Advanced Materia Melding
Advanced Materia Melding
“No description available.
— In-game description
Advanced Materia Melding is an action unlocked by questing at level 25. It is available for Carpenter, Blacksmith, Armorer, Goldsmith, Leatherworker, Weaver, Alchemist and Culinarian.
Related actions
- Main article: Materia#Forbidden melds or Overmelding
It is possible to meld more materia to a piece of gear than the available slots. Doing so requires completing the 
Melding Materia Muchly quest given by Mutamix, also located at The Bonfire in Central Thanalan (X:23.7, Y:13.6). You will need to be level 25 or higher.
The quest involves melding 8 materia to gear in front of Mutamix. To save time, you can use one piece of materia and one gear socket. Simply meld the one materia, then right click on the item and retrieve the materia you just melded. Then, meld that same materia back into the same slot. Repeat for a total of 8 times.
Materia older than the current expansion have a 100% retrieval rate. During A Realm Reborn, all materia in the game at the time were "current" and this was not the case.
Once complete, the "
Advanced Materia Melding" action replaces the standard "
Materia Melding" action. Advanced melds are better known as forbidden melds or overmelding.
Forbidden melds allow you to meld up to 5 materia (i.e., "pentamelding") to a piece of gear. However, the chance of success is low, typically starting at 45 or 35%, to 17% for higher grade materia. The probability of success decreases further depending on the number of materia already melded and the grade of the current materia you are attempting to add. Going for a full five melds (pentamelding) typically ends at about 4-8% for the final meld. Players attempting pentamelds often lose lots of materia during the process unless extremely lucky. 
Materia Melder NPCs cannot perform Advanced Materia Melding.
Certain grades of materia (namely, grades VI, VIII, X, and XII) have restrictions when overmelding: they can only be applied to the first overmeld slot. This restriction is indicated by the phrase "cannot be melded onto a piece of equipment past the first advanced materia melding slot." The remaining overmeld slots will need to rely on slightly-lower-grade materia (usually grades V, VII, IX, and XI respectively).
Due to its high cost, overmelding is not necessary in most gameplay situations, except when attempting savage raid progression in the first few weeks of a patch, for crafters attempting to make Endgame gear and consumables reliably or tackling Expert Recipes, or for gatherers who want to maximize gathering yield and efficiency.
Note that some equipment is not eligible for Overmelding - this is indicated by the phrase "Advanced Melding Forbidden" on the gear. Any gear that has no materia slots to begin with is also not eligible for Overmelding.