Crafted heroic gear in AION Classic 5.0 sits on top of a chain of smaller crafts. 
Expert Prolix Cloth Shoes, an Elyos Tailoring recipe at skill level 410, takes nine crafted intermediates before the last craft. This guide plans one pair in the crafting planner and covers how many of each item to craft, when a bulk recipe helps and what to buy instead of crafting.
How many of each item to craft
Add up what every later craft needs, divide by what one craft makes and round up. Most steps of the shoes make one item per craft, so their crafts equal the need. The two armour fluxes make three per craft. The shoes need 2 
Expert Special Greater Armour Flux, so one craft covers them and leaves one over. That craft uses 1 
Master Special Greater Armour Flux, and its single craft leaves two. 
Prolix Fibre makes two per craft, so 294 fibres take 147 crafts.
| Item | Needed | Made per craft | Crafts | Left over |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expert Prolix Cloth Shoes | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
 Pure Malevite Ore | 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Expert Special Greater Armour Flux | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Master Special Greater Armour Flux | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
 Prolix Tailoring Thread | 57 | 1 | 57 | 0 |
 Superb Prolix Textile | 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
 Fine Prolix Textile | 15 | 1 | 15 | 0 |
 Prolix Textile | 45 | 1 | 45 | 0 |
 Prolix Thread | 147 | 1 | 147 | 0 |
| Prolix Fibre | 294 | 2 | 147 | 0 |
One pair takes 424 crafts on these recipes.
Single or bulk recipes
Five intermediates of the shoes have a second recipe that makes ten per craft, and it asks for a fifth more of every component. One Prolix Thread takes 2 Prolix Fibre and 1 
Fine Dye, while the bulk recipe takes 24 Prolix Fibre and 12 Fine Dye for ten.
| Recipes | Crafts |  Magical Aether | Fine Dye |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single recipes | 424 | 147 | 547 |
| Bulk recipe for Prolix Thread only | 325 | 180 | 580 |
| Bulk recipe wherever one exists | 606 | 528 | 1,608 |
Bulk everywhere costs the most. Each bulk step asks more of the step below it, and Prolix Fibre still makes two per craft, so the fibre crafts rise from 147 to 528. A bulk recipe pays where one step takes many crafts. On Prolix Thread alone it cuts that step from 147 crafts to 15 and the pair from 424 to 325, for 33 more Magical Aether and 33 more Fine Dye.
What to buy instead of crafting
Both armour fluxes are sold for 
Kinah. Abydus in the Hall of Prosperity in Sanctum and Edita in the Temple of Gold in Pandaemonium sell Expert Special Greater Armour Flux and Master Special Greater Armour Flux, so the planner offers Buy on the Expert flux step. Buying the 2 the shoes need removes both flux crafts and takes the pair to 422 crafts. It also removes Supremo's Special Greater Armour Flux and 
Master Worthy Special Greater Morph Catalyst, whose item pages name no vendor, gathering point or quest.
The Materials list names where each base material comes from. Magical Aether and 
Pure Magical Aether are gathered or sold by NPCs, and Fine Dye and Master Special Greater Morph Catalyst are sold by NPCs. Where an NPC sells a material, its row also gives the Kinah for the amount at the item's price, 656,400 for the 547 Fine Dye of one pair. The Buy what NPCs sell switch buys every step of the chain that an NPC sells at once.
Skill levels
The shoes need Tailoring 410. Prolix Tailoring Thread and the three textiles need 405 and Prolix Thread 400, so one crafter at 410 makes the whole cloth chain. The ore, flux and fibre steps are 
Morph Substances at level 1. The Asmodian recipe, Expert Hoca Cloth Shoes, uses Hoca Thread and textile in the same amounts.
Common questions
Why does the planner craft three flux when I need two? A flux recipe makes three per craft. One craft covers the two and the third stays in your cube.
Are bulk recipes cheaper? No. They make ten at once but use a fifth more of every component. Use one where a single step takes many crafts.
Can I buy intermediates instead of crafting them? Where an NPC sells them, yes. Their step then offers Buy, as the Expert flux of the shoes does, sold by Abydus in Sanctum and Edita in Pandaemonium.
