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One of the most fan-favourite manhwa of all time Solo Leveling is going strong with the second season of its anime adaptation right now. The world of Solo Leveling is a harsh world where only the survival of the fittest matters and as the story continues it dwells into the various conflicting topics.
Topics such as loyalty, free will and God complex are vaguely explored throughout the series. However, the main focus of the story remains on our protagonist, Sung Jinwoo. Jinwoo, an E-rank hunter finds a way to climb the ladder and become the strongest human in the universe.
Despite his God-like powers, some creatures still exist that can scale above him. Let’s find out about such beings and also other Solo Leveling characters that are strongest in the universe.
P.S. Spoilers for the Solo Leveling manhwa ahead. Read ahead at your discretion.
Strongest Characters in Solo Leveling:
20. Baek Yoon-Ho
An S-Rank Hunter with beast-like abilities, serving as the leader of the White Tiger Guild. Yoon-Ho can transform into a lion-like beast who is an expert in close combat. However, his animal instincts render him useless in situations where he has to fight the Beast Monarch and also inability to perform long-range attacks also puts him down.
He solely relies on his physical strength and is pretty much useless against enemies who are faster than him.
19. Cha Hae-In
The only female S-Rank Hunter in Korea, known for her exceptional swordsmanship and combat abilities. She has the potential to overcome Choi Jong-In, however, due to her lack of combat experience and inability to perform long-range attacks she is below him in this list of strongest Solo Leveling characters.
18. Choi Jong-In
An S-Rank Hunter and leader of the Hunters Guild, known for his powerful flame magic. He is the strongest S-rank hunter from South Korea. Normally, people would argue that he is less strong than Yoon-Ho, however, his mana levels, lack of Animal instinct, wits, intelligence and ability to perform powerful long-range attacks put him above the latter.
He is the only reason why Cha Hae-In could never be a guild leader because as long as he is there, no other S-rank hunter is stronger than him.
17. Christopher Reed
A National Level Hunter from America, known for his formidable strength. A medium of Ruler with the ability to use Spiritual Body Manifestation, he gets jumped by 4 Monarchs and is eventually killed. However, his powers are more or less on the same level as other National Level Hunters.
16. Goto Ryuji
Japan’s strongest hunter, whose abilities rival National Level Hunters. However, he is not a vessel of any Ruler, unlike Thomas. He is slightly stronger than an S-rank hunter however due to bad luck his opponent was Beru before he was defeated by Jinwoo.
15. Liu Zhigang
A National Level Hunter from China is considered one of the strongest hunters globally. He too is chosen by a Ruler to be their semi-perfect host just like Thomas. However, due to the limitations of the human body his abilities still have a limit.
14. Sung Il-Hwan
Sung Jin-Woo’s father is an S-Rank Hunter with exceptional abilities. He was chosen as a medium for the Rulers after he gets trapped inside a Gate and has been finding ways to end Monarchs. However, due to the limitations of the human body and trying to save Jinwoo from 3 other Monarchs he overuses Ruler’s powers. This ultimately led to him disintegrating into light.
13. Thomas Andre
A gangster and a mixed martial artist, Thomas Andre, is the second strongest human in the history of mankind. His strength comes from Rulers who showered upon him with their grace unknown to him. He and other National Hunters were given their abilities to fight off Monarchs in the upcoming war.
He and Christopher Reed can use Spiritual Body Manifestation wherein they can allow the maximum power of the Rulers to flow through them. However, there is still limit to the power a Ruler can send to them as no human body is fully capable of being a host to a Ruler.
12. Igris
The knight of Shadow Monarch’s kingdom, Igris, is an extremely loyal shadow. At the beginning of the series, he cannot talk but as he levels up along with Jinwoo, he gains that ability and explains his deep loyalty towards Ashborn to us fans.
Igris just like Beru is a Marshal Grade shadow warrior and is succeeded by Bellion. Igris is the strongest swordsman in Jinwoo’s army and has the highest intelligence stats as well.
11. Kamish
Kamish was a legendary dragon. His unique roar could create fear amongst everyone below his power levels. It took 6 National level hunters along with many other ranks to slay the Dragon. It was in this fight that Thomas Andre acclaimed immense fame.
