When you've just had enough of that iron underwear and get yourself a man's pair of plated jackboots, you begin to reflect on the fun you had dancing under the waterfall in La Noscea. You begin to feel guilty about selling that attractive green thong to some secondhand merchant. Unfortunately, the Morbol you just killed had some impressive tentacles that would make a good meal and you don't have any more room in your bag. What do you do?
Spiritbinding is the method of extracting a part of your soul that you poured into your fancy green underwear, blacksmith's hammer, or pair of reading glasses. You manifest that part of your spirit into a physical fragment, called Materia. This way, those memories of the after party in Gridania will carry on!
Each item has a Spiritbinding stat. The more experience you gain while wearing the item, the stronger the bond.
Once the item attains a 100% Spiritbond, you can convert it into Materia. In order to learn the action to Convert, you must first reach level 19 in a Discipline of the Hand, except Culinarian. The main story will take you to The Bonfire in Central Thanalan to speak to Swynbroes.
In order to Meld Materia, you must have a piece of gear with sockets. The tooltip will detail what is required to attempt Melding. These Steel Claws have 2 sockets, and requires at least a level 29 [Blacksmith].
Using the Meld abilitiy you learned from Swynbroes, you will be shown an interface, allowing you to select where and what item you'd like to Meld, as well as a list of Materia in your possesion. Select the item, then the Materia you want to place in the item.
Once your selection has been made, one more window will popup, showing what Catalyst is required, and the success rate of melding the materia to the item. If you fail, you lose the Materia, so be careful!
If you had materia from 1.0 that is not on the table below, it has been converted to Cracked Materia. Non-melded Cracked Materia can be traded in Mor Dhona for your choice of materia of the same rank. Cracked Materia IV can be traded for Strength Materia IV or Gatherer's Guilde Materia IV, for example.
If you had a piece of gear with Cracked Materia slotted, you can exchange the entire piece of gear for Allagan Tomes.
The color of the Materia indicates what kind of stat it increases. Red increases primary stats, Blue increases secondary stats, Purple increases speed, Green increases Crafting and Gathering, and Grey increases elemental resistances.
Different types of gear have higher chances of creating certain Materia. DoW/DoM primarily create Red and Blue Materia, while DoH/DoL gear is often green. Accessories have a higher chance of creating Purple Materia. All gear can create Grey Materia.
The following is a list of all types of Materia currently available.