Materia...what exactly is it?

As the title suggests...

How is it obtained? How is it used? Please explain it in detail =)

I haven't experimented with it a whole lot yet, but there is a quest at about lvl 20 or so that'll open up the ability to convert a piece of old gear with a 100% spiritbond to one materia with a random stat. Materia can be attached to gear to give a stat boost. That's what I know so far.

Thanks for your reply, but I need some more detail.

Can anyone break-down said gear to gain the materia and put it into a new piece, or does one have to be a crafter class/have levels in a crafter class? Townies we used to call 'em haha.

You don't need to be a crafter to Convert bonded gear.
You need to be a crafter and have the proper catalyst to attach it to an item, though. Each materia has a grade 1-5. You need carbonized matter of the same or higher grade to attach the materia.
You can Request A Meld from another character. You will need to have the item, the materia, and the carbonized matter. This lets you have someone else meld your gear when it is already bound to you.
Each item has a hidden stat cap based on the item level. Adding materia cannot increase any of the stats past this hidden cap. When attaching a materia it will tell you if you are not getting the full value.
Each item has a number of open materia slots. These are the circles in the item description. Attaching up to that amount of materia will always be successful. You can try to meld more materia after that but with a very limited chance of success. This is usually called over-melding. If an over-meld fails you lose the materia and catalyst but not the item you were trying to meld to.

Here is a rough guide if you want one. The information on materia farming is a little outdated, but everything else is more or less correct. The basics of materia can be summarized in four points.

To convert materia, you will need to complete the Lv.19 story quest, Life, Materia, and Everything.

Any equipment (except blue and purple) will have a spiritbind % when you mouseover them. When you reach 100% spiritbind, you can convert items in to materia by selecting the item and right-clicking/menu.

To spiritbind items, you need to fight enemies on par with their item level or higher. This means you cannot spiritbind a Lv.45 item by killing Lv.1 enemies, but you must kill enemies who are at least Lv.36.

Once you convert an item in to materia, you will receive a random materia. Items that give tank stats will produce tank materia, and the same applies to dps/healers/crafters/gatherers. Materia are color-coded for your reference.

You will need a crafter to meld materia to your weapons/armor. A trade menu lets you find crafters willing to meld materia. Doing so requires a materia and an appropriately graded carbonized matter. Please try to provide the materials yourself. Until new materia are released, you will not need more than grade 4 carbonized matter. A tip of 1k to 2k is typical for melders you find using party search.

High level crafters can also overmeld, allowing you to slot more materia than the item have slots (to a max of 5). Doing so will drastically reduce the success rate of the meld, so please be aware of the risk.

Some more advanced tips are as follows:
Custom slotted materia in hq items can be better than the ilvl110 items for certain builds. If you're new to the game and not tweaking towards anything really unusual, materia isn't necessary.
When planning materia, don't forget that materia can cap and keep that in mind when planning your materia slots.
Failures will not destroy the item, but only the materia you are tryingto meld. Slot the most expensive materia first and use the cheaper and more expendable ones for the riskier melds.

Super helpful, thank you Anova!

So, a few points that deserve elaborating on. First, the stat caps mentioned earlier include the stats already on the item. HQ battlecraft items are typical at the cap for stats on it, so materia is more useful for situations like adding crit to slots that don't have any, or adding vit to non-tank accessories.

Secondly, the speed it spiritbonds at depends on the level of the action (mob killed or item gathered/crafted) compared to the level of the item. Syncing for dungeons or fates does not change item level for this purpose, so even if you're level 22 in the dungeon, if your gear is 45 you won't get any SB. Should also be noted I mentioned speed: going after mobs 9 levels below the item level is abysmally slow, and higher levels things SB you faster (this is why folks SB in dungeons).

Speaking of speed, you can increase the speed a number of ways. HQ items SB faster than NQ, and attaching materia also makes it faster (good use for junk materia). There are also equipment that boost SB rate, but typically this is the only stat on it and takes up a slot you can use for more spiritbind items (the exception is the aetheryte ring, which has crafting stats and can be converted, albeit not into crafting materia). There is also a FC buff that increases SB rate, as well as spiritbind potions that increase the speed as well. Although, I do hear there's a cap, so don't expect penta-melded items, +8 spiritbind from gear, +5 from potion, and the tier II FC buff to SB stuff ludicrously fast.

Regarding Materia, Is it important to have it or just a "bonus"?

I main a tank class so having the best gear I can is important, but I haven't found out how to use material unless maybe I level a craft? Is it necessary?

Materia can be safely ignored for the most part. So long as you wear gear meant for you, it will have the main stats you need at cap (or near cap for NQ). It's a waste of money to use it on gear you will replace, and all the high level dungeon drop gear can't have materia attached.

That said, it cam be used at endgame to be the best you can be. You can get crafted gear that's 2nd best (ilvl 90 currently) and attach materia. While the main stats will not be as high, it's useful to ensure you hit accuracy caps or pump a desired trait like crit rate as high as possible.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Iowella

Regarding Materia, Is it important to have it or just a "bonus"?

I main a tank class so having the best gear I can is important, but I haven't found out how to use material unless maybe I level a craft? Is it necessary?

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It's optional. Generally, the best gear in the game (everything level 100+) doesn't even have Materia slots, and the closest stuff that can be crafted that has slots (level 90) will cost you an arm and a leg and is questionable if it even gives that much of an advantage, although as mentioned, crafted accessories are a good way to add chunks of accuracy without sacrificing much in the way of stats.

There's some usefulness for it if you get into PvP - all the specific gear for the Wolves' Den wants to be worn over PvE gear generally due to Morale, and all the PvP gear has materia slots on it; on top of the stats, ailment resistance materia can also be incredibly useful in PvP (mainly Stun Resistance/Sleep Resistance), unlike the main game. This is mostly for Wolves' Den 50s though - Battlegrounds players will find this less important (though nothing necessarily wrong with bringing i70 accessories with stun/sleep resistance slapped on!)

There's two major cases where it's not optional:
1. Crafters will find that once they hit 50, there's very little gear upgrades past the class-specific l50 gear/l50 quest tool - all the extra Control/Craftsmanship/CP they want (and they do need a lot more to make 2-star and up recipes) has to come from melding Materia to that gear, all of which has slots for melding. This is the big one.
2. The Relic weapon quest early on requires a specific weapon with two specific grade-III materia melded onto it, which will eventually be transformed into your relic. Far later, you also have to meld about 75 points worth of stats onto an item in order to complete your Relic Novus. While I think many players are nowhere near even doing Relic Novus yet, many players that hit fifty do undertake at least the first phase or two of the Relic quest (because getting it to its Zenith form is relatively easy, quick, and gives you a weapon that currently will serve you through basically all the content in the game) so the first step is important. That said, you can always just buy the stuff and look for a capable crafted in your free company or via party finder to meld it together for you.

To slightly disagree with the last 2 comments, materia can generally be disregarded for the adventuring classes. You will need 2 grade-3 materia as part of the relic quest after you get to 50 but that is it.

For the crafting and gathering classes materia is essential .. but only once you get to level 50 and have all the best gear available at the time. In order to gather from 2* nodes you need the best ilvl55 gathering gear with lots of materia melded to it.