Unlock the hidden potential of your gear in Final Fantasy XIV by mastering the art of materia melding. Whether you’re a seasoned crafter or a fresh adventurer, this guide reveals where to find the elusive materia and how to meld it effectively to boost your stats and dominate the battlefield across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
You can obviously buy materia from the marketboard, but this is an expensive route to go down, and you typically don’t want to do this unless you’re hunting down older materia for overmelding (more on that below).
Getting regular combat materia is pretty easy, but getting materia for crafters and gatherers is a bit harder. Below we explain where to get FFXIV materia and how to meld it to your gear.
Where to get combat materia
The most efficient way to obtain combat materia in Final Fantasy XIV is by trading cracked clusters at Materia Vendor NPCs located in major cities such as Solution Nine, Radz-at-Han, and Old Sharlayan. Different types of cracked clusters correspond to different materia grades; for example, Cracked Novaclusters and Cracked Prismaticlusters are used for high-tier Grade XII and XI materia respectively. These vendors are often found near Materia Melder NPCs who can meld materia into gear for a fee. Additionally, combat materia can also be acquired by farming elite marks, participating in duty roulettes, and trading specific currencies obtained from raids or other activities. Players can also extract materia from fully spiritbonded equipment to gain additional materia for melding.
The easiest way to get materia is through trading in cracked clusters, with different types of clusters correlating to different levels of material. As of the Endwalker expansion, the clusters you want are Cracked Dendroclusters and Cracked Anthoclusters. You can get these from doing the following activities:
- Leveling and alliance roulettes as a level 81 job
- Endwalker A- and S-rank hunts
- Wondrous Tails
- Faux Hollows
Once you have the clusters, you can trade in Dendroclusters and Anthoclusters to the materia vendor in Radz-at-Han or Old Sharlayan for level nine and 10 materia. These NPCs are marked on the in-game map as “Materia Masters” with an icon of materia.
You can also trade them to the Rowena’s Representative NPCs in Ishgard, Kugane, Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, and Ul’dah.
If you still have clusters from old expansions, you can trade them in at the respective hub cities for those expansions. Stormblood clusters can be traded in Rhalgr’s Reach and Shadowbringers clusters can be traded in Eulmore.
You can also opt to extract materia from your gear, in exchange for resetting your spiritbond, once you complete the quest “Forging the Spirit.” We don’t really recommend doing this, though, as combat materia is pretty easy to find.
There are a few other currencies you can trade in for materia, like Sacks of Nuts from hunts, as well as the currency from Variant Dungeons like Aloalo Island or the Sil’dihn Subterrane. You can also trade PvP Wolf Marks and Arkasodara tribe currency for high-level materia.
Where to get crafting and gathering materia
Crafting and gathering materia in FFXIV can be obtained through several reliable methods. One common way is by extracting materia from fully spiritbonded crafting or gathering gear, which resets the spiritbond but yields materia specific to the gear type. Spiritbonding can be accelerated using items like the Squadron Spiritbonding Manual or Free Company actions. Another method is earning crafting and gathering scrips through Custom Deliveries and exchanging them at specific vendors, such as the Qitari Vendor for higher-grade materia. Additionally, Wondrous Tails rewards provide cracked crystals that can be traded for materia. These combined approaches ensure crafters and gatherers can gather enough materia for melding and overmelding their gear effectively.
Just like combat materia, there’s a cracked crystal you can get to trade in for whichever materia you want. Cracked Dendrocrystals and Cracked Anthocrystals only come from high rewards for completing Khloe’s Wondrous Tails, though.
Luckily, there are quite a few other ways to get the materia without having to trade crystals in:
- Collect purple crafting or gathering scrips and trade them in for crafting or gathering materia, respectively. You can gets scrips from doing collectable turn-ins or from doing custom deliveries, for characters like Margrat or Ameliance at level 90.
- Trade Island’s Cowries or Seafarer’s Cowries for the materia you want on your Island Sanctuary.
As mentioned above in regards to combat materia, you can also select to extract crafting and gathering materia from your gear, in exchange for resetting your spiritbond. Unlike combat materia, this is actually pretty useful, since crafting and gathering materia can get expensive. Even the low-level materia you extract has use for overmelding.
How to meld materia in FFXIV
To meld materia in Final Fantasy XIV, you first need to ensure your gear has materia slots and that you have a Disciple of the Hand (crafter) of the same level as the gear. You must complete the quest “Waking the Spirit” to unlock the Materia Melding action, which allows you to meld materia yourself. Alternatively, you can use Materia Melder NPCs located near market boards in major cities or housing areas to meld materia for a small fee, though they can only meld into safe slots. For advanced melding beyond the gear’s natural slots, you must complete the “Melding Materia Muchly” quest to unlock Advanced Materia Melding, which lets you add up to five materia but with decreasing success rates. You can also remove materia after melding by completing the necessary quest, but higher-tier materia has a chance to be destroyed upon removal.
There are three ways to meld materia: you can ask an NPC to do it, you can do it yourself, or you can ask a friend to do it.
