Desynthesis Unlock and Levelling in FFXIV
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.
Desynthesis Explained
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. 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.
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 can not 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 all classes at Level 30 or above. 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: 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
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 which is not important for leveling but helpful in knowing when you reach the requirements for "Rare" drops.
Where to See Desynthesis Levels
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.
What Does Rare Do?
Having your Desynthesis level be at or above the item level of the item you want to break down increases the chances of obtaining "Rare" items. This ultimately means a few things:
- Items now drop their HQ counterparts roughly 20-30% of the time.
- Increased drop rates of items which players may consider "Rare" such as Primal materials, demimateria and items you may not consider to be a crafting material for that item. There is no verifiable information of what items specifically count as rare.
- Many items which have a chance to drop multiple of themselves and will always give their maximum amounts. This is primarily crafting materials or demimateria at higher ilvs.
- There are no items which are only unlocked when you gain "Rare".
It is not worth actively levelling Desynthesis just to gain an increased rare chance on some items. It is rarely worth the cost and most items of value are at lower levels anyway. For example lv50 Big Fish.
What Determines How Much XP You Gain?
At a first glance, Desynthesis XP seems almost entirely random but this is not actually the case. The game has a base amount (shown as good in the example) and then 4 other factors of that. The game will pick from any of those.
The base amount of Desynthesis XP is based on the following factors:
- Bacon Broth and Tinker's Calm buffs.
- What your Desynthesis level is (not relative to the item your breaking down).
- What your Desynthesis level is (relative to the item your breaking down).
What i mean by relative and not relative to the item your breaking down, is that before ilv279 you have a higher base XP gain. You also gain less XP once your desynth level is +10 to the items Ilv and gain 0XP once your +50.
Desynthesis Levelling Methods
There are a few methods to level Desynthesis each with their own benefits and downsides, these are:
- Passive Levelling (Recommended at Endgame, impossible on Culinarian).
- Mass buying items off of the marketboard or from vendors.
- Mass Levelling using the Highest ilv item that is cheap.
- Targeted Levelling using curated items at various ilv ranges in our guide below.
Passive Desynthesis Levelling Explained
Passively levelling desynthesis means simply breaking down items as you get them from running other pieces of content. For example using gear dropped in dungeons or purchased via Allagan Tomestones. Because there are no experience point penalties or bonuses for your desynthesis level being below the level of the item your breaking down, you can simply use whatever items are cheap or convenient.
This method is of course slower but requires no real investment into desynthesis as you slowly level from completing roulettes and running endgame content. This is often the best method when your chosen class gets to endgame levels because items can become expensive.
Culinarian can not level via passive methods because they require big fish for the final desynthesis levels. This means you either need to buy the fish from the marketboard, farm big fish, or wait for a new expansion which has higher ilv non-big fish.
Desynthesis Levelling Advice
Listed below you will find levelling advice for each class for items you can either farm or buy. I would not personally recommend buying items to level as it is rarely worth the cost.
Make sure to use Bacon Broth and Tinker's Calm to speed up the levelling process. Because of how powerful these buffs are when combined, i recommend trying to bulk desynthesize to make the most out of your buffs.
It does not matter if your 20 levels or 200 levels below an items ilv, you gain the same experience regardless. This means that you can simply spam the highest ilv item in our guides, it will be easier but more expensive.
Estimations are not always guaranteed to be perfect but provide a rough amount of items and materials you may need to gather to level this class. Feel free to sell any additional items to make some gil, but you also may need to buy more items.
Carpenter Desynthesis Levelling
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.
Lignum Vitae Ring is the level range where things start to drag a little. Luckily, this is an incredibly easy item to make. Carpenter also does not have good leveling options at endgame from hunts so those have not been mentioned.
