I recommend to read this post in dark mode.
Hello and welcome to this Fenghuang of Vicissitude - Fu Hua Guide!
I hope I'll be able to help you, let's start~
Note: This guide is based on the BETA. Officially released content might differ.


✦ Table of contents ✦
Short overview
Source
Kit & Skills
Rank-ups
Gear
Team & Rotation
Fire DPS Abyss Comparison
Gameplay examples
Conclusion

✦ Short overview ✦

Fenghuang of Vicissitude, simply "Garuda" in the following, is a new S rank coming in 7.2 with a special supply!
She'll act as BIO Fire DPS. Unlike most current Valkyries, she doesn't have another special niche to fall under.
She's definitely the most simple Fu Hua we got so far and brings back the trend of Fire Valkyries depending on max HP and HP loss/heal.
While her coverage in abyss is pretty average, she has a really great Memorial Arena bruteforce ability.

✦ Source ✦
Garuda can only be obtained in gacha, her first supply will be in 7.2:

It's an expansion banner, therefore you're guaranteed to get her within 100 pulls.
...or whatever your current expansion pity is.
On the global servers, this banner releases on January 18th and end on February 16th.

✧ Supply Bonus ✧
Gain additional rewards by pulling on the supply often:
✧ 10 pulls: Material box [A] x8
✧ 60 pulls: Stigmata selection box x1
✧ 80 pulls: Material box [B] x1
✧ 110 pulls: Equipment selection box x1
✧ 130 pulls: Material Box [B] x1
✧ 150 pulls: Stigmata selection box x1
✧ 170 pulls: Material Box [B] x2
✧ 190 pulls: Stigmata selection box x1
✧ 210 pulls: Material Box [B] x1
✧ 240 pulls: Fenghuang of Vicissitude Rank-Up stamp x1
✧ 270 pulls: Fenghuang of Vicissitude Rank-Up stamp x1
✧ 300 pulls: Fenghuang of Vicissitude Rank-Up stamp x1
Note: This allows you to get 4/4 Garuda by pulling 190 times on her Expansion supply. 190 pulls guarantee S2, or S3 with 2 character cards.
So 190 (200) pulls basically guarantee 4/4 + S3

Material Box [A]
Choose between following items:
1x Phase Shifter | 3x SC Metal-H2


Material Box [B]
Choose between following items:
1x Honkai Shard | 20x Einstein's Torus | 75x SC Metal-H2 | 25x Phase Shifter


Stigmata Selection Box
Choose between following items:
Fu Hua: Ordinary Day (T) | Fu Hua: Ordinary Day (M) | Fu Hua: Ordinary Day (B)


Equipment Selection Box
Choose between following items:
Torch of Eons | Fu Hua: Ordinary Day (T) | Fu Hua: Ordinary Day (M) | Fu Hua: Ordinary Day (B)


✦ Kit & Skills ✦
*Numbers and skills based on S.0 Rank
✧ General information ✧
Garuda is a BIO Fire Valkyrie who uses fists.
She has two stances, Kick Stance and Punch Stance, dealing huge Fire DMG in both.
She starts fights with 20% of her max HP.

➤ Immortal Phoenix
Garuda can not die.
When her HP drop to 0, her HP automatically are put back to 30%.

Enters Cinders state for 30s upon triggering this effect.
During Cinders state Garuda gets following debuffs:
✧ Deals 50% less Total DMG
✧ Loses 1 SP every second
not sure how Seele feels about this, but I feel like she stole Hua's title
When Garuda is not on field and has less than 50% HP, she recovers 1,5% HP of max HP each second.
Also provide unshielded team members with Barrier of the Phoenix's flames.
Starts at 2000 and caps at 4000 value, reducing the team members DMG taken by 50% while its value is above 0.
Regenerate 500 charge upon Parry ATK, Combo ATK or Ultimate.

➤ Heart Flame
Above Garuda's HP bar, between the symbols for her stances, you can see her current "Heart Flame" stacks
It starts at 0 and caps at 3.
Heart Flame stacks can be obtained by Combo ATK, Joint ATK or Parry ATK.
Visuals:

0 stacks

2 stacks

3 (max) stacks
Heart Flame stacks are used to enhance Garuda's Joint ATK
(more about that later~)
Heart Flame stacks will reset upon being switched out.

