The Howling Eye (Extreme)

Notice

The North American and European datacenters primarily use Party Finder to challenge (Extreme) content. Using Duty Finder to match with random players is not recommended and will be more difficult than pre-forming a party. Note that despite the quest text, players only need to complete the trial using any means, not necessarily with Duty Finder matchmaking, to complete the quest. For an easy completion, it is recommended that players use Party Finder and form an Unrestricted Party (i.e., with level sync disabled). Players who wish to complete this duty with level sync enabled should also form a pre-made party, which also enables the use of Minimum Item Level and Silence Echo settings for an additional challenge.

This article is about the level 50 challenge-mode trial. For the Main Scenario trial, see The Howling Eye. For the level 50 story-mode trial, see The Howling Eye (Hard). For the Ultimate Raid involving Garuda, see The Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate).

The Howling Eye (Extreme)

Level

50 (Sync: 50)

Item Level

65

Difficulty

Extreme

Party size

Full Party
8 man • 2 2 4

Unsyncing

Allowed

Time limit

60 minutes

Duty Finder

High-end Trials (A Realm Reborn)

Roulette

Mentor

Tomestones

 20 

Req. quest

Gale-force Warning

Entrance

Coerthas Central Highlands (X:34.3, Y:24.9)

Location

The Howling Eye

Region

Coerthas

Patch

2.1

The Echo

On wipe: +5% (max +25%)

“

An attack by the primal Garuda has annihilated an entire brigade of Twin Adder, with the sole survivor left to tell a tale writ in terror and misery. Garuda's powers are far greater than they should be; left with few options and all but one of them almost certain failures, the Order of the Twin Adder turns to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, so that they may summon a Warrior of Light.

— In-game description

The Howling Eye (Extreme) is a level 50 trial introduced in patch 2.1.

Strategy

Lady of the Vortex: Garuda

• Note: Players seeking a more challenging and balanced experience should consider doing this content with a preformed group via Party Finder with the Minimum Item Level option enabled. This is due to the fact that there is a massive difference between the intended minimum item level of the duty (65) and the effective maximum (130/135). Depending on how hard you wish to make it, the Silence Echo option can be enabled as well. With these options enabled, players will experience the content in a manner more similar to its original release state.

Phase 1

This is very similar to the other versions - however, when the Razor Plumes appear, make sure to kill the Satin Plume first. Otherwise, the Satin Plume will sleep everyone. Any time Garuda disappears, random AoEs will spawn. These are   Feather Rain, a spell learnable by Blue Mages.

Phase 2

Garuda will spawn two adds, Chirada and Suparna. The off-tank should hold Chirada while the main tank should hold Suparna. Separate them and kill one at a time. Generally you will be killing Chirada first.

At the end of this phase Garuda will teleport to the center and cast Reckoning. There's no dodging this, so stack up in the center. This will wipe if too many stones are destroyed.

Phase 3

Garuda will destroy the pillars, and summon more Razor Plumes. This time they will have a Spiny Plume with them. Kill the Razor Plumes, but do not kill the Spiny Plume. The Spiny Plume will apply "Thermal Low" to the tank it is agro'd on. Tanks must swap agro on the spiny plume at 2 stacks. At 3 stacks of "Thermal Low" the party will wipe.

When Garuda vanishes, kill the Spiny Plume. This will create a shield that will protect you from wiping when Garuda reappears. Dodge the Spiny Plume's AoE when it dies and hide under its shield.

Phase 4

Garuda will summon a Spiny Plume, Chirada and Suparna, and a large number of green whirlwinds.

There are safe spots in the northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast to stand to avoid the whirlwinds.

As in Phase 2, separate Chirada and Suparna, kill them one at a time. Garuda will vanish once they both die.

As in Phase 3, avoid killing the Spiny Plume until Garuda vanishes, then hide under its shield. The Spiny Plume will act just like it did in phase 3 with the "Thermal Low" stacks.

You'll cycle between Phase 3 and Phase 4 until Garuda dies.

Attack Images

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Solo strategy (level 70+)

With a high player level (70+) and high-end gear, The Howling Eye (Extreme) can be finished solo or with a small party. To do so, enter the trial unsynced by selecting "Unrestricted Party" in the duty finder options.

With sufficient defenses, healing and damage, the fight's mechanics can be largely ignored, and all damage focused on Garuda.

Loot

•   Garuda Card (Drops at a fixed rate.)

Treasure Coffer

Name	Type	Item Level	Rarity	Quantity
Vortex Ring of Fending	Ring	90	CBlue	1
Vortex Ring of Slaying	Ring	90	CBlue	1
Vortex Ring of Aiming	Ring	90	CBlue	1
Vortex Ring of Casting	Ring	90	CBlue	1
Vortex Ring of Healing	Ring	90	CBlue	1
Vortex Feather	Material	N/A	ABasic	1
Xanthos Whistle	Other	N/A	ABasic	1
Nightmare Whistle	Other	1	ABasic	1
Faded Copy of Fallen Angel	Orchestrion Roll	N/A	ABasic	1

Achievements

This duty is associated with the following achievements:

Name	Points	Task	Reward	Patch
Gone with the Wind	10	Defeat Garuda in the Howling Eye (Extreme).	-	2.1
Mightier than the Vortex	5	Complete the Howling Eye (Extreme) with a party of only blue mages, Silence Echo turned on, and Unrestricted Party turned off.	-	5.15

Images

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Trials

Duties