Synergy

Synergy

Synergy is an advanced form of synthesis wherein up to six players, each with unique skills, cooperate to create a single item via an apparatus called the "synergy furnace."

There are numerous differences to be noted between synergy and traditional single-player synthesis, one of them being the maintenance of elemental balance within the above mentioned synergy furnace. Synergists-to-be, take heed! Being a new field of science with numerous theories yet unverified, synergy is not a risk-free undertaking, and practitioners are advised to steel themselves for the occasional mishap.

Synergy is a special craft skill used in combination with other skills to etch slots for Evolith stones onto weapons and armor, and to attach said Evolith stones to those slots. It is also used to craft a variety of items, both new and old.

Synergy is not governed by a guild, and as such there are no guild tests or guild points; however, the Synergy Engineers can provide many services, including selling you fewell and other synergy supplies, training your synergy techniques, and exchanging cinder for various synergy-related items.

Synergy skill currently caps at 80.

How to Get Started[]

Obtain the Synergy Crucible from a Synergy Engineer.

The synergy crucible serves as the receptacle for different varieties of elemental "fewell," the source of power for furnaces. The Synergy Engineer will supply you with 99x Fewell of each element at no additional cost. You may obtain further fewell in exchange for 100 gil, or by trading an elemental Fewell item for 50x.

See also Synergistic Pursuits if you began the process to obtain Synergy access, but didn't complete it, before 2012.

Steps for Performing Synergy[]

1) Prepare ingredients for the recipe.

Recipes corresponding to a character's synergy skill level can be learned by talking to a synergy engineer.

2) Recruit party members.

Synergy is a joint activity that requires the cooperation of other players. The party leader should seek fellow synergists with the right skills needed for a particular recipe and invite them to join a party.

3) Check your synergy crucible's fewell supply.

Check your synergy crucible's current supply of elemental fewell by either examining the synergy furnace prior to depositing the ingredients, or by speaking with a synergy engineer. If required, synergy engineers can replenish your store in exchange for gil (1 fewell unit replenished costs 100 gil). Alternatively, it is also possible to directly replenish the crucible using either crystals (each crystal gives one fewell unit of the crystal element traded) or the new synthesizable item version of fewell (each orb gives 50 fewell units, alchemy skill required to synth yourself). Depositing such items directly into the furnace will affect only the fewell supply of the character whose synergy crucible is currently installed.

4) Claim usage over a synergy furnace.

To use a communal synergy furnace, you must first lay claim by examining it. At this point, you will be allocated a period of time to deposit the ingredients and commence the synergy process. When this has been done, your group will have exclusive access to the furnace until the synergy process is complete.

The Portafurnace is your very own personal Synergy Furnace, which can be obtained after the completion of the quest The Wondrous Whatchamacallit.

Private synergy furnaces summoned using the aforementioned item can be used only by you and your party members.

5) Deposit the ingredients.

Only the claim-holding character may deposit ingredients into the furnace. Similarly, at the conclusion of synergy, the resultant product will be obtainable only by that character.

6) Operate the furnace.

Now comes the most invigorating and rewarding part of the process: the operation of the synergy furnace itself. Throughout the course of synergy, players must keep a close eye on the balance of elemental concentration, internal pressure, the build-up of impurities, and furnace durability. Seamless teamwork and timely application of synergy techniques is the key to success.

Operating the furnace[]

- Note that even someone who has not completed the key item quest can participate in a party member's synergy attempt. If you need a particular player's craft skill to complete a synergy attempt, there is no need to make sure they have synergy skill unlocked, they can still help and participate (though they cannot get skillups if they have not done the quest.) You will use the actions below in combination to operate the furnace to perform synergy. Note that all party members involved can operate the device simultaneously. Be careful that multiple party members don't unintentionally perform the same action at the same time (e.g. adding too much fewell of the same type). You may wish to communicate ahead of time which party members will perform what actions.

This is not a complete list of actions. Certain items may grant otherwise unavailable abilities, and new abilities may become available in the future. Any successful furnace operation can yield skill-ups, regardless of whether the action has any fewell cost.

