Solo Leveling: Arise held its June Developer Live. The broadcast introduced the long-awaited 7-Grade Hunter and Fire-attribute Buster, 'Liu Zhigang,' alongside two new weapons for Sung Jinwoo, a new boss, and various events. The Q3 roadmap for July–September was also unveiled, teasing the arrival of Sung Jinwoo's 'Shadow Monarch' form.

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■ 7-Grade Fire-attribute Hunter, the First Buster 'Liu Zhigang'

Liu Zhigang, China's most iconic 7-Grade Hunter, is arriving. Although depicted as incredibly powerful in the original work, he rarely appeared in actual combat; in Arise, players will finally see his true potential.

The developers noted that Liu Zhigang is a 'Weapon Master' who excels with various armaments. Accordingly, he fluidly switches between dual blades, bows, spears, and greatswords, culminating in an ultimate skill that unleashes dragon-like sword energy through complex weapon combos.

The new 'Buster' class is designed to synergize with 'Stackers' to handle enemies without break gauges. The mechanic involves accumulating Buster damage while the target is in an 'Overload' state, then detonating that damage for extra impact once the Overload ends.

This does not replace the existing Striker class. The team is developing content to ensure there are distinct environments where using Stacker/Buster combos is advantageous, versus those where Breakers and Strikers are more effective.

■ Buster-exclusive Artifact 'Surt's Flame', Crafting & Reconfiguration Event

The Surt's Flame set is optimized for Busters. It provides base Attack/Defense increases and features a structure where Buster skill damage stacks and explodes whenever a teammate triggers Overload. It also increases damage against Overloaded targets. Regarding questions about whether Sung Jinwoo should use it: it is designed exclusively for Busters (Sung Jinwoo does not need it)

New artifacts can be obtained through Instance Dungeons and crafting, and Liu Zhigang-exclusive artifacts can also be earned via evolution events.

They are also available through the concurrent Artifact Crafting & Reconfiguration event, which allows for up to 9 crafts and 25 reconfigurations during this period.

■ Two New Wind-attribute Weapons for Sung Jinwoo

Two new Wind-attribute weapons, 'Storm's Call' and 'Soma & Asura,' are being released. They are designed to synergize, so while they can be used individually, their efficiency doubles when used together. A weapon exchange event will be available to ease the acquisition process. Additionally, a login event after the June update will offer up to 60 weapon draw tickets.

Storm's Call is designed as a Wind-attribute starter weapon capable of attribute infusion. Its skill pulls enemies to the point of impact, providing utility that makes combat easier. Each use of a Wind-attribute weapon skill stacks a Wind-attribute Overload damage buff up to 6 times. It also reduces weapon skill mana consumption, which synergizes with Soma & Asura.

Soma & Asura is specialized for Wind-attribute Overload damage dealing. It features dynamic action using chain-linked weapons. Triggering Wind-attribute Overload activates 'Twin Tempest,' which can be consumed to unleash rapid, wide-range attacks. Players can chain up to 14 Soma & Asura skills during a damage cycle. Twin Tempest triggers upon creating an Overload state, so it works solo, but is more effective with Storm's Call.

■ New Workshop of Brilliant Light Boss 'Raquian'

Raquian is a Primordial Master and King of the Giants, characterized by overwhelming physical force. Previously, the Workshop of Brilliant Light followed a structure where the Commander was released before the Master, which felt slow and created issues with adding non-original bosses. From this update, players will encounter the Commander and Master immediately.

Raquian is weak to Fire and Dark attributes and lacks a break gauge, making Stacker combinations advantageous. Special patterns include grabbing light orbs to fly and perform a slam attack, or using chains connected to magic crystals to bind and suppress him. His 'Gigantic Punch,' used at 50% HP, cannot be dodged with Extreme Evasion, so players must maintain distance.

The difficulty will be challenging at launch, but the team will adjust it if it proves too difficult after the update.

■ New Throne of the Disaster Boss 'Kthulhu'

After two years of seeing Ennio in the Throne of Insolence, the content has been renamed to Throne of the Disaster, and a new boss, Kthulhu, will be released. As a score-based competitive mode like Guild Bosses, it will avoid frustrating patterns and focus on accessible mechanics. Weakness attributes are Fire and Wind.

It is more advantageous to target Kthulhu's left arm first. Unlike Ennio, Kthulhu has no hitboxes on its arms and only requires attacking the main body, reducing the burden of retries.

■ Challenge Event - Greed Ruler Vulcan

Following the Baran event, a high-difficulty Vulcan challenge is opening. Since players used Water-attribute hunters for Baran, Vulcan will be weak to Fire and Wind. Both Sung Jinwoo and Hunter modes are provided to allow players to utilize the new Fire-attribute Buster Liu Zhigang and Sung Jinwoo's Wind-attribute weapons.

