CAUTION!
	This article is a personal guide. Information expressed in this guide is one player's opinion and may be more opinion than fact. Strategies and information contained herein may not work for everyone. No non-minor changes should be made without consulting the author. Changes or questions should be discussed on the talk page.

Leathercrafting Guide 1.0
0-60
by Ctownwoody of Asura
Sons of Valkrum Linkshell
Disclaimer: This worked for me and is based on my research and efforts on Asura. Prices have increasingly normalized in the last 18 months, but I still suggest going to ffxiah.com to research your particular server.

Leathercrafting Tips

1. The guildshop in Sandy is rarely camped for good reason. You can get better prices at the AH most of the time. Dhalmels and Windurstian Tea Leaves aside, there's nothing you'll need that's not within 3 zones (Selbina or Jugner Forest) to get you all the way to 60.

2. Skins and Bones are great joint farming. I generally frown upon farming for synth materials, since the idea is to add value to the ingredients using your skill. However, Leathercraft and Bonecraft, especially in the 0-60 range, share a lot of the same mobs for drops, and the mobs in question have generous drop-rates. If you do go farming, be sure to bring the materials to synth in the field as needed because skins usually don't stack, but leathers do. Rams, Dhalmels, Tigers, and Sheep are the most commonly-farmed mobs, in order of popularity.

3. Leather-making uses either Windurstian Tea Leaves or Willow Logs. Tea leaves are better because they are cheaper and stack, except with Ram Leather, where you can get one extra level of Skill out of Willow Logs on a profitable synth, which makes it a legitmate concern.

4. Leathercrafting is used to make gloves/boots and as a subcraft in basically every Armor-set that you can craft. While not a lot of these armor sets are very profitable or sell particularly well, there are a lot of these armor sets and you may want to make some of these sets yourself for the outside shot at skill or HQs.

5. Leather-making Skins are not stackable (and non-Leather-making Skins are). When farming for skins for leather, bring along the stackable materials (Tea Leaves, Water and Dark Crystals) to make leather and then stack the leather to save inventory space.

6. Leather-crafting is a subcraft in important Smithing, Goldsmithing, Clothcraft, and Bonecraft recepies. Skill-ups come more slowly, but the lack of good recepies in some stretches can be overcome in this fashion.

The Guide Itself

0-10

• Sheep Leather (2)-Dark Crystal, Distilled Water, Windurstian Tea Leaves, Sheepskin--Make these to cap and either sell them or save them for later. These sell quickly, profitably and are a good source for profit whenever you get some skins or get bored.

• Sheep Wool (4)-Wind Crystal, Sheepskin x2--These recently are no longer worth the effort because prices have tanked for Wool Thread and Wool Cloth. You can make these if you want (if you are going slowly or trying to use random drops), but it might just save time and gil to skip ahead.

• Rabbit Mantle (7)-Earth Crystal, Grass Thread, Rabbit Hide x5--Make to cap, NPC them in batches. Lather, rinse, repeat. If you get lucky and make an HQ, sell it AH for a tidy profit. Save one as a TEST ITEM.

11-20

• Solea (11)-Wind Crystal, Sheep Leather x2--You can try desynthing these to get the leather back or you can NPC them. Your choice, but make them to cap. Nothing good (stackables, sells quickly and/or profitably) or cheap between 7 and 21.

• Karakul Leather (12)-Dark Crystal, Karakul Skin, Imperial Tea Leaves, Distilled Water--I added this as a possibility because it is pretty profitable, but Wild Karakuls aren't the most camped mob in Caedarva Mire, for good reason. If you want to make a lot of skill with these, you'll have to camp the AH and hoard them but if you are muddling through, keep an eye out for them and take advantage when possible.

• Wolf Fur (19)-Wind Crystal, Wolf Hide x3--These used to stink but demand for them is decent now that Wolf Felt, a Clothcraft 75 synth that requires 3 of these, is used for more items. Hides are 483 at the Guild, which will most-likely be your source as the AHs typically have too few of them. Either sell to a Clothcraft friend, or put up on Jeuno AH. You want to get to around 15+ at least to be able to do Dhalmel Leather.

Test Item: Lizard Cesti (17)-Earth Crystal, Lizard Skin, Cesti-Pretty easy to make, Cesti are available at the Weapons Store in South Sandy, and people make these for skill and NPC/AH them cheaply.

21-30

• Dhalmel Leather (21)-Dark Crystal, Distilled Water, Windurstian Tea Leaves, Dhalmel Hide--Another bread-and-butter leather. This one is for Gobbiebag I, so they sell well in stacks or singly in Jeuno. Make to cap and make for profit.

• Bugard Leather (24)-Dark Crystal, Distilled Water, Windurstian Tea Leaves, Bugard Skin--Leather Purification aside, this is only used for Gobbiebag V quest, so they only sell singly in Jeuno. But try to cap on this if possible as it is a profitable synth. See Update below and factor it into your calculations.
  • Update From Lethaniol: this is also used for Bugard Strap +1 so it sells in stacks too now, but watch out for competition.

