How to Beat Garuda

Garuda is a boss that appears during the Awakening quest in Final Fantasy 16 (FF16). See the best strategies for how to beat Garuda, how to counter its attacks and abilities, as well as its location, quest appearance, spoils, and drops.

Garuda Overview

Garuda Location and Drops

Garuda
Quest	Awakening
Location & Region	The Eye of the Tempest , Holy Empire of Sanbreque
Rewards	・500 EXP ・300 AP ・3000 Gil ・ Wyrrite ・ Meteorite ・ Wind Shard
Abilities	・Aerial Blast ・Skyfall ・Tornado

How to Beat Garuda as Clive

Step-by-Step Guide
Aim for the Head Use Deadly Embrace When Partially Staggered Fire Ranged Attacks During Aerial Blast Recovery Swift to Avoid Follow-Up Attacks

First Phase Overview

The first phase of the battle sees Clive taking on Garuda on top of a small floating isle. Now that you have access to its Eikon after beating Benedikta, you'll be able to follow along its quick movement and aerial strikes.

Aim for the Head

Focus on attacking its head as it's the weak point of Garuda. You'll be able to stagger it a lot quicker compared to attacking its other body parts.

If the head is a tad bit difficult to reach, use Wicked Wheel (R2 + Triangle) to rise up in the air then cast Gouge (R2 + Square) to tear your target with multiple claw attacks. Alternatively, you can just spam your basic attacks if the latter is on cooldown.

Use Deadly Embrace When Partially Staggered

Once Garuda's Will is 50%, you'll partially stagger it, allowing you to use Deadly Embrace to perform a Takedown which knocks it out, opening a window of opportunity to attack it freely.

Fire Ranged Attacks During Aerial Blast

You won't be able to go near it while it's performing Aerial Blast as it'll call down exploding tornados within its vicinity, so resort to using your ranged attacks while dodging the explosions.

Recovery Swift to Avoid Follow-Up Attacks

If you get hit by one of its basic attacks or abilities, quickly use Recovery Swift to regain your footing, allowing you to dodge the succeeding follow-up attacks.

Best Abilities to Learn and Master

How to Beat Garuda as Ifrit

Step-by-Step Guide
Get Close and Melee Garuda Cast Fireballs to Deflect Spells Win the Last Cinematic Clashes to End the Battle

Second Phase Overview

You'll be taking control of Ifrit during the second phase of the battle and it will be a clash of two Eikons. This segment of the fight is pretty much straightforward as you only need to use melee to defeat Garuda and your moves will be the same as Clive's default abilities.

Get Close and Melee Garuda

The trick to this fight is to get closer and use melee as you're more powerful than the Garuda in this state; you can knock it out by landing 3 hits. Each successful melee attack stuns the Garuda, and on the third attack of the combo, you'll deal a lethal blow causing it to lose a large chunk of its HP.

Don't forget to Dodge (R1) when he begins hurling out energy balls at you.

Use Lunge to Quickly Close the Distance

You'll be hampered by Ifrit's slow mobility so use Lunge (Circle) to quickly get close to the Garuda. Take note that after lunging, you'll take a quick pause to recover stamina!

Cast Fireballs to Deflect Spells

Once you see it charging up, press the Fireball attack (Triangle) to deflect the spell hurled at you. The timing of this is a bit tricky as Ifrit will take a brief moment to gather energy too before breathing out fireballs.

Win the Last Cinematic Clashes to End the Battle

Throughout the fight, there will be a lot of Cinematic Clashes but winning the last few Quick Time Events will end the battle. Be on full alert during cutscenes as you'll only have an ample of amount of time to press the correct button during these timed events.

Quick Time Events Guide

Final Fantasy XVI (FF16) Related Guides

List of Bosses and Formidable Foes

All Formidable Foes

All Formidable Foes
Gigas	Morbol	Knight of the Blinding Dawn
Eikon of Fire	Shiva's Dominant	Tiamat
Dragon Aevis	Fafnir	Midnight Raven
Chirada	Suparna and Chirada	Benedikta
Garuda	Knight of the Dying Sun	Iron Giant
Infernal Eikon	Infernal Shadow	Imperial Cannonier
Akashic Dragon	Typhon	Republican War Panther
Akashic Morbol	Flame Lizard	Liquid Flame
Coeurl	Hugo	Undertaker
Titan	White Dragon	Necrophobe
Bahamut	Sleipnir	Barnabas (First Encounter)
Control Node	Aurum Giant	Barnabas (Second Encounter)
Behemoth	Ultima (First Encounter)	Ultimalius