Goldsmithing Guide Post-Abyssea (0-104)

== Preface ==

This guide is based on my own personal experience. Find what it suits you best, like I did.

I decided to make this guide because I started late at crafting. After Abyssea, the whole economy in the game changed. Items that used to be expensive are now cheap, and vice-versa. Items that used to be top notch gear are nothing but a shadow of its former glory.

On Goldsmithing, this is especially true. Most of the great gear nowadays comes from NMs, or events such as Voidwatch and Walk of Echoes. There are still some pieces from Goldsmithing that can be big money makers. But they require big investments on buying ingredients, and are crafted through Synergy. If you’re considering leveling up Goldsmithing post-Abyssea, you should consider leveling up Synergy to make the most of it.

Still, if you want to venture into Goldsmithing like I did, living in this era of post-Abyssea, then you can find some useful information on this guide. I strongly suggest you to always check the other guides on Goldsmithing. Try to dig for information. Google everything and you’ll most definitely will be able to find.

To make this guide I used Goldsmithing Guide by Gatsby as a template for some information, as well as information from Goldsmithing Guide by Sarchar and Goldsmithing Guide by Ctownwoody.

Also, I decided to state just the level of cap of the synth. I don’t want to induce you to start any synth at any given level, this I’m gonna leave it up to you. If you wanna start synthing on a 10 level gap, go for it. It worked many, many times for me and was better than going through all the options on the other guides.

Also, if you’re new to crafting, its [b]imperative you read this[/b]: [http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/57123-Before-you-ask-a-stupid-crafting-question-read-this! Crafting guide for starters on Blue Gartr]

===Goldsmithing or Gilsinking?===

Before Abyssea, it was said Goldsmithing cost about 40 million gil to take from 0-100. Nowadays, I don’t think it cost this much, but it’s easier if you just expect to lose money instead of making it. I personally didn’t level Goldsmithing for money, therefore, it was a huge gil sink for me. Don’t expect to make quick cash on goldsmithing (or any of the crafts) nowadays because you won’t. The amount of time you’ll use to craft consumables for selling (i.e. Hiraishin), you could use doing other activities for money.

Most of the crafts you’ll find a small to medium loss. Even though I had the money, I always researched the best way to dump the items. I also used one mule with a lot of free inventory spaces to aid me on my crafting, holding up some items and using it for selling the results of my synths.

The good news is that you won’t find any “million loss synth on a break” anymore. But you can expect to lose like 40k for 12 synths. Or just sinking 150k on a 10 level-synth jump. If you’re losing money very quickly, it’s time to change synths and find another one.

===Finding a New Market===

Along with Abyssea, new Synergy recipes came out, but what you can see is that the general player didn’t really get to know what they are. What I intended to do with this guide was to show there are some new, cheap and fast ways to get through Goldsmithing without having to rely on something like Break Synth, which feels like something old.

Although there are a lot of new recipes around, you may not be able to sell what you did very fast on the AH. I guess it’s because:

1.       Crafting is NOT a great source of income, so no one bothers spending 2 hours crafting for something that will sell less for what you can get by farming gold pixydes in Abyssea or farming Dynamis.

2.       Not many people have Synergy leveled, which is the craft that utilizes the raw materials you’ll be making (arrowheads and boltheads mainly).

3.       People just don’t know the new crafts, because information is really scarce nowadays. For reference, I only found out about Fusion Bolt Heads recipe because of a comment on an Allakhazam forum. (Yes, ON AN ALLAKHAZAM FORUM.)

===Guild Point Items===

Hit level 28 and start collecting Guild Points. They’ll help you on your journey. I dinged level 70 Goldsmithing and didn’t have enough points for the Apron, doing guild points daily. Get the Shaded Spectacles, Goldsmith's Apron and Fool's Gold as soon as you can.

Regarding Key items, I suggest you get Sheeting, which is only 10k points. Will make your crafting faster at later levels.

Most of the items that gives you guild points can be bought in either Bastok Markets, Bastok Mines and Mhaura NPCs. I suggest you do that instead of crafting them. On the other hand, when your rank start going up, the guild points items often will be only crafted, and using materials made from Smithing, so you should consider leveling that also.

===Subcrafts and Crystals===

The crystals you’ll be using more for Goldsmithing are Fire, Wind, Earth and Lightning (for desynthesis). Plan accordingly.