➤ Leader Skill
When selecting Garuda as leader, all team members gain following buffs:
✧ Deal 18% / 19% (S3) / 20% (SS3) more Fire DMG
✧ Deal 10% / 11% (S3) / 12% (SS3) more Total DMG
✧ Deal 32% / 33,5% (S3) / 35% (SS3) more Total DMG with their Basic ATK, Combo ATK and Charged ATK

✧ QTE ✧
Triggered when the enemy is Ignited or Time-Slowed
Deals 1200% ATK of FIre DMG; triggers 3s of Global TIme Fracture

QTE provides following benefits:
✧ Restores 10 SP on Garuda
✧ Increases Total DMG by 30% for 20s

✧ Punch/Kick Stances ✧
Garuda has two different stances.
The stances have different Basic, Combo, Joint and Block ATKs.
The currently active stance's symbol above her HP bar glows slightly.

Punch Stance active
Switch between the stances by tapping [WA]
CD: 1s | SP: 0
Deals 65% ATK of Fire DMG; restore 20 points of Qi for the stance switched to

Punch to Kick

Kick to Punch
Gain following buffs for 12s after switching stances:
✧ Deals 12,8% more Fire DMG
✧ Deals 50% more FIre DMG with Basic ATKs
✧ 6,2% Elemental Breach
✧ Increases Basic ATK's Ignore Interrupt
On SS Rank switching stances will also reset Evasion Skill CD.

✧ Special Bar - Qi ✧
Garuda has a Special Bar around each stance's symbol, showing her current Qi of the corresponding stance.
It starts and caps at 300.
Qi is recovered permanently until it reaches its cap.
While on field, she restores 8 points of Qi to the current stance each second
In addition, restore 12 points of Qi to the currently inactive stance.
When off field, restore 28 points of Qi each second for both stances.
In addition she can restore Qi by using her Weapon Active and Basic ATK.
Visuals:

Low Punch Qi / High Kick Qi

High Punch Qi / Low Kick Qi

✧ Basic ATK ✧
Note: Everytime I mention Qi being restored in this section, it is restored for the current stance.

➤ Punch Stance
Garuda has 5 Basic ATK Sequences.
SEQ 1: Deals 72% ATK of Fire DMG; restores 14 points of Qi
SEQ 2: Deals 34% x 4 ATK of Fire DMG; restores 14 x 4 points of Qi
SEQ 3: Deals 70% + 80% ATK of Fire DMG; restores 14 x 2 points of Qi
SEQ 4: Deals 120% x 6 ATK of Fire DMG; restores 6 x 4 points of Qi
SEQ 5: Deals 140% + 375% ATK of Fire DMG; restores 2 x 7 points of Qi


➤ Kick Stance
Garuda has 5 Basic ATK Sequences.
SEQ 1: Deals 48% + 50% ATK of Fire DMG; restores 14 x 2 points of Qi
SEQ 2: Deals 60% ATK of Fire DMG; restores 14 points of Qi
SEQ 3: Deals 40% x 3 + 80% ATK of Fire DMG; restores 14 x 4 points of Qi
SEQ 4: Deals 120% x 4 ATK of Fire DMG; restores 4 x 4 points of Qi
SEQ 5: Deals 100% x 4 + 355% ATK of Fire DMG; restores 4 x 5 points of Qi

Note: Both sequences need between 4 and 5 seconds and deal a total of 1593% ATK of Fire DMG.

✧ Evasion & Parry ✧
Tap [EVA] while dragging your joystick towards any direction (or tapping W/A/S/D on PC) to Evade.
CD: 12s
Trigger Ultimate Evasion upon evading enemies timely.
Triggers 3s of global Time Fracture

When triggering Ultimate Evasion Skill, can be connected to Parry ATK by tapping [ATK]
Otherwise, can be connected to Basic ATK SEQ 3 of the current stance by tapping [ATK]
Hold or tap [EVA] to enter Parry Stance.
During Parry Stance, Garuda will automatically block an incoming attack.

Punch Stance

Kick Stance
Can be connected to a Parry ATK by blocking an attack or tapping [ATK]

✧ Parry ATK ✧
Trigger Parry ATK by tapping [ATK] in Parry Stance (Note: Can also tap [EVA] and [ATK] together),
blocking an enemy attack with Parry stance,
or tapping [ATK] after Ultimate Evasion.
The Ultimate Evasion Skill has to be triggered to connect into Parry ATK.

