True Shadow Monarch is the Transcendent form of Sung Jin-Woo in Anime Vanguards, built around commanding a full shadow army rather than dealing all its damage alone. It sits at the top of the Monarch line, carries the Unknown element, and brings its own class system, weapon upgrades, and a roster of summoned shadows that scale alongside it.
Quick answer: A fully maxed True Shadow Monarch reaches Level 100, wields the Daggers of Destruction, and fields arisen shadows that can out-damage the unit itself. In high-density play, Ant King delivered over 110 billion damage, roughly 35.7% of total team output.
True Shadow Monarch stats and weapons
The unit is classified as Transcendent with the Monarch type. Its ceiling is Level 100, shown in-game as 99,000/99,000 experience. At max level the stat point spread used across a maxed build splits damage, range, cost, and dedicated shadow stats, with the bulk going into raw damage and shadow damage.
Weapon choice sets its damage floor. The progression runs through several daggers, ending at the Daggers of Destruction, which require Level 80 and cost 15,000 gold. That weapon buffs crit rate by 100% and raises attack damage by 30%. The cheaper Monarch’s Daggers and Dragon’s Wrath serve as mid-tier options before the final weapon unlocks.
| Weapon | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Monarch’s Daggers | 3,000 Gold | Early option |
| Dragon’s Wrath | 9,000 Gold | Mid-tier |
| Daggers of Destruction | 15,000 Gold | Requires Level 80, +100% crit rate, +30% damage |
Its attack kit is broad, with moves including Stealth, Quick Silver, Dagger Rush, Dragon’s Fear, Bloodlust, Mutilation, Ruler’s Authority, Shadow Exchange, and Monarch’s Domain. The max-rank attack picks seen in a finished build lean on Stealth, Mutilation, and Dragon’s Fear.
The shadow army and how shadows are arised
The core of the unit is its collection of shadows, each recruited by defeating a target and successfully “arising” it into the army. Early shadows come from Shadow Trials across Normal, Hard, and Nightmare difficulty, covering Bear, Tank, Shadow Fang, Shadow Fishman, Destruction Shadow, and Strongest Shadow.
Later recruits come from dungeons. Shadow Commander and Ant King are both arised from runs of The First Commander dungeon, where you learn to command minion spawns such as Goblins, Lycans, and Lizardmen. Igros the Bloodred joins separately through the job change quest described below.
Each shadow carries an innate passive and equipable passive slots, and several scale through evolution stacks. Ant King gains a stack per takedown, reaching bonus damage at 50 stacks, extra range and anti-Bleed damage at 100, and a team speed reduction at 300. Shadow Commander and the other command-tier shadows push large damage and debuff output once their passives are set.
| Shadow | Source | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Bear | Shadow Trial | Early melee |
| Tank | Shadow Trial | Frontline |
| Shadow Fang | Shadow Trial | DPS with Time Stop |
| Destruction Shadow | Shadow Trial | Dragon-type damage |
| Igros the Bloodred | Job change quest | Command unit |
| Shadow Commander / Ant King | The First Commander dungeon | Primary late-game DPS |
Shadows cap at Level 10, and the fastest way to push them there is running enemy-dense modes like the Underground Church tournament or an infinite story stage. Unused shadows can also be dispatched into Gates to generate passive experience and gold while you play elsewhere.
Hunter ranks, the job change, and the Necromancer class
Progress is gated behind Hunter ranks earned by clearing Gates and completing requirement lists, moving up through C-Rank and B-Rank. Reaching the required Hunter level opens the job change quest, the Trial of the Knight Commander.
That trial sends you into a crimson gate against the Throne Room Knights, followed by Igros the Bloodred as a second phase boss. Clearing it unlocks the Necromancer class and S-Rank Hunter status, and adds Igros to the shadow army as a recruitable unit.
Once Igros is in the army, he levels through hunter ranks of his own, climbing from Knight toward Marshal as you feed him training.
Class skill trees: Monarch, Pugilist, and Assassin
The unit draws from multiple class trees that spend class points on connected nodes. A maxed build invests across the Monarch, Pugilist, and Assassin trees, with the Necromancer class layered on top from the job change. These nodes shape both the Monarch’s own output and how its shadows behave.
Orbs and shadow passives
Orbs are shop-bought modifiers equipped to individual shadows, matched to each shadow’s job. Damage dealers want power, debuff appliers want speed, and economy shadows take cost reduction. Four orbs cover the main needs at 2,000 gold each, with a retainment orb available at a higher price.
| Orb | Effect | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Orb of Power | +50% Damage | 2,000 Gold |
| Orb of Speed | -20% SPA | 2,000 Gold |
| Orb of Sight | +30% Range | 2,000 Gold |
| Orb of Cost | -10% upgrade costs | 2,000 Gold |
| Orb of Retainment | Keeps upgrades after a shadow is sold and replaced | 10,000 Gold |
On top of orbs, specialized passives change how a shadow performs. Shadow Commander can run an Overcrit passive, Ant King can lock in guaranteed crits on Bleeding enemies, and others carry auto-upgrade or team buff effects. Several shadow passives buff Unknown element allies directly, so the army reinforces itself as it grows.
Leveling the unit to 100
The Monarch reaches its cap through sustained experience grinding rather than any single reward. Auto Play macros running exp-rush story stages handle the slow climb, while tournament and infinite modes push both the unit and its shadows at once. Frozen Port on Nightmare, run as an infinite stage, is used to finish off the levels toward 100.
Form of the Monarch and manual combat
Form of the Monarch gives you direct control of Sung Jin-Woo during a match instead of letting him fight automatically. Midair attacks knock foes upward, and linking several jump strikes keeps swarms and bosses aloft, holding back their movement along the track.
The Monarch also carries a mount feature that transforms the shadow army into dragon and shadow forms, though it can be accidentally salvaged through the inventory menus if handled carelessly.
How a maxed build performs in the tournament
The weekly Underground Church tournament is where the finished unit shows its ceiling. With every shadow at Level 10 and passives tuned, the team scaled into tens of millions of damage per unit well before the final waves.
Ant King climbed past 12.8 million base damage and took the largest damage share of the team at 35.7%, with over 110 billion total damage, overtaking Sung Jin-Woo’s own 25.3%. That shift is the defining trait of the unit at endgame: the Monarch’s value lies in building and buffing an army that ends up carrying the output.
A full final run reached wave 83 with 5,893 takedowns and 6.61 trillion total damage over about eleven minutes, landing a #4 placement on that tournament bracket. That result gives a clear read on where a completed True Shadow Monarch lands against other maxed players, and why its shadow roster and passive setup matter more than the unit’s solo numbers.
