requisite Quest(s): Life, Materia and Everything

You can access the Desynthesis action from the Actions & Traits menu within the Character tab in the section General. Note: This action can be assigned to your hotbar

2.

Why Unlock Desynthesis?

Again, Desynthesis is an action that allows you to break down items into their requisite crafting materials, or other materials. This can allow you to passively obtain items whilst doing routine content such as roulettes. Additionally, you can desynthesize primal weapons (primarily Blacksmith/Armorer), making it a lucrative method for obtaining the primal materials. Both of which you can use to fuel your own crafted items, or for a passive source of income.

Items that are available to be desynthesized can be seen from the item information pop-up when you hover over an item. It will specify a recommended skill level. The importance of this will be made clear in the leveling Guidance, Advice and Strategies section.

FFXIV Recommended Desynthesis level
3.

Leveling Guidance, Advice, and Strategies

First and foremost, there are consumables which you can use in order to increase the point gain towards your Desynthesis for each successful attempt. These items are the Bacon Broth Icon Bacon Broth and Tinker's Calm Icon Tinker's Calm. These can be crafted by Culinarian and Alchemist, respectively. Alternatively, you can purchase these items from the marketboard.

If you wish to view your Desynthesis levels, then you can do so from the Character menu by navigating to Classes/Jobs and selecting DoH/L. The small menu-bar graphically shows how close you are to capping your Desynthesis level. If you click on a DoH class, then it will bring up the Desynthesis Skill menu

FFXIV Menu displayed when viewing your Desynthesis levels.

Keep in mind that the two methods being covered are passively leveling and actively leveling. Passive leveling involves desynthesizing items as you naturally acquire them through the course of your leveling, dungeon, and trials journey. With this method, your concern is to level it over time whilst maintaining a slow and steady profit. The key point to take into consideration is that your point gain will be relative to the level of the item you are desynthesizing. For example, if your Desynthesis skill points are close to or lower than the recommended Desynthesis level, then your point yield will be most effective here. Similarly, if your Desynthesis skill is above the recommended then your point gain will steadily decrease. Important: If your Desynthesis level is higher than that of the item you are desynthesizing, you have an increased chance to obtain rarer items and the yield is increased as per the 5.1 Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty patch notes. These rare items include Demimateria, Materia, and material drops which you can obtain from extreme primals (e.g., Seiryu's Scale). To reiterate, this is an increased chance, not a requirement.

For more active leveling on Desynthesis, this will involve mass-crafting items, purchasing them from the Market Board, or by using a vendor which can be a fairly significant cost initially, depending on how actively you intend to level. With this in mind, the primary goal of finding items to desynthesize is that items that can be cheap to craft, either by a monetary perspective or time investment in terms of gathering. If you wish to avoid crafting, you will look for items that are cheapest at vendor price. When you are grinding Desynthesis, ensure that you are always using Bacon Broth Icon Bacon Broth and Tinker's Calm Icon Tinker's Calm, as it is a significant gain to Desynthesis points.

For convenience, a list of example items is provided below for each Disciple of the Hand class:

3.1.

Carpenter

Carpenter generally covers a majority of accessories for Disciples of Hand and many of the combat-related classes, as well as the weapons for White Mage and furniture.

  • Yew Crook - Desynthesis skill 1-50~
  • Hallowed Chestnut Ring - Desynthesis skill 50-140~
  • Larch Ring - Desynthesis Skill 140-240~
  • Zelkova Ring - Desynthesis Skill 240-330~
  • Lignum Vitae Ring - Desynthesis Skill 330-460~
  • Horse Chestnut Ring of Gathering - Desynthesis Skill 460-510~
  • Ironwood Ring of Crafting - Desynthesis Skill 510-550~
  • Integral Ring of Crafting - Desynthesis Skill 550+
3.2.

Blacksmith

Blacksmith is generally by far one of the more important classes that you can level desynthesis on. This is driven by the vast majority of weapons and tools are covered by Blacksmith. Most importantly, this includes the extreme primal weapons. Furthermore, when you get the loot coffers that allow you to select loot, then you can grab the item for Paladin - this will allow you to get both a shield and weapon which can be desynthesized. Keep in mind that the shield is from Armorer.

  • Steel Doming Hammer - Desynthesis skill 1-60~
  • Mythrite Scythe - Desynthesis skill 60-140~
  • High Steel Claw Hammer - Desynthesis Skill 140-240~
  • Molydenum Mortar - Desynthesis Skill 240-330~
  • Titanbronze Claw Hammer - Desynthesis Skill 330-440~
  • Bismuth Mortar - Desynthesis Skill 460-550~
  • Manganese Mortar- Desynthesis Skill 550+
3.3.

Armorer

Armorer is similar to Blacksmith. Whilst it does not have as many items that you can desynthesize outside of shields or some left-side items, typically from Fending/Maiming, you can still utilize the benefit of Paladin item coffers from trials so that you can get two-for-one.

  • Steel Frypan - Desynthesis skill 1-70~
  • Mythrite Alembic - Desynthesis skill 60-140~
  • High Steel Helm of Fending/Maiming - Desynthesis Skill 140-290~
  • Deepgold Wings of Fending - Desynthesis Skill 290-430~
  • Bismuth Fat Cat Frypan - Desynthesis Skill 430-550~
  • Manganese Chocobo Frypan - Desynthesis Skill 550+~
3.4.

