Solo Leveling Arise Tier List: Ranking the Best Shadow Soldiers

Choosing the best Shadow Soldiers to unlock, utilize, and level up in Solo Leveling: Arise is essential. Here’s the ultimate Shadow tier list, ranked from best to worst.

Each Shadow in Arise provides its unique skills and Shadow’s Authority benefit, assisting you in defeating bosses and clearing Gates. This makes certain Shadows much stronger than others and better aligned with specific hunter teams.

This guide will help you select the best units for your team and detail how to unlock them.

Solo Leveling: Arise Best Shadow Soldier Tier List

Our Tiers Explained

• S: The best
• A: Very good
• B: Can perform well in certain situations
• C: Best to avoid unless you prefer them

There are seven Shadow Soldiers in Solo Leveling: Arise. However, Netmarble has announced that additional Shadow Soldiers will be introduced in future updates as indicated in their official Arise 2024 Roadmap.

This tier list is fully updated as per the September 12 patch, which introduced Bigrock as a new Shadow Soldier.

Meta Analysis

Even though the hunter character meta is frequently updated, the Shadow Soldier meta has remained consistent. New entries have minimal impact on altering the meta, which continues to be dominated by the S-tier and A-tier Shadows.

Shadows have received few balance adjustments, maintaining the dominance of higher-ranked Shadows due to their superior DPS output.

However, certain Shadows may still excel in specific team compositions depending on their Shadow’s Authority and abilities.

S-tier Shadow Soldiers

Igris

Igris is the most powerful Shadow Soldier in Solo Leveling: Arise.

Igris is the top Shadow Soldier in Solo Leveling: Arise. The iconic Gate boss turned Shadow not only stands out as a fan-favorite but also showcases immense power, making him the sole S-tier Shadow in Arise.

Shadow’s Authority: All team members’ Critical Hit Rate increases by 5%.

Pros:

• Easy to unlock
• Highly effective against bosses
• Provides a significant Critical Hit buff
• Delivers high DPS output
• Earth Slash skill applies a Bleed effect for substantial damage over time.

Cons:

• His Shadow’s Authority does not benefit Choi Jong In, the only hunter unable to deal Critical Hits
• Most effective in one-on-one battles

A-tier Shadow Soldiers

Blades

Blades is among the top Shadow Soldiers in Solo Leveling: Arise.

Blades is the second-best Shadow Soldier in Arise. Before leveling up Igris, save your Traces of Shadow to unlock Blades due to his strong team buff.

Shadow’s Authority: All team members’ Attack increases by 3%.

Pros:

• Strong support authority, enhancing the entire team’s DPS
• Versatile skills for single-target and AoE damage
• Spinning Strike attack increases his Attack by 100% for 10 seconds

Cons:

• Cannot grant any debuffs compared to other Shadows
• Difficult to unlock

Tusk

Tusk is a fan-favorite from the original series now present in Solo Leveling: Arise.

Tusk excels in his Shadow’s Authority, which provides substantial buffs, but his skills are somewhat average, preventing him from ranking higher. If you’re focused on pure attack, however, he’s the Shadow for you.

Shadow’s Authority: All team members’ Core Attack damage increases by 20%.

Pros:

• His Authority offers a powerful DPS boost for the team
• Best used when Choi Jong-In is in your team

Cons:

• Challenging to unlock
• Basic DPS skills lacking unique effects
• Requires multiple upgrades to be effective

B-tier Shadow Soldiers

Deer

Cerbie provides an alternative to Igris with similar Critical Hit buffs.

The three-headed Cerbie was introduced during Arise’s July 31 update. His skills offer solid utility, such as the unique Combustion effect, while his Shadow’s Authority resembles Igris, making him a fairly strong option overall.

However, his Critical Hit Damage buff is less impactful without a higher Critical Hit Rate, making Igris’s Authority much more advantageous.

Shadow’s Authority: All team members’ Critical Hit Damage increases by 4%.

Pros:

• Noteworthy Critical Hit Damage buff
• Combustion effect inflicts 50% of his Attack every 3 seconds indefinitely
• Combustion also applies a debuff that increases Damage Taken by 5%

Cons:

• Hard to obtain
• Igris’s Critical Hit Rate Authority is more useful for all hunters

Bigrock

Bigrock was introduced in the September 12 patch update.

While Bigrock enhances skill damage, he lacks the versatility and impact of higher-tier Shadows. He won’t significantly change the meta despite being the newest addition.

Shadow’s Authority: Increases team members’ Basic Skill Damage by 11%.

Pros:

• High skill damage buffs benefit all hunters
• Sustained DPS output from skill damage enhancements

Cons:

• Basic DPS skills lacking unique effects
• Less effective for hunters relying on skills less frequently

Iron

Iron is a tank-like Shadow with strengths in health benefits.

Iron is essential when using Health-based hunters who scale their Attack damage or provide buffs to the team based on their Health. A-tier hunters like Min Byung-Gu and Seo Jiwoo synergize well with him.

However, Arise prefers DPS stats over Health and Defense, limiting Iron’s effectiveness, hence his lower ranking.

Shadow’s Authority: All team members’ Max Health increases by 6%.

Pros:

• Tanking abilities enhance your team’s survivability
• Defense debuff makes enemies easier to defeat
• Upgrading allows the Shield skill to further increase Max Health

Cons:

• Somewhat challenging to unlock
• Best suited for Health-based hunter teams
• Lower DPS output

C-tier Shadow Soldiers

Tank is the weakest Shadow Soldier in Solo Leveling: Arise, earning his C-tier ranking due to an ineffective Shadow’s Authority that boosts Defense, a stat that has proven less impactful compared to offensive options.

Tank is the lowest ranked Shadow Soldier in Solo Leveling: Arise.

Shadow’s Authority: All team members’ Defense increases by 6%.

Pros:

• Second easiest to unlock, following Igris
• Defense buffs enhance your team’s overall survivability
• Unique Stun effect immobilizes targets during the Tank Press skill

Cons:

• Weakest authority among all Shadow Soldiers
• Low DPS output

How to Unlock Shadow Soldiers in Solo Leveling: Arise

Upon completing Chapter 9: The Birth of a New Monarch in the main story mode, you will unlock the Army of Shadows feature. This allows you to change Sung Jinwoo’s job status to “The Shadow of Monarch,” enabling you to unlock and utilize Shadow Soldiers in Solo Leveling: Arise.

There are six Shadow Soldiers available for unlocking in Solo Leveling: Arise.

However, each Shadow Soldier is associated with specific main story quests that must be completed before you can unlock them. Once these quests are finished, you can purchase them with Traces of Shadow currency.

Here’s how to unlock each Shadow Soldier and their Traces of Shadow costs:

Here are ways to earn Traces of Shadow in Solo Leveling: Arise:

• Completing Story Quests on Normal difficulty.
• Completing Story Quests on Hard difficulty.
• Clearing Gates.
• Completing Battlefield of Time dungeons.
• Exchanging Medals of Time in the in-game Exchange Shop.

This guide provides insights on the best builds for Sung Jinwoo and ranks all hunter characters in a tier list. It also covers the top Artifact sets and weapons for each hunter character.

For free Arise codes or updates on current and upcoming banners, we have you covered.

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