Once Sung Jin-Woo evolves into the True Shadow Monarch in Anime Vanguards, a separate collection opens up alongside him. His Shadows menu holds 12 original shadows plus one free farming shadow, and each one is recruited with the Arise ability after you beat the right boss. Those bosses are spread across three modes, so filling the roster means running all three until every shadow drops.
Quick answer: Farm the First Commander dungeon, the Return to the Beginning raid, and Shadow Trials. Defeat each boss, then use Arise on its corpse to add that shadow to the True Shadow Monarch.
Requirement before you start
You must already own the True Shadow Monarch. Shadow Trials cannot be entered without him, and the Arise prompt only appears in the dungeon and raid when he is equipped in your team. He does not have to sit in the primary active slot — placing him in any team slot is enough to arise a defeated boss.
Arise has a chance to fail, so expect repeat runs. The reliable approach is to keep a strong, fully upgraded team so you clear each stage quickly and get as many attempts as possible per session.
The First Commander dungeon shadows
The First Commander is the final dungeon map, and it supplies two shadows. A boss spawns at Wave 10 and another at Wave 20, and each defeated boss gives you three Arise attempts from its corpse. If all three attempts fail, you restart the stage and try the boss again.
Return to the Beginning raid shadows
The Return to the Beginning raid (the Returned Dungeon on Nightmare, 20 waves, Level 100 required) is where the bulk of the roster lives. One boss spawns naturally during the run, and five statues each summon a specific boss when you activate them. All of them can be arised on defeat.
Each statue is tied to a fixed boss, so you can target what you still need:
| Statue | Boss summoned |
|---|---|
| Axe Statue | Tank |
| Sword Statue | Shadow Brute |
| Mace Statue | Demonic Lightning Shadow |
| Shield Statue | Healer |
| God Statue | Shadow Dragon |
Along with the natural boss (Destruction Shadow), that gives six possible shadows from this raid. Repeat runs until each one succeeds.
Shadow Trials shadows
Shadow Trials let you go straight at a specific shadow instead of leaving it to the raid roll. You directly control the True Shadow Monarch here, and the mode only opens if you own him. Inside the trial hub, interactable statues each lead to a single boss challenge across Normal, Hard, and Nightmare difficulty.
Enter Shadow Trials and pick the boss you want from the circular hall. Bosses available include Tank, Igris, Bear, Shadow Fishman, Shadow Fang, Destruction Shadow, and Strongest Shadow.
Pick a difficulty and win the fight. Clearing the trial lets you attempt to arise that boss’s shadow, so run it again if the Arise does not land.
Confirming a shadow is collected
A successful Arise adds the shadow straight to the True Shadow Monarch. Open his loadout and switch to the Shadows tab to check your progress. Collected shadows appear unlocked on the pages, while anything still missing stays locked, which makes it easy to see which mode you still need to farm. The full set is 12 original shadows plus the one free farming shadow.
