HxH: Togashi’s Nen Charts – Nen Typing, Proficiency, Explained!

If you’re a Hunter x Hunter fan, you’re likely aware of a certain Nen chart that’s been making rounds over the internet – thought to be redefining the entire Nen power system.

During the end of October, 2022, Togashi released a memo consisting of two charts, the first a Nen Type Chart that shows that Nen is a spectrum, and the second a Nen Proficiency Chart that gives 4 ratings for a user’s Nen proficiency at the current time in the manga.

There is nothing surprising or new per say about this information. Togashi, being such a brilliant mangaka, developed the story in a way that these Nen charts only confirm what we intuitively believed to be true in the first place.

That being said, Togashi’s Nen update truly refines the Nen power structure to a point where there is very little to debate regarding characters’ powers and abilities when it comes to Nen. Here’s a full laydown of the main facts the charts give us.

1. Characters Only Have One Nen Type

Probably the biggest confusion in the fandom is regarding this topic.

The hexagonal spectrum Togashi provides, goes (in clockwise order): Enhancement, Transmutation, Conjuration, Specialization, Manipulation, Emission.

All characters can only have a single innate Nen type that they are born with, which is their primary Nen type, but they can lean towards a second Nen type, adjacent to their primary type on the spectrum.

As an example, this means that there are characters who might be “pure” Enhancers, but there might be characters who can also lean either towards Transmutation or Emission.

As per the chart, Gon is a pure Enhancer. But Palm and Nobunaga, whose innate type is also Enhancement, lean 20% and 40% respectively towards Transmutation. On the other side, Gotoh and Ikalgo, whose innate type is Enhancement, lean 20% and 40% respectively towards Emission.

This was kind of already referenced by Biscuit during the Greed Island arc.

Training every Nen type is supposed to round a user better and improve their main type; in chapter 148, when Bisky was training Gon at Emission and Transmutation, she placed him between Emission and Enhancement, but closer to the latter.

Gon visibly sucks at Transmutation, is fairly good at Emission, but excells at Enhancement.

According to Togashi’s chart, Gon is a 100% Enhancer, instead of being a mix. Gon doesn’t lean toward Emission anymore because over the years, Gon developed more aptitude for his innate Nen type via training and has honed his Enhancement Nen much more than Emission.

Being in between two types (20-40%) merely means that the character has more ease learning the second type than another type on the spectrum. However, characters will always have an inherent bias learning skills based on their innate typing.

Some fans use the concept of handedness to understand this concept. Most people are one-hand dominant, but some – and this is rare – are ambidextrous.

2. Some Characters are “Ambidextrous” but Still Have just One Main Attribute

There are also a few characters who are placed exactly in the middle of two Nen types.

In my above example, Nobonaga leans 40% towards Transmutation. But Killua and Machi lean 50% towards Transmutation, and 50% towards Enhancement.

The thing to remember is, again, innate Nen typings; knowing the main Nen type changes everything.

Although Killua and Machi exist bang in the center of Enhancement and Transmutation, they still don’t have dual Nen attributes; they are both Transmuters but have the capacity to learn Transmutation as well as Enhancement Nen skills equally.

They can level both these abilities equally with the same speed of progress, but since their innate Nen type is Transmutation, they will never be able to fully utilize their Enhancement skills as much as they can their Transmutation skills.

In other words, Killua might be able to develop an Enhancement Nen ability as easily as a Transmutation one, but because he’s an innate Transmuter, his Transmutation ability will always be stronger.

3. Characters Can Change Nen Type to Specialists

In uber rare cases, one’s innate typing can shift to Specialization, which is the only acquired Nen type.

Specialists are the most complicated Nen users who can’t be put into a single box. This is why I suspect Ging might be a Specialist.

4. There Are 4 Types of Nen Proficiencies

Togashi confirms that there are 4 proficiency ratings that we can base a character’s Nen abilities on: Ultimate, Genius, Excellent, and Great.

These are indicative of the amount of training a character puts in, their knowledge, and their experience, along with outside factors like circumstances and luck.

When Gon became Adult Gon to defeat Pitou, he went from Great to Ultimate in an instant – before losing his ability to use Nen altogether.

These proficiency rating also point to the degree to which a character has mastered their ability according to how close they come to the true “essence” of the technique.

The ratings do not give a power level as such, but only compare power relative another within the same Nen typing.

5. “Ultimate” Proficiency is Rare

There are only 6 characters who have reached the Ultimate proficiency in their respective Nen type/attribute circles. They are, Meruem, Alluka, Abengane, Netero, Zeno, and Biscuit Krueger.

Meruem was the Chimera Ant King hailing from the Dark Continent, and Alluka is possessed by Ai, one of the 5 Disasters.

Netero and Zeno are incredibly old and this means they’ve had the time and experience to hone their abilities to their fullest. Abengane is the ultimate Conjurer – the one Hisoka called to remove Kurapika’s Judgement Chain from Chrollo Lucilfer.

6. All Innate Enhancers

• Gon Freecss
• Isaac Netero
• Uvogin
• Komugi
• Palm (+ 20% Transmuter lean)
• Nobunaga (+40% Transmuter lean)
• Gotoh (+ 20% Emitter lean)
• Ikalgo (+ 40% Emitter lean)

7. All Innate Transmuters

• Killua (+ 50% Enhancer lean)
• Machi (+ 50% Enhancer lean)
• Hisoka
• Biscuit
• Youpi
• Hanzo (+ 50% Conjurer lean)

8. All Innate Conjurers

• Kite (+ 50% Transmuter lean)
• Tsubone (+ 50% Transmuter lean)
• Shizuku
• Genthru
• Kortopi
• Knuckle
• Abengane
• Kurapika (+ 50% Specialist lean)

9. All Innate Specialists

• Chrollo Lucilfer
• Pakunoda
• Neon
• Pitou
• Alluka

10. All Innate Manipulators

• Milluki (+ 20% Specialist lean)
• Illumi
• Morel
• Pouf
• Ponzu (+ 10% Emitter lean)
• Shalnark (+ 20% Emitter lean)
• Kalluto (+ 40% Emitter lean)

11. All Innate Emitters

• Zeno
• Silva
• Knov
• Razor
• Meruem
• Leorio (+ 40% Enhancer lean)
• Franklin (+50% Enhancer lean)
• Pokkle (+ 20% Manipulator lean)
• Melody (+ 50% Manipulator lean)

12. About Hunter x Hunter

Hunter x Hunter is a Shonen anime adapted from manga of the same name.

The story follows the adventures of a young boy, Gon, discovering that his dead father wasn’t dead but was a legendary Hunter. Instead of feeling dejected, Gon decides to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a great Hunter himself.

The job of a Hunter isn’t an easy one, and Gon needs to pass an exam to become an official hunter. He makes friends on this journey, and they all must help each other overcome any obstacles.