Which Potion/Food should RPR use?

The highest available Strength potion. Currently, that is Grade 1 Gemdraught of Strength. Current food is Vegetable Soup. Always use High Quality!

Why is my Plentiful Harvest clipping in the AC 3rd GCD Opener?

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 Circle 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. If you’re entirely sure that youre pressing Arcane Cirlce as soon as possible, and do not have a GCD speed of 2.47 or faster, then it could be a ping related issue.

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.” Perfectio can also be used as a disengage tool in place of Harpe, please see the Intermediate Guide for more details.

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. Pulling with other actions, such as Harvest Moon, Shadow of Death and Soul Slice is an optimization technique called “Harpe sacrifice” and it’s categorized as non-standard since you need to pay attention to finer details when doing those. Some fight specific optimizations do exist where just skipping the precast Harpe without all the extra care that non-standard asks will gain you a stronger GCD in the phase due to fight phasing or killtime. 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 Intermediate Guide for more info on even-minute burst windows.

What is the difference between Blood Stalk, Unveiled Gibbet, 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 80 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 have not unlocked Gluttony yet).

Why don't we fit three Communios in potion instead of only two?

Triple Enshroud windows do exist, but they are non-stndard gameplay, due to their inconsistent nature and the fact that they require heavy planning to be performed. You can find a full explanation for Triple Enshrouds and their possible forms in the Advanced Guide.

Does it matter if we start Enshroud with Void Reaping or Cross Reaping?

No. They don’t have positionals and the first hit is always unbuffed by Enhanced Void/Cross Reaping, so you are free to use whichever. The important thing is that you alternate them to keep them buffed by Enhanced Void/Cross Reaping.

Why do we weave Arcane Circle after a Shadow of Death and not after a Void/Cross Reaping in the Death Design Retain Double Enshroud?

Bloodsown Circle forces a 6.7s delay between when we use Arcane Circle and Plentiful Harvest. Because Void/Cross Reaping has a shorter recast than Shadow of Death, there is less time between Arcane Circle and Plentiful Harvest. This ~1 second difference is enough to cause a clip between where the GCD clock is ready and Plentiful Harvest can actually be used.

When should I use a Potion?

This is a fight-specific decision. If a fight allows for it and it doesn’t cause a lost usage, the opener potion can be moved to the 2:XX burst window for more potency in the buff. Different party buff timings due to mechanics or party choice can alter this. See ⁠#rpr_encounter in the Discord for potion timings for each specific fight.

How much Skill Speed does Reaper want and why?

The short answer is that RPR wants a 2.49 GCD speed for standard play. It minimizes our drift from Arcane Circle due to alignment while keeping Skill Speed investment low. There is a much longer, more in depth answer, but it requires non-standard knowledge from the Advanced Guide. Please see that if you want to know more.

What is gauge-negativity and how does it affect us?

“Gauge-negativity” refers to the fact that we usually have less gauge in an even minute burst than the last. Right now, RPR “loses” 20 Soul every 2mins. Since we generate 60 Soul and 50 Shroud before the first Double Enshroud window, we have a breakpoint at the 10mins in an full uptime encounter. Options for dealing with are either deadzoning the sequence between 8:XX and 10:XX burst windows or doing Single Shroud windows from 10:XX and onwards. This decision will depend on the fight that happens to suffer from this characteristic of our rotation. Realistically, this is no big deal. “Usually” here refers to the fact that “gauge-negativity” can be generalized to the “gauge balance” concept from non-standard gameplay and which is explained in the Advanced Guide.

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

Using Arcane Circle gives three buffs: Arcane Circle, Circle of Sacrifice, and Bloodsown Circle.

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 applied to the entire party. It gives the RPR that cast it one stack of Immortal Sacrifice when the affected player (including the RPR, meaning we can have up to 8 stacks) uses a skill that satisfies the following criteria: 1. is a weaponskill or spell and 2. does damage/applied a negative effect. From the first criteria, NIN’s Mmudras do not count. From the second, DNC steps, PCT canvases, and healing GCD spells are also excluded.

Bloodsown Circle lasts 6.7s and blocks Plentiful Harvest from being used for the duration.

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.

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 6.7s after using Arcane Circle.

How do you tell which player did not give you an Immortal Sacrifice Stack?

Follow this method to be certain. Replays/Streams can be used as well but require more guesswork.

1. You or someone in your group will need to upload the fight in question to FFLogs
2. Click on the “Buffs” tab
3. Select Circle of Sacrifice from the “All Abilities” dropdown box
4. Select the “Events” tab
5. Look for any time Circle of Sacrifice lasted the full 5.0s duration. If the buff lasted less than 5.0s, that person gave you a stack. If it lasted the full duration, they did not give a stack.

Why are some bursts being referred to as numbers and letters?

The nomenclature system you might be seeing around is called “non-standard notation”. When out of the standard rotation bubble, RPR has an enormous variety of possible bursts and the nomenclature help us to track some characteristics for each window. The classification system can be found in the Advanced Guide.