Tips for Garuda Ex as WAR

[ElosHellion]

I'm having trouble main tanking Garuda Ex as a warrior, more specifically dealing with double wicked wheels. I'm looking for advice for how to manage cooldowns and applying storms path. Any advice would really help.

[SpookyGhost]

Alternate between the two and keep SP up for both. IB + Thrill for the first one, Vengeance + IB for the second, IB + Convalescence if there's a third. Fight should be over by then.

[Royze]

Did they fix focus target so you don't loose it when Garuda or a sister jump?
That's really the only challenge with this fight. Also, as a WAR as long as you're not taking slipstreams, your healers are awake and you're at least I85 in fending/af+1 gear, keeping debuffs up, you can eat a WW with np.

[Gamemako]

I'm having trouble main tanking Garuda Ex as a warrior, more specifically dealing with double wicked wheels. I'm looking for advice for how to manage cooldowns and applying storms path. Any advice would really help.

I've been meaning to post a complete guide to this. Skip to 3 for relevant info on first double WW, 6 for relevant info on tornado phase double WW. End part needs work especially plus a lot of screenshots and diagrams, but the basics are there.

First off, make sure your focus target is near your target bar. By default, it's floating in nowhere land being useless. In Garuda EX, you need all the info in one place -- its status stacks, your status stacks, its cast bar, and focus target cast bar. Everything needs to be there. How you set it up is up to you, but I have all that stuff in the lower-middle part of my screen underneath where my character stands. However you do it, make sure you can see your status bar, your opponent's status bar, your opponent's health bar, and your focus target bar all at a glance.

1. At the start, run up to the pillars and Tomahawk. Some people like to tank it all the way at the rock, but this only makes a mess later. Anyway, Tomahawk -> BB combo. Next, use SP combo. You'll avoid Slipstream during Maim -- I hit Featherfoot while I step to the side. After SP combo, just keep hitting BB combos until she teleports, dropping Inner Beast when you hit 5 stacks. Before long, she jumps.

2. When she comes back down, focus target on her again (do so by mashing tab or clicking on her in the enemy list). As soon as Minstrel Song cast finishes, strafe to the middle and take a short step forward. She'll move to you and spawn plumes -- while she's doing that, run behind her. You'll be there a while. Start off with a Storm's Path, then go to town. Avoid the periodic Slipstreams and hammer away with alternating BB/SP combos -- I recommend using Bloodbath/Berserk here as well. If there are a number of Razor Plumes nearby, let 'em have it with Steel Cyclone. As long as you aren't getting nailed by Slipstreams, you're taking little damage here and are pretty much just plugging enmity and damage while everyone else handles their business. Eventually, she'll either summon sisters, complete with DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE, or jump. If she jumps... you're not likely to win. You're welcome to try if she immediately summons sisters, but it's not a good sign. If she summons plumes, just wipe and try again or abandon due to low DPS. Remember to be nice about it, but hard reality here is that it's almost impossible to win in a situation like that. Anyway, on to first sister phase.

3. Sisters spawn. Garuda is still your focus target from when she first jumped. Immediately target and Tomahawk Suparna. If the healers are spamming Medica here and taking aggro, tell them to wait until aggro is established or it will be an ongoing problem in this fight. From your tanking spot, move directly north to the rock in the middle while hitting Tomahawk -- you should need two as you move. It's a good idea to hit Featherfoot here, but I tend to save my Foresight for the second Wicked Wheel. Suparna always spawns to the west somewhat, so I move a bit to the east to make sure she doesn't hit a pillar when she wheels. Once you have both Garuda and Suparna near you at the rock, start a Butcher's Block combo on Suparna. Move slightly forward and to your left to face Garuda north-northeast instead of due north. When she uses Slipstream, wait a brief moment and then slide to your right (west) and north to avoid it. Suparna will follow with her own Slipstream facing roughly northwest. This avoids the potential to accidentally damage a pillar with the attack. Run in a circle around them and back to your spot next to the north rock. Garuda will start using Friction. Once it gets about halfway, hit Thrill of Battle. Note that you may also be targeted by Chirada's Friction -- just step out of the red circle. When Friction completely finishes, hit Vengeance. Whether they jump or not, you will have ToB and Vengeance up for the first WW. The exact trigger here is Suparna's Downburst, but if you wait for that, it's too late. You should have Storm's Path up on Suparna still, but there's nothing you can do about Garuda on this. Don't risk losing aggro for it. You should have Inner Beast ready here as well -- go ahead and use it as well without waiting for Downburst. If they jump before WW, hit Infuriate and drop a second Inner Beast as soon as they come back down. That's the first double WW done.