Vulcan previously had frustrating patterns like burn debuffs requiring Alicia for cleansing or Meilin for shield breaking; these have been removed for this event. With fewer team restrictions, players can use a wider variety of hunters.

Rewards include an icon for Sung Jinwoo mode, a title for Hunter mode, and the 'Vulcan's Fury' weapon skin for clearing both modes.

While Vulcan's Fury might feel underwhelming now, it is scheduled for a major buff in the July update. Following Winter Wolf, Killer Wolf is getting a buff, and Vulcan's Fury is next in line.

■ Difficulty Expansion and 3 Content Revamps

Trial of the Architect, Cerberus' Boundary, and Simulation Gate are being expanded and revamped to provide more challenging content for players with increased stats.

Trial of the Architect adds a 7th Grade difficulty, while Cerberus' Boundary features significantly strengthened monsters. Nightmare difficulty returns as a challenge, featuring Kamish this season. Simulation Gate expands to 55 floors, with new collectibles tailored to the Buster class.

■ Auto Mode Improvements

Solo Leveling: Arise is a game that rewards manual control, but auto-play is necessary in some environments. Previous auto-play had issues, such as tagging out Thomas Andre immediately after his transformation. This will change after the update.

All hunters have been reviewed and will now act according to the situation. Issues like Igris retreating without an Overload trigger or damage dealers tagging out mid-combo will be resolved. They will now show efficient movement, such as dodging boss attacks or canceling animations to evade when HP is low.

For players who prefer aggressive play without evasion, an option to toggle evasion on/off will be introduced.

Sung Jinwoo's auto-play is not yet perfect due to the complexity of weapon, skill, and rune combinations, but the team will continue to improve his AI.

■ June Main Event and Rewards

The 'Road to 3rd Anniversary! Mileage Event' provides items to nurture Christopher Reid, including his exclusive weapon, exclusive artifacts, cores, and growth materials.

To thank players for being with us for two years, we will provide a '2nd Anniversary Thank You Letter' along with the Christopher Reid hunter, his exclusive weapon, and artifact enhancement reset tickets.

■ Q3 Roadmap

July will feature two updates. The first update introduces new hunter 'Agnes Rivera,' a Dark-attribute Buster class. As an original hunter, she is a key figure in the 'Fang Monarch' story and an Italian organization boss. She uses dual submachine guns and summons subordinates to fight.

The new Workshop of Brilliant Light Hard difficulty will launch with a first-to-clear event for Raquian; the recommended combat power for the top 1k is approximately 7.5 million. Weapon levels will expand to 130, and gem fusion will be improved to ensure that fusing gems of the same color results in a gem of that same color. The new Shadow 'Greed' (Hwang Dong-su) will be implemented with team buffs fitting his name.

The July 2nd update introduces the new Dark-attribute Inheritor, 'Shadow Monarch.' The team has put significant effort into this to ensure players feel the same emotion as when Sung Jinwoo awakened in the original work. The acquisition method will be similar to the Labyrinth, and remaining Labyrinth tickets will be converted accordingly.

While we wanted to present Sung Jinwoo as the first Inheritor, his transformation into the Shadow Monarch is a significant story beat that needed to align with the narrative. The July 2nd update timing was not originally planned for this, but it was moved up due to feedback regarding the absence of the fundamental Shadow Monarch and Sung Jinwoo's power falling behind. Please look forward to seeing him fight alongside his shadow soldiers.

Additionally, since the Shadow Monarch is a transformation of Sung Jinwoo, the term 'Inheritor Shadow Monarch' is slightly contradictory. We are discussing the naming with the original IP holders. The release timing might shift slightly, but we hope to keep the name 'Shadow Monarch.'

The Workshop of Brilliant Light will be revamped, focusing on boss locations and difficulty restructuring. Masters and Commanders will be integrated into a single dungeon, and bosses excluded from this process will be made available through other content. 'Proof of the Strong' will also receive a new challenge concept to make it more engaging.

The 'Beach Festival' summer event will feature a story about Yoo Soo-hyun investigating mermaid legends in the hunter community, with special rewards including swimsuits. The original story 'Land of Fangs' will cover Agnes Rivera and Sung Jinwoo's party uncovering clues about the hunter berserk incident.

August will feature a 'Mansion Ghost Story' event with a spooky atmosphere, along with a second alternate-version hunter following Cha Hae-in. We hope to reveal more by the next live broadcast.

New weapons are still in the planning stage, but we are preparing one Water-attribute infusion weapon.

