To see this in-game, check out any of your gear’s stats. You’ll see a percentage in the item window (out of 100%). This will indicate how far your spiritbond progress is on that particular item. As a World of Warcraft veteran, I initially assumed that the spiritbond mechanic was identical to “soulbound” – which, in WoW, tells you that an item is permanently attached to a player, and cannot be traded to another. While there are some basic similarities here, spiritbonding in FFXIV is actually a little bit more involved. It’s one of those terms you’ll see multiple times throughout your early adventures, and another one of the things the game doesn’t go to any great length to explain. So it’s definitely something you can miss out entirely on if you’re not curious to look it up. But if you’re on this page then you’re clearly curious enough to learn more, so let’s run through how spiritbonding works and what it can do for you.
How Do I Spiritbond With My Equipment?
This one’s easy: It’ll just happen over time as you adventure your way through Eorzea. Gaining experience will increase your spiritbond level, up to the maximum of 100%. The game will notify you if you’ve made progress on this front, and you can always check it at any time by examining your gear. It’ll also be displayed alongside your gear’s condition in the respective item panel, where you can also view all of the gear’s properties and stat boosts.
How Do I Convert Fully Spiritbonded Equipment (And Why Should I?)
First, you’ll need to head to Central Thanalan and pick up the “Forging The Spirit” quest. This will reward you with the Materia Assimilation ability, which you can then use on items that are fully spiritbonded. Using the skill will bring up a list of eligible items – but make sure you don’t use it on gear you’ve currently got equipped! There’s no way of predicting what Materia will be created from Materia Assimilation. But nevertheless, spiritbonding can be incredibly useful as you’re leveling up. Now more than ever, you’ll be going through gear at a rapid clip. So rather than heading to a vendor or desynthesizing stuff you’ve outleveled, you can just give yourself little stat boosts by slotting Materia into your gear. Although we can’t predict exactly what stats the Materia will have, it’ll always be related to the gear’s intended class – so you won’t end up with anything completely useless.
What is Materia, Anyway?
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, Materia are basically items that can be slotted into eligible gear for stat boosts, basically increasing their potential. It’s actually a recurring theme in the Final Fantasy series. In other FF games, Materia generally contains spells or abilities that can be granted to party members. Obviously that system wouldn’t work too well in XIV – we’ve got too many crystals to worry about already. Individual Materia in FFXIV might not look like it makes much of a difference at first. But when you’ve got a bunch of gear slotted with extra stats, it quickly adds up.
