[Step of Faith] Alternate Strategy

Hi all, I wanted to post an alternate strategy that we used several times to the community to make this trial a little easier for everyone. You guys don't have to use this strategy but I feel that it makes the trial a lot less hectic.

We have done step of faith several times and the main strategy we notice is with 2 people on cannon/snare, 1 people on Dragon Slayer(harpoon), tank brings the mob to the front for the cannon people to nuke/stun them.

While this is a good strategy, we find several loopholes that can get the group in trouble. For one, larger adds such as the turtle is hard to take down with the cannon. They have too much HP. This requires other DPS to help and brings overall dps down on the main boss.

Secondly, large adds can build stun resist, if it resist one stun and performs a large AOE, this might interrupt the snare process.

Thus this regular strategy requires a lot on the cannon/snare people and everyone else.

So we introduce this strategy using game's mechanic:

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Party is split into 3 teams.

Aggro/Kite team - 2 tank, 1 healer
DPS team - 3 DPS
Cannon/Harpon/Snare - 1 healer and 1 dps

This require just a little coordination between the cannon/snare/harpoon teammate which is a lot less stressful. 1 person can activate both snares by clicking 1 snare > Sprint > 2nd snare. While the other person will wait on the tower to harpoon.

As for the kite / aggro team, they will stay at the entrance of the trial and don't follow the boss at all. The healer in this team is the main puller. This is done by hate mechanic. All adds on the map keep hate list on everyone, no matter where you stand. These mobs despawn after each wall is broken, thus really don't need to kill them. The healer is the MAIN PULLER. If it is a white mage, he or she can use medica 2 and regen on both tank and him/herself and this will grab hate on all the mobs. Scholar has more trouble but Succor spam is doable. The 2 tanks with the pulling healer will take aggro from the healer when mobs comes to keep them busy. After the wall is down, these mobs will despawn so there is no need to kill them. It is a good idea to stay at the entrance of the trial, this means that the mobs will have a long walk before they can get to you. This is especially helpful on the 3rd wall and turtle large mob because it runs super slow. If the 2 tank and healer dies, just respawn and repeat. Spam that heal to grab aggro. Just a reminder, AOE from large mobs can also be stunned by normal skills, so feel free to use them to avoid AOE. If one tank can handle adds, the other tank can run to the group and dps or help pull additional adds if they feel like it.


The 3 DPS has the easiest role. Continue DPS. DO NOT USE ANY PARTY BUFF to gain hate. This means no adds will touch you during the entire trial. You 3 will focus on the boss and this strategy will get you 4 bars of limit break. Try not to get stepped on. And avoid AOE, you 3 will not be getting any heals at all. If you die, just respawn and come back. However, from all the runs we have used this strategy, these 3 DPS are the safest if they don't pull aggro.


Cannon/Harpoon/Snare team will use Cannon to DPS ONLY THE BOSS. Ignore the Biast that comes to the cannons. DO NOT touch them. They will mindlessly attack the cannon and they will not kill it. The boss will still come and kill the cannons, in which the biast dragon will turn around and run all the way back to the kite team. Focus your cannon damage on the boss, aim right under his belly. This strategy will ignore both the stun and slow skill and focus DPS on the boss. I suggest having the harpooner (either the healer or the dps) to get ready at the start by running to the tower. This way you can make sure that you will get it down once snare is done. And like I mentioned before, 1 person can activate both snares. It is also VERY IMPORTANT that both of these people don't pull hate from other mobs. Meaning the healer CANNOT use any healing skills and the DPS cannot use any party buff skill throughout the trial. Try to avoid AOE and resist from using heal. In case you do, use low level heal. Also, don't panic when mobs come at you. They will turn around very quickly if you do nothing. Either get hate from the kite team or they get pulled away by the NPC that are helping. However, once the boss is at the wall, both healer and dps on cannon can dps the boss before the wall gets broken down.

So here is the alternate strategy that we are using. Feel free to try it. We feel it makes the trial a lot easier and there isn't a lot of panic moment.

Are you going to upload the actual strategy?

