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I love how Square-Enix likes to make complicated systems to gather / craft items and gear in Final Fantasy XIV. The first time I heard of Aetherial Reduction is when I needed to craft my Chivalric Battledress of Aiming and I needed 2x Dawnborne Aethersand? Where the hell do I get that? This is where Aetherial Reduction is needed... think of it as a "desynthesis" for Gathering Classes. First you need access to lv 60 Ephemeral Nodes. These nodes are active for 4 hours, do a google search for which ever list you want to use to track these nodes. Next you need to be lv 58 / 60 to Reduce the intended Collectable items. At each of these nodes there will be a "Hidden" item that you need to use the "Collector's Glove" and collect. Depending on the "Collectability" value of the item it will have a "Purity" rating... the higher the rating the better type of "Aethersand" you can get. This all sounds so overly complicated, but it's really not.

Next, get yourself a lv 60 Gathering gear set made mostly by Leatherworker, the accessories are lv 56 - 59 Goldsmith and the lv 60 Tools are made by the Blacksmith. If your Methodical Appraisal is 115 and you have 600 GP then you are in good shape, you might need to meld a little but the IV's are fairly cheap in 3.0. There are 4 choices you can make depending on how many attempts you would like to "collect" and for each extra collection the "purity" will be lower because of the rotation needed to raise the "Collectability"

Method 1 - Crystals / Clusters - 4 Attempts - Collectability ~ 345 - 2/8 Purity

Single Mind
Methodical Appraisial
Single Mind
Methodical Appraisal
Single Mind
Methodical Appraisal

This Method will get you 4 Collections and when Aetherial Reduction is used you will get 30 - 50 Crystals / Clusters of the elemental type. Botanist = Wind / Earth | Miner = Lightning / Fire | Fisher = Water / Ice. You'll have a small chance to get Duskborne Aethersand

Method 2 - Duskborne Aethersand - 3 Attempts - Collectability ~ 405 - 4/8 Purity

Single Mind
Methodical Appraisal
Single Mind
Methodical Appraisal
Discerning Eye
Methodical Appraisal

This Method is if you wish to collect Duskborne Aethersand, you'll have a decent chance to get up to 2x, and a small chance to get Dawnborne Aethersand... and if you don't get either you'll still receive 30 - 50 Clusters along with Crystals.

Method 3 - Dawnborne Aethersand - 2 Attempts - Collectability ~ 460 - 5/8 Purity

Utmost Caution
Methodical Appraisal
Utmost Caution
Methodical Appraisal
Single Mind
Methodical Appraisal
Single Mind
Methodical Appraisal

This Method is if you intend to gather Dawnborne Aethersand, you'll have a fairly good chance to get up to 2x along with HQ Duskborne Aethersand and Crystals and Clusters.

Method 4 - Leafborne Aethersand - 1 Attempt - Collectability ~ 525 - 7/8 Purity

Discerning Eye
Methodical Appraisal
Discerning Eye
Methodical Appraisal
Discerning Eye
Methodical Appraisal

This Method is if you intend to collect Leafborne Aethersand, you'll have a small chance to collect up to 2x along with Dawnborne / Duskborne Aethersand & Crystals and Clusters.

To get the most out of gathering these Aethersands you should bring a stock of Cordials and an easy strategy to make the "hidden" item proc is to go to the adjacent gathering nodes and enter "Gather Mode" and back out. You only need to do this twice, once at 1 of 3 of the pairs of nodes. You'll get the hang of it... do this enough and you'll probably never have to gather Crystals / Clusters again haha