Okay, so I’ve been diving deep into Solo Leveling: Arise, like many of you, I guess. And one thing that really had me scratching my head for a bit, then totally geeking out, was the whole artifact system. I figured I’d share how I’ve been tackling it, what I’ve learned, and maybe save you some of the headaches I went through.
Getting Started with These Shiny Things
When I first started seeing these artifact pieces drop, I was like, “Cool, more gear!” But then I looked closer. There are different slots, different sets, and a whole lot of stats. My first instinct was just to equip whatever had the biggest green arrow, you know? Standard procedure. But I quickly realized that wasn’t cutting it for the tougher fights.
So, I decided to actually sit down and look at what these things do. I started by just farming some of the early dungeons that dropped them. You get them from various places, story mode, gates, the Encore Missions, that sort of stuff. I just gathered a bunch to see what I was working with.
Figuring Out Sets and Stats
The first big “aha!” moment for me was with the set bonuses. You’ll see artifacts have names, like “One-hit Kill” or “Executioner.” If you equip two pieces from the same set, you get a small bonus. Equip four, and you usually get a much bigger, cooler bonus. This seemed like the most important thing to aim for, at least initially.
Then there are the main stats on each piece. Some are pretty straightforward:
- Helmets often have HP.
- Gloves can have Attack or Crit Rate.
- Chest pieces often have Defense.
- Boots can have Attack or HP.
And then the accessories – necklaces, earrings, rings, and bracelets – they have their own main stats too. Necklaces might have elemental damage, rings could have Attack or Crit Damage.
My process became:
- Identify a character’s role. Is Sung Jinwoo going for pure damage? Is Cha Hae-In also DPS, or maybe I want her a bit tankier for a specific fight?
- Look for a four-piece set that boosts what they do. For my damage dealers, I started looking for sets that boosted Attack, Crit Rate, or Crit Damage. For supports, maybe something that helped the team or gave them survivability.
- Once I had a set in mind, I’d try to get pieces with the right main stat for each slot. Like, for a DPS, I’d want Attack % on gloves or rings if possible.
It was a bit of trial and error. I’d equip a set, go run a familiar dungeon, and see if things felt smoother or if my damage numbers went up.
The Joys and Pains of Upgrading
Okay, so equipping them is one thing. Then you gotta upgrade them. You use these artifact enhancement chips. Pretty simple, you just feed them into the artifact, and its main stat goes up. Easy peasy.
But then there are the substats. Oh boy, the substats. Each artifact has these smaller, secondary stats. When you upgrade an artifact to certain levels (like +3, +6, +9, +12, +15), one of these substats gets a random boost, or a new one might appear if you don’t have four yet. This is where things get… interesting. And sometimes frustrating!
I’d find a piece with a great main stat and two good substats, upgrade it, and then all the boosts would go into a flat HP substat I didn’t really care about. It happens. My strategy here is to not get too attached to an artifact until it’s at least +9 or +12. If the substat rolls are going really badly, sometimes I just cut my losses and wait for a better base piece. For really good potential pieces, especially Legendary (gold) ones, I’d push them to +15 to see their full potential.
I make sure to farm those enhancement chips regularly. The game throws a decent amount at you, but you’ll burn through them fast, especially when you’re trying to gear up multiple characters or trying to get those perfect substat rolls on your main team.
Some Sets I’ve Been Liking
Without getting into super specific “this is the absolute best” stuff, because it really depends on your characters and what you have, I’ve found a few sets to be pretty useful starting out and even into the mid-game.
For Sung Jinwoo, I initially went with anything that boosted his Attack. The “Executioner” set (Crit Rate and damage against low HP enemies) felt pretty good for finishing off bosses. Later, I started looking at sets like “Armed” for more consistent Attack boosts or even some of the elemental damage sets if I was focusing on a specific weapon.
For my other hunters, if they were DPS, I’d try for similar things. For someone more supportive, I’d look at sets that might give team buffs or help with their own survivability if they were a bit squishy. The “Noble Sacrifice” set that boosts team Attack Power when the wearer’s HP is high caught my eye for a support character I was using.
The key for me was reading the set descriptions carefully and thinking, “How does this help this specific character do their job better?”
Managing the Hoard
One last thing: your artifact inventory will get full. Fast. I started just locking any piece that looked remotely promising – good set, good main stat, maybe a couple of decent substats. Then, periodically, I’d go through and dismantle the rest. Especially the blue and purple ones that just weren’t cutting it anymore, or the ones where the substat upgrades went totally wrong. You get some resources back, which is always nice.
So yeah, that’s been my journey with artifacts so far. It’s a system with a lot of layers, and a fair bit of RNG, but once you get the hang of matching sets and stats to your characters, you really start to see a difference in your power. It’s pretty satisfying when you finally put together a good set and see those damage numbers pop or your team survive a tough fight. Keep experimenting, and don’t be afraid to swap things around! Good luck out there, fellow hunters!