Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide| Tips and Advice

Solo Leveling:ARISE is an action-RPG for gamers who enjoy fast-paced combat and character optimisation. In this Netmarble title, you can live or relive the adventures of Sung Jinwoo, humanity's weakest hunter, and discover his extraordinary powers. To help you along, we've put together this Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide to help new players get off to the best possible start.

Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide: all the basics for understanding gameplay

There's so much to do and discover that you may feel lost when you're just starting out. Solo Leveling:ARISE is a fast-paced game in which you take it in turns to play as Sung Jinwoo, the game's main hero, and up to 3 hunters, whose levels you'll also have to level up and whose equipment you'll have to optimise.

If you've already played games like Genshin Impact for its character and equipment optimisation aspect, or Devil May Cry: Peak of Combat for its highly dynamic combat system, some of our advice will no doubt be familiar to you, although a refresher course is never too bad! If not, don't panic, we're starting from scratch in this Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide.

Solo Leveling:ARISE gameplay: how does combat work?

In Solo Leveling:ARISE, there are two types of combat: those where you play as Sung Jinwoo and those where you play as the hunters. But the battles all work in the same way: you have to use your skills, dodge at the right moment and, above all, strike down your opponents in order to complete the level in the allotted time without losing all your health points.

When you play as Sung Jinwoo, you can call on your hunters to help you on the field with their abilities. When you play as the team of hunters, Sung Jinwoo is absent from the battle, and you switch from one hunter to another to make the best use of each other's abilities and take down all opponents.

The skills, which we'll go into in a little more detail later in this Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide, all have a cooldown, with the exception of the simple attack, which you can launch as many times as you like without waiting. Even dodging is subject to a cooldown, so be careful to time your dodges.

Note that you can very quickly play in auto mode, which is very handy for letting the game do the levels by itself when your level and that of your hunters is high enough. But completing certain key levels may require you to take matters into your own hands, whether that's to complete certain level objectives or simply to complete a level that Auto mode would miss by a whisker.

Here are a few tips in this Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide, to help you get the most out of your first battles:

• Don't forget touse your abilities when they're available, but also save them when necessary.
• Take care to aim at your enemies correctly so that you don't throw your attacks into the void.
• Use extreme evasion to avoid an opponent's attack and launch a powerful attack in return. Dodging is essential, as it's often the key to turning a failed level into a successful one. To do this, dodge just before the attack comes at you.

How can I improve Sung Jinwoo?

The main protagonist, Sung Jinwoo, increases in level as you progress through the game. We'll describe how to gain experience in a later section. You gain 5 stat points for every level you gain, which you can freely allocate to one of his 5 stats (Strength, Agility, Perception, Intelligence and Vitality).

You can fight using 2 skills and an Ultimate Skill, as well as one additional skill per weapon equipped, specific to each weapon, for a total of 5 skills. Note that Jinwoo can only equip weapons intended for him, whereas hunters have their own weapons.

You can also equip artefacts of different rarities (Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary) to increase Jinwoo's stats. Artefacts have one main stat and up to four secondary stats.

If you equip 2 artefacts from the same set, then 4 artefacts from the same set, Jinwoo will benefit from an additional bonus. These artefacts can be upgraded from tier 0 to tier 20, increasing the main stat at each level and adding/upgrading a secondary stat every 5 levels. Even at the start of the game, don't neglect upgrading your artefacts.

How do I upgrade my hunters?

First of all, the level cap of your hunters is determined by the level of your Sung Jinwoo. But unlike Jinwoo, it is possible for your hunters to gain power through advancement. All you have to do is land on them when you summon them. Hunters can also equip artefacts, and have a single weapon slot.

Your team is made up of 3 hunters. Depending on the hunters in their box, their preferred element, their preferred weapon and their role (Mage, Tanker, Healer, Fighter, Assassin, Ranger), create the team of 3 hunters best suited to the obstacles you face. In this Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide, we advise you to try out different combinations at the start so that you can find the hunters you prefer to play.

Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide: earning XP is the key

Solo Leveling:ARISE goes against the grain of many games that separate the adventure/exploration level from the level of your main character. In fact, the only way to increase Sung Jinwoo's level is to gain player experience. And there are several ways of gaining this precious experience that you need to be aware of and make the most of, as we explain in this Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide.

