FFXIV Crafting Guide & FAQ

Everything you need to know about crafting in FFXIV! From becoming one, to leveling up to 50, you’ll find the info you need right here.

So you wanna be a crafter in a realm reborn ey? Well you came to the right place! Everything you need to know about crafting is found right here!

How do I become a crafter?

Once you pass your level 10 story quest, you can gain different jobs and classes. Crafting classes are no exception. Basically, just like choosing any class for the first time, any Disciple of Hand class you pick up starts at level 1, and you begin the cycle of leveling up yet again. Luckily, crafting is fun (for us at least) and we found out some great tips to make leveling as quick and easy as possible.

Also, just like any combat class, you can switch into any Disciple of Hand class by changing your mainhand weapon.

“I already know the basics to crafting! I want to know how to level up fast!, Don’t worry, we have a crafting leveling guide right here.

Where are the crafting guilds?

The different guilds are located in different cities. We have all of that listed down here: Crafting (and other) Guilds Locations

Talking to the guild receptionist in any guild should point you to the guildmaster. Who gives you a small task (Quest) to begin your career as a crafter!

Crafting: The basics

You can access your item recipes through your crafting log. As pictured below.

ARR Crafting menu location

Your crafting log acts a lot like your hunting log, which is different for each Disciple of Hand class you have. Similarly, completing an entry in your crafting log grants bonus EXP. More on this later.

Once you select an item you want to craft and press “Synthesize”, you will be brought to what we like to call the crafting mini-game interface. But first, here’s a small explanation of the different things found in the crafting UI.

 

Crafting UI Explanation

ARR Crafting Log UI

The crafting Log

1. Class Selector
You can easily choose which crafting class you wish to use/level with this little selector.

2. Level Selector
“Recipe Level” shows you the recipes you have, sorted by levels, depending on what crafting class you selected above.

3. Recipe List
Clicking on the level selector now populates this field with the different recipes you have of the selected level.

4. Item Stats
This shows you a preview of how much durability the item starts with. Durability determines how many steps you can take “working” the item before you fail or succeed. Also you can see the items base “difficulty” to craft.

5. Base Quality Indicator
By selecting High quality base materials, you can increase the amount of quality the item has even BEFORE you begin crafting. This makes high quality base materials very valuable.

6. Materials Required
Here you can see the various materials you need to begin crafting. Pretty self-explanatory.

7. No Quality / High Quality Material Selector
These little boxes give you the choice whether you wish to use a No Quality or High Quality base material.

8. Synthesize Button
Clicking on this begins the actual crafting process. Pictured below.

Crafting UI

Crafting and synthesis UI

1. Item preview
Shows you what item you’re crafting.

2. Current Step
Shows you how many times you have ‘worked’ this craft.

3. Durability
Shows current / max amount of durability. Durability goes down by 10 (normally) for every time you work the item. When it reaches zero, and the progress bar isn’t full – you fail the craft.

4. Material Condition
Material condition indicates how ‘responsive’ the current step is when trying to add quality. Normal grants no bonus, Perfect gives a huge bonus to quality if successful, and Poor material states should be avoided by waiting, or by adding synthesis.

5. Progress Bar
Shows you the current ‘completion’ level of the item you’re trying to craft. Adding to this bar is based on your Craftsmanship stat.

6. Quality Bar
Indicated how much ‘quality’ the item has. Note that there is no middle-ground. Either the item comes out as normal or high quality. You do not need 100% to get a HQ item. The higher the bar goes, the better chance you have in obtaining a HQ item (see the box above which says “HQ 2%”). You can increase this before you even start crafting by adding HQ base materials. Adding to this bar is based on your Control stat.

7. Quit
Cancels your current crafting attempt.

Crafting Actions

Disciple of Hand classes currently do not have traits, but they do have skills. Many skills are shared among all Crafting / Disciple of Hand. Below are a table of skills shared between all crafting classes.

NameLevelCost
Basic Synthesis1FreeIncreases Progress
Efficiency: 100%
Success Rate: 90%
Basic Touch524 CPIncreases Quality
Efficiency: 100%
Success Rate: 70%
Masters Mend794 CPRestores item durability by 30.
Steady Hand922 CPImproves action success rate by 20% for the next five steps.
Inner Quiet1118 CPGrants a bonus to control with every increase in Quality.
Observe1312 CPDo nothing for one step.
Standard Touch1838 CPIncreases Quality.
Efficiency: 125%
Success Rate: 80%
Great Strides2132 CPDoubles the efficiency of the next touch action.
Effect Active for the next three steps.
Masters Mend II28150 CPRestores item durability by 60.
Standard Synthesis3315 CPIncreases Progress.
Efficiency: 150%
Success Rate: 90%
Advanced Touch3752 CPIncreases Quality.
Efficiency: 150%
Success Rate: 90%

Each class currently offer three unique crafting skills, all learned at level 15, 25 and 43. Descriptions and discussions of these skills are found on their respective pages.

Check on your guildmaster every 5 levels

Just like combat classes, crafting classes also have class-specific quests. They seem to come every 5 levels as far as we could gather. Doing these give you a free equipment upgrade, as well as some important skills to be unlocked for your class. Usually, they also “send you on the right direction” if you feel lost about what to craft, or what kind of materials you need.

Crafting gear!?

Yes, you need gear to craft too. Crafting level isn’t the only thing to consider when trying to craft higher level stuff. Crafting gear plays a big part in increasing your crafting stats. The different crafting classes each have a unique Main and Off-hand weapon (Tools). For example, equipping a Saw makes you a carpenter, and it’s unique offhand tool is a Claw Hammer.

Obtaining the much sought after high-quality items will be nearly impossible without a great set of crafting gear. We will be making a guide on that too, soon enough!

Check out: Crafting Gear Guide

Crafting Leveling Guide

You can check out our Crafting leveling guide, for tips on how to gain EXP fast. Hurry up and be well on your way to 50!

There are also Class Specific Leveling Guides:

Check out our other crafting class guides:
Alchemist | Armorsmith | Blacksmith | Carpenter | Culinarian | Goldsmith | Leatherworker | Weaver

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