Quote Originally Posted by Psion View Post
Wait, you only have to take garuda to 70% hp remaining to skip phase 2? i've always heard it was like 30% hp remaining, and wondered how anyone but the best of the best parties could skip phase 2 at all.
It really isn't that difficult if you manage your time wisely, especially if you ever did the blm burn method back before it got patched. Long story short, after the second plumes spawn, the longer it takes for all plumes to die the more time you have before the 2 hour plumes spawn, and the longer those take to die, the more time you have to burn Garudas hp down. If you are having issues I would suggest leaving one of the plumes up towards the end to buy your party an extra few seconds. This could be the difference between getting garuda down to 40% and 35% because in the end the largest determining factor in how much damage you do will always be the number of actions you can do in the most efficient use of time possible, and gear will always be secondary to that.