Spiritbond

See also: Materia

Spiritbond or Spiritbonding is the process of creating Materia. Weapons, Armor and Accessories will gain Spiritbonding percentage points as you gain experience points from defeating monsters, crafting items or gathering resources. When Spiritbonding, when of a piece of gear reaches 100%, it can be turned into materia if it is convertible. Players can view the Spiritbond's progression by hovering over the equipment and looking at the blue bar next to the durability or reading the spirit bond percentage from the items information details. Once the Spiritbond is complete, the Hero will receive an Audio, Visual, and text notification in their chat log.

• Note that when a piece of your gear reaches 1% Spiritbond, it is permanently bonded to your character. It cannot be traded or sold on the Marketboard. Gear bonds if you gain any experience while wearing it and will also bond to a character if they use it to glamor a different piece of gear.

Spiritbond Mechanics

HQ or High Quality gear and Aetherial gear spiritbonds 20% faster than regular gear. Additionally each materia melded into the gear will increase the Spiritbonding speed by another 20%. Spiritbonding speed is cumulative. For example a HQ gear (+20%) with 2 materia melded (+40%) will spiritbond 60% faster than a piece of normal gear.

While HQ gear does bond faster then NQ gear it does not effect the materia gained from the item at all. NQ gear nets materia that is just as good as HQ gear.

The character can be any class to spiritbond gear, all it takes is experience. Because of this a DoW character can wear crafting or gathering gear and spiritbond it through gaining experience and vice versa.

The speed of Spiritbonding an item correlates to the level difference between the item and the enemies slain, Items gathered or items being crafted. Based on research, items that are 8 to 15 levels below the experience giving object spiritbond the fastest. 10 Levels below is about the perfect spot. For example if you are spiritbonding level 40 gear, you want to craft level 50 gear, gather from level 50 nodes, run level 50 dungeons or kill level 50 enemies. The levels of enemies in a dungeon is determined by the levels of loot dropped by the dungeon's bosses.

• Note that a piece of gear with 0% Condition will not gain Spiritbond points.

Achievements

There are 5 different in game achievements that one can get through spirit bonding.

1. 1) Prepare to Be Assimilated I- This is gained through converting 10 spiritbound items. 5 achievement points are awarded for completing this.
2. 2) Prepare to Be Assimilated II- This is gained through converting 50 spiritbound items. 5 achievement points are awarded for completing this.
3. 3) Prepare to Be Assimilated III- This is gained through converting 100 spiritbound items. 5 achievment points are awarded for completing this.
4. 4) Prepare to Be Assimilated IV- This is gained through converting 500 spiritbound items. 5 achievement points are awarded for completing this.
5. 5) Living in a Materia World- This is gained through converting 1000 spiritbound items. 10 achievement points and the title "The Assimilator" are awarded for completing this.

Tips and Tricks

• Use Spiritbond Potions! The benefit is more easily seen on lower level spiritbonding sessions but every little boost is helpful. However, if you’re in danger of being killed, don’t bother using it. The potion gives the Medicated status, not Well Fed, so it wears off upon death.

• Castrum Meridianum spiritbonding farms are the best way spiritbond item level 45 to 55 gear. A piece of gear item level 50 will get 10 to 15% spiritbond in the first pull, depending on the potions and the buff status. This dungeon will also give around 90% under the same conditions if you run all the way through. If you can get a full party its best to run the first groups of trash monsters then exit the dungeon and do this again.

• Urth's Fount located in the South Shroud is another great location for spirit bonding level 45 to 55 gear. This location is a bit difficult to solo but in a party of 2 or more it is fast and easy. This is the most popular location for spirit bonding in the game, unless a group is full they are generally happy to recruit more players to help. People spiritbond gear here by attacking the water sprites and moving to the top of the large crystal, the sprites then stack up, making them easy to AOE down.

• Northern Thanalin's Abandoned Amajina Mythril Mine is another good location for spirit bonding in a group

• 4 runs of Amdapor Keep are usually enough to spiritbond the item level 49 accessories.

• 4 runs of Syrcus Tower are usually enough to spiritbond i90 gear.

• Grade 4 materia has the same drop rate when spirit bonding lvl 45 gear as lvl 55. Because lvl 45 gear usually bonds faster in the popular locations it is best to spirit bond gear that is closer to lvl 45 without going under lvl 45. Chances of getting a grade 4 materia goes up in steps after this level, (i45-i55)<i70<i90<i110.

• Because the spiritbond rate is higher, only use high-quality gear in your spiritbonding sessions.

• Each meld increases the rate by 20% so adding materia is very beneficial. One can gain materia by purchasing cheap "junk" materia on the market board or by making yourself a “trash” spiritbonding set from gear less than item level 15 to meld onto your meaningful spiritbonding sets.