Available to everyone:

View furnace readings
- Compare current elemental balance with objectives, and monitor pressure and impurities.
Feed fewell
- Deposit fewell into the furnace to increase a specific element's strength.
  The fewell element will increase by 5-9, depending on burning efficiency. The element weak to the fewell element will be reduced by 2, and can go negative.
  If an elemental surge occurs, the amount of energy is increased by whatever amount(+0~10) is needed to get as close as possible to a perfect balance. This also applies to the weak element reduction.
  If burning efficiency increases on consecutive surges, energy levels can increase by more than 10.
  The impurity ratio will rise by an amount equal to the difference between the cap of your current recipe and the feeder's synergy level. If you are above or within 5 levels of the skill-cap for the synthesis, impurity ratio will raise by 5% per feed.
Thwack furnace
- Apply a time-honored (if low-efficiency) method to ward off potential accidents. Has a chance to stop an explosion in progress.
Operate pressure handle
- Consume 3 Dark fewell to lower furnace pressure.
Operate safety lever
- Consume 6 Dark fewell to cleanse furnace of impurities.
Repair furnace
- Consume 6 Light fewell to increase furnace durability.
Recycle strewn fewell
- Render strewn fewell into a reclaimable state, increasing the amount of reclaimable cinder.

Equipment that augments synergy[]

Available to people with Upgraded guild Smocks equipped while using the Synergy Furnace.

Alchemy: Alchemical Smarts (Only available while wearing a Alchemist's Smock)
- Consume 10 Earth fewell to suppress the force of explosions.
Bonecraft: Carbonization Smarts (Only Available while wearing a Boneworker's Smock)
- Consume 10 Fire fewell to temporarily increase the likelihood of elemental surge.
Clothcraft: Restorer's Touch (Only Available while wearing a Weaver's Smock)
- Consume 10 Light fewell to significantly restore the furnace's durability.
Cooking: Heating Smarts (Only Available while wearing a Culinarian's Smock)
- Consume 10 Light fewell to gradually purge the furnace of impurities.
Fishing: Lunar Smarts (Only Available while wearing a Fisherman's Smock)
- Consume 5 fewell to temporarily increase the likelihood of elemental surge. Fewell needed matches day.
Goldsmithing: Engraver's Touch (Only Available with Goldsmith's Smock)
- Consumes 10 Light fewell to evenly disperse the furnace's internal stress to delay a looming explosion.
Leatherworking: Pressurization Smarts (Only available while wearing a Tanner's Smock)
- Consume 10 Ice fewell to suppress the fluctuation in internal pressure.
Smithing: Combustion Smarts (Only Available with Blacksmith's Smock)
- Consumes 10 Water to temporarily give an increase in fewell combustion rate.
Woodworking: Cyclical Smarts (Only Available while wearing a Carpenter's Smock)
- Consume 10 Earth to reduce damage taken by Synergy furnace for a short period of time.

Available to people with the guild Cuffs equipped while using the Synergy Furnace. These abilities act like like an extremely accurate thwack- only usable during an explosion with a high likelihood of success.

Alchemy: Light Affinity (Only Available while wearing a Alchemist's Cuffs)
- Consume 5 Dark fewell to keenly observe the flow of elements to prevent Light -based explosions.
Bonecraft: Dark Affinity (Only Available while wearing a Boneworker's Cuffs)
- Consume 5 Light fewell to keenly observe the flow of elements to prevent Dark -based explosions.
Clothcraft: Lightning Affinity (Only Available while wearing a Weaver's Cuffs)
- Consume 5 Earth fewell to keenly observe the flow of elements to prevent Lightning -based explosions.
Cooking: Water Affinity (Only Available while wearing a Culinarian's Cuffs)
- Consume 5 Lightning fewell to keenly observe the flow of elements to prevent Water -based explosions.
Fishing: Precision Thwack (Only Available while wearing a Fisherman's Cuffs)
- Apply a time-honored method to ward off potential accidents. Has a chance to stop an explosion in progress at the cost of reducing some furnace health. Effectiveness varies on moon phase.
Goldsmithing: Wind Affinity (Only Available while wearing a Goldsmith's Cuffs)
- Consume 5 Ice fewell to keenly observe the flow of elements to prevent Wind -based explosions.
Leatherworking: Ice Affinity (Only Available while wearing a Tanner's Cuffs)
- Consume 5 Fire fewell to keenly observe the flow of elements to prevent Ice -based explosions.
Smithing: Fire Affinity (Only Available while wearing a Blacksmith's Cuffs)
- Consume 5 Water fewell to keenly observe the flow of elements to prevent Fire -based explosions.
Woodworking: Earth Affinity (Only Available while wearing a Carpenter's Cuffs)
- Consume 5 Wind fewell to keenly observe the flow of elements to prevent Earth -based explosions.

