Solo Leveling: ARISE adds Light hunter Antoine Martinez, boosts gameplay systems

Antoine Martinez is the kind of hunter that matters most to rosters already feeling cramped on support slots. Solo Leveling: ARISE introduced him on May 7 as a Light-element Stacker, the first of that element type, and Netmarble built his kit around a giant axe, support skills, and an Ultimate Skill called The Angel’s Stay. His final hit, excluding basic attacks, triggers the Wisdom effect and restores HP for allies, which gives him real value in fights that punish sloppy survival and make sustain part of the damage check.

That makes Martinez more than a banner filler, but not an automatic must-pull for every account. He looks meta-relevant for players who want a Light-side bruiser-support hybrid, especially in teams that need healing attached to a weapon with aggressive impact. He is more niche than universal, though, because his value depends on whether a roster already has enough healing, utility, and frontline stability. For accounts built around cleaner clears and team flexibility, Martinez is the kind of hunter that can reshape a lineup. For accounts already sitting on strong support coverage, he is easier to skip.

The broader update is likely to matter even more to daily play. Netmarble tightened the main story by removing repetition in chapters 3 through 20, added Special Stages to select Normal-difficulty chapters, and expanded story content with chapters 32 through 34 in both Normal and Reverse modes. Sung Jinwoo also gained a new Job Change, Monarch of Shadows: Exterminator, while his level cap rose from 140 to 150. For players pushing progression, that combination changes the next session far more than a single banner does: more story to run, a stronger Jinwoo to build, and new content to feed his growth.

The biggest convenience upgrade is the unification of entry currency. Gates, Unstable Dungeon, Battlefield of Chaos, and Hunter Archive now all use a single Dungeon Entry Key, a change that should make grinding and resource planning cleaner immediately. Netmarble also added a new dungeon, Mind Rift, alongside new systems called Monarch Milestones and Successor, signaling that the live-service loop is still being reworked, not just expanded. The anniversary messaging had already framed the update as “EVOLUTION of Everything,” with a stated push to speed up early- to mid-game growth for new and returning players.

Martinez’s rate-up draw runs from after May 7 maintenance until June 4, 2026, UTC+0, alongside a Lucky Wheel event and a Special Advancement event that hands out rewards including a Legendary Skill Rune, event weapon selection chests, and rate-up draw tickets. Netmarble also used the May 6 developer live to hand out redeem codes, tease Successor Myro, and confirm that Cthulli will arrive in June, Power of Destruction will be renamed Power of Calamity as a seasonal system, and a story replay feature is coming next month.