Desynthesis Endgame Guide

[Espritduo]

I have an i180 cul deysnth, and it definitely gets tedious past i170. You start really running out of any fish that give anything at all, and by the time you get to 176 or so, only level 60 fish give anything, and only 0.01. Past that, the level 60-star fish are the only feasible option, and of those, Spring Urchin and Stupendemys are really the best choices. Still, the 60-star have a horrendously low desynth rate, and you will be seeing, at best, 50-65% chance even with full careful desynth buffs. 65% is the max success rate at 180 with full buffs. If Big Fish are two-star and they don't raise the cap, god help us all. XD

[Arcticharm]

Well, while CUL is definitely quick to level up to 165, I was worried about ~168-175 due to the need for r180 fish. You should have a low chance of success to desynth those (27% at 168), and I expected them to be difficult to fish up like the r80 fish were. But, if you're doing it anyway for red scrips, that makes sense!

I spoke too soon, tonight I observed the gap you were talking about. A friend handed off a bunch of lungfish to me and my % chance to desynth those is down around 25% without buffs at 167ish. So you're right there is definitely a gap there to drive skill ups. That being said, he found these fish while catching tiny Axoltol (sp?) for red scrip turn ins so the cul desynth skill ups should still come pretty naturally while trying to get the new gear for the moment. It helps to have fishing friends unwilling to level their cul desynth

[Nyalia]

I spoke too soon, tonight I observed the gap you were talking about.

CUL at the end is weird, just like before. Before, 1-80 were super fast, but then you stopped getting exp from anything except Big Fish, and the "small" Big Fish like Octomammoth don't give great exp there. But, the r80 fish are hard and slow to catch, so you struggle on r80 Big Fish until ~90, and then there's a gap before Better Crowned Pies at r110.

So, CUL is like:
r1-r50, r55, r70, r75, r80, (GAP), r110, r120, r125, r130, r133, r136, r139, r142, r145, r148, r150, (GAP), r180

Other classes go:
r1-r50, r55, (limited r60), r70, (limited r80), r90, r100, r110, r115, r120, r125, r130, r133, r136, r139, r142, r145, r148, r150, r160

CUL has those two 30-point gaps where there are literally no desynthable items, period, within the gap. Okay, I'm slightly misleading here - there is a single, impractical item at r90 - trader-eel pies. But, ignoring those as non-viable for leveling, the above is true! But I guess the gap isn't so bad in HW because the r180 fish seem easier to catch than the r80 ones were?

The other classes do not have such gaps. The worst gap is r70-r90, and there are some r80 and even some r75 items in there for specific classes. There is sort of a gap at the very end, but only because items above r160 that aren't fish are not YET desynthable. Eventually, they'll exist, but r151-r179 CUL desynthable items very likely never will.


So, CUL is the easiest to get from 175-180, but the gap makes 165-175 awkward. The other classes are really easy to get all the way from 110 to 170, but then it's very, very hard to get them from 170 to 180 at the moment.



Are the quick guides helpful the way I did them? In general, I stripped out all alternate suggestions and just provided a single path for the quick guides (with a few exceptions where needed). I'll get the other ones done soon.

[Salurian]

I'm currently right at 88 Culinarian desynth, and I can tell you that the gap is... painful.

I'm trying to hit ilvl 90 before trying for better crowned pies... but I don't really have an easy way to get them since I don't have that much in the way of leves and aside from potentially blowing all my company seals to buy a mere 11 pies, I'm kinda hesitant to work with them.

Just to confirm, you start at least having a chance to desynth something at ~25 rlvl below it, right? Because if that is the case then if I can just make it to 95, I'm willing to mass desynth stacks icepick at 5% and such at rlvl 120 to raise it up. Once I hit HW fish I have a major stockpile to raise me up quickly.

[Zfz]

GSM
Leveling Guide[*] dSkill 95-120: Agate Ring of ... (r115) [15% - 60%] (1-3x BC2) (buy from vendors in Ishgard for 10,949 gil, or craft (requires 1x Agate, 1x Basilisk Whetstone) (Note: These are so cheap compared to most r90+ items, you may even want to start sooner and use Tinker's Bacon. With Tinker's Bacon up, you have a 15% chance at dSkill 85 and a 22.5% chance at dSkill 90. If you actually do this, please post and let us know how much exp you get! It may even be as high as 1.00, if not more)

I started at 88.92, but even before that I've already desynthed most of my iLv 100 soldiery accessories using the Bacon and Tinkers. Personally I liked that much better than grinding through glasses.

All of the following are with NQ Bacon and HQ Tinkers.

