True Shadow Monarch, the Transcendent form of Song Jinwu and Igros, arrived in Anime Vanguards with the 2nd Anniversary update (v15.0). You can’t pull it from a banner. You earn it through a long Player Quest that ends with the game asking you to destroy your own unit. After that, it runs on a separate progression layer with its own levels, currency, shop, classes, and a six-member Shadow Army.
Quick answer: Accept “Do you want to be a player?”, raise your Player Level from 0 to 100 while touching the lobby well at 25, 50, 75, and 100, clear the Returned Dungeon, then delete Song Jinwu and Igros.
Requirements before the Player Quest
The quest evolves a unit you already own, so you need one before anything else happens. The final step consumes that unit for good.
- Keep one copy of Song Jinwu and Igros in your inventory.
- A story team that can clear System Quest stages quickly
- A raid team strong enough for the 10-wave Returned Dungeon
- Enough time for roughly a hundred quest objectives
If you only have the older Song Jinwu (Monarch), you first have to evolve it into Song Jinwu and Igros in the Evolve menu with an Elixir of Life. That earlier quest asks you to kill Ant King repeatedly, sacrifice 30 Mythic-or-higher units, summon shadows with Song Jinwu’s Arise ability, and sacrifice an evolved Igris.
Don’t sacrifice an Ethereal or Monarch-trait Igris by accident during that earlier quest. Keep a spare evolved Igris specifically for the sacrifice.
Player Quest: Reaching Player Level 100
Treat the quest as something to progress in the background: work on it during your usual stage clears instead of setting aside a separate grinding session.
Returned Dungeon: Using the key and clearing 10 waves
Harder versions of the raid exist. Act 1 Nightmare runs much longer and ends with a boss called The Designer. Only the standard 10-wave clear is needed for the evolution.
Deleting the system to trigger the evolution
When you return to the lobby after the raid, a notification says the current dimension can’t support the Shadow Monarch’s powers and it has to be removed. That’s your cue.
This permanently consumes the selected Song Jinwu and Igros. Check that you picked the right copy before you confirm anything.
How to confirm True Shadow Monarch unlocked
After the cutscene, Song Jinwu and Igros are shown evolving into True Shadow Monarch, a unit of Transcendent rarity. The process also awards the Rib of the Saint, needed for the God Ascended craft. A notification congratulates you for finishing the first ever Transcendent evolution questline. Seeing both the unit and the item confirms the quest is complete.
Comparing the two forms at the same level shows how big the upgrade is.
| Stat (Lv 60) | Song Jinwu and Igros | True Shadow Monarch |
|---|---|---|
| DMG | 2,696 | 28,895 |
| SPA | 6 | 5.6 |
| RNG | 27.8 | 34.7 |
| Placement | 2x | 2x |
To evolve another Song Jinwu and Igros later, open Settings and go to Transcendent Quests, then Player Quest, then RESTART. The quest starts over from the beginning.
True Shadow Monarch build: The Monarch slot and System level
Put True Shadow Monarch in your first team slot. That opens a seventh unit slot and shares the Monarch’s trait, stats, familiar, and memoria with the rest of your team. The hotbar also becomes a custom team bar, with the Monarch in the middle and up to six Shadows around it. Click Open System on the unit to reach the Loadout, Attacks, Weapons, Shadows, Portals, Classes, and Shop tabs.
The System level is separate from normal unit leveling and caps at Level 100. Takedowns earn System EXP and System Gold. Portals act as an AFK loop that keeps generating both while you’re doing something else, so it’s worth sending Shadows through them before you log off. New System levels open Shadow slots on a fixed schedule.
| System level | Unlock |
|---|---|
| 1 | Monarch slot + Shadow slot 1 |
| 10 | Shadow slot 2 |
| 25 | Shadow slot 3 |
| 40 | Shadow slot 4 |
| 60 | Shadow slot 5 |
| 80 | Shadow slot 6 |
| 100 | Level cap |
Every level also gives you one stat point, for 100 total. You can spend them on Damage, Range, Cost, Shadow Damage, and Shadow Cost. Putting all 100 into Damage is the strongest spread. High-end Monarch-class builds that reach hundreds of millions of DPS leave the other four stats at zero.
Best weapons for True Shadow Monarch
You buy weapons in the System Shop with System Gold, and they equip on the Monarch himself. Only one can be equipped at a time.
| Weapon | Effect | System Gold |
|---|---|---|
| Venom Fang | 30% damage poison over 8s; ticks stun 0.2s | Free |
| Loyalty Killer | +20% damage | 100 |
| Bakura’s Dagger | +5% damage per upgrade bought | 1,000 |
| Monarch’s Daggers | +30% damage, −5% SPA, +10% range | 3,000 |
| Dragon’s Wrath | Ignores Damage Reduction | 9,000 |
| Daggers of Destruction | +100% crit rate, +30% damage | 15,000 |
Venom Fang costs nothing, and its poison stun ignores stun lockout, so it’s a good opener. Monarch’s Daggers is the all-round choice for early and mid progression. Dragon’s Wrath is the only answer to enemies with Damage Reduction, so buy it when those enemies are what’s blocking your clears. Daggers of Destruction is the endgame target and the weapon in top damage builds.
