Shadow Soldiers in Solo Leveling: Arise plays a vital role in building teams. While filling the first three hunter slots will be easy, choosing the best Shadows becomes more challenging since you’ll want to use your resources to level up the best one.
At the time of writing, there are five Shadows in Solo Leveling: Arise, and you can unlock four of them. As a defensive player, I initially focused on tanky Shadows. However, I soon discovered the untapped potential of other Shadows and the significant damage boost their upgrades could provide.
Through extensive in-game experiments, I’ve now compiled the following tier list for Shadow Soldiers in Solo Leveling: Arise.
Solo Leveling: Arise Shadow tier list
This Shadow Soldier tier list for Solo Leveling: Arise focuses on increasing your party’s damage output.
| Tier | Shadow Soldier | Common Rank Buff |
| S Tier | Igris | Increases all team members’ Critical Hit Rate by four percent. |
| A Tier | Blades | Increases all team members’ Attack by three percent. |
| A Tier | Iron | Increases all team members’ Max HP by six percent |
| B Tier | Tank | Increases all team members’ Defense by six percent. |
Which Shadow Soldiers should you upgrade in Solo Leveling: Arise?
You should use your upgrade on Igris first and Blade second as your Shadow Soldiers in Solo Leveling: Arise. As you level these Shadows, Igris’ Critical Hit Rate buff and Blades’ Attack buff will gradually increase. Maxing the two will boost your highest damage.
After maxing Igris and Blade, you can use your remaining resources to upgrade Iron. While some players may use Tank over Iron, I find the latter more helpful with the percentage-based HP increase, reducing my need to get Extreme Evasions.
Upgrading Shadow Soldiers will increase their buff percentages. Getting them to the Knight rank unlocks a unique ability.
Who is the strongest Shadow Soldier in Solo Leveling: Arise?
Igris is the strongest Shadow Soldier in Solo Leveling: Arise because Critical Hit Rate is one of the most important stats. Landing a critical hit in lategame fights takes your damage to new highs, letting you challenge the toughest bosses.
How to unlock Shadow Soldiers in Solo Leveling: Arise
To unlock Shadow Soldiers in Solo Leveling: Arise, you need to make Sung Jinwoo’s job The Monarch of Shadows. This job change unlocks after chapter nine when you get the job change quests. To upgrade Shadow Soldiers, use Traces of Shadow. This material is used both when extracting Shadows and while promoting them.
How to get Traces of Shadow in Solo Leveling: Arise
The best way to get Traces of Shadow in Solo Leveling: Arise is by completing the Story mode. Each stage will reward you with Traces of Shadow, which will add up quickly. You can also get Traces of Shadows from:
- Battle of Time: This event unlocks after finishing chapter 10, and you can unlock plenty of Traces of Shadow by participating in it.
- Completing Gates: You can get Traces of Shadows by clearing Gates.