Advancing the main quest and side quests

As well as unlocking other game modes as you progress, completing the chapters of the main quest earns you a large number of experience points, among other rewards. Progressing through the main story is essential, as it's your main source of experience.

What's more, you don't have to complete every mission in order to earn XP - simply completing the level for the first time will earn you a substantial number of experience points.

The secondary chapters, also accessible from the 'Story' tab, also earn you XP points the first time you complete them. That's why you shouldn't forget them, as they can provide you with the experience points you need to succeed in a difficult battle.

Collect Activity Funds every day

This feature should not be overlooked, especially when you're new to Solo Leveling:ARISE. Quite simply, it's a way of earning multiple rewards without doing anything, including XP and gold. The reward pool fills up to 100% after 24 hours, so don't forget to collect your Activity Funds every day.

You earn more and more rewards as Sung Jinwoo's level increases, as well as when the cumulative level of all your hunters increases. This is an extremely useful contribution every day, so don't forget it!

Fight every day in the Battle Gates

The third way to gain experience is to fight in the various Battle Gates. These are additional battles that can be unlocked using keys, the total number of which recharges every day at 00:00 UTC. So make sure you use up all your keys before that time (1am UK time in winter, 2am in summer).

A number of Gates spawn in this menu. These are all battles to be fought, ranging in difficulty from rank E to rank S. As you progress through the game, the difficulty of the battles increases. But if even E-rank battles seem insurmountable, the difficulty level can be adjusted by rescinding the Gates.

This feature also allows you to reload Gates on the map. You may have ten or so keys, but you usually have 5 or 6 Gates on the map at the same time. Rescanning the gates on the map allows you to open new gates and change their level by increasing or decreasing their difficulty.

And don't forget to claim thebonus experience from the Gate missions. You earn a certain amount of bonus XP by completing 3 gates, 6 gates and 10 gates per day. This bonus XP is added to the XP you earn by defeating each Gate.

When your level is high enough, you'll also be able to defeat Gates of rank B or lower automatically, without having to fight. This is an undeniable time-saver for players who don't necessarily have a lot of time to devote to the game every day.

To do this, we recommend that you level up all your hunters, not just your favourite characters, as they will help you to defeat all the Gates automatically.

Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide: the daily routine checklist

Progressing through the main quest takes time, whether it's fighting the battles, (re)discovering the story or watching the beautiful cinematics. But there are bound to be days when you don't have much time to devote to the game.

Don't panic, though, because here's a checklist of things you shouldn't forget to do to get the maximum rewards every day. It's both valuable advice for beginners and a reminder for experts!

Have you read the previous parts of our Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide?

As we've seen above, there are some menus you really mustn't forget if you want to make the most of Solo Leveling:ARISE. Here's a quick reminder before we go any further:

• Claim Activity Funds, an idle reward that's easy to get every day and fills up after 24 hours. If you forget to claim them, you'll block the tank and miss out on the rewards!
• Defeat the Gates, using all the keys available to you each day, the number of which increases with Sung Jinwoo's level.

It would be so easy to remember if that was all there was to it! But there are still plenty of things to do each day, so here's a list of the other places you need to collect rewards.

Mine the Gates for more rewards

Once you've defeated the Gates, you can mine additional rewards from them, mainly Mana Crystals, and a few Essence Stones for Gates of Rank A or higher. Mana Crystals can be exchanged for useful rewards for your adventure.

To mine a gate, simply start the mining operation, which lasts up to 3 hours for S-rank gates, and come back to collect the rewards when the time is up.

If you want to mine a lot of Gates to maximise your rewards, there's no secret about it: you'll need to come back to the game several times a day to collect your rewards and launch new expeditions.

Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide: talk to NPCs in the lobby to get Essence Stones

Essence Stones are essential for making draws to obtain new characters. So any Essence Stone is good for you.

In the lobby, look out for characters with a yellow bubble with an exclamation mark. If so, go and talk to them. After a short chat, you'll get 5 Essence Stones. That's always a bonus, especially as there are several characters involved every day.

Do your daily quests and don't forget the Hunter Pass

Daily quests are an essential component of mobile games. Solo Leveling:ARISE is certainly no exception: here's the list of quests to complete each day to earn up to 100 Essence Stones and other rewards:

• Complete 6 Gates
• Complete 3 mining operations
• Attempt 10 artefact upgrades
• Claim Activity Funds 1 time
• Level up hunters 1 time

Other daily quests will become available as you unlock new features as you progress through the main story. But by completing the 5 quests above every day, you'll be able to get the maximum daily mission rewards.

