Critical Break: 60-100 Series: Smithing

This article was written by me originally appearing on Ringthree's blog.

Critical Break is our crafting and economics column written by Qtipus. Q is an experienced crafter and also well versed in using the Auction House to turn a decent profit. Enough so that he was able to fund his own relic, Gungnir. Every Tuesday you will find Q's rants, raves and good crafting practices here. This week, Q continues his 60-100 series with the seventh installment: Smithing. This week's special guest commentator/contributor is a man who keeps way too many ingots in his inventory for his own good: Blaize.

Let's cut right to the chase, because there's a lot to go over in this guide. Wise Owl has Smithing summed up precisely when you go to him seeking advanced synthesis support.

Alright. Clench your teeth and get ready to feel the power of Wise Owl.

Smithing sucks to level. It's not as bad as Goldsmithing, but it still sucks. This guide is going to cover just how much it sucks in a manner that departs from the norms of my other guides. A run down of the basic crafting questions:

Does it have consumables? Not particularly unless you count a few different arrow heads, ninja tools and bolt heads that aren't used to a great degree. Ingots, sheets, chains and whatnot could be counted as consumables, but not in the traditional sense of the word.

Does it have in-demand mid-range gear? Yes. There's a very wide variety of armor and weapons to choose from. Granted, most of them sell for a loss, but the HQs will make you a little bit of money if you happen to win the HQ lottery. There's a few too many to list here, but generally speaking...if it's a weapon of some sort, it's probably got something to do with Smithing.

Does it have in-demand end-game gear? Yes. This is probably one of Smithing's strong points. The Shadow set and the Adaman set have some of the better pieces in the game for the jobs that can use them. You could also classify Salvage bodies in the "Smithing End-Game Cursed sets" category due to the Imp. Wootz Ingots and cursing at the prices that are required. There's not a lot of money to be made in the cursed sets here, but it's a decently steady income on some of the items and a whole lot of money if you happen to HQ a cursed hauberk or cursed breastplate.

Blaize's Intro: Smithing is definitely one of those crafts that is useful to have, but you can never be quite sure why it is. At times it seems like the only steady income is catching shouts for people with high smithing skill to make them something... especially on a server like Odin that has been closed down for new arrivals for months, and it seems like everyone has everything they need for everything they'll ever level already. But, I don't want to discourage leveling smithing, despite what may seem like very little reason to. One thing you can be sure of: This isn't something for a starving artist to undertake. Make sure you've got a nice-sized bankroll before taking smithing beyond 60. Also, there are stretches that will test your patience in both material availability and speed of sales on AH. In the end though, having 100 smithing will put you in a very select group, and it is quite an accomplishment.

Guide after the jump per usual.


First of all, you need to get Goldsmithing and Woodworking to 60 each. Don't complain, just do it.

Secondly, you won't necessarily need any key items for this guide other than maybe Sheeting for a few of the later synths, but you will need to make sure you have every +1 Smithing Skill item you can get the second you can get it from a level standpoint. Having that extra skill level plus the synthesis support will minimize your breaks by a ton.

Lastly, there are a few stretches where I depart from my usual "Five-level gap or less only" mentality due to the sheer ridiculousness of material costs for anything that could possibly bridge.

Phase 1: This isn't so bad...

The Erlking weapons used for the various Fairy fights are decent alternatives to what I've got listed here. I didn't list them in this guide due to their values changing over time. Pay attention to their resale value and their sales frequency, then make your own decision from there.

A continuation of the 0-60 Smithing guide. Same deal applies. Go farm up your silk threads from Crawler's Nest and make your own Iron Sheets unless the AH has them for 2.8k or less. NPC your results for almost break even.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Iron Sheet, 1x Silk Thread
Cap: Level 66

Definitely worth looking into if you don't want to spend your time farming silk threads all damn day. Swamp Ores are usually 1k or less on the AH and you can always buy the 3 iron ores you need from the guild. This ingot is used in 10 of the Fairy fight weapon synths, so there's usually decent amount of demand for the ingots themselves.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 3x Iron ore, 1x Swamp Ore
Cap: Level 67

If you manage to get your Elm Lumber cost under 2k ea and your Darksteel Ingot cost under 10k ea, you can NPC this for close to break even. Getting Elm Lumber at that price isn't always easy. If you have a woodworking buddy at 76 or higher, see if you can get them to make you a few stacks of Elm Lumber for spammage (they do have Lumberjack...right?). Turn in a Bascinet when you hit 68 for your rank up.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Elm Lumber, 1x Darksteel Ingot
Cap: Level 73


Phase 2: Pain.

A lot of people will normally just skip to Karimata Arrowheads here. They're simply too much of a loss for me want to risk that level gap. You'll want to hold onto your results here for the next synth.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 2x Copper Ore, 1x Tin Ore, 1x Darksteel Ore
Cap: Level 74

Use your previous results here and sell them on the AH. These are used in the WAR AF+1 and AF2+1 upgrade quests. Certainly not in huge demand, but hopefully you won't have more than a couple stacks of these to go through since you only did one level.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Dark Bronze Ingot
Cap: Level 75

These suck. A four level gap here is a lot better than a six level gap when you consider the fact that at the bare minimum, your material cost per synth will be nearly 7k/synth buying everything from NPC (making your own Iron Ingots and buying the Tama-Hagane from a Tenshodo guild rep). Since it takes 17 synths to make a stack, your stack cost will end up being just shy of 120k/stack.

