Best Choi Jong-In Build Guide – Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE

Welcome to our Choi Jong-In Build Guide for Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE.

In this guide, we will explain how each one of Choi Jong-In’s skills work and how best to use them. We will provide more general tips for how to get the most out of Choi Jong-In.

We will also include a build guide for Choi Jong-In. While Hunter builds aren’t as widely customisable as Sung Jinwoo, you can still customise your equipment and level up your skills. We’ll walk you through these so you can find the best items and prioritise the best skill upgrades first.

ARISE OVERDRIVE Choi Jong-In Guide Table of Contents:

• Skill Overview
  • Basic Skills
  • Special Skills
  • Unique Skills
• How to Play Choi Jong-In
• Skill Upgrade Priorities
• Choi Jong-In Best Equipment

Choi Jong-In Skill Overview – SL Arise Overdrive

Here is an overview of Choi Jong-In’s skills in Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE, and how to use them.

Basic Skills

Spark

Jong-In attacks the enemy with flame bullets and flame spears.

This is a really versatile Basic Attack, one of my favorite in the game. It deals good damage to single targets, can stagger enemies and some of the projectiles will be split into three, allowing you to hit several enemies at once (or hit one large enemy with all three of them).

You must ensure that Jong-In is facing in the direction of the enemy if you are using this while kiting. This applies to pretty much all of his spells. He will cast them in the direction he is facing, not in the direction that the camera is pointing.

You can patiently whittle down the HP of bosses with Spark alone, kiting their attacks and turning to shoot a few fireballs when there is an opportunity.

Blast

Jong-In attacks the enemy by detonating the ground in front of him. When he uses Enhanced: Heavy Attack, he launches a powerful fire dragon in a straight path, dealing damage and restoring a large amount of MP.

Press C to activate Blast. It is good for dealing with several enemies at once, but it can also be used against a single target for a quick burst of damage. Blast can be a bit tricky to aim sometimes, but otherwise it’s a good spell.

The enhanced version seems to self-cancel if you move too early (the enhancement isn’t refunded), so be very careful of that.

Rain of Flames

Jong-In attacks the enemy by firing multiple summoned flame bullets forward. When Jong-In uses Enhanced: Rain of Flames, a large fireball drops from the sky in a circular area in front of him, dealing damage and significantly increasing the skill’s Critical Hit Damage, but consuming all Heat stacks. 

Press Q to use Rain of Flames. It summons several fireballs around Choi Jong-In. They fly forwards, dealing AoE damage. As with Spark, make sure you are facing the enemy before using this.

The enhanced version instead summons one massive fireball which deals big AoE damage and is very satisfying to use.

Flame Spear

Jong-In attacks the enemy by continuously summoning flame spears in front of him. When us uses Enhanced: Flame Spear, numerous spears fall in the area in front of him for a certain amount of time, dealing damage and periodically increasing the target’s Scorch value. 

This is a linear AoE that progresses away from Jong-In, in the direction he is facing. Using it proficiently requires good positioning.

Special Skills

Fire Barrage

Jong-In attacks the enemy by summoning multiple flame spears at once. When Jong-In uses this skill, his Attack and Critical Hit Rate increase, but his MP Consumption also increases temporarily. 

Can be used when you are using Overdrive or when an Elemental Status Effect is active on nearby enemies.

This is a Support Skill, so it’s only available when Choi Jong-In is supporting Sung Jinwoo, not when you are playing as him directly.

Celestial Fire Dragon

QTE Skill. Jong-In summons a burning dragon to attack the enemy. He restores a small amount of MP to his entire team and grants them the Heat Level 1 effect. 

Celestial Fire Dragon is activated automatically when you switch to Jong-In using Left Shift, when prompted. Make sure you are close enough to an enemy so that the attack will hit something.

Dance of the Fire Dragon

Synchro Chain. Jong-In summons a blazing dragon to attack the nearest enemy.

Synchro Chains are activated when you press T when prompted. All Hunters in your party will use their Synchro Chain at the same time for a burst of extra damage.

End of Days

Ultimate Skill. Jong-In attacks the enemy by summoning a large burning spear from the sky.

Activated by pressing R when your Ultimate is charged. Good single-target and AoE damage.

Unique Skills

Dash Combo Attack

When tapping the Basic Attack Button after performing Dash, the user can use Dash Combo Attack. 

Back Dash Combo Attack

When tapping the Basic Attack Button after performing Back Dash, the user can use Back Dash Combo Attack. 

Deflect Combo Attack

When tapping the Basic Attack Button after performing Deflect, the user can use Deflect Combo Attack. 

How to Play Choi Jong-In

Choi Jong-In is, in my opinion, one of the most versatile Hunters in Arise Overdrive. You have to utilise kiting because he cannot fight in melee at all, but for a ranged character he is reasonably sturdy and his spells are all great for both single-target and multi-target encounters.

As mentioned earlier in the guide, you must momentarily halt any kiting and point Choi Jong-In in the direction of the enemy before casting a spell, otherwise it will be launched harmlessly in whichever direction he happens to be facing. Unlike in some games, characters in Arise Overdrive will not automatically turn to face your camera’s direction when casting a spell. All of Choi Jong-In’s skills are ranged spell attacks, so getting the hang of this is essential.

