Choi Jong-In has been just as strong in Solo Leveling: Arise as he was as a high-ranked hunter in the original series. But, he still needs to be built correctly to optimize his strengths.
Despite not being able to deal Critical Hits in the game, this hasn’t stopped the Fire Mage from being one of the top DPS characters. We ranked Jong-In among our A-tier hunters in Arise due to his massive Fire Damage and skillset that centers around his Burn attacks, skill reset, and mighty Ultimate Skill.
However, you’ll need to level up certain stats and skills, as well as equip the best weapons and Artifacts to create the best Choi Jong-In build.
Best stats
Attack, Fire Damage, and Defense Penetration are the best stats to upgrade and level up for Choi Jong-In in Solo Leveling: Arise.
With Jong-In not able to deal Critical Hits, then avoid any stats, skills, weapons, and Artifacts that buff these in any way. Instead, it’s vital to go all-out Attack and boost any stats that increase his overall DPS.
Specifically, Fire Damage and Defense Penetration will be key here. His strengths lay in his many skills that inflict Fire Damage, especially as most inflict his OP Burn effect which deals long-lasting Fire Damage. Then, any buffs for Defense Penetration or Damage Increase will only make the effects stronger.
Best skills
Choi Jong-In’s best skills are his Basic Attack Blast, Basic Skills Rain of Flames and Flame Spear, Special Skills Fire Barrage and Celestial Fire Dragon, as well as his Ultimate Skill End of Days.
All of his skills are strong, which is a large part of why he is ranked so highly as one of the best hunters to use in the game. However, his Blast Basic Attack stands out, as despite being a low-level skill, it still applies the Burn effect with every hit.
The Burn effect deals damage equal to 50% of Choi Jong-In’s Attack every 3 seconds and lasts 15 seconds. With further advancements, it can be upgraded to deal damage equal to 100%.
His two Basic Skills Rain of Flames and Flame Spear don’t issue the Burn effect but are pure DPS machines and both inflict an insane 1550% of Jong-In’s Attack stats.
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As you level him up, you will then want to focus on both of his OP Special Skills of Fire Barrage and Celestrial Fire Dragon. In particular, Celestial Fire Damage deals a huge amount of damage and will be important to upgrade to buff your DPS.
Finally, his Ultimate Skill End of Days is one you should keep upgrading, as although it doesn’t issue the Burn effect, it deals an enormous amount of Fire damage for that fatal blow.
| Skill type | Skill | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Attack | Blast | Hits enemies with 1550% of his Attack as Fire Damage and inflicts the Airborne effect. |
| Basic Skill | Rain of Flames | Deals 1550% of Jong-In’s Attack as Fire Damage and activates the Airborne effect. |
| Basic Skill | Flame Spear | Inflicts 802% of Choi Jong-In’s Attack as Fire Damage. When it hits it activates the Knock Down, Burn, and Defense Decrease effect.Defense Decrease reduces the opponent’s Defense by 15% for 15 seconds. |
| Special Skill | Fire Barrage | Deals 936% of his Attack as Fire Damage, issues the Airborne and Burn effect when the target is hit, and applies the Defense Decrease effect for 15 seconds. |
| Special Skill | Celestial Fire Dragon | Strikes his targets with a burning spear from the sky to hit enemies with 2370% of his Attack as Fire Damage and also inflicts the Airborne effect. |
| Ultimate Skill | End of Days | Strikes his targets with a burning spear from the sky to hit enemies with 2370% of his Attack as Fire Damage and also inflict the Airborne effect. |
Best weapons
The best weapon for Choi Jong-In to equip in Solo Leveling: Arise is his own hunter-exclusive SSR weapon Equivalent Exchange.
Besides this, the Steel Longsword and Ancient Grimoire are strong replacements. The Steel Longsword increases the elemental weakness damage strike with a stronger blow, while the Ancient Grimoire helps you get your Ultimate Skill much faster.
| Weapon | Skills & abilities |
|---|---|
| Equivalent Exchange | Choi Jong-In exclusive weapon: Impressive Fire Damage and increases overall Attack damage by 5%.When attacking enemies that have been Burned by Jong-In’s previous attacks, the opponent’s Defense is decreased by 7% for 5 seconds. |
| Steel Longsword | Elemental weakness damage increases by 4.5%. |
| Ancient Grimoire | Increases Power Gauge Acquisition Rate by 12%. |
Best Artifacts
Armed (Black Lion) and One-hit Kill (Almighty Kargalgan) are the best Armor Artifact sets and Executioner (Behemoth) is the best Jewelry Artifact set to equip with Choi Jong-In.
For clearing Gates, Dungeons, or any of the standard modes, you will want to go with the Armed (Black Lion) to buff your overall Attack damage. However, when you come across Igris or any other troublesome boss, then the One-hit Kill will be the perfect Armor set to give his powerful Ultimate skill a further boost.
To round this out, the Executioner Jewelry is the perfect set to maximize your DPS output.
| Armor Artifact sets | Two-piece benefits | Four-piece benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Armed (Black Lion) | Attack damage increases by 5%. | Attacking ignores 15% of the target’s Defense and attacks. |
| One-hit Kill (Almighty Kargalgan) | Ultimate damage increases by 25%. | Ultimate cooldown period decreases by 40%. |
| Jewelry Artifact sets | Two-piece benefits | Four-piece benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Executioner (Behemoth) | Damage increases by 8% while attacking enemies with 40% or less Health. | Health condition changes to 70% and damage increases to 20% when attacking enemies. |
For Solo Leveling: Arise, we’ve curated the best build for Sung Jinwoo and the strongest character Cha Hae-In, as well as the best Artifact sets for every hunter character. If you need free Arise codes or are wondering what the current and next banners are, then we also have you covered.