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Escutcheon final phase - my experience
Phoenix.Michelob
Serveur: Phoenix
Game: FFXI
Posts: 105
By Phoenix.Michelob 2024-12-24 10:10:48
Sphere farmers that I pay attention to generally stick to the non-card drops. Colorful Hair for compression.
Carbuncle.Maletaru
Serveur: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 3849
By Carbuncle.Maletaru 2024-12-24 17:28:33
Where did you farm all of these spheres? Colorful Hair for Compression Spheres or cards in which of the zones like Sih Gates, Ra'Kaznar Inner?
Also, which card zones have the best drop rates?
I bought most of them. I have farmed in the past and when I do it, I prefer Porphyrion. You need another character in your party to take advantage of the treasure pool but he drops 6 keys every 5 minutes and they don't auto-break like some things (explosure coals, exoray mold, etc.)
I've also done some light, ice, & dark cards, the Quadav items, and some other things to mild success. The New Year's campaign is also really helpful, both for your own supply and also to buy them off friends/bazaars.
I think most of the sphere farmers use cards because you can AFK bot them, but IDK maybe they have quartermaster on and can AFK bot the r/e items.
Bismarck.Johnb
Serveur: Bismarck
Game: FFXI
Posts: 227
By Bismarck.Johnb 2024-12-27 05:47:58
Having all your subcrafts leveled to 70 will help with sphere break rate.
Haven't seen any proof on this. Needs more testing / evidence.
Bismarck.Johnb
Serveur: Bismarck
Game: FFXI
Posts: 227
By Bismarck.Johnb 2024-12-27 05:52:49
Carbuncle.Maletaru said: »the Quadav items
I am liking the quadav item approach due to the ease of the kills and high drop rate. I was able to do double-light while just camping quadav items and supplement with Lich/Ancient Papyrus for Impaction Spheres.
I wish I could get less desynthesis breaks though? I have Coconut rusk, orvail ring +1, Craftsmaster's Ring. Not all subcrafts close to 70 though. Not using main craft torque, apron, etc. either while doing the synth since I am not sure what craft they even are.
By Shichishito 2024-12-27 13:45:10
If you already have a shield can't you use the the shield buff to reduce losses?
Asura.Eiryl
Serveur: Asura
Game: FFXI
By Asura.Eiryl 2024-12-27 13:48:55
Be a waste as you still need many more t1 that you'd completely lose out on.
...Not even 100% sure a desynth counts with the enchantment. A desynth is a synth, but the wording could exclude it.
Carbuncle.Maletaru
Serveur: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 3849
By Carbuncle.Maletaru 2024-12-27 17:06:34
Shield enchantment doesn't do anything for sphere synthesis. The bonus to HQ rates might work, but I have my doubts TBH.
Haven't tested either way.
I would be EXTREMELY skeptical about subcrafts doing anything, especially since they're not required to perform the synthesis. It runs counter to the way the entire synthesis system works otherwise.
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Necro Bump Detected!
[173 days between previous and next post]
Valefor.Xerus
Serveur: Valefor
Game: FFXI
Posts: 64
By Valefor.Xerus 2025-06-19 00:18:02
Finished my second shield. Took some inspiration from Maletaru and made a spreadsheet, but condensed a lot of the information.
As I post the following screenshot of the spreadsheet I was keeping, I will make a couple additional things known.
I did not purchase any spheres from the auction house. I was gifted some spheres during the Chacharoon event and did some trading of spheres at a 1:1, but both were very small amounts in the double digits at most. I did not think to track the amounts gifted or traded.
I used exclusively Coconut Rusks during the desynthesis process as well as had use of Moghancement: Desynthesis for all sphere making.
I used Coconut Rusks during the process with the Focuser originally going off of Maletaru's findings in this thread. Stuck with the food anyway.
The below category "Imported Spheres" was the amount leftover after the first shield's completion.
Most of the rest should be self-explanatory to those who understand what is involved with the process of making one of these shields.
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Carbuncle.Maletaru
Serveur: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 3849
By Carbuncle.Maletaru 2025-06-19 00:45:23
Very useful information, thanks for sharing!
1600+ hours of farming spheres in 4 months is totally insane, 13 hrs a day, every day, for 4 months straight. It really goes to show how much "work" goes into farming the spheres, if you go that route.
Just for a small bonus here, I'm not sure if I've shared it before. When I farmed spheres in Upper Delkfutt I never recorded the break rates but I did record all the spheres I got and here is the breakdown for T1 vs T2 and T3.