4. After the two come back down, before or after double WW, focus target Suparna instead of Garuda. You no longer attack Suparna. The OT will come and get her. Start hitting Garuda with Storm's Path to reduce damage and build Wrath stacks. For attacks, Suparna will use Slipstream soon after WW, which you should sidestep to avoid if the OT hasn't already taken Suparna off you. Soon after that completes, Garuda will use Slipstream. By this point, you should have enough Wrath for Inner Beast. Hit Foresight, wait for the Slipstream animation to finish, and hit Inner Beast to mitigate the Downburst and Wicked Wheel. That's pretty much it for you -- you might prep Storm's Eye for when Suparna bites it, but that's about it. You'll have to avoid one more Slipstream from Garuda followed by a Downburst. If Suparna is alive until the very last moment, Garuda will append that last Slipstream with Wicked Wheel as soon as the Slipstream cast bar finishes. Again, if this happens, you're in dire straits with respect to DPS -- figure out what went wrong quickly, because the party isn't likely to win if they can't get the DPS up. As soon as Garuda jumps, run to the middle to avoid feather rain.

5. Reckoning comes and goes. Focus target Garuda again -- from now on, you will focus target on Garuda for the rest of the fight. Hit Heavy Swing while she's invulerable to prep Maim -- when she pops up to form the eye, she's vulnerable again, so hit Maim and move northwest to position. There's a nice green square there between the eye wall and the rocks on the ground; park yourself there. Stop there and stay there. You might use Bloodbath and Berserk this phase again. OT needs to have spiny to start. Garuda uses a Slipstream early on which you avoid, then just keep hitting her. About 30 seconds later, she'll use a second Slipstream. That's your queue to take the spiny off the OT. Remember to solidify enmity with Tomahawk, Overpower, or Flash if you can't afford damage. If the spiny is weak already, hit Garuda. If it isn't already around 25-30%, hit it. Beyond Bloodbath and Berserk, you don't need to blow any cooldowns in this phase, but you might hit Featherfoot just because. When Garuda jumps, finish off the spiny, avoid the blast, and step into the bubble. Since you will always have the spiny at the jump, consider finishing it off to be your job, and if it isn't weakened and killed off when it needs to be, you're the one who needs to adjust. Once she jumps again after the attack, move northwest to get in position and avoid the feather rain.

6. Focus target on Garuda as soon as she lands again -- you have a small window to get a lock on her before the sisters spawn. When Suparna spawns, Tomahawk her (duh). Stick slightly near the center for a few moments to make sure the OT can get a hold on the spiny. Do not use any cooldowns until the OT has a chance to build enmity on the spiny. This can pull the spiny back to you and cause a wipe. Once you have aggro on Suparna and OT has the spiny, run northwest past where the pillar was. Once again, there's a rectangular green island in the rocks you can look at which will give you a good visual idea of where you should be standing. As before, start with a Butcher's Block on Suparna to solidify aggro, then move to Storm's Path. First attack you'll deal with is Garuda's Slipstream, which you can avoid easily. Garuda will then spawn the tornadoes, and you should be right in the middle of a safe zone. Suparna will use Slipstream next. Like Friction before, this is your tell -- start setting up Thrill of Battle, then Vengeance when the cast ends, then Inner Beast. In most parties, they're going to jump before WW. Having Vengeance up here is good, since you will reduce some of the damage from the feathers that will hit you.

7. When they come down from the jump, before or after WW, focus target on Garuda again. You will get to avoid another Slipstream before trading spiny, but should not get anything pointed at you by Suparna before the trade. When Chirada goes down, you provoke the spiny and the OT provokes Suparna. If you have to provoke the spiny before Chirada is dead due to risk of supercyclone, the team lacks the DPS to clear the two sisters. You will need a tank LB save to survive. Once you have taken the spiny, hit it with Tomahawk to maintain enmity through the pull, then a Flash or other hit to keep it on you. It's your job to cut its HP down. Build wrath stacks by using Storm's Path, alternating over to Garuda to set up the debuff, then use Inner Beast on Garuda (not the spiny, or you risk killing it) as soon as you have it up. When you hit around 3 Wrath stacks, hit Foresight to mitigate some of the coming Wicked Wheel. If your healers are having trouble keeping your HP up, use Convalescence as well to ease the load and reduce the risk of screwups. I save Convalescence for exactly this use, so I burn it every cycle along with the other 120s buffs. The wheel will come 30 seconds after the previous one. When you've cut the HP on the spiny down and mitigated that, you're really just waiting for Suparna to die and the DPS to poke Garuda once or twice before she disappears again. When she does, it's your job to pop the Spiny. If Suparna was still alive, hit tank LB in a last-ditch effort to survive.

Note that if your party's DPS is high enough, any double wicked wheel can be turned into a single wicked wheel and any single wicked wheel can be turned into a downburst. With geared enough DPS, you can actually MT the fight and eat only one wicked wheel per sister phase.