Garuda is one of Final Fantasy 16’s mighty godlike entities known as Eikons. These powerful creatures each have some element or power that represents them, and for Garuda, that is the wind. You will unlock access to Garuda and their abilities once you have defeated their Dominant and have started the following main quest: Wings of Change.
This Eikon’s abilities will be enjoyed by many players who appreciate aerial combos and having a very mobile play style involving moving enemies where they want them to be. This puts a lot of their abilities at the top when compared to other Eikons.
5 Wicked Wheel
This is a great area-of-effect attack that will send all foes within its range up into the air and putting them at the mercy of a devastating aerial combo. This ability can also be used while you are already in the air to pull enemies towards you. This ability has no base cost and overall is not that costly an ability to master compared to others.
The first time you upgrade this ability, you will need to cough up 525 ability points, followed by another 1000 to master it. Upgrading this ability will increase the number of hits it gets in, while mastering it will allow you to use it with any of your other Eikons.
4 Aerial Blast
This ability is brilliant for when you have enemies you don’t want to focus on. It will create a spinning tornado of wind that will seek out enemies to deal damage to while you are focused on your current target. Enemies that are within this tornado will keep taking damage while inside it. Smaller enemies will be pulled up into the air by this ability and become easy picking for you to combo. Being up in the air performing a combo will also put you out of reach of some enemies.
Your first upgrade for this ability will be a costly one, sitting at 2005 ability points, but you will first need to pay its base cost, which is not cheap either. Its base cost is 1540, and once you add on its Mastery, costing 4000 ability points, you come to a grand total of 7545 ability points you will need to scrape together. Your first upgrade is a good one, as it will increase the duration of how long your whirlwind lasts on the field of battle, and mastering it will allow you to assign it to any of your Eikons.
3 Rook’s Gambit
This ability is something you will want to get early when you have this Eikon at your disposal. This ability will let you jump backwards before following it up with a forward dash attack. If you dodged an attack during this dash back, the attack becomes even more devastating and the cooldown is cut by 33.3%. You should use this ability after studying your opponents and getting a good feel of their attack patterns to avoid them at the last moment, this will keep your cooldowns low and your damage output high.
This ability can be used both on the ground and in the air for some great combo potential, and it can also be canceled if following up could land you into a spot of trouble. If you cancel this ability before you follow up, the cooldown resets, making this a very forgiving move. The base cost of this ability is a measly 120 ability points — this makes it very affordable and great for its value. Its first upgrade will stack on 660 ability points, and mastering it will up the total cost by another 1000 ability points. This nets you a total cost of 1720 ability points to master it. After the first upgrade, this ability will increase the number of hits that land, and mastering it allows you to assign it to any one of your Eikons.
2 Deadly Embrace
This is one of the cheapest abilities from the Garuda tree to master, and it will also give you a lot more control over a battle. This is also the Eikonic Feature for the Garuda ability tree. You will let out a giant claw-like hand that can grab onto whatever enemy you are targeting. If the enemy is on the smaller side, it will yank them towards you to follow up with a combo. You can also yank them up into the air if you are already airborne at the time of using it. If the enemy is on the heavier side, however, you will launch yourself into the air from the ground. Being up in the air after grabbing a larger enemy gives you some great aerial combo potential, as well as the means of getting over obstacles that hinder you from the ground.
If your target is already in their air, and you do not have a very solid aerial combo game at your disposal, this ability can grab and pull them down into your range. This ability has no base cost, and your first upgrade will also master this ability. This all comes for the one-time cost of 450 ability points, and in doing so, it will increase the range of the ability. It is worth noting you will also get a trophy if you can defeat 5 enemies in the air after using this ability.
1 Gouge
This ability is cheap, it allows you to put more points into other abilities, and it gives you a really fleshed-out build that covers a lot of bases. When you use it, Clive with summon claws over his hands and relentlessly tear into his foes. This ability has very high stagger damage and can be used on the ground or in the air.
This ability fits well into any combo, and staggering an enemy is a perfect time to let loose your Limit Breaker for optimal damage. Upgrading this ability will cost you 575 ability points, followed by 1000 more to master it. Upgrading it will allow you to follow up with attacks much faster, and mastering it will let you assign it to any of your other Eikons.