Sphere Count % of total
Reverb 11719 (69.97%)
Distortion 3305 (19.73%)
Darkness 1,724 (10.29%)
Serveur: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 51
By Asura.Bertana 2025-06-19 00:58:02
5 years in, do you feel the shield was worthwhile? Would you tell your past self to continue making it? Would you tell someone to make one now?
Carbuncle.Maletaru
Serveur: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 3849
By Carbuncle.Maletaru 2025-06-19 01:12:41
5 years in, do you feel the shield was worthwhile? Would you tell your past self to continue making it? Would you tell someone to make one now?
I'll include my response last year since it's the same way I feel now.
Profits vary a bit depending on the cost of materials and price of items, since I have my sheets set up such that changes in materials adjust all previous profits. It's not ideal, but it is what it is. Here's where we're at today:
Cloth: 7,012,172,744
Alchemy: 1,619,935,747
Gold: 1,534,090,595
Wood: 1,743,217,541
Bone: 1,009,325,340
Leather: 316,906,209
Smith: 1,054,845,208
Medals used:
8,567 Beastmen
8,608 Kindred
1839 Demon
I also did a funny little troll for funsies
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Serveur: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 51
By Asura.Bertana 2025-06-19 01:29:34
So what you're telling me is the world needs more cooking shields and I can be one of them...?
Carbuncle.Maletaru
Serveur: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 3849
By Carbuncle.Maletaru 2025-06-19 02:01:20
Memes aside, If I had to give Cooking-specific shield advice I would say:
You'll probably never make your money back, if considering only the increased profits from having a shield vs not.
It's nice to save materials/not have to deal with selling NQs
Altana's Repasts are nice, though honestly it's a bit tricky to find a situation where you really *need* the extra stats & don't need something else (like SB).
It's a really nice lockstyle!
Probably don't make one unless it's a personal goal.
The world could always use more dedicated crafters though, especially with Cooking.
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Bismarck.Johnb
Serveur: Bismarck
Game: FFXI
Posts: 227
By Bismarck.Johnb 2025-06-19 05:28:34
You can definitely make money from Grape Daifuku +1s at least and maybe Marine Stewpots but not much more.
Anyway, I have found that Quadavs in Palborough or Card farming is best. Maybe card farming is better because of Ionis benefits later on with less break rates?
I have used:
Earth Crystal+Scission Sphere (300 gil catalyst) > Fire Crystal+Liquefaction Sphere (300 gil catalyst) = Liquefaction Skillchain => Lightning Crystal + Impaction Sphere (300 gil catalyst) = Fusion Skillchain to get 8 spirit at a time before so you don't have to use any expensive T2 or T3 catalysts / spheres.
You can sell the other spheres you get at auction and buy the T1s which are much more common if you are hurting for gil. Darkness and Light spheres are like 3M a stack on my server.
By RadialArcana 2025-06-19 05:35:36
Many who make these don't make them for the gil, they are status or progression/goal items. It's like a guy that buys a ferrari, he ain't gonna go racing in it so asking him if it's worth it on functional grounds is silly.
High end players like prestigious items.
Necro Bump Detected!
[65 days between previous and next post]
By Mindinho 2025-08-23 17:13:12
Looking for tips if any. It appears right now i'm desything at 57~58% on crest cards with macaroon + ionis. I was expecting about 70% success 30% breaks. Anything i can modify?
My set up is:
- Macaron
- Patissiere's ring
- Orvail ring
- craft gear + neck
- Shield
- moglification: desynth
Carbuncle.Maletaru
Serveur: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 3849
By Carbuncle.Maletaru 2025-08-23 17:31:40
I used no food, or a rusk. I'd rather have more HQs because the t2-3 spheres are much more valuable than the garbage t1s which you end up with way too many of.
57% seems fine, honestly a bit higher than i would've expected. The success rates are terrible.
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Fenrir.Zenion
Serveur: Fenrir
Game: FFXI
Posts: 418
By Fenrir.Zenion 2025-08-23 17:50:53
Carbuncle.Maletaru said: »Shield enchantment doesn't do anything for sphere synthesis. The bonus to HQ rates might work, but I have my doubts TBH.
Haven't tested either way.
I would be EXTREMELY skeptical about subcrafts doing anything, especially since they're not required to perform the synthesis. It runs counter to the way the entire synthesis system works otherwise.
So I just want to add to this that the crafting speed boost on the shield doesn't affect spheres either.
I don't think spheres actually have an associated craft type at all (if the type were "whatever your shield is" there would have to be eight different versions of each recipe to accommodate that), which would mean the only actual things that would improve your chances are success rate+, HQ rate+, moglification: desynthesis, and maybe kupo shield because it's all skills instead of each skill.