The arrowhead stacks sell for 30-40k on Odin currently. Given the alternatives in this level range, just suck it up and plow through it. Personally, I would seek out a friend with Woodworking at 100+ to make Kabura arrows for you (7k/stack on Odin currently). Going this route, you'll end up with a ton of arrows and a friend that probably hates you, but you will offset your financial loss greatly. The Kabura arrows cap at WW 91, so you might even consider finding someone in the process of skilling up WW.

No Arrow Synth = ~80k loss per stack of arrowheads (every 17 synths).

With Arrow Synth (all NQ and assuming one stack of arrowheads = 1 level): 132 stacks of Kabura Arrows meaning you just turned a 320k loss into a ~450k gil profit w/o taking the other materials of the arrow itself into consideration (Ram horn, giant bird fletchings, bamboo stick etc). You're obviously not going to find or be able to carry that many bamboo sticks or ram horns all at once, so you can eat up the investment for now and hopefully your woodworking friend will still log in to help you after the first batch...

Turn in a Bastard Sword when you hit 78 for your next rank.

Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Iron Ingot, 1x Tama-Hagane
Cap: Level 79

Blaize Comment: Another good option when you reach ~77, and what I did to get to 82, is Troll Bronze Sheets. Fire Crystal + Troll Bronze Ingot. A steady supply of ingots is available, believe it or not. Troll Pauldrons and Troll Vambraces can be desynthed into Troll Bronze Ingots if you hit HQ on them. The desynths are level 79 smithing, so unfortunately you can't skill up on them if you're 77 or higher at this point. The troll parts are usually 1k apiece on AH and people who spend their time mining in Mount Zhayolm can attest to how often these come up. Don't toss them, put them on AH for some chump leveling smithing to pick up, they'll be grateful. If you end up doing this, send the resulting sheets to a mule for a couple of possible synths using -1 troll items in the 90s.

Phase 3: It Does Get Better Doesn't It...?

Blaize Comment: If you're feeling lucky (and your clothcraft is 49 or higher) this is the point at which you'll reach your highest tier for making Haubergeon +1. You have a 1 in 10 shot of hitting an HQ at this point, and on most servers the +1 will sell for slightly more than 10 times the material cost, so if you've got deep pockets, here's a nice chance of making a decent chunk of change in a short amount of time. Miss, though, and you've got 10 NQ Haubs that you can't even give away to gimp DRKs in Bhaflau Thickets.

For those of you with nothing but time on your hands, a good way to make it through this section is to mine the crap out of Mount Zhayolm. Not only will you pick up some adaman ore that is needed to advance your skill, but every so often you'll hit on the much sought-after Khroma Ore, which you can either save for Imperial Wootz Ingot synthing later on (lol) or sell for 400k+ a pop. Not to mention the countless iron and steel ingots you'll make while waiting for the next "six-letter ore" to appear - this is definitely one of the better ways to go to fund the climb to 100, at the very least.

Purely a bridge synth. These are relatively in demand and will sell for a slight loss. You don't have to do these, but considering breaks on the next synth will be far more painful than breaks on this synth, consider trying to get a level or two out of it before moving on.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Darksteel Sollerets, 1x Steel Sheet
Cap: Level 83

Do not make your own ingots for this yet and save your results. Buy the ingots off the AH as it is usually cheaper to do this than buying the ores for it. The sheets will hold their value against the ingot sale price usually, so the only real danger here are breaks.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Adaman Ingot
Cap: Level 85

When I ran across this, I had to do a bit of a double take. Most guides will have you jump to Adaman Ingots at this point in the game. You're more than welcome to do so here if the material cost is less than the ingot cost. However, this ingot has a couple of surprise uses that will help out quite a bit.

First, it's used in a fairy fight weapon that's purchased commonly (albeit at a slight loss on Odin), but you don't want to use it for that.

Second, it's used in the next synth and benefits from a slightly larger level gap going from Ingot-Sheet than most of it's other counter parts. You do want to use it for that. Hold onto your results, you just might've made yourself some money and avoided losing 6 figures potentially doing Adaman Ingots.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Adaman Ore, 2x Darksteel Ore, 1x Iron Ore
Cap: Level 86

A three level gap that you can cover with a stackable synth that actually sells for a slight profit some days. These are used in every one of the cursed items for the Shadow Set. Even though at this point, you're not a high enough level to make the cursed items in this set, there are plenty of people who are and plenty of people who do. Turn in a Celata for your final rank, make to cap and move onto the final phase.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Dark Adaman Ingot
Cap: Level 89

Phase 4: High Risk, Zero Reward.

