Spiritbond

See also: Materia

Not to be confused with "soulbound", which in other MMORPGs refers to gear that cannot be traded to other players. In Final Fantasy XIV that is called Binding.

Spiritbond, or Spiritbonding, is the process of creating Materia. Weapons, Armor and Accessories will acquire spiritbond as you gain experience points from defeating monsters, completing Duties or FATEs, crafting items, or gathering resources. Once equipment reaches 100% spiritbond, a piece of materia can be extracted from it, returning it to 1%. Players can view spiritbond progression by hovering over the equipment and reading the spirit bond percentage from the items information details. Once the Spiritbond is complete, the player will receive an audio, visual, and text notification in their chat log. Additionally, the gear indicating pips (in the bottom right by default) will change from green to white.

• Note that when a piece of your gear reaches 1% Spiritbond, it becomes permanently bound to your character. As a result, it cannot be traded to other players or sold on the Market Board. Gear will immediately bind to you if you gain any experience while wearing it, or if it is used to glamor a different piece of equipment.

Spiritbond Mechanics

High Quality gear and Aetherial gear will spiritbond 20% faster than regular equipment. Additionally, each materia melded into the gear will increase the Spiritbonding speed by another 20%. Spiritbonding rate is cumulative. For example, a piece of HQ gear (+20%) with two materia melded (+40%) will spiritbond 60% faster than a piece of NQ gear with no materia.

Despite HQ gear bonding faster than NQ gear, converting NQ gear nets the same results as HQ gear. In short, the quality of the converted item will not affect the materia gained.

Equipment will acquire spiritbond regardless of the class of the player – all that is required to gain spiritbond is for you to receive EXP points while wearing the item. Due to this, players can wear crafting or gathering gear as a Disciple of War and spiritbond it through combat experience, and vice versa. This will be catastrophically bad for your performance in those tasks, however, since you will have none of the relevant stats.

Spiritbond speed correlates to the level difference between the equipped item and the enemies slain, the level of items gathered, or level of the item created by a crafter. Based on research, items that are 8 to 15 levels below the experience giving object will spiritbond the fastest. 10 Levels below is about the perfect spot. If you are striving to spiritbond level 40 gear, you want to craft level 50 gear, gather from level 50 nodes, run level 50 dungeons, or kill level 50 enemies.

• Note that a piece of gear with 0% Condition will not gain Spiritbond points.

Achievements

There are five different in-game achievements awarded through spiritbonding.

1.   An Extract Science I - gained by extracting 10 materia from spiritbound items. Completing this task rewards five achievement points.
2.   An Extract Science II - gained by extracting 50 materia from spiritbound items. Completing this task rewards five achievement points.
3.   An Extract Science III - gained by extracting 100 materia from spiritbound items. Completing this task rewards five achievement points.
4.   An Extract Science IV - gained by extracting 500 materia from spiritbound items. Completing this task rewards five achievement points.
5.   Living in a Materia World - gained by extracting 1,000 materia from spiritbound items. Completing this task rewards ten achievement points and the title "The Assimilator".

Tips and Tricks

• Use   Spiritbond Potions! The benefit is especially noticeable during lower level spiritbonding sessions. If you are in danger of being killed, beware – the potion gives the Medicated status, not Well Fed, meaning it wears off upon death.

• Completing the Quest The Adventure of the Fainting Goldsmith awards the   Meteor Survivor Ring which gives a +3 Spiritbond boost when worn.

• (Potentially obsolete) Castrum Meridianum spiritbonding farms are the best way spiritbond item level 45 to 55 gear. A piece of gear item level 50 will get 10 to 15% spiritbond in the first pull, depending on the potions and the buff status. This dungeon will also give around 90% under the same conditions if you run all the way through. If you can get a full party its best to run the first groups of trash monsters, then exit the dungeon and do this again.

• (Potentially obsolete) Urth's Fount located in the South Shroud is another excellent location for spiritbonding level 45 to 55 gear. This location is a bit difficult to solo, but in a party of 2 or more, it is fast and easy. People spiritbond gear here by attacking the water sprites and moving to the top of the large crystal, allowing the sprites to stack up, making them easy prey for AoE attacks.

• (Potentially obsolete) Northern Thanalan's Abandoned Amajina Mythril Mine is another good location for spiritbonding in a group.

• (Potentially obsolete) 4 runs of Amdapor Keep is usually enough to spiritbond item level 49 accessories.

• (Potentially obsolete) 4 runs of Syrcus Tower is generally sufficient to spiritbond item level 90 gear.

• Grade 4 materia has the same drop rate when spiritbonding level 45 gear as a level 55 class. Because level 45 gear usually bonds faster in the popular locations, it is best to spiritbond equipment that is closer to level 45. Chances of getting a grade 4 materia goes up in steps after this level, (i45-i55) <i70 <i90 <i110.

• Due to spiritbond rate being higher, only use High Quality gear in your spiritbonding sessions.

• Each meld increases the rate by 20%, so adding materia is very beneficial.