Level Range | Recommendation | Unbuffed Estimate | Fully Buffed Estimate |
---|---|---|---|
1-50 | Yew Crook | ~36 | ~22 |
50-120 | Hallowed Chestnut Ring | ~36 | ~22 |
120-210 | Larch Ring | ~59 | ~37 |
210-300 | Zelkova Ring | ~88 | ~55 |
300-440 | Lignum Vitae Ring | ~175 | ~110 |
440-490 | Horse Chestnut Ring of Gathering | ~63 | ~40 |
490-544 | Ironwood Ring of Crafting | ~68 | ~43 |
544-590 | Integral Ring of Crafting | ~67 | ~42 |
590 Onwards | Passive Farming | N/A | N/A |
590-650 | i610 Rinascita Gear, i620 Tome Gear, i625 Dungeon Gear, i630 Abyssos Gear | 75-105 | 45-65 |
Blacksmith Desynthesis Levelling
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.
Blacksmith becomes a bit grindy around the 300-520 range until you start to farm cheap hunt items. If you do not want to craft a few hundred tools i would suggest skipping straight to hunts from i300 or passively farm from around i300.
Level Range | Recommendation | Unbuffed Estimate | Fully Buffed Estimate |
---|---|---|---|
1-60 | Steel Doming Hammer | ~42 | ~27 |
50-100 | Mythrite Scythe | ~21 | ~13 |
100-210 | High Steel Claw Hammer | ~70 | ~44 |
210-300 | Molybdenum Mortar | ~88 | ~55 |
300-410 | Titanbronze Claw Hammer | ~138 | ~86 |
410-520 | Bismuth Mortar | ~151 | ~94 |
520-570 | Manganese Mortar | ~72 | ~45 |
570 Onwards | Passive Farming | N/A | N/A |
570-620 | i590 Radiants Gear from Hunts | ~72 | ~45 |
620-650 | i610 Rinascita Gear, i620 Tome Gear, i625 Dungeon Gear, i630 Abyssos Gear | 40-65 | 25-45 |
Armorer Desynthesis Levelling
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.
Level Range | Recommendation | Unbuffed Estimate | Fully Buffed Estimate |
---|---|---|---|
1-50 | Steel Frypan | ~22 | ~14 |
50-100 | Mythrite Alembic | ~29 | ~17 |
100-200 | High Steel Thermal Alembic | ~62 | ~39 |
200-270 | High Steel Helm of Fending (Or Maiming) | ~62 | ~39 |
270-340 | Deepgold Rail Frypan | ~86 | ~54 |
340-410 | Deepgold Wings of Fending | ~88 | ~55 |
410-530 | Bismuth Fat Cat Frypan | ~151 | ~94 |
530-570 | Manganese Chocobo Frypan | ~59 | ~37 |
570 Onwards | Passive Farming | N/A | N/A |
570-620 | Radiant's Shield cheap from hunts | ~72 | ~45 |
620-650 | i610 Rinascita Gear, i620 Tome Gear, i625 Dungeon Gear, i630 Abyssos Gear | 40-65 | 25-45 |
Goldsmith Desynthesis Levelling
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.
Goldsmiths primary method tends to involve rings which is why the level ranges generally end in 5 while levelling this class. They also often have incredibly easy items which you can make.
Level Range | Recommendation | Unbuffed Estimate | Fully Buffed Estimate |
---|---|---|---|
1-50 | Horn Ring | ~31 | ~19 |
50-125 | Agate Ring of Aiming (Or Any Stat) | ~38 | ~24 |
125-265 | Triphane Ring of Aiming (Or Any Stat) | ~105 | ~66 |
265-395 | Islewolf Ring of Aiming (Or Any Stat) | ~159 | ~100 |
395-525 | Ametrine Ring of Aiming (Or Any Stat exclusind Crafting) | ~163 | ~102 |
525-560 | Star Quartz Ring of Aiming (Or Any Stat) | ~45 | ~28 |
560-590 | Integral Ring of Crafting | ~47 | ~29 |
590 Onwards | Passive Farming | N/A | N/A |
590-620 | i590 Radiants Accessories cheap from hunts | ~47 | ~29 |
620-650 | i610 Rinascita Gear, i620 Tome Gear, i625 Dungeon Gear, i630 Abyssos Gear | 40-65 | 25-45 |
Leatherworker Desynthesis Levelling
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.
