Contagion is way too overrated!

[Judge_Xero]

Ifrit with 100% uptime on boss with melee debuffs with good crit stat will outdps garuda and anything she brings it seems.

But if a fight with 100% you MP is going to be hit hard.

Even in MP intense fights, it's far better to use Ifrit with the occasional Energy Drain, than Garuda without.

i.e.
Garuda 130 DPS
Ifrit 156 DPS

1/3 Energy Drain - ~10 DPS loss from 150 Potency over 60 seconds.

+16 DPS

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Ifrit's movement over Garuda does not have a major effect on his DPS due to both AA and BS having a 3 second CD. Due to his fast movement speed he can pretty well be anywhere between that CD. But you should keep him on the major boss for 0 downtime.

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Garuda is not the MP Conservation Pet - she is the AOE pet. Nothing Ifrit has to offer compares to Contagioned/Baned Dots 3+ Targets.

Suppose I could try it next time, we got plenty more gear since I last tried, but without pet bennus stayed alive too long. Good thing our brd just got bow so should be np

Yeah, it definitely depends on your party comp how you deal with the Bennus. My group has a BLM and Bard, so aside from a Bio and Miasma II (hits Phoenix as well) and two Ruins on the Bennu, Ifrit and I stay on Phoenix the whole time. Our bard sings Ballad during the Bennu phase so that lets me stand in melee range and burn a lot of Ruin II's to get in lots of AA damage on Phoenix as well. (I usually end the 2nd phase with 200 MP and 1 Aether stack to Bane the first group of bennus in phase 3)

If you don't have anyone else to help with the Bennu's besides the Bard in phase 1/2 then timing your dots to have >9s before the Bennu spawn to Bane, Energy Drain, Fester on the Bennu then Ruin to finish it off. That way you can keep Ifrit on Phoenix the whole time. Just watch using EG/Fester right away for pulling hate. (this is assuming you tank Phoenix in the center, which you should to accommodate SMN)
This means you'll have to save all your Aetherflow just for the Bennu, and keep all your Dots on Phoenix while killing the bennu as well.
Keep dem dots roll'n