The Skybound Talon

Bloodletting returns more energy at higher Efficiency (about 364 per 50% health at 100%, versus 228 at 45%), so neutral Efficiency means fewer, safer casts.

Seeking Talons only needs 134% Strength for a 100% slash-proc chance; above that Strength does little.

Dread Mirror and Seeking Talons both have innate i-frames now, so Bloodletting's status cleanse replaces Rolling Guard.

Garuda's +100% passive applies twice to Glaives and Exodia Contagion.

1.

Cast Bloodletting (tap 3) twice at mission start; recast below ~300 energy.

2.

Cast up to three Blood Altars for coverage or concentrated healing.

3.

Keep Dread Mirror (tap 1) up, facing enemies; pounce onto heavies to bank Dread Heart.

4.

Charge and release Dread Heart (hold 1) to nuke, keeping ~100 energy for 4.

5.

Tap 4 (Blending Talons) for a radial slash and full shield gate.

Heart to Heart: with Dread Mirror up and airborne, tap 4, aim- glide, hold 1 to hover, release Dread Heart, aim-glide, tap 1 on an enemy to refresh the mirror.

The Ascension: aim down sights and tap 3 to rise without bullet-jumping.

Clean Energy: cast 4 then tap 3 to fit a Bloodletting inside the last i-frames for a safe status cleanse.

Positive Duration for Dread Mirror, Blood Altar and the Seeking Talons mark.

Neutral Efficiency for the Bloodletting return.

High Range for pounce distance, Dread Heart explosion and Blood Altar heal radius.

Strength only to the 134% slash threshold.

Transient Fortitude, Umbral Intensify clear the 134% threshold against Overextended.

Primed Continuity holds Duration.

Overextended, Stretch, Augur Reach set the maxed Range, with Augur Reach feeding the gate.

Primed Flow is the pool for chaining combos.

Blending Talons is the radial quick-cast.

Brief Respite aura feeds the gate.

The augments are all optional over an Augur Message slot: Blood Forge to reload slow weapons, Dread Ward for an invulnerability window.

Natural Talent without cast-speed shards.

Vigorous Swap for a controllable Dread Mirror multiplier.

Pick one.

Subsume over Blood Altar (her 2), the weakest ability.

- Breach Surge for a blind plus a self-propagating slash loop with Seeking Talons (Garuda's passive double-dips the sparks).

- Expedite Suffering for an infinitely scaling slash feedback loop with Seeking Talons.

- Gloom for infinite-range healing and a 95% slow (see The Crimson Gloom).

- Nourish for viral on Dread Mirror and Seeking Talons plus double energy.

- Molt with Regenerative Molt for speedrunning.

Molt Reconstruct for healing on energy spend (useful with a non- healing subsume), Arcane Arachne for a 2.5x Dread Heart multiplier.

Arcane Eruption for passive crowd control, which Garuda's kit lacks.

Naramon for Lethal Levitation stacking with Arachne.

Madurai for cast speed.

High-base-damage area weapons for Seeking Talons: Proboscis Cernos, Zymos, Acid Shells Sobek (infinitely scaling once turned to slash).

Glaives and Exodia Contagion get Garuda's doubled passive.

Bleed procs scale only on +damage, +faction and crit.

Shield gating off Seeking Talons plus Dread Mirror frontal attenuation plus the innate ability i-frames plus Bloodletting cleanse.

It fails to attacks from behind and to toxin.

The Bloodletting-plus-Blood-Altar loop, held by Primed Flow.

Attacks from behind bypass Dread Mirror.

No native crowd control (subsume for it).

Bosses.

A max-range Breach Surge build.

A Gloom high-Strength build.

A run-and-gun weapon platform.

Strong: strong aerial nuke, an infinitely scaling slash loop, excellent mobility and open-world play, self-sustaining energy.

Weak: frontal-only defense, no native crowd control, boss-blind.

Players who want to fight from the sky, nuking rooms and raining slash on everything they mark.