➤ Punch Stance
Deals 900% ATK of Fire DMG; triggers a 3s Global Time Fracture


➤ Kick Stance
Deals 50% x 9 + 450% ATK of Fire DMG; triggers a 3s Global Time Fracture


✧ Combo ATK ✧
At full Qi points of the current stance, hold [ATK] to launch a Combo ATK

➤ Punch Stance
Consumes 300 Qi of the Punch Stance, grants one stack of Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze (=> Enhanced Joint ATK)
Deals 700% + 50% x 5 ATK of Fire DMG; restores 8% of max HP

Can be connected into Kick Stance and Joint ATK by tapping [WA]
Can be connected into Joint ATK by tapping [ATK]

➤ Kick Stance
Consumes 300 Qi of the Kick Stance, grants one stack of Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze (=> Enhanced Joint ATK)
Deals 190% x 3 + 380% ATK of Fire DMG; restores 8% of max HP

Can be connected into Punch Stance and Joint ATK by tapping [WA]
Can be connected into Joint ATK by tapping [ATK]

✧ Joint ATK ✧
Tap either [ATK] or [WA] after a Combo ATK to trigger a Joint ATK.

➤ Punch Stance
After a Combo ATK in Punch Stance, tap [ATK] to trigger her Joint ATK.
Grants one stack of Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze (=> Enhanced Joint ATK)
Deals 250% ATK of Fire DMG; restores 8% of max HP

*includes Combo ATK
After a Combo ATK in Punch Stance, tap [WA] to trigger her Joint ATK while switching stances.
Grants one stack of Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze (=> Enhanced Joint ATK)
Deals 450% ATK of Fire DMG; restores 8% of max HP

*includes Combo ATK

➤ Kick Stance
After a Combo ATK in Kick Stance, tap [ATK] to trigger her Joint ATK.
Grants one stack of Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze (=> Enhanced Joint ATK)
Deals 170% + 40% x 2 ATK of Fire DMG; restores 8% of max HP

After a Combo ATK in Kick Stance, tap [WA] to trigger her Joint ATK while switching stances.
Grants one stack of Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze (=> Enhanced Joint ATK)
Deals 130% + 150% + 170% ATK of Fire DMG; restores 8% of max HP

*includes Combo ATK

✧ Enhanced Joint ATK ✧
Tap [ATK] after Combo ATK while having 3 stacks of Heart Flame to trigger the respective stance's Enhanced Joint ATK.

➤ Punch Stance
Consumes 3 stacks of Heart Flame; consumes all stacks of Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze
Deals 300% x 5 + 440% ATK of Fire DMG; lower HP to 36% of max HP

*includes Combo ATK

➤ Kick Stance
Consumes 3 stacks of Heart Flame; consumes all stacks of Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze
Deals 780% + 60% x 7 + 700% ATK of Fire DMG; lower HP to 36% of max HP

*includes Combo ATK

➤ Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze
When using Combo ATK, Joint ATK or Parry ATK gain one stack of Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze. Stacks up to 3 times.
When using an Enhanced Joint ATK, consume all Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze stacks.
Gain following buff for each Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze consumed:
✧ Gain 20% Total DMG for the Enhanced Joint ATK
Seal of Rosefinch's Blaze stacks are lost upon exiting.

✧ Ultimate ✧
CD: 17s | SP: 100
*All timers are frozen during this animation
Deals 2500% ATK of Fire DMG; get down to 1 HP and heal to 25% of max HP

Gain following buff for every 7% HP lost during Ultimate:
✧ 12% Ultimate FIre DMG; max 60% (35% HP drained)
Fun fact: By skill description she literally ends her life and starts a new life here.
Proving my point of the real Herrscher of Rebirth being right here smh...
(I'm coping cause an actual Hua Herrscher will never exist)

✦ Gear ✦
✧ Weapon ✧
By far her best weapon is Torch of Eons: Skyfire or the non-PRI Torch of Eons.


For details, please read my weapon review!
(linked here once I posted it)

✧ Stigmata ✧
Her best Stigmata set is her signature set Flawors of Time set.

For details, please read my Stigmata review
(linked here once I posted it)

✦ Team & Rotation ✦
✧ Supports ✧
Ai-Chan ☆ Chrono Navi

Currently Meta Fire support.
She's an SP Valkyrie, so you can easily farm her to SSS!
She can work with Turgenev (TB) if you don't have her signature set.

