Time to share strategies: Garuda

[Kagato]

So, have you beaten Garuda yet? What was your strategy when you defeated her?

For the sake of helping others, if you won via the BLM burn, best not to bring it up since it's impossible now.


I see so many different strategies: WAR/BRD AoE spam, DRG-Burn, even BRD-Burns. I see those going single-BLM and a MNK just for the Magic-Only clone and the rest are Melee jobs and a single WHM.

What was your winning strategy? The more people who learn, the more people that can help.

[Xianghua]

We use blmx3 brd whm warx2 drg. Wars/drg/brd focus on plumes while blms burn it down to 70% let her do third teleport. then burn her down much as possible. If you have decent blms you should be able to skip phase 2. Then just gotta know her moves and what to do. When it comes to clones have one war tank Sup. The main tank needs to collusion your best blm/mnk to get hate on Chid. Very important to keep all 3 from facing rest of party.

[Kagato]

Makes sense, but how geared were the Melee? I've run a similar setup and it seems like there were still issues killing off the plumes quickly and even taking Garuda down quickly.

And did your WAR tank move around with garuda or did he/she just tank in one single spot the whole time?

[Xianghua]

He moved to where she teleported. and for most part our group is well geared. If you are having trouble killing plumes. It's either because DDs are undergeared/not spread out enough/ or not getting full use out of their AOE's.

[Zdenka]

WAR 3x BLM 3x BRD WHM


Left Rock, BRD Acc Song, all 3 BLM's nuke down to nearly 0 MP as fast as possible, this should get her to ~63% right about during the 2nd normal plumes. BRD then MP song's them and they rest back up to full.

MT Tanks midwall, and never moves her allowing her to run back there. The 2 DPS WAR should need assistance from the BRD for plumes only during AF plumes by readying thier AoE's.

As soon as the 3rd plumes pop all BRD swaps to Acc song, BLM nuke as hard as they can, if done right (with Fire's and Blizzards) BLM should go OOM for Convert -> Necro -> Burst about 10s before Astral Flow. BRD does SVMP Song before/during Astral Flow.

Depending how good your BLM's are Garuda should be between 20-40%, which skips P2.

As soon as AF is done each WAR Collusions each BLM in preparation for clones, if Garuda stays in center clones everyone runs to her butt and uses Flare, with MT WAR building threat on Magic clone, and a DPS WAR building on Meele clone. After flare is done all 3 BLM do Thunder-Thundara and this kills Magic Clone and then continue to either push DPS or rest some MP. If your WAR DPS has solid threat on 2nd clone your BRD "should" be able to go all out (don't Wide Volley incase its Razor phase, but you can RoD since it will be up again) and burst it down fairly quickly.

If you are BRD you want to stay near 3000 TP incase its Razors', and WAR's want to save Steel Cyclones.

If its other clones after that, run to the side, tanks pick up, and BLM's just kill Garuda (she should be 15% or less). (Above strategy works if its side clones, so either way its really the same).

If its Razors everyone gather up on her fast in the save zone while the 3 WAR's and BRD rotate AoE's. BLM job is to just keep up behind Garuda until plumes are dead, then you can nuke so you don't get left behind to get imploded.

Same Razor strat works if they are first. Regardless you should be able to burn her on the 2nd P3 swap if your DPS is high enough. This strategy is designed with Speed/NoDeaths in mind for Relic's so it really assumes your 3x BLM know how to do high DPS. If your BLM's are low DPS you have a larger chance of someone getting killed or even wiping.

[Orophin]

Haven't done this since early 1.22, but we used a setup of 2x WAR, 2x BRD, 3x BLM, 1x WHM. One WAR with BRDs handle plumes during Phase 1. Our group was geared well enough to typically skip Phase 2, but sometimes we would be in it for a short period of time.