Catching the ores here is the difficult part. The ingots sell for a profit, but it takes a lot of ingots to make up for one critical break. If you're in a linkshell that spams Bahamut V2, Jormy or whatever that new NM in Xarcabard [S] is, you might be able to work a deal out for the ores if they drop. Since the ingots are used in a Gobbie Bag upgrade, their demand has increased exponentially.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 3x Iron Ore, 1x Molybdenum Ore.
Cap: Level 91

Bridge synth. It sells for about 30k on Odin, but can get as low as 15-20k against a steady ~35k investment. It's not a huge loss compared to some of the other stuff, but probably worth trying to pick up a few skillups on.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 3x Darksteel Ingot, 1x Steel Ingot, 1x Fiend Blood, 1x Grass Cloth, 1x Yew Lumber
Cap: Level 94

The price on Relic Iron varies greatly. You can NPC this item for ~5.5k gil, which means you need to get the ingredients relatively cheap. You can definitely hold onto a few on the off chance you catch someone starting to upgrade relic GK or relic Katana, but for the most part, expect a slight loss here and expect to be frustrated by lack of supply. Patience is key here. Set up some deals with some dynamis linkshells (or your own) if you see them doing Windurst or Beaucedine. There's also the option to skip this and move onto the next synth if you happen to be 95 or so.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 2x Relic Iron
Cap: Level 97

Blaize Comment: I still have a ways to go to reach this point, but I would say definitely do not skip this if you can avoid it. Two levels of 10k/synth (relative peace of mind) or two levels of one million gil per synth (do they have internet in mental hospitals?)... despite the potential for profit, and at -4 to -2, it is pure potential and not a guarantee, this seems like the safer bet.

And here is something that will require you to invest HUGE amounts of gil in order to proceed. You will only lose money if you break (pull out the "No Whammy" chants) and the results will generally sell fast.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 2x Khroma Ore, 1x Wootz Ore, 1x Iron Ore
Cap: Level 99

These sell for a loss, but I think that's primarily due to no one making the ammo consistently for them. If you have an alchemy buddy who is capable of making the cannon shells, see if you can get them to make a few stacks of the shells to put up while you're listing your Culverins to see if anyone is enticed to buy. These are easily the best thing available for RNG zergs and dish out a veritable fuckton of damage in a really short period of time.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Adaman Ingot, 2x Darksteel Ingot, 1x Brass Ingot, 1x Mahogany Lumber
Cap: Level 100

Hopefully your wallet came out in decent shape after that. You're now part of a select crowd as Smithers that are higher than ~85 are becoming a rare breed.

Blaize Comment: Maybe one day I will be part of that group as well! 84.2 and counting, and no rush to increase it, although reading through this has definitely stoked the fire a bit. Hopefully Wise Owl doesn't work on an appointment basis only... my teeth are clenched and I'm ready to go.

Critical Break: 60-100 Series: Cooking

This is an article written by me originally appearing on Ringthree's blog.

Critical Break is our crafting and economics column written by Qtipus. Q is an experienced crafter and also well versed in using the Auction House to turn a decent profit. Enough so that he was able to fund his own relic, Gungnir. Every Tuesday you will find Q's rants, raves and good crafting practices here. This week, Q continues his 60-100 series with the sixth installment: Cooking. This week's special guest commentator/contributor is the pun-machine himself: Kaelis.

Cooking, according to the Vana'diel Census, is the most popular craft by far beyond the Craftsman level (58+). It's pretty easy to see why. The craft is rather inexpensive to get to 60 to begin with and probably one of the easiest/cheapest to get up to a very high level.

Does that mean it's worth getting up to 100?

I tend to view the consumables market as a necessary evil. Often times, consumables will sell for faster than you can make them, but the amount of time spent making them is somewhat better served by just going out to farm NPC'able items. Most of the time, the consumables market relies on your ability to HQ reliably. Meaning don't expect to make any money if you can't.

With that said, the three questions I normally ask don't really apply to Cooking in general. It's a consumables-based craft. There is no gear to be made for any level, just food and drinks. With it's variety in consumables, it's hard for anyone to corner the market for any one particular food. This works out to be a good and a bad thing. It's good because it means your competition is likely spread out over said variety. It's bad because your competition is keeping tabs on it all and the second you start making some money, they're going to come flood your market. While that latter part is true for most crafts, it's especially true for cooking since the ingredients are readily available from the AH or NPC. There isn't really a way for you to clear the stock out to buy yourself some time.

Cooking is definitely worth it to level, especially on a mule, just don't expect to make a bajillion gil all at once with it. Also...don't expect a real efficient manner in terms of time spent simply preparing for your final products.

Kaelis' Intro: What people who are going to be leveling cooking have to keep in mind is, you're basically fighting over scraps. Cooking is so easy to level, I did it on a mule back during the major inflation for a total initial investment of 50k. Which means competition is fierce, plentiful, and more than willing to undercut you to the bone. The way to make money in this is via volume, so if you decide to go with cooking, get used to spending most of your time sitting on your butt.

Read on for the guide.



Phase 1: Eggs and Cheese, Cheese and Eggs. Where's the Spam?

Cheap and easy synth. It's possible you were doing this prior to 60. In the 0-60 guide, I suggested using Yag drinks to cap at 60, but this works as well. Buy the milk from it's namesake vendor and the rock salt at the guild. Make these to cap, NPC them and move onto the next item. You should be relatively close to break even on these.

Recipe: Dark Crystal, 1x Selbina Milk, 1x Rock Salt.
Cap: Level 61

The same pattern persists here as a few previous synths. One version uses a lizard egg while the other, that caps higher, uses a bird egg. Definitely farm up the lizard eggs from Crawler's Nest (Labyrinth Lizards) as they drop in spades there. Buy up the rest of your mats from the regional merchants and NPC the results.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Lizard Egg, 1x Distilled Water, 1x LaTheine Cabbage, 1x San d'Orian Carrot.
Cap: Level 66

Same deal as above, only with bird eggs. Buying from vendors will put you just about at the break even point or a little above. Turn in some Raisin Bread when you reach cap here for your Artisan rank.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Bird Egg, 1x Distilled Water, 1x LaTheine Cabbage, 1x San d'Orian Carrot.
Cap: Level 68

Phase 2: Fruit Au Laits and Fish.