10. Beru
A beast with immense intelligence and loyalty built in, Beru was the former Ant King, following the orders of the Ant Queen. He is known for his extremely high speed and healing abilities. He alone managed to kill several S-rank hunters from Japan and ate their bodies.
With each body he ate, he became more intelligent and powerful. After Jinwoo defeated him, Beru became his most loyal servant and levelled up to the rank of Marshal, rivaled by Igris and succeeded by Bellion.
Jinwoo trusts him so much that he sent Beru to protect and train his son Soho Sung after the events of Solo Leveling.
9. Monarch of White Flames (Baran)
The Demon King Baran, a formidable Monarch with control over white flames. He was the strongest demon and was extremely proud of his prowess. However, he fell to Antares’s sweet words and betrayed the Shadow Monarch in the war against Rulers. This led to Ashborn killing him.
8. Monarch of Iron Body (Tarnak)
Tarnak is known for his immense physical strength and durability. He was an egoistic being which ultimately led to his defeat. Arrogant about his telepathy and physical strength and durability, Tarnak faced Thomas Andre head-on who had prepared for this match.
Thomas with the help of Jinwoo’s shadows such as Beru, Bellion and Tusk managed to kill Tarnak.
7. Monarch of Plagues (Querehsha)
A Monarch known for her deadly plagues and significant strength, Querehsha is the Monarch of Plagues. She can control everything poisonous. She is also the queen of insects and tries to force Beru into submitting to her. However, the latter’s loyalty to Jinwoo overpowered her which ultimately led to Jinwoo defeating her.
6. Monarch of Frost (Sillad)
Monarchs are the demon equivalent of the Solo Leveling verse whereas the Rulers are the angel equivalent. Sillad was the monarch of Frost and ruled over Ice beings. He is one of the monarchs who betrayed the shadow monarch in the earlier war against Rulers after falling prey to Antares’s ploy.
As a monarch, he easily ranks above National Level Hunters and can level multiple countries using his immense strength and magic powers.
5. Bellion
Bellion is one of the most loyal soldiers of the Shadow Monarch as well as the Absolute Being. He willingly asked Ashborn to convert him into a shadow so that he could always stay by his side. He was also one of the rulers albeit not the strongest of them and was against the murder of the Absolute Being.
Bellion is the only one with a Grand Marshal level amongst all the other shadows of Jinwoo/Ashborn. This means all other shadows are weaker than him including Beru and Igris. It also means that he is only second to Ashborn/Jinwoo in the shadow army.
4. Antares (Monarch of Destruction)
Famed as the King of Dragons, Antares is the most formidable among the Monarchs and serves as the final antagonist. His battle prowess pushed Jinwoo even with the Shadow monarch’s unlimited powers and had him rely on his shadows.
He is one of the most important beings in the universe and is immune to things such as timeline erasure and time change.
3. Sung Jin-Woo
The weakest hunter in all of South Korea becomes the second Shadow Monarch, surpassing all others in strength. Sung Jinwoo not only becomes the most powerful human in the universe, he also becomes the most powerful monarch.
After the events of the final arc, Jinwoo’s battle prowess rivals that of multiple Rulers in addition to having the powers of Ashborn. Thus making him third in our list of the strongest Solo Leveling characters.
2. Ashborn (Shadow Monarch)
Ashborn, the original Shadow Monarch, is also known as the King of the Dead. He is the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light meaning he was created by the absolute being to be extremely loyal and thus was made with an extra set of powers i.e. to command the dead. This ability changed the course of the battle against Rulers and Monarchs.
Before merging with Jinwoo, Ashborn was the strongest Monarch and the strongest Ruler as well. However, similar to the Absolute Being, the Rulers ambushed Ashborn and used a divide-and-rule policy between him and other monarchs.
Despite being a monarch, he cares for humanity and wants to protect them, unlike Rulers who want to use humanity and Monarchs who want to kill humanity.
1. The Absolute Being
An outer world-ly character with God-like powers. He is the one who created the universe of Solo Leveling. He and similar beings like him create universes and force the creations within to fight amongst themselves just for their amusement.
With knowledge and the ability to create universes, The Absolute Being stands at the top of the hierarchy. He is also known as the Brilliant Light as his grace would shine upon his subjects.