About subcrafts, most of the other guides say you don’t level Smithing and Alchemy to 60 because you’ll eventually need them underleveled for performing break-synthing at level 70+. I personally leveled Smithing as I leveled Goldsmithing, and I don’t regret it. I even got Smithing to 60 before I hit 60 on Gold. That turned out to be useful for me, especially because of synths that require materials from Smithing – guild points items constantly require smithing materials.

===Crafting Food===

A new addition to the game is food that helps diminish the loss of materials on a break or increase HQ synths. I strongly suggest you always eat a Kitron Macaron during leveling sections. This food supposedly lowers the chance of losing materials on a break.

===A place to call Home===

I strongly suggest setting your home nation to Bastok. You won’t lose your outposts teleportation if you do that like you used to before Abyssea.

Also, consider leveling up Synergy to at least level 30. It’s very easy and incredibly cheap, just time consuming. This will allow you to make teleport earrings that will put you right at the three places of interests for a goldsmith: Bastok Markets, Mhaura and Al Zahbi. It’s where the guilds are, and you can dump the things you craft on those guilds that will pay you more. Always check Mhaura when selling things to the guild, because they usually will pay you more there.

If you don’t want to level Synergy, just find someone so you can get the Republic Earring, Mhaura Earring and Imperial Earring.

== The Journey Starts==

===Levels 0 - 9===

You can make profit at these levels. Most high level Goldsmiths don’t want to stay crafting Copper and Brass Ingots, and you can abuse this.

; Level  3



;Copper Ingot





All the airship terminals in the starter cities have unlimited and cheap copper ore. Buy some stacks of fire crystals and go there. Also, the guilds sell copper ore too. This recipe can be a money maker due to the excess time needed to make each copper ingot. Higher level crafters may buy these ingots from you to do a later recipe.

; Level  7

Copper hairpin.png

;Copper Hairpin (Test Item)





This is an alternative to Brass Ingots. It’s faster to level. Don’t expect to be selling these. Just sell them to NPC and move on.

; Level  9



;Brass Ingot







Brass Ingot can net you some small profit. It’s used on lots of synths. I personaly just kept them to continue my leveling. You’ll need this for the next stage, so you may want to do this synth. Zinc Ores drops everywhere and are always up on the AH. Abyssea – LaTheine EXP worms alliances get a ton of these. If you’re not afraid to be looked as a cheap bastard, you could always ask the alliance if you can lot on these to fund your leveling. You’d be doing everyone a favor, because they really flood the inventory there.

== Brass Stage==

===Levels 9 -20===

Here you’ll be manipulating Brass. Buy or make the ingots, and synth away. Goldsmithing follow a pattern when leveling. Ingots > Sheet > Scales. Also, Ingots > Rings > Hairpins will be used. The Brass Stage will be your first experience with that.

; Level 11



;Brass Sheet





; Level 13



;Brass Scales





The Brass Scales are useful for a later synth at level 30ish. You may want to consider leveling on these since you already made the Brass Sheets and if you have space on a mule to save them. Otherwise, try the next synth.

; Level 13



;Brass Hairpin





Make these if you decide to desynthesis them in hopes of getting the Brass Ingots back.

; Level 20



;Silver Ingot





You can buy the ores on the AH, but I camped the guild and bought the ores directly from them. Once again, check Mhaura for better prices. Once the ores starts to go up in prices, take a few days off until they go down again. Save the Silver Ingots you’re making, you’re gonna need them.

== Silver Stage==

===Levels 20 - 35===

This is when you’ll start noticing that Goldsmithing can be expensive. You’ll probably need more ingots than you crafted on your previous stage.

; Level 26

Silver Hairpin.JPG

;Silver Hairpin





There are other options that involve crafting earrings for skilling up (check the old guides), but I realized it was cheaper and faster to just burn through the silver ingots I’ve done. If you start these at level 20 you might find a high break rate, but trust me, eat those breaks or spend eternity trying to get through this stage. Here you might want to consider desynthesis in hopes of getting the silver ingots back.

; Level 31



;Hiraishin







I can’t remember exactly which level I started making these, but I would assume 8 levels before its cap all the way to cap. These actually are one of the only consumable items that Goldsmithing has, and it does sell for a profit because of Abyssea. Toolbags actually sold for less than the stack itself, so I stored them on toolbags and then I would remove them from the toolbag and put the stack up for sale  (people are stupid these days, they don’t bother checking prices).

