Post-Game Content Guide: Everything to Do After Beating the Story

Category: Advanced | SAO Hollow Realization Guide

The complete post-game checklist for SAO: Hollow Realization. What to do after credits roll: superbosses, endgame dungeons, gear farming, completion, and more.

After the Credits Roll Beating the final boss and watching the credits is not the end of Hollow Realization. The post-game opens up a wealth of content for players who want more: harder bosses, endgame gear grinding, completionist objectives, New Game Plus preparation, and more. This guide covers everything worth doing in the post-game, organized so you can tackle it in whatever order appeals to you. There is no 'right' order for post-game content. Follow what sounds fun to you. Some players dive straight into superbosses, some prefer to perfect their build first, and some just enjoy wandering the world cleaning up side quests.

Immediate Post-Game Priorities Right after finishing the story, here is what I recommend doing first: • Take stock of your current build -- Look at your equipment, skill tree investment, and any obvious gaps. What weapon are you using? Is it fully upgraded? What about your armor? Identify your biggest areas for improvement. • Talk to NPCs in town -- NPC dialogue changes after the story. Some may hint at new challenges, unlock post-game quests, or simply have interesting things to say about the conclusion. • Complete any leftover side quests -- Check your quest log for unfinished business. Some quests might only be completable or accessible post-story. • Fill in your teleport stone network -- If any teleport stones are still gray on your map, go activate them. Full fast travel access makes everything else easier.

Endgame Gear Progression Your main long-term post-game goal (if you want to tackle superbosses) is perfecting your gear. This involves: • Finding the best base weapon -- The highest-tier weapons come from late-game dungeons, superboss drops, or maxed blacksmith crafting. Find a weapon of your preferred type with strong base stats. • Maximum enhancement at the blacksmith -- Farm the rare materials needed to push your chosen weapon to its enhancement cap. Each enhancement level is a noticeable power increase. • Optimizing armor slots -- Mix and match armor pieces to get the best balance of defense and stat bonuses for your build. Do not just wear whatever has the highest DEF number; consider set bonuses and secondary stats. • Accessory hunting -- Some of the best accessories come from specific enemies, chests, or post-game content. These provide percentage-based or special bonuses that can be build-defining.

Challenge Content Once your build is in good shape, tackle these: • Insignia hidden wardens -- If you did not find all of these during the main story, hunt them down post-game. They are good practice for harder content. • Optional superbosses -- The ultimate challenge. These require endgame gear and full mastery of combat mechanics. See the dedicated superboss guide for strategies. • Post-game dungeons or expanded areas -- Some areas may have new enemy spawns or higher-difficulty versions in post-game. Explore and see what has changed. • Arena/coliseum content (if available) -- Some versions of the game feature arena battle challenges. Check if these are accessible post-game.

Completionist Goals For players who want to 100% the game: • Fill out the entire bestiary/Records section. • Find and open every treasure chest in every region. • Maximize affinity with all NPC party members. • Unlock all nodes on all weapon skill trees (requires extensive SP farming). • Collect all equipment entries in your item records. • Achieve any in-game trophies or achievements.

Preparing for New Game Plus If you plan to start NG+, do these things before initiating it: • Upgrade your main weapon as high as possible. You bring it with you. • Stock up on consumables -- you bring those too. • Consider unlocking skills in secondary weapon trees you want to try in NG+. You keep skill progress. • Fill out as much of the map and teleport network as possible.