Boss Expedition system: find, fill and start boss runs with the F9 widget

The Boss Expedition system is Kuro's built-in recruitment and tracking layer for boss runs: browse or post recruitments in the F9 widget, apply, get accepted, and let the leader teleport the roster to the boss entrance. What the widget does, what it does not do, the start rules and the live damage rankings.

What the Boss Expedition system is

The Boss Expedition system is Kuro's built-in recruitment and tracking layer for major boss runs. No more spamming megaphones or Free Market chat for hours looking for one more member.

• Use the F9 widget to browse or create boss recruitments.
• Leaders post a run and set the level range, member cap, description and preferred jobs.
• Applicants apply directly through the widget.
• Leaders review applications and accept or reject players.
• Leaders launch the run straight from the widget.
• During the run, the widget shows live boss damage rankings.

Important to understand: The recruitment system is a finder and handoff tool. The actual boss run still uses the normal expedition NPC flow after the handoff: the widget gets you to the door, the NPC still opens it.

How to open it

• Press F9 to open the widget (or any other key you configured for it).
• Or open the in-game shortcut popup and press Item: this jumps straight into the expedition area.

From there you can Browse Recruitments (all active postings), Create Recruitment (post your own), open My Recruitments (manage your posting) and view live expedition damage rankings while inside a run. The recruitment list refreshes about every 5 seconds, and an open recruitment detail panel about every 2 seconds.

Supported bosses

These bosses are wired into the recruitment handoff, so starting a recruitment teleports the roster to their entrance: Zakum, Horntail, Pink Bean, Von Leon, Scarlion & Targa, Papulatus and Castellan Toad. Each boss's level requirement and runs per week are in the bossing guide.

The leader can choose a member cap, but never above the boss's own expedition cap. The chosen cap includes the leader. A recruitment's level range must overlap the boss's level requirement, and anything outside the boss's range is trimmed to it.

Creating a recruitment

To create a recruitment, the leader must not already have another active recruitment posting, must not already be inside an expedition, and must still have attempts left for that boss. When you create a recruitment you set the boss type, minimum level, maximum level, member cap, description and preferred jobs.

• The leader is automatically counted as an accepted member.
• Preferred jobs are advisory only, not a hard server requirement. The level range is the real gate.
• Postings may trigger a Discord notification if that integration is enabled.
• Recruitments expire after 30 minutes.

Applying to a recruitment

You can apply if the posting is still open, your level is inside its range, you have not already applied or been accepted, you are not the leader, and you still have attempts left for that boss.

On your application the leader sees your character name, level and job, HP and MP, a DPS stat from the DPS tracker, your successful completion count for that expedition type, and your attempts used against the maximum allowed. You get a success message when your application goes through, then an acceptance or rejection message later.

Heads up: There is currently no withdraw button for applicants. Once you apply, you stay in the queue until the leader responds or the posting closes.

What everyone sees

The open recruitment list shows the recruitment ID, boss type, leader name, level range, current and maximum members, description and creation time. In the detail view, leaders see the full application list with statuses (pending, accepted, rejected), while non-leaders only see accepted members.

Accepting, rejecting and filling

• When a leader accepts someone, the applicant gets an acceptance message. If the leader already has a party, the system can send a party invite automatically.
• When a leader rejects someone, the applicant gets a rejection message.
• When the recruitment reaches its cap, the posting closes automatically, remaining pending applications are marked rejected, and the posting disappears from the open list.

Important limitation: There is no remove or unaccept action for already accepted members. Leaders should only accept players who are ready to go right now. If you accept someone and they vanish, you may need to cancel the whole posting and recreate it.

