A FFXIV Summoner Guide part4:Back to the opener

A few more details to note:

Potions – Valuable tools to any Final Fantasy XIV DPS.

1) X-Potions of Intelligence are great to use in the opener in conjunction with Raging Strikes. During the course of the fight, these are better used when Final Fantasy XIV DoTs need re-application (Bio II, Miasma, Bio mainly running full duration) as well as at least 1 Fester (unless a Bane opportunity is nearby and you only have 1 Aetherflow Stack). If you are able to time this with a Contagion(Garuda) or Foe Requiem as well, even better.

2) Potent Poisoning Potion: Another potion that can fit well into the opening. If you choose to use them, insert them after Miasma 2 but before Contagion (as they are also extended in duration like other DoT skills a SMN casts) or Ruin 2 before Swiftcast Shadowflare. Using a Potent Poisoning Potion may prevent you from getting the last Ruin II before Raging Strikes falls off if you do not have enough spell speed. (Minimum 370-385, assuming absolute no delay in opening) Over the course of the fight, use these freely when available.

Bio and Fester: the Love-Hate relationship and Travel Time of Final Fantasy XIV DoTs

You as a SMN need to have an understanding of the timing between when you finish casting a Final Fantasy XIV skill and when it actually shows up on a mob a.k.a Travel Time. This is incredibly important when using Fester following a Bio cast.

Each DoT skill has a different appearance time.

From Fastest to Slowest:

• Miasma / Miasma II -> Apply Immediately

• Bio II -> A minor delay in between.

• Bio I -> Very noticeable delay in between.

Now why is this important? Because Fester/ Bane depends on these three main DoTs (Bio II, Miasma, Bio I), to be present on the target beforehand to maximize their respective use. The biggest area to be affected by this is notably the opener. Should you use Fester too soon after casting Bio, the game will calculate the damage as a 200 potency skill instead of 300 because Bio has not officially “logged” onto target. However, if you wait too long, you are costing yourself valuable time under Raging Strikes. I’ll elaborate in a few my personal workaround for this.

With all these mentioned, the expanded classic opener as of 2.55 is:

Raging Strikes -> X-Potion(INT) - > Bio II -> Miasma -> Bio I -> Fester -> Miasma II (If Garuda) / Ruin II (If Ifrit) -> Potent Poison Potion -> Contagion (If Garuda) / Swiftcast -> Shadowflare -> Rouse -> Ruin II -> Spur -> Ruin II -> Fester -> Ruin II -> Enkindle -> Ruin II ->

Alternative opener:

Due to Bio possibly being missed by a quick Fester following it, alternatively I adjusted the classic open as follows:

Raging Strikes -> X-Potion(INT) - > Bio II -> Miasma -> Bio I -> Rouse-> Fester -> Miasma II (If Garuda) / Ruin II (If Ifrit) -> Potent Poison Potion -> Contagion (If Garuda) / Swiftcast -> Shadowflare -> Spur -> Ruin II -> Enkindle -> Ruin II -> Fester -> Ruin II -> Ruin II -> …

Inserting an oGCD like Rouse in front of Fester will allow you to filler the travel time of Bio I long enough that a Fester following it will always be on time to get 300 Potency at the earliest possible time.