How Does the Spiritbond System Work in FFXIV?

In FFXIV, Spiritbond is a system that relies on how much you use your weapons, armor, and other equipment. You accrue Spiritbond percentage on equipped pieces until you can Spiritbond with that equipment.

What does Spiritbond mean in FFXIV?

Spiritbonding happens automatically on every piece of gear equipped on your character, and the Spiritbond percentage with that item increases the more you accumulate experience points while wearing it. High quality and Aetherial gear gain Spiritbond percentage slightly faster than normal quality gear.

Once your Spiritbond percentage reaches 100% on an equipped piece of gear in Final Fantasy XIV, you can extract Materia from it, provided you’ve completed the ‘Forging the Spirit’ quest. It is a level 19 quest given to you by Swynbroes in Central Thanalan (x23.9, y13.7).

To check the Spiritbond percentage on a piece of gear, hover over it, and a menu will pop up on the right, telling you all the details about that item. The Spiritbond percentage is under ‘Crafting and Repairs.’ When the equipment is at 100% Spiritbond, right-click on it and select ‘Extract Materia’ to receive some Materia. Doing so will reset the Spiritbond percentage to 1%.

Once you’re Spiritbonded to a gear piece in FFXIV, it becomes bound to you. This means you can’t trade or sell it to another player, so if you’re planning on selling certain equipment, make sure you don’t equip it just in case.

Final Fantasy XIV is available to play now on the PC, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4 and is releasing on the Xbox Series X in Spring 2024. A paid monthly subscription is required.