Recipes, catalysts and crafting choices

A crafting recipe has a base item, separate ingredient positions and one result. Two formulas for the same result are alternatives, not one combined shopping list. Repeated ingredient positions require separate copies.

Catalysts survive

An ingredient marked with an asterisk is a catalyst. It must participate in the recipe but is not consumed by the fusion. Ordinary ingredients are consumed. This makes a reusable Cauldron or Utility Pouch a different purchase from another copy of a consumable ingredient.

Read the complete formula

Some ingredients identify a type rather than one named item. Follow that type's link to see eligible members. The Cauldron recipes upgrade eligible potions into their Strong variants; the Utility Pouch has alternatives to the forging-hammer formulas. Collar conversions also have their own catalyst rules. Read the asterisk on each ingredient rather than assuming an entire family behaves identically.

Ingredients are not bonds

The crafting workbench can show which formulas your shared backpack has ingredients for. That does not mean their crafting bonds are already arranged. Check the intended partners in the backpack, especially when one item could participate in several formulas.

Expand the ingredient tree from your target, compare alternative recipes, and check each ingredient's acquisition links. Buy toward a reachable formula rather than a result whose required items cannot enter your shops.