Synergy Powerleveling Guide by Chocobits

Category:Guides
Updated 12/18/09
Major revamp of this guide, with recipe substitutions and fact revisions.
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This is a powerleveling guide to quickly skilling up Synergy. The methods described assume you no other crafts leveled!
The goal of this guide is to help you achieve the current Synergy cap (50) in as little time as possible.
The premise for this guide is basically: intentionally fail a synth repeatedly, NOT lose the materials, and spend only the cost of crystals (or equivalent).
==Getting Started==
*You'll need to obtain your Synergy Crucible by completing the Synergistic Pursuits quest from Hildolf in Bastok Metalworks
*Purchase 4 Mythril Leaves (Auction House:Materials > Alchemy) and 2 Vitriol (Auction House:Medicines) for the Mythril Nugget recipe
*Optional: Obtain the 6 elemental stones needed for the quest The Wondrous Whatchamacallit to obtain a Portafurnace (I don't recommend using a Portafurnace for this powerleveling guide; it seems to be a bit slower and more cumbersome)
*Stacks of elemental Fewell (Auction House:Materials > Alchemy) to replenish Fewell in your Synergy Furnace
**My research suggests that skillups can only occur during Feed Fewell when feeding a Fewell element that corresponds to the recipe. This may not be entirely true.
** I have received various skill ups feeding fewell to fix leaks. However I have not tried just spamming an element not needed for the synth. - Shagrath, Quetz
**IE If the recipe for Mythril Nuggets is 54 27 40, you will only obtain skillups for selecting Fire, Earth or Water Fewell in the Feed Fewell menu
**It is also possible to gain skillups when "thwacking" your furnace to prevent an overload explosion. It has happen to me on multiple occasions. Observed that only successful preventions of an overload seemed to award skillups. - Brennenhardt, Asura
**I personally recommend Earth Fewell for this, as Slow is the easiest status effect to counter.
**I have received skillups in ALL the following occasions : Feeding fewell of "asked for elements", Thwacking, Pressure Handle, Safety Handle, Repairing, Collecting Fewell Restrewn. I have NEVER gotten a skillup from just feeding the non-asked for element. Danallen 15:32, August 13, 2011 (UTC) Asura
==CAN WE START SKILLING UP YET ALREADY?!==
Yep, it's time to start skilling.
You will want to purchase quite a few stacks of Fewell depending on how far you intend to take your Synergy skill. Fewell purchased from the auction house is probably the cheapest method of refilling your Synergy Furnace's Fewell supply. Each individual Fewell item restores 50 Fewell of the corresponding element to your Synergy Furnace. Essentially, every 2 Fewell items will completely fill up that element in your Synergy Furnace. You can expect to consume 15-25 Fewell from your Synergy Furnace for each synthesis attempt. You can expect to average 5~7 levels of skill per stack of Fewell during the first 30 levels, 4~5 levels of skill per stack from 30-40, and 2~3 levels per stack in the 40s, so plan according to this.
The element of the Fewell that you choose to purchase determines the type of overload, and subsequent status effect that you'll receive. Revising an earlier statement, I am nearly certain that you can't skillup using other Fewell elements than the ones in the recipe. Choose a Fewell type that is compatible with the Mythril Nugget reciple (, or ). It is best to choose only 1 Fewell element that corresponds with the recipe, and ignore the other elements to simplify this process (only having to purchase one type of Fewell instead of several).
*If you chose Earth Fewell, you can Haste yourself to avoid the effects of Slow. Apply Stoneskin if possible to avoid taking damage taken from overload explosions. If you can Refresh yourself or can Sublimation with Scholar sub, this will help alleviate the need to restore MP and allow you to continue synthesis uninterrupted.
*Click on to the Synergy Furnace to reserve it. Trade your Mythril Leaves and Vitriol to the Synergy Furnace.
*Click on the Synergy Furnace as soon as you've finished setting up the synth, and spam Feed Fewell of the element of your choice. You will average 4~ Feeds before an overload occurs. Keep in mind that once you've selected the Fewell element to feed, the cursor defaults to this for subsequent Feeds as long as you haven't chosen any other options in the menu. So you only need to spam the action button until an overload begins.
