ATK Flat
DEF Flat
ATK Flat
Crit Damage / DEF Pen
Dark Damage %
ATK Flat
HP Flat
Solo Leveling: AriseSung Il-HwanInformation and Guide
Introduction
Sung Il-Hwan is a SSR rarity character in Solo Leveling: Arise. Sung Il-Hwan belongs to the![Assassin]()
Assassin class and uses the ![Dark]()
Dark element.
Last updated
Sung Il-Hwan profile has been last updated at: September 29th, 2025.
To learn more about Sung Il-Hwan check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.
Profile
Review
Build info
Profile
Passive
Sung Il-Hwan Passive
When Phantom Slash hits it activates the [Ruler's Scale] effect.
MP cannot be recovered naturally or with Basic Attack and Core Attack.
Using Apocalyptic Might restores MP equal to 14% of the user's current MP proportional to the number of [Ruler's Upgrade] instances applied and all instances are removed.
Using Phantom Slash or Wrath of Condemnation activates the [Ruler's Upgrade] effect.
When team members excluding Sung Il-Hwan use their Basic Skill, Il-Hwan recovers 2% of his MP and 1% of his Power Gauge.
[Ruler's Upgrade]
Increases Basic Skill damage by 5%.
Increases Ultimate Skill damage by 25%.
Duration: Infinite (stacks up to 7 times).
[Ruler's Scale]
Increases Wrath of Condemnation damage by 1%.
Using Wrath of Condemnation removes the [Ruler's Scale] effect.
Duration: Infinite (stacks up to 160 times).
Advancements
Sung Il-Hwan Advancement passives
✦ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧
Using the Basic Attack or Core Attack decreases the cooldown of Phantom Slash by 1 second(s).
Using Apocalyptic Might resets the duration of the user's active buffs (Cooldown: 30 second(s)).
(When tagging in during [Hunter Mode], allies' QTE Skills cannot be auto-used for 15 second(s)).
When Dark Finale or Apocalyptic Might hit they apply the [Marked] effect on the target.
When Apocalyptic Might hits and the target is [Suppressed], the duration of the [Suppressed] effect is refreshed.
[Marked]
Increases damage taken from Sung Il-Hwan by 35%.
If the target is successfully placed in the [Break] state, the effect becomes the [Suppressed] effect.
Duration: 30 second(s).
[Suppressed]
Increases damage taken from Sung Il-Hwan by 50%.
Increases damage taken from a Dark Hunters' Ultimate Skill by 20%.
Duration: 30 second(s).
✦ ✦ ✧ ✧ ✧
Increases the user's Dark damage by 30%.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✧ ✧
The number of attacks for Phantom Slash, Wrath of Condemnation, and Apocalyptic Might are doubled.
If there's an enemy within 5m when the user uses Sky Piercer, the user instantly attacks.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✧
For every Dark ally in the party Dark team members' Attack increases by 10%.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Using the Basic Attack or Core Attack decreases the cooldown of Phantom Slash by 1.7 second(s).
Using Wrath of Condemnation activates the [Ruler's Protection] effect.
The user gains a [Shield], increasing their Attack and Critical Hit Rate by 12% for 30 second(s) (stacking up to 3 times).
When a Dark team member excluding Sung Il-Hwan uses their Basic Skill, Sung Il-Hwan recovers 8% of his MP and additionally regains 4% of his Power Gauge.
[Ruler's Protection]
Grants a [Shield] equal to 100% of Sung Il-Hwan's Attack.
Duration: 20 second(s).
EX Weapon
Unbreakable Will
The user's Attack increases by 30% and their Critical Hit damage increase by 30%.
Gallery
Sung Il-Hwan images aren't available yet. They will be added soon.
Review
Overview
Returning to his family after a lot of years, Sung Il-Hwan finally got his milk and came home to be a proper family man and take care of the Dark team. Will he be a proper DPS upgrade or a deadbeat dad? Find out with us!
Pros & Cons
Pros
Beloved character from the story.
Insane damage when manually played.
Potential for future dedicated support.
Cons
Without manual play he’s much worse.
He’s not your father.
Review
Introduction
Returning to his family after a lot of years, Sung Il-Hwan finally got his milk and came home to be a proper family man and take care of the Dark team. Will he be a proper DPS upgrade or a deadbeat dad? Find out with us!
Review
Sung Il-Hwan is a Dark attacker who scales with Attack. It’s important to note that he doesn’t recover MP hitting the enemy, but can recover it when he uses his Ultimate, Apocalyptic Might.
That being said, his base skills are actually very simple without factoring Ascension Passives, with his Skill 1 being a chain skill and his Skill 2 being a Charge Attack. Simple enough, right? We’ll see how simple things remain after we delve into his Ascension Passives.
Ascension Passives
At A0, he obtains the [Ruler’s Scale] buff, when hitting the enemy with his Skill 1, Phantom Slash. This buff increases the damage of his Skill 2 by 1% per stack, up to 160 stacks. However, all stacks are consumed upon using his second skill. When he uses his Skill 1 or his Skill 2, Wrath of Condemnation, he will activate another buff named [Ruler’s Upgrade]. This buff can stack up to 7 times and increases his Basic Skill damage by 5% and his Ultimate damage by 7%. Upon using his Ultimate, all stacks of [Ruler Upgrade] are consumed and Sung Il-hwan recovers MP back based on how many stacks he consumed. Lastly, when team members outside of Sung Il-Hwan use their Basic Skills he recovers 2% of his MP and 1% of his Power Gauge. At first glance we can see that Sung is a character requiring precise manual control.