Bronya ☆ Herrscher of Truth

With Ai-Chan Garuda's best support.
She's a Fire and Lightning support granting breach.
She's an S rank Valkyrie and only obtainable by gacha, but it's definitely worth it.

Fu Hua ☆ Azure Empyrea

An alternative to Herrscher of Truth.
An S-rank Valkyrie, but old enough to be on dorm, so you might have her. I generally don't recommend getting Garuda if you don't have HoTr and definitely not if you don't have AE either.

✧ Rotation ✧
Note: Please remember that rotations can always differ based on the boss, the DMG needed and your overall situation. This is only the base rotation, if you want to be sure watch videos of players who know what they're doing.

FV / HTR / CN
Short rotation
HTR WA - Combo ATK
CN QTE - WA - Ultimate
HTR Form switch - Combo ATK - Ultimate
FV QTE - Parry ATK - Combo ATK - [WA] Joint ATK - (SS: Parry ATK) - Combo ATK - Enhanced Joint ATK - Ultimate
Long rotation
S-S3
HTR WA - Combo ATK
CN QTE - WA - Ultimate
HTR Form switch - Combo ATK - Ultimate
FV QTE - Parry ATK - Combo ATK - [WA] Joint ATK - Combo ATK - Enhanced Joint ATK - Basic ATK x5 - Ultimate - Basic ATK x2 - Parry ATK
Long rotation
SS-SSS
HTR WA - Combo ATK
CN QTE - WA - Ultimate
HTR Form switch - Combo ATK - Ultimate
FV QTE - Parry ATK - Basic ATK x2 - Combo ATK - [WA] Joint ATK - Parry ATK - Basic ATK x2 - Combo ATK - Enhanced Joint ATK - Ultimate

FV / AE / CN
Short rotation
AE WA - 3 Basic ATKs - mixed combo - 4 Basic ATKs - white combo
CN QTE - WA (SP Skill) - Ultimate
AE Basic ATK - Ultimate
FV QTE - Parry ATK - Combo ATK - [WA] Joint ATK - (SS: Parry ATK) - Combo ATK - Enhanced Joint ATK - Ultimate
Long rotation
S-S3
AE WA - 3 Basic ATKs - mixed combo - 4 Basic ATKs - white combo
CN QTE - WA (SP Skill) - Ultimate
AE Basic ATK - Ultimate
FV QTE - Parry ATK - Combo ATK - [WA] Joint ATK - Combo ATK - Enhanced Joint ATK - Basic ATK x5 - Ultimate - Basic ATK x2 - Parry ATK
Long rotation
SS-SSS
AE WA - 3 Basic ATKs - mixed combo - 4 Basic ATKs - white combo
CN QTE - WA (SP Skill) - Ultimate
AE Basic ATK - Ultimate
FV QTE - Parry ATK - Basic ATK x2 - Combo ATK - [WA] Joint ATK - Parry ATK - Basic ATK x2 - Combo ATK - Enhanced Joint ATK - Ultimate

✧ Video example ✧
00:00 Fast S rotation (FV/HTR/CN)
00:36 Long S rotation (FV/HTR/CN)
01:17 Fast S rotation (FV/AE/CN)
01:52 Fast SS rotation (FV/HTR/CN)
02:29 Long SS rotation (FV/HTR/CN)

✦ Rank-ups ✦


Analysis
✦ S1 ✦
S1 alone is a huge benefit for her MA bruteforce ability. It also is a nice boost in abyss.
✦ S2/SSS ✦
Independent multipliers always are really good. Especially the huge boost at S2 is noticable.
✦ SS ✦
With S2 her best rank up. Probably her best one actually, extends her rotation a little but also gains huge DMG. Overall a really good rank.
✦ Conclusion ✦
Now, considering Garuda comes with a special supply (=> Source section) her rank ups really have a big worth.
190 pulls guarantee S3 and 4/4, SS rank not being unrealistic. Therefore it's really worth going for them considering how good they are.

✧ DMG comparison ✧


✧ Score comparison ✧
These tests were done by Shubs at 500D.
Please note these runs aren't perfect and only to give an idea how the DMG and rotation difference affects your score.

*Tests were done with SSS HTR and CN
Thanks for allowing me to use these!