Video please or I find it difficult to believe.

Actually sounds pretty plausible. But I bet they will patch the adds to stay if this catches on since there is no reason they would just go away.

Basically this except the 2nd tank should be on a cannon, not a DPS.

Video might be a little difficult to capture everything from each perspective. Actually, this strategy is purposely setup for pug parties. It makes things easier. But trying it is up to individual players.

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Originally Posted by Alistaire

Basically this except the 2nd tank should be on a cannon, not a DPS.

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You could, but I don't recommend it. Your reasoning to substitute the tank for the dps is to increase your dps on the boss. However, in reality, it actually lowers the overall dps instead, and it might jeopardize the run.

First, for the dps, black mage or summoner (turn off pet auto-attack) is the best choice. They don't require TP so they can use sprint if something happens. Such as somehow being chased by a mob and they need to run to the nearest NPC to loose the hate. Having a tank to do the cannon would have the opposite effect. Accidentally pulling hate from adds would mean interruption on snare or harpoon. That's something you don't want to happen. Furthermore, It is much safer for 2 tank to handle the adds at the entrance of the trial than having 1. If one tank dies, he or she can respawn while the other tank keep an eye on the adds. This also give the pulling healer a little more space. And another regen/heal bot to use for hate.

Secondly, back on the subject of lowering dps, after the boss destroys the 2 cannon, your cannon team should run to the oval shape gap on the side of the bridge and start DPSing the boss themselves. This location is perfect to avoid the frontal AOE the boss does. There is a 30 second window for the boss to knock down a wall. This is enough time for a black mage or summoner to blow through all their rotations and more some. I use my white mage for this. And I normally get into cleric stance, pop quick cast and go wild on stone II until my MP is empty. Replacing a dps with a tank would mean less DPS during this phase. In which, would have the opposite effect.

So... you don't kill the adds and instead wait for them to disappear when the barrier goes down?

I have tried the Healer Agro before with me as MT, the other tank and other healer at cannons and snare and the DPS on boss. One DPS goes up to Dragonslayer when the time comes.

But in your version, we don't take the adds down? I can see that this way the DPS are safe from any AOEs but in my experience, the three Uniques (Marracco, Turtle and no-agro-table-thingy) is actually WHY people die so much. Therefore, I would either let them under the cannons' range as much as possible or try to get the DPS to kill it fast.

I can see how your way would work. But the pulling healer needs to be good or there's going to be a lot of dying for him.

Ah sounds like my kind of strat lol, stacked vit healer would make this sooo easy.
Also yea in this game a lot of mobs have a set aggro range that will cause them to reset and go back to their initial positin if they r too far from u or if they r too far from their patrol area ( only a few special mobs do this)
Good to know, but try and post a vid as it seems pretty long im description.

maybe it's me getting old, but I find this 10 times more difficult to explain in a Pug then the default way

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Originally Posted by Yumi_umi

Ah sounds like my kind of strat lol, stacked vit healer would make this sooo easy.
Also yea in this game a lot of mobs have a set aggro range that will cause them to reset and go back to their initial positin if they r too far from u or if they r too far from their patrol area ( only a few special mobs do this)
Good to know, but try and post a vid as it seems pretty long im description.

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No, your healer should not stack VIT. You need MND to keep pulling and to heal. Leave the tanking for the 2 tanks that is with you.

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Originally Posted by Spoekes

maybe it's me getting old, but I find this 10 times more difficult to explain in a Pug then the default way

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I don't think the default way is easier to explain either. It is much easier to tell the 2 tanks and healer to stay at the entrance instead of all the pull mobs to the front of the dragon and stun routine.

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Originally Posted by elemental10

So... you don't kill the adds and instead wait for them to disappear when the barrier goes down?

I have tried the Healer Agro before with me as MT, the other tank and other healer at cannons and snare and the DPS on boss. One DPS goes up to Dragonslayer when the time comes.

