This Arise –Shadow Hunt UPD 9.18 Guide is all about corruption and plague-themed content. A brand-new hero, the Plague King (also called Plague Lord), arrives with dark poison-based skills. Alongside him comes a fresh batch of weapons, relics, and equipment that tie directly into his mechanics. On top of that, pets get a huge buff with Level Fruits, which increase their level caps far beyond the old limits. And perhaps the most game-changing system tweak: every King now drops loot when defeated, making boss hunting far more rewarding.

Perfect, thanks for sharing the official patch details. I’ll now turn that into a complete Arise – Shadow Hunt UPD 9.18 guide that covers the new content (map, hero, mounts, gear, pets, fruits) and the overall gameplay impact.

Arise Shadow Hunt UPD 9.18 Full Guide

1. Overview of Update 9.18

Update 9.18 (Code: 8GIS78) brings one of the largest content drops in recent months. The highlight features include:

• New Map: Zone 10
• Plague Lord (New Hero)
• New Weapons & Equipment
• New Mounts
• Pet Level Fruits (cap increase)
• Various quality-of-life optimizations

This patch not only expands the game world with a fresh map and hero but also introduces new progression systems, especially for pets, which reshapes long-term growth strategies.

2. New Map: Zone 10

The long-awaited Map 10 has finally arrived.

• Difficulty: Designed as a late-game challenge, Map 10 pushes both gear and skill checks higher than previous zones.
• Environment Theme: Dark, corrupted lands crawling with plague-spawned creatures. Expect poison mechanics, environmental hazards, and tougher minibosses.
• Rewards: Better drop tables, higher-tier gear, and increased chances for relic components.

Tip: Make sure you’re bringing resistance gear and sustain builds before tackling this map, as plague effects can shred underprepared players.

3. New Hero – The Plague Lord

The star of this patch, the Plague Lord, is a corruption-based hero who dominates with poison and disease mechanics.

• Abilities: Spreads damage over time, weakens enemy healing, and thrives in prolonged fights.
• Playstyle: More about attrition and zone control rather than burst damage.
• Synergy: Works best with the new plague-themed relics and poison-scaling weapons.

Best Use Cases: Boss fights, endurance challenges, and maps where enemies group up for maximum plague spread.

4. New Weapons & Equipment

This update expands the arsenal with plague-focused tools:

• Weapons: Expect staffs, daggers, and bows that deal stacking poison damage or spread rot effects.
• Equipment: Many pieces now feature plague resistance, healing reduction, and poison amplification, perfect for both offense and defense.

Strategy: Even if you don’t main Plague Lord, these new items are useful—especially against enemies in Map 10, who themselves lean into plague mechanics.

5. New Mounts

Mounts aren’t just cosmetic in Shadow Hunt—they’re key to mobility and sometimes add passive boosts.

• New plague-themed mounts arrive in this patch.
• Likely tied to the new map or event rewards.
• Expect mounts that provide resistance buffs or speed boosts in plague zones.

6. Pet Level Fruits – Raising the Cap

One of the most important systemic changes in 9.18 is the introduction of Level Fruits.

• Usage: Feed them to pets to raise their level cap.
• Limit: Up to 10 fruits can be consumed per pet type, meaning huge long-term scaling.
• Impact: Stronger pets mean higher survival and DPS across all content.

Tip: Prioritize offensive pets first, as they benefit the most from extra levels. Tanks and utility pets can come later.

7. Other Optimizations

A patch of this scale always sneaks in small but meaningful quality-of-life tweaks. Some expected improvements include:

• Better loot distribution.
• Performance and UI refinements.
• Adjustments to earlier maps and bosses for smoother progression.