Gathering Melding and Best in Slot Gear Meldsets For FFXIV Dawntrail Patch 7.4

This is our main "Best in Slot" meldset available and should last until the new level cap in version 8.0.

This set is designed around breakpoints for patch 7.4 as well as theorycrafted values for Cosmic Exploration breakpoints for the remainder of the expansion. The best food to use is Stuffed Peppers on legendary nodes allowing you to hit both the 5600 Perception Boon bonus and the 990GP Integrity bonus. For collectables, no food is needed unless you are trying to hit specific breakpoints in Cosmic but Nasi Goreng can be handy if you want the GP.

Benefits Include:

• Able to hit the most important breakpoints on legendary nodes.
• Planned around calculated breakpoints for future Cosmic Exploration planets ensuring you cap collectable skills no matter how high the content goes.
• Enough GP to allow you to perform the 1000GP collectable rotation foodless simply using the additional GP gained when hitting the node.

Downsides:

• Unable to hit the +3 yield node bonus without extensive remelds and the loss of another node bonus. You cannot hit all 3.
• More expensive than the Mid Tier set but more yield, the benefits are not that drastic to be worth using on 7.4's legendary nodes alone.
• Unable to hit Bountiful Yield 2 +3 breakpoint on glv 730/750 nodes (5949/6253 Gathering).
• Planned with Big Fish in mind with a good amount of gathering to ensure minimums are hit.

For now, fishers should just meld GP into the first slot or use their relic.

Meld Adjustments with 7.4: This set has +20 Perception swapped to the offhand compared to 7.3's release to hit the yield node bonus.

This is our Mid Tier gathering set for the current Endgame gear offering lower stats and therefore less yield but having much easier melding. This is planned around cheaper overmelds in general and less overmelds to save even more gil while still hitting important breakpoints.

This set is designed around being cheaper but still hitting good breakpoints in 7.4 as well as still being good no matter what the final Cosmic planets throw.

There is an optional meld addition where you can add 19 GP to be able to do the 1000 GP rotation for collectables using Nasi Goreng. Or 53 Perception to be able to hit the integrity node bonus on 7.4's legendary nodes using Stuffed Peppers.

Benefits Include:

• Significantly cheaper than the High Tier set, using a lot more lower grade materia and less materia in general.
• Hits minimum perception.
• Room to add GP materia if you want the 1000GP collectable rotation or 7.4's Node Bonuses.

Downsides:

• Need an extra gathering meld to hit 7.3's 4450 Gathering requirement on Big Fish so gathering melds/food are required for any aspiring Big Fishers on a budget.
• Hits less node bonuses in 7.4 meaning slightly less yield.
• Low GP to make the set cheaper which impacts yield.

Everyone including Fishing should use the relic!

Meld Adjustments with 7.4: This set has +40 Perception added to the body and hands compared to the set's release in 7.3 to hit the 30% boon node bonus with Peppers.

A budget set is would be simply melding gear until you reach enough Perception to be able to gather everything in the game. As of 7.4 this is 5600 and does require food. Our Budget set completely melds Perception to then also hit the 40% boon node bonus on current legendary nodes.

Because this is a budget set, it uses scrip gear having less meld slots but still being more than viable enough to do everything in the game and hit the next expansions cap.

You can use the relic in this set if you want and use it instead of a Scrip tool.