What "Start Expedition" actually does

When the leader presses Start Expedition, the server:

1. Checks that the leader owns that recruitment
2. Checks that the leader still has boss attempts left
3. Checks that every accepted member is still online
4. Checks that every accepted member is on the same channel as the leader
5. Rechecks each accepted member's remaining attempts; a member who cannot enter is skipped and told why
6. Creates the expedition with the leader as captain
7. Starts the normal expedition registration window
8. Teleports the leader and accepted members to the boss entrance area

What it does not do: it does not complete the boss lobby for you, it does not add every accepted player into the final expedition roster, and it does not bypass the normal expedition NPC rules.

The real flow: Recruitment start, then teleport to the boss entrance, then finish the normal expedition registration through the boss NPC. This is the most important thing to understand about the whole system.

The real start rules still matter

After the handoff, the normal expedition system is in charge. The boss lobby can still enforce the boss's real minimum player requirement, household and same-session restrictions, remaining boss attempts and the boss's registration timer. An accepted player is not guaranteed a spot yet: they can still fail the real NPC registration step if the expedition rules reject them.

Critical gotcha: An accepted player who goes offline or switches channels blocks the start. Since there is no remove-accepted action yet, the leader may need to cancel and recreate the posting if the roster goes bad.

Rankings

There are two different "ranking" ideas in this system.

Live expedition damage rankings. While inside an active expedition fighting tracked bosses, the widget shows the expedition type, player count, total damage dealt, elapsed time, up to 30 ranked damage entries, and each player's share of the total damage as a percentage. These are live and run-specific. The rankings window may keep showing your previous run's results until new expedition data replaces them.

Historical stats. The system also tracks completion history behind the scenes. What players see today is the completion count for the relevant expedition and a DPS stat on the application entry. A full expedition reputation leaderboard is not exposed as a player-facing screen.

Tracking your boss attempts

The expedition system tracks your boss entries server-side. Any of these commands shows how many attempts you have left:

• @expedstatus: Your remaining boss attempts
• @expstatus: Same as @expedstatus
• @expeditionstatus: Same as @expedstatus

Chaos Pink Bean and regular Pink Bean share the same slot, so a Chaos clear can still affect your eligibility for the regular version. How many runs each boss allows and when they reset is in the bossing guide.

Current widget quirks

These are client-side things to be aware of, separate from the server's real rules.

• The create menu shows more than it fully supports. Some boss types in the create dropdown are not wired into the start teleport the same way as the main supported bosses. Stick to the bosses listed above for the cleanest experience.
• Solo-capable bosses are stricter in the UI. The widget create flow requires at least 2 max members, and the Start Expedition button waits for at least 2 visible members. Bosses that can normally be solo'd (Papulatus, Castellan Toad) are stricter through the widget than through normal NPC entry.
• Error feedback can be weak. The server sends recruitment errors and success packets, but the client UI does not always show them clearly. If something seems stuck, reopen the recruitment window, check your channel, check your boss attempts again, and read chat and system messages for the real error.

Practical tips

• Do not treat an acceptance as the final start. You still need to finish the real boss lobby flow.
• Stay on the same channel as the leader before they press Start Expedition.
• Be ready immediately when accepted: offline accepted members stall the start.
• Leaders, keep the accepted list tight: accepted players cannot be removed one by one.
• Full postings close automatically, even before the actual boss run starts.
• Postings expire after 30 minutes, so do not leave them sitting.
• Preferred job tags are just preferences: the level range is the actual hard gate.

Short version

1. Open the widget: Press F9 (or your configured key).
2. Apply: Apply to the boss recruitment you want.
3. Wait for the leader: Wait for the leader to accept you, and stay online and on the leader's channel.
4. Get moved to the entrance: When the leader starts, you are moved to the real boss entrance.
5. Register with the NPC: Finish the normal expedition registration with the boss NPC there.
6. Watch the rankings: Use the widget during the run to watch live damage rankings.

Read more

• Bossing guide: Every boss: level, runs per week, HP, rewards and drops
• Bossing for beginners: What to bring and the mechanics that wipe new parties
• Abyssal Gauntlet: The solo roguelike dungeon