I'd still wear skill+ gear and level those subcrafts on the off chance that the actual modifier is something dumb like your average craft level.
Carbuncle.Arakon
Serveur: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 153
By Carbuncle.Arakon 2025-08-23 21:33:29
Not sure if it helps but have you tried boosting the moghancement aura to high level (Overwhelming, 101+). That's what I did but I was desynthesizing items instead of cards. Those might have a lower skill cap comparatively.
https://ffxiclopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Moghancements#Moghancement_%22Aura%22
By Tarage 2025-08-24 05:18:11
Out of curiosity, how many spheres does one need to make a shield?
Carbuncle.Maletaru
Serveur: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 3849
By Carbuncle.Maletaru 2025-08-24 05:51:38
Carbuncle.Maletaru said: »it's about 14-15,000 spheres and that assumes you have perfect distribution of the ones you want (spoiler: you absolutely will not).
My Data:
Leather: 14,583
Smith: 14,557
Bone: 14,439
Cooking: 14,290
Wood: 14,108
Gold: 14,280
Alchemy: 14,207
Cloth: 14,205
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By Bongarippa 2025-08-24 07:33:52
Carbuncle.Maletaru said: »I used no food, or a rusk. I'd rather have more HQs because the t2-3 spheres are much more valuable than the garbage t1s which you end up with way too many of.
57% seems fine, honestly a bit higher than i would've expected. The success rates are terrible.
I switched to macarons early on in my desynths because the hq rate was still very high, but a lot more breaks with rusks. I didnt notice a drop off in hq synths when I switched, but I noticed quite a bit less breaks. I dont have any concrete data on hq vs nq with each food, just the ol eyeball test. I did end up with a lot of t1s tho as you stated, which I did use some and sell others.
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Fenrir.Zenion
Serveur: Fenrir
Game: FFXI
Posts: 418
By Fenrir.Zenion 2025-09-04 20:22:51
So I got to thinking, "man, spheres are a lot of work, why am I just going by vibes for my setup?" So, since I had a whole mess of cards to process, I did a bit of a test.
I set up one batch with +6 skill, moghancement: desynthesis, artificer's ring, craftmaster's ring, and kitron macarons (my usual setup of choice.)
The other was +9 skill (forgot to stow my debahocho). moghancement: desynthesis, artificer's ring, confectioner's ring, and coconut rusks.
I'm pretty sure the skill difference is a non-factor since spheres seem to be craft-agnostic synths, but I might run a second attempt with the opposite setups in the future just to be sure.
In both instances I budgeted 40% more synths than cards (for example, 427 earth crest cards meant 598 wind crystals to spend on making them into spheres.)
I could throw around a bunch of raw numbers but nobody cares, so bottom line is: rusks saw 1.491% less T1, 0.622% less T2, and 1.957% more T3 spheres, with 0.186% more cards destroyed. That's not exactly a huge difference.
(Rusk saw 51.238% T1 to macaron's 52.729%, 14.822% T2 to 15.444%, and 8.711% T3 to 6.754%, losses were 25.227% to 25.041%.)
You know what was a huge difference though? The number of unprocessed cards left over after the crystals ran out. The rusk had 6.774% of its cards left over; the macaron left behind a paltry 0.654% (and could have brought that down to 0% with ease - the crystals were budgeted by card element, and only three needed extra synths while the other five finished with synths to spare.)
So my tentative conclusion here is that the spheres you get aren't going to be too significantly impacted by your choice of crafting snack, but how long you spend getting them will be.
If you have time and crystals to burn, go with the coconut rusk, it's dirt cheap if you can bully a cook into crafting them for you and it might maybe goose your T3 results up a bit.
If you want your cards processed as efficiently as possible, go with kitron macarons, the actual difference in what you get from it doesn't seem statistically significant.
(As with any attempt at statistical analysis you find on these forums, this is just for entertainment purposes, results may vary. A study of a few hundred thousand cards worth of results wouldn't be definitive, this only has about five thousand cards backing it.)
Carbuncle.Maletaru
Serveur: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 3849
By Carbuncle.Maletaru 2025-09-04 20:37:26
If you have time and crystals to burn, go with the coconut rusk, it's dirt cheap if you can bully a cook into crafting them for you and it might maybe goose your T3 results up a bit.
A cook? Just get them off the vendor. Sure, making them is cheaper but they're 3k for a halfhour, that's already DIRT cheap as-is. When you're spending a billion on a shield (opportunity costs included), it's a little silly to try to save 2.5k crafting rusks.
Oh, shoulda said it earlier but neat data, thanks for testing and sharing.