You will need to have Raw Fish Handling before you can finish this section. Rounding up the ingredients for each of the various sushi requires the Tavnazian region be under someone's control so you can purchase Ground Wasabi. Rice Vinegar can be bought from the various Tenshodo merchants (max your Norg fame). This pretty much leaves the Tarutaru Rice to be picked up from the guild merchants or from the AH.

Kaelis Comment: It should be noted that the Tavnazian vendor only sells if you're past mission 3-5 in CoP. In addition, that still leaves in a lot of cases the majority of the cost to be paid for a synth in which the other ingredients are cheap for the wasabi itself, which there is no way to reduce the cost. Sushi does sell quickly, but again, it's a popular market.

Now we're getting into one of the stalwarts of Cooking. Sushi continues to be a popular, albeit not super profitable, synth despite the advent of Marinara Pizza. Round up the ingredients for Sushi per the instructions above. Bastore Bream and Mercanbaligi are regularly available on the AH for purchase and you can generally resell the results on the AH for a profit. Mercanbaligi are easy to catch in Nashmau w/o the risk of monster catches if your fishing is 50 or above as well.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Mercanbaligi, 1x Tarutaru Rice, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Rice Vinegar, 1x Ground Wasabi
Cap: Level 72

These are going to NPC for a loss of about 300ish gil each. Which isn't huge, but it's enough to add up over 4 levels. Derfland pears are produced through regional control of Derfland or through Gardening only. Odds are, you're not going to find any on the AH. You can try to farm up the honey portion of this to offset some of the cost, but it's easier to just set aside some money to blow here. My experiences say it takes about 18-24 synths/level beyond 60, so an average worst case scenario here is that you're going to lose about 30k gil in this stretch. You can make that by farming some scrolls up pretty easily. You can attempt to sell these on the AH as well, but you'll need a lot of inventory space and some patience. They do sell, but usually only if there aren't any Pamama Au Lait up. Make these to cap if you don't have Raw Fish handling yet.

Recipe: Water Crystal, 2x Derfland Pears, 1x Honey, 1x Selbina Milk.
Cap: Level 72

Same deal as Bream Sushi. Gugru Tuna are common catches on the various boats using the right fishing set up. Their skill cap makes them easy to catch early on, but unlike Mercanbaligi or Bastore Breams, they do not stack. Make to cap if you have Raw Fish handling and round up your ingredients per usual.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Gugru Tuna, 1x Tarutaru Rice, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Rice Vinegar, 1x Ground Wasabi
Cap: Level 77

These still end up being the same sort of loss as it's Pear counterpart if you NPC the results, but they do sell on the AH rather frequently at a profit. Buying all the materials from NPC will usually double your money on the AH. Make these to cap and turn in some Whitefish Stew as you cross 78.

Recipe: Water Crystal, 2x Pamamas, 1x Honey, 1x Selbina Milk
Cap: Level 81

Phase 3: Curry And Pie. Meal Of Champions.

Just adding up the NPC-purchased items, you're going to be sitting at approx. 3.5k per synth. Add in the Coeurl Meat that's missing and you'll likely be around 4-4.5k/synth. Coeurl Meat isn't super difficult to farm and there are a lot of them available to kill in Zi'Tah. However, the rest of the synth doesn't really have an alternate way of obtaining the materials other than through the various NPCs that sell them. You can opt to sell the curry itself (which isn't stackable) on the AH or you can opt to turn it into Yellow Curry Buns. You'll likely make the same amount of money either way, but the buns will sell faster and take up less inventory space. The other good news with turning them into buns is that there's only one HQ level that gives you more of the NQ buns and it's only 2 more buns. This means prices are likely to stay relatively stable even if you NQ all of them. Definitely make these to cap.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Curry Powder, 1x Coeurl Meat, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Popoto, 1x Selbina Milk, 1x Tumeric, 1x Wild Onion
Cap: Level 85

A staple of most mages, although some could make the argument it's not used as widely as it used to be with the implementation of other foods. Since they're a T1 only food, they tend to have a stable price range. You're in decent HQ range for Pie Dough at this point too (almost T3). Make these to cap and turn in some Seafood Stew for your final rank up item.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Bird Egg, 1x Gelatin, 1x Maple Sugar, 1x Pie Dough, 1x Rolanberry, 1x San d'Orian Flour, 1x Selbina Milk
Cap: Level 90

Phase 4: Julia Child Never Had It This Bad...

