While gear in Final Fantasy 14 typically provides little room for customization and build-making, the materia system allows players to augment their equipment with extra substats like critical hit or determination. Combined with the Overmelding system, which allows crafted equipment to be socketed with up to five materia, melding materia into gear is a great way for players to gain additional character power to push for a boss kill or maximize their damage.
Materia can normally be obtained from the spiritbonding process where equipped armor, weapons, and accessories slowly generate materia from combat; however, this method can be time-consuming, and the materia generated are random. An alternative method using Cracked Novaclusters to buy materia is both faster and allows players to select exactly which materia to obtain, guaranteeing they will be able to make use of the materia — or receive the most expensive materia to sell on the Market Board.
Final Fantasy 14: How To Get & Use Tomestones Of Heliometry
The new Tomestones of Heliometry gatekeep some of Dawntrail's best gear. Learn how to farm them and spend them.
How To Farm Combat Materia In Final Fantasy 14
The fastest way to obtain combat materia is to take advantage of Materia Vendor NPCs who accept different types of cracked clusters in exchange for different grades of materia, depending on the cluster traded. The highest tier of materia currently available are Grade XII materia, which require Cracked Novaclusters, and Grade XI materia, which require Cracked Prismaticlusters. Materia Vendors can be found in major cities across the game, including Zale, who can be found in Solution Nine (X:7.5, Y:12.4). These NPCs are often placed next to Materia Melder NPCs that can meld materia into gear for a fee in gil.
Where To Get Cracked Novaclusters In Final Fantasy 14
Cracked Novaclusters can be obtained through a variety of sources, the fastest of which being from defeating A-rank Dawn Hunt Marks. Every defeated A-rank Dawn Hunt monster has a high chance of dropping both Cracked Novaclusters and Cracked Prismaticlusters, in addition to a guaranteed 10 Allagan Tomestones of Heliometry, 20 Allagan Tomestones of Aesthetics, 30 Allagan Tomestones of Poetics, and 40 Sacks of Nuts. By grinding these A-rank monsters, players can quickly amass enough Cracked Novaclusters to fully meld their gear or sell them on the Market Board for profit.
While lucrative, A-rank monsters can be somewhat rare, boasting a lengthy four-to-six hour respawn timer. To ensure as many people as possible can benefit from these monsters, the community will often track these monsters' spawns, waiting for all A-rank monsters to spawn before organizing large parties called hunt trains to defeat them all together. The best way to catch these hunt trains is to join a dedicated Cross-world Linkshell that relays the start of these trains to its members, or third-party websites and Discord communities that can notify users even outside the game.
Outside of Dawn Hunts, Cracked Novaclusters and Cracked Prismaticlusters can also be obtained as a bonus for completing Duty Roulette: Leveling and Duty Roulette: Alliance Raids when playing as an Adventurer in Need while level 91 or higher, as well as in exchange for Khloe's Bronze and Gold Certificates of Commendation, earned from completing Wondrous Tails journals. While these methods may not be as fast as participating in hunt trains, they can be a good way to earn the last few materia required while no hunt trains are available.
Cracked Novaclusters and Cracked Prismaticlusters can only be used to obtain combat materia. Gathering and crafting materia, which are often more expensive, require Cracked Novacrystals and Cracked Prismaticrystals to buy, which can only be obtained with Khloe's Bronze and Gold Certificates of Commendation.
Final Fantasy 14 (2010)
- Released
- August 27, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Alcohol Reference, Animated Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix
- Engine
- Crystal Tools
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- PC, PS4, PS5 & Xbox Series X|S
- Cross Save
- no
- Franchise
- Final Fantasy
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- Genre(s)
- MMORPG
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