• Warrior's Belt (25)-Wind Crystal, Iron Chain, Dhalmel Leather--These sell okay, but the HQ version is much better, but a stack or two might do well as a bridge.

• Dhalmel Mantle (27)-Ice Crystal, Dhalmel Hide, Wool Thread--These do okay, as well, but don't count on doing much better than breaking-even. Again, another bridge worth looking into.

TEST ITEM: Dhalmel Mantle: Ice Crystal, Wool Thread, Dhalmel Hide: Plenty to be had as a cheap synth many use to skill up and as a common back armor.

31-40

• Parchment (31)-Dark Crystal, Sheep Leather, Rolanberry--Get the berries from Jeuno NPCs. As an item used in the Bard Flag Quest and for other items, they sell better singly.

• Vellum (31)-Dark Crystal, Sheep Leather, Rolanberry, Gold Dust--Get the berries from Jeuno NPCs. These are used in the Scholar Flag Quest and a SCH AF Quest. Either with this or Parchment, your task is to get your Leather to at least 29.

• Ram Leather (35/36)-Dark Crystal, Distilled Water, Ram Skin, Windurstian Tea Leaves/Willow Log--This is a great item to make, especially if you can farm the skins yourself (Rams are my biggest exception to my "no farming for craft items" rule). Either way, make money on this puppy and cap out at 36. That last level takes using Willow Logs. Sell a bunch for profit but lay in a supply as well; you'll need them.

• Wolf Gorget (39)-Earth Crystal, Wolf Hide, Cotton Thread--Decent bridge, if you can get the thread for cheap in Selbina. Your goal here is to get your skill to the point where you can make Waistbelts (43).

TEST ITEM: Magic Belt: Wind Crystal, Ram Leather, Mercury, Toad Oil: Because of the expense of Toad Oil, I'd suggest checking the AH first.

41-50

• Waistbelt (43)-Wind Crystal, Ram Leather x2, Grass Thread--If you farm at least half the Ram Skins yourself, this is the most profitable/break-even bridge between Ram and Tiger leathers, so cap on these. NPC these in batches and go back to farming to let the price go back up at the guildshop.

• Buffalo Leather (49)-Dark Crystal, Buffalo Hide, Windurstian Tea Leaves, Distilled Water--I debated back and forth on these, but they are profitable enough to include, especially in an area dominated by bridge synths. The market for these is not strong, but you can make these for a profit. As a side note, Laminated Buffalo Leather (Water Crystal + Animal Glue + Distilled Water + Buffalo Leather) is a level 53 item that sells slowly and is used for certain AF+1 upgrades.

• Ram Mantle (49)-Ice Crystal, Wool Thread, Ram Skin--Ram Skins don't stack, so farming will be tricky. This kinda sucks, but again, it gets you closer to Tiger Leather. Synth and de-synth if you prefer or NPC to the Guild for most of the cost of the Wool Thread...

TEST ITEM: Cuir Bouilli: Water Crystal, Leather Vest, Beeswax, Ram Leather x2: Not incredibly expensive in Sandy, where the vest can be bought from an NPC.

51-60

• Raptor Mantle (53)-Earth Crystal, Raptor Skin x2, Grass Thread--These are for Mog House Quest III, so they sell decently, better on weekends, and at an almost break-even price. Use this as a bridge to start Tiger Leather.

• Laminated Buffalo Leather (53)-Earth Crystal, Buffalo Leather, Animal Glue, Distilled Water--Used in AFs, sells decently, if not as well as normal Buffalo Leather, but it can add a bit of profit to Buffalo Leather.

• Catoblepas Leather (58)-Dark Crystal, Windurstian Tea Leaves, Distilled Water, Catoblepas Hide--As one commenter put it quite correctly, these suck. However, they are a relatively cheap bridge. Hides should go for 1k on the AH and the leather sells for around 800. Be a man and suck it up, or find another way to get your skill to 50-52.

• Moccasins (59)-Earth Crystal, Dhalmel Leather, Linen Cloth, Raptor Skin--Profitable, if not fast selling, but you can probably unload a stack or two as a bridge to Tiger Leather.

• Tiger Leather (61)-Dark Crystal, Distilled Water, Windurstian Tea Leaves, Tiger Hide--This is your last synth to 60. They are used in Gobbiebag III, so they sell like mad in Jeuno, they should cost less than 1k per hide at AHs, and you can mass-produce them easily. Have fun making your gil back!

• Hard Leather Ring (62)-Wind Crystal, Tiger Leather--You might have more Tiger Leather than you care to unload at the AH, either in stacks or singles, especially if you are just taking this craft to 60 (and not taking either Clothcraft or Smithing beyond 60), so this is a good combo for getting rid of your Tiger Leather while getting a bit more skill. These NPC for around 600, so it is a loss, but you'll be making a ton and a half of the Leather, which will let you get a net profit for the 50's, if not the entire 0-60 run.

Ctownwoody