Complications[]

Overload
As impurities build up, the risk of overload increases. Keeping impurities below 30% will generally be enough to prevent overloads.
If an overload occurs and Thwacking the furnace does not correct it, an explosion will occur that causes a loss of elemental power, deals moderate damage and cause side effects:

Fire Overload : inflicts Disease . While diseased, from 1 to 4 fewell is lost for every fewell fed.
Ice Overload : inflicts Paralyze. You are randomly prevented from the action you picked. You also lose the fewell for the action you selected.
Wind Overload : inflicts knockback and causes a loss of up to 6 units of fewell of a random element. Get knocked back too far, and your claim on the furnace is relinquished.
Earth Overload : inflicts Slow. While slowed, furnace operations (such as Thwacking) are impossible.
Lightning Overload : inflicts Stun. While stunned, the furnace can't be accessed.
Water Overload : inflicts Poison. While poisoned, you are unable to operate the furnace. Thwacking is still possible. Also, every action done will lower the health of the furnace by an additional 7%.
Light Overload : causes loss of 2 Fire , Wind , Lightning and Light fewell.
Dark Overload : causes loss of 2 Ice , Earth , Water and Dark fewell.

These effects will wear off after a few seconds of not interacting with the furnace, or they can be removed normally with the appropriate -na spell where applicable.

Leaking
Another complication that can occur is a leak. The furnace will emit an aura with the color of the element. When this happens, elemental power is gradually diminishing while the elemental power of the strong element is increasing. (Earth leak lowers earth power, and increases Wind power)
Leaks can be fixed by feeding the element weak to the leak. If Earth power is leaking, feed it Lightning power until the leak stops. Like Thwacking, fixing a leak does not work every time. Expect to feed at least a few fewells to fix the problem.

Furnace skill levels[]

Every 5^th skill level, you will be able to train your ability in different aspects of operating the furnace by speaking to any Synergy Engineer. As you advance in level with each skill, you will be able to perform that furnace function more effectively. (Disclaimer: Much of this is untested):

It is not necessary to "train" every 5 levels. Points accrue and are not lost if not spent. (i.e. I spent my first point at lvl. 5, did not spend second point upon reaching lvl 10, reached lvl 15 and was able to spend both points.)

Feed Fewell: This has been reported to increase the rate at which combustion improves (higher chance of getting more power per fewell fed).
Thwack Furnace: The chance of preventing an explosion when this action is used will be improved.
Operate Pressure Valve: The amount of pressure relieved will increase.
Operate Safety Lever: The impurity ratio will decrease more when this action is selected.
Repair Furnace: Your efforts to repair the furnace will be more effective.
Recycle strewn fewell: the percentage bonus to the amount of cinder received will increase.

Cap for each ability is level 5 (Thus, you will not be able to max every ability).

Synergy completion[]

When you think you've achieved a finished product, select End Synergy to complete the process (You will receive a message when it's a good time to end). Check the furnace again to retrieve the item. The following results can occur:

If the "Synergy image is blurry..." You might not complete the product.
If the synergy image has taken form, you will very likely complete the product.
If, when ending synergy, it says "Smooth Synergizing!" you have achieved a HQ, and may get a better item or a larger quantity of an item with no HQ (Even unstackable items such as juice can be received in a multiple quantity!) The more accurately you form the synergy image (by more precisely matching the elemental balance goal), the better the chance for this to happen. For item etching, Smooth Synergizing will result in a bigger etching than a normal result ( e.g. if an item has a maximum of DiamondFilledWindWind ◆6, a normal result will give DiamondFilledWindWind ◆1 to 6 while a Smooth result will give DiamondFilledWindWind ◆5 to 6 depending on the proximity to the ideal value). It's not possible to exceed the maximum given by the Synergy Engineer.

If Synergy is successful, you will receive cinder, explained in detail below.

After either a successful or failed attempt, check the Synergy Furnace again to claim your items. If you forget to retrieve the items after any attempt, you can claim them by checking any Synergy Furnace in any area.

Ranking Up[]

Nowhere else online does it tell you (but it really should) that you will rank up automatically alongside your skill ups because you infact DO just that in Synergy.
Normally, in other crafts one would have to turn in a test item to reach the next guild rank. Not so here.
Please note that there are no rank test items, you may skill up until you max out Synergy skill level. Provided you don't need other conditions met for an item being made.

Aptants and Pigments[]

One of the key features of Synergy is the ability to modify certain armor sets. Starting from three craftable armor sets, each individual piece can be recolored to express different evolith slots, as well as specialized towards specific jobs.

Craftable armor sets
These are the craftable and AH-sellable entry points of the modifiable armor sets.

Ebon Breastplate Set - WAR / PLD / DRK / BST / DRG
Ebon Harness Set - MNK / THF / RNG / SAM / NIN / COR / PUP / DNC
Ebon Frock Set - WHM / BLM / RDM / BRD / SMN / BLU / SCH

Pigments
Each pigment allows different elements to be etched for evolith slots.