*When an overload begins, QUICKLY choose Operate Furnace > Thwack Furnace. If you are quick enough in the menu, you will get up to 4 chances to thwack the Synergy Furnace. A successful thwack will show up in bolded text and prevent the overload. At level 0, Thwack has about a 20% chance to stun an overload. You have a chance at a skillup for successfully thwacking an overload, and have more chances to feed the Synergy Furnace from it not losing HP in an explosion.
*After the overload is finished, if a thwack was successful, no explosion will occur, and you'll remain in the menu. Choose Feed Fewell again, and the cursor will still be on the last type of Fewell you had selected, so continue to spam the action button until the next overload. If your Thwacks were not successful, an explosion will occur and you'll receive an Event Skipped message, exiting you from the menu. Click on the Synergy Furnace again to continue. You will have to select the correct Feed Fewell element again from the menu.
*If the Synergy Furnace starts to overload at 15% HP or lower, just spam Feed Fewell instead of Thwack. You'll have more chances for a skillup before it blows up, and when it blows up at this point, the Synergy will end.
*Continue this until the Synergy Furnace reaches 1% HP (you time out at 1%, not 0%).
*Click on the Synergy Furnace once it is finished to retrieve your items. Do NOT ever choose End Synergy. Remember, we're trying to fail this synthesis for cheap skillups.
*Before beginning the next Synergy, check buffs. Without Haste on, if you become Slowed by an earth overload explosion, you will not be able to choose Thwack Furnace the next time an overload occurs!
*Before beginning the next synergy, also check your Fewell levels, this can be done through the Synergy Engineer, or by reserving a Synergy Furnace and clicking on the Synergy Furnace again to confirm its Fewell levels. If the Fewell level of your chosen element has fallen below 50, trade one of the Fewell items you purchased (SINGLE, not a stack ^^) to replenish it. Remember, each individual Fewell item will restore 50 Fewell of that element to the Synergy Furnace.
*Continue on, remembering to keep an eye on Fewell levels and redoing buffs as necessary between synths.
*It should be noted that once you have raised the Fewell level of a single element very high (or very negative) in your Synergy Furnace, overloads of other element types may occur. This happens most commonly with the element that is strong or weak to the element of Fewell you are feeding.
*Every 5 levels, remember to talk to the Synergy Engineer to choose a category to receive training in. I recommend Fewell Feeding for the first 5 upgrades, but it's your craft.
*I don't recommend using the Portafurnace at all for this skilling unless you absolutely cannot find an open Synergy Furnace. The Synergy Furnace summoned by the Portafurnace despawns after every single Synergy, making it a time consuming annoyance.
This method will take you from 0-50 unbelievably fast, and at a very low cost. You can reasonably expect to gain 8-11 levels per hour the first 40 levels, and 4-6 levels per hour in the 40s. You can literally sit in front of the Synergy Furnace forever and synth without interruptions! And receive upwards of 0.9 total skillups per synth!
* I've received feedback from people trying this guide, they say their skillups were not on par with mine. I'm not sure what would cause the discrepancy. Artisan's Advantage was in effect during the week I was skilling Synergy but I don't believe that increase skillup rate. Possibly the rate of skilling was ninja adjusted by SE. --Chocobits 06:59, January 7, 2010 (UTC)
==Cinders==
As mentioned in the discussion page, you may (currently) build up a large amount of Cinder by successfully Etching an item with a Mordant, and then removing it with a Revertant. To first purchase a Mordant/Revertant, you will need to successfully complete 2~ synths to obtain the Cinder needed. Revertant only costs 25pz at the moment (I expect this might change in the future), so now is a great time to stockpile Cinder.
*Cinder is currently capped at 10,000pz, so there's not really much you can stockpile. --Chocobits 00:01, January 1, 2010 (UTC)
You can kill two birds with one stone by using a Mordant 75 to etch a Behemoth Knife , which is a relatively easy synth. Trade the Mordant and the Behemoth Knife to the Synergy Furnace, your target Fewell level is 40. You'll get skillups even if you fail this synth, and if you succeed in etching it, you can use the Revertant by trading it and the Behemoth Knife to the Synergy Furnace. Other items work as well; please see the inscribable equipment list for other Novice recipes. 
The skill cap for etching these pieces of equipment is currently 36
==Future Updates for this Guide==
Will happen (maybe) as necessary as the rules and structure for Synergy evolve and change. That's all and thanks for bearing with me on my first guide!