In September, the new Workshop of Brilliant Light boss, 'Fang Monarch Adan,' will be released. He first appears in the 'Land of Fangs' story, possessing immense strength and agility. He utilizes various forms in combat, such as transforming into a giant wolf or a beastman. Players will encounter him in the July story and face him in the Workshop in September. The Hunter Team Fight mode will be regularized under the name 'Deep Isolation Zone.

Q. Are new artifacts being added?

- With Liu Zhigang's release as a Buster, the exclusive artifact 'Surt's Fury' is being added. A crafting and reconfiguration event will run to help players obtain them more easily.

Q. Please improve artifact option efficiency

- This was the hottest issue during the 2nd anniversary update. As base stats increased, the efficiency between percentage options and flat stats changed, causing dissatisfaction. We apologize for the lack of prior notice; the June update will buff artifact options, including flat stats, and enhance existing artifact performance.

Q. Association Special Certificates are piling up. We need more uses for them

- We are aware of this and mentioned it in the last broadcast. The June update will significantly expand the exchangeable items, allowing players to purchase artifact enhancement reset tickets and past hair parts.

Q. Dungeon entry keys are too scarce

- Key consumption increased significantly after the sweep update. We will provide more keys, lower the cost of key recharges, and change daily missions so that key consumption itself counts toward mission goals, starting in the July update.

Q. Please increase the max Fame level

- We are monitoring the community and have noted requests from long-time players. The cap will be raised to 150. Players who already reached the cap will have their progress retroactively applied in the July update, and those who already converted excess to gold will have their EXP restored.

Q. It would be great if Sung Jinwoo's Monarch form was released

- We received a lot of feedback about this when the Labyrinth was released. We decided it needed to be developed to meet your expectations and are preparing to release it during Q3. It is currently under the working title 'Shadow Monarch.

Q. When will the new Shadow 'Greed' be released?

- It is in the final stages of development and should be released in the next update.

Q. Will new weapons be released two weeks later this time too?

- They will be released immediately with the June update.

Q. There is a bug where mining keeps failing

- This is caused by expired or deleted data remaining in the system. It will be fixed in this update.

Q. Are swimsuit skins being released this time?

- It's summer, so of course we are preparing them. We are preparing a wide variety of swimsuit skins.

Q. When will Sung Jinwoo Simulation be released?

- The release timing has been adjusted to improve quality. We expect it to be released in the second half of the year.

Q. When will the Shadow 'Beru' be released?

- The story has not progressed that far yet, so it will take more time.

Q. Will new classes continue to be released?

- With the release of the Buster, there are no plans to add new classes for the time being.

Q. Collaboration hunters are unobtainable but still balance-wise superior

- With Liu Zhigang's release, Fire-attribute hunter balance will be adjusted. Future updates will continue to adjust non-collaboration hunters to match the power level of new releases.

Collaboration characters have value as limited-time units, so we are adjusting existing characters to match their power level.

Q. Are Breakers no longer used? It feels like non-pushed classes are being neglected

- While it may seem like older classes are being abandoned with the release of Stackers and Busters, we are designing content to ensure that Breakers remain advantageous in specific scenarios.

Q. Are new attribute infusion weapons like the Key of the Boundary being released?

- Yes, they are being added. Please refer to the update notes.

Q. Are you planning to hold another skin design contest?

- We will prepare a new contest.

Q. When will weapon levels be expanded?

- We are preparing an update for July.

Q. How do I use remaining Labyrinth Seals?

- We will provide a conversion feature when the next Inheritor is released, allowing a 1:1 exchange. Please wait for the next Inheritor release.

Q. Are there any collaboration plans?

- There are no collaborations currently scheduled.

Q. The Inheritor acquisition method is too inconvenient

- The use of separate tickets for Inheritors is a factor. However, we have put a lot of effort into this content and are running various events to reduce the burden of spending, so we ask for your understanding.

Q. Who is the next Guild Boss?

- The next season's boss is the Giant Statue.

Q. What is the status of gem attachment/detachment?

- Development is underway. Internally, there is debate about whether it is truly necessary, as it might require a preset system. We have noted the strong demand and will re-evaluate it within the development team.

Jin Seong-geon, General Development PD: It was great to broadcast with our development leaders. We will strive to provide even more exciting action for our hunters.

Kim Ryeon-gu, Content Planning Team Lead: We shared a lot of information today. Our team's biggest concern is how satisfied and entertained our hunters will be. We are working very hard to provide fun content, including the June update, so please look forward to it. Your feedback via community posts and strategy videos is incredibly helpful, so please keep it coming.

Shin Dong-hyun, Balance Part Lead: From the demonstrations to the various updates, I hope you enjoyed the presentation. Liu Zhigang, the new weapons, and the new boss will be much more fun to play than just hearing about them. We will continue to work hard to provide enjoyable experiences after this update.