You'll already have cleared a handful of early-game dungeons before straps you in for the first "proper" one. Regalith Grand Cathedral is explored in several steps, on🔯 multiple days, and you'll only have a bit over a week to get it all done. It can be accessed numerous times until completed. In other words, yes, it's a lot like a modern Persona dungeon.

In this guide, we'll cover every step of your journey,💖 from the quick rescue efforts to the mausoleum and beyond. Keep a tab open, and you'll locate all the Grand Cathedral's treasure chests while flattening your powerful foes along the way.

Cathedral Foyer And Catacombs

The Grand Cathedral is a long dungeon in more ways than one. Prior to the dungeon proper, events will occur on June 11th, which include battling through a small zone.

Inciting Events

While prep work is far less important here than further on, we'll still cover the basics. Begin the mission by heading to the designated main story zone at the Grand Cathedral. You'll be fighting undead creatures called Malmorta upon the conclusion of some major events.

You'll be thrust into combat while Strohl is suffering from the anxiety ailment. You can cure this if you've purchased a Soothing Sweetbun from one of the vendors at the market, but it's frankly not a huge dꦕeal in this situaඣtion.

The Malmorta ambush you, so they act first - but they largely waste that advantage by raising their Hit Rate to 100 percent. By setting the protagonist's class to Healer, you can utilize the Hama spell to deal light damage to them, likely killing the target every time.

Into The Foyer

Start by crossing the completely linear path into the Grand Cathedral. Naturally, your arrival in the foyer occurs right before rubble falls upon the front staircases, so we'll be going the long way.

Head through the hall between the staircases, and you'll soon discover another pair of staircases. Start by heading up the right set of stairs. At the top, you'll find a treasure chest with a Breeze Igniter.

This accessory enables the equipped characters to cast Mage Wind, granting access to a Wind-elem🎉ental spell without necessitating a swap to the Seeker class.

Start by ascending the left flight of stairs. You'll find some poor folks are about to be slain, so defeat the Malmorta in this scripted battle. Afterward, descend the staircase ahead of you so that you can snag a few items.

Double back to the room where you rescued the folks. This time, ascend the staircase to your right. Keep along this path up a few more stairs and into the room with bookshelves everywhere. Crawl through the space to rescue a child.

Don't just grab the Balm of Life from the treasure chest. Make sure to pick up the blue orbs nearby. While they tend to include common fare, one of these has a Health Incense, which raises a character's HP!

From here, it's a simple case of exiting through the other door and following the path up to Hulkenberg.

Although Maria's disappearance prompts some storytelling urgency, you needn't rush things. Don't head to your next destination, the Mausoleum, until you've replenished y💯our healing items and made any desired adj𝓀ustments to your gear.

Sub-Boss: Undead Grius

When you're sufficiently prepared, make your way to the Mausoleum as instructed. You can chat with More here if you'd like to switch up your Archetypes.

Bo𒆙th the left and right doors on the way in here are locked, and nope, you can't get in some other way just yet. Don't worry - you'll get that treasure later on.

After the harrowing cutscene, battle will commence, and you'll be introduced to Metaphor: ReFantazio's Synthesis system.

Grius has only two attacks: a regular physical attack and Phantom Dance, which is a party-wide dark-elemental skill. His defense is pretty paltry, so you'll be cutting into his HP relatively rapidly. He'll likely fall within a handful of rounds, so this isn't a big-deal fight.

If you need to heal (you'll likely need to do so once or twice), either use items or - if you happen to already have it - the Healer's Medi spell.

Medi's description is "weak HP recovery for all allies", but at this point in the game, "weak" is still pretty nice. But again, there's a good chance you'll not havඣe unlocked this yet!

Full Dungeon Preparations

Afterward, you'll unlock the Knight Archetype and Hulkenberg will officially join the team! We k🀅ept her as the party's Knight for now - she💯's quite good at it, after all.

You're given a firm deadline of ten days to complete the Grand Cathedral dungeon. So long as you set at least a couple of days aside, you can spend the rest of your time on city activities.

Right off the bat, talk to the NPC to your right, who introduces himself as an informant. He'll sell you some information on a few enemies' weaknesses in the Grand Cathedral. At a mere 150 reeve, you might as well buy it, but for the record, the info is as follows:

• Undead enemies of all kinds are weak to light.
• Skeletal varieties (Malmorta, basically) are also weak to physical attacks.
• Moving statues (Lifewrought Gargoz) are impervious to slash damage, but weak to wind.