Goldsmith

Goldsmith covers the vast majority of accessories in the game, in addition to weapons for Red Mage, Astrologian, Sage, and Black Mage. This class can be ideal for making use of accessories that you loot from dungeons.

  • Horn Ring - Desynthesis skill 1-60~
  • Any Agate Ring - Desynthesis skill 60-140~
  • Any Triphane Ring, or Koppranickel Armlets - Desynthesis Skill 140-290~
  • Any Islewolf Ring - Desynthesis Skill 290-430~
  • Any Ametrine Ring (Excluding Crafter) - Desynthesis Skill 430-540~
  • Any Star Quartz Ring - Desynthesis Skill 540+
3.5.

Leatherworker

Leatherworker is the most difficult and expensive to level. This is due to all of the crafts requiring leather, and the requisite material can only be obtained either farming monster drops, Gemstone trading, or retainer ventures. This class can have a lot of mileage of use, however, as desynthesis of any items that are from Leatherworker (dungeons) can be reduced into leathers. A majority of the left-side gear for Disciples of Hand/Land and War/Magic can be reduced from this class.

  • Toadskin Ring - Desynthesis skill 1-60~
  • Wyvernskin Choker - Desynthesis skill 60-130~
  • Gyuki Leather Ring - Desynthesis Skill 130-240~
  • Gazelleskin Ring - Desynthesis Skill 240-330~
  • Smilodonskin Ring - Desynthesis Skill 330-360~
  • Any Atrociraptorskin Necklace - Desynthesis Skill 360-430~
  • Kumbhiraskin Ring of Gathering - Desynthesis Skill 430+

Note: If Kumbhiraskin is too expensive to craft, then you can substitute with Facet Halfgloves of Casting until 480~.

3.6.

Weaver

Much like Leatherworker, Weaver commonly reduces left-side gear for Disciple of Hand/Land and War/Magic classes. Many of the items from Weaver will require Leathers in order to craft. However, that has been minimized in this list. You will typically be using this class to desynthesize many items from dungeons as it does not craft any weapons.

  • Velveteen Shortgloves - Desynthesis skill 1-60~
  • Rainbow Halfgloves of Scouting - Desynthesis skill 60-140~
  • Bloodhempen Armguards of Striking - Desynthesis Skill 140-290~
  • Brightlinen Turban of Crafting - Desynthesis Skill 290-360~
  • Dwarven Cotton Bandana - Desynthesis Skill 360-460~
  • Fingerless Darkhempen Gloves of Healing - Desynthesis Skill 460-540~
  • Scarlet Moko Halfslops of Gathering- Desynthesis Skill 540+
3.7.

Alchemist

Alchemist in terms of combat only manages to deal primarily with weapons from Summoner and Scholar, especially in the later parts of the game. Furthermore, many of these weapons require leathers, meaning you can also expect this class to be very similar to Leatherworker, albeit with not as much reward. It also deals with many of the plant-based furnishings.

  • Yew Wand - Desynthesis skill 1-60~
  • Archaeoskin Codex/Grimoire - Desynthesis skill 60-140~
  • Botanist's Dried Herbs - Desynthesis Skill 140-190~
  • Gyuki Leather Codex/Grimoire - Desynthesis Skill 190-300~
  • Dishware, or Bluespirit Codex/Grimoire - Desynthesis Skill 300-460~
  • Gaja Codex/Grimoire - Desynthesis Skill 460-540~
  • Ophiotauroskin Magitek Codex/Grimoire- Desynthesis Skill 540+
3.8.

Culinarian

One of the complexities with Culinarian is that it deals exclusively in fish. For this reason alone, it is strongly recommended that you primarily consult the Market Board. Particular recommendations will not be highlighted for this given the chance for supply/demand to change on the fish. You can filter the marketboard according to Seafood, which will give you a list of all purchasable fish.

Get started with lower level Desynthesis on fishing you can go to: Holasfhis - Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks (x10.4, y13.7) to purchase low level fish.

4.

Vendor Locations

This section will be looking at the vendor locations where you can purchase gear to desynthesize. Keep in mind when you are doing vendors you want to minimize the cost as much as possible. With this in mind, always select the cheapest and most viable items from the vendors. The item you gain Desynthesis points on will always be the same as the repair class for the item.

Expansion Location(s)
A Realm Reborn (0-100~) Found at any of the major city states:
Limsa Lominsa - Lower Decks (East Hawkers' Alley)
New Gridania (Ebony Stalls & Rosewood Stalls Near Leatherworkers' Guild & Shaded Bower)
Ul'Dah - Sapphire Avenue Exchange Aethernet
Heavensward (100-150~) Norlaise - The Pillars (X:7.1 Y:10.1) - Foundation - The Jeweled Crozier
Elbert - The Pillars (X:6.0 Y:10.0)
Seghuie - The Pillars (X:7.4 Y: 10.4)
Stormblood (150-290~) Independent Merchant - Rhalgr's Reach (X:12.6 Y:11.0)
Shadowbringers (290-440~) Ania, Doddard, and Shai-Tistt - The Crystarium (X:9.0 Y:13.4)
Endwalker (440+) Y'sohnjin, Cwengyth - Old Sharlayan (X:12.2 Y:9.6)
5.

Reaching End-Game Desynthesis Levels (550~)

Once you reach endgame (550~) with any given class, it is highly recommended switching over to passively leveling by looting on gear in dungeons. More active leveling will require master recipe items. Furthermore, you can loot gear from the extreme primals. This will allow you to make a profit over time.

6.

Changelog

  • 20 Feb. 2022: Guide added.
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