Phase 3 is all about positioning and knowing where to move and when things spawn. If the Satin Plume spawns, you kill it ASAP so it doesn't sleep people, then the WARs/BRDs focus on killing the little plumes. Main tank has to know the kiting pattern with the tornadoes moving along the outside and everyone has to keep moving.

If Garuda runs off to the other side of the screen, her two clones will pop. 2nd Warrior grabs the clone weak to melee and stands as close to the bordering tornado to the right of the main tank with back to the wall so the knockback attack doesn't knock you into the tornado. BRDs are focusing on this clone. BLMs focus on the clone weak to magic using thunder chains. They will share hate so WHM has to watch their health.

If Garuda does her animation to spawn clones but doesn't run away, they'll spawn next to her. You have to be in the middle of the area as the wind is all around the outside in this phase. 2nd warrior faces the melee clone away from the party but close enough to 2nd warrior so that they can hit it with AOE. Same killing strategy as above applies for the clones.

And that's pretty much it. Once we got this strat down we usually cleared this with no deaths. The one thing I felt that changed the fight for the better was finding that positioning for the melee clone near the tornado against the wall so she wasn't positioned all awkwardly and would either nail your DD/WHM or main tank with her knockback/stun ability.

[Ambuter]

Setup I use most is: Pld, Whm, Blm x2, Drg x2, Brd x2

First part before AF is pretty simple. Brds and Drgs(keen flurry Ring of Talons) kill the plumes. Dps to around ~65% hp and she'll jump for the AF plumes. Take care of plumes and Dps garuda down to around ~40% hp so after the AF she'll skip her second phase and go straight into spawning Chirada and Suprana.

Pld flashes group and vokes Suprana. Pld tanks Suprana and Garuda at the same time while a blm is most likely to be tanking Chirada. Pld covers Blms as needed. Rest of the group stand behind them so they don't get hit/stunned.
Kill clones and Dps garuda.

A) If Clones spawn again. Determine if you can kill garuda within the minute or again kill the clones before they blast you.

B) 3 tornadoes cover the arena(2 on the outside and 1 in the middle). Run to the outer rim of the arena and start moving in a clock-wise direction with the tornadoes. Kill the plumes that spawn during this phase.

The main thing you need to do for easier wins is skip the second phase after AF and have Suprana/Chirada spawn right away.

Kinda tired writing this. Let me know if anyone has questions. May post a video later of our garuda fights as well from a Pld point of view.

[Kenseto]

Setup I use most is: Pld, Whm, Blm x2, Drg x2, Brd x2

First part before AF is pretty simple. Brds and Drgs(keen flurry Ring of Talons) kill the plumes. Dps to around ~65% hp and she'll jump for the AF plumes. Take care of plumes and Dps garuda down to around ~40% hp so after the AF she'll skip her second phase and go straight into spawning Chirada and Suprana.

Pld flashes group and vokes Suprana. Pld tanks Suprana and Garuda at the same time while a blm is most likely to be tanking Chirada. Pld covers Blms as needed. Rest of the group stand behind them so they don't get hit/stunned.
Kill clones and Dps garuda.

A) If Clones spawn again. Determine if you can kill garuda within the minute or again kill the clones before they blast you.

B) 3 tornadoes cover the arena(2 on the outside and 1 in the middle). Run to the outer rim of the arena and start moving in a clock-wise direction with the tornadoes. Kill the plumes that spawn during this phase.

The main thing you need to do for easier wins is skip the second phase after AF and have Suprana/Chirada spawn right away.

Kinda tired writing this. Let me know if anyone has questions. May post a video later of our garuda fights as well from a Pld point of view.

This is the most common setup that we've used to beat her. Ambuter covers it all here in detail, it's very similar to ours so I'll just copy-paste his because I'm lazy :P. Just some learning points we've taken from our fights.

*In order to avoid a lot of unnecessary heartache, she must be brought down to less than 40% health in order to avoid Phase 2 and move on to Phase 3. Invest in your BLM gearing and skill to get that DPS up, food and pots help.

