Openers
One of the most frequently asked questions is: What is an example of a good opener?
While they form only fraction of total fight time, the opener is very important to set the scene for all future timings.
In this section we’ll cover:
- our preferred opener methods
- the reasoning and importance for various timings
All of the openers are intended for single target & use 
Ifrit.
Opener Video
120s (2 Minute Cycle) Openers
3rd GCD DWT 
Opener
3rd GCD DWT Opener
- Place Ifrit-Egi beside the boss. This will not aggro the boss.
Prepull Ruin III (hardcast) @ roughly -2.5s. Adjust with ping in mind.
Sic (pet stance) @ roughly -0.7s. Adjust with ping in mind.- GCD 1
Egi Assault + 
Energy Drain + 
Tri-disaster - GCD 2
Egi Assault II + 
Tincture - GCD 3 Egi Assault +
Aetherpact + Dreadwyrm Trance - GCD 4 Egi Assault II +
Lucid Dreaming + 
Enkindle - GCD 5 Ruin III (instant) +
Fester + Tri-disaster - GCD 6 Ruin III (instant) +
Deathflare + 
Summon Bahamut - GCD 7
Ruin IV + 
Enkindle Bahamut + Fester - GCD 8 Ruin IV
- GCD 9 Ruin III (hardcast)
- GCD 10 Ruin III (hardcast)
- GCD 11 Ruin IV + Enkindle Bahamut
- GCD 12 Ruin III (hardcast)
- GCD 13 Ruin IV + Energy Drain +
Swiftcast - GCD 14 Ruin III (instant) + Fester
The 3rd GCD DWT Opener is our standard 2 min alignment opener for 
Further Ruin & pet action consistency by providing a sufficient time buffer to ensure ghosts do not happen.
If you find that at higher latencies you are ending up with 3 Further Ruin stacks instead of 4 by the time you need to Summon Bahamut, you can consider swapping the 3rd GCD Egi Assault with the 4th GCD Ruin III. The problem is one of the pet auto queue vs the pet command queue clashing, which is why a good sic timing prepull helps mitigate this from happening.
110s Alignment Rush Openers
1st GCD DWT Opener
1st GCD DWT Opener
- Place Ifrit-Egi beside the boss. This will not aggro the boss.
- Prepull Ruin III (hardcast) @ roughly -2.5s. Adjust with ping in mind.
- Sic (pet stance) @ roughly -0.7s. Adjust with ping in mind.
- GCD 1 Egi Assault + Tri-disaster + Dreadwyrm Trance
- GCD 2 Egi Assault II + Energy Drain + Aetherpact
- GCD 3 Ruin III (instant) + Tincture
- GCD 4 Egi Assault + Lucid Dreaming + Enkindle
- GCD 5 Egi Assault II + Fester
- GCD 6 Ruin III (instant) + Deathflare + Summon Bahamut
- GCD 7 Ruin IV + Enkindle Bahamut + Fester
- GCD 8 Ruin IV
- GCD 9 Ruin III (hardcast)
- GCD 10 Ruin III (hardcast)
- GCD 11 Ruin IV + Enkindle Bahamut
- GCD 12 Ruin III (hardcast)
- GCD 13 Ruin IV + Tri-disaster + Swiftcast
- GCD 14 Ruin III (instant) + Energy Drain + Fester
The 1st GCD DWT Opener is our go to when encounters favour Trance rushing (using them on cooldown).
Typically in the Rush timeline Tri-disaster is not clipped under buffs and is saved to be used during the DoT refresh towards the tail end of the Bahamut window of the opener, however, in more optimised scenarios it may still be the correct call to clip if your party composition is strong enough.
2nd GCD DWT Opener
2nd GCD DWT Opener
- Place Ifrit-Egi beside the boss. This will not aggro the boss.
- Prepull Ruin III (hardcast) @ roughly -2.5s. Adjust with ping in mind.
- Sic (pet stance) @ roughly -0.7s. Adjust with ping in mind.
- GCD 1 Egi Assault + Tri-disaster + Energy Drain
- GCD 2 Egi Assault II + Dreadwyrm Trance
- GCD 3 Egi Assault II + Aetherpact
- GCD 4 Ruin III (instant) + Tincture
- GCD 5 Egi Assault + Enkindle + Fester
- GCD 6 Ruin III (instant) + Deathflare + Summon Bahamut
- GCD 7 Ruin IV + Enkindle Bahamut + Fester
- GCD 8 Ruin III (hardcast)
- GCD 9 Ruin III (hardcast)
- GCD 10 Ruin III (hardcast)
- GCD 11 Ruin IV + Enkindle Bahamut + Swiftcast
- GCD 12 Ruin III (instant) + Tri-disaster
- GCD 13 Ruin IV + Energy Drain + Fester
- GCD 14 Ruin IV
- GCD 15 Egi Assault + Fester
The 2nd GCD DWT Opener is a subtle variation on the 1st GCD opener, where it’s done with specific encounter timings in mind. It can be stronger than the 1st GCD opener in cases where you can afford to delay your first Trance, but should not be done in cases like E12s Gaia where you need to adhere to fast, strict rushing.
While the base version of it has Summon Bahamut after the 6th GCD cast, this also is favourable for encounters where you want to delay Bahamut by an extra action to bring him out on the 7th GCD, which is typically paired with clipping Tri-disaster under buffs during the 5th GCD.
An example of this in action would be in the proposed E11s opener.
These openers will provide you with a framework to think about when certain approaches are the more sensible choice for dealing DPS.
As with any encounter, think about how your cooldowns map out as a fight progresses and adjust when it makes sense to do so.