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Guardian Tales Expedition guide

Updated 8 September 2026

Expedition unlocks after the Trial of the Chosen One quest in World 13 and is Guardian Tales' main endgame PvE loop. It is a scoring mode: you clear timed trial stages for points, your points raise a Candidate Rank, and Candidate Rank gates both the next District and a stream of Legendary and Epic Relics, Forge capacity, and other rewards you cannot get elsewhere.

How Expedition is laid out

There are four Chosen One Areas. Each Area is split into Districts, and each District is split into Trial Areas — the individual stages you actually play.

Every Trial Area gives a score when cleared. Your Total Score across cleared Trial Areas, Hidden Stages and collected Curios feeds your Candidate Rank. There are eight Candidate Ranks plus two title ranks.

You cannot free-roam ahead: moving to the next District requires hitting that District's Candidate Rank threshold, so Expedition progress is a steady score grind rather than a linear campaign.

The Chosen One Notebook screen tracks all of this — overall progress, unclaimed District Score rewards, and the Curios and Expedition Archives you have found.

Scoring: Event Zones and Event Switches

Two mechanics generate almost all of your score, and both revolve around point-multiplier orbs.

Event Zones appear on the map during a trial. Step into one and it spawns a batch of high-health Event Zone enemies (they sometimes wall off part of the arena to slow you down) that despawn on a timer. Kill them before they vanish and they drop a large pile of point-multiplier orbs.

Event Switches sit at the four corners of every trial stage. During the fight a random switch lights up; touch it and a single high-health special enemy materialises that explodes after a few seconds. Kill it in time and it, too, drops a heap of multiplier orbs.

The practical rule: never ignore a lit switch or an Event Zone. Clearing regular enemies barely moves your score; collecting the multiplier orbs from Zone and Switch enemies is the score. Build a team that can burst those down fast.

Team building for Expedition

Unlike Guild Raid, Expedition throws waves of adds at you, so AoE clear and a little sustain matter. You want a damage leader who can delete an Event Zone pack quickly, a second bursty Hero for the Switch enemies, and a Support or Tanker to survive the harder Districts.

Element advantage still applies per enemy, but Expedition trials mix Elements, so raw damage and clear speed usually beat trying to hard-counter one Element. Bring your most reliable general-purpose damage team.

Relic gear rolls toward Boss Damage / general PvE damage here, matching the progression guide's Relic advice — the score you lose is score you didn't have time to grab, so anything that shortens each pack is worth it.

Hidden Wonder

Hidden Wonder is a bonus stage with extra rewards, one per Chosen One Area. Entry costs five Map Pieces, which drop from clearing Trial Areas (you can hold up to 20). Each Area needs its own Map Pieces, so you cannot bank pieces from Area 1 to skip ahead in Area 3.

Hidden Stages

Some Districts contain a stage that is invisible until you meet a specific in-trial condition — usually redirecting an enemy attack into a crystal or object, protecting an NPC, or hitting things in a set order. Clearing one rewards a Curio or an Expedition Archive.

The known hidden stages, by Area:

Chosen One AreaHidden stageWhereHow to open it
Area 1Cliff's Edge2nd District, 5th Trial AreaBreak the purple crystal in the upper-right corner by redirecting an enemy attack into it
Area 1Pilgrim's Passage3rd District, 7th Trial AreaKeep the Chosen One's follower NPC alive through the Trial Area (boss fight vs Salamandra)
Area 2Black Martial Arts4th District, 3rd Trial AreaDestroy the three cocoons in the corners (not the upper-right one) with redirected attacks, then hit the three gongs in order
Area 2Crawlers' Chapel5th District, 5th Trial Area
Area 3Dragon's Lair8th District, 5th Trial Area
Area 4Mortuary9th District, 2nd Trial AreaLure the boss into smashing the stones blocking the upper-left door, then leave the trial
Area 4The Chosen One Sanctum10th District, Final Trial AreaMake the boss destroy the stones blocking the upper-right door, then leave the trial (fight vs Archpriestess Veronica — reflect her lightning back at her)

Candidate Rank rewards

Pushing Candidate Rank is the point of Expedition. Higher ranks unlock access to Legendary and Epic Relics, expand your Forge capacity, and open new items — the Relic supply in particular is why endgame accounts keep running Expedition long after the story is done.

Because rank comes from Total Score, re-clearing earlier Trial Areas for a better score (more multiplier orbs collected) is a valid way to push a threshold when you are stuck below the next District's requirement.

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