Because mob materials can be difficult to farm at lower levels, an alternative option would be rush straight to i540 using only Kumbhiraskin Ring of Gathering, which will take ~504 unbuffed or ~315 buffed. This then uses a single material from Bicolored Gemstones making it easy to farm. I would not recommend this if you plan to buy your way through.
Level Range | Recommendation | Unbuffed Estimate | Fully Buffed Estimate |
---|---|---|---|
1-50 | Toadskin Ring | ~29 | ~18 |
50-90 | Wyvernskin Ring | ~28 | ~18 |
90-210 | Gyuki Leather Ring | ~75 | ~47 |
210-300 | Gazelleskin Ring | ~88 | ~55 |
300-340 | Smilodonskin Ring | ~80 | ~50 |
340-405 | Atrociraptorskin Amulet of Aiming (Or Any Stat) | ~82 | ~51 |
405-540 | Kumbhiraskin Ring of Gathering | ~169 | ~106 |
540-590 | Ophiotauroskin Ring of Gathering | ~72 | ~45 |
590 Onwards | Passive Farming | N/A | N/A |
590-620 | i590 Radiants Gloves from hunts | ~47 | ~29 |
620-650 | i610 Rinascita Gear, i620 Tome Gear, i625 Dungeon Gear, i630 Abyssos Gear | 40-65 | 25-45 |
Weaver Desynthesis Levelling
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.
Level Range | Recommendation | Unbuffed Estimate | Fully Buffed Estimate |
---|---|---|---|
1-50 | Velveteen Shortgloves | ~31 | ~19 |
50-125 | Rainbow Halfgloves of Scouting | ~38 | ~24 |
125-265 | Bloodhempen Armguards of Striking | ~105 | ~66 |
265-340 | Brightlinen Turban of Crafting | ~91 | ~57 |
340-430 | Dwarven Cotton Bandana | ~125 | ~79 |
405-540 | Fingerless Darkhempen Gloves of Healing | ~119 | ~75 |
540-570 | AR-Caean Velvet Work Cap of Crafting | ~38 | ~24 |
570 Onwards | Passive Farming | N/A | N/A |
570-590 | i570 Moonward Gloves from hunts | ~27 | ~17 |
590-620 | i590 Radiants Gloves from hunts | ~47 | ~29 |
620-650 | i610 Rinascita Gear, i620 Tome Gear, i625 Dungeon Gear, i630 Abyssos Gear | 40-65 | 25-45 |
Alchemist Desynthesis Levelling
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.
Level Range | Recommendation | Unbuffed Estimate | Fully Buffed Estimate |
---|---|---|---|
1-50 | Yew Wand | ~31 | ~19 |
50-125 | Archaeoskin Codex | ~38 | ~24 |
125-160 | Botanist's Dried Herbs | ~22 | ~14 |
160-275 | Gyuki Leather Codex | ~94 | ~59 |
275-440 | Dishware | ~206 | ~129 |
440-525 | Gaja Codex | ~107 | ~67 |
525-570 | Ophiotauroskin Magitek Codex | ~61 | ~38 |
570 Onwards | Passive Farming | N/A | N/A |
570-590 | i570 Moonward Codex/Grimoire from hunts | ~27 | ~17 |
590-620 | i590 Radiants Codex/Grimoire from hunts | ~47 | ~29 |
620-650 | i610 Rinascita Gear, i620 Tome Gear, i625 Dungeon Gear, i630 Abyssos Gear | 40-65 | 25-45 |
Culinarian Desynthesis Levelling
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.
You can get to desynthesis level 620 using normal fish. From that point onwards you need to use big fish to gain any higher levels.
Changelog
- 30 Mar. 2023: Updated to 6.55. Overhauled advice based on new desynthesis theorycrafting from the Cloud DC tests.
- 20 Feb. 2022: Guide added.
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This guide has been written by I'nanghal Shikhu (Discord - Shikhu#3190). He is a Crafting & Gathering theorycrafter, mentor for The Balance and also a guide maker for Teamcraft alongside Icy Veins. He also managed to obtain 10 top 12's on the leaderboard during the Ishgard Restoration rankings.
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