Quote Originally Posted by Kismet View Post
HQing Griffon armor will most likely require a number of cross-class skills. 50 BSM for Ingenuity II is probably a MUST have. 50 GSM for Innovation and CRP for Byregot's as well depending on your rotation. Long story short, I don't believe you will be able to HQ Griffon stuff without multiple cross class skills.
Ingenuity II offers only a modest increase in progress over Ingenuity and is one of the last things you should be seeking. You're fine with just level 15 BSM, honestly. Innovation is definitely not necessary, though it's nice to have in the grand scheme of things. Also helps to get GSM up early on because Flawless is only good for leveling alts and you'll want to be able to make crafting jewelry to spiritbond on your DoW/Ms so you'll be be geared properly. Byregot's is easily the best level 50 skill and really the only one worth mentioning as extremely important, but you can even pass on it if you're well-geared and play your cards properly. Without it, you can run yourself down to 0CP and use the Rumination reserve to finish up the synth. It's not as effective as Byregot, but it's enough for the synths we have now.

To OP, the things you really need are 37 CUL everything else at level 15 but ARM. ARM's 15 ability can fill a slot if you want another easy one to get, but it's just there if you've completely screwed up and need to use it as a last-ditch effort to finish a synth. You must, must, must get at least everything but ARM to 15. You will not have success without them.

For HQing 40-dura items, use the standard Inner Quiet rotation. Tricks of the Trade (ALC 15) any time Good condition shows up for most of the synth, use Steady Hands (II if you have it from CUL 37) with Hasty Touch (CUL 15) spam to maximize the Inner Quiet control bonus. Hit Manipulation (GSM 15) at 20 dura, hit at least one touch over the 3 following steps so you don't waste dura. When you're down to low CP, use Great Strides and Standard/Advanced Touch to get huge quality boosts. When you're out of CP and dura, mash Rumination (CRP 15) -> Ingenuity if doing one-star or two-star recipes (BSM 15) -> Steady Hand -> Standard Synthesis to finish the synth. If you can't finish in 150%, then make dura room to use two whole synths.

For 80-dura items, set up your Inner Quiet and Steady Hand and use Waste Not (LTW 15). You'll want to use Waste Not there because you're not going to use enough CP until you're down to 20 dura, so Tricks will often hit cap and be wasted. Hasty spam as usual. Once you're down to 20 dura (or 15 if you ended on an odd number with Waste Not), hit Master's Mend II and continue to waste out your current Steady Hand. Depending on your CP, dura, and the synth, you may use more Hasty spam or you may need to roll into Ingenuity -> Steady Hand -> Great Strides for your quality finisher. Hit quality down to between 15 and 30 durability depending on your needs, drop Rumination -> Ingenuity if needed -> Steady Hand -> Synth moves to finish.

That's just a general overview, but should get the gist across.