But in your version, we don't take the adds down? I can see that this way the DPS are safe from any AOEs but in my experience, the three Uniques (Marracco, Turtle and no-agro-table-thingy) is actually WHY people die so much. Therefore, I would either let them under the cannons' range as much as possible or try to get the DPS to kill it fast.

I can see how your way would work. But the pulling healer needs to be good or there's going to be a lot of dying for him.

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Both 3 uniques are way out of range to even hit the DPS. Remember, the 2 tanks and 1 healer are at the entrance/beginning of the trial.

They are a LONG way away from everyone else. They shouldn't be following the rest of the party. Thus the DPS will not get hurt at all. Heck they couldn't even get hate or lose 1 hp. If they are, then they are using AOE or Party buff which they shouldn't.

Also, healer doesn't need to be "excellent" for this strategy. Any healer can do it. It is as simple as heal 2 tanks and him or herself. That is all.

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Originally Posted by Yggberry

I don't think the default way is easier to explain either. It is much easier to tell the 2 tanks and healer to stay at the entrance instead of all the pull mobs to the front of the dragon and stun routine.

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The default is really quite easy to explain. I even have a macro for it. It looks like this:
(start of macro)
READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE STEPS BEFORE
Don't stand under his feet. He will step on you. Don't stand in AOE.
TANKS: Most geared tank pick up adds (spawn by both feet and tail). Other tank on cannon.
DPS: Focus the dragon, NOT the adds. Least geared DPS on cannon. Second least has tower duty.
HEALS: Heal.
CANNONS: Shoot beneath the dragon to hit both adds and dragon. On tower 3 or later, activate snares (orange spikes) near cannons as soon as it lets you.
TOWER: Fire when the ORANGE CIRCLE is beneath the dragon's chest. On tower 3 or later, wait for snares first.
(end of macro)

I mean, that's it. Hit the boss, fire cannons, activate snares, fire dragon killer. I'd say 1 heal 1 tank on cannons would be better, but if it's a PUG, I don't want to risk it.

I can confirm that this strat works 100%. I explained this to a DF group upon entering, set roles, and we one shot it with time to spare. Got 7 commends too ^_^.

Somebody needs to video this. For cereal.

Also, how does one of the cannon team members make it all the way up the tower in time? I would have one of the 3 DPS attacking the dragon go and man the dragon slayer after the first set of canons go down. That way you don't have to do the "activate > sprint > activate". Each cannon person can do his/her own snare. Maybe I am wrong, but the one time I had to run up the tower it seemed like a long ass climb. Just a suggestion. It seems plausible. If it works, it will be the new standard IMO.

Also, how does the healer/tank grab aggro from the big mobs, I thought they didn't have an aggro table?

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Originally Posted by Zaft

The default is really quite easy to explain. I even have a macro for it. It looks like this:
(start of macro)
READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE STEPS BEFORE
Don't stand under his feet. He will step on you. Don't stand in AOE.
TANKS: Most geared tank pick up adds (spawn by both feet and tail). Other tank on cannon.
DPS: Focus the dragon, NOT the adds. Least geared DPS on cannon. Second least has tower duty.
HEALS: Heal.
CANNONS: Shoot beneath the dragon to hit both adds and dragon. On tower 3 or later, activate snares (orange spikes) near cannons as soon as it lets you.
TOWER: Fire when the ORANGE CIRCLE is beneath the dragon's chest. On tower 3 or later, wait for snares first.
(end of macro)

I mean, that's it. Hit the boss, fire cannons, activate snares, fire dragon killer. I'd say 1 heal 1 tank on cannons would be better, but if it's a PUG, I don't want to risk it.

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While your explanation is brief and simple, it doesn't address the "What if" in the trial. And the "What if" is one of the problem that people faces and fail the trial. For example, what if turtle elite does large AoE right before snare, does the snare person go back to the cannon and stun it or wait it out? What if the pulling tank dies? Then does that wipe the entire DPS group and lower the dps done to the boss?

My strategy's goal is to take the "What if" out of the picture. Having 2 tank and a healer work on the adds, it makes it safe for the rest of the group to bring down the dragon. After doing so many Step of Faith, even after posting this, I am now convinced that if this strategy is followed correctly, then there would be 0 chance of failing Step of Faith no matter what type of equipment the player has.

