The credits are not the end of Granblue Fantasy: Relink‘s progression route. They open Chapter Ø, which turns the story campaign into a quest-counter climb. On a current Endless Ragnarok save, there is also a branch that begins much earlier: a new Seedhollow side quest in Chapter 6 starts The Conflux. The two branches finally meet when you have cleared Conflux Cycle 3 and the Proud quest The Tale of Bahamut’s Rage.
This guide follows that dependency chain from the Prologue to the expansion gate. It is not a room-by-room collectible list. Each chapter section identifies the state that must change, the fight or interaction that proves it changed, and the symptom that usually explains a stalled route. Story and boss names are necessarily spoilers.
Read the route as two tracks that meet after Proud
- Finish the base story: Prologue, Chapters 1-9, then the Final Chapter.
- Start The Conflux during Chapter 6: on an Endless Ragnarok-enabled save, take the newly added Seedhollow side quest before departing for Dahli Island. This opens Cycle 1.
- Enter Chapter Ø after the credits: recover Rolan by completing the required counter quests and rank-up missions.
- Raise the quest tiers: Hard progress opens Conflux Cycle 2; continuing through Maniac opens Cycle 3. The counter route also continues through Extreme, Maniac, and Proud.
- Complete both final prerequisites: finish Conflux Cycle 3 and clear The Tale of Bahamut’s Rage on Proud.
- Start the Endless Ragnarok chapter: once both conditions are satisfied, the new story route becomes available.
Do not substitute another impressive completion for either final prerequisite. Clearing Chapter Ø alone is not enough. Clearing Zero is not required. Beating The Tale of Bahamut’s Rage without advancing The Conflux leaves one gate closed, while finishing Cycle 3 without reaching the required Proud quest leaves the other closed.
Prologue through Chapter 3: learn what counts as proof
The Prologue teaches movement, blocking, dodging, skills, and party combat aboard the Grandcypher. Gran and Djeeta are two presentations of the same captain role; that choice does not create a different progression route. The important completion proof is the scripted Bahamut encounter after the wyvern tutorial. If the story does not move to Sundappled Grove, finish the active combat prompt rather than searching the ship for optional dialogue.
Chapter 1: reach Folca with a working four-character core
Follow Vyrn and the objective marker through Sundappled Grove, free Lyria from the wolves, and continue until the Quakadile blocks the exit. This chapter introduces elemental weaknesses, skills, support effects, consumables, weapon improvement, and Masteries in quick succession. Treat those systems as a checklist, not an invitation to spread resources across the entire roster.
Choose the captain plus three allies whose controls and roles you understand. Put early Mastery points into abilities that make those four more reliable, improve the weapons they are actually using, and keep at least one healing or defensive answer available. The proof that Chapter 1 is done is not an upgraded menu: it is arriving in Folca, checking the town services, and advancing the church conversations until the next departure appears.
If Quakadile feels unusually slow, watch the body rather than continuing a front-facing combo. Its tired windows expose safer attack time around the limbs. If the party is being downed before those windows matter, return to the nearby Hallowed Ground, refill consumables, equip the improvements already earned, and try again. A new recruit is not required to repair a neglected starting party.
Chapter 2: clear both Tempeal settlements before chasing the boss
After landing on Tempeal, the route passes a Hallowed Ground and then separates into the windmill and waterfront rescues. The two settlements can be liberated in either order, but both hostage groups must be safe before the route closes on Greatshield Madbeat. If the objective marker appears to circle the same open area, check the other settlement for an unfinished enemy group or prisoner interaction.
Greatshield Madbeat is the chapter’s first strong lesson in target priority. Striking the protected front while ignoring openings makes the fight look like a damage check. Use the arena, evade the committed swings, and punish the exposed side or rear rather than spending every potion in a shield contest. The completion proof is the post-battle transition into the primal-beast pursuit, not the number of chests collected in The Hills.
Chapter 3: treat the mine collapse and Furycane as separate tests
Inside the Tempeal Mines, lower the wooden bridges and keep moving when the collapse sequence begins. This is a traversal test: sprint toward the active route instead of fighting scenery or backtracking for a missed sparkle. Once outside at Halewind Altar, stop at the Hallowed Ground before crossing into Furycane’s arena.