• From 88.92 skill, I started with the iLv 100 Soldiery accessories I had left over. Success rate was at 39.50%, gained 0.65 skill.
• From 90.35 skill, I moved through the iLv 110 Soldiery accessories, sucess rates were about 29% and gained 0.50~0.78 skill.
• From 91.67 skill, I moved on to the iLv 120 Poetic accessories, success rates were at 14% and failed all my desynths. The reason? I didn't notice they were 120...
• From 91.67 skill, I moved to the vendor iLv 115 Agate Ring of ..., success rate 21.50%, and here's the list of skill gains, with the then desynth skill in brackets:

  ~30% (91.67) 0.79, 0.84, (93.30) 0.85, 0.75, (94.90) 0.46, 0.57, 0.50, (96.43) 0.73, 0.52,
  30.50%~35% (97.68) 0.65, 0.77, 0.74, 0.60, 0.80,
  35%~40% (101.24) 0.66, 0.63, 0.41, 0.56, 0.67,
  40%~ (104.17) 0.68, 0.42, 0.51,
  (stopped taking screenshots)
  0.67, 0.36, 0.52, 0.42, 0.54, 0.47, 0.59, 0.52, 0.35, 0.31, 0.34, 0.46, 0.44, 0.46, 0.34, 0.33, 054, 0.40, 0.41, 0.31, 0.38, 0.47, 0.36, 0.48, 0.46, 0.41, 0.44, 0.35, 0.29, 0.36, 0.32, 0.25, 0.35, 0.31, 0.23, 0.35, 0.27, 0.29, 0.27, 0.18, stopped desynth at skill 121.38
  

Generally speaking I felt it was worth it. But RNG is RNG. I had 3 consecutive successes at less than 30%, and 17 consecutive failures at 5x%.

[Arcticharm]

I'm currently right at 88 Culinarian desynth, and I can tell you that the gap is... painful.

I'm trying to hit ilvl 90 before trying for better crowned pies... but I don't really have an easy way to get them since I don't have that much in the way of leves and aside from potentially blowing all my company seals to buy a mere 11 pies, I'm kinda hesitant to work with them.

Just to confirm, you start at least having a chance to desynth something at ~25 rlvl below it, right? Because if that is the case then if I can just make it to 95, I'm willing to mass desynth stacks icepick at 5% and such at rlvl 120 to raise it up. Once I hit HW fish I have a major stockpile to raise me up quickly.

I don't know if they're still good to use or not but Takitaro were good fish to skill up on till about 90-95 or so. They can be fished up all day in urth's font and were often brought back from retainer quests so they might be relatively cheap on your market board. From there I just spammed ice faerie and whatever other fish I could find to get to HQ levels. There's not really much consequence since it's that or NPC them for a small amount of gil.

[Nyalia]

Just to confirm, you start at least having a chance to desynth something at ~25 rlvl below it, right? Because if that is the case then if I can just make it to 95, I'm willing to mass desynth stacks icepick at 5% and such at rlvl 120 to raise it up. Once I hit HW fish I have a major stockpile to raise me up quickly.

So, without any bonuses, you hit 1.5% at 29 skill points below the rlvl of the item. Each point gives 1.5% until 30% at 10 skill below the rlvl, then each point gives 2% until 70% at 10 skill above the rlvl. From there, it's back to 1.5% per point until 100% at 30 points above the rlvl.

Since you can't meld materia to fish (wouldn't that be awesome though? I want a CUL synthable/desynthable trout as a PLD weapon with materia slots!), your only option for bonuses is Careful Desynthesis. If you have Careful Desynthesis (and you hate yourself), you can start 30 points (or more) below the rlvl, but your chances will be really, really bad. You can even start lower than 30 points, with each point below that point being worth 2.5% instead of 1.5%, according to an earlier report.

Here's a chart for a 120 item. C# = Careful Desynthesis +#, with Bacon Broth giving 1 (NQ) or 2 (HQ), and Tinker's Calm giving 3 (NQ) or 4 (HQ), for a total from 1 to 6.

• dSkill 85 - Base: 0% (-12.5%); C1: 0%; C2: 0%; C3: 0%; C4: 0%; C5: 0%; C6: 2.5%
• dSkill 86 - Base: 0% (-10%); C1: 0%; C2: 0%; C3: 0%; C4: 0%; C5: 2.5%; C6: 5%
• dSkill 87 - Base: 0% (-7.5%); C1: 0%; C2: 0%; C3: 0%; C4: 2.5%; C5: 5%; C6: 7.5%
• dSkill 88 - Base: 0% (-5%); C1: 0%; C2: 0%; C3: 2.5%; C4: 5%; C5: 7.5%; C6: 10%
• dSkill 89 - Base: 0% (-2.5%); C1: 0%; C2: 2.5%; C3: 5%; C4: 7.5%; C5: 10%; C6: 12.5%
• dSkill 90 - Base: 0%; C1: 2.5%; C2: 5%; C3: 7.5%; C4: 10%; C5: 12.5%; C6: 15%
• dSkill 91 - Base: 1.5%; C1: 4%; C2: 6.5%; C3: 9%; C4: 11.5%; C5: 14%; C6: 16.5%
• dSkill 92 - Base: 3%; C1: 5.5%; C2: 8%; C3: 10.5%; C4: 13%; C5: 15.5%; C6: 18%
• dSkill 93 - Base: 4.5%; C1: 7%; C2: 9.5%; C3: 12%; C4: 14.5%; C5: 17%; C6: 19.5%
• dSkill 94 - Base: 6%; C1: 8.5%; C2: 11%; C3: 13.5%; C4: 16%; C5: 18.5%; C6: 21%
• dSkill 95 - Base: 7.5%; C1: 10%; C2: 12.5%; C3: 15%; C4: 17.5%; C5: 20%; C6: 22.5%
• dSkill 96 - Base: 9%; C1: 11.5%; C2: 14%; C3: 16.5%; C4: 19%; C5: 21.5%; C6: 24%
• dSkill 97 - Base: 10.5%; C1: 13%; C2: 15.5%; C3: 18%; C4: 20.5%; C5: 23%; C6: 25.5%
• dSkill 98 - Base: 12%; C1: 14.5%; C2: 17%; C3: 19.5%; C4: 22%; C5: 24.5%; C6: 27%
• dSkill 99 - Base: 13.5%; C1: 16%; C2: 18.5%; C3: 21%; C4: 23.5%; C5: 26%; C6: 28.5%
• dSkill 100 - Base: 15%; C1: 17.5%; C2: 20%; C3: 22.5%; C4: 25%; C5: 27.5%; C6: 30%
• dSkill 105 - Base: 30%; C1: 32.5%; C2: 35%; C3: 37.5%; C4: 40%; C5: 42.5%; C6: 45%
• dSkill 110 - Base: 40%; C1: 42.5%; C2: 45%; C3: 47.5%; C4: 50%; C5: 52.5%; C6: 55%
• dSkill 120 - Base: 50%; C1: 52.5%; C2: 55%; C3: 57.5%; C4: 60%; C5: 62.5%; C6: 65%

