• Make sure you have Weak. It can be very easy to assume that FuSoYa will have Weak, and you're going to be sad if you're in the Giant and find out he's not there quite yet
• Put the Weak caster in the center slot
• if Tellah, and you save some speedy people, give him +agi gear, or maybe have a Hermes handy
• Know how many d machines you need. Think about target spells/levels for characters. Nuke/White are common targets.
• If someone is close to slingshot range, think about setting it up
• Have the consumables (ethers, cure pots, life pots) to meet your exp goal
• Give as many high HP people fire resistance as you can (Cecil, Cid are big targets for this, since any part of dragoon/ice defensive gear provides it)
• It's better to over-prepare than under-prepare
• A SomaDrop on Tellah or Fu will give them an extra weak cast at full mp.

• Safety over speed. That means, take a turn cycle to heal if you need to.
• Keep track of your Weak caster's MP, and try to ensure you don't have to recover MP when there's a d machine summoned
• Try to have at least one extra Fire attack's worth of HP on a few characters as a buffer
• Blink/Illusion on your Weak caster can save you from disaster if your punch goes off before the weak spell.
• A dancing dagger item use will kill a weakened D Machine. A Rod used as an item will (likely) not.
• Don't run buffer (unless E:cantrun is on)
• Having an HrGlass as backup can save your grind. You can wait out the stop effect on the searcher.
• Stopping short and having to get the fight again is more costly than doing an extra cycle or two and getting extra levels.
• If you have a character with Ice-2, consider putting them in the top slot. Often you can get multiple life glitches in because of the spell delay. This can make you take extra Flame attacks, though, so practice it to know when it's going to be most useful.

• If you're concerned about your anchor, make sure that you knock them out after the Searcher has had Weak successfully cast on it, but before you kill it. Your anchor using a kamikaze is a great idea.
• Turn Encounters off. Turn them off right away.
• Kill the searcher with physical damage. (they have a lot of magic def, do not use a Dancing Dagger as an item, it's too risky)

• If you weak the Searcher too soon:
  • use Cure3, Cure4, or a Cure3 pot on the Searcher
  • use a Lilith Rod or Succubus item to trigger the D.Machin summons
• Your Weak caster doesn't have the MP for Weak
  • Use an ether/Lilith Rod item usage/Succubus ASAP
  • Focus on keeping at least the Weak caster and one other party member alive. You need to kill the D.Machin safely, and can take time afterwards to recover fully.
  • The Stop spell will buy you some time, and can be cast by Rydia or Palom at relatively low levels

Step Manip - Explanatory video

Step Manip for Ecantrun