*DRGs should ensure that keen flurry and ring of talons is up after her last jump during Phase 1, as there will be substantially more plumes to take down. Assigning primary pillars to each "plume killer" helps avoid wasted AOE skills

*DRGs save Dragonfire Dive for Chirada in the event that a BLM goes down during a clone wave.

*Go get the GC tonic/expectorant, each person have one of each on their person, it's an instant raise. No brainer here. 215 seals total for both.

*PLD covers your highest DPS BLM during clones. There will be more than enough people on Suparna, you can't afford to lose that BLM with this setup.

*PLD voke/flash Suparna as quickly as possible. If she goes for and kills the WHM, it's a wipe. Hate may get pulled off of the PLD by the DDs who are on Suparna, that's fine. The name of the game is to get her attention first to keep her off of the mages.

*Don't face Garuda or the clones at the rest of the party...please?

*When clones die, DPS Garuda as best as you can within the time-frame, but after one or two WS combos, save that TP. You'll need it to AOE the plumes for South Winds, or to burn down the next set of clones. Throwing weapons help with TP generation in between auto-attacks.

*If Garuda is less than 20%, we usually just ignore the clones and burn down Garuda. Be wise about this, as this depends on your party's own level of DPS.

I see a lot of concern on the thread about "how much DPS do I need". I don't have an answer to that yet, but next time we fight I'll take note of it. I'm sure that a lot of people may disagree, and others may side with me when I say this, but I feel that these are the necessary elements in any high DPS BLM, in order of priority:
A well-geared/skilled tank > BLM Skill > BLM Gear > Food and Pots.

*Get protection. You've got to have a tank that can QUICKLY generate and hold hate. A BLM with all 5 meld/BIS gear with a high degree of skill won't produce much DPS if they're dead due to pulled hate, or if they have to hold back their DPS the entire fight. Need a tank that can support that level of DPS. Overall level of potential damage is proportional to the amount of enmity that can be generated by the tank.

*Get skilled. Doesn't matter how great your gear is if you can't quickly and efficiently move through your dmg/hate rotation.

*Get geared. A highly skilled BLM with great gear will outperform an equally skilled BLM with nothing but full AF or worse. It's a numbers/stats game when the skill is equal.

*Get support. Food, potions, and songs all help to make a great BLM amazing, but they aren't much without a good foundation.

This turned out to be a little more lengthy than I intended, but hopefully it helps some of you out. Cheers.

[Cidel]

Okay, I need some advice here- as we are literally taking Garuda down to phase 3 (skipping phase 2) and then hell breaks loose.

Our current set-up is WAR(tank), WHM, DRG, BRD x2, BLM x3 (sometimes we have a THM for AoE Sanguine pre-AB)

This is what usually happens at the opening of phase 3

Garuda summons the West Winds:
BLMs approach the rear of Garuda to time-Flare her and Chirada. DRG, and 2 BRDs handle Suparna. The only issue we have on this phase is Suparna bouncing around between the BRDs (we were told DRG should be "sorta tanking" Suparna), since BRDs are saving up quick nock and barrage on her. Biggest issue we have here is that people get bounced around due to the uncertainty of the clones' hate.

The winds begin to warp and bend:
This is the other of the 3 phases we can start out with and it's the one that messes us up the most, it seems. WAR runs to Garuda, and tanks her with his back to the wall (roughly the center), while Chirada is also handled with timed Flares and the 2 BRD and DRG are in charge of taking down Suparna. As a BRD, the biggest issue with this phase is that there is seemingly no room to get a combo off on Suparna if she isn't at either end of the safe area to get some range on her. What is the best way to handle this situation? While we do manage to take them down majority of the time, the AoEs are wrecking havoc on people, sometimes from Garuda.

