Materia in Final Fantasy XIV is a useful enchantment that increases the stats of gear. Materia-infused armor is often called materia gear.
As the enchantment is so useful, everyone should know how to create and equip material gear. In this guide, we cover just that.
Recommended Read: How to Unlock Frontline in FFXIV
To create and equip materia gear in FFXIV, right-click on the gear piece and click “Meld”, then equip the piece as usual. Before you can do this, you must complete the quest Forging the Spirits and continue on that questline and then either go to an NPC or meld the materia yourself with a crafter that is at least level 19.
Table of Contents
- What is Materia Gear?
- How to Create and Equip Materia Gear in Final Fantasy XIV
- How to Remove Materia from Gear
What is Materia Gear?
Materia gear in FFXIV is armor that has materia melded into it. The materia gives boosts to certain stats, with each materia being better suited for specific classes.
Some gear can have up to five pieces of materia in it, making it significantly stronger. However, the materia tutorial in FFXIV is severely lacking direction, leaving it under the radar for many players.
You can get materia from the marketboard, as rewards for quests, or from various vendors in the game. But those aren’t the only options.
The best way to get materia is to extract it from 100% spritbond gear. To do this, you must unlock materia melding and extraction.
How to Create and Equip Materia Gear in Final Fantasy XIV
To create and equip gear in FFXIV, unlock materia with a set of quests. Everything regarding materia in Final Fantasy FFXIV requires starting materia quests.
This is a side questline in Central Thanalan. The quest is called Forging the Spirit, which is available at level 19.
To meld materia, you must have a level 19 disciple of the hand, a crafter. The quests teach you how to meld, but it can still be confusing.
How to Make Materia Gear in FFXIV
To make materia gear in FFXIV, either have an NPC, another player, or yourself infuse the materia into gear. Infusing is called melding in FFXIV.
Each piece of gear has a set number of slots you can use to put materia in. The chance of success after each materia decreases.
To meld materia yourself, just right-click on the piece of gear and then click “Meld.”
When you begin melding materia, there will be a pop-up that lets you know the success rate. This is anywhere from 100% to 5%. A fail results in a loss of that material.
How to Equip Materia Gear in FFXIV
You cannot equip materia directly in FFXIV. It is not a piece of gear. You must attach it to a real piece of gear and then equip that gear piece.
It is also not possible to drag and drop the materia to the gear. You must equip it using materia melding.
Materia Questline
- Forging the Spirit (level 19) – Central Thanalan (24-14)
- Waking the Spirit (level 19) – Central Thanalan (24-14)
- Melding Materia Muchly (level 25) – Central Thanalan (24-14)
The materia questline is straightforward and involves speaking to the same person every time. There is no traveling or jumping back and forth between NPCs.
You do have to put what you learn into practice for the quest. The last quest involves melding eight materia in front of the NPC.
How to Remove Materia from Gear
Removing materia from gear in FFXIV is easy. It unlocks after completing the quest after Forgint the Spirit called Waking the Spirit.
To remove materia from gear in FFXIV, right-click on the gear piece, then click “Retrieve Materia.”
There is a 100% retrieval rate for materia older than the current expansion. But the newest one is riskier to extract.
Retrieve Materia Vs. Extract Materia
There are two different ways to remove materia from gear. The first is to retrieve materia, an easy way to get materia back from a piece.
Retrieving materia can only be done on gear that has materia melded in it. Extracting materia involves removing the spiritbond from an item and getting a materia from it.
You can only extract materia from gear that is 100% spiritbond. So if you want to extract materia, wear the gear and battle with it.
Now you know how to create and equip materia gear in FFXIV.
How long did it take you to realize you hadn’t unlocked materia melding? Let me know in the comments!
