Basically, you can desynth unwanted items into more items, which can often end up being a bit more valuable for your professions than simply selling the original item. The more you use the skill, the more proficient you become, boosting your chances at getting rare items out of everything you break down. If you’re just getting into XIV now, you’ve joined at a pretty good time for desynth. The patches that followed the release of Shadowbringers made a lot of quality of life improvements to desynthesis, which a lot of players just skipped entirely up until then. Before the patches, you had to desynth items individually, which was just clunky and pointlessly time consuming. As of patch 5.1, desynthesis can no longer fail, and the collective level cap was removed. Now players can max out desynth skills for every type of item, where previously they would have been limited in choice. Patch 5.3 implemented the ability to desynth stacks of items at once. As a result, the system is much more rewarding and easier to use, and more players see it as a valuable addition to their crafting lives than ever before.
How Do I Use Desynthesis?
Well, the first step is having a crafting job in the first place. Any Disciple of the Hand can desynth: Weavers, Alchemists, Goldsmiths, etc. Even the Culinarians (Eorzea’s caterers) can use the skill, breaking down fish into base materials that can be used for other purposes. Once you’ve got a crafting job to level 30, you’ll be able to pick up a quest called “Gone To Pieces”. You can find it on the Steps of Thal in Ul’dah by talking to an NPC named Syntgoht – and after completing his simple task, you’ll be granted the ability to desynth. From there, you’ll be able to desynth any eligible item, regardless of its level, as long as you’re at least level 30 on the related crafting job. Experience is gained by simply desynthing anything you can. This makes it easy to level the skill up by breaking down unwanted gear as you play. There’s no need to grind it, and no need to lay out a ton of gil to get started. Just get rid of unnecessary quest rewards or greed rolls in dungeons, and you’ll be progressing in no time.
What Do I Get From It?
The rewards vary based on what you’re breaking down, but they tend to follow a structure. For items that have been crafted, you’ll get back one item used in its creation, along with the elemental shards and clusters that catalyze all your crafting (depending on the desynthed item’s level). It’s even possible to get high quality components from desynthing normal quality items, so leveling your desynthesis skill can be quite a good use of your time. With all the improvements that have been made to the system, it’s easy to do it alongside your normal adventures too. So there’s no more setting aside chunks of time to grind out experience. And if your desynth level is higher than the item’s level, your chance of getting rare materials from it increases. This can reward you with unexpectedly high quality crafting materials, which can be used or sold for a tidy sum on the marketboard. It’s entirely viable to level up your desynth skill by buying gear in bulk from vendors, but this can obviously become extremely costly for what’s essentially a chance at some rare materials. How would I recommend leveling up desynthesis? Well, just play the game. Do your duty roulettes, Greed roll on everything, and you’ll progress at a steady rate. There’s no need to rush it. Desynth is a valuable skill to have, sure. But it’s not a massive game-changer at max level. It can be leveled up at no cost besides time if you’re patient enough. You’re not going to miss out on any exclusive items if you don’t rush to the cap.
