Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive looks like a pure Sung Jinwoo power fantasy on the surface, but the Hunter system quietly decides how comfortable your runs feel. Because every contract burns Hunt Coins and failed negotiations refund nothing, early choices matter much more than they first appear.
Not every Hunter is worth chasing on day three of the story. Some are late‑game specialists, some duplicate what Jinwoo already does well, and a few deliver huge returns the moment they join your roster. The priority is to lock in core damage, reliable shield breaking, and at least one ranged option without draining your entire coin stash on low‑odds S‑rank gambles.
How Hunter recruitment works in Arise Overdrive
Hunter recruitment in Arise Overdrive is a negotiation system, not a gacha pull. You spend Hunt Coins to offer a fee to a Hunter; they either accept or refuse. You only get a limited number of attempts per Hunter, and failed offers simply erase those coins.
Three Hunters join automatically through the early chapters of the main story: Lee Joohee, Song Chiyul, and Yoo Jinho. Everything after that is paid work. Once chapter three is complete, the negotiation board opens up, and you can start targeting the Hunters that will form Jinwoo’s long‑term strike squad.
Recruitment has three main levers:
- Hunter rank: S‑ranks are much harder to sign than lower ranks.
- Recruitment Difficulty: Each Hunter has a listed difficulty from Easy to Hard.
- Offer amount: Higher offers raise the success chance but burn more coins.
The smart approach is to pair a few high‑impact “Hard” recruits with cheaper, low‑risk signings that patch obvious gaps in your team. Going all‑in on one S‑rank and failing three times in a row is the fast track to being broke and underpowered.
Early goals for your Hunter roster
Most of the story is still Jinwoo’s show, but Hunters define how fast you clear dungeons, how safe co‑op raids feel, and how flexible your elemental coverage is. Early on, focus your Hunt Coins on three jobs:
- A primary burst damage dealer who deletes waves or bosses when Jinwoo is on cooldown.
- A reliable breaker / frontliner who can shred shields and keep bosses staggered.
- At least one ranged specialist so you are not forced into melee for every mechanic.
The Hunters below are listed in the order they make sense to chase, not just how flashy they are on paper.
Top priority: Core carry Hunters to recruit first
Choi Jong-In – S‑rank Fire Mage for raw damage
Choi Jong-In is the definition of a carry Hunter. As an S‑rank Fire Mage, he brings one of the highest base Attack stats in the roster and converts that directly into enormous ranged nukes. His skills combine wide area‑of‑effect hits with Burn damage over time, letting you stack damage on targets while they’re already on the ground.
Because he fills the ranged glass‑cannon role so well, Choi covers two early problems at once: safe boss damage from distance and fast wave clear for dungeon farming. The trade‑off is that his recruitment difficulty is listed as Hard, so signing him usually takes a large up‑front coin investment and some luck on negotiation rolls.
Recommendation: Treat Choi as one of your first “big coin” goals once you have a small reserve built up. Do not bankrupt yourself on your very first negotiation attempt; secure at least one easier Hunter first, so progress does not stall if he turns you down.
Amamiya Mirei – Wind Assassin and burst specialist
Amamiya Mirei is a Wind Assassin built around rapid burst damage. She uses sword marks and follow‑up detonations to spike enemy health bars down in chunks, and she comes with Super Armor that lets her stay aggressive even when enemies try to counterattack.
Mirei’s value multiplies if you also plan to add Woo Jinchul later, since the two share Wind and complement each other’s roles. Even on her own, though, she is one of the most efficient ways to add a second real DPS threat alongside Jinwoo.
Her negotiation difficulty is also Hard, so she belongs in the same tier of long‑term coin planning as Choi. If you prefer close‑range, skill‑based playstyles, Mirei is often the better first purchase than a pure mage.
Alicia Blanche – Aqua Mage with Freeze and team utility
Alicia Blanche sits slightly below the premier S‑tier carries in pure damage, but the rest of her kit makes her an early priority. As an Aqua Mage, she brings some of the strongest Water damage in the game and applies Freeze effects that both control enemies and stack Frost damage.
Her shields and Frost stacks synergize well with other Water units, and her kit makes her an easy plug‑in for any team that struggles with bosses resistant to Jinwoo’s primary damage types. The trade‑off is, again, a Hard recruitment difficulty and low base HP that needs investment to stay alive at range.
If you expect to farm content where Water is favored or you simply want a reliable elemental counterpick in your pocket, Alicia is worth pushing up your early priority list.
Baek Yoonho – Light Fighter and near‑unkillable bruiser
Baek Yoonho is a Light‑element Fighter built for people who like being in the boss’s face. His kit leans into high DPS with heavy melee hits, backed by a defensive stat line that makes him surprisingly hard to kill.
He also applies Break on his skills, which is critical for pushing through shielded bosses or enemies with frequent guard phases. In co‑op, that combination of survivability and Break makes him a safe anchor for the front line; in solo content, he gives you another durable option when Jinwoo’s build is more glass cannon.
Baek’s recruitment difficulty is Hard, so he competes for the same Hunt Coins as Choi and Mirei. If your own Jinwoo build already covers ranged or Assassin‑style DPS, Baek is an excellent first “big” recruit to round out your defense and Break coverage.