; Level 31

;Requires Woodworking 6



;Lady Bell







I didn’t do this craft but I decided to put this here as an alternative for Hiraishin. I didn’t take this path because of current prices on Brass Ingots and Lumber and these only npc for around 400gil. Still, it’s an option if you don’t want to wait for the ninja tool to sell. Do what you think it suits you best.

At level 28 (after you take the Goldsmithing test), you may want to start saving Goldsmithing Guild Points. This is a long road and it's best to start early if you want the Goldsmithing Shades.

== Rings Stage ==

===Levels 31 - 41===

Your goal here is to get to those Mythril Ingots that cap at level 40. How you gonna get there, it’s up to you. Personally, I made the brass gears and then jumped to Mythril Ingots (the 4 ores recipe). But I recommend checking on making the rings and selling them to NPC since you can buy materials at the shop - I would probably go for that route if I knew you could buy the materials on Jeuno. I’ll list some other options so please go through the entire list and research of prices before deciding what’s best for you.

; Level 32

BrassGreaves.PNG

;Brass Greaves











Remember those Brass Scales you made at level 13? Here is when you’re gonna use them. I was pleasantly surprised on how fast I skilled up on this synth that I just decided to go on making Brass Gear instead of going for the rings. If you take this route, make these at the shop that sells the Leather Highboots in Bastok Mines and NPC them for 700gil and move on.

; Level 33

Silver chain.JPG

;Silver Chain





If you decide to skip the Brass Greaves, you’ll want to get to 33 with these. The problem is that the chains rarely sell on the AH. However, this can be a good synth if you make your own silver ingots and sell the results for the guild for a good price.

; Level 34

BrassCuisses.PNG

;Brass Cuisses











I think I got about 2 levels on these because I wanted to push further to get near the Mythril Ingot (40) recipe. Depending if you have spare Brass Scales, you might want to do this. As I said before, I got a nice skill up rate on these synths, but that can be just my luck.

; Level 35

Rings





Quality Gem (Tourmaline, Lapis Lazuli, Sardonyx, Amethyst, Amber, Clear Topaz, Onyx, Light Opal )

Both the rings and the gems you can buy at the jewel shop in Jeuno for 1k~2k. The results you can sell or desynth them.



; Level 38

;Mythril Ingot





Long gone are the days that using beastcoins were a viable option to skill up. Remember, you’ll be making only 3 ingots outta 1 stack of beastcoins. I didn’t do this because it was a huge loss that I didn’t want to pay.

; Level 40



;Mythril Ingot





You can start up on these when you’re level 35, so you can get skill ups outta breaks. However, you won’t find that many ores on the AH so you can spam. Your best option is to camp the guild and buy the ores from there. Lowest price you can get there is 1.5k gil. Start on Bastok, and once the prices go up, switch over to Mhaura.

; Level 41



;Mythril Sheets





This is a bridging recipe but this recipe actually sells well. It’s used later on for hydro weapons which are a good leveling recipe on the Gold Stage. Although a small gap, it’s useful to do this as a bridging recipe. Also, you’ll be using some of these if you’re collecting guild points.

== Geodes Stage ==

===Levels 41 - 51===

This is the first huge jump you’ll do on your Goldsmithing on just one synth. There are some other options, but I strongly suggest you stack on geodes and synth them. You can hold up to 99 geodes, which means you’ll have 99 synths worth of material in just 1 inventory spot. It took me around 130 geodes to go from 41-51. If you get the geodes for around 1k, you can get 10 levels of Goldsmithing for 150k, which is the best thing you could do at this stage.

; Level 47



;Gold Dust







This is an alternative if you can’t get cheap geodes. One synth will get you a full stack of gold dust, which will sell at NPCs for nearly 400 gil. All the materials are common on the Auction House and you don't have to wait for your dust to sell.

; Level 48



;Aluminum Ingot





I know you’re having fun synthing those geodes, but consider this synth for all the things that are sacred in the world. Aluminum Ingot is the material sent from Altana to help all Goldsmiths that are on the stage formerly known as “Gold Hell” (levels 70-80). If you can find the ores, buy them and synth them between geodes, and most importantly, '''keep these if you’re willing to go all the way to level 100'''. If you’re doing Goldsmithing for a sub craft, this is a profit recipe, unlike geodes, so you might want to do some ingots if you find the ores.

; Level 51



;Lapis Lazuli



x1

This is an amazing synth because it’s inventory friendly, daily supply on the AH. You can use the same synth of any of the elemental geodes. Unfortunately, you’ll compete with everyone who’s doing elemental weapons on Trials of the Magian. Having that said, Aqua Geode is your best bet at cheap geodes, because not many people make Water-Affinity weapons. However, if money is not a problem, you can do with any elemental geode.

