Materia Melding
Materia Melding
“No description available.
— In-game description
Materia Melding is an action unlocked by questing at level 19. It is available for Carpenter, Blacksmith, Armorer, Goldsmith, Leatherworker, Weaver, Alchemist and Culinarian.
Related actions
To meld materia onto a piece of equipment, the equipment must have at least one materia slot.
The easiest way to meld (attach) Materia is to find a 
Materia Melder NPC who will perform the service for a small 
gil fee. This method requires completing the quest 
Forging the Spirit, but otherwise has no level requirement. You can find them near one of the Market Boards in major cities, or in player housing if the owner has purchased and placed a 
Materia Melder Permit.
To meld Materia yourself, you will need to complete the Waking the Spirit quest. The quest giver is F'hobhas, located at The Bonfire in Central Thanalan (X:23.5, Y:13.9). You will need to be level 19 or higher with at least one Disciple of the Hand (crafter) to accept the quest. Once completed, you will unlock the "
Materia Melding" action.
In order to meld actual equipment, you need at least one Disciple of the Hand (crafter) of the same level as the piece of equipment you are trying to meld. Any crafter will work, and you don't need to change your class to the crafter while doing the actual melding.
Stat budgeting
Materia is used to increase certain attributes referred to by players as "substats" in the case of combat jobs.
A piece of gear has a "budget" for how much of a substat it can give, depending on the gear's type and item level. For example, a 
Kirin's Osode of Fending (an item level 300 chest piece) can grant at most +110 of any one substat. This maximum is handled separately for each substat, and is listed in the materia melding interface.
Most gear (excluding Relic Weapons) increases at most 2 substats by default, with one of those substats already at the maximum allowed for the gear's item level. Therefore, the value of melding materia comes from maximizing the second substat, as well as potentially adding a third and/or fourth substat that would otherwise not be on the gear.
When a parameter value turns red in the Materia Melding interface, some or all of the benefit from the selected materia will have no effect. This is because the affected stat has exceeded its budget.
Removal and retrieval
Materia that has been melded to a piece of gear can still be removed later. Materia is removed one-at-a-time, with the most-recent meld being removed first.
Starting with Patch 4.1, when removing materia, there is also a chance of "retrieval", meaning the materia returns to your inventory. If retrieval does not occur, then the removed materia is lost. Prior to this patch, materia removed were always destroyed.
Retrieval rate depends on the grade of the materia. Materia older than the current expansion have a 100% retrieval rate.
| Grade | Retrieval rate |
|---|---|
| Before current expansion | 100% |
| Low-tier of current expansion | 80% |
| High-tier of current expansion | 40% |
Forbidden melds or Overmelding
It is possible to meld more materia to a piece of gear than the available slots. Doing so requires completing the Melding Materia Muchly quest given by Mutamix, also located at The Bonfire in Central Thanalan (X:23.7, Y:13.6). You will need to be level 25 or higher.
The quest involves melding 8 materia to gear in front of Mutamix. To save time, you can use one piece of materia and one gear socket. Simply meld the one materia, then right click on the item and retrieve the materia you just melded. Then, meld that same materia back into the same slot. Repeat for a total of 8 times.
Once complete, the "
Advanced Materia Melding" action replaces the standard " Materia Melding" action. Advanced melds are better known as forbidden melds or overmelding.
Forbidden melds allow you to meld up to 5 materia (i.e., "pentamelding") to a piece of gear. However, the chance of success is low, typically starting at 17% for higher grade materia. The probability of success decreases further depending on the number of materia already melded, and the grade of the current materia you are attempting to add. Going for a full five melds (pentamelding) typically ends at 7% or 5% for the final meld.[fn 1] Players attempting pentamelds often lose lots of materia during the process unless extremely lucky.[fn 2] Materia Melder NPCs cannot perform Advanced Materia Melding.
| Grade | Overmeld slot | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | |
 I |
90% | 48% | 28% | ? |
 II |
82% | 44% | 26% | ? |
 III |
70% | 38% | 22% | ? |
 IV |
58% | 32% | 20% | ? |
 V+ |
17% | 10% | 7% | 5% |
- The table above assumes the gear is high-quality, as that has higher success rates than normal-quality, and there is no reason to meld normal-quality gear anyway.
Certain grades of materia (namely, grades VI, VIII, X, and XII) have restrictions when overmelding: they can only be applied to the first overmeld slot. This restriction is indicated by the phrase "cannot be melded onto a piece of equipment past the first advanced materia melding slot." The remaining overmeld slots will need to rely on slightly-lower-grade materia (usually grades V, VII, IX, and XI respectively).
Due to its high cost, overmelding is not necessary in most gameplay situations, except when attempting savage raid progression in the first few weeks of a patch, for crafters attempting to make Endgame gear and consumables reliably or tackling Expert Recipes, or for gatherers who want to maximize gathering yield and efficiency.
Note that some equipment is not eligible for Overmelding - this is indicated by the phrase "Advanced Melding Forbidden" on the gear. Any gear that has no materia slots to begin with is also not eligible for Overmelding.
Historical
Carbonized matter catalysts were once used for Materia Melding. This requirement was removed in patch 4.06. 
Grade 1 Carbonized Matter remains in the game due to class quests requiring its collection, but is useless aside from completing these quests.
Prior to Patch 5.2, getting materia from fully spiritbound gear resulted in the gear being totally lost, and the process was referred to as conversion. The language was changed to extraction to reflect that it is now non-destructive.
Meanwhile, way back during Patch 1.19 when forbidden melds were first added, failure to overmeld destroyed both the materia and the piece of equipment.[1]
Achievements
Main article: Materia Achievements
This action is associated with the following achievements:
| Name | Points | Task | Reward | Patch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Getting Too Attached I
|
5 | Successfully affix 10 materia. | - | 2.0 |
 Getting Too Attached II
|
5 | Successfully affix 50 materia. | - | 2.0 |
 Getting Too Attached III
|
5 | Successfully affix 100 materia. | - | 2.0 |
 Getting Too Attached IV
|
5 | Successfully affix 500 materia. | - | 2.0 |
 Materia Hysteria
|
10 | Successfully affix 1,000 materia. |  Carrier of the Cauldron
|
2.0 |
 Beginner's Luck
|
10 | Successfully affix two materia to the same piece of gear. | - | 2.0 |
 I Make My Own Luck
|
20 | Successfully affix three materia to the same piece of gear. | - | 2.0 |
 Luck's Got Nothing to Do with It
|
30 | Successfully affix four materia to the same piece of gear. | - | 2.0 |
 I Got This!
|
40 | Successfully affix five materia to the same piece of gear. |  Gambler's Crown
|
2.0 |
 Getting Too Attached V
|
10 | Successfully affix 2,500 materia. | - | 3.0 |
 Getting Too Attached VI
|
10 | Successfully affix 5,000 materia. | - | 3.0 |
 Getting Too Attached VII
|
10 | Successfully affix 10,000 materia. | - | 4.0 |
Notes
- ↑ For melding a HQ gear piece with four advanced melding slots (i.e., only one guaranteed meld), the chance is 5% for the final meld using current endgame materia. If using a NQ gear piece, the chance is 3% instead, but there is no reason to meld NQ gear in the first place.
- ↑ For an example of how many materia a player can expect to lose: with a 4% chance of success, even after 50 tries there is still a 13% chance that no materia successfully attached. For a 95% guarantee, at least 75 materia would be needed.
References
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| Gathering |
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