With the conclusion of the Chimera ant arc in the Manhwa, fans of Solo Leveling are eagerly looking forward to the second season.

The future plot and events are teased at the end of the first season, for instance, the identity of the two people who appeared on Jeju island.

In addition, the secrets surrounding Jin-Woo’s father and the enigmatic System are slowly unraveling and hinting towards a world-ending war.

While the next season is still ways away, the Light Novel of Solo Leveling has already ended spectacularly.

Sung Jin-Woo has finally become the world’s strongest hunter and, further, a God. In this article, I will be listing down the top 10 strongest characters in Solo Leveling.

There will be major spoilers from the novel, so read at your own risk.

10. Go Gun-Hee

Go Gun-Hee was a South Korean S-Rank Hunter and the Chairman of the Korean Hunters Association. He was once one of the most powerful hunters, and as revealed after the Ice Monarch killed him, he was actually one of the reincarnated Rulers.

However, due to the limitations of his age and the human body, he couldn’t display the full extent of his powers.

Despite this, he was very well respected, and all the guild masters were afraid of him.

While he was not given the official title of a National level hunter, just the fact that he was chosen as a host makes him deserving of his position in the 10th place.

9. Christopher Reed

Christopher Reed was a National Level Hunter and a host of the Rankers. He had his skills upgraded and enhanced by Norma Selner, and was one of the strongest Hunters in the series.

However, he was killed by The Ice Monarch, The Beasts Monarch, and The Insects Monarch, due to his pride.

While he was indeed extremely powerful and levels above other S-rank hunters, he could not use the Ruler’s power properly and, therefore, is ranked below Thomas Andre.

8. Thomas Andre

Thomas Andre is the Guild Master of the Scavenger Guild, and one of only five National Level Hunters that exist. Like Go Gun-Hee, he is also the host of a Ruler and can manifest quite a large percentage of their power.

In addition, just like other National Level Hunters, he possesses the ability to control and move objects with his mind. It is revealed that this ability can only be accessed by the human vessels of the Rulers.

In terms of offensive power, Thomas’ power smash with his magic-infused arm is enough to shatter everything around him with just its shockwaves.

During the Monarch war arc, Thomas arrived in Seoul and faced the Beast Monarch. While he initially suppressed his opponent with the help of the Rulers’ power, the strongest tank in the world was beaten down.

However, just the fact that he can face off against a Monarch makes him extremely strong. Due to this, he is placed 8th on this list.

7. Bellion

Bellion is the Grand-Marshal in Jin-Woo’s shadow army, and one of the original servants of the former Shadow Monarch, Ashborn.

Bellion was born from the fruit of the World Tree and was a soldier of the heavens. He is presumed to be extremely powerful as even the Rulers were shown to have three pairs of wings, and he himself is the owner of 2 pairs.

Bellion is worthy of leading a powerful shadow army consisting of hundreds of thousands of Shadows and three dragons comparable to the army of other Rulers and Monarchs.

Bellion wields a full armor and a unique sword that can be used like a whip and a sword. This, alongside Bellion’s enormous speed and strength, made him a difficult opponent for enemies to counter-attack when caught in a barrage.

When he dueled with Beru for the Grand-Marshal position, he proved that he was deserving of his title by easily swatting away and dodging his opponent’s attacks, which were capable of instantly killing or seriously wounding even the strongest Hunters.

Along with his power, the main reason he is ranked 7th on this list is that Bellion is undefeatable thanks to his regeneration that makes him invincible as long as Jin-Woo is alive.

6. Rulers

Rulers are powerful beings created by the Absolute Being to maintain the universe and protect it from the Monarchs whose purpose is to destroy it.

Tired and filled with grief about the continuous war, seven of the Rulers rebelled against the Absolute Being. However, the conflict between the Monarchs and the Rulers did not end, and with two Monarchs down, they won the first war.

However, after the battle started again, with Earth as its battlefield, unlike the Monarchs, the Rulers themselves could not step on it without taking a human as its host.

While the Rulers’ identities are unknown except Ashborn, since they were created to suppress the Monarchs, their power levels must be similar. Due to this, Rulers are ranked 6th on this list.

5. Monarchs

The Absolute Being split the forces of Dark into eight pieces each. These pieces became Monarchs, one of the most powerful existences with only the Rulers as equals.