Ebon Pigment - black - focusses on dark element slots. Elemental opposite of furia. Each consecutive slot is smaller than the previous.
Furia Pigment - red - focusses on light element slots. Elemental opposite of ebon. Each consecutive slot is smaller than the previous.
Ebur Pigment - white - balanced between light and dark. Each consecutive slot has the same size as the previous.

Aptants
Aptants are used to specialize a piece of armor towards certain jobs, or to revert that specialization.

Base armor set		Aptant (specialise)		Specialized armor set	Jobs		Aptant (revert)		Base armor set
Ebon-Ebur-Furia Breastplate Set	+	Aptant: Bellum	=	Ebon-Ebur-Furia Cuirass Set	WAR / DRK	+	Aptant: Primus	=	Ebon-Ebur-Furia Breastplate Set
		Aptant: Durus	=	Ebon-Ebur-Furia Haubert Set	PLD
		Aptant: Aecus	=	Ebon-Ebur-Furia Mail Set	BST / DRG
Ebon-Ebur-Furia Harness Set	+	Aptant: Pera	=	Ebon-Ebur-Furia Jerkin Set	RNG / COR	+	Aptant: Arkhe	=	Ebon-Ebur-Furia Harness Set
		Aptant: Tachus	=	Ebon-Ebur-Furia Vest Set	THF / NIN / DNC
		Aptant: Ishis	=	Shikkoku-Ginhaku-Shinku Togi Set	MNK / SAM / PUP
Ebon-Ebur-Furia Frock Set	+	Aptant: Haelan	=	Ebon-Ebur-Furia Bliaut Set	WHM / SMN	+	Aptant: Fyrst	=	Ebon-Ebur-Furia Frock Set
		Aptant: Secan	=	Ebon-Ebur-Furia Coat Set	BLM / SCH
		Aptant: Geoc	=	Ebon-Ebur-Furia Talar Set	RDM / BRD / BLU

If you want to change a specialized version of a piece of armor into another specialized version, you first apply the reverting aptant, then apply the specializing aptant.
For example, to change an Ebur Vest to an Ebur Jerkin, obtain an Aptant: Arkhe and Aptant: Pera and change the body piece like this: Vest + Arkhe = Harness. Harness + Pera = Jerkin.
The pigment of the armor does not change between each step.

Etching Equipment[]

See the bottom of this page for a list of known etching recipes.

To find out of equipment is suitable for evolith slots, trade it to a Synergy Engineer. You will receive one of 4 different responses:

...Alas. It's a shame, but it appears your <<item>> cannot be etched.
Item can not be etched.
Hmm, what is this? It would seem that your <<item>> cannot be etched at this time.
Item can be etched, but it contains a signature or augmentation.
Hmm... I'm afraid your <<item>> cannot house any more apertures.
Item can be etched but has reached it's limit on slots.
Congratulations! Your <<item>> can indeed hold an evolith aperture.
Item can be etched.

To etch slots for Evolith into equipment, simply claim a Synergy Furnace and trade the item to be etched along with one of the following: Mordant 15, Mordant 30 Mordant 45 Mordant 60 or a Mordant 75 as appropriate for the item to the furnace, and complete the synergy process.
Getting a "Smooth Synergy" message will usually etch the maximum size for a slot, while normal results are randomly decided (although never below 1 or above maximum).
"Smooth Synergy" can occur if the elemental balance is not optimal, but the result will be the maximum value of the reduced range. (If the normal max is 6, an imperfect smooth synergy could result in 2~5, with normal results ranging 1~3.)

Difficulty[]

Most items not created via synergy can only take a single evolith socket. Many of the new items released with the Synergy update can take two or three. In such cases, sockets must be etched one at a time- each item has a set type for each socket, and a set selection of elements are available for each socket.
Each socket is more difficult to synergize than the last, because you need to add the previous slot to the elemental balance.
Example: Shikkoku Togi with <[1]TriangleUpFilledEarthEarth ▲8 [2]TriangleUpFilledFireFire ▲6 [3]TriangleUpEmptyDarkDark △5>
Step 1: Earth 40
Step 2: Fire 40 Earth 40
Step 3: Fire 40 Earth 40 Dark 40

When two slots share the same element, such as [1] and [3], the difficulty for slot 3 changes:
Example: Shikkoku Togi with <[1]TriangleUpFilledEarthEarth ▲8 [2]TriangleUpFilledFireFire ▲6 [3]TriangleUpEmptyEarthEarth △5>
Step 1: Earth 40
Step 2: Fire 40 Earth 40
Step 3: Fire 40 Wind 60¹ Earth 60
As you can see, the earth element requires only 60 instead of 80, but as a penalty the element strong to earth (wind) is added to balance¹ it.

