Final Selection is the Slayer’s entry trial: a timed instance past the Butterfly Estate where one run can hand you progression gear — including the only reliable shotgun schematic outside fishing. This guide covers the gate, the schedule and what actually happens inside, per launch-week creator runs.
The gate and the schedule
- Level 45 opens Final Selection — creators who ran it recommend entering around level 60+ and bringing two or three players.
- It runs every two hours, one instance per cycle. Miss a window and you wait for the next one, so check the clock before you travel.
What’s inside
The instance chains four segments (per verified creator walkthroughs):
- A scavenger hunt — find the required objects scattered through the map section.
- Bandit clearing — combat segments that let you bank XP mid-run.
- A parkour route — the segment the launch patches touched twice (mobile players got a 1.4x completion timer and dedicted fixes in v0.065).
- The Hand Demon — the final named boss.
Hand Demon rule: while it summons minions it is invulnerable — clear the adds first, then burn the boss. Tunneling the boss while adds are up just wastes your run timer.
Rewards
- Shotgun schematic — dropped by the underground NPC inside the Final Selection instance (documented at roughly 5% by creator runs). Combined with about 100 metal scraps, silk thread and 25,000 Wen it crafts a shotgun at the blacksmith. That made Final Selection the pre-fishing route to a ranged weapon at launch; the Lost Shotgun itself became obtainable in the September 19 hotfix.
- Standard boss loot — the usual chest plus rare rolls (see our boss guide for how chest tiers work).
Tips that saved runs
- Group up. Two to three players is the creator-recommended squad; solo runs at the minimum level are the most common failure report.
- Learn the parkour now. The same movement vocabulary gates breathing training later — practice pays twice.
- Server-shop for the schedule. If your instance is nearly empty, quest XP scales with server population (documented roughly 3,000 vs 6,000 XP for the same quest), so a fuller server is worth more.
FAQ
What level do I need for Final Selection?
It opens at level 45, but launch-week runners recommend entering at 60+ with a small squad.
How often does Final Selection run?
Every two hours, one instance per cycle.
Can I solo it?
Yes, but it’s the hardest early check in the game — the boss summons adds while invulnerable, and the parkour timer does not forgive. Bring friends.
What’s the best reward from Final Selection?
The shotgun schematic from the underground NPC — the documented ranged-weapon shortcut before fishing routes opened up.