Solo Leveling: AriseCha Hae-InInformation and Guide

Cha Hae-In is a Crit-stacking damage dealer, whose damage output is impressive, beating most of the other damage dealers in the game and it's not even close. She also can prevent the enemies from healing themselves, which is a great utility to possess in some battles.

Cha Hae-In, often referred to simply as Cha by her friends, is the first character released alongside the global launch of the game. She is a Crit based DPS who excels in short, frequent burst windows of extremely high damage, making her a formidable presence in nearly all aspects of the game.

Cha's entire kit revolves around her first ability, [The Dancer]. This skill, when landing a Critical hit, enables her to chain the attack as many times as the animation permits within a 3-second window. The skill also applies a debuff on any enemy hit, increasing the chance of them receiving a Critical Hit and boosting the damage of Critical Hits from entire team. Furthermore, Cha gains stackable Attack and Crit Damage buffs, setting her up optimally for her other skills.

Her other skills, while more straightforward, are still impactful. [Sword of Light] inflicts an Unrecoverable debuff, preventing any enemy hit from healing for 30 seconds. Her ultimate ability, [Light of the End], is a devastating combo finisher that deals massive damage once the enemy is fully debuffed and Cha is buffed with her previous abilities.

Advancing Cha reinforces these synergies, with each advancement either increasing her damage or Crit rate. This progression transforms Cha from a DPS/Burst Hybrid into a massive nuke machine, with her A5 potentially doubling the power of her Ultimate.

Cha's exclusive weapon, Sword of Light, lives up to its name, dazzling players with its impressive damage-boosting capabilities. This weapon provides everything Cha needs: improved damage for her spammable skills and a ramping buff that makes each subsequent hit of her combo stronger than the last. This buff also applies to her Ultimate due to its relatively long duration. Every advancement of the weapon enhances its effectiveness, much like Cha's own advancements. Each upgrade is beneficial without any particular milestone being strictly necessary for her to shine, allowing flexibility based on the player's current progress and goals.

When it comes to gear, Cha almost suffers from having too many viable options. The 8-piece Burning Curse set is the best choice, providing a universal damage boost that her kit lacks. However, her incredible synergy with Crit-related stats makes the Toughness set another great option, especially if achieving a high Crit rate is challenging. The Armed set is also a worthwhile consideration for armors. A combination of 2-piece Curse and 2-piece Toughness sets are solid options when transitioning to a full 8-piece set, improving both Damage and Crit Rate while allowing room for 4-piece jewelry sets.

For jewelry, Champion on the Field is a strong option, as Cha's ability to stack its buff is unmatched and provides her with a valuable Attack buff. The Expert set is another strong contender, particularly shining in the Path of Destruction content, where Cha can reliably stack it to a reasonable point.

Look to maximize your Crit stats, along with Attack (flat/%) from main and sub stats. Damage Increase and Defense Penetration are always good but have diminishing returns, so get a few rolls on those but do not all-in into those stats.

For team composition, Min Byung-Gu (referred to as Min) is undoubtedly Cha's best companion. In fact, he might be her only friend, but that's okay because he's exceptionally good at it. Min not only improves damage by debuffing enemies and buffing his teammates, but he also boosts Crit Rate and Crit Damage. Additionally, Min provides a valuable heal that greatly helps Cha, as she is quite vulnerable to enemy hits while performing her relatively long string of abilities. A fully built A5 Min with high Crit Damage and his massive Ultimate damage boost will make Cha's already strong Ultimate even more amazing. Truly, they are bosom buddies.

Light Baek serves as an older brother figure, being a very effective Breaker and offering another method of boosting Cha's damage with a Defense Down debuff. He is also a natural wearer of the Burning Greed set, which further boosts Crit stats. Light Hunters are all powerful but become even stronger when paired together, so take advantage of their synergies as much as possible.

Alicia is also worth considering when no Break is needed, as any form of hard CC will be beneficial to Cha. Additionally, the Ice Body Armor significantly buffs Crit stats when Alicia's A1 is active.

Should you pull?

At the time of writing this review, it's hard not to recommend rolling for Cha. Her damage output is impressive, she's easy to use, and each advancement will noticeably enhance her performance.

Looking ahead, Cha is expected to remain a strong damage dealer for Light teams. However, the potential introduction of the first "festival related" unit, Go Gunhee, as a Light character makes it difficult to fully recommend investing heavily in her right now. Despite this, having Cha at 1 or 3 advancements will make Light-advantaged content significantly easier, and her burst potential keeps her relevant in the Battlefield of Time, even amidst the current Core Attack meta.

Currently, no challenging content specifically requires a Light team, but Cha's permanent availability in the custom banner means that you can always obtain her later if the need arises.

Investment

For Free-to-Play (F2P) players, A1 and A3 are the key milestones to aim for. A3 is the advancement that keeps her at the top of the tier list, alongside Alicia. If you’re not looking to overperform in scoring content, A1 provides a nice boost, making Cha's combo smoother thanks to the super armor and the increased number of stacks for her self-buff.

For Dolphin players, A3 should be the minimum target. Without this, Cha may struggle to keep up with the newer damage dealers recently released, especially if you have multiple copies of those. Aim for A5, but be cautious as Cha may not be entirely future-proof.

For Whale players, A5 with a powerful Min is the only option that will give you a competitive edge in Light-advantaged and/or burst content as of now. However, if you’re unwilling to invest that heavily, leaving her at A3 will still make her useful for most of the general content the game offers.