At what point does that become viable? That's up to you. Starting at skill 85 might even be reasonable, if icepicks are cheap enough. Which is cheaper, the ~6-7 r80 fish it takes to get from 85 to 86, or the ~50 r120 fish plus HQ Tinker's Calm plus HQ Bacon Broth that it takes to get from 85 to 86 (you need ~1.25 successes to level with a 2.5% chance)? Are you willing to sit through ~39 failed desynths for every success? At dSkill 88, it's definitely viable though, if HQ Tinker's and HQ Bacon is available to you. 10% isn't THAT bad!

NOTE: If you (or anyone else) does try this while that far below 0, please let me know if my numbers are off! I only had one report so far, so for all I know, the negative success rate varies weirdly, like -2%, -5%, -10%, -20% instead of -2.5%, -5%, -7.5%-, -10%.


By the way, to struggling FSH desynthers around ~70 skill, check the MB for Megalodons as well as the Takitaro (recommended by the person before me). They're also brought back from the old level 50 FSH ventures, and some people (like me) still spam those looking for Fat Cat minions. Failures bring back either 1x HQ Mahi-Mahi (r55), 1x HQ Giant Catfish (r55), 1x NQ Takitaro (r70), or 1x NQ Megalodon (r70).

I started at 88.92, but even before that I've already desynthed most of my iLv 100 soldiery accessories using the Bacon and Tinkers. Personally I liked that much better than grinding through glasses.

Thank you so much for the data! So, at 23 below, you were getting ~0.8. At 20 below, you were getting ~0.6. At 15 below, you were getting ~0.7. At 10 below, you were getting ~0.6. At 5 below, you were getting ~0.4. At equal level, you were getting ~0.4. At 5 above, you were getting ~0.3. That's in line with what I thought, with the anomaly at 20 below being feasible as an outlier due to the extreme variance of these exp values. Thanks!


Is it possible to acquire the weathered "Soldiery" accessories now that soldiery is gone? If not, I can't really suggest it in my guide anymore, since that's only available to a limited number of people going forward. Hence the glasses - they're still there to get you through the gap, if sub-ideal. PvP accessories are there too, I suppose. I could add them, but they're getting pricey in Wolf Marks at the 100/110 level, so I'm not sure how much spamming them is viable.

[Salurian]

Yeah, Tinkers Calm + Bacon Broth got me over the hump. I just went from rlvl 90 to 157 in 40 minutes. You can blitz through to CUL 160, at least, pretty easily if you have a stockpile of HW fish.

[Zfz]

Is it possible to acquire the weathered "Soldiery" accessories now that soldiery is gone? If not, I can't really suggest it in my guide anymore, since that's only available to a limited number of people going forward. Hence the glasses - they're still there to get you through the gap, if sub-ideal. PvP accessories are there too, I suppose. I could add them, but they're getting pricey in Wolf Marks at the 100/110 level, so I'm not sure how much spamming them is viable.

I also looked around and can't find those soldiery stuff anymore. The only things still available I found were the weapons. They can be bought with 65x10=650 Poetics now but requires the unidentified tomestone. I'd say the glasses are much better than going for these weapons.

I went from Aetherite Ring to Rimless Glasses to Soldiery 100/110 and the Agate Rings. One good thing is that the Aetherite Rings still have way over 10k EXP at GSM Lv 51~52 if you HQ it, making them great for leveling (using a macro). I forgot how much Rimless Glasses gave, but for someone also leveling GSM the EXP from these two items are definitely nothing to laugh at.

[Roth_Trailfinder]

For the Soldiery gear, check your Grand Company Allied Seal vendor.