Year 2026, Solo Leveling has established itself as a phenomenal hit series that once had humble beginnings in South Korea. This web novel turned Manhwa, and now anime, has found a huge fan base globally, and its popularity only grows with each new project it puts out. While we all await further updates on Solo Leveling Season 3 by A-1 Pictures and Aniplex, the franchise continues to deliver new updates and releases to look forward to.
Solo Leveling Arise has proven to be an exciting journey for fans this year, expanding on this sensational world and bringing us new updates every month, with new characters, weapons, battle events and more content. Most recently, we've been introduced to a brand new Dark S-Rank Hunter. While dark forces are usually associated with Jinwoo and his Shadow Monarch abilities, Agnes Rivera makes her entrance as the first Dark Buster Hunter to lead the Italian Rivera Guild. She officially joins Solo Leveling in a few days on July 2, 2026.
Agnes Rivera is officially confirmed as a new Dark Hunter from Solo Leveling Arise
Ever since its release in 2024, Solo Leveling has become so massive that every new generation anime fan has already heard of it. After its incredibly successful run with its first season in January 2024 and its second season in January 2025, it has established dominance in the department of new-gen anime releases. But Solo Leveling doesn't just dominate in the anime department. Its video game, Solo Leveling: Arise, is equally popular.
On May 8, 2024, Solo Leveling went on to officially receive its largest video game at the time – Solo Leveling: Arise. Solo Leveling Arise is a PC and mobile game from Netmarble studio, which brings out the full potential of the series. Since Arise is a gacha-style game, there are always new updates and content to look forward to. Most recently, Solo Leveling Arise announced the release of a new Hunter to the roster. On June 2, 2026, under Solo Leveling Arise June Livestream, announced developers Agnes Rivera. Now, on June 25th, 2026, her production has officially ended, as confirmed in the last post on X, and we've confirmed that she's heading to Solo Leveling Arise on July 2nd, 2926.
Agnes Rivera is not the first Dark Hunter in the game. The protagonist of the story herself, Sung Jinwoo, also belongs to this category, but she is the very first Dark Buster Hunter ever. Buster Hunter is a brand new class that debuted with Liu Zhigang in June, so it's exciting to see it already being expanded with a new character. Her main abilities seem to be Body Enhancement and Dark Fogs. How it turns out in the game remains to be seen.
“I don't cut corners. Ever.' — Agnes Rivera in Solo Leveling Arise
We don't know much about Agnes Rivera at the moment, but what we do know is that she is a Master of a Guild from Italy – the Italian Rivera Guild. With the Solo Leveling story focusing mostly on Asia and North America, this new reveal makes Agnes one of the few relevant European hunters, as well as the very first Italian hunter. Solo Leveling Arise has described Agnes as “Bold, arrogant and sometimes cunning”, and we can see that through her short dialogue in her teaser video. In the game, she will be released with an alternate skin, 'Omertà in Paradise', in conjunction with the summer event. She is definitely a hunter that many are excited to unlock and use in battle.
Solo Leveling officially reveals Sung Jinwoo's strongest weapon
Jinwoo is a powerful fighter, and he is now even stronger with a brand new weapon called Razor Frost, which is considered to have the ultimate slash.
Agnes Rivera of the Italian Rivera Guild makes her debut in the Solo Leveling Franchise on July 2, 2026
We are all extremely excited to welcome this new Italian Hunter to Solo Leveling Arise. She's definitely a unique hunter, and fortunately, she soon drops in the game. Although she was first announced in early June, work on her is now officially complete and she is ready to be released to us. Agnes Rivera will be included in the upcoming July 2, 2026, Solo Leveling Arise update. This update is only a couple of days away now, and what's even more exciting is that she's not releasing alone either. Along with her in the July update comes more content officially.
While Agnes is the highlight, Jinwoo will also bring one of his iconic Shadows to the game – Greed, the Shadow of S-Rank Hunter Hwang Dongsoo. The forum detailing the update also revealed that The New Daily Essence Stone Boost is ending for the time being. In its place comes something newly revamped, so we're excited to see what's in store for Solo Leveling Arise. Players can also expect a Dark Hunter balance buffer to be included, and other bonus stuff, like new skins and tweaks to the game. With the July update almost out now, we can't wait to see what's next for the game and what new character is added in the next update after this one.
Agnes Rivera stands as a powerful S-Rank hunter who competes with the top tiers
Agnes Rivera has a high status among Italian hunters, as she is the Guild Master of a prestigious guild. The Rivera Guild is a massive corporate-like guild, and being on top of it reflects her strength, but despite her power and status, she still cares for the members as if they were her own family. What's more interesting though is that Agnes River's character card from Solo Leveling Arise reveals a shocking fact. She is a new S-Rank Hunter. Of course, this makes sense since most Guild Masters of major guilds are often S-Rank. This is reflected in the guilds of South Korea and other countries, and it makes sense that Italy is the same.
This means that Agnes is not only a new dark hunter, but she is also an S-rank, making her a powerhouse, and possibly even the very strongest hunter known from the European continent so far, with the absence of a European national level hunter.
Unfortunately, as is the case with all characters added to Solo Leveling: Arise that were not in Chugong's original web novel, Agnes Rivera is not a canon character. Her character will be an interesting addition to the Arise universe, but she doesn't exist in the true Solo Leveling universe. Either way, we can't wait to see how her story unfolds, and to learn more about her personality through Solo Leveling: Arise dialogue once her character drops on Thursday, July 2, 2026. She might be one of the most interesting original additions to the game, and based on fan reaction, she's already looking like a fan favorite.
Solo Leveling Arise is available to play on PC and mobile.