In case anybody is interested, some further rank/gear tests I did

1/4 means weapon only, 3/4 no weapon
Garuda replacements: Oblivion Down / Little Joys TMB
Ai Chan replacements: Purana / Turg TB Aslaug M

✦ Fire DPS Abyss Comparison ✦
Okay, firstly, I used Ignite Benares as test subject this time due to its simple, typeless and yet tanky fight.
The weather ends up in some unfair advantages, but I'll go over them.
Time to analyse the runs step for step
Note: Feel free to jump to the conclusion if you don't wanna read my walls of text!
For my analysis I'll use a brownish color scheme, for the infos taken straight from the runs a red one.
Okay so, the base I'll need for everything that follows:
00:10 S.0 Garuda (756 Pts)
First rotation:
✧ HTR Ult ✧ 2 HTR Weapons ✧ CN Ult ✧
✧ Short Garuda rotation + Basic ATK x5 ✧
✧ Pts: 1000 ~ 924 (76 Pts)
Second rotation:
✧ No Support Ult ✧ 2 HTR weapons ✧
✧ Short Garuda rotation ✧
✧ Pts: 924 ~ 871 (53 Pts)
Third rotation:
✧ HTR Ult ✧ 0 HTR weapons ✧ CN Ult ✧
✧ Short Garuda rotation ✧
✧ Pts: 871 ~ 814 (57 Pts)
Fourth rotation:
✧ No HTR Ult ✧ 1 HTR weapon ✧ CN Ult ✧
✧ Short Garuda rotation ✧
✧ Pts: 814 ~ 756 (58 Pts)
Full run:
✧ 4 rotations ✧ 756 Pts / 244 Pts lost ✧
=> Average of 61 Pts a rotation

✧ SS.0 Herrscher of Flamescion ✧
To get some facts straight right away:
1. HFS released in 5.0 or such. She's super old. Therefore she obviously won't be the best.
2. Many events allowed players to get HFS ranks without spending on HFS' supply.
These are the two main reasons I'm using SS as base rank.
As for the weather...
1. Neither Garuda nor HFS deal any Ignite DMG. Both are dependent on Ai Chan for it.
2. Both have one Ai-Chan Ult-less rotation during which they lack Ignite.
02:34 SS.0 HFS (664 Pts)
First rotation:
✧ HTR Ult ✧ 2 HTR Weapons ✧ CN Ult ✧
✧ Normal HFS rotation ✧
✧ Pts: 1000 ~ 924 (76 Pts)
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ In terms of setup it's pretty similar so far.
Exception: Garuda stretched her first rotation.
✦ However, both took up 76 Pts for their first rotation.
✦ In terms of DMG...

(Both are one HP bar + the shown amont)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Second rotation:
✧ No Support Ult ✧ 2 HTR weapons ✧
✧ Normal HFS rotation without Ultimate ✧
✧ Pts: 924 ~ 862 (62 Pts)
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ Garuda's normal rotation was ~9 pts faster than Kiana's.
However, her rotation length can differ based on the stance she starts with. It'll be faster than Kiana's regardless.
✦ HFS has a worse SP regeneration than Garuda. While Garuda can ult every rotation without issues, HFS has to skip the second one to ult on other rotations.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Third rotation:
✧ HTR Ult ✧ 2 HTR weapons ✧ CN Ult ✧
✧ Normal HFS rotation ✧
✧ Pts: 862 ~ 787 (75 Pts)
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ Kiana has to keep getting HTR weapons here for timing reasons.
Entering with a not yet unloaded heat meter has less use than the HTR ult last rotation to end the fight.
Note: Garuda has some issues with fast support rotations too due to her Qi regeneration.
The issues are just smaller and easier to fix by adding late/early Parry ATKs and Basic ATKs.
✦ This way, Garuda's third rotation ends up ~12 Pts faster than Kiana's.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fourth rotation:
✧ No HTR Ult ✧ 2 HTR weapons ✧ CN Ult ✧
✧ Normal HFS rotation ✧
✧ Pts: 787 ~ 717 (70 Pts)
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ This is the rotation in which Garuda finished ✦
✦ If HFS met the DMG treshold, it'd be 717 vs 756 Pts
=> 39 Pts difference from rotation
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fifth rotation:
✧ HTR Ult ✧ 1 HTR weapon ✧ No CN Ult ✧
✧ Early HFS Ult to finish off ✧
✧ Pts: 717 ~ 664 (53 Pts)
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ Garuda doesn't need this additional rotation. This pretty obviously is the DMG difference.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Full run:
✧ 5 rotations ✧ 664 Pts / 336 Pts lost ✧
=> Average of 67,2 Pts a rotation
=> Average of 70,8 Pts excluding the fifth rotation
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ ~10 Pts difference each rotation is huge. Losing out on 10 points for every rotation a boss needs not even including DMG differences is ~20 pts difference or more for every abyss.
✦ Total difference of 92 Pts
✦ HFS lost ~37,7% more points than Garuda.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
✦ Garuda has way faster rotations and an easier time cutting her rotations without losing much DMG
✦ Garuda's DMG simply is way higher. Not even SSS HFS can save her atp
✦ HFS is more dependent on longer support rotations due to her own cool-off time. Garuda has some issues with it as well.
HFS might be able to replace Garuda outside of Nirvana. However, the difference between SSS HFS and S0 Garuda is already big and Garuda's rank ups are really big as well.
Especially in long terms HFS will stand no chance against Garuda.

