Critical Break: 60-100 Series: Clothcraft

Critical Break is our crafting and economics column written by Qtipus. Q is an experienced crafter and also well versed in using the Auction House to turn a decent profit. Enough so that he was able to fund his own relic, Gungnir. Every Tuesday you will find Q's rants, raves and good crafting practices here. Part two of his 60-100 Series this week covers Clothcraft.

After looking through what it takes to get Clothcraft to 100, I have to admit it doesn't look too terrible. Most of the stuff can be farmed up with relative ease if you actually take the time to do it.

In the 0-60 Clothcraft guide, I mentioned how much all the pre-synths you had to do annoyed me to no end. Fortunately, after 60, that seems to ease up quite a bit. Before diving into the guide, take time to understand why anyone would level Clothcraft to 100. The same basic questions apply to all crafts.

Does it have consumables? Yes, the Ninjutsu sneak tool, various threads and various arrow fletchings galore. The ability to HQ these are what make these money makers, so reaching the highest tier possible on these synths makes these attractive.

Does it have in demand end game gear? Yes and it falls into the same category that Bonecrafting does. Clothcraft's end game gear revolves mainly around the cursed gear for the Aquarian Abjuration set and 3/4 of the Blessed gear set. Unfortunately, it also shares the same trait of NQs being priced below cost usually and the HQs being the only way to make money.

Does it have in demand, T1 or above HQ'able gear? Yes, the Noble's Tunic is a T1 synth and Clothcraft has a few other odds and ends accessories that could potentially turn a profit if you catch the market at the right time.

The bottom line is, Clothcraft was assisted greatly by the implementation of ToAU as a lot of the stuff needed is easily accessible from those areas.

After the jump, see what it takes to get to 100.


This is a continuation of the 0-60 Clothcraft guide. Keep farming up those silk threads or trying to keep your cost below the NPC line so that you can break even.

Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Silk Cloth
Cap: Level 62

Easy and cheap synth if you farm your feathers up. The drop rate is decent on the feathers. Buying the stacks of feathers off the AH will be a shortcut, but a costly one. The fletching stacks sell very slowly since there are only two arrows that can be made from it and they aren't all that useful to begin with, but they do sell. If farming these are annoying, bridge the synth a bit with some Hunter's Cotton to 63.

Recipe: Wind Crystal, 2x Apkallu Feather
Cap: Level 66

Hopefully you've got a buddy that can HQ some rainbow thread for you or at least turn your spider web farmings into said thread for free. Buy your thread from the guild or farm it up from the yagudo. Turn in a Wool Doublet once you hit 68, then move on to the next synth.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 5x Grass Thread, 1x Rainbow Thread
Cap: Level 69

There's not really a solid way to farm the feathers up unless you're into gardening or chocobo digging. There's also not really anything here at this level that isn't a huge loss. On Odin currently, the feather stacks sell for ~6k with the fletching stacks selling for ~13k. Doing the math and assuming 17 successful synths, you'd need nearly 3 stacks of feathers (~18k) against a 13k sale price. Losing 5k over the course of 18 synths is nothing to sneeze at though. Go farm up a scroll or two from goblins to offset your cost and cap on these. They sell like hotcakes due to the fact they're used in the demon arrow synth.

Recipe: Wind Crystal, 2x Black Chocobo Feather
Cap: Level 72

I remember a long time ago when spider webs used to cost a crapload of money and were semi-rare drops. It made leveling Clothcraft back then a far more painful experience than it is now. With the addition of all the spiders in the various Aht Urgan areas, spider web costs have dropped to next to nothing. Farming your webs up is definitely a way to make a good chunk of money during this portion, but due to them not being stackable, it might kill your inventory space pretty quickly. Pay attention to the rainbow thread AND cloth sale prices in comparison to the spider webs on the AH and use your own judgement there. Definitely cap on these and save your results for later. Turn in a Silk Cloak when you cap for your Adept rank.

Recipe: Lightning Crystal, 2x Spider Web
Cap: Level 78

Use the results of your previous synth or skip this part and go to the next depending on how much you like fighting puks. If you farmed all of your spider webs and capped, definitely turn into cloth and save them for the final stretch to 100. If you bought webs off the AH, then sell and recover your money.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 3x Rainbow Thread
Cap: Level 80

If you didn't hate Puks before, get ready to hate them now. Farm up 5-6 stacks of Puk wings or buy them off the AH for super cheap if they're available. The Puk Fletchings themselves have never sold on Odin, so they obviously have no use other than to be NPC'd. Keep your costs to a minimum here and cap. Good thing about farming these is that they drop the necessary crystal as well. You could potentially skip this synth (especially if you have an inside track to Wamoura Cocoons) if you capped on Rainbow Cloth and go straight to Wamoura Silk if you royally hate Puks.

Recipe: Wind Crystal, 2x Puk Wing
Cap: Level 82

There are a lot of BLMs that solo/duo/trio/burn on the Wamouracampas in Halvung. You can take advantage of their XP sessions by buying the cocoons off of them as they're a relatively common drop. Or you can just farm them up yourself if you find an empty spot with a ton of them running around. Cap on these, save your results and turn in an Arhat's Hakama for your Veteran rank.

Recipe: Lightning Crystal, 2x Wamoura Cocoon
Cap: Level 88

Turn all your silk into cloth then AH the piss out of it. The stacks are regularly bought for Salvage gear and this will most likely make you some money.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 3x Wamoura Silk
Cap: Level 90

Farm your giant bird plumes out in Misareaux Coast near the Sacrarium entrance. You might have a little competition since the feathers are used in Icarus Wings. Buying the plumes off the AH will likely be suicidal to your wallet. Currently on Odin, stacks of plumes are ~40 while the stacks of fletchings sell for ~20k. Again doing the math shows that you'll be spending ~120k against making ~60k back. Don't take shortcuts here, it gets painful financially after this.

Recipe: Wind Crystal, 2x Giant Bird Plume
Cap: Level 93

When SE made this part of the Gobbiebag quest, it's value skyrocketed and, as a result, the pain from going through the 90s in Clothcraft was eased up quite a bit. Farm up your silk thread and rainbow thread for this. Try to catch the Arachne Webs or thread on the AH if possible and turn around the foulard for a slight profit. The pace from here on out will be slow and tedious due to the lack of materials, but given the alternatives, just bite your nails and be patient.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 3x Silk Thread, 2x Rainbow Thread, 1x Arachne Thread
Cap: Level 98

There's nothing else other than Cursed Dalmatica synths that aren't a complete and total disaster to your wallet here that will get you to 100. With this synth, you can at least HQ the gold and silver thread portions of it to minimize your costs and you can easily farm up the materials for the Velvet and Rainbow cloth portions. It's also possible to take advantage of dipshit crafters selling their threads for below cost if you don't want to risk NQing everything you attempt in the thread dept. This is also why I mentioned saving your farmed up rainbow cloths earlier in this guide.

The painful part will be paying for the Galateia. If you can minimize your costs for all the other materials and maybe catch a few buddies who will sell you the Galateia cheap from the ENMs they do, you might be able to break even on this, but as it stands now just on Odin, you automatically lose money just buying the 2 pieces of Galateia and that doesn't even take into account the other materials that are necessary. It's by far the most painful stretch you will see in this craft, but if you're careful and diligent, you can make up the difference elsewhere. All things considered, this synth is not as painful as some of the 100 synths I've seen in other crafts, but it can add up quickly.

Recipe: Earth Crystal, 2x Velvet Cloth, 1x Rainbow Cloth, 1x Silver Thread, 2x Gold Thread, 2x Galateia.
Cap: Level 100

Congrats, you're finished!