I just got Fell Cleave and now I don't know when to Unchain. Any advice?

[Bigcat9715]

When I start a pull now I just shoot for the Double Fell cleave, but it requires me to hold my stacks for it. My tank opener now is Pull + Brutal Swing + Butcher block (out of habit) + aggro combo + Storm's Eye combo+ IR & BB + berserk + deliverance + fell cleave + infuriate + fell cleave + fracture. The only time I Unchain now is when it lines up with berserk. Should I stick to this or change it?

[bounddreamer]

You should Unchain when you have to swap to Defiance and want to maintain damage for a bit before you can swap back to Deliverance.

[Copenhagen]

You can do it that way. I mean, you did say you're just firing off a butcher's block on it's own there out of habit. If that's true, you kinda need to break that habit.

But generally a pretty standard MT opener is start in Defiance > Infuriate > Unchained > Tomahawk > Heavy Swing (Brutal Swing) > Maim (Berserk) > Storm's Eye > Heavy Swing > Skull Sunder (Internal Release) > Butcher's Block > Deliverance > Fell Cleave. After that, you should be able to stay in Deliverance for the rest of the fight, especially if it's a dungeon.

[Sarcatica]

You can do it that way. I mean, you did say you're just firing off a butcher's block on it's own there out of habit. If that's true, you kinda need to break that habit.

But generally a pretty standard MT opener is start in Defiance > Infuriate > Unchained > Tomahawk > Heavy Swing (Brutal Swing) > Maim (Berserk) > Storm's Eye > Heavy Swing > Skull Sunder (Internal Release) > Butcher's Block > Deliverance > Fell Cleave. After that, you should be able to stay in Deliverance for the rest of the fight, especially if it's a dungeon.

You are wasting Berserk stack that can convert to double Fell Cleaves. Infuriate >Unchained > Tomahawk > Heavy Swing (Brutal Swing) > Maim > Storm's Eye > Heavy Swing > Skull Sunder > Butcher's Block > Deliverance > Heavy Swing > Internal Release&Berserk (5th stack) > Fell Cleaves > Maim > Storm's Eye (2nd stack) > Heavy Swing > Maim > Storm's Eye (4th stack, insert Vengeance anywhere for that 5th stack after you use 1st Fell Cleaves) > If you have 2 GCD left, Fracture > Fell Cleave, if not, straight away Fell Cleave > Pacification. This rotation is heavily adjustable depending on how short (need to use Berserk earlier) or long (you can hold Berserk for 2/3 Fell Cleaves) the fights will be.

You can get away with just 1 non Unchained BB combo in Defiance (normal dungeons' DPS are normally not enough to bypass that 1 aggro combo), then you can easily get more total damage from doing double/triple Fell Cleaves despite being in the MT position (depending on your ping). After that, you can just keep rotating Eye and BB to top up enmity.

Note: You usually unload Infuriate ASAP in boss fights to get that 2 Infuriate in each fight.

[Brian_]

The modified Unchained opener I use is --

Defiance --> Infuriate --> wait until 1 second left on Wrath (timed for a NIN's ~20 second pull macro) --> Unchained --> Tomahawk / Overpower --> HS --> BS --> Maim --> SE --> HS --> SS --> BB --> Deliverance --> HS --> IR + Berserk --> FC --> RI --> Maim --> Eye --> Potion--> Fracture --> HS --> SS --> BB --> FC --> Infuriate --> FC --> Pacified.

In terms of where it falls on the spectrum of DPS greed, it's kind of a middle-of-the-road opener.

Pros:
1.) Compared to a standard pre-infuriate opener, you don't burn RI or Vengeance to extend stacks. So, you can get more value out of both as defensive CDs.
2.) Compared to a standard pre-infuriate opener, your group only needs to wait ~20ish seconds.
3.) You still get a potion / berserk / IR buffed 3-stack fracture as well as a 9GCD 3 FC berserk (1 buffed by IR, 2 buffed by potion). You could probably move the IR somewhere more efficient but I stopped caring that much.

Cons:
1.) Your Berserk and FCs will not line-up with TA or most of BL.
2.) You're relying on a single Unchained BB for initial enmity.
3.) Berserk is slightly delayed so it doesn't work that well for bosses that go immune early (Nidhogg EX) though it does work fine for A6S.

Side notes:
1.) If you don't have any means of removing pacification and your healers suck, you might want to swap the last BB combo for SE instead.
2.) This rotation is slightly more SkS demanding due to the potion timing.

[FPZ]

I strongly advise against openers which activate berserk and ir after two combos into your main tank rotation as they are based around delayed burst with little to no benefit from raid buffs. In general, there is a questionable damage increase in a delayed ir/zerk for all of the draw backs that come with it. All the of the aggressive style dps warriors I know also use some type of early ir/zerk opener.

Doing a standard early ir/zerk opener will give you the following benefits:
- 10% increased damage within most of your zerk/ir window (TA & HC)
- Increased crit within most of your zerk/ir window (BL)
- Increased enmity, allowing you to enter DPS stance earlier into the opener
- Shorten the overall cooldown time until your next zerk/ir
- Works with most / if not all boss fights in the game

Here is the MT opener I use:
http://ffxivrotations.com/7yo
There are some minor variations to suit your group composition but I usually go into DPS stance after the first heavy swing or first skull sunder depending on shadewalker availability.

I use that opener now and used it in early patch savage prog when overgearing wasn't prominent. My damage and enmity was never an issue.