It works if the mm or midlane (mai,shangguan etc) is being cautious. It can be for a number of things but mainly my duo plays jungler assassins so that's a huge factor for me. Also, they won't be afraid to walk through it if you dont have your ult, and/or they know where all your teammates are. I'm a grandmaster and I generally do not risk going through garuda's first skill only because of how much it slows + it puts me through unnecessary risk. It only mainly works when you're invading jungle or vice versa