✧ S.0 Herrscher Trio ✧
Quick Fact Check:
1. The Herrscher Trio released in 6.4 and is 8 patches old.
2. Nowadays it's a horribly expensive team to build. If you don't have it yet, HTR is the only Valkyrie worth going for.
3. Due to SP HoO can't go for Support Stigmata
As for the weather...
1. Neither deals Ignite DMG.
1. HFI has her own Ignite and therefore doesn't depend on Ai Chan's ignite. Not that she's in the team anyway.
=> Overall they're pretty similar. HFI has a slight benefit due to Garuda having one Ignite-less rotation.
05:19 S0 Herrscher Trio (654 Pts)
First rotation:
✧ 2 HTR weapons ✧ Full HoO rot ✧
✧ Normal Trio rotation ✧ ATF used ✧
✧ Pts: 1000 ~ 929 (71 Pts)
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ Herrscher Trio has to wait for Benares to spawn before starting their rotation. Doesn't make a big difference though as Ai Chan start barely speeds the whole thing up.
✦ The Trio's first rotation is 5 points faster than Garuda's first rotation.
✦ Trio clearly shows a lack of DMG.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Second rotation:
✧ 3 HTR weapons ✧ Full HoO rot ✧
✧ Normal Trio rotation without HFI Ult ✧ No ATF used ✧
✧ Pts: 929 ~ 860 (69 Pts)
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ Trio has to put HTR's QTE on for SP reasons. This'll be the case in most non-Trio abysses, especially with S0 HTR.
The QTE overall consumes some time, it's not too big though.
✦ Trio's second rotation is ~16 Pts longer than Garuda's second rotation.
This is due to Garuda's second rotation being cut down without support ultimates and Trio going for a full rotation each time.
✦ Even with support Ultimates, Garuda's short rotations prove to be faster than the Trio's rotations.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Third rotation:
✧ 3 HTR weapons ✧ Full HoO rot ✧
✧ Normal Trio rotation ✧ ATF used ✧
✧ Pts: 860 ~ 792 (68 Pts)
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ Garuda can start skipping HTR weapons here, Trio is way more dependent on HTR's SP recovery.
✦ Garuda's third rotation ends up ~11 Pts faster.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fourth rotation:
✧ 3 HTR weapons ✧ Full HoO rot ✧
✧ Normal Trio rotation ✧ No ATF used ✧
✧ Pts: 792 ~ 724 (68 Pts)
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ Garuda's run ends after the fourth rotation while the Trio still has a good amount of HP left.

