Which Potion/Food should RPR use?

The highest available Strength potion. Currently, that is Grade 8 Tincture of Strength. Current food is Baked Eggplant. Always use High Quality!

Why do we use Arcane Circle halfway through the GCD instead of in the second weave space?

Plentiful Harvest cannot be used for 6.7s after using Arcane Circle. You must early weave it or it will cause a clip if used where it is in the openers. The only way to avoid clipping if you do not early weave Arcane Cirlce is for Plentiful Harvest, and therefore your burst, to be delayed one additional GCD. Both clipping and delaying are worse than early weaving Arcane Circle. It will still clip at GCD speeds of 2.47 and faster.

Why do we use Arcane Circle so early in the opener when it is misaligned from other buffs?

Due to the nature of Plentiful Harvest being tied to Arcane Circle, we are forced to use Arcane Circle early in the opener in order to fit the most potency under buffs. If we do Arcane Circle later, Plentiful Harvest is available later, meaning we end up pushing the end of our opener out of raid buffs, especially 15s raid buffs. We compromise by taking a small hit to buff alignment for the opener for more potency under the party’s raid buffs. We correct this at the two minute buff window by entering the Double Enshroud sequence at 6s left on Arcane Circle cooldown instead of the standard 9s left. This pushes Arcane Circle back into alignment for the rest of the fight. See the Two Minute Burst Window section of the Advanced Guide for more details.

How do we properly use Harvest Moon/Harpe?

Harpe should be used prepull in the opener and when you are forced out of melee range for at least one GCD, provided it is not possible to keep your melee GCDs rolling. Harvest Moon should always be used for this instead, if it is available. Otherwise, Harvest Moon should be used for AoE, if applicable, or used in place of a weaker GCD for an overall potency gain. Harvest Moon uses will very much be a fight-specific optimization and there is no “this is always the best way to use it.”

Why do we precast Harpe instead of using Harvest Moon or just running in and immediately doing Shadow of Death?

Using a casted ability before the countdown is finished does two things. 1. It starts your GCD clock early without early pulling. 2. The damage doesn’t go out until the cast is finished which means the damage does not land until the countdown reaches 0. By the time you actually reach the boss, you have gained a free GCD. Harvest Moon is an instant cast, so if you try to do the same thing with it, you will early pull by two seconds. Running in and immediately doing Shadow of Death lands the Shadow of Death at roughly the same time as if you precasted Harpe (about 0.5s difference), which means that precasting Harpe is just free damage in most cases. Some fight specific optimizations do exist where skipping the precast Harpe will gain you a stronger GCD in the phase due to fight phasing or kill time. Consult fight-specific resources for more information.

When should we refresh Death's Design?/How often should we use Shadow of Death?

Use Shadow of Death before Death’s Design falls off, or as needed for filler for even-minute burst windows. See the Advanced Guide for more info on even-minute burst windows.

What is the difference between Blood Stalk, Unveiled Gibbets, and Unveiled Gallows?

Nothing functionally. They are effectively the same things with different animations. They each consume 50 Soul to give one stack of Soul Reaver. Blood Stalk is 60 potency less than the Unveiled forms, but you will never use the base form unless you drop the Enhanced Gallows/Gibbet buff (aside from once in the opener if you do not have Gluttony yet).

How does Soul Reaver work?

Gluttony gives 2 Soul Reaver stacks. Blood Stalk (as well as Unveiled Gibbet/Gallows) gives 1 Soul Reaver stack. Soul Reaver allows for the execution of Gibbet and Gallows. Any ability that grants Soul Reaver MUST be followed by Gibbet or Gallows, or the Soul Reaver stack will be lost.

What's the difference between Double Enshroud and Triple Enshroud windows and when do we use one or the other?

Double Enshroud windows will happen every two minutes after the opener and allows for two Communios under raid buffs. This is your standard even-minute burst window, and can be found in the Advanced Guide.

