Transcendent Sung Jinwoo, shortened by players to TSJW, is a new version of the Solo Leveling-inspired character being built for Anime Vanguards. Teaser cinematics and developer messages posted in the game’s Discord describe a unit that fights alongside a roster of summoned shadows, carries an unusually large stack of passive effects, and may sit in a team slot that other units cannot use. It is being prepared as part of the game’s 2nd Anniversary update.
Quick answer: TSJW is a shadow-summoning unit teased for the 2nd Anniversary update, credited with “over 120 passives in a way,” a six-slot shadow selection menu, and a possible exclusive 7th team slot.
What the cutscenes show
The teaser footage centers on cinematic animations rather than menus. They feature armored, humanoid forms and heavy purple dark-aura attacks, with the character flanked by large shadow summons during combat. Developer Puck described the design direction plainly in Discord, writing, “This is why we went full humanoid, only part of it too,” which points to multiple forms rather than a single model.
The “120 passives” claim
The detail players have focused on comes straight from Puck, who wrote, “Fun fact, it sounds ridiculous lacking context so I like saying it, TSJW has over 120 passives in a way.” The “in a way” qualifier matters. The passives are not expected to all sit on the main unit at once. Instead they are spread across the various shadows the character can summon, so the total reflects the whole kit rather than a single status bar.
A second developer, Valk, framed the unit as going beyond what players had been guessing about its power level, which fits the way the summon-and-shadow system stacks effects together rather than relying on one big ability.
The SHADOWS menu and shadow selection
One of the sneak images shows a menu labeled “SHADOWS” with placeholder models and a slot counter reading “1/6,” alongside “GLOBAL” and “CUSTOM” toggles. That points to a system where you pick up to six shadows to bring into a match and swap between global and custom configurations. The models in the teaser were not final. Puck noted, “Obviously placeholder models, just use your imagination. As for what this is? Iunno.”
In practice the character summons named shadow companions during play, drawn from the Solo Leveling cast, which is where much of the kit’s effect stacking is expected to live.
A seventh team slot
A leaked loadout preview shows seven units equipped at once instead of the standard six. That has driven the main piece of speculation around the unit: that Transcendent characters occupy a dedicated 7th slot, or that the summoned shadows count as extra units placed into combat on top of a normal team. Neither reading has been confirmed by the developers, but both would let TSJW join an existing meta team rather than forcing players to build an entire roster around it.
How it differs from the current Song Jinwu
The existing Song Jinwu is a Mythic unit obtained from the Special Banner and classified under the Hunters mechanic. It uses the Curse element and evolves into Song Jinwu (Monarch), with a Job Request passive that adds damage per takedown. Its kit is built around a handful of attacks rather than a bench of summons.
| Detail | Current Song Jinwu | Transcendent Sung Jinwoo (teased) |
|---|---|---|
| Rarity / tier | Mythic | Transcendent |
| Core system | Hunters, direct attacks | Shadow summoning |
| Shadow slots | None | Up to 6 |
| Passives | Job Request (damage per takedown) | Over 120 across the kit |
Match footage and viability
Tower gameplay in the teaser runs on Fire Tower Floor 33 with no stage debuff, and shows the sort of numbers the unit can push, including per-placement damage above four million and total damage readouts into the tens of billions. Because the summon system changes how many units are on the field, the open question is whether TSJW slots into current meta teams or wants a full shadow setup to perform. That has not been settled in the teasers.
When it arrives
The unit is tied to the 2nd Anniversary update. Puck called one image “The Final sneak for 2nd Anni” and described “almost daily sneaks for over 3 weeks,” which signals the teaser run is wrapping up. No official release date and time for that update is currently confirmed.
The passive count, shadow menu, and 7th slot all come from teasers and developer messages rather than a shipped build, so exact numbers and systems can change before release.
