Best Weapons in Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive (2026)

The best weapons in Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive as of November 2026 are the S-rank end points of each crafting line: Baruka's Dagger V for daggers, West Wind III for firearms, Demon King's Longsword III for raw sword stats, Thetis' Grimoire IV for focus users and Naga Guardian Dragon's Trident V for polearms. Every weapon is crafted rather than pulled from a banner, and Netmarble has added several since launch, including the Demon King's Daggers in March 2026 and Winchester Roke, Ennio's Roar and the paid Razor Frost in June 2026.

We checked this against Netmarble's patch notes, developer notes and DLC notice on Steam, Alcasthq's four Jinwoo build guides from November 2026, and the beginner guides from Fextralife and GamesFuze, reviewed in November 2026.

How Weapons Work in Overdrive

Sung Jinwoo carries two weapons at once and swaps between them in combat, while each hunter uses a single weapon slot. Fextralife lists seven weapon types for Jinwoo: swords, daggers, bows, firearms, focuses, polearms and two-handed weapons. Each type has its own passive skill tree, so the weapon you choose shapes your build as much as your class does.

There is no randomness in getting them. Netmarble's August 2025 developer note set out the rule that defines the whole system: rather than relying on chance when crafting weapons, you defeat bosses, collect their materials and forge the weapon you want. Hunters can craft special weapons too, each with a unique bonus, so your team's gear runs on the same crafting loop as Jinwoo's.

Weapons also carry their own active skills. That is what makes an upgrade feel different and not just bigger: Alcasthq's guides describe Black Falcon's teleporting multi-hit skill, West Wind's long-range Secret Bullet shot, Burning Demon's Grimoire's Incinerate fire area and the Demon King's Longsword's Final Thunderbolt, which grants a moment of damage immunity while it strikes.

How Crafting and Upgrading Works

All of Jinwoo's weapons come from the crafting station. GamesFuze explains that you talk to May and choose Sung Jinwoo Weapon Crafting, and that you cannot skip steps: the lower version of a weapon has to be crafted before the higher one. Fextralife adds that each weapon starts at its weakest variant and is upgraded with Gold and specific materials, and that the Source option on any missing material shows exactly where it drops.

Weapons are graded by rank as they climb. Alcasthq's guides follow lines that start as low as E-rank and finish at S-rank, and they point out a counterintuitive move: dropping from an A-rank Kasaka's Venom Fang IV to a D-rank Baruka's Dagger I can be the right call, because the new line's stats already edge ahead and its upgrade ceiling is much higher. Judge a weapon line by its final version, not by the rank letter in front of you.

Netmarble has made this loop lighter several times:

• November 2025: weapons were added to the Exchange Shop, including partially leveled ones, so switching to a new weapon type no longer means growing it from scratch.
• December 2025: the material types and quantities required for crafting were reduced across the board.
• March 2026: drop rates for Mana-imbued Fragments, Pure Water, Mana Power Extract and Fragments of Thought went up, along with main weapon material rewards from Instance Dungeons and Encore Missions.
• June 2026: a Crafting Wishlist was added so you can track the materials for the weapon you are chasing.

The Best Weapon in Each Type

Alcasthq's November 2026 build guides name a clear end point for most weapon types. The table below collects them; the weapons that arrived after launch are covered in the next section.

Top craftable weapons by type, per Alcasthq's November 2026 guides

Type	End point	What stands out
Dagger	Baruka's Dagger V	Named the best dagger; five upgrade stages from D-rank
Firearm	West Wind III	Named the best firearm; S-rank with the Secret Bullet sniper skill
Sword (stats)	Demon King's Longsword III	Best sword stats; Final Thunderbolt skill
Sword (Duelist)	Demonic Plum Flower Sword II	Illusion skill and Full Bloom damage boost on Chain Smash
Focus	Thetis' Grimoire IV	Late-game Elementalist weapon, built from ranks I to III
Polearm	Naga Guardian Dragon's Trident V	S-rank end of a line that starts at E-rank
Polearm (optional)	Shadow Scythe III	Better stats than the Trident V, but a heavy grind

Two of these deserve a warning about effort. Alcasthq notes that the materials for the Demonic Plum Flower Sword II come from some of the hardest bosses in the game, including Fores scaled up to level 71, and that Shadow Scythe III similarly needs repeated wins against juiced-up max-level bosses. Both are optional: the Trident V and the Frostbite Falchion line handle the story and most endgame content comfortably. Our best build guide shows which of these each class pairs on its two weapon bars.

