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As you progress throughFinal Fantasy 16, you’ll acquire new Eikonic powers from various characters. The first new batch of powers you get is from Benedikta, the Dominant of Wind and the person attuned to Garuda. This occurs in the quest directly preceding this one, so you’ll get a few opportunities to test out your new wind-based powers before tracking Benedikta down.
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When you do eventually head into the Eye of the Tempest, you’ll quickly come to realize that this stage is a glorified boss stage, with no small packs of enemies to whet your appetite and no loot to be found. It’s a one-on-one encounter with Benedikta in her fully-primed form: Garuda.
Reaching Garuda
You’ll begin this stage withonly Clive- no Cid or Torgal backing you up. Pursue the hooded figure in front of you, and they will disappear. No worries - just keep pressing forward along the linear path.
From time to time, you’llspot the hooded figureagain or be attacked by Garuda. These are all harmless interactions and cannot damage you, so don’t worry.
Before approaching the end of this section and beginning the boss fight that comprises the rest of this stage, take a second to look at your equipment to verify you have your best items equipped.
We also recommend making sure you have Garuda’sWicked Wheelability equipped and, if possible, upgraded. Wicked Wheel is a great move to use against very large enemies, as it’ll be easy to hit them multiple times - and the boss in this stage is large.
How To Beat Garuda
The fight against Garuda begins with a cinematic sequence.Hit the Square button when promptedto begin the battle properly.
In the first stage of the battle, Garuda will only use a fewphysical movesto fight you:
Description
Overhead Smash
Garuda will raise up her talons into the air and then bring them forward, trying to smoosh Clive.
Dodge either toward or away from Garuda to best avoid this, but be careful with your timing - dodge when they’re just about to hit you.
Sideways Swipe
Garuda will smash the ground with both talons, before dragging it along the ground towards Clive.
It’s best to dodgeintothis attack as it reaches you - dodging the attack may end up getting you caught in the attack’s hitbox as your invincibility wears off.
Spinning Attack
Garuda will spin, trying to attack you with her feet talons.
This is a slow-startup attack that is nonetheless sometimes difficult to notice with the arena’s visibility. Dodge away from Garuda when you see her spinning.
Pounding Talons
Garuda will start smashing the ground in front of her with her talons.
The tracking on this attack isn’t great, so it might avoid you altogether - just stay alert and dodge if an attack does end up targeting you.
The key to this fight is attacking in between Garuda’s attacks and making sure you’reready to dodge when shedoesstart an attack. This might mean it’s difficult to get full combos off, but you’ll be safer for it.
Save your abilities for safe openings to ensure they don’t get interrupted, and make sure you use Garuda’sDeadly Embracetechnique when you give her a mini-stagger to perform a takedown.
After reducing Garuda’s health enough, a short cutscene will play in which she usesAerial Blast. After this, she’ll add more attacks to her repertoire.
Aerial Blast
When she uses this attack, Garuda will be surrounded by electricity and start summoning bursts of wind magic and small tornadoes across the battlefield.
The bursts of wind magic are telegraphed by light on the ground; avoid these as they pop up. Also, avoid getting into the tornadoes, or you’ll take damage.
Be careful when approaching Garuda during this attack - you will take damage and be flung back after a short while standing near her. Try using ranged attacks (like Heatwave) and magic to damage her.
Tornado
Garuda can now summon standalone, massive tornadoes.
This has a long startup and an obvious nameplate warning, so you’ll know when to move away from your current position.
Windburst
Even after Aerial Blast stops, the wind magic bursts will continue, making the battlefield more hazardous.
Just stay out of the telegraphed areas as they appear.
Spinning Attack Air Slash
This is the same as in the previous phase, but the swipe will now emit a horizontal slash of wind magic.
Since Garuda will use this attack while out of your range now, you only have to worry about the wind slash - you can jump over the blade quite easily.
With her new attacks, the fight against Garuda is made a bit more challenging. You’ll have fewer opportunities to deal damage as the battlefield will become more dangerous thanks toAerial BlastsandWindbursts- your precious time will be taken up with positioning and dodging.
This means it’s more important than ever to make the most of your abilities - if they’recounter-centric abilities like Heatwave or Rook’s Gambit, try to make sure you’re triggering counters with them. If you’re using attacks likeScarlet Cyclone or Wicked Wheel, make sure you’re using them as close to Garuda as possible, so they hit her with every possible hit.
Most importantly, make sure youjump over the new Air Slashesthat come with Garuda’s spinning kick, as this is more reliable and quicker to recover from than dodging them.
When she gets extremely low on health, a cinematic sequence will begin. This one involves twoCinematic Strikes(Square) and aCinematic Clash(mash Square). This will signify the end of your fight as Clive, and the start of the next phase of the fight, where you’ll be fighting as Ifrit.
How To Defeat Garuda As Ifrit
As Ifrit, you’ll have a far more limited moveset than usual. You canattack, fire off fireballs, dodge to the sides, and perform a headlong, fiery rush at Garuda. This battle is quite easy - your attacks will deal a ton of damage to Garuda’s health bar, and hers, in return, aren’t too damaging.
The best way to handle this battle is toget as close as you can at all times using your dash attack(with the Circle button). Once you’re up close, perform amelee combo, and you’ll watch as Ifrit drags Garuda around before throwing her away. Dash toward her again, and repeat.
If yourushintoGarudaduring the dash attack, you’ll deal a nice chunk of extra damage.
When there is some distance between you, make sure you’redodging the ranged attacksthat Garuda shoots out. They’re very obviously telegraphed, so it shouldn’t be difficult to get the timing down.
Multiple times throughout this battle, Garuda will fly at you, beginning acinematic sequence. Simply keep an eye out for the prompts that will appear on-screen during these sequences. Once she’s damaged enough, afinal cinematic sequence will begin, signaling the end of the fight. Complete the prompts here, and you’ll end the battle with a victory, completing Awakening and starting the next quest, The Wages of Guilt.
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