Choosing the most optimal Shadow Soldiers to unlock, utilize, and upgrade in Solo Leveling: Arise is crucial. As such, here is the definitive Shadow tier list, ordered from superior to inferior.
In Solo Leveling Arise, every Shadow has its own set of skills and Authority benefit that can assist you in battles against powerful bosses and while clearing Gates. As a result, certain Shadows may be more powerful than others. To help you choose the most suitable units for your team and learn how to unlock them in Arise, here is a guide.
Solo Leveling: Arise Best Shadow Soldier Tier List
Solo Leveling: Arise currently features four Shadow Soldiers, as confirmed by Netmarble. However, the official Arise 2024 Roadmap reveals that there are plans to introduce additional Shadow Soldiers in upcoming updates. Among them is Tusk from the original series, who will be the next Shadow to join the game.
To assist in your decision-making, we have organized Sung Jinwoo’s Shadow Soldiers into tiers, starting with the highest-ranked S-tier and descending to the lowest-ranked C-tier.
S-tier Shadow Soldiers
Undoubtedly, Igris remains the top choice for a Shadow Soldier in Solo Leveling: Arise. This legendary Gate boss-turned-Shadow has not only gained a massive following from the previous series, but his unparalleled strength has solidified his position as the sole S-tier Shadow in Arise.
Igris is the most powerful Shadow Soldier you can get in Solo Leveling: Arise.
When applied, His Shadow’s Authority grants a 4% increase in Critical Hit Rate to all members of your hunting team. This buff will greatly benefit every hunter, except for the A-tier SSR hunter Choi Jong In who is unable to inflict Critical Hit Damage. It will prove to be crucial when facing challenging bosses.
Igris is known for his exceptional DPS abilities, notably his Earth Slash skill which inflicts the Bleed effect on foes. This status causes them to suffer extra damage equivalent to 0.6% of his maximum Health every 3 seconds, lasting for a total of 30 seconds.
A-tier Shadow Soldiers
Blades is the second-highest ranked Shadow Soldier available in Arise. Prior to upgrading Igris, it is advisable to accumulate Traces of Shadow and acquire Blades because of their powerful Shadow’s Authority team boost. This ability raises the Attack of all team members by 5% when activated.
Blades is one of the best Shadow Soldiers you can get in Solo Leveling: Arise.
By selecting Blades as your captain in the first slot to activate the Shadow Authority effect, you can greatly enhance your team’s overall DPS output. This is because you are only able to activate one effect in your Army of Shadows, making Blades the most beneficial choice for this slot.
In addition, Blades possesses a variety of potent abilities, including the Spinning Strike attack that boosts their Attack by 100% for 10 seconds.
B-tier Shadow Soldiers
When utilizing Health-based units that increase their Attack damage or provide benefits to the rest of your hunting team based on their Health, Iron will play a crucial role. This applies to numerous top-tier hunters, including the exceptional support character Arise, Min Byung-Gu, as well as powerful DPS dealers Seo Jiwoo and Silver Mane Baek Yoonho.
Iron is a tank-like Shadow whose strengths come from his Health benefits.
The reason for this is his Shadow’s Authority effect, which boosts the Max Health of all team members by 6%. However, since Arise’s skills and abilities are more focused on Attacks rather than Health and Defense, it is not ranked as highly as other heroes for Health-based hunter teams.
C-tier Shadow Soldiers
Tank is considered the weakest Shadow Soldier in Solo Leveling: Arise and for this reason, we have placed him at the bottom of our C-tier ranking for Shadows.
Tank is the weakest Shadow Soldier you can get in Solo Leveling: Arise.
Despite his Shadow’s Authority ability being the least effective in terms of boosting Defense, it has proven to be significantly weaker compared to the more aggressive options since the launch of Solo Leveling: Arise. As a result, the benefits of the other three options far outweigh those of the Defense boost.
Unlocking Shadow Soldiers in Solo Leveling: Arise
Once you finish playing through Chapter 9: The Birth of a New Monarch in the main story mode, you will gain access to the Army of Shadows feature. This will enable you to change Sung Jinwoo’s job status to “The Shadow of Monarch”and unlock the ability to use Shadow Soldiers in Solo Leveling: Arise.
There are four Shadow Soldiers you can unlock in Solo Leveling: Arise.
Nevertheless, every Shadow Soldier requires completion of main story quests by Sung Jinwoo before being unlocked. After finishing these quests, you can obtain them in-game using the Tears of Shadow currency.
The following paragraph explains the process of unlocking each Shadow Soldier and the corresponding cost in Tears of Shadow to obtain them.
| Shadow | How to unlock | Tears of Shadow |
|---|---|---|
| Igris | Complete all Chapter 9: The Birth of a New Monarch story quests | 100 |
| Blades | Complete Chapter 12: The Strange Raids story quest | 100 |
| Iron | Complete Chapter 11: The Ice King Slayer quest | 100 |
| Tank | Complete Chapter 10: The Red Gate quest | 100 |
There are various methods available for earning Tears of Shadow in Solo Leveling: Arise.
- Completing Story Quests on the Normal difficulty setting.
- Completing Story Quests at the Hard difficulty level.
- Completing the process of clearing gates.
- Completing dungeons in the Battlefield of Time.
- You can exchange Medals of Time at the in-game Exchange Shop.
We have compiled comprehensive guides for Sung Jinwoo’s optimal build in Solo Leveling: Arise, as well as a tier list ranking the top hunter characters. Additionally, we have gathered the most effective Artifact sets and weapons for each hunter character.
If you are in need of complimentary Arise codes or are curious about the current and upcoming banners, we have got you covered as well.
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