Weapons Added Since Launch

Netmarble's updates have added Jinwoo weapons outside the original crafting lines, and older guides miss them.

• Demon King's Daggers (March 2026). Added with its own crafting tree in the update that brought Baran, the Demon King to the Workshop of Brilliant Light. Later patches corrected the description of its Black Thunder skill to match its in-game effect and fixed a bug that let players pass through walls while it was equipped. Gematsu's console launch description names it alongside Kasaka's Venom Fang as an example of what you can craft.
• Winchester Roke and Ennio's Roar (June 2026). Two new Jinwoo-exclusive weapons obtained through a new weapon crafting tree in the Jeju Island update.
• Razor Frost (June 2026, paid). The only Jinwoo weapon locked behind a purchase: it comes with the paid Jeju Island DLC pack, which also adds two hunters and their exclusive weapons, Distorted Dreams and The Path a Hero Must Take.

A June 2026 hotfix corrected the stats of Razor Frost, Ennio's Roar and Winchester Roke, which had been applied incorrectly at release, so judge them by their current numbers, not first-week impressions. Alcasthq's November guides still name Baruka's Dagger V as the best dagger even with the Demon King's Daggers in the game, so the newer craft is an alternative with a different skill rather than an automatic replacement.

Weapons for Your Hunters

Hunters are easy to forget when you are chasing an S-rank weapon for Jinwoo, but they fight beside you in nearly every mission and their weapons come from the same crafting menu. Fextralife notes that each hunter has a single weapon slot and can craft a special weapon with a unique bonus. Early patch notes even fixed hunter weapons occasionally showing up at the bottom of Jinwoo's weapon tab in the crafting screen, which shows how closely the two systems are tied.

Exclusive weapons get balance attention like any other gear. Netmarble's March 2026 preview listed a buff to Esil Radiru's exclusive weapon alongside a cut to her Overdrive damage, and the two hunters from the June 2026 paid DLC arrive already holding theirs. A sensible order is to finish one strong weapon line for Jinwoo first, then upgrade the weapons of the three hunters you actually bring into fights, since a benched hunter's weapon adds nothing to your clear speed.

Choosing Weapons for Your Build

Since Jinwoo always carries two weapons, the best pair matters more than the single best weapon. A pattern runs through every build guide: one weapon for the job your class does well and one to cover its weakness.

• Cover your weak spot. Melee classes struggle against groups, so the firearm is the common second weapon; Alcasthq explains it fires at every enemy in front of you, which turns a single-target class into a passable crowd clearer.
• Use the swap. Firearm tree nodes like Reload boost firearm skills right after a weapon swap, and some artifact effects trigger on Weapon Swap, so switching weapons is part of your damage, not just a menu choice. Our artifacts guide lists the unique effects that reward it.
• Match the boss element. Workshop of Brilliant Light fights show a recommended element. Keeping a second finished weapon of a different element pays off there.
• Do not strand your upgrades. Any class can equip any weapon type, so a well-upgraded weapon stays useful if you later change class. Our guide on changing class explains what carries over.

Farming Materials Efficiently

Most of the time you spend on weapons is spent farming materials, so a few habits go a long way:

1. Follow the Source button. It points to the exact stage and boss, which beats running random content.
2. Farm on the lowest difficulty that drops what you need. Fextralife suggests lower difficulties for material runs, saving harder tiers for when you need their specific drops.
3. Finish one line before starting another. Two half-built weapons are weaker than one finished one, and every tier in a line has to be crafted in order anyway.
4. Use the Wishlist. Pin the materials for your target weapon so you notice when a run drops something useful.
5. Save the hardest crafts for later. Weapons that need max-level bosses are easier after the story, especially if you plan a harder replay; our New Game Plus guide covers that stage of the game.

Want the Endgame Gear Without the Crafting?

If you would rather skip the material grind, the store's Complete Save equips Sung Jinwoo with S-rank weapons, including the Demon King's Daggers I, and adds stacks of Tier 10 and Tier 11 artifacts at +5, a level 75 hunter roster, a finished story and inventory materials at 999,999 each. It is a modded save for PS5 and PC only, the game is not included, and the platinum trophy is sold separately.

See the Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive page for the Starter Save, which keeps the story ahead of you.

Frequently Asked Questions