== Gold Stage ==

===Levels 51 - 59===

This is probably one of the worst stages of Goldsmithing because you can’t run away from manipulating gold. There is nothing you can do. Just eat up the losses and pray for fast skill ups. Many people who started to level Goldsmithing even as a subcraft quit at this stage.

; Level 53



;Gold Ingot





All the other Goldsmithing Guides don’t list this as a possible way to skill up because gold ores were so expensive back in the day. But now they come flowing from Abyssea, NMs, Walk of Echoes, so it’s a viable way to skill up. What you do with the Gold Ingots it’s completely up to you (and your situation). I personally saved them for the next synths. If you’re taking forever to gather up the ores and get skill ups, maybe you should consider making a jump to Gold Hairpin (51-58), but it’s risky and you’ll lose lots of gold ingots.

; Level 54



;Gold Ingot







This synth is a guaranteed loss synth because of Gold Nugget’s prices. Check AH supply to see what’s your best option, but this is a painful one.

; Level 58



;Gold Hairpin



x1

Start making these as soon as you can (you can start up at level 53 and get skill ups from occasional breaks). Here, it’s imperative you do desynthesis. Even if you’re super rich. There’s absolutely no excuse to NPC these if you can get the Gold Ingots back. Cap on these.

; Level 59



;Hydro Claws









I actually made this as a bridge to Platinum Stage because I had Smithing leveled and I made the Claws. I also had the Mythril Sheets I did during Mythril Stage, so for me it was a win-win situation. Sell them to NPC for almost 7k, which should lower the loss. Up to you.

== Platinum Stage ==

===Levels 59 - 70===

Congratulations! If you’re leveling Goldsmithing as a sub craft, you should be done on the next synth in no time. If you’re going to continue leveling Goldsmithing, hold on to your horses, Dorothy, because the real hurricane is about to begin. If you thought Gold Stage was bad… wait ‘til you see what’s in store for you at Platinum Stage.

; Level 63



;Platinum Ingot





After Abyssea, platinum ore came flooding the AH, so it’s the best synth you can do at these levels. It should sell for a profit of break-even. It’s such a pain to camp the AH for the ores though, just make as much as you can on this synth, and move on when you can’t take it anymore.

; Level 64



;Platinum Ingot







Platinum Nuggets appear more than Gold Nuggets on the AH, but in my opinion it’s not the very best option to make ingots. Use this only as a bridging recipe (63-64), if you want to.

; Level 69



;Oberon's Gold Ingot





x3

This craft had potential, but unfortunately, as is the case of all “new” recipes, it doesn’t sell very fast on the AH. It was profitable at the time I went through this stage, so I’m listing it here in the hopes of someday this will become a popular synth. Fool’s Gold Ore comes from Union Chests in Campaign, which nowadays may be hard to find. Oberon's Gold Ingot is used in making Oberon's Bullet through Synergy. It is a nice ammo for Corsairs out there, but the state of current economy doesn’t make this market bloom as it should.

; Level 70



;Platinum Arrowheads





This is the fastest synth to go from level 63-70. This is the second big jump on modern Goldsmithing. Unfortunately, the platinum arrowheads doesn’t sell very fast on the AH as they should, and if they do, make sure you profit on it. It is an incredible item for leveling Woodworking, but people nowadays don’t realize the market has changed, and therefore don’t look up for the new leveling options. Still, this is the best thing you can do to level up your Goldsmithing. Be warned, you’re gonna need tons of stacks of Platinum Ingot.

== Aluminum Heaven ==

===Levels 70-78===

For me, this is the most important synth on your entire Goldsmiths career. This stage of Goldsmithing was referred to “Gold Hell” by most oldschool crafters because every synth required a Gold Ingot and to perform Break Synth to alleviate the costs. It also required you to level Smithing and/or Alchemy to at least level 30. Gold Ingots aren’t that expensive nowadays, so you can go the old way, but it’s still considered a huge loss.

This stage marks the end of your crafting sessions. It means it will be hard to get materials to level up cheaply, so your leveling should slow down, and you’ll be crafting a few times a day.

; Level 76



;Gold Patas









This is a Goldsmithing recipe that doesn’t require sub crafts, thus I’m listing it here. However, the Patas is a level 51 Smithing recipe, which you’re probably gonna have to craft it yourself. It’s a loss synth, so you better off sticking to the Fusion Bolt Heads.