Fenrir.Zenion
Serveur: Fenrir
Game: FFXI
Posts: 418
By Fenrir.Zenion 2025-09-04 20:44:50
Well, if you're settling in for 12 hours of crafting, that's 72k from the vendor versus like 4k and 15 fire crystals, that adds up.
Of course, I could just be biased because I was dumb enough to make the cooking shield first and now I need to do anything I can to justify it.
Asura.Eiryl
Serveur: Asura
Game: FFXI
By Asura.Eiryl 2025-09-04 20:46:18
I want the OP to come back and say how long it took to make the gil back. He's still active but never followed through.
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Hey everyone! I recently completed my escutcheon and wanted to share my experience, as I didn't find much specific information out there when I started and I figure this could help some aspiring crafters. I can't say my process was the fastest or most efficient, but it was consistent, which made it easy for me to project out both gil- and time-wise. Maybe some of you can take this and continue to optimize it for the community.
Acquiring materials
I was able to find a supplier on Cerberus who sold me spheres in bulk at a discount. For the true masochists out there, you can farm cards or other drops to desynth, but I believe it's more worth your time to earn gil through faster methods and then just buy the spheres from the AH or a supplier (if you can find one).
For crystals, farming elementals in Ru'Aun Gardens worked well for me.
Synth chains
Here's the majority of what I did:
3-step (light, 21 spirit)
| Step |
Crystal |
Catalyst |
Sphere |
| 1 |
Ice |
MC-I-SR01 |
Induration |
| 2 |
Water |
MC-I-SR01 |
Reverberation |
| 3 |
Fire |
MC-I-SR02 |
Fusion |
3-step (light, 21 spirit)
| Step |
Crystal |
Catalyst |
Sphere |
| 1 |
Fire |
MC-I-SR01 |
Liquefaction |
| 2 |
Lightning |
MC-I-SR01 |
Impaction |
| 3 |
Wind |
MC-I-SR02 |
Fragmentation |
4-step (darkness, 26 spirit)
| Step |
Crystal |
Catalyst |
Sphere |
| 1 |
Fire |
MC-I-SR01 |
Liquefaction |
| 2 |
Lightning |
MC-I-SR01 |
Impaction |
| 3 |
Earth |
MC-I-SR02 |
Gravitation |
| 4 |
Water |
MC-I-SR02 |
Distortion |
4-step (darkness, 26 spirit)
| Step |
Crystal |
Catalyst |
Sphere |
| 1 |
Ice |
MC-I-SR01 |
Induration |
| 2 |
Water |
MC-I-SR01 |
Reverberation |
| 3 |
Water |
MC-I-SR02 |
Distortion |
| 4 |
Earth |
MC-I-SR02 |
Gravitation |
I didn't incorporate many tier 3 spheres (for double light/dark) as my early calculations of adding them increased the effort by ~500M gil. I did do ~300 though as I had once accidentally purchased 255 MC-I-SR03, so take care when buying catalysts so you don't purchase the wrong ones.
Process
When I had spheres to burn at the ready, I would grind 3,000 spirit/day, which allowed me to complete the shield in about a month. I calculated it to be ~45 seconds to do a 3-step chain and just under a minute to do 4-step, which meant a little over two hours to get to 3,000 spirit (pulling this from memory so may not be completely accurate, but it's close enough).
As for HQs and breaks, I felt HQs occurred more often than breaks, and during each day's spirit grind, I would always net positive on my expected return in spirit. You can even retry an attempt if it breaks (up to the third chain) to keep the chain going as long as you're quick about it, which saves a bit of time in the long run. And as long as you're resetting the chain after hitting light or dark, you won't have to worry about the Synthesis Focuser II blowing up.
I'll say, it's an awful grind; I don't think I've ever been more bored working towards an ultimate item. The good thing is it's pretty mindless, so you can watch TV or something while muscle memory takes over in pressing the keys/buttons for the chains (assuming you do it manually).
End Result
At the end of the day -- having purchased 99% of the spheres -- I invested 784,622,500 gil to complete the shield, with 59,901,500 of that spent towards catalysts. There's also the investment of time, which was roughly 75 hours of monotonous key clicking (this doesn't including the preceding phases).
In using the shield, the most significant change I've noticed is the reduction in loss of materials, which essentially means more attempts at HQ, as most of the time you're only losing 1-2 mats and occasionally only the crystal.
I hope this helps any of you considering making an escutcheon or who have just started the final phase. For those who have also completed an escutcheon, what was your experience like? What suggestions would you make that I didn't mention above?
Feel free to PM me with any questions, otherwise good luck and have fun!
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