Choi’s Overdrive consists of three slots rather than a gauge. When consumed, each slot will enhance the next Basic Skill or Heavy Attack that you use. The Enhanced versions have a separate cooldown from the standard versions, so you can use the regular version and then immediately follow it up with the enhanced one. One Overdrive Slot is restored every time you gain a stack of Heat.

You can gain Heat stacks by hitting an enemy with your Heavy Attack (Blast). As well as charging your Overdrive, each stack of Heat will increase your Attack and Critical Hit Rate, stacking up to 3 times.

This is a relatively simple Overdrive mechanic, but it’s still impactful because the enhanced versions of his abilities are significantly better.

Once you’ve learned the basics of his Overdrive and got used to kiting and aiming his spells, Choi Jong-In is quite easy to play.

Choi Jong-In Skill Upgrade Priorities – SL Arise Overdrive

As mentioned above, Hunter skills in Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE are split up into Basic Skills, Special Skills and Unique Skills. Of these, only Basic and Special Skills can be upgraded. The upgrades are done in groups – for example, you upgrade all Basic Skills at once, rather than upgrading the skills individually.

It is generally more important to upgrade the Basic Skills rather than the Special Skills, because the Basic Skills are used much more often (this group includes your Basic Attack, Heavy Attack and the skills activated by pressing Q or E). So if you have to make a choice between the two, always go for Basic Skills.

In practice, however, it is usually easier to upgrade them in a balanced manner, upgrading both groups to rank 2, then upgrading them both to rank 3, and so forth. This is because each tier is significantly more expensive than the last, so rushing a full set of Basic Skill upgrades usually isn’t possible unless you’ve played through the whole game without doing any upgrades.

Choi Jong-In Best Equipment – SL Arise Overdrive

We will now review the best equipment available for Choi Jong-In in Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE, including the best weapons and the best armour & artefacts. To help you progress through the lengthy level up and equipment grind, we have included setups for the early, mid and endgame.

Choi Jong-In Best Weapons

The table below shows you the best weapon progression from early, mid and endgame. We have not included every upgrade tier along the journey, just the most important milestones so you can see which path to take and what benefits the most important weapons offer for Choi Jong-In.

Weapon	Description
Essence of Magic (D)	To get the D-Tier Essence of Magic, start with the basic E-Tier Essence of Magic, and upgrade it twice. This weapon provides no special effects, but gives a small boost to Jong-In’s Attack and HP stats.
Equivalent Exchange (C)	After crafting the D-Tier Essence of Magic, use it to craft the Ancient Grimoire. Upgrade it twice to reach B-Tier, then use it to craft Equivalent Exchange at C-Tier. This buffs Jong-In’s Attack and boosts his Heavy Attack damage. Every time he gains the Heat effect, the damage of the End of Days is increased, stacking up to 20 times.
Equivalent Exchange (S)	Upgrade Equivalent Exchange three times to reach S-Tier. This weapon gives a massive boost to Joing-In’s Attack stat. The bonuses from the previous tiers are now much stronger. This is by far the best weapon available for Choi Jong-In in Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE.

Choi Jong-In Best Armour & Artefact Sets

Early Game Best Sets

In the early game, there aren’t many strong sets, so we just take whatever items we can get that will boost damage output. The Apprentice Mage set gives us a modest boost to Attack and Critical Damage, which makes for a decent DPS boost. The Red-Eyed set synergises very slightly with Jong-In’s fire magic.

• Armor Set: Apprentice Mage
  • [2 Items] Slightly Increases Attack
  • [4 Items] Increases Critical Hit Damage
• Jewelry Set: Red-Eyed
  • [2 Items] Very slightly increases Fire Damage
  • [4 Items] When you deal Fire damage, there is a very small chance to apply the Scorch effect.

Mid Game Best Sets

High-Ranking Demon is a well-rounded set that boosts your attack and defense. This should help you out with the rather tricky bosses you’ll encounter around this time. Viridescent gives more damage boosts and slightly reduces your skill cooldowns.

• Armour Set: High-Ranking Demon
  • [2 Items] Increases Attack and Defense
  • [4 Items] Using a Basic Skill triggers a moderate chance to grant Super Armor, and will increase the user’s Basic Skill damage for a certain amount of time.
• Jewelry Set: Viridescent
  • [2 Items] Very slightly reduces the user’s Basic Skill cooldown, but slightly increases their MP Consumption.
  • [4 Items] Using the Basic Skill very slightly increases the user’s Basic Skill Damage Increase effect for a certain amount of time, stacking up to 10 times.

Late Game Best Sets

We’re using the Dark Knight set because it boosts Jong-In’s Heavy Attacks, which are already very strong and benefit very well from additional boosts. The Beast set helps your overall DPS by ramping up your Critical Hit chance over the course of the battle.

• Armour Set: Dark Knight
  • [2 Items] Increases Attack, Defense and Max HP
  • [3 Items] Significantly increases Heavy Attack Damage. When your Heavy Attack hits, there is a very high chance to significantly increase your Basic Skill Damage for a short period of time.
• Standalone Piece: Burning Curse Gloves
  • [1 Item] Increases your Damage Taken, but also increases your Damage Dealt.
• Jewelry Set: Beast
  • [2 Items] Increases Critical Hit Damage
  • [4 Items] If a Critical Hit isn’t activated, the chance of the next attack landing as a Critical Hit increases very slightly, stacking up to 30 times.

Related Guides for Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE: