Quick Reference: Garuda Extreme
The Howling Eye Extreme is a fight which really serves more to introduce players to the difficulty jump between Hard Modes and Extreme Modes than anything else. The mechanics are relatively simple for all classes, with the primary stress being placed on Tanks. The fight should be more than doable in any Duty Finder group regardless of player experience with the fight.
^^If you're comfortable with these mechanics, that's good. You can deal with the meaty bits of what Garuda will throw at you, but the other important thing in this fight is positioning and how it is handled, which we will go over in the Phases section below, so keep reading.
Phase 1 - Stone Pillars
It will likely feel like a lot of things are happening in this phase, but when all is said and done, this is the simplest phase to deal with. The MT should pull Garuda at the far north rock marker in the arena. Melee DPS should stack behind her, while ranged and healers stack in the very middle of the rock pillars to avoid having them get hit by Friction when possible. Garuda will disappear shortly into the phase cast Downburst (which you should avoid behind rocks, just like every other iteration of this fight) and then resume damage. The Vortex mechanic which you'll recognize will show up here and make your arena considerably smaller. The MT should keep Garuda positioned between the main pillar and facing North so that her attacks are not hitting the pillars. You can stick your back foot a bit into the vortex without it affecting you, so keep that in mind as space is tight. Razor Plumes will also pop during Vortex and need to be DPSed down as quickly as possible. Following the Vortex, Garuda will spawn her Sister adds for the first time. MT should grab Suparna and take her and Garuda to the far North once again (the Vortex will end) and tank them there. The OT needs to grab Chirada and bring her due south, opposite Garuda and Suparna. DPS should focus Chirada and then Suparna. Following the adds dying you will have a bit of time to DPS Garuda before she uses Reckoning.
Phase 2 - Vortex
From here on out, this phase and Phase 3 will alternate throughout the fight until Garuda is dead, so if you master the mechanics of these two phases, you have nothing to worry about. The party must be in the center, where the Vortex will become active once more. All plumes will spawn, a Tank should grab Spiny. DPS should focus Satin and then the rest of the Razor Plumes before moving on to DPSing Garuda. The faster you kill the Razors, the more time you're going to get to push down Garuda here, but again, I can not stress enough that you must be careful of AoE. Tanks need to be keeping an eye on the Spiny stacks and swapping when necessary. You should only get one swap before it is time to kill the Spiny. When Garuda disappears, kill spiny, avoid aoe, and then get right back in it. Then we move on to Phase 3.
Phase 3 - Tornadoes & Sisters
Following Reckoning, Garuda will spawn the Sister adds and tanks must take their designated sisters as before, but this time the positioning will be different. After the Sisters spawn, the arena is going to be filled with massive tornadoes which will remain in place in a + formation. The MT will take Garuda and Suparna to the NORTH-WEST corner, while the OT will take Chirada to the SOUTH-EAST corner. Ranged DPS and Healers will want to stack in between them in (sort-of) in the SOUTH-WEST corner, where they can reach all targets. Melee DPS will go with the OT first and focus down Chirada, just as before. Once Chirada is dead they must plan their movements carefully and get over to the MT's corner. There WILL be a Spiny Plume during this phase, so tanks MUST NOT forget to swap it at two stacks, and DPS MUST NOT forget to kill it when Garuda disappears. Again, kill spiny, dodge aoe, and jump into the created safezone to avoid wiping to Reckoning.
Here is a crappy image guide on positioning during Phase 3, courtesy of my own handiwork in MSPaint:
Following successful completion of Phase 3, the fight will return to Phase 2 and the process will repeat until either Garuda or your party is dead. Preferably Garuda.
Overview
- Tanks will be handling the primary mechanics here at all stages of the fight. There will be a designated MT and OT for the entire fight. As you might expect, the better geared tank should be the Main Tank here, as they will need to deal with a fair amount more damage than the OT will. Both tanks need to be prepared to deal with the Spiny Plume mechanic, which will detailed later. Tanks need to be prepared with cooldowns, particularly during Sisters Phases as they hit quite hard.
- DPS have a fairly simple job here compared with some other fights. Your job is essentially to ensure that everything on screen is dying at any given time except for the Spiny Plume which you need to AVOID hitting when it is up until Garuda jumps. Be careful with AoE attacks during any plume phase that involves the Spiny, as it is the key to the fight. Other than that, your priority dps priority should be: Satin Plume > Other Adds (Plumes/Sisters) > Garuda. The only other thing you need to worry about in this fight is getting into the proper position when it is time to do so.
- Healers do not have a terribly easy job in this fight as there is a bit of aoe damage, but moreso than that, there will be phases which involve a lot of Tank damage going out at once. Especially on the MT.
Mechanics
- Spiny Plume - The Spiny Plume will spawn in the phases following the initial Stone Pillar phase. It will place a stacking debuff on its target, if the debuff reaches 3 stacks the party will likely die. To manage this we typically have the OT pick it up first, and have the MT provoke it off when the OT is at 2 stacks. When Garuda disappears from the battlefield, all DPS must immediately kill the Spiny. When the Spiny dies it will place an aoe on the ground where it dies, players need to move out of the AoE until it disappears, and then immediately into where it was as the area will grant a Wind Damage Reduction buff to the party which will make Garuda's Ult damage negligible. In the final phases of the fight, a new Spiny will spawn in each phase and this process must be repeated.
