Best way of melding to crafting gear in FFXIV

Melding HQ Crafting Gear

So I have been working a lot to get all my HQ gear for my crafting classes and while it has taken a while I have finally been able to create all the items and now I have started looking into what materia I should add to the gear. In Final Fantasy XIV materia can dramatically improve how you perform and getting your stats raised can be very important in some situations. Melding is the only way to go if you want to make two starred recipes in FFXIV. Also remember that food will help you as well but that is a for another guide.

All of the items have a limit to how much control, craftsmanship and CP can be added to the it and after some trial and error I found that in most cases these limits can be reached and sometimes even fairly easily. As you know Level IV materia is extremely expensive and I spend quite a lot of gil on these before realizing what I should and should not be using. This is an attempt to help you not make the same mistakes.

As the lower level materia is easier to meld to items you should start out with the high level materia first.

Tools

It is not possible to meld to the main hand class quest item. It is by far the most superior tool you can get so it should be acquired. You can check my Class Quest Guide to see how to get it.

The offhand tool can be melded. It only has one slot though and melding to it can be a pain. The limits are as follow:
19 Craftsmanship
11 Control
3 CP

As you can see you can add a lot of extra stats to the offhand tool and it WILL be very hard as there is only room for one piece of materia and the rest will be forbidden melds. I have not figured out how to do this best but if you have any advice please let me know. I would recommend starting with a level IV materia and wether you want control or craftsmanship will be up to you.

Gear

The list is for the AF (green) gear and in all cases the limits are for the HQ variant. I recommend getting HQ gear if you are going to meld the gear. All in all getting the HQ variant will be a lot cheaper than the materia you are going to meld to it so this is not where you should save money. You cannot apply the same limits to NQ AF Gear. Also I have added the best items for things that are not AF gear (waist and jewelry).

The list will first show you howo many slots are available and what the limits are. Then I list what I believe is the best combination of materia.

Head (two slots):

4 Craftsmanship
5 Control
0 CP

Best combination:
Control III (+3)
Craftsmanship II (+4)
Control II (+2)

Total stats after melding:
4 Craftsmanship
36 Control
3 CP

Body (two slots):

16 Craftsmanship
5 Control
0 CP

Best combination (less expensive materia):
Craftsmanship IV (+6)
Control III (+3)
Craftsmanship III (+5)
Craftsmanship III (+5)
Control II (+2)

Alternative combination (less risk on forbidden melds)
Craftsmanship IV (+6)
Craftsmanship IV (+6)
Control III (+3)
Control II (+2)
Craftsmanship II (+4)

Total stats after melding:
112 Craftsmanship
36 Control
3 CP

Hands (two slots):

4 Craftsmanship
5 Control
0 CP

Best combination:
Control III (+3)
Control II (+2)
Craftsmanship II (+4)

Total stats after melding:
4 Craftsmanship
36 Control
3 CP

Legs (two slots):

1 Craftsmanship
5 Control
3 CP

Best combination:
Control III (+3)
CP III (+3)
Control II (+2)
Craftsmanship I (+3)

Total stats after melding:
32 Craftsmanship
36 Control
6 CP

Feet (two slots):

1 Craftsmanship
5 Control
3 CP

Best combination:
Control III (+3)
CP III (+3)
Control II (+2)
Craftsmanship I (+3)

Total stats after melding:
32 Craftsmanship
36 Control
6 CP

Waist - HQ Raptorskin Merchant’s Purse (one slot):

3 Craftsmanship
5 Control
3 CP

Best combination:
Control III (+3)
CP III (+3)
Control II (+2)
Craftsmanship I (+3)

Total stats after melding:
3 Craftsmanship
31 Control
3 CP

Neck - HQ Electrum Choker (one slot):

3 Craftsmanship
3 Control
5 CP

Best combination:
Control III (+3)
CP III (+3)
CP II (+2)
Craftsmanship I (+3)

Total stats after melding:
3 Craftsmanship
3 Control
35 CP

Ears - HQ Red Coral Earrings (one slot):

3 Craftsmanship
3 Control
6 CP

Best combination:
Control III (+3)
CP III (+3)
CP III (+3)
Craftsmanship I (+3)

Total stats after melding:
3 Craftsmanship
3 Control
34 CP

Wrist - HQ Militia Wristlets (one slot):

4 Craftsmanship
4 Control
6 CP

Best combination:
Control IV (+4)
CP III (+3)
CP III (+3)
Craftsmanship II (+4)

Total stats after melding:
4 Craftsmanship
4 Control
35 CP

Rings - HQ Aetheryte Ring (one slot):

4 Craftsmanship
4 Control
3 CP

Best combination:
Control IV (+4)
CP III (+3)
Craftsmanship II (+4)

Total stats after melding:
4 Craftsmanship
4 Control
20 CP

As a base you have 180 CP which we should add leaving the grand total at
378 Craftsmanship
362 Control
345 CP

(and a badly formatted table to show you the numbers)

This is what is possible if you go to the extreme and melds all the things possible. I am still unsure on how much you could actually add to the offhand tool but with five melds you should at least be able to get 18 craftsmanship and 8 Control. Whether or not it is worth going to the extreme is another discussion. I personally doubt it.

If you have any comments or corrections please post them in this thread in the forum