Classes, attacks, and the Job Change
Class trees
Each class has an eleven-skill tree, and you can have one class equipped at a time. When you unlock a skill, every earlier skill in the tree unlocks with it as long as you have the points. That means you progress through the tree in order and can’t pick individual skills.
| Class | Improves | Pick it if |
|---|---|---|
| Assassin | The Monarch’s own combat | You want a single-unit carry |
| Pugilist | His manually controlled form | You play Form of the Monarch yourself |
| Monarch | The Shadow Army | You want Shadows to carry the map |
A completed Monarch tree gives +10% Shadow Damage, −16% Shadow placement and upgrade cost, and a −2% chained upgrade discount. It also raises Monarch’s Domain’s buff to 100%. Because of that chained discount, upgrade each Shadow from zero to max in one go. If you raise them one level at a time across different units, the discount resets.
Attacks and Form of the Monarch
You equip three of seven attacks. The basic attack loops through them in the order you equipped them, and each attack levels up to Lv 10 on its own as you use it. Form of the Monarch hands you direct control, with dashes, jumps, lock-on, and the same three special attacks.
- Stealth
- Bloodlust
- Quick Silver
- Mutilation
- Dagger Rush
- Ruler’s Authority
- Dragon’s Fear
The top Monarch-class setup uses Ruler’s Authority, Mutilation, and Bloodlust. Cast Ruler’s Authority as soon as you enter Form of the Monarch and again every 20 seconds. Leave the form at the 40-second mark to fire Grasp of the Monarch, which spends 100 mana to deal 400% damage to every enemy and can’t be used during the form. Then go straight back in.
Job Change at Level 25
At Level 25, Job Change becomes available if you hold A-Rank Hunter status and all six Shadows have arisen. Accept the quest at the Charge Gate, battle the Throne Room Knights, then defeat Igros the Bloodred. Victory changes your class to Necromancer, recruits Igros the Bloodred into your Shadow Army, grants a fourth army slot and Monarch Levels, and unlocks Shadow Exchange and Monarch’s Domain.
Shadow Army: Recruiting and best lineup
You recruit Shadows by beating specific bosses in Shadow Trials and the First Commander Dungeon, then using Arise on the corpse. You get three attempts per corpse. If all three fail, the corpse disappears and you have to beat the boss again. Shadows level to Lv 10 from takedowns, except the Healer, which levels from stage clears. Each one has an innate passive and can equip two of seven unlockable passives. Custom Shadows, recruited from certain existing units’ boss counterparts, roll a random passive, and you can re-raise them to reroll it.
| Shadow | Role |
|---|---|
| Ant King | Heavy damage, scaling |
| Shadow Fang | Damage, crowd control |
| Shadow Dragon | Burn and damage synergy |
| Shadow Fishman | Stuns, crowd control |
| Shadow Commander | Buffs |
| Shadow Healer | Economy |
A burn-focused team featuring Shadow Fang and Shadow Dragon is viable, but a Monarch-class squad has a higher ceiling. That lineup uses Healer and Ant King, followed by Shadow Brute and Shadow Commander, then Shadow Dragon with Shadow Fishman. Its performance largely depends on which two passives you choose for each Shadow.
Best orbs and consumables in the System Shop
Each Shadow gets a single orb slot, while every consumable is usable just once per match.
| Item | Effect | System Gold |
|---|---|---|
| Orb of Power | +50% damage | 2,000 |
| Orb of Speed | −20% SPA | 2,000 |
| Orb of Sight | +30% range | 2,000 |
| Orb of Cost | −10% upgrade cost | 2,000 |
| Orb of Retainment | Keeps upgrades after re-placing | 10,000 |
| Cure-All | 60s status and debuff immunity | 500 |
| Phoenix Down | Restores lives on a loss | 20,000 |
| Strength Boost | +100% damage for the stage | 20,000 |
| Investment | Free placement and upgrades | 100,000 |
Orb of Power is the simple pick for pure damage dealers, and Orb of Speed suits Shadows whose effects trigger on frequent attacks. The 400M+ DPS Monarch build puts Orb of Speed on every Shadow except the Healer, which gets Orb of Cost to keep your economy running. Orb of Sight only matters when a Shadow needs extra reach. Phoenix Down returns enemies to the start along with your lives. Investment costs a lot, so save it for a hard stage you need to clear rather than routine farming.