Regardless of when you decide to infiltrate the Mausoleum (this time for real), visit the shops. 🙈Sell off all your loot, and prepare to spend a good deal of reeve.

Armor Recommendations

Purchase the following armor if you don't have them in your possession.

These choices are based purely on the Healer/Warrior/Knight setup that we used. If you're rolling with somethin💞g else, you'll need to choose different attire!

Visiting Gloamhall

You'll also want to hit up Gloamhall, a shop that's only open at nighttime. Here, you'll find consumable items capable of dealing elemental damage to your enemies.

Once you can afford to do so, purchase several Flammabottles, Ice Chunks, and Luminous Spheres.

MP preservation is a huge part of major dungeo🍷ns in Metaphor: ReFa𒆙ntazio, so these items - which don't require MP - can be a lifesaver.

Purification

One last thing. It wouldn't be a bad idea to raise your Wisdom to Informed prior to entering the dungeon. It will take a few time-passing actions, but it's not too bad. All you need to do is head to Sunlumeo Street during the daytime and/or nighttime and gaze upon the vista.

You should do this as long as you have at least one weapon in your inventory, but doubly so if you and acquired Dragon's Indignation.

Prayer Chamber

We'll be heading in through the Mausoleum again, specifically the Catacombs. Just run back to where you fought Grius, and you'll meet Catherina. After the scene, you'll receive a request. It will be taken 𝕴care of as part of the main story, so no worries there.

Keep going; you'll encounter a few weak wolf enemies. Through the door, you'll enter the Prayer Chamber, the first of several large zones within the Grand Cath♑edral.

In this first room, grab the blue orb treasure from behind the statue to your right for a Rusted Polearm which can be appraised into a stronger weapon.

The right side of this room is blocked by debris, so head through the door on the left side. Just ahead in this next room is your first Magla Hollow; go through that sparkling door to discover a nice save point and fast travel spot. You'll find more of the🌸se thr😼oughout the dungeon.

Hostage Rescue And Brawler Unlock

When you're finished with the Magla Room, keep along the path until you reach the door with hostages trapped inside. The team promises to locate the key to the locked door, so let's hop to it.

Descend the staircases ahead of you until you're in a hallway with several Hundos. There's a doorway along the right-side wall; go through it to stumble upon a sleeping guard with the key. You can either snatch it without a fight or purposefully wake him up afterward.

The choice is yours, but we went ahead and woke him up. It's decent EXP, and you'll earn a Courier Anklet, wh𝓡ich raises the wearer's Agility by three points.

Before heading back to the door, proceed further down the hall. The blue item is a Great Fairy Dust, a heal-all item that's excellent for this point in the game. Inside the treasure chest is the Gambler's Jewel, which raises the Luck stat by three points.

Return to the locked door. It's tough luck for Catherina's friend, but she's a new follower, and her addition to the roster unlocks the Brawler class.

As it happens, the treasure chest in this room contains the purifiable Exorcist Knuckles, a Brawler weapon. There's even Plateau, the cat, who from this point forward can send you on trips to Akademia (and save your game for you).

Lots of signs here that the developers are hoping you might go ahead and check out the Brawler class. In fact, we did. We started Strohl along the way of the Brawler posthaste. Its skills use HP rather than MP, so keeping them healthy is important, but they're quite powerful.

Set out from the room and descend the staircase down to the main hall. Fight the War Wulhas directly to your left, as they're blocking the way forward.

Before moving past where they were slain, however, head to the hall's southern wall for some Rusted Armour that can be appraised. Now, you can continue north past the War Wulhas.

It's a short hike further until you reach an inoperative lift, a stairway to climb, and the end of this zone.

Servants' Chamber

No sooner does the party reach the Servants' Chamber than trouble erupts for the local Louisians. From your starting position, move ahead a bit, and then make for the second Magla Hollow through the first door to your right.

From the magla chamber, head to the area where the soldiers were attacked. Interestingly enough, there's a locked treasure chest dead-center here. We'll work on finding the key for it later.

You can interact with the paintings along the wallꦬ in thܫis room for a bit of lore.

Take the west exit out of this room to trigger a quick scene and a tussle with a few Morbid Mornetos.

