Reaper DPS Frequently Asked Questions — Dawntrail 7.2

Perfectio is a bit complicated to access. The chain starts with Plentiful Harvest which grants you a buff called "Perfectio Occulta". You then have 30 seconds to cast Communio (through Enshroud) which turns "Perfectio Occulta" into "Perfectio Parata" and will allow you to cast Perfectio.

Perfectio has three main uses and should always be used before the buff runs out. The first major one is during buff windows where it is our strongest hitting weaponskill. The second is to avoid casting Harpe due to melee downtime, this requires extensive fight knowledge. The last is saving it for multi-target cleave, this again requires some knowledge of the fight since you don't want to lose a usage.

For the most part, you can use Sacrificium after any of the first three Reapings, ensuring that you use both of your Lemure's Slice. For burst windows, you will want to follow what is shown in the rotation guide as the purpose is to catch early/lates buffs more consistently.

Because it is true but it also isn't always a big deal. With the addition of Perfectio and the weird 8.5s Enshroud window, Reaper loses 20 Soul every two minutes. Which will be visible whenever you enter your burst window. We start 50 Soul ahead because of a banked Soul Slice charge and our pre-cast Harpe. Because of this at around the 10 minute mark in a full uptime fight, we will be unable to do a standard burst window without holding onto an enshroud for over a minute. At the 8 minute mark you will also be unable to do a standard burst window if you lose 2 GCDs through either downtime of melee Limit Break. How big of an issue this is will really depends on how fights in Dawntrail play out.

Whenever you obtain a Reaver, your next weaponskill must be one that spends a Reaver ( Gibbet, Gallows, and Guillotine). Using any other weaponskill will immediately cancel the Reaver buff. The same applies to Executioner's granted by Gluttony.

Reaper has an odd-timed rotation so Gluttony will not always neatly fit into the same off-GCD slot. It drifts a little bit every minute.

4+ Targets is when you want to start doing AoE weaponskills and abilities.

If you are about to enter a burst window then you will want to Whorl of Death to apply Death's Design to both targets as the bonus from your cleave abilities will make it worth it.

The answer is fight-dependent, but ideally you use it on your first two-minute burst. If you think you will lose a usage by delaying it that long then you should use it in the opener.

You will want to use Harvest Moon when you have to disconnect from the boss for a GCD or more. You can also use it in a raid fight to hit 2 or more targets. Lastly, you can use it to help fix your combo so you enter a burst window with no combo running.

Because Harpe has a cast time and it takes some time to run to the boss, you can precast Harpe at 2 seconds and it will essentially be free damage. This also provides about 10 Soul gauge at the start of the fight which is a big boon.

When you use Arcane Circle you and your party will receive one stack of a buff called “Ceremony Circle” and you will receive a buff called “Bloodsown Circle”. Whenever someone uses a damaging spell, weaponskill or ability while under the effects of Ceremony Circle the stack will be consumed and it will give the Reaper one stack of Immortal Sacrifices. You cannot use Plentiful Harvest until Bloodsown Circle has worn off, which means you only use it once for every cast of Arcane Circle.

In FFXIV your global cooldown completes on whole frames instead of adjusting the framerate to your cooldown. If you aren't frame limited, or have over 100 FPS on average then this section is irrelevant to you and you should just use the 2.49 BiS The best way to figure out what your true GCD is to multiply your Global Cooldown by your FPS. If this is a whole number, there is no tax. If the number isn't whole then you need to subtract the rounded up value of that number from the actual number. With that number you can divide it by your FPS and then add that final number to your GCD. For example 2.49 at 60 FPS: 2.49 * 60= 149.4, which is .6 from the next whole number. .6 / 60 is .01 which means our 2.49 GCD is actually 2.5. Because 2.5 is a worse tier than 2.48, we go with 2.48. For more a in-depth look please look at June's guide on FPS Tax