Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising's Arcade mode is extremely convoluted and confusing for absolutely no reason. The requirements for specific fights and events can feel extremely inconsistent. Thus, I have made this guide to help document findings for the arcade mode; ending requirements, boss requirements, etc.

You may have immediately noticed that after a game, there is a section below your score and character level with 6 slots for orbs. These don't have an actual name, so they'll just be refereed to as "orbs." You may immediately be wondering how to acquire them.



Acquiring orbs is simple: you just have to finish a round with either a Skybound Art or Super Skybound Art. It doesn't have to kill with the last hit, or trigger the cinematic; all that matters is the last instance of damage is from a super. You get 1 orb for each round ended with a super, so you can get up to 2 orbs per game if you do it both rounds. You can have more than 6 orbs, but it doesn't do anything; only 6 orbs are required to trigger the events at the end of the run.

However, things are not this simple (why would I make this guide otherwise?). So lets dive into the other mechanic that orbs have;
Losing any round at any point in the run will make the orbs go dim, forbidding you from collecting any more. Additionally, you are unable to get orbs during Round 7, so there is no last-second salvaging to get a harder boss. As such, this requirement will severely hamper you in attempts to get to later, more difficult fights.

The default boss when all other requirements are unmet, Beelzebub. This is the one you'll most likely get if you don't know the requirements for the other bosses. That being said, he's nothing to joke at. His long range and anti-crossup reversal can catch you off guard if you're not careful.

Requirements to fight:

• Have 5 or less orbs after Battle 6, or have any amount of dim orbs

There are no other requirements for this fight. Beating Beelzebub will unlock the Normal Ending illustration for whatever character you are playing as, as well as a profile badge.

The other possible boss for Battle 7, Avatar Belial (a.k.a. Abel), and the first to have alterations compared to his normal playable version. To be more specific, he no longer loses health upon doing special moves. On top of this, he gets more health and amplified damage that gets very scary at higher difficulties. Just be patient; a good portion of his moves are unsafe on block or vulnerable to invincible reversals. Look for those and punish them in order to secure the win.

Requirements to fight:

• Have 6 or more lit orbs after Battle 6

There does not seem to be any other requirements to attempt this fight. Beating Avatar Belial will unlock the True Ending illustration for the character you're playing as, as well as a profile badge.

The first secret boss, Lucillius, with even more and even scarier buffs. This fight is no joke; he has more health, more damage, no skill cooldowns (and thus, no Blade Level to build), and at higher difficulties will start each round with 100% meter! As scary as that sounds, his AI is really bad at managing the meter he gets. His only reversals are teleport, Ultimate Phosphorus, and super; just keep him in the corner and you should come out on top no problem.
testing required: exactly what difficulty does the round start meter happen? confirmed to exist at at least extreme

Requirements to fight:

• Defeat Avatar Belial (have 6 or more lit orbs before Round 7)
  
• Do not lose a single game before Avatar Belial (losing rounds or games against Abel is fine)

testing required: do the orbs have to be lit?

As of patch 1.50, you can retry this fight as many times as you wish. However, quitting out of the fight will not count as beating Arcade Mode for the sake of Missions. Beating Lucillius does not unlock any specific reward (aside from a sense of accomplishment).
testing required; because the fight happens immediately after abel, does the ending still count if you quit out of the fight?

Don't forget the family lizard!
The second secret boss, added in patch 1.50. An infinitely more difficult fight than Lucillius, this fight can get very scary very quick, not helped by the fact the game forces you up 2(?) difficulty levels upon entering the fight. She gets increased health and damage, as well as passive meter gain, health regeneration and a permanently active Celestial Dominion buff, which makes both her zoning and pressure extremely oppressive. However, similar to Lucillius, she has trouble getting out of pressure with a lack of meterless reversals. Get in and stay in, don't give her a chance to breathe; that's the only way to win.

Requirements to fight:

• Beat Battle 7 (either against Beelzebub or Avatar Belial) or 8 (Lucillius)
  
• Finish at least 1 round in Battle 7 or 8 with SBA/SSBA

This fight can be retried as many times as you want with no consequences. Additionally, quitting out of the fight will still unlock whatever ending you would have previously unlocked. Beating Versusia will unlock one of two profile badges depending on what ending you got.

testing required: still! even after this long, the requirements for this fight still feel very inconsistent, so help is still greatly appreciated!

• Achievement: "Not Half Bad...": Finish Arcade mode for the first time
  
• Profile Badge: Beelzebub (Wide): Beat Beelzebub in Arcade mode at any difficulty and achieve the Normal Ending
  
• Lobby Avatar: Helel ben Shalem: Beat Beelzebub in Arcade mode at NIghtmare difficulty
  
• Profile Badge: Avatar Belial (Wide): Beat Avatar Belial in Arcade mode at any difficulty and achieve the True Ending
  
• Profile Badge: Versusia (Wide): Achieve the Normal Ending, then beat Versusia in Arcade mode at any difficulty
  
• Profile Badge: Rein (Wide): Achieve the True Ending, then beat Versusia in Arcade mode at any difficulty
  
• Lobby Avatar/Partner: Lunalu: Beat Arcade mode at any difficulty with Lunalu (random select)

inb4 arcsys themselves or a code leak eventually reveals the exact details about how the arcade mode works and makes all this manual research a waste of time

This guide took way too much time and work to compile, and even then it's still not complete. So I reach out to all of you; if you have any information to add to this guide, please share it in a comment so that we can finally have an answer to all of this confusion. Anyone that helps contribute will have their name added to the section below!

me lmao, cope, Gloom, Grimp

Thanks for reading!