A1 is where things start to get interesting. Using the Basic Attack or Core Attack will decrease the cooldown of his Skill 1 by one second and when he uses his Ultimate he resets the duration of his buffs. This can only happen once every 30 seconds. When using his QTE or his Ultimate, Sung Il-Hwan inflicts the [Marked] debuff on the enemy, increasing the damage taken from Sung Il-Hwan by 35%. This effect lasts 30 seconds and if the enemy is broken while the debuff is active it will change into [Suppressed], which increases the damage taken from Sung Il-Hwan by 50% and the damage taken from Dark Hunters Ultimate attacks by 30%. If he uses his Ultimate while [Suppressed] is active, the debuff duration will be refreshed.
A2 is a simple but effective 30% Dark damage increase for Il-Hwan.
A3 doubles the hits of S1, S2 and his Ultimate. Additionally, if there’s an enemy close to Sung Il-Hwan he will instantly hit them with his Core Attack instead of charging towards them.
A4 is your standard ATK % boost for your party members based on how many Dark allies you have in the team.
A5 improves the CD Reduction effect introduced at A1, bumping it to 1.7 seconds of reduction. Using his Skill 2 activates the [Ruler’s Protection] effect, a buff that grants a [Shield] based on 100% of his attack. When using his skill 2 he gains another [Shield], increasing the attack and crit rate by 12% for 30 seconds and this buff can stack up to 3 times. Lastly, if his Dark allies use a skill Sung Il-Hwan regains 8% MP and 4% of his Power Gauge.
Weapon and Gear
Sung Il-Hwan's weapon, Unbreakable Will, is very simple. It grants extra Attack and Critical Damage, capping at 30% for both stats at A5. If you are planning to play him a lot make sure to A5 his weapon, as it will be very beneficial
For Stats, you should focus on Attack, Critical Rate and Critical Damage, as this will maximise his damage.
When it comes to the sets, 4 Infamy + 4 Expert and 8 Infamy are the preferred options, with 4 Curse + Expert also working fine. 4 Armed + 4 Expert is a good option when going into high DEF content.
Team Setups
Sung Il-Hwan is a powerful Dark attacker that currently doesn’t have a team centered around him. Harper and Lim are suitable Breakers and you can use Isla as a support. Having a dedicated support will probably help Sung Il-Hwan a lot, as the current characters support Minnie a bit better.
Should you roll for Sung Il-Hwan?
Coming right after the collab, the biggest question everyone had was “Will Sung Il-Hwan powercreep Minnie?” and the answer is yesn’t.
Sung Il-Hwan is an absolute DPS machine, capable of dealing an insane amount of damage provided you are controlling him. This makes him amazing in Hunter stages, where at similar advancement he can outdamage Minnie. The fact he has access to Shields helps mitigate his otherwise frail constitution, as Minnie builds defense making her more forgiving to use when you are not dodging most of the hits coming your way.
However, the tune changes when we move to content where it’s not possible to control our deadbeat dad. To maximise Sung’s damage you must know when to use his skills and hold your Ultimate until the right moment, things that the AI will ignore since it will prioritize using his Ultimate whenever it is available. Because of that Minnie can keep up in Guild Boss and PoD, but the question remains for how long. That being said, dedicated Guild Boss players might still want to have both as having access to mono elemental teams can help you maximise your performance.
Because of this, if you didn’t roll for Minnie you should probably roll for Sung Il-Hwan if you want to have a powerful Dark DPS character. Otherwise, save your tickets and make sure to pick him up when he’s added to Custom Draw, as he’ll be a valuable addition to your account and at that point we’ll know if he received more support to ensure he can be the first Dark hunter to join your team and the last one to be removed.
For F2P players with not many resources A1 Sung Il-Hwan is the early stopping point, as he gains access to his personal debuff to increase his damage.
Dolphins and small spenders should aim for A3 since it doubles his attacks on Skill 1, 2 and Ultimate.
If you are a dedicated Guild Boss or WoBL player you’ll likely want to have Sung at A5, given he gains a significant power boost while getting more MP back without using his Ultimate, perfect to build his stacks.
Ratings
Sung Il-Hwan rating takes into account their performance in all matter of PVE content.
Build info
Burning/Chaotic Series Sets
Chaotic Infamy
Sung Il-Hwan can be equipped with the Chaotic Infamy set that you can obtain from the Artifact Dungeons and Gates. As a Damage Dealer, Sung Il-Hwan can make use of the set and in most cases, it will perform better than the normal sets (2 pieces are minimum, but at least 4 pieces are optimal).
Burning Curse
Sung Il-Hwan can be equipped with the Burning Curse set that you can obtain from the Artifact Dungeons and Gates. As a Damage Dealer, Sung Il-Hwan can make use of the set and in most cases, it will perform better than the normal sets (2 pieces are minimum, but at least 4 pieces are optimal).
Artifact Sets
Armor Set
(2)
Increase the user's Attack by 5%.
(4)
When attacking, the user ignores 18% of the target's Defense.
(2)
Your Critical Hit Rate increases by 8%.
(4)
Your Critical Hit Damage increases by 32%.
Jewelry Set
(2)
When landing a Critical Hit, has a 25% chance to increase Attack by 0.8% (stacking up to 100 times) (Cooldown: 1 second(s)).
(4)
Increases Activation Rate to 50% and Attack Increase effect to 1.6%.
Artifact Main Stats
Stat focus
Those are the stats you should focus on when building Sung Il-Hwan. So search for them on your sub-stats as a priority.
Attack
Critical Hit Rate
Critical Hit Damage
Best Weapons
For SSR characters, you always want to use their Signature/EX Weapon - they are simply the best for them. Until you obtain the signature weapon, just use the options listed below. The priority is set from left to right. Also, If you have a Signature/EX weapon for a Hunter that is not in your team you can consider using it for the raw stats alone - as long as it matches the character.
Video guides
Sung Il-Hwan guide videos aren't available yet.