Furycane punishes a party that stands directly in front of its paired blades. Work around the flanks, preserve a defensive skill for the wide wind patterns, and use Link opportunities when the party creates them. If the boss is surviving comfortably while your party repeatedly falls, the answer is usually safer positioning and a repaired defensive setup, not another lap through the collapsing mine.
Chapters 4 and 5: spend the roster choice, then protect the rescue route
Chapter 4 gives the campaign its first deliberate roster expansion. Finish the Folca conversations, speak with Sierokarte, and receive the Crewmate Card before reporting to the dock. Recruit for a missing function or a playstyle you will actually learn. The card is valuable, but hoarding every early resource for an imagined endgame can make the active rescue party weaker than it needs to be.
The airship pursuit changes the rules twice. First, use the ether cannons to remove incoming fire. Then cross onto the Avia ship and destroy the marked autocannons and control unit instead of treating the boarding party as an endless score challenge. After the ships are grappled, remove the grapnels that keep the Grandcypher trapped. Gallanza is the final combat proof; leaving an objective device active can make it seem as though defeating ordinary soldiers should advance the chapter when it will not.
Chapter 5 begins on Mt. Neigelith and continues through the monastery, Snowquilt Ravine, and Tredame Sanctum. The critical sequence is:
- reach the monastery and defeat Nazarbonju;
- follow the snow route rather than returning to the old entrance;
- protect Historiath while the ritual progresses;
- use the last Hallowed Ground before entering the Managarmr fight.
The protection segment fails when every character follows a distant enemy and leaves the ritual target exposed. Hold the defense around the objective, remove threats that can interrupt it, and only chase when the safe zone is stable. For Managarmr, separate survival from damage: learn which ground remains safe during the large ice patterns, then commit Link Attacks, skills, and Skybound Arts when the boss stops moving. Repeatedly losing the party during an arena-wide pattern is a positioning failure even if the damage numbers look good.
Chapter 6 has a new stop before Dahli
Chapter 6 is the most important route fork in the current game. The original story sends the crew through Seedhollow, Zathba’s base, and then Dahli Relicbelt to search for the Catalyst Stone. Ver. 2.0.2 adds an Endless Ragnarok side quest in Seedhollow before the departure for Dahli Island. Take it while the chapter is in that town state. It opens The Conflux and Cycle 1.
If that quest is visible, complete or at least undertake it before boarding. If it is absent, verify that Endless Ragnarok is installed and active, the game is updated, and the main objective has reached the correct pre-Dahli point. Do not assume a launch walkthrough will mention it; the route did not exist in Ver. 1.x.
The base Chapter 6 chain still matters:
- meet Zathba and finish the Seedhollow story interactions;
- travel to Dahli Relicbelt and locate the Catalyst Stone route;
- activate the ruin seals needed to open the central approach;
- defeat Maglielle when the Avia intervention blocks progress;
- complete the Excavallion encounter and its objective phases.
Dahli’s wind traversal is easier to see in Ver. 2.0.2, but a missed breezeway can still look like a dead end. Scan upward and across the broken ruins for the moving air path before searching the desert floor. During Excavallion, follow the active objective and targetable components rather than unloading every cooldown into a body part that is not advancing the phase.
Chapters 7 through 9: close the pursuit before expanding the build
Chapter 7 returns to a more direct chase. Reach Frightflame Altar through the Phondam Isles, survive the primal-beast encounter, and follow the abduction route when Lyria is taken again. This is not the moment to raise a second full party. Use the same four-character core, update their current weapons and Masteries with what the campaign has supplied, and preserve recovery for the arena-wide fire patterns.
Chapter 8 is an assault on Seedhollow Castle. The route changes state through devices and named encounters, not through the number of Avia soldiers defeated. Storm the castle, push to its depths, defeat Tayu’itar, survive the generals’ sequence, and then settle the confrontation with Id. If the castle battle appears endless, look for the objective marker on a mechanism, passage, or priority enemy; ordinary reinforcements are often pressure around the real task.