Garuda summons the south winds:
This phase is hit or miss. When she isn't immediately pulled to one of the safe areas, someone or several people might eat a dust tornado. Otherwise, it seems like we do this phase like how we are supposed to, kill Satin plume asap (is there a set place/timing it spawns from or is it random?), tank leads Garuda, everyone else do their thing. We never seem to get this as our starting phase of phase 3, is that normal? I've seen a youtube run where the group got this south wind phase right after Aerial Blast, was that adjusted?

Something that recently happened in a run where we nearly killed her was she went into her warp and bend phase after her south winds. What does the tank do afterwards? Do the tornadoes spawn in different locations? According to him one of the tornadoes spawned on top of him and he proceeded to run with Garuda to a safe spot on the otherside of it, leaving half of the party either stranded at another spot or forced to run through the tornadoes to him. What was the deal with that and what should've been the appropriate action to take?

Any relevant help would be appreciated.

[Chardrizard]

Okay, I need some advice here- as we are literally taking Garuda down to phase 3 (skipping phase 2) and then hell breaks loose.

Our current set-up is WAR(tank), WHM, DRG, BRD x2, BLM x3 (sometimes we have a THM for AoE Sanguine pre-AB)

This is what usually happens at the opening of phase 3

Garuda summons the West Winds:
BLMs approach the rear of Garuda to time-Flare her and Chirada. DRG, and 2 BRDs handle Suparna. The only issue we have on this phase is Suparna bouncing around between the BRDs (we were told DRG should be "sorta tanking" Suparna), since BRDs are saving up quick nock and barrage on her. Biggest issue we have here is that people get bounced around due to the uncertainty of the clones' hate.

It's not so much of uncertainty, it just means the BRD are doing better DPS than the DRG, ask if the DRG has issue getting combo off. Otherwise to prevent Suparna running all over, make sure whoever have hate don't move around and just tank it.

The warrior should also be DPSing the Suparna if possible, but don't quote me on this because i have only been using PLD for this fight for along time

The winds begin to warp and bend:
This is the other of the 3 phases we can start out with and it's the one that messes us up the most, it seems. WAR runs to Garuda, and tanks her with his back to the wall (roughly the center), while Chirada is also handled with timed Flares and the 2 BRD and DRG are in charge of taking down Suparna. As a BRD, the biggest issue with this phase is that there is seemingly no room to get a combo off on Suparna if she isn't at either end of the safe area to get some range on her. What is the best way to handle this situation? While we do manage to take them down majority of the time, the AoEs are wrecking havoc on people, sometimes from Garuda.

There is a room for combo for BRD, the tornadoes on your left and right turns on and off every few second, that is your window to start a combo and then you run back in to finish the combo, same thing here, whoever have hate on the clone needs to pay attention and move to where their AoE won't hit your party member, especially the WHM. Don't just stand there and keep nuking

Garuda summons the south winds:
This phase is hit or miss. When she isn't immediately pulled to one of the safe areas, someone or several people might eat a dust tornado. Otherwise, it seems like we do this phase like how we are supposed to, kill Satin plume asap (is there a set place/timing it spawns from or is it random?), tank leads Garuda, everyone else do their thing. We never seem to get this as our starting phase of phase 3, is that normal? I've seen a youtube run where the group got this south wind phase right after Aerial Blast, was that adjusted?

Usually people get slept if you are too slow to kill the Satins, BRDs usually saves 3k tp before every phases starts to preemptive this particular phase. DRGs can also pull a very quick keenflurry RoT

Something that recently happened in a run where we nearly killed her was she went into her warp and bend phase after her south winds. What does the tank do afterwards? Do the tornadoes spawn in different locations? According to him one of the tornadoes spawned on top of him and he proceeded to run with Garuda to a safe spot on the otherside of it, leaving half of the party either stranded at another spot or forced to run through the tornadoes to him. What was the deal with that and what should've been the appropriate action to take?

Dont really understand this question.


Any relevant help would be appreciated.

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