Sea of Stars has several side quests players will need to complete to get some of the best items in the game, as well as some collectibles, and progress toward the game’s true ending. The Queen That Was is one of those quests, and it’s easy to miss and get stuck on if you aren’t sure how to start the quest or complete it at all.
To help you complete this quest easily, we’ve put together this guide with details on how to complete the Queen That Was side quest, including its locations, puzzle answer, and how to beat the boss.
Related: Sea of Stars Walkthrough Guide – Dungeons, Collectibles, Wheels, Side Quests, & Tips
How to Begin the Queen That Was Side Quest
To start this quest, you’ll need to have beaten the Dweller of Dread and unlocked the ability to fly, which happens right before the game’s final dungeon.
Once you have reached this point, head to camp and talk with Serai, who will give you some details on the quest and ask for your help. They will then give you Joce’s Belt Buckle Artifact, which you give to Teaks. Unlike other stories you unlock from these items, this is a journal about three travelers helping Serai find the queen and is a key part of finding your way to the quest’s main location.
Solving the Riddle
In the journal, Joce and his companions, Brochu and Elbi, detail their attempts to lead teams and find the queen while exploring the Cerulean Expanse, the maze-like area players will have explored before meeting B’st. In the journal, each will state they are going to explore four different directions across four days. This is the puzzle you will need to solve to find the way to the queen, with the journal containing the correct direction you need to take.
You’ll notice that the different travelers will say it only felt right on certain days during their expedition, with Brochu saying the first two days, Elbi saying the fourth, and Joce saying the third. These are actually the answers to the riddle.
Based on the directions the different teams take and what days they say felt right, the answer to the riddle is northeast, southeast, northeast, and east.
With this answer in hand, head to the Cerulean Expanse and follow these directions. This will lead you to a speedball, which you can take to the Throne of the Queen that Was. When you arrive here, make sure to explore the right side to find the Artful Gambit Relic, and on the left of the giant stairs, you will find a Rainbow Conch. Now, head up the stairs (making sure to save and rest beforehand), and you will come to the boss of this area.
Boss Fight: Gun Goddess
At the top of the stairs, you will find the boss, the Gun Goddess. This can be a challenging fight depending on your level and if you aren’t careful to mitigate damage and break locks, since this boss is capable of KOing a party member in one shot.
The Gun Goddess’s moves are as follows:
- Pistol Whip: A basic move that sees the Gun Goddess smack you with her pistol, dealing moderate damage to a party member.
- Spray and Pray: The Gun Goddess will fire her guns in a sweeping motion, hitting all party members for moderate damage. This move will respawn her bullets.
- Fan the Hammer: A four-lock move where the Gun Goddess loads all available bullets they have spawned into the chamber of one gun and randomly fires them at your party. Damage varies depending on how many shots a party member takes, and how many bullets she loads. If you have destroyed all the bullets beforehand, this does nothing. This move will respawn all of the Bullets.
- The Shot: A nine-lock super attack that sees the Gun Goddess transform into a hand and a big pistol, then shoot one bullet at a character. If they get hit, they will be KO’ed straight away.
For this fight, it’s worth not focusing too much on destroying the bullets since they will respawn frequently, and take away from dealing damage to the main boss. They also take a lot of damage and can be a drain on your MP and resources. That said, any moves with splash damage or multi-target attacks are a good shout; that way, you can damage them all and reduce how many bullets the boss has for its Fan the Hammer move, making it sting a little less.
Additionally, you’ll want to break locks with this boss as often as possible since most of its moves can hit pretty hard and make the fight difficult. For that, we recommend using Lunar Shield when you can and making sure to save Combo Points to use Mending Light or move that can break multiple locks if needed. Plus, it’s worth using the Arcane Barrage Combo Move, Serai’s Disorient, and Resh’an’s ultimate to delay their moves and buy you time to break the locks.
Beyond that, it’s a pretty standard fight: heal when you need to, be smart with your moves and Live Mana, and make sure to deal with those locks. If you do that and play it safe, you’ll beat them in no time.
Related: Sea of Stars – All Solstice Shrines Locations & Rewards
After beating the boss, you will get a small cutscene, and Serai’s ultimate weapon, the Star Shards, and the achievement Better Off Dead. This is also one of the tasks you need to complete to unlock the game’s true ending, so make sure to take the time to do this side quest when you can.
