How to Pentameld in FFXIV

One of the more obscure methods of raising your stats in Final Fantasy XIV is materia melding. Materia is a recurring Final Fantasy item that, in this MMO at least, raises the stats of your armor when applied to it. While most pieces of armor show only two to three materia slots, it is possible to pentameld five materia at once for equipment in FFXIV.

How to pentameld materia to equipment in FFXIV

To do this, first you need to complete the level 25 FFXIV side quest, “Melding Materia Muchly” at Central Thanalan (X:23.7, Y:13.6). After that, you’ll be able to pentameld most gear in the game. The only exceptions are the ones that say “advanced melding is forbidden.”

As long as it doesn’t say that, you can pentameld your gear piece no matter the job class or generally what type of item it is. How it works is that you’ll initially see two or three materia slots. This means that you are pretty much guaranteed to be able to put materia in those slots without any issue.

However, once you fill them up, you can add an additional one or two materia to bring it up to a max of five using some hidden slots. The problem is that each additional materia beyond the base number will have an exceedingly low chance to work. This essentially means that players should be ready to buy a ton of the same materia you want to ensure you can pentameld, which can get quite costly depending on what you’re using.

You should also play close attention to the stats while you are melding. Each item has a max amount of stats you can raise for it. If you reach the max before using all five materia, don’t waste your remaining materia as you won’t be able to go above the max stat possibility.

Final Fantasy XIV is available for PS4, PS5, and PC.