Chapter 9 is a gauntlet up the Pillar of Vayoi. Prepare before committing, because Managarmr Nihilla, Vulkan Bolla Nihilla, and Angra Mainyu test different parts of the same party. Keep the following discipline:
- Reset between proofs. Use each safe preparation point to refill and apply earned upgrades rather than carrying a bad state into the next boss.
- Do not burst into invulnerability. If a boss has left the arena, changed form, or is covered by a phase effect, hold major skills until a valid target returns.
- Protect the critical gauge. Revive promptly, use recovery before the party collapses together, and avoid spending the entire critical-condition allowance on one failed pattern.
- Read the center of the arena. Angra Mainyu’s spectacle can hide the actual safe lane or target. Movement and camera control matter as much as raw attack.
The chapter is complete only after the story returns you to the Grandcypher and points toward the Final Chapter. A missed Archive, chest, or Wee Pincer does not prevent that transition.
Final Chapter: prepare for Bahamut Versa as a survival check
The Final Chapter is short because its real task is Bahamut Versa. Spend the preparation window on the party that cleared Chapter 9. Equip the strongest appropriate weapons already available, fill empty sigil slots with useful traits, buy the Mastery nodes that improve the skills you actually use, and bring recovery. This is not a demand to finish an endgame build before the endgame exists.
During the fight, separate spectacle from instruction. Move when the arena signals a large attack, attack the valid target when the boss returns, and save party burst for a window that will not be interrupted by a phase change. If the critical gauge is disappearing before the later phases, trade a marginal attack increase for health, revival, potion capacity, or another defensive trait. Surviving long enough to execute mechanics is the progression requirement.
Defeating Bahamut Versa rolls the base-story credits and opens Chapter Ø. It does not finish the route described here.
After the credits, Chapter Ø changes the game
Chapter Ø begins with a small stolen-goods assignment and then converts Rolan’s unfinished work into the postgame structure. You gain Chapter Select, faster access to town services, a new skyfarer grade, and counter quests marked as required progression. Red crossed-swords icons identify the quests that matter to the next promotion.
Do not confuse the on-screen task total with a promise that any equal number of quests will work. Clear the specifically marked counter quests, then take the rank-up mission that appears. The route moves through Hard, Very Hard, Extreme, Maniac, and Proud as the counter expands. Rolan’s rescue and the Chapter Ø story resolution occur along that climb rather than immediately after the credits.
Climb the counter by gates, not by random grinding
At every new tier, begin with the marked progression quests. When one is too slow or repeatedly wipes the party, stop pushing the highest icon and diagnose the failing layer:
- Characters are downed by one ordinary hit: improve defensive Masteries, health, weapon level, sigil level, and recovery before adding more attack.
- The party survives but misses a damage check: finish offensive Masteries, uncap the active weapons, match traits to the character’s actual attack loop, and learn the boss opening.
- AI allies waste Skybound Arts: set the SBA behavior deliberately and build the chain around a controlled opening. Ver. 2.0.2 also allows the SBA mode to be changed during battle while the player is not critical.
- A solo party has one weak slot: the current quest counter can provide a Backup Character borrowed from another player. Use it as support while repairing your own core rather than treating it as proof that the gate has been permanently solved.
- No promotion appears: sort or scan for uncleared red crossed-swords quests and then check for the rank-up mission. Repeating a comfortable unmarked quest does not replace a missing requirement.
Farm the highest tier your party can clear reliably, not the highest tier it can enter. A fast clear that produces upgrades is progress; a ten-minute failure is practice. Avoid copying old fixed level thresholds as law, because Ver. 2.0.2 adjusted enemy strength, rewards, sigils, weapons, and several postgame systems.
Old guides also describe Terminus weapons as if one Proud drop route were the only answer. The current update adds Ultimate Memory, obtainable from The Final Report and The Tale of Bahamut’s Rage, and it can be used at the blacksmith to forge Terminus weapons. Use the acquisition information shown by the current client before committing to a legacy farming loop.
Make Conflux Cycle 3 and Proud converge
The Conflux is a single-player branch with its own cycles. Its gates are tied back to the same progression ladder:
- Cycle 1: undertake the new Chapter 6 Seedhollow side quest.
- Cycle 2: advance through Hard quests.
