• Equip your Aspis and check it. On the second page of its details you will see that it is marked with a "Synthesis success rate" penalty. Optionally, it may also be marked with a "For craftsmanship upgrade:" bonus criteria.
  • As you successfully synthesize recipes of the Aspis' particular craft, the Synthesis success rate will decrease every time you pass a multiple of 3.33 craftsmanship (rounded to 10s) all the way to 100%.
  • Also, the For craftsmanship upgrade: bonus criteria can change, disappear, appear or stay the same. Because of this it is worth checking the Aspis again after every successful synthesis.
• To begin with, there will be failures aplenty, so be sure to choose recipes that have cheap materials and/or result in materials for additional recipes. You gain no bonus to craftsmanship gain for synthesizing higher level recipes, so choose your synths wisely.
  • Craftsmanship increases, even with level 1 recipes.
  • Your guild master will have warned you not to repeat the same recipe too often, lest the craftsmanship increases you achieve dwindle to none.
• HQ1, HQ2, and HQ3 results give an increase of 0.3%, 0.4%, and 0.5% respectively.
  • These increases are keyed to the HQ animations, so can be attained even if the recipe you've synthesized doesn't have a different HQ result.
• An NQ result gives an increase of 0.2%. A cumulative penalty of 0.02% is applied for every subsequent NQ result of the same recipe.
  • HQ results are not affected by this penalty.
  • It takes at least 50 synths of other recipes to remove the penalty for that recipe.
• The bonus condition doubles the gain from HQ results, meaning that the highest increase you can receive from one synth is 1.0%
• The bonus condition adds 0.20% to the gain from NQ results, even if the increase for NQ results has been reduced to 0%.

It will probably take between 150-200 synths to reach 100.00%, dependent on how many times you meet these criteria, so ensure your Ephemeral Moogle is well-stocked in advance!

• Trade an Aspis with 100.00% Craftsmanship to your Guild Master to receive the Craftsman's Crystal.
  • Craftsmanship will drop to 66.66% - worry not though, there is no need to increase it back to 100.00% unless you lose your Craftsman's Crystal.

• Elsewhere at the guild you'll find the individual responsible for awarding and exchanging Crafter Points (CP) who will now offer a couple of new options when you speak to them, where before they were only selling crafting kits.

• Checking these NPCs will show you that in order to obtain the 2x Mythril Screws and 1x Camphor you require, you will need to earn a total of 11,000CP.
• It's important to notice the difference between the Crafting Sets (crafted by you and handed in for CP) and the Crafting Kits, which can be bought from NPCs for gil.
• To earn CP, you must complete the recipes for Crafting Sets. These recipes can be checked at these NPCs, but are the ingredients for the item their respective Kits produce with one difference - instead of being crafted with a regular elemental crystal, they are crafted with Analysis Crystals.
• Analysis Crystals can be purchased from the Guild Representative, alongside other GP items at a rate of 450GP each.
• Dependent on the level of the Crafting Set you choose to complete, you may need around twenty stacks of Analysis Crystals to earn enough CP for the upgrade items you require. That's around 108,000GP, so maintaining daily hand-ins whenever possible is a must.
• It is not recommended that you have your aspis equipped during this stage.
• By performing a synthesis with an Analysis Crystal, you are undertaking a 'quality value' synthesis. The Crafting Set you create will be attributed with a value based on how successfully it was crafted. This value varies from synth to synth, but falls within a general boundary:

• The quality value is equal to the number of CP earned. For example, an HQ3 Crafting Set 64 with quality 99 can be traded for 99 CP. The quality value is displayed on the Crafting Set.
• Note that higher quality values come from successful HQ synths, despite the base item remaining the same. Therefore, if you craft with an item equipped with the attribute "Cannot synthesize high-quality items", it will only be possible to obtain the NQ amount of CP.
• As you will likely be crafting around 200+ of these, you should take the time initially to calculate which level recipe will award you with the greatest number of points per gil cost to you.
  For example, the ingredients for the Clothcraft Set 64 currently cost 4,212 gil on my server, and averages a return of 49CP per synth. That works out at 1CP = 86gil, which in turn means the cost of this stage is 946,000gil.
• Ensure your Ephemeral Moogle is stocked with crystals before your crafting binge.
• If gil expenditure is of no concern to you, and your craft skill is of sufficient level, simply craft the highest tier Crafting Sets in order to reduce the number of GP you'll be spending on Analysis Crystals.
• Trade completed crafting sets to the pertinent NPC in the table above to receive Craftsman Points equal to the quality value.

* Delivered equipment sets may be purchased as synthesis kits from the corresponding NPC at next day at or after 10:00 a.m. (Vana'diel time)

* Purchasing a synthesis kit requires a synthesis skill level equal to or greater than that of the kit.

• Once you've obtained all of the materials, upgrade the Aspis via regular Crystal Synthesis:
  • 1x (Elemental) Crystal
  • 1x (Crafter's) Aspis
  • 1x Craftsman's Crystal: (Craft)
  • 2x Mythril Screws: (Craft)
  • 1x Camphor: (Craft)
• The resulting (Crafter's) Ecu has +1 (Craft) skill, and no longer has a reduced Craftsmanship value.
• Trade the Ecu to your Guild Master, who returns it to you.
• Trade the Ecu to Mewk Chorosap in Port Jeuno (G-8), who also returns it to you, to complete this stage.

Stage Two - Upgrading the Ecu

Introduced in the March 2017 Version Update.

• You must have completed the Records of Eminence Tutorial objective First Step Forward to proceed.
• Leaving Port Jeuno and returning will give Mewk Chorosap enough time to consider the next stage.
• Trade your Ecu to Mewk Chorosap who once again returns it Augmented with Craftsmanship: 0.00%
• Trade your Ecu to your Guild Master who provides you with a new recipe for the upgrade.

• Perform Crystal Synthesis repeatedly to raise the Craftsmanship level on the Ecu.
  • For every 6.00% you increase, the Ecu will gain "Synthesis Success -1" penalty, to a maximum of "Synthesis Success -15".
• Trade an Ecu with 100.00% Craftsmanship to your Guild Master to receive the Craftsman's Crystal.
  • Craftsmanship on the Ecu will drop to 80.00%

• These are both purchased from your Guild Representative for a total of 13,000CP.
  • The Gold Screw replaces the previous screw item and costs 8,000CP.
  • The Camphor still costs 5,000CP.

• Upon first trading your Ecu to your Guild Master, you unlock a new Records of Eminence subcategory in the Crafting category; Crafting: Escutcheon (Craft).
  • Complete the Guildmaster's Request 1 to unlock Guildmaster's Request 2 and so forth.
  • The reward for completing Guildmaster's Request 4 is the Titanium Frame: (Craft).

• Once you've obtained all of the materials, upgrade the Ecu via regular Crystal Synthesis:
  • 1x (Elemental) Crystal
  • 1x (Crafter's) Ecu
  • 1x Craftsman's Crystal: (Craft)
  • 1x Gold Screw: (Craft)
  • 1x Camphor: (Craft)
  • 1x Titanium Frame: (Craft)
    • n.b. with CC106 I obtained a 0.1 skillup, inferring that this recipe is lv96+
• The resulting (Crafter's) Scutum has +2 (Craft) skill, and no longer has a reduced Craftsmanship value.
• Trade the Scutum to your Guild Master, who returns it to you.
• Trade the Scutum to Mewk Chorosap in Port Jeuno (G-8), who also returns it to you, to complete this stage.

Stage Three - Upgrading the Scutum

Introduced in the May 2017 Version Update.

Stage Four - Upgrading the Shield

Introduced in the September 2017 Version Update.