Level 50 skills advice

[Caimie_Tsukino]

Hey look, a crafter not asking for some generic boring rotation!

*thumbs up* Finally!

So, first thing I'm noticing, the Brand of ______ skills are kinda clogging up cross-class abilities now; are they ever particularly useful at this stage? I don't think I've seen any end-ARR crafting that needs them, and I get the impression that by using all the more useful skills, I won't really miss the lower efficiency even if I there are any, maybe?

They're not useful at all from lvl 1 to 50. But beyond 50, they sometimes can do interesting things. Even when you're working on an unaspected (non-elemental) item, Ingen2 + Name of xxx + Brand of xxx gives huge amounts of progress. Most of the 35 durab items can be done in 1 shot like this. I never used them very much, but they can be useful at times. The reason I never used them much, is because not every class have these elemental names + brands. If you're too used to using these, then it's a pain when you use a class that doesn't have it (you can equip them as cross class skills, but it'll sacrifice 2 spots, which is a big deal). Personally, I find "Ingen2 + Careful Syn II" or "Ingen2 + Standard Syn" to be more commonly used in my rotation. Rapid Syn is pretty strong too, but due to its low fidelity, most of us have gradually ditched this skill for something else.

Comfort Zone. Obviously I've seen this all over while checking things out. This seems like the skill to have up at all times? Unless I'm getting low on CP and don't have the time to wait for the recharge. But, near as I can tell, other than that, never a reason not to use?

When you try to set up a 1-button macro for something, you have plenty of CP, but you only have 15 actions to work with, then sometimes not using this can allow you to add one more line of action, such as a touch... which in turn gives a lot more power to the final Byregot's Blessing.

Piece by Piece. Straightforward 45 CP to finish a craft. Sounds maybe useful if I guess I don't have the durability for anything more and I guess absolutely need those 3 turns to finish it? Idk. This one sounds a bit on the useless side, unless there are some really hard crafts somewhere that this will be my best option for progress. But much like the Brand skills, I can probably get away without it?

Silverbane already explained this above. It's an almost-essential skill to have. You will see how useful it is when you start playing with Heavensward 1* to 4* recipes.

Ingenuity (1 and 2). Literally never found a use for these. They do sorta sound like they could be useful, but it's just not very clear what "lowering recipe level" actually does while crafting. No idea how best to utilize this anywhere. Is it useful for improving quality, or progress?

Ingen1 is rather weak. But Ingen2 works wonders post level 50. It's super powerful in helping progress, and it also slightly helps with quality. Silverbane has already explained this too.

Byregot's Blessing. This one seems a bit weird for me. A bit situational. There are times when I need the bit of extra CP from Rumination. And obviously I don't want to blow my Inner Quiet too early. So far, I've been looking at this as my Excellent skill. As long as that doesn't pop too early, can make some massive progress that way. I suppose I could also be using this when I feel like I've got quality close enough that it would finish off, but I'd hate to guess wrong and still be short and also no Inner Quiet so slower gains, and also need to balance that with any CP I might need to finish progress. I feel like keeping this skill is good, but I haven't figured out where it best fits in.

This is the "Kamehameha" (google this if you don't know what this is) of crafting. The only time that you would use Rumination over Byregot is if you're soooo low leveled that you can only afford to reach IQ3 or fewer IQ stacks. Otherwise, one should always use Byregot's Blessing. The way to use this is to (1) always pair it up with Great Strides (unless you got an Excellent condition, which, you just press it directly), (2) always have Steady Hand or Steady Hand II to make it 100% secure, (3) when ever available, buff it up with Innovation/Ingen2 (but skip these if you got a Good condition).

The "magic of Byregot's Blessing" is that, even though you may seem to be only reaching less than half the quality bar, and with an HQ rate of something like 18%, if you have a huge IQ stack and with proper buffs on your final Blessing, you will instantly shoot the quality bar to max with this single action.

I extracted the following data from my old crafting guide (which you can find by simply googling "FFXIV crafting"). They may give you some ideas on how the quality thingy works, and how Byregot works.

Reclaim. Ehhhh. At this level, definitely feels like a waste of a cross-class slot.

You don't need this unless your mats cost over a million... but it WILL happen to you... soon!

Waste Not 2. Basically +40 durability. But only if you're using solely Touch or Synthesis skills. This feels a bit lossy compared to Manipulation or even Master's Mend. I never really even used the Waste Not 1 unless I let durability get too low and needed a little longer to finish.

Waste Not is actually one of my favorites. Its advantages come from its low CP cost and flexibility. It allows you to take 1 Trick of Trade in the middle without wasting any durability (does not apply to 35 durab items). Waste Not 2 is just way too inflexible when it comes to taking Trick of Trades. But WN2 is very powerful for macros, which Trick of Trade is not used.

Innovation. This one feels a little tricky. I don't know if I could ever fit it into the 40 material crafting without wasting a stack. Crafting bigger things, maybe. This feels like it's best held back until you've got a few Inner Quiet stacks already, to buff the buff. But I also have trouble sometimes getting all my other buffs to line up just right to give me 3 clear turns, and I suppose I shouldn't worry too much if I lose out on any ToT usage, the bonus Control on top of a Good would probably make up for it. Like Byregot's, another one that seems smart to have, but not necessarily used for every craft.

Innov is usually NOT a skill which you use multiple times during a rotation. It's usually planted in the final Byregot's phase. It can either be just buffing the Byregot's Blessing, or it can be used to buff a touch before the Great Strides+Byregot as well. Either way, you won't be taking any Trick of Trades in the middle of it. If you're powering through a easy item though, you may use it multiple times to buff a series of Great Strides+Advanced Touches. It is one of the quickest methods to increase quality while burning CP.

If you'd like to read a bit more about these different level 50 cross class skills, you can visit Chapter 10 of my old crafting guide. It's possible you might pick up something new. I have also listed some nice examples of how to utilize them.