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Originally Posted by Frost_Trunks

Also, how does one of the cannon team members make it all the way up the tower in time? I would have one of the 3 DPS attacking the dragon go and man the dragon slayer after the first set of canons go down. That way you don't have to do the "activate > sprint > activate". Each cannon person can do his/her own snare. Maybe I am wrong, but the one time I had to run up the tower it seemed like a long ass climb. Just a suggestion. It seems plausible. If it works, it will be the new standard IMO.

Also, how does the healer/tank grab aggro from the big mobs, I thought they didn't have an aggro table?

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Actually, I want to rephrase this. 1 person is enough to work on the cannon and the snares. The other person on the cannon team is basically just there to trigger the dragon killer (harpoon). I suggest that person to be the DPS. Because if their DPS is good, then I recommend them to forget about the cannon and just DPS the boss and do the dragon killer harpoon when the time comes.

Most of the time on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th wall. I have the cannon DPS run up the tower and wait there to activate the dragon killer beforehand. Once he/she is done, then they can come back down and dps the boss.

Meanwhile, I main the cannon since I'm a healer and cannon damage is better than my personal dps. 2000 per shot is better than my 800 Stone II. Of course the snare is easy to do, just activate > sprint > activate, there is plenty of time to do it.

As for the 3 elite mobs, they do switch target, however, it is not a problem. You have 2 tanks to take care of it so there shouldn't be any headache. Furthermore, by the time the group is at the 2nd wall, they are really far away from the entrance. The elite mobs travel very slowly and it takes them awhile to turn around. Furthermore, along the way, there are many NPCs on the bridge. They actually serve as a buffer that will take hate away from these large mobs. Considering none of the DPS fighting the boss has any hate on the adds, all the adds can be easily avoided. And of course, after each wall, these adds de-spawn and disappear. This actually give the kite team about 10-30 second down time until the next set of mob comes.

This sounds like a very good strategy, I'm not sure how some others aren't getting it. Having completed this trial on cannons, regular DPS, DPS/ harpoon, and tank this all sounds good. The last time I completed it (the normal way) we actually intentionally used the WHM to pull to the tank since mobs tend to flock toward the primary healer immediately anyway (except the Biasts that can mostly be ignored as you said). I'd considered something like this but never got around to working it out/ wasn't sure it would really work. I can confirm that the larger adds definitely will stray as far as the beginning of the trial if they have a reason to, so it only makes sense that you could hold them there completely out of the way. I was also a bit stunned to see that the regular adds do indeed despawn if left alone long enough (apparently when the next wall breaks).

I'd think the only wild card would be the last large add (forget his name, but final boss for SV HM) who doesn't seem to have any sort of enmity table and spawns near the end. Had him take out a cannon once because he was just so dead set on attacking that person for no particular reason.

Did ths strategy before comming to this thread and so far the only issue i had was when my friend (sch) got 90k'd. A coordinated tank healer duo can hold adds fine while the rest of the party focuses vishap.

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Originally Posted by Nutz

I'd think the only wild card would be the last large add (forget his name, but final boss for SV HM) who doesn't seem to have any sort of enmity table and spawns near the end. Had him take out a cannon once because he was just so dead set on attacking that person for no particular reason.

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I've had him chase me up to the dragon slayer and I never touched him (drg). I about shit a brick.

So Divine Seal Medica II Swiftcast Medica Regen all the things?

I tried this in df today, and it seems if half of the party is trying to do it the usual way then it doesnt work (had new people join in after original ones left, and they said they understood the plan but I guess not).

Can you explain more about the kite team? Snce other two are pretty clear, and healer in cannon team shouldnt heal.

Do they stay in the back but run in a circle to reduce damage taken? if a healer dies and is now low on mp how do you get around that?

How would this work in a pug exactly? This is asking a lot from people you don't even know. Unless you are doing Steps with people you do know then this seems much harder to pull off for a group of strangers.