This is a popular tanking food, especially for the aspiring PLDs in the process of leveling up. It follows the same pattern as the rest of the sushi you've made so far, but you might be hard pressed to find the Noble Lady that's required to make it. Be patient (or hire out a fisherman with the right equipment/level) and make this to cap.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Noble Lady, 1x Tarutaru Rice, 1x Ground Wasabi, 1x Rice Vinegar, 1x Distilled Water
Cap: Level 93

Very popular for melee jobs prior to 50 for the sole reason of it's cost vs. benefits. NQ'ing every synth here will be a slight loss (farm your dhalmel meat to offset this). Everything here can be bought from an NPC, but double check the AH to make sure someone isn't selling some of the ingredients for less than the NPCs do. Make to cap and sell.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Bamboo Stick, 1x Coral Fungus, 1x Dhalmel Meat, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Sticky Rice, 1x Rock Salt, 1x Maple Sugar
Cap: Level 95

This is here primarily as an optional bridge synth. Making this means you're going to lose a ton of money due to the Fresh Mugwort prices. These cakes don't actually sell very well, but from 95 up, there really aren't many spammable options. Most just opt to skip to the next synth or try to make Cursed Soup.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Cinnamon, 1x Fresh Mugwort, 1x Sticky Rice, 1x Gardenia Seed, 1x Maple Sugar, 1x Distilled Water
Cap: Level 99

Most popular means of finishing Cooking off, but you're sorely limited by options here. There are exactly TWO items in the vast array of recipes for Cooking that will actually cap you at 100. This one relies on your ability to catch Dragon Meat on the AH. It's expensive, but Red Curry, like it's Yellow Curry counterpart, can be turned into other foods that sell for a rather large profit.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Coriander, 1x Curry Powder, 1x Dragon Meat, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Kazham Peppers, 1x Mithran Tomato, 1x San d'Orian Carrot.
Cap: Level 100

I mentioned Cursed Soup earlier and while the materials are generally available and relatively cheap, you're going to be parked in Crawler's Nest or Wajoam Woodlands killing bees for Royal Jelly. It is definitely a cheaper option to make than Red Curry though. If you're moving onto this from Rice Dumplings, then you can easily expect average about 24 synths/level. That's a ton of time. This is why most people opt to stick with Red Curry.

Recipe: Water Crystal, 1x Kitron, 1x Persikos, 1x Honey, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Royal Jelly
Cap: Level 100

And with that, you're now eligible to join the cast of Food Network's "Next Top Chef" (or whatever the hell that show is called).

Next week, Smithing and Blaize.

Critical Break: 60-100 Series: Alchemy

This is an article written by me originally appearing on Ringthree's blog.

Critical Break is our crafting and economics column written by Qtipus. Q is an experienced crafter and also well versed in using the Auction House to turn a decent profit. Enough so that he was able to fund his own relic, Gungnir. Every Tuesday you will find Q's rants, raves and good crafting practices here. This week, Q continues his 60-100 series with the fifth installment: Alchemy.

Alchemy was easy to get to 60. Beyond that is a different story though. While not the hardest to get to 100 from a financial standpoint, it is difficult mostly due to the sheer number of materials you need for the various items that are actually cheap or farmable to skill up on. It's also compounded by the fact that some of the items you do need aren't readily available on the AH in large quantities and the critters they drop from aren't exactly the easiest in the world to solo.

Asking the three fundamental questions of Alchmey gets us the following observations:

Does it have consumables? A ton. Alchemy is likely ranked second behind Cooking in the consumables department. Once you reach T3 status on various medicines like Silent Oils, Prism Powders, etc, cash won't necessarily be rolling in, but it's good enough to make an in-game living off of.

Does it have in-demand end-game gear? It has the Wyrmal Abjuration set. That's about it. It doesn't really have any decent weapons aside from a Gold Algol, a Stun Kukri or a Hawker's Knife. You can definitely make some money off HQ'ing a few of the Wyrmal pieces, but again, the real money maker in Alchemy is in the consumables.

Does it have in-demand mid-range gear? No. This craft is an abomination only outdone by Cooking in terms of mid-range gear. Cooking at least makes sense. I'm not sure how many of you wear Marinara Pizza for armor, but I don't. Same thing mostly applies to Alchemy, only Alchemy tends to enhance other weapons and armors through potions. Even then...there's not much there at all.



Phase 1: Venom Dust and Potions Sprinkled With a Side of Sleep Bolts

Go to Crawler's Nest and farm scorpion claws. Make a lot of these as you'll be using them later. If you want to eliminate the crystal cost, run out to Behemoth's Dominion and kill some lightning elementals.

Recipe: Lightning Crystal, 2x Scorpion Claw
Cap: Level 61

A continuation of the above. This is listed here in case you're a fisherman or have the inside track to any of the fish that are used in this synth. Since it's just one level, it shouldn't take a horrible amount of time to do. Scorpion claws are easier to obtain than the fish here, but it's feasible for you to just skip the Scorpion Claw synth altogether and do this one, especially if you're skilling up fishing to boot.

Recipe: Lightning Crystal, 2x Ogre Eel
Recipe: Lightning Crystal, 1x Monke-Onke
Recipe: Lightning Crystal, 1x Istavrit
Cap: Level 62

If you have Woodworking at 60, this is a good way to make some money. If not, just sell the heads on the AH. They don't sell incredibly fast, but they do sell and at a profit if you farmed up the sleepshrooms (Crawler's Nest is your friend again). You're still not high enough to reliably HQ the sleeping potions here, but if you happened to have some left over from the 0-60 guide, use 'em up. Make sure you make your own animal glue and bronze ingots for this as buying them off the AH will eat into your profits.

Make note of the fact that you need Smithing at or around 14 before making these.

Also note that you do not have to cap on these. You can do a few levels of these, then cap on the next synth.

Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Bronze Ingot, 1x Animal Glue, 1x Sleeping Potion
Cap: Level 67

Time to use up the venom dust you made earlier. Save these for a later synth as well in case you don't have the Anima Synthesis key item just yet. Turn in an Acid Kukri when you cap on these.

