Desynthesis Unlock and Levelling in FFXIV

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. This can be a great source of passive materials or additional income.

In order to unlock Desynthesis, you must reach Level 30 with each Disciple of the Hand Crafting 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. 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.

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.

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.

At first, the amount of XP you gain from Desynthesis can look pretty random, but it's actually determined by a few clear factors. There's always a base XP amount that depends primarily on your current Desynthesis level. The game then randomly picks a multiplier from five possible options (from "Terrible" to "Amazing"), each of which gives you a different percentage of that base amount.

These factors influence how much Desynthesis XP you'll get:

• Buffs like Bacon Broth (10% NQ, 20% HQ) and Tinker's Calm (30% NQ, 40% HQ).
• Your overall Desynthesis level: At lower Desynthesis levels, you'll naturally get higher base XP values from any item you break down.
• Your Desynthesis level compared to the item's level: You'll gain reduced XP if you're significantly higher level than the item you're breaking down.

To put it simply, when you're new to Desynthesis, you'll get more XP overall. But as your level grows higher, breaking down items won't be as rewarding until you settle in at the "standard" 0.8 levels per item. Additionally, once your Desynthesis level is about 10 levels higher than the item you're breaking down, you'll see XP start dropping off significantly. If your Desynthesis level reaches 50 levels above the item's level, you'll no longer earn any XP from breaking that item down.

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.

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.

Any players who have no other uses for poetics can also use them as substitutes at any point while leveling as long as the ilv of the item you purchase with tomes isn’t significantly below your desynthesis level.

There is no downside to using items that are significantly above your desynth level. So if you have access to Radz-at-Han then simply spend your poetics at the Tomestone Exchange on the i660 items.

For any individual class, you can use poetics items from ilv1 to ilv670. It will take 667-417 items depending on the XP buffs used.

5.

Desynthesis Levelling Recommendations

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 Blacksmith Armorer Goldsmith Leatherworker Weaver Alchemist Culinarian

5.1.

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.

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
590-620	Ginseng Ring	~38	~24
620-674	Acacia Ring	~68	~43
674-700	Claro Walnut Bracelet of Gathering	~33	~21
700-720	i700 Combat Gear (Sack of Nuts)	~27	~17
720-740	i720 Combat Gear (Allagan Tomestones)	~27	~17

5.2.

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.

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 to higher level crafts say i570 onwards if they are cheaper.

Many of Blacksmith's recommendations do not necessarily need to be that exact item. Many DoH DoL tools are crafted by this class and use similar materials. If you find that a specific craft at that ilv is cheaper on your server then do that.

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
570-620	Mountain Chromite Awl	~63	~40
620-680	Titanium Gold Culinary Knife	~76	~47
680-720	i700 Combat Gear (Sack of Nuts)	~52	~33
720-740	i720 Combat Gear (Allagan Tomestones)	~27	~17

5.3.

Armorer Desynthesis Levelling

Armorer is similar to Blacksmith and even shares intermediate materials. Whilst it does not have as many items that you can desynthesize outside of shields or some left-side gear, typically from Fending/Maiming, Armorer is often easy to level at endgame due to shields being a cheap item.

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
570-673	Cobalt Tungsten Kite Shield	~129	~81
673-700	Black Star Ring of Crafting	~34	~22
700-720	i700 Combat Gear (Sack of Nuts)	~27	~17
720-740	i720 Combat Gear (Allagan Tomestones)	~27	~17

5.4.

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 excluding Crafting)	~163	~102
525-560	Star Quartz Ring of Aiming (Or Any Stat)	~45	~28
560-590	Integral Ring of Crafting	~47	~29
590-665	Ihuykanite Bracelet of Healing(Or Any Stat)	~94	~59
665-700	Black Star Earrings of Crafting	~44	~28
700-720	i700 Combat Gear (Sack of Nuts)	~27	~17
720-740	i720 Combat Gear (Allagan Tomestones)	~27	~17

5.5.

Leatherworker Desynthesis Levelling

Leatherworker is the most difficult and expensive to level. This is due to all of the crafts requiring leather, which 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
590-655	Loboskin Amulet of Healing	~82	~51
665-700	Gomphotherium Ring	~61	~38
700-720	i700 Combat Gear (Sack of Nuts)	~27	~17
720-740	i720 Combat Gear (Allagan Tomestones)	~27	~17

5.6.

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. 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
570-660	Sarcenet Trapper's Hat of Gathering	~113	~71
660-700	Thunderyards Silk Cap of Crafting	~51	~32
700-720	i700 Combat Gear (Sack of Nuts)	~27	~17
720-740	i720 Combat Gear (Allagan Tomestones)	~27	~17

5.7.

Alchemist Desynthesis Levelling

Alchemist has an incredibly easy item you can desynth to speed through half of the levels which makes this a relatively simple class. Outside of a few useful furnishings, Alchemist's main crafts are books for Summoner and Scholar alongside Pictomancer weapons.

Level Range	Recommendation	Unbuffed Estimate	Fully Buffed Estimate
1-440	Dishware	~379	~237
440-525	Gaja Codex	~107	~67
525-570	Ophiotauroskin Magitek Codex	~61	~38
570-665	Ceiba Round Brush	~119	~75
665-700	Claro Walnut Flat Brush	~55	~34
700-720	i700 Combat Gear (Sack of Nuts)	~27	~17
720-740	i720 Combat Gear (Allagan Tomestones)	~27	~17

5.8.

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.

Level Range	Recommendation	Unbuffed Estimate	Fully Buffed Estimate
1-690	Anything Cheap on the Market Board	~692	~432
690-740	i690 Fish gathered or purchased	~257	~161

You can get to desynthesis level 740 using normal fish. Unless you are a hardcore fisher main, Save the Big Fish for later patches. You can spend the time now starting to stockpile big fish with the 7.1/2 fish being relatively easy to catch and can then use them later on once the desynth cap is beyond 740 where normal fish will stop being effective.