Woo Jinchul – Wind Fighter and shield‑break specialist
Woo Jinchul is the other half of the Wind duo with Mirei. As a Wind Fighter, he leans into shielding and Break, giving you reliable ways to stagger bosses and create safe damage windows for the rest of the team.
On paper, he is almost the ideal partner for Mirei: he tears down defenses and keeps enemies locked in place, she rushes in to exploit those openings with burst damage. Even if you never sign Mirei, Woo still offers tremendous value to any lineup that lacks a strong frontliner or struggles to break guards quickly enough in higher‑tier dungeons.
His recruitment difficulty is also Hard, so the same warning applies: plan the negotiation attempts, and do not chase both Woo and another expensive S‑rank at the same time if your coin income is still limited.
Cost‑efficient early picks that punch above their rank
Nam Chae-Young – Easy‑to‑sign Aqua Archer
Nam Chae-Young is the most straightforward early pickup on this list. As an Aqua Archer with an Easy recruitment difficulty, she accepts contracts much more readily than the S‑rank names above and costs fewer Hunt Coins to secure.
Her role is simple but important: safe, ranged Water damage and fast early guard breaks. Because she fights from a distance, she needs less micro‑management than a melee Hunter, which makes her very beginner‑friendly. The investment curve is gentle as well; she starts delivering good value well before you max her out.
Recommendation: recruit Nam Chae‑Young early as a low‑risk way to add Water coverage and a ranged slot, especially if you have not yet signed Alicia.
Cha Hae-In – Light Fighter built around critical hits
Cha Hae-In is a Light Fighter focused on stacking critical chance and critical damage. Once her crit engine is running, she delivers large burst windows and can prevent enemies from healing, which is particularly useful in boss fights where regeneration would otherwise drag combat out.
Her recruitment difficulty is listed as Normal, which makes her significantly more accessible than the Hard‑tier S‑ranks while still offering strong upside. She does require some build attention to make sure her crit stats reach the point where her kit really comes together, and without those stacks she feels fragile.
For early and midgame, Cha is a great compromise: easier to sign than Baek or Mirei, but impactful enough to anchor a Light slot and handle anti‑heal duties in dungeons that spam recovery effects.
Lee Bora – Dark Mage with DPS and support tools
Lee Bora is a Dark Mage with a hybrid identity. She deals strong ranged Dark damage and supplements it with off‑field summons and debuffs such as Haunt, making enemies more vulnerable during longer encounters.
That blend of DPS and support is especially valuable in Dark‑focused raids and guild content, where small percentage increases in team damage add up over extended fights. The cost of admission is that her recruitment difficulty is Hard, and she needs attention in both offensive and supportive stats to stay relevant into the endgame.
If your roster is missing Dark coverage and you already have at least one primary damage dealer, Lee Bora is an excellent “second wave” recruit to set up deeper raid teams.
How to phase your Hunt Coin spending
The Hunter list above is useful only if it aligns with how you earn and spend Hunt Coins. A practical way to phase your recruitment looks like this:
Step 1: Clear the first two story chapters to unlock Lee Joohee, Song Chiyul, and Yoo Jinho for free. This gives you basic healing and Fire coverage without spending any coins.
Step 2: After chapter three, sign one low‑risk Hunter with Easy or Normal difficulty. Nam Chae‑Young and Cha Hae-In are ideal here, because they fill real roles and typically accept reasonable offers.
Step 3: Once you have a small buffer of coins, choose a single Hard‑difficulty “core carry” to target: Choi, Mirei, Baek, Alicia, Woo, or Lee Bora, depending on your preferred playstyle and elemental needs. Commit coins to that Hunter only until you hit the negotiation cap; do not split between several expensive Hunters at once.
Step 4: Between big negotiations, keep progressing through dungeons and co‑op raids to refill your coin supply. Avoid chasing vanity recruits that duplicate elements or roles you already have covered.
Step 5: When your main team feels stable, start adding synergy pieces such as Woo Jinchul for Mirei, or Lee Bora for Dark raid teams. At this point, your coin income is high enough that a few failed negotiations are less punishing.
Synergy tips when building around your new Hunters
Recruitment is only the first half of the process; a strong Hunter sitting in an unoptimized lineup will still underperform. A few simple rules help your early recruits shine:
- Respect elements: Choi (Fire) wants content where Burn sticks and enemies clump. Alicia and Nam Chae‑Young want Water‑favored bosses. Don’t judge them solely on off‑element runs.
- Pair roles deliberately: If you pick Mirei, plan to add Woo or another strong breaker so she isn’t diving into fully shielded enemies. If you pick Baek, back him up with at least one ranged unit for mechanics that punish melee uptime.
- Feed your carries artifacts and weapons first: A single well‑geared Choi or Mirei does more for progression than three under‑geared side characters.
- Use Jinwoo’s class to complement, not copy: A Duelist Jinwoo plus Baek can over‑stack melee bruiser roles; pairing Duelist Jinwoo with Choi or Alicia often feels smoother.
Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive lets you recruit every Hunter with time, but the early hours feel very different if your first coins land on the right contracts. Lock in one or two of the high‑impact names above, support them with cheaper ranged and elemental options, and Jinwoo’s climb through the dungeons becomes far less of a grind and far more of a highlight reel.