- Sister Adds - A returning mechanic from Garuda Hard, but it is slightly more uniform to deal with now. Suparna and Chirada will spawn part-way through the first phase, but this time their names are not randomized. The MT should pick up Suparna (Red Line) and take her and Garuda into position (more on positioning later) while the OT needs to pick up Chirada and take her into position. DPS priority is Chirada and then Suparna. The OT can relieve some pressure on the MT by provoking Suparna off of the MT after Chirada is dead, but it is typically not necessary.
- Plumes - This is exactly like plumes from Hard mode. Whenever they spawn, they need to be dpsed down. The Satin Plume needs to go first as a top priority, followed by the Razor Plumes. The only difference here is that you will need to be very careful with AoE as in Phase 2 and repeats of Phase 2, there will be a Spiny Plume at the same time and it MUST NOT die early. Kill all plumes and focus on Garuda until it is time to kill Spiny.
- Slipstream - Frontal cone AoE damage and stun. Tanks will know this from Garuda Hard, and it should always be avoided.
- Wicked Wheel - Yet another returning mechanic. Wicked Wheel works here just like it did in previous iterations of the fight. It will only happen when the Sister Adds are alive, but it hurts a lot. Tanks would do well to learn Garuda's timing and figure out when to step back a bit to avoid it, although it can be difficult to do so at times. Cooldowns and damage reduction buffs/debuffs are your friend during Sisters phases. Melee DPS should be aware of this as well, as they may die if they get hit by two Wicked Wheels.
^^If you're comfortable with these mechanics, that's good. You can deal with the meaty bits of what Garuda will throw at you, but the other important thing in this fight is positioning and how it is handled, which we will go over in the Phases section below, so keep reading.
Phases
Phase 1 - Stone Pillars
It will likely feel like a lot of things are happening in this phase, but when all is said and done, this is the simplest phase to deal with. The MT should pull Garuda at the far north rock marker in the arena. Melee DPS should stack behind her, while ranged and healers stack in the very middle of the rock pillars to avoid having them get hit by Friction when possible. Garuda will disappear shortly into the phase cast Downburst (which you should avoid behind rocks, just like every other iteration of this fight) and then resume damage. The Vortex mechanic which you'll recognize will show up here and make your arena considerably smaller. The MT should keep Garuda positioned between the main pillar and facing North so that her attacks are not hitting the pillars. You can stick your back foot a bit into the vortex without it affecting you, so keep that in mind as space is tight. Razor Plumes will also pop during Vortex and need to be DPSed down as quickly as possible. Following the Vortex, Garuda will spawn her Sister adds for the first time. MT should grab Suparna and take her and Garuda to the far North once again (the Vortex will end) and tank them there. The OT needs to grab Chirada and bring her due south, opposite Garuda and Suparna. DPS should focus Chirada and then Suparna. Following the adds dying you will have a bit of time to DPS Garuda before she uses Reckoning.
Phase 2 - Vortex
From here on out, this phase and Phase 3 will alternate throughout the fight until Garuda is dead, so if you master the mechanics of these two phases, you have nothing to worry about. The party must be in the center, where the Vortex will become active once more. All plumes will spawn, a Tank should grab Spiny. DPS should focus Satin and then the rest of the Razor Plumes before moving on to DPSing Garuda. The faster you kill the Razors, the more time you're going to get to push down Garuda here, but again, I can not stress enough that you must be careful of AoE. Tanks need to be keeping an eye on the Spiny stacks and swapping when necessary. You should only get one swap before it is time to kill the Spiny. When Garuda disappears, kill spiny, avoid aoe, and then get right back in it. Then we move on to Phase 3.
Phase 3 - Tornadoes & Sisters
Following Reckoning, Garuda will spawn the Sister adds and tanks must take their designated sisters as before, but this time the positioning will be different. After the Sisters spawn, the arena is going to be filled with massive tornadoes which will remain in place in a + formation. The MT will take Garuda and Suparna to the NORTH-WEST corner, while the OT will take Chirada to the SOUTH-EAST corner. Ranged DPS and Healers will want to stack in between them in (sort-of) in the SOUTH-WEST corner, where they can reach all targets. Melee DPS will go with the OT first and focus down Chirada, just as before. Once Chirada is dead they must plan their movements carefully and get over to the MT's corner. There WILL be a Spiny Plume during this phase, so tanks MUST NOT forget to swap it at two stacks, and DPS MUST NOT forget to kill it when Garuda disappears. Again, kill spiny, dodge aoe, and jump into the created safezone to avoid wiping to Reckoning.
Here is a crappy image guide on positioning during Phase 3, courtesy of my own handiwork in MSPaint:
Following successful completion of Phase 3, the fight will return to Phase 2 and the process will repeat until either Garuda or your party is dead. Preferably Garuda.
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