However, when the 2nd slot element is the same as the penalty element for the 3rd slot, no additional penalty is added!
Example: Shikkoku Togi with <[1]TriangleUpFilledEarthEarth ▲8 [2]TriangleUpFilledWindWind ▲6 [3]TriangleUpEmptyEarthEarth △5>
Step 1: Earth 40
Step 2: Wind 40 Earth 40
Step 3: Wind 60 Earth 60

¹: The amount of wind energy (60) added far exceeds expected value (20), making this particular alignment much more difficult then the other two examples. It is most likely a bug, and should see a fix coming March update.
Majestas and Sarissa share the same problem, but how the bug affects a Light Light Light Majestas or a Lightning Lightning Lightning Sarissa is not known at this time.

Changing sockets and evoliths[]

Once etched, elemental type on sockets cannot be changed. If you want to change it, or max out a previously unmaxed socket, you will have to remove them. To remove etched sockets from an item, simply include a Revertant or Revertant Singulus with the item instead. Revertant will remove ALL sockets, while Revertant Singulus will only remove the last socket. Any Evolith present in the removed sockets will be lost.

Evoliths can be replaced without having to re-etch the entire item as long as the new evolith matches an existing slot. An Ebur Tam with <[1]TriangleUpFilledFireFire ▲6 [2]TriangleUpFilledLightningLightning ▲6 [3]TriangleUpEmptyIceIce △6> will always fit an TriangleUpFilledFireFire ▲-evolith on the [1] slot, wether the old evolith was stronger, weaker or had a different effect (such as TriangleUpFilledFireFire ▲1 "Vs. Birds: Ranged Attack +4" replacing TriangleUpFilledFireFire ▲6 "Vs. Beasts: Attack +9").

Limits on etchable gear[]

Etching is only available on certain equipment. In general, the following cannot be etched:

Equipment in non-visible gear slots (rings, earrings, etc).
Any equipment with any sort of flag ( , , ), with the exception of equipment created by Synergy.
Equipment not created by crafting of some form.
Crafted equipment with atypical crafting components generally can't be etched, such as elemental staves or NM-drop dependent synths.

Equipment that CAN be etched is generally limited to a handful of armor sets and weapons, often only one per category in a given level range. See the Etching recipes below for a detailed list.

Shields always give a choice of two elements, but their slot size is halved compared to similar level armor.
Weapons always give a choice of two elements, with the 2nd element being either light or dark. (Depending on the first element.)
Some HQ armor sets allow a second element to choose from. Some HQ weapons have +1 slot size compared to the NQ version.

Augmenting Gear[]

Augmenting gear (using Tatter, Scrap or Abdhaljs's Honor synergy) is similar to etching gear, with some of the resulting augmented gear resembling gear that can be obtained from Treasure Caskets in Abyssea, gear bought from Dominion Sergeants, and gear augmented through elite training regimes' Field Parchments.

When augmenting gear, the person who wants the augmented gear MUST have synergy unlocked if someone else with a higher synergy skill is performing the synthesis.
Upon completion of the augment synergy, the player is offered the choice to accept the augment or decline. If you don't accept the augment(s), you will be returned the unaltered item vs. the augmented item and vice-versa.
When the gear is augmented, it can be tossed back into the furnace to remove the augment or to try and place new augments on.
- Gear already augmented CAN be placed back into the furnace with the appropriate scrap/tatter and re-augmented with no loss of current augments if the synth is not accepted.

Equipment that CAN be augmented is generally limited to a handful of armor sets and weapons (currently). See the Augmented recipes below for a detailed list.

100 Pz of cinder rewarded is considered a NQ synth and will only have 1 augment applied.
110 Pz of cinder rewarded is considered a HQ1 synth and will have up to 2 augments applied.
120 Pz of cinder rewarded is considered a HQ2 synth and will have up to 2 augments applied.
130 Pz of cinder rewarded is considered a HQ3 synth and will have up to 3 augments applied.

Cinder[]

Successful synergy attempts will yield ponzes (Pz) of cinder for all participants involved in a synergy attempt. The Collecting strewn fewell furnace operation will grant a bonus to the amount of cinder received if successful. You can accumulate a maximum of 10,000 Pz of cinder- upon reaching this amount, any further cinder received will be lost. Cinder can be exchanged at any Synergy Engineer for items used in the etching of Evolith sockets (Some of these can also be purchased with gil if you lack cinder):