Recipe: Water Crystal, 1x Venom Dust, 1x Mercury
Cap: Level 68

Phase 2: Floor 2: Animas and More Bolts

You will need to have Anima Synthesis for this part. Animas play a role in a lot of useful, consumable synths. Namely reraise items. They're also used for various parts of Artifact Upgrade items. The trick here was to stick with the less expensive, yet in demand animas. Reraise items use Water, Light and Lightning animas. Unfortunately, on Odin at least, Somber Clusters (used in water) are idiotically priced. Radiant clusters (Light) are the cheapest of the three and in steady supply usually. Startling clusters (Lightning) fall in between. Also note that the crystal you will need will correspond with the element of the memories you're using.

Sulfur and Mercury are usually cheap enough on the AH to make money off of this synth. Buy your rock salt from a vendor and make to cap.

Recipe: Light Crystal, 1x Rock Salt, 1x Mercury, 1x Sulfur, 4x Radiant Memories
Cap: Level 75

Same as above if you're out of Light Anima materials.

Recipe: Light Crystal, 1x Rock Salt, 1x Mercury, 1x Sulfur, 4x Startling Memories
Cap: Level 75

This is either going to be good for 2-3 levels (if you run out of Anima materials) or work as a simple bridge synth. Either way, cap on these and use up your Venom Potions you made earlier. You will make a little money on these bolt heads. If you happen to have Woodworking at 60 or a mule, turn them into the bolts for even more money.

Be mindful of the level 14 Smithing sub here.

Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Animal Glue, 1x Bronze Ingot, 1x Venom Potion
Cap: Level 76

These sell for a profit as well. Definitely make to cap here and either AH the stack of heads or turn them into bolts for sale. They're a popular item for soloing THFs. Turn in an X-Potion when you hit 78.

Again, be mindful of the Smithing sub at 14.

Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Bronze Ingot, 1x Revival Tree Root, 1x Beastmen Blood
Cap: Level 81

Phase 3: Floor 3: One Level Increments, {You can have this.}

The idea here is for you to make your own holy water and to farm up your own ram skins to turn into leather. You can NPC the results and not lose money (which is unusual for crafts this high) as long as you keep your costs below 800 gil ea. Kill a few light clusters in sky to offset the light crystal cost.

Recipe: Light Crystal, 1x Holy Water, 1x Ram Leather
Cap: Level 87

These are a pain to farm and a pain to catch on the AH. From this point forward, I wouldn't expect to make huge skill gains in one sitting. Dried Marjoram and Distilled Water are both sold by NPC. You'll need to catch the Treant Bulbs on the AH (usually around 1k/stack). The trouble with these primarily are the Ahriman Wings. They're in short supply on the AH and there's usually ton of people camping the AH for them. Make these to cap and sell on AH. As long as you pay attention to what they sell for and keep your cost below it, you'll be fine. Turn in a Bloody Sword for your final rank item when you hit 88.

Recipe: Light Crystal, 1x Treant Bulb, 1x Distilled Water, 3x Dried Marjoram, 1x Ahriman Wing
Cap: Level 89

Make your own beeswax and farm up your giant bird feathers to help offset the loss of skilling on these. Usually they're about break even on the AH, but at times they dip below cost. Sell on the AH. Stacks do sell on the AH as well as long as you keep them around 60k/stack.

Recipe: Wind Crystal, 2x Beeswax, 6x Giant Bird Feather
Cap: Level 93

These are commonly used for zergs and used in conjunction with Culverins. There usually aren't that many stacks of these up on the AH at a time, but they do sell when they're up there. Making your own materials for it will be somewhat time consuming, but you will make money here. Bomb arms also drop pretty frequently in Ifrit's Cauldron, so farming there gets you 2 of the materials you need pretty quickly. A profitable level this late in the crafting game is a good thing.

Be mindful of the Smithing 34 and Goldsmithing 18 subs.

Recipe: Fire Crystal, 1x Bomb Arm, 1x Brass Ingot, 2x Firesand, 1x Iron Ingot
Cap: Level 94

This is a skippable synth. It's a slight loss unless you set up a deal with some dynamis shells or members of your own dynamis group. It's loss isn't significant enough to be too worrisome and you've probably made some gil up to this point. Save a couple to sell on the AH to make up for the loss (used in the Relic Gun). Otherwise NPC the results.

Recipe: Water Crystal, 1x Slime Juice, 1x Goblin Grease
Cap: Level 95

This is pretty much just like the previous synth. See if you can work up a deal with groups doing Dynamis San d'Oria or Dynamis Beaucedine for Fresh Orc Livers that drop. All of the other materials are things you can make or buy for rather cheap. It will still NPC for a loss, but again, not much of one. However, with a 4 level gap here, you can opt to use this as a bridge to the next synth or just make to cap. Either way you go, you're going to be losing about the same amount of gil/synth.

Recipe: Dark Crystal, 1x Venom Dust, 1x Paralysis Dust, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Fresh Orc Liver, 1x Mercury
Cap: Level 99

Alchemists really get the shaft at this point. They have exactly 3 synths that they can even attempt to skill up on. One is a weapon that's a 100k loss in the form of a Gold Algol. Another is Sun Water used to summon a cactuar pet that amounts to a 10k loss and praying you catch Philosopher's stones on the AH. The last is this Pro-Ether. On a good day, you're going to lose about 4k/synth here. Add in the fact that farming up the most expensive part of this synth (Ahriman Wings) is just completely time consuming even with TH4 and it just adds to an already high level of frustration at trying to finish this off. I don't envy you Alchemists at this point. All I can really say is good luck finishing it off and work the other synths to make up for the financial loss here.