NPCs who can meld materia are in most towns, and they’re all labeled as “Materia Melder.” They’re typically next to a materia vendor NPC. Simply click on them and select the gear and materia you want to meld and they’ll do it for you, easy as pie.
You can meld the materia yourself once you unlock the Materia Melding skill from the “Waking the Spirit” side quest. You can meld all materia as long as you have at least one crafter (it doesn’t matter which) at the same level or higher than the gear you are trying to meld. Once you’re all set, just select the gear you want to meld and then choose the meld option from the menu that pops up.
You can also ask a buddy to meld your materia for you, as long as they meet the above requirements, by selecting them and choosing the “request meld” option.
When melding, keep an eye on the stats in the menu, as added stats will not overflow beyond their limits. The number will show up red if you’re adding too much:
How to overmeld using Advanced Materia Melding
Advanced Materia Melding, also known as overmelding, allows players in FFXIV to attach more materia to a piece of gear than the number of available slots, up to a maximum of five materia per item (pentamelding). To unlock this feature, players must complete the quest “Melding Materia Muchly” given by Mutamix at The Bonfire in Central Thanalan, which requires level 25 and involves repeatedly melding and removing materia on a piece of gear. After unlocking, the standard Materia Melding action is replaced by Advanced Materia Melding, enabling overmelding. However, the chance of success decreases significantly with each additional materia melded, especially for higher-grade materia, making the process risky and potentially costly due to materia loss. Overmelding cannot be performed by NPC Materia Melders and is typically reserved for high-end gear optimization, such as for raid progression or expert crafting.
You can add even more materia to some gear, via Advanced Materia Melding. To unlock Advanced Materia Melding, you’ll need to complete the quest “Melding Materia Muchly.“
You cannot overmeld unique gear (the equipment with the blue and green backgrounds), as noted by the in-game tooltips that say “Advanced Melding Forbidden.” That said, the best stuff to overmeld is high quality crafted gear, making it an expensive endeavor to even start.
Once you have your crafted gear, you’ll ideally want to squeeze five materia on to it, known as “pentamelding.” You’ll start with your highest level materia and then move downwards, attaching lower level materia until all the stats are filled as you want them to be:
The more materia you meld, the lower chance the next one has to attach, so it does become a bit of an RNG situation. Unfortunately, materia that fails to meld explodes and is lost to the wind. Which, yes, means that overmelding your gear will take a ton of materia and thus rack up the costs.
How can I efficiently meld materia to maximize my gear’s potential in FFXIV
To efficiently meld materia and maximize your gear’s potential in FFXIV, follow these key steps:
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Understand stat budgets: Each piece of gear has a maximum limit (“budget”) for how much of a substat it can gain through materia. Avoid “clipping” by not exceeding these limits, as excess materia bonuses will have no effect and appear in red in the melding interface.
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Meld complementary stats: Since most gear already maximizes one substat, focus on maximizing the second substat and adding additional substats that the gear lacks to optimize overall performance.
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Unlock advanced melding (overmelding): After reaching level 25, complete the “Melding Materia Muchly” quest to unlock advanced melding, allowing you to add up to five materia to a single piece of gear (pentamelding). Be aware the success rate decreases with each additional meld, and failed attempts can result in losing materia.
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Use a crafter of appropriate level: To meld materia yourself, you need a Disciple of the Hand crafter at least the same level as the gear. Alternatively, NPC Materia Melders can meld materia for a fee but cannot perform advanced melding.
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Plan your melds carefully: Mix different types of materia to avoid exceeding substat caps and maximize the benefit from each melded materia.
By carefully budgeting stats, unlocking advanced melding, and using the right crafter level, you can significantly boost your gear’s effectiveness in combat and crafting.
How do I plan my materia melds to avoid stat clipping and maximize gains
To plan your materia melds effectively and avoid stat clipping in FFXIV, follow these guidelines:
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Prioritize substats by importance: Focus on melding your highest-priority substat first (e.g., Critical Hit for DPS classes like Bard), then move to the next priority (such as Determination), and then to the third (Direct Hit), ensuring you do not exceed the substat cap on each gear piece.
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Check each gear piece’s substat caps: Each piece of equipment has a maximum limit for how much of a substat it can gain from materia. If you exceed this cap, the game will warn you by highlighting the stat in red and you will gain no benefit from the excess materia.
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Meld complementary stats: If a gear piece already has a high amount of your primary substat, meld the secondary or tertiary substats to maximize overall gains without clipping.
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Use Best-in-Slot (BiS) guides: Consult up-to-date BiS gearsets for your class and role to see recommended melds and stat priorities, which help you distribute materia efficiently across all gear pieces.
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Balance your melds across gear: Don’t overload one piece with a single substat; spread materia to reach caps on multiple pieces, maximizing total stat gains rather than wasting melds on clipped stats.
By following the priority order, respecting substat caps on each gear piece, and using BiS references, you can maximize your gear’s potential without wasting materia due to clipping.