; Level 78



;Fusion Bolt Heads





This is what is gonna save the day on this stage. The only problem is that Aluminum Ingots are hard to come by. They come from ISNMs (which no one does anymore), Shinryu and from brown treasure caskets on Zeruhn Mines. At the time I was leveling, there were a lot of people pursuing the coveted Prouesse Ring and drops from Shinryu, so they appeared quite steady on the AH.

Fusion Bolt Heads are used for making Fusion Bolt s, which is an advanced Synergy recipe that needs advanced Woodworking level. That said, don’t expect to be selling these on the AH. A stack of Fusion Bolt Heads sell for 7k on the NPC. So it’s a loss synth, but still better than anything that is listed on the other guides.

Starting this synth at level 70 using Advanced Support, Food, Shades and Apron, you won’t find many break rates. I would say you’ll need about 20 stacks to go 70-78, so start buying as soon as you can.

== Beads Stage ==

===Levels 78-87===

Manipulating phrygian is the new way of leveling goldsmithing. The results can be turned into earrings and rings that sell well after you reach 90+. Information is scarce and crafting caps aren’t confirmed. You can, however, skip Phrygian and go straight to Beads, which were, and still is, one of the best recipes on a goldsmith’s career.

; Level 80



;Gold Buckler









A bridging recipe to go 78-80. You can get the Targe at Deegis shop in Bastok Mines. Although this is a loss synth, it’s the fastest way you can go for skilling up. If you’re not patient enough to buy the 4x ores for the Phrygian synth, then maybe you should consider taking this route.


 * Level 82

PhrygianGoldIngot.png

;Phrygian Gold Ingot





Back to the basic 4x ore recipe, which is a pain. But this is a profit synth while skilling up. Phrygian Ores comes from several events in the end-game scene, so supply on the AH should be steady. The Phrygian Gold Ingots you’ll use for crafting earrings/rings further on. You might want to hold into the Ingots on a mule for later synths, which can be quite helpful on the Accessory Stage of Goldsmithing (post lvl90).

; Level 87

;Elemental beads



Ore (Dark Ore, Earth Ore, Fire Ore, Ice Ore, Light Ore, Lightning Ore, Water Ore or Wind Ore )

Elemental ores comes steady on the AH and it’s a break-even synth. Just don’t expect to be breezing through this stage because the elemental beads don’t sell that fast and you can’t flood the AH nor clog your inventory. However, you can sell the beads to the NPC depending how much you get the ores. I was losing just 1k (987gil to be exact) per synth by selling the results to the NPC. Regardless, it’s still the best way to reach level 87. You can start this as early as level 78, with a higher break-rate.

== Orichalcum Stage ==

Orichalcum used to worth a lot back in the day of the 75 cap because they could be turned into earrings and rings that used to sell for a profit. However, they have still value on the market and can be sold for a profit. Depending on the frequency you play, the supply on the AH and your luck, expect to spend a few weeks in this stage. However, you can skip this stage and go to the next one if you’re willing to burn your gil.

; Level 89



;Orichalcum Ingot







The best recipe to go from 87-89 is this. You may find it difficult to collect the ores but nowadays they don’t cost that much and have a decent supply on the AH. The ingots you make you can sell them for a profit, but if you’re taking Goldsmithing all the way (which I assume you are since you’re this level), you may want to hold onto these.

== Accessories Stage ==

You have 11 more levels to go. The bad news is that you’ll be losing a lot of gil on this one. I mean A LOT. But if you reached this far you should probably have some money in your pockets. Just don’t go bankrupt.

; Level 91



;Cursed Crown









Great synth from going 89-91 is this one, will be a lot cheaper than to dive into Muscle Belts. Unfortunately, the crowns don’t sell for a good price but they still sell (for a loss).


 * Level 91

Phrygian_earring.png

;Phrygian Earring





This is currently (early 2012) a profit synth. If you saved the Phrygian Ingots from earlier you might as well do this synth.

; Level 92



;Muscle Belt









It’s kinda painful on the pockets doing these but I went for it. Manticore Leather these days may be hard to find depending on your playtime and if there are any leveling Leathercrafters out there.

; Level 92

Phrygian_ring.png

;Phrygian Ring





This is an alternative for Muscle Belt. If you have Synergy leveled you can turn this ring into a+7 stat rings, but it’s hard to find Gems, so be warned. You can end up with your inventory clogged. If you have the time and patience to synth the ingots yourself then by all means do that because it’s cheaper than the Muscle Belt. And guess what? You can desynth them if you want to try getting some ingots back.