- Cycle 3: advance through Maniac quests.
- Deeper cycles: continue through the Endless Ragnarok story after it opens.
This means a new player should not postpone The Conflux until every Proud quest is finished. Start it in Chapter 6, return as the difficulty ladder unlocks later cycles, and let both routes advance together. A returning player who already cleared the base campaign should inspect Seedhollow and the quest state after updating; Chapter Select and current side-quest markers are safer than relying on a 2024 memory of the town.
On the Proud branch, your required destination is The Tale of Bahamut’s Rage. When that quest and Conflux Cycle 3 are both clear, the Endless Ragnarok story gate is satisfied. If you want The Final Vision afterward, the current route is to speak with Sandalphon in Seedhollow after The Tale of Bahamut’s Rage. Zero is optional for expansion access. Do not delay the new story because an old endgame checklist places Zero at the end of a completion ladder.
Keep collectibles out of the critical path
Archives, chests, Wee Pincers, Omen Stones, and optional encounters reward exploration, but they should not obscure the state change that ends a chapter. Take an obvious collectible when the arena is safe. Do not restart a long boss approach because one sparkle was missed.
Chapter Select is the cleanup tool. In the current version, its map reports separate completion tallies for opened chests, collected Wee Pincers, and defeated slimes. Locked chests now show a key icon when the required key is missing, and frozen chests on Mt. Neigelith appear on the map. Those signals turn cleanup into a measured pass instead of a blind first-playthrough sweep.
The three key gates are also easy to separate:
- the Silver Key comes from the side quest A Lingering Regret;
- the Gold Key comes from Out of Serpentine Spine;
- the Whitewing Key arrives with the Zegagrande Legend promotion.
If a chest is visibly locked, mark the chapter and leave. A missing key is a progression condition, not a hidden lever in the current room. Ver. 2.0.2 also places additional Crewmate Cards in Chapter 5’s Avia’s Trap, Chapter 6’s Relics in the Sand, Chapter 8’s Another Round of Duels, and Chapter 9’s Tainted Wind. Cleared saves can revisit those chapters through Chapter Select.
When the route stalls, diagnose the gate
- The main story marker will not advance in an open battle area.
- Look for a second settlement, control device, grapnel, seal, protected target, or named priority enemy. Several chapters surround the real interaction with respawning pressure.
- The Chapter 6 Conflux quest is missing.
- Confirm Ver. 2.0.2 or later, confirm Endless Ragnarok ownership/installation, and check Seedhollow before the Dahli departure state. A launch-era guide cannot verify this new branch.
- Chapter Ø has started, but the next difficulty has not.
- Clear the quests marked with red crossed swords, then complete the rank-up mission. Generic quest totals and repeated farming clears are not substitutes.
- Cycle 2 or Cycle 3 is locked.
- Return to the quest-counter branch. Cycle 2 depends on Hard progress; Cycle 3 depends on Maniac progress.
- The Endless Ragnarok story is still unavailable.
- Verify both proofs independently: Conflux Cycle 3 cleared, and The Tale of Bahamut’s Rage cleared on Proud. Zero and The Final Vision are not substitutes.
- A legacy build guide says one rare sigil or drop is mandatory.
- Check the current client source list, blacksmith options, and quest rewards. Ver. 2.0.2 changed acquisition routes and added new progression systems, so old optimization advice should be treated as historical.
The route is complete when the base campaign has become Chapter Ø, Chapter Ø has carried the party into Proud, The Conflux has reached Cycle 3, and The Tale of Bahamut’s Rage is clear. At that point the next story is no longer hidden behind a generic demand to “finish the endgame”; it is unlocked by two specific, verifiable proofs.
Sources and version boundary
Steam AppID 881020 confirms the game identity, Cygames credit, co-op scope, and provenance of the original screenshots used here; see the official Steam listing. The current progression boundary comes from the official Endless Ragnarok update page for Ver. 2.0.2. Stable campaign order and checkpoint geography were cross-checked against community guides and verified walkthrough references captured on July 24, 2026. Balance-sensitive rankings, fixed drop claims, warning-marked Steam guides, and blocked Game8/GameFAQs pages were not used as authority.