Considering the start with 4 HP bars, Garuda shows a pretty heavy DMG advantage. At least enough of a DMG advantage to meet many more DMG tresholds, ending up in a good amount of additional points.
✦ Garuda ends the fourth rotation with 756 Pts. This means Trio loses out on 32 Points from rotation alone until this point.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fifth rotation:
✧ 3 HTR weapons + HTR rot extension ✧ HoO QTE - out rot ✧
✧ 2 HFI Combos, No Ult ✧ ATF used ✧
✧ Pts: 724 ~ 654 (70 Pts)
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ This rotation clearly shows the Trio's biggest issue: SP.
✦ While S2 HTR helps a lot with this issue, S0 HTR suffers from a lack of SP.
This also is part of the reason HO uses her full rotation every time even though it often is skipped, the Trio can't bear another rotation. These 5 rotations are their absolute limit.
✦ HTR has max SP affixes and Benares drops an SP pack at 2 HP bars left. Yet I had to extend the fifth HTR rotation losing ~11 Pts
The 11 Pts don't include the loss from QTEs and Wa+Combo every single rotation either. Overall S0 HTR just loses a bunch of Pts by SP alone.
✦ One thing that's important to mention: This issue would be way bigger if more rotations were needed.
The longer a fight is, the worse the SP issues will get. The Trio team highly depends on HTR's and HO's Ultimates.
Their rotation will be ruined the moment they can't ult properly.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Full run:
✧ 5 rotations ✧ 654 Pts / 346 Pts lost ✧
=> Average of 69,2 Pts a rotation
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ ~8 Pts difference a rotation, Garuda being faster once again
Still better than HFS, but 8 points every rotation still isn't exactly good. Especially because it'll drastically increase with an increasing number of rotations.
✦ Due to the slower last rotation HFS still gets the overall higher score.
✦ Especially with S0 HTR Trio will fail bruteforcing at high Disturbance (~480+)
✦ In total, Garuda scored 102 Pts higher.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
✦ Once again Garuda's DMG and fast rotations clearly benefit her and Trio can not keep up with her.
✦ Trio most likely won't be able to bruteforce Garuda's fire abysses in Nirvana if it isn't high invested. For RL it should still work out for now.
✦ In Fire abysses Trio will do even worse compared to Garuda as HoO doesn't benefit from the Fire buff.
Once again, outside of Nirvana Trio should be able to make up for a missing Garuda. However, HFS will probably do the better job at that in most cases.
Trio should outdo HFS as Garuda abyss bruteforce only in case of an Ignite abyss in which the Trio's SP requirements are met.

✧ SS.0 Miracle ✩ Magic Girl ✧
Quick Fact Check:
1. Sirin is pretty new, only released in 6.9
2. Sirin is farmable, therefore the SS Sirin vs SS1 Garuda comparison following obviously is unfair. It helps me proving my point though, this will go in a pretty different direction. But please keep this in mind.
3. Sirin and Garuda have different roles. Sirin is MECH Ignite DPS, while Garuda is a BIO Fire DPS. But hear me out pls
About the weather
Sirin is an Ignite DPS. The weather is a huge benefit for her, gaining her 45% multiplier.
If making it unfair, make it so unfair it ends up fair again
I'll go over the Benares run way quicker now because it should be enough to point out the differences and will lead to other tests.
08:29 SS.0 Sirin (776 Pts)
Full run:
✧ 3 rotations ✧ 776 Pts / 224 Pts lost ✧
=> Average of 74,7 Pts a rotation
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ Sirin needs a lot of time for each rotation. Overall S0 Garuda was 13 Pts faster a rotation.
✦ Sirin can barely cut down her rotation. Also a reason I didn't bother testing with SSS Sirin as a 2 rot is unlikely and Sirin barely can speed a rotation up.
✦ Sirin deals more DMG due to the Ignite weather.
✦ Sirin tends to have SP issues if you want to ult every rotaton.
✦ Even with one additional rotation on Garuda's side, the point difference limits down to 21 Pts.
-------------------------------------------------------------
For a second comparison I'll go for an SS1 Garuda run.
Why SS1 and not SS0?
Cause I'm forgetful. oppsie. SS0 is the key rank and shouldn't score way lower.
10:42 SS.1 Garuda (801 Pts)
Full run:
✧ 3 rotations ✧ 801 Pts / 199 Pts lost ✧
=> Average of 66,3 Pts a rotation
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ Even though Sirin has a weather benefit, SS1 Garuda scored 25 Pts higher.
✦ Garuda's DMG was extremely similar to Sirin's
✦ Garuda's faster rotations once again benefit her. SS extends the rotation by ~5 Pts a rotation, but this rotation extension can technically be skipped and even with it she has extremely fast rotations.
✦ In 500D+ SSS Sirin should do better than SS Garuda. As long as SS Garuda can clear in the same amount of rotations the differences will stay minor or Garuda does better.
✦ I can't test 500D in beta as I forgot to rank up to Nirb. My guess is that SSS Sirin and SSS Garuda will do similar DMG while Garuda's faster rotations grant her the top score on Ignite Benares.