A similar system exists for weekly quests. Just like the daily quests, you'll have quests to complete during the week to get up to 250 extra Essence Stones every week. Here are the weekly quests to complete each week:

• Obtain a total of 100 daily mission points 6 times
• Complete 30 Gates
• Obtain 70 artefacts
• Complete 3 draws
• Spend 100,000 gold
• Increase Sung Jinwoo's weapon level 5 times

To complete the weekly quests, you'll need to be consistent throughout the week. If you don't, you're likely to run out of time to complete them.

Finally for this Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide, don't forget the Hunter Pass. A must-have for mobile games, the Hunter Pass allows you to get even more extra rewards. Although there are several paid Hunter Pass options, the free version will give you the chance to get some really useful items.

Be careful, though, as the Hunter Pass missions are different from the daily missions. There are also weekly and seasonal missions to increase the level of the pass.

In-game events

For the time being, the in-game events don't require you to do any additional combat to the main/secondary story, the Gates and all the other daily missions. A godsend for you!

The way events work is simple: you have to claim 'tokens' by completing missions. Note that making a draw on the Special Draw will also give you 10 tokens at a time, so don't forget to claim them!

You can use these tokens to progress through the events and get some nice rewards. In some events you can even get SSR weapons, usually the weapon associated with the character featured on the Special Draw. So be diligent and take part in the events to easily obtain powerful weapons.

Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide: Spend your keys every day

To optimise your progress in Solo Leveling:ARISE, we recommend that you spend all the keys you have on a daily basis, particularly for Gates, Encore Mission levels and Instance Dungeons. This is especially important as these levels can give you powerful artefacts, among other rewards.

Don't forget that the number of keys is reset at 00:00 UTC every day. If you ever get any keys as rewards, they will be added to the maximum number of keys available. Don't forget to spend them too before the end of the day.

Simply connect to the game

This tip may seem trivial to you, but you should know that there are also 100% free login bonuses that you can get as soon as you log in to your account.

There are 2 sign-up bonuses at the start of the game:

• the 14-day login bonus, which will give you useful rewards every day, including on day 7 the SSR hunter Woo Jinchul, and on day 14 his signature weapon, not to mention 15 Selection Draw Summon Tickets in total for the first two days. And believe us, Woo Jinchul is a great addition to your box.
• The 28-day connection bonus, which will replenish your Essence Stone stockpile and your Selection Draw Summon Ticket stockpile, for a total of 1,400 Essence Stones and 30 Selection Draw Tickets over the 28 days, among other rewards.

Two other rewards are available directly in your shop each day without having to complete any other mission:

• 10 Essence Stones in the Bonus tab
• 5,000 Gold per day in the Special tab.

Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide: understanding the summoning system

As with any game with a gacha mechanic, the summoning system allows you to obtain numerous SR and SSR rank hunters, as well as R, SR and SSR rank weapons. Be careful, though, because unlike games like Genshin Impact, there's no separation between weapon banners and Special Draw banners, which drastically reduces the chances of getting an SSR character.

While we think the game is fairly generous with Essence Stones and Draw Tickets, it does have an SSR of 1.2%, which is generous compared to other games. Soft pity is 64 summons and hard pity is 80 summons. All these subtleties partly make up for the fact that weapons and characters are mixed in the Special Draw.

Finally, there's the 50% chance of getting the featured character rather than another SSR character or weapon. Don't forget, the featured character's weapon in the Special Draw is available as a reward for an easy-to-finish temporary event when you play daily.

The permanent Selection Draw has a special feature: it lets you select 4 SSR weapons or hunters to feature. As with the Special Draw, you have a 50% chance of getting one of these 4 featured choices. This may allow you to target the strongest characters in our Solo Leveling:ARISE character tier list.

This concludes our Solo Leveling:ARISE beginner's guide. Don't hesitate to apply these tips and ask us your questions in the comments section. There's a lot to learn to master all aspects of the game, but stick with it and you'll progress quickly. And don't forget to enter the Solo Leveling:ARISE codes we've compiled to help you progress as quickly as possible.