Question about level syncing and stats

[JunseiKei]

There's hard stat capping and soft stat capping happening with syncing. Most "main" stats are being hardcapped while secondary stats are falling into a softcap or percentage-based cap.

Lv. 20 Ifrit - minimum iLvl syncing:
(Why this instance? I wanted a fight that'd have pretty close stats in terms of ilvl and syncing; I figured the higher the duty, the larger the stat-cap ranges based on how quickly past content can be done, even with synced gear)

"Best" bought pieces without exceeding the ilvl (SCH book is the exception) - not melded

"Best" bought pieces without exceeding the ilvl (SCH book is the exception) - with melds

Lv. 70 Baldesion Arsenal Gear (note: accessories are current savage tier)

Lv. 80 current savage gear


You lose any materia you'd have slotted in for higher level gear. With current gear melded, it's on par with higher ilvl gear - the main issue will be what stats you want to capitalize on, forcing you into higher ilvl gear.

If the question is possibly in regards to figuring out gear for ultimate, go with your highest level gear instead of the synced. From people that I've spoken with that have re-cleared ultimates since SH released, the synced gear won out over melded ilvl gear. The main reason you picked up same ilvl gear for ultimate was because you really needed the VIT and VIT melds to live (and since VIT materia is no longer a thing, you can afford more stat flexibility).

Summary:
If the stats were the same and hardcapped across the board, there's no reason why my higher ilvl gear ends up with more HP than the synced gear. If you want the most [of certain] stats in a particular instance, you need a combination of over ilvl and ilvl gear. Some ilvl gear simply won't reach the [total] stat caps, even with melds.