While the question for HFI and HFS was how they deal compared to Garuda, let me ask a different question for this one:
Can a ranked Garuda bruteforce Sirin's abysses?
00:10 SS.1 Garuda (826 Pts) 01:53 SSS Sirin (832 Pts)
This is only a rough test and please note Sirin could 2 rot AKA in 500D Disturbance too unlike Garuda but Garuda still does pretty well.
Oh, just saying, Garuda outscores on SSS AKA. Sirin is bad in MA.
-------------------------------------------------------------
✦ While Sirin still outscores, Garuda can keep up pretty well.
✦ At higher Disturbance the score gap will increase for sure.
✦ If you don't have Sirin's chakram for whatever reason, Garuda might be a usable cope.

Okay, let's switch it up now, Can Sirin bruteforce Garuda's abysses?
I won't even waste my time on this one, no.
Okay, short explanation on this:
✧ Garuda's bosses are PSY type. Sirin herself is MECH, meaning she has a type disadvantage.
✧ Raw DMG wise S0 Garuda deals similar DMG to SSS Sirin with a long rotation (around Sirin's rot length)
and Garuda's full potential usually only comes with short rots.
✧ Garuda's abysses aren't ignite abysses (with one exception), making Sirin lose out on this buff as well.
For information on their raw DMG, I recommend ImHerpman's video:)
When you now use Sirin against a boss of Garuda she'll deal 70% of her original DMG.
Garuda on the other side will deal 130% of her original DMG.
When considering their similar raw DMG this basically means S0 Garuda will deal almost two times as much as SSS Sirin.
And considering her supply many people will have Garuda ranks too.
It's like... in RL you might retain with some effort?

Conclusion
✦ Sirin is extremely stuck to her long rotation. Garuda's faster rotations are a huge benefit there.
✦ S0 Garuda and SSS Sirin are similar DMG wise. A ranked Garuda will deal way higher raw DMG.
✦ They have completely different roles and therefore can't really be compared well. Fact is Sirin barely can bruteforce Garuda's abysses.
Garuda is better at bruteforcing Sirin's abysses than the other way around. But overall their different roles clearly show.
However, unlike Sirin's Garuda's MA performance is great. I was able to 12s SSS Jizo with S2 Garuda, which really isn't bad considering what kind of boss Jizo is.
Garuda will take over the top score at SSS AKA. Otherwise you will barely see them in each other's abysses.
Ranked Sirin will do better on SSS AKA than an unranked Garuda.

✦ Gameplay examples ✦

✦ Conclusion ✦
Is Garuda worth your crystals?
As much as the Garuda stan inside me wants to say yes, let's go over different cases... all from meta perspective of course.
1. You cannot afford 190 pulls for her or don't have a geared Herrscher of Truth.
=> Pretty much instant no
2. You have a good fire team, but your SD/Lightning teams lack and you couldn't afford 7.3 anymore after getting Garuda
=> Nah
3. Your Fire team lacks heavily (DPS wise), while your Lightning and SD teams are pretty good
=> Garuda be worth a thought
4. You can afford Garuda's 190 pulls and 7.3
=> Probably a nice investment
5. Your Fire and Lightning/SD teams are all pretty average
=> Most likely better to wait for 7.3.
Overall I can't really recommend backpulling her or pulling her if you can't afford 190 pulls, the rank ups really have a huge impact. Using the 190 pull guarantee will be the smartest way to go.
Also I'd like to remind you Garuda is a bait valkyrie to drain crystals before a really big patch. Therefore I recommend making sure Garuda doesn't limit your xtals too badly for 7.3 in case you care for meta.

Credits
- Thanks to Cyxo and Alpaca for the pictures of Valkyrie icons and such!
- Thanks to my friend Rikutakuto for doing the cover design for me!
- Love to Inari

- Thanks to herrscherofslack and Ai Chan for CN screens and for some feedback from herrscherofslack~
- Also thanks toShubs for letting me use the Garuda rank comparison.
- Credits to ImHerpman for the Sirin/Garuda raw DMG comparison.
- Also thanking Cyxofor emotional support (without actually doing much) for the Fire DPS Comparison section and offering me help with the rank ups.
- Thanks toneya for some help and showing me the ImHerpman video
- Website for official wallpapers in case you're interested, here
Okay, I hope that was it lol

test details




Thanks for reading my guide, I hope I was able to help you!
Have a great day ![]()
EU/UID: 203184518

