The Steps of Faith (Duty)
This article is about the retired trial. For the updated A Realm Reborn Main Scenario Quest, see The Steps of Faith.
“The Steps of Faith─the sole means of approaching the city of Ishgard. As well as providing passage across the Sea of Clouds, this great stone bridge also serves to anchor the series of arcane wards known as Daniffen's Collar.
Long has the Holy See relied upon these barriers to shield the city from Dravanian assault, but it did not foresee the brazen attack that would take place at the Gates of Judgement. The outermost layer of protection has been dispelled, allowing the mighty dragon Vishap to land upon the far end of the Steps of Faith. Leading an army of lesser kin, the massive creature is intent on destroying the exposed foundations of the remaining wards. Take up position alongside the Temple Knights, and defend the structure from the ravaging forces of the Horde!— In-game description
The Steps of Faith is a level 50 trial introduced in patch 2.55.
Strategy
Dravanian: Vishap
Vishap is fought on a long bridge divided into four sections, all of which are divided by magicked barriers. Throughout the duration of the fight, Vishap will walk slowly across the bridge. He cannot be slowed, stopped, or aggroed, making time a serious factor. Should you fail to defeat him before he reaches the end of the bridge, you will fail the Duty and have to restart from the beginning.
- Note that you do not fail the duty if your entire party dies. Any deceased party members may return to the entrance and rejoin the fight. A shortcut will also be active near the entrance in similar fashion to a dungeon or raid.
As Vishap walks, adds will spawn around him. Vishap himself is not a true damage threat besides his feet; the boss' stomps deal 5 to 6k damage. Players can avoid these by standing under him between his legs or move far away from him. Vishap will also perform large conal AoEs in front of him, which should be avoided when arming cannons.
Cannons
Each section of the bridge has 4 cannons, arranged in pairs of two, and 1 large cannon on top of a tower. The 2nd and 3rd division have snares just in front of the final pair of cannons. The final stretch contains several piled-up barrels that explode.
The 2 cannons within the range of Vishap should be firing constantly. Each shot deals 2000 AoE damage. They can also stun or drop pools of poison. They are needed to kill the adds.
The cannon on top of the tower is called a Dragon Killer. It is able to deal a massive amount of damage to Vishap's HP per shot. All 3 of the tower cannons should hit. A DPS should be assigned to operate them. Dragon Killers can only hit 1 location and require charge time. The first tower cannon should be quite easy to aim, while the second and third need some help from snares.
The snares are positioned just in front of the final pair of cannons just before the 2nd and 3rd magicked wall. When Vishap performs a huge breath AOE that takes up almost the entire front of him, this is when he is in snare range and snare-able. Players on cannons should get off to hit their respective snares. The snared dragon is an easy target for the Dragon Killers.
In the final section there will be barrels. Keep adds away from the barrels, as eventually Vishap will step on them and they will explode, dealing massive damage.
Roles
Tanks should grab all adds and place them underneath Vishap. This way the cannons will hit all the adds at once along with the boss.
Healers should stay with tanks under Vishap. Heal and watch out for the boss' feet.
2 DPS, preferably ranged or the DPS with the lowest item levels should operate the cannons. Players should not stop firing or leave the cannons until Vishap is casting his frontal swipe to destroy them. Right before Vishap finishes casting the frontal AoE, get away from the cannons.
After the first barrier, run to your cannons and repeat the process. On the 2nd set of cannons, Vishap will perform a beam attack instead of a swipe. When he is casting the beam, use your snares.
Once the dragon is chained, go back to hitting him with the cannon until they are detonated. Repeat until dead.
Your cannon can stun enemies. The tortoise adds in the second section have a very large circular AoE that deals 2-3k damage. Stun the tortoises when they are casting the attack.
1 DPS is responsible for the Dragon Killer tower cannons. When the first set of cannons are destroyed, sprint to the large tower with the stairs, there is a large cannon called Dragon Killer on top.
When Vishap steps on that big red circle, fire at him to deal heavy damage.
After damaging the boss, take the stairs and get down from the tower. DPS the boss until the next section. After the first set of cannons are destroyed, repeat your process to the tower.
After the first hit, Vishap will dodge all Dragon Killer shots unless he is snared. When he dodges, he'll body slam the bridge and do 5-6k damage to anyone underneath him. Wait for the boss to be snared before firing the Dragon Killer shot. You can identify when he is snared when he has large chains around his neck.
The final DPS should continuously damage the boss.
Alternate Strategy
The lowest geared tank and DPS will man the cannons while all other DPS stay on the boss and ignore the adds. The add tank should pick up the adds and bring them to the front of the dragon so the cannons can hit the adds prior to Vishap being in range of the cannons. The only time the adds should not be brought in front of Vishap is as he approaches his next set of cannons, when he performs a large conal AoE.
Starting on the 2nd section and continuing to the end of the bridge, one DPS should be available to fire the Dragon Killer. You will always need to be ready to fire the Dragon Killer after Vishap destroys the first set of cannons but before he destroys the second set. Starting on the 3rd and 4th sections, Vishap will perforrm a large AoE in a straight line in front of him, covering the whole bridge. At this point, the 2 players on the cannons should get off and immediately snare him. The player operating the Dragon Killer should be at the tower ready to fire the moment he gets snared. Once all the cannons have been destroyed in each individual section, the DPS from the cannons should help finish off the adds before moving onto the boss while waiting for the next available moment to move toward the next set of cannons.
Each section has an add that has their own move to watch out for. The first section spawns a dragon that uses Swinge (similar to The Stone Vigil's first boss). The second section has a large circle AoE that can be stunned. The third area has a large dragon with a large amount of HP. The large add in the final section of the bridge has no aggro table and will simply run around attacking random party members.
Behind the Scenes
Upon its release, the trial was notorious for an exceedingly heavy amount of mechanics unusual for A Realm Reborn, resulting in many groups failing them and being forced to wait for Vishap to reach the end of the bridge. As a result the trial was nerfed in Patch 2.57, with the HP of various enemies including Vishap being reduced. The trial remained unpopular despite this, as players ignored the unusual mechanics and instead just burned down Vishap's still-formidable HP. The development team ultimately decided to completely remove the trial and replace it with a quest battle in Patch 6.2.