Triple Shroud is an incredibly niche optimization that is almost never used as the conditions for it being a gain are extremely strict. Triple Shroud information can be found in the Graduate Studies section of the Advanced Guide.

Unless you are 100% sure Triple Shroud will be a gain, use Double Shroud!

Why do we do Void/Cross Reaping -> Shadow of Death -> Void/Cross Reaping -> Shadow of Death -> Arcane Circle during Double Enshroud instead of doing Shadow of Death -> Shadow of Death -> Void/Cross Reaping -> Void/Cross Reaping -> Arcane Cricle?

Doing the second option causes the GCD to come up in such a way that at the moment you need to use Arcane Circle, it is forced to be delayed another ~1 second, which causes Arcane Circle to drift out of alignment with party buffs. This also means that since Arcane Circle will be later, Plentiful Harvest will be ready later, which is highly likely to cause a clip as well as push the second Communio out of 15s raid buffs.

When should I use a Potion?

If a fight allows for it, Potions should be used at the 2:XX and 8:XX windows. If the fight is shorter than eight minutes, the second pot can be used at 6:30 or 7:XX. You will need to adjust your burst accordingly, but exactly how will be fight specific. If the fight is longer than nine minutes, you can use a Potion in the opener, then use it on cooldown after to get three potions in the fight, assuming full uptime. Whether this is possible without full uptime will be a fight-specific thing.

Why don't we use Potions in the opener?

With all raid buffs being 120s now, all raid buffs will be present again at the 2:XX buff window, which means we don’t miss out on any raid buffs by moving our Potion to 2:XX. This allows us to pool resources after the opener to get an even stronger Double Enshroud burst phase under Potion, vs. a Single Enshroud burst phase in the opener, resulting in a significantly higher value from the Potion.

If the fight is not long enough to get two potions during Double Enshroud burst windows, an option potion is still used. As potion uses are fight-specific, refer to fight specific resources for optimal timings.

How much Skill Speed does RPR want and why?

Reaper functions best at either 2.49 or 2.48. These speeds align the rotation close to a clean 120 second loop. Going any slower will cause resource generation issues later in the rotation and any faster you’ll begin to clip Plentiful Harvest in your opener. Skill Speed is also our lowest scaling stat, so the more we meld, the lower our overall damage.

How do Arcane Circle, Immortal Sacrifice, and Plentiful Harvest work?

Arcane Circle is a 3% damage up buff for 20s that is applied to all party members within 30y of the caster.

Circle of Sacrifice is a 5s buff that checks whether or not the RPR that used Arcane Circle and each party member with the buff successfully uses a weaponskill or spell that does damage/applies a negative effect to the target. Because of this criterion, DNC steps and healing spells do not count.

Bloodsown Circle lasts 6s and gives you one Immortal Sacrifice stack for each party member (including yourself) that uses a weaponskill/spell that does damage/applies a negative effect under Circle of Sacrifice (maximum of one stack per person).

Immortal Sacrifice stacks up to eight stacks, and lasts for up to 30s. Immortal Sacrifice stacks allow Plentiful Harvest to be used.

Plentiful Harvest consumes all Immortal Sacrifice stacks and gains 40 potency for every additional stack, starting at 720 and maxing out at 1000 potency at eight stacks. Your own stack is already included in the base potency of 720, as it is required to even use the skill. You cannot use Plentiful Harvest until Bloodsown Circle has expired.

Simply put: Arcane Circle gives a +3% damage buff for 20s. It also gives one stack of Immortal Sacrifice for every party member (including yourself) that lands a weaponskill/spell in the first 5s of Arane Circle’s duration. Immortal Sacrifice stacks allow the use of Plentiful Harvest, and increase the potency of Plentiful Harvest by 40 per stack, up to 1000 potency at eight stacks. Plentiful Harvest cannot be used until Bloodsown Circle expires, which happens 6s after using Arcane Circle.