Time to share strategies: Garuda

[Xianghua]

Well I did a Garuda run all day today. Seems we can never deal enough damage to skip phase 2. Also, we seem to have the hardest time with plumes.

BLMs should have around 530 Macc buffed and as much INT as the possible. I wanna say 370 INT is a good starting number to shoot for. Also what exactly are your problems with plumes?

[Kagato]

What setup did you use? If you post your setup then people might be able to give you some pointers.

We first had this setup: WAR, DRG, 2x BRD, 3x BLM, WHM
The problem: Not enough Plume-killing. Still unable to skip Phase 2.

Then we tried this: WAR, DRGx2, BRD, BLMx3, WHM
The Problem: Better on plumes, but AB did about 3500 wiping half of us out, despite Battle Voice being used.

We then tried this tactic: BLMs hold off DPS until the 3rd jump, then they nuke like crazy in order to skip phase 2.
The Problem: Didn't work. We had Phase 2 and we still got clobbered by AB.

BLMs seemed to be melded up pretty well. Most of the team did. We still somehow didn't have enough damage output to kill Plumes quickly and get Garuda burned down.

I was the WAR tank. I held hate well enough and I used Steel Cyclone whenever the plumes were summoned.

[Orophin]

If you can't skip Phase 2, don't worry too much about it. It's a combination of skill/gear limitations and if you're doing this with a PUG I would be amazed you could skip straight to Phase 3.

The important thing in Phase 2 is to let the plumes kinda gather up and use AOE, then pick off the stragglers. After that you just focus on your attacks on Garuda. Also, watch Garuda on the minimap when she jumps in the air so you'll know which way to run to avoid her frontal cone attack. That's all there is to Phase 2.

Edit: Reading your post above mine, sounds like you're having plume issues in Phase 1. All non-BLM DD should be focusing on them when they spawn. It gets tough when Garuda does the double plumage, but you really want to avoid the plumes blowing up the rocks more than a few times because the Aerial Blast damage gets a little crazy and even Battle Voice won't save you. (as you pointed out)

One of the issue's I see people have on plumes is using there big AoE's to early. An example Wars using SC as soon as they see plumes pops so only hitting 2-3 of them instead of most of them. People need to learn how to get the best out of their AoE's and not to rush it.

Yep, timing is pretty important. If you use SC as soon as they pop, you'll miss half of them. It's tougher as the tank but maybe a second delay will be better since most of them will have spawned by then. When I was playing the 2nd WAR in our setup, I waited until everything spawned then positioned myself to hit the most amount of plumes at once. You kind of don't have that liberty as tank due to positioning and stuff.

[Xianghua]

We first had this setup: WAR, DRG, 2x BRD, 3x BLM, WHM
The problem: Not enough Plume-killing. Still unable to skip Phase 2.

Then we tried this: WAR, DRGx2, BRD, BLMx3, WHM
The Problem: Better on plumes, but AB did about 3500 wiping half of us out, despite Battle Voice being used.

We then tried this tactic: BLMs hold off DPS until the 3rd jump, then they nuke like crazy in order to skip phase 2.
The Problem: Didn't work. We had Phase 2 and we still got clobbered by AB.

BLMs seemed to be melded up pretty well. Most of the team did. We still somehow didn't have enough damage output to kill Plumes quickly and get Garuda burned down.

I was the WAR tank. I held hate well enough and I used Steel Cyclone whenever the plumes were summoned.

One of the issue's I see people have on plumes is using their big AoE's to early. An example Wars using SC as soon as they see plumes pops so only hitting 2-3 of them instead of most of them. People need to learn how to get the best out of their AoE's and not to rush it.

[Xianghua]

Yes, Tank just do what you can but brd/drg/War should wait til all spawn then pick biggest group then pick off rest. Someone correct me if i'm wrong please I'm usually BLM this fight so not sure 100% on plumes. But I believe its 10-15sec from the time they get to their spot for when their AoE goes off.

[Churchill]

what about during phase3/right after AB?

[Xianghua]

what about during phase3/right after AB?

What setup do you use and i can help a little more.

Everyone should gather right behind her Tank in front of her. If you have 2-3 Wars one needs to grab sup. and other (main tank or extra war) needs to grab Chid and collusion your best BLM. The War that will be tanking sup needs to stand to the right of the main tank. This way Sup will come almost a perfect position facing away from the group. For Chid Just burn her down quick as possible without facing her towards group if blm happens to pull hate. having a BRD SP Sanguine rite so BLMs don't get interrupted helps a bunch. Most Important thing by far is getting them to face the tanks and not the mages. For Sup though It depends on your setup for how hard she is to take down. If you don't have decent geared DD or drgs I'd suggest bringing some mege str pots to help.

[jojober]

All of this has so far been really helpful! As a blm, i really appreciate the stats to aim for. How about for our DoWs?? What kind of stats should they be at in order for this to be feasible? Thanks in advance!

Jojo

[Chardrizard]

I usually aim for 480-500 acc (with food+song) and then aim to cap main stat which is usually STR to 350. But, mainly accuracy because one miss in combo might means wipe.

[Req]

We first had this setup: WAR, DRG, 2x BRD, 3x BLM, WHM
The problem: Not enough Plume-killing. Still unable to skip Phase 2.

Then we tried this: WAR, DRGx2, BRD, BLMx3, WHM
The Problem: Better on plumes, but AB did about 3500 wiping half of us out, despite Battle Voice being used.

We then tried this tactic: BLMs hold off DPS until the 3rd jump, then they nuke like crazy in order to skip phase 2.
The Problem: Didn't work. We had Phase 2 and we still got clobbered by AB.

BLMs seemed to be melded up pretty well. Most of the team did. We still somehow didn't have enough damage output to kill Plumes quickly and get Garuda burned down.

I was the WAR tank. I held hate well enough and I used Steel Cyclone whenever the plumes were summoned.

Well heres your first issue, you cannot let her jump more than twice, every time she jumps its like multiple plumes going off on each of the pillars. If you are having trouble with getting the plumes down make sure one of the bards is using battle voice with a tp song on all the melees (if you use the two bard method) before the frst set of plumes pops, this will help the melees quite a bit. Another big thing you need to do is make sure that the bards are getting 3000 tp to do rain of death out of combo.