Recipe: Water Crystal, 2x Ahriman Wing, 1x Treant Bulb, 3x Dried Marjoram, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Wyvern Wing.
Cap: Level 100

With the exception of the last stretch, Alchemy isn't too bad to level financially. Having this at 100 now, you're in position to make a lot of money off consumables. Silent Oils, Prism Powders, Eye Drops, etc are all common medicines bought for various events. Don't pigeon-hole yourself into one or two items though. With the wide variety of consumables that Alchemy has to offer, do a little studying on what supplies are out there and make your decisions from there.

Critical Break: 60-100 Series: Leathercraft

This is an article written by me originally appearing on Ringthree's blog.

Critical Break is our crafting and economics column written by Qtipus. Q is an experienced crafter and also well versed in using the Auction House to turn a decent profit. Enough so that he was able to fund his own relic, Gungnir. Every Tuesday you will find Q's rants, raves and good crafting practices here. This week, Q continues his 60-100 series with the fourth installment: Leathercraft. This week's special guess editor/commentator/contributor: Mr. Ninja "Don't call me Connie" Fox

In researching how to get to 100 for this craft, one thing dawned on me...

This is insanely cheap and easy to get to 89 if you go out and farm and not real painful at all to get to 100. The last 11 levels will probably annoy most people due to the number of non-stackable items you have to lug around plus the forced waiting for wyvern skins, but compared to other crafts, man it's easy.

The things you go out to farm have great drop rates and generally have accessible Outpost warps or NPCs you can unload your inventory to. On top of that, the creatures you're farming drop other things you can AH for a good chunk of change. It does no good though for you to be able to get to 100 rather easily if you can't do anything with it, so here's the prerequisite questions:

Does it have consumables? Not really unless you count the various leathers. This is one thing that Leather is rather weak on as it does not have a true consumable that's noteworthy. While the leathers generally sell for a nice profit and at times, very fast, you won't be making a ton of money here in the volume selling department.

Does it have in-demand end-game gear? Again, not really. The Dusk set has a few pieces that are worth buying (at least until you get Homam for some jobs), but without a true cursed set to make, Leather is pretty much stuck with the odds and ends of various sets (usually shoes) like the Errant, Sha'ir or Blessed sets along with various mantles like the Cerberus Mantle.

Does it have in-demand mid-range gear? Yes. Items from the Amemet Mantle+1 to the Byrnie+1. You can reach the T2 HQ level on a number of synths with this craft that sell for a decent-outstanding profit margin. I wouldn't go so far to say that this is the best craft by far for mid-range stuff, but it's up there.

This may be one of the reasons why the various leathers don't sell for a loss as there aren't really that many other synths along the way that can absorb it. There are no HQ (Higher-Quantity in this case) leather synths, so everyone making the leather is stuck with the same results no matter what level they are if they can make the synth.

If I had to give Leather one big thumbs up that other crafts don't have, it's definitely market stability and that may be the single biggest reason why it's easy and cheap to get to 100.

Ninjafox's Intro: : I hope you all fall in a hole. I hope you all get caught in your zippers. You need Clothcraft for a lot of Leather gear, so level it. Then level smithing.

Read on for how.


Phase 1: Ninjafox's Favorite Skin - Cockatrice

As the previous two guides have begun, it's a continuation of the 0-60 guide I previous wrote. Cap on these and save 'em. Hopefully you've been farming these up. It really wouldn't hurt to make about eleventy-billion stacks of these for later use.

Recipe: Dark Crystal, 1x Tiger, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Windurstian Tea Leaves
Cap: Level 61

The title to this section alludes to this stretch. You're going to be spending a lot of time in Onzozo where the cocks are plenty. You can make some money on the side selling the stacks of cock meat on the AH. Otherise, load up a few stacks of grass thread and earth crystals and head out there to farm those cocks. NPC your results, these don't sell on the AH at all.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Grass Thread, 2x Cockatrice Skin
Cap: Level 63

If farming cocks isn't your thing, you can delay the inevitable by going to farm bugards instead. Pretty much the same deal as the Beak Mantles in terms of drop rates and what to do with the results only your inventory is going to be in pain from all the non-stackable items these things drop. Sell any HQ skins or tusks you get for decent amount of money (usually in the 5k ea. range) and cap.

Recipe: Wind Crystal, 2x Bugard Leather
Cap: Level 63

If you thought you could avoid the cocks, you're wrong. Go to Onzozo with some (hopefully) home-made sheep leather and earth crystals in tow and get ready to jerkin your cock skins. Sell the cock meat on the AH for some extra money and NPC the jerkins.

Turn in a pair of Battle Boots to pick up your Artisan rank once you hit 68. If you get bored out of your skull farming these things, it's rather safe to move onto the next synth around 66 or so. Or just skip it altogether and spend gobs of time with coeurls in The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah if you want to prolong the skillup process.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 2x Cockatrice Skin, 1x Sheep Leather
Cap: Level 69

Phase 2: Elephants, Coeurls and Tigers - Indigenous Creatures From Ninjafox's Homeland

Ninjafox Comment: Make sure you keep plenty of Coeurl Leather around for future synths.