There's a room with an exclamation mark note nearby, but much like that treasure chest, we can't access it just yet. Move south, around the bend, and up to a raised corridor.

Getting The Sanctified Amulet

Gallica will notice a door below the corridor with magla seeping out of it. Once you've descended via the opposite side staircase, and after you deal with the Trance Crystal spawning enemies, you can go check out the door, but it'll be inaccessible right now.

In order to acquire the key, check each of the Servants' Chambers side rooms (the small ones you've been exploring along the halls). One of them has a crawlspace on its wall.

We missed recording this tidbit, but we promise it's one of them! We'll update this with the specifics as soon as we can, but note that i꧋t might be one of the rooms the guid🦹e's not yet sent you to.

Upon opening the door, you'll deal with several Mornetos. Frankly, it's not the powerful fight you might have anticipated. A dying monk entrusts you with the key to the treasure chest in the central area. Open it to obtain the Sanctified Amulet.

The amulet's a key item, so not terribly useful at first blush. However, it's used to unlock something better in a future zone here in the dungeon.

The Altar Chamber Key

Continue exploring the small rooms on the west side of the Servants' Chamber. You'll find a Gilded Cutlery and a Magla Pill while you're at it.

By now, the zone's map should be largely filled in, with the exceptions of the northwest and northeast portions. We started with the northeast side, so make your way there, checking the small ro🅺oms along this wing (both the two to the south and the one at the northeast corner♓).

On to the northwest side, then, which is where the quest marker is. Some Rusted Bracers will be pilfered as a blue item ♔on the statue here.

The south room on this wing has a traumatized soldier whom you can speak with. He'll hand you the Altar Chamber Key. Finally, we can move on!

Altar Chamber

Use the Altar Chamber Key on the door just across from the soldier. Plateau is here to help you out with saving and Akademia vis🦂its again. Good cat.

Clear the Malmortas and move on. Begin ascending the staircase (the one that isn't blocked, obviously). At the highest point, there's a valuable Grand Iron. Once you have it, jump down to all those crates.

There are heaps of blue items here for the taking. Zigzag around the area; be prepared to tangle with another Homo Oppo before you can open that southern treasure chest for a Silver Spatha, and some Captain Malmortas for a purifiable Moonlight Mace.

Speaking of the Moonlight Mace treasure, to continue on past the crates, reach their top-left point. Follow the staircases upward. There's another quick crate area most of the way up, but past that, there's Plateau and a magla-drenched door.

Strongly consider healing before opening that door. This next encounter is kind of a doozy.

Sub-Boss: Louisian Mage Captain And Malmortas

The Whiteclad Soldier is a Louisian Mage Captain accompanied by four Malmortas of assorted classes. What makes this fight a challenge is that the Louisian Mage Captain will frequently cast the following:

• Mage Captain Strength. He always starts the match with this. It elevates the attack power of all enemies.
• Mage Shield Wave. He'll often use this on the second round. It elevates the defense of all enemies.

Mage Captain Strength, as it buffs the Malmortas, will also increase the deadliness of their ma🦩in attacks:

• The mage-type Malmorta can cast Gabot, a party-wide fire spell. Since it's been buffed, it can easily deal between 60 and 90 damage to each character.
• The bow-type Malmorta, by contrast, can use the Myriad Shots skill. It's also party-wide, and will dole out 35 to 50 damage.

What ever are we to do, then? Have Hulkenberg use Knight's Proclamation every round until the Malmortas are gone. This will dramatically increase the likelihood that most of them will simply attack her individually, and physically.

Meanwhile, have Strohl and the Protagonist wail away at the Malmortas, one at a time using the strategies we outlined in the table, until they're done and dusted.

As soon as the Mage Captain is the sole combatant, switch to using Strohl and Hulkenberg's Jump Thrust to lower his defense, followed by Hammer of Justice to deal heavy pierce damage. He'll go down in short order.

Past here is a third Magla Hollow and just a sliver more linear hallway, and then the Altar Chamber is finished.

Reception Chamber

Corpses litter the Reception Chamber - a grim reception. Furthermore, some of the gargoyle statues are enemies which will begin to move as you approach them, so have Gallica scan your surroundings whenever you're nearby.

A delicious Magla Pill is the prize for scooping up the blue item past the firs✃t Lif♔ewrought Gargoz.