; Level 95

;Level 72 Rings





(Diamond, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, Spinel, Topaz, Angelstone, Deathstone )

Painful synth since you’re probably gonna have to sell the rings to NPC. They NPC for almost 9k, so you know you’re in for some real gil sink. However, I’ve researched and this is still the most acceptable synth after Muscle Belt. Save any Platinum Ring +1 you get for a craft at level 99.

== Palladian Stage ==

Welcome to the new way of leveling goldsmithing. Pretty much anything that you can do here that can diminish your loss is worth doing. Most people just go straight for the 74 Elemental Rings (which is a jump from 95-102), but I’ll list some other synths to help you on your journey, because Orichalcum Ingots still are expensive, and you’ll burn millions and millions of gil if you take that route.

Most of the oldschool guides listed some Cursed Items recipes and to breaksynthing Verdun. The cursed items all marched to the land of oblivion and breaksynthing is so 2005. In 2012, you spend all your gil and then get it back by other faster ways.

; Level 96

;Millionaire Desk

;Requires Woodworking 59 and Smithing Level Unknown.















Looks like a crazy synth but if you have the subcrafts you may wanna look into this. You can still try to sell these for a profit too.

; Level 98

;Scintillant Ingot









Good synth before you dive into the last stage of your Goldsmith’s leveling career. Materials can be scarce on the AH but it’s a break-even/profit synth for sure.

; Level 98

;Palladium Brass Ingot







New option since they introduced 110 cap. Ores comes from Voidwatch Notorious Monsters. Can be expensive to level up on these, however, if you somewhat dream of getting 110 goldsmithing you’re going to need these ingots. So better to make them and save it for later.

; Level 99

;Level 72 Rings





(Diamond, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, Spinel, Topaz, Angelstone, Deathstone )

This synth is back with a vengeance. Remember I told you to keep any HQ Platinum Rings you made back on the 92-95 run? This is the time to use those.

; Level 99

;Shining Ring









This is a synth for those who are also Synergists. If you have been following this guide you’ve seen me talking about Synergy quite a while. So THIS is the first synth you actually can profit by being a Synergist Goldsmith. It leads to the +6 stat rings, which are way cheaper and therefore more affordable for most people than the +7 rings. Just research your market: any more than 1 goldsmith doing this synth while leveling can break the prices on the rings and make this synth easy to overlook.

If you don’t have Synergy leveled you might want to skip this because the price of the Scintillant Ingot does not justify the price.

; Level 100

;Palladium Brass Sheet







It’s up to you if you wanna use those Palladium Brass Ingots you made to reach 99, but one thing is certain: the sheets are used on later synths, so why the hell not? Just make these and store the sheets for future levels, if you ever decide to go past 100. Otherwise, congratulations! You are an accomplished Goldsmith. For reference, it took me 3 stacks of ingot to go 99-100 with this synth.

; Level 102

;Level 74 Elemental Rings





Bead

This still is a popular synth for reaching 100, so the prices on Orichalcum Ingots are always steady high. If you have the spare points you should get the Goldsmith’s Ring to prevent HQ Orichalcum rings into Triton rings which currently is a dead end synth. You will be losing money by making these. Just power this slowly to 102 when you can.

; Level 102

;Palladium Brass Chain







If you didn’t use the Palladian Ingots to make sheets, you can make these, which are also used in later synths. However, they’re double expensive since you’ll use two ingots. However, it’s an option, so I’m listing it here.

== The Impossible Stage ==

At the time I’m writing this guide it’s impossible to reach goldsmithing 110 without a HUGE amount of gil. Beyond level 102 it’s make it big (by HQ the new cursed gear) or bankrupt trying. Also, you will need several subcrafts leveled to perform these synths.

; Level 104

;Silver Cassandra















This seems like the current best way to reach 104, however, you need Smithing leveled for the Darksteel Hexagun and Leathercraft for the synth itself. You could go the old way and try to breaksynth these… but maybe not.

---

NOTE FROM AUTHOR: I've written this guide in 2012, and I'm only posting it in 2016. It probably did have some changes along the way. I've been away from FFXI for 3 years now, and I'm posting this because I've spent quite some time writing it and never shared. I hope that, if you're reading this, you're having a wonderful time in Vanadiel like I had on my 5-year experience.

Lisamariee of Cerberus