Very in demand leather and easy to farm too. In the NW section of Zi'Tah, there is a loop you can run just mauling Coeurls. Save the whiskers and the meat for AH sales (more the meat than the whiskers) and turn the hides into leather. Definitely cap on these.

Recipe: Dark Crystal, 1x Coeurl Hide, 1x Windurstian Tea Leaves, 1x Distilled Water
Cap: Level 71

If your Clothcraft is 35 or higher, spend some time making 2-4 stacks of wool thread by farming sheepskin from the Highlands. If not, you should probably move onto the next synth as this is listed here primarily as a bridge synth. Head back out to your favorite tiger farming spot and farm some more hides. Cap on these if you choose, NPC the results and move on to the next synth.

Recipe: Ice Crystal, 1x Tiger Hide, 1x Wool Thread
Cap: Level 75

This is used for Salvage feet and profitable. Especially if you can solo marids for the hides. The stacks themselves usually sell faster than the singles due to people generally being lazy or due to there rarely being 12 singles listed on the AH (at least on Odin). Pick up your Imperial Tea Leaves off the AH, make to cap, sell and profit.

Recipe: Dark Crystal, 1x Marid Hide, 1x Imperial Tea Leaves, 1x Distilled Water
Cap: Level 76

And back to Zi'Tah you go. This is mostly optional as not everyone can really handle the Manticores in the next synth. Pick up a few stacks of cotton thread from the Weaver's Guild at it's cheapest point (~120gil), head out to Zi'Tah and start farming those hides again. Make to cap if you choose.

Turn in a pair of Tiger Gloves once you hit 78 for your Adept rank and NPC your results.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Coeurl Hide, 1x Cotton Thread
Cap: Level 79

Phase 3: WOOHOO! Done With Coe---DAMN!

Ninjafox Comment: Cuir Gear is like Jesus Juice for some other gear not mentioned in this span if you want to make actual gear.

Manticores aren't all that easy to deal with compared to what you've been fighting/farming so far, but their leather does sell rather decently. You can also sell their other parts for a bit of money too even though they don't stack. Make these to cap, sell your results on the AH.

Recipe: Dark Crystal, 1x Manticore Hide, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Windurstian Tea Leaves
Cap: Level 80

This is a new synth added in the July '09 update. The Ruszor hides sell for rather cheap on the AH and the leather sells for more. The leather has only one purpose outside of skilling up and that's in the Tsukomo. I wouldn't expect these to move fast, but they will move and as long as you're smart with your buying, you should make a little money. You can also skip this synth if you want and go straight to the next one.

Recipe: Dark Crystal, 1x Ruszor Hide, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Windurstian Tea Leaves
Cap: Level 83

And back to Zi'Tah you go yet again. Take a few stacks of Wool Thread with you too. Fortunately, if the zone is controlled by any nation and you have the outpost warp, there's an NPC nearby that you can take advantage of to dump off inventory once it gets full. Make to cap.

Recipe: Ice Crystal, 1x Coeurl Hide, 1x Wool Thread
Cap: Level 85

Farm up about 7-8 stacks of Coeurl Leather and half as many Sheep Leather and make these to cap. Then say good bye to easy farming as, up to this point, you could have essentially gotten here making a ton of money along the way.

Turn in a Coeurl Mask for your final rank: Veteran.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 2x Coeurl Leather, 1x Sheep Leather
Cap: Level 89

Phase 4: Masking the Monetary Loss

The vast majority of this synth you can farm up. I'd recommend making a stockpile of the hides, leathers and threads used in this synth and then just camping the AH for wyvern skins as they aren't listed in huge numbers very often. If you're only paying for the skins themselves, then you're going to be close to breaking even on the rest. This will definitely require you to have Clothcraft at 35 or higher for the wool thread portion of it.

This is likely the largest gap you've had to deal with so far, but given the alternatives between 89-here, this is far cheaper and far less risky. Hopefully you've made an extra few hundred thousand gil from farming up the other stuff so that you can absorb the losses if you choose to buy everything off the AH.

Recipe: Ice Crystal, 2x Tiger Hide, 1x Wool Thread, 1x Ram Leather, 1x Wyvern Skin
Cap: Level 95

Since the next synth has a cap of 102, a bridge is in order. These are used in the final Gobbiebag quest as well as a couple of the more popular Relic Weapon quests and some of the AF2+1 quests. As of this writing, the leathers sell for a little less than the hides (which only drop from Orcs in Dynamis) on Odin inexplicably, but it shouldn't be too difficult to correct that and break even. Definitely cap on these and have patience.

Recipe: Dark Crystal, 1x Griffon Hide, 1x Distilled Water, 1x Windurstian Tea Leaves
Cap: Level 97

Until the Wahlahra Turban came out, these used to be one of the best hats the jobs that can wear it could use. Now it's more for show than anything else. With the implementation of Augments, these have picked up a little bit of new life, but they still sell for a loss. Treat this the same way that you treated the tiger mask. Stockpile the various leathers, hides and threads used and camp the AH for the wyvern skins. You'll be spending some time killing the Toramas in Onzozo for the HQ hides as they have a great drop rate there.

Recipe: Ice Crystal, 2x H.Q. Coeurl Hides, 1x Wool Thread, 1x Ram Leather, 1x Wyvern Skin
Cap: Level 100 (102)

Congrats! You're now at 100 and ready to make some money.

Ninjafox Comment: I hope you fall into the abyss if you undercut me.