By now, there's every possibility that the Magla Pill will be the only MP restoration item you'v♉e got. If you've not already done so, and unless you're in solid shape, call it a day once its aid runs out, and return later on.

The first door on your left has a Chipped White Porcelain loot item. Climb either staircase to your right. The door just past the staircases ﷺhas a few easy foes and nothing more.

The Blocked Lift

Wrap around the hall, descending this upcoming staircase; enter the door at the end. The door to your immediate right afterward is barred, so go left instead. You'll learn that the lift is blocked by magic, because of course it is.

Loop around the back of the barrier if you, like me, feel the intense urge to fill in every detail of every map - there's nothing here but the feeling of self-satisfaction. Go southeast from the barrier afterward for some Superior Mundane Threads to appraise later.

Climb the ladder for a scene. Down the stairs past the Gargoz is a Blessed Water to purify with. Investigate the barrier befo♕re moving on.

Return to the previous area, go east into a larger room with easy soldiers, and head to the small room at its northeast end for a treasure chest with Purity Gloves. The room due south of here has an Ariadne's Thread.

Sanctified Amulet's Awakening

From the room with the Ariadne's Thread mentioned above, continue south and west around the bend. Maintain course, defeating a pair of Gargoz before passing through the next doorway. You can hop down on to the giant statue to cross.

Upon reaching the other side, follow along the path downstairs. The fourth Magla Hollow is upon you, so save your game! Climb the short stairs past the Magla Hollow, and you'll find a locked door.

The Spekios here can target you with their magic and deal loads of damage before the battle even starts, so take care around them.

Past the first room's worth of Spekios is another. This room, however, is an important one. You're at the base of the giant statue now, and if you have the Sanctified Amulet, you'll be able to interact with the altar.

The result? The statue lowers. This time, when you cross it to the right side again, a treasure chest will appear containing the Exorcist's Cassock, armor with DEF 100, Magic +3, and increased evasion against Dark. Sweet!

Moving On

Further exploration will send you to a fifth Magla Hollow as you round out the fullness of the Reception Chamber's map. Our goal, however, is the door opposite the altar in the room with the giant statue. Head past the pews to the quest indicator.

Opening the door triggers a fight with five Spekios. 525 EXP is rewarded for the fight, which should help you considerably on the road to the next batch of level-ups. The protagonist destroys the crystal, and the barrier is removed on the lift.

Save with Plateau before continuing!

Your arrival at the lift prompts an ambush by three Whiteclad soldiers: a Louisian Mage Captain, and two Lousian Sword Captains. Our recommendation is that you eliminate the Mage Captain first so that he does less to strengthen those Sword Captains.

Royal Portrait Hall

This time, wrapping around the back of the lift actually does something - sort of - there's a lone Blue Elmenta back here.

Take the single path from the lift, fighting the Sword Captains. In the next room, there are two paintings with green markers that seem to suggest there's something that can be done with them. Thus far, we've only been able to get a bit of lore out of them. In any case, we'll come back later.

Now, head west from the portrait room. Past the room with some War Wuthas, head through a somewhat larger room and up these stairs. Through the upcoming door, the party encounters Zorba.

The conversation that follows once the team realizes they can't progress has a dialogue choice. If you want to sound particularly smart, say "We could use a shield." Then, tell the team you'll use the painting of Louis.

Nothing for it, then, but to go and fetch the portrait. Cross the hall once Zorba's gone, entering a room with some Azure Homo Tentas to deal with. Afterward, fight the Homo Fulquilos; if you're struggling, for a refresher course on how you🐼 beat the boss version.

Up the long staircase is the sixth Magla Hollow in the Grand Cathedral. Save your game as always, then climb the remaining stairs to the Sceptre Chamber.

Sceptre Chamber And Heavenly Staircase

All that remains is a two-room Sceptre Chamber and a whole lot of climbing. We've used the word "staircase" a remarkable fifteen times already in this guide, but we'll use it once more: you'll be ascending the Heavenly Staircase en route to the Zorba boss fight.

Speaking of which, we've written full guides for the back-to-back boss fights that await you: the necromancer Zorba, followed by the imposing Homo Avades. When all is said and done Regalith Grand Cathedral will be complete. Pat yourself on the back for averting the 𓄧Day of Calamity.

Bear in mind, you'll be fully healed between fights, so if you think you've got enough energy left for Zor💯ba, don't worry about ha🍨ving withered away prior to Homo Avades!