Monarchs command massive and powerful armies that can lay waste to anyone crossing their path. They are near-invincible existences who destroyed Earth 7 times.

The Monarchs are Gods of destruction and feed their power through the chaos. While the power levels between the Monarchs themselves differ, they are collectively still a bit stronger than the Rulers.

The main reason for this is that the Rulers could only defeat them after 2 Monarchs did not participate in the war.

4. Antares

Antares was the Dragon Emperor and the Monarch of Destruction. He was the strongest Monarch who invaded Earth along with others to wage war against Rulers. He was the final antagonist of Solo Leveling.

Just like Ashborn, his power was so immense that he could not find a human host to enter Earth, due to this, he was the last one to arrive with his army of destruction through the gate in Canada.

Just a simple swipe of his claw led to more than half of Canada and several high-ranked hunters getting destroyed. It was stated that he could even deal with the Shadow Monarch easily.

Antares came close to killing Jin-Woo once but was stopped by the Rulers. In fact, all eight Rulers were needed to defeat him.

He is the only character in the series that Jin-Woo, i.e., the main character, could not kill until the very end, and therefore, he definitely deserves the 4th position on this list.

3. Ashborn

Ashborn was the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light created by the Absolute Being.

However, he was killed for staying loyal to his creator and opposing the Rulers who wanted to destroy the Absolute Being for orchestrating the never-ending war between them and the Monarchs.

After ‘dying’, he realized that the Absolute Being had planted a failsafe inside of him, for when everything went wrong. Inside of him was sealed a powerful and terrifying power capable of ending everything, i.e., the power of death.

After waking up, he discarded any remains of his previous life, tearing off his wings and forging a mighty armor out of the surrounding shadows and making a brand new army of Shadow Soldiers.

He joined the Monarchs to combat the Rulers and came to be called the Shadow Monarch.

Ashborn was so powerful that the Monarchs, fearing his power, betrayed him, and left him to die at the Rulers’ hands.

However, the Rulers themselves begged Ashborn to join them to win the war. His strength was so great, and his shadow army was so immense that he was said to be nearly invincible.

While he is placed in the third position, technical speaking, he and Jin-Woo are one and the same. After the latter awakened the Black Heart, he and Ashborn became one entity.

2. Sung Jin-Woo

Sung Jin-Woo was the weakest E class hunter and was barely stronger than a normal human. However, after completing a hidden quest in a dual dungeon, he was chosen as a player.

After completing the quests and powering up thanks to the System, he became the strongest hunter on Earth.

It was later revealed that the Architect created the System as a means to support the Shadow Monarch, Ashborn, in finding a suitable human to inherit his powers. Ashborn had chosen Jin-Woo as a result of his daily battle with life and death as the weakest hunter.

Before completely inheriting the Shadow Monarchs powers, Jin-Woo could already face the 3 Monarchs and even push them back during the battle.

However, after inheriting Ashborn’s powers, the System vanished and no longer held back any power from him. With an army of 130,000 plus Shadows, Jin-Woo waged war and defeated all the Monarchs by himself.

When Jin-Woo became the Shadow Monarch, he became the master of death. He transcended time and reality in becoming an axis of the universe. He became free of mortal limitations and became an eternal being, that is, immortal.

Jin-Woo is invincible and the strongest character in Solo-Leveling. The only reason he is placed second is that we don’t know how he would fare against the Absolute Being – Someone who created the Rulers and Monarchs.

1. Absolute Being

The Absolute Being was a God of another universe that split the forces of darkness and light into eight pieces. These pieces became Monarchs and Rulers, respectively.

The purpose of the Monarchs, as set by the Absolute Being, was to destroy the universe while the Rulers fought against them to maintain it.

After the Rulers confronted their creator, they learned that the only reason they were created along with the Monarchs, and waged war against them was for the Absolute Being’s amusement.

Someone who had given the most powerful characters in the series their strength and could toy with them for era’s on end is definitely ranked first on this list.

About Solo Leveling

Solo Leveling is a South Korean novel written by Chu-Gong, It was serialized in Papyrus and later in KakaoPage and concluded with 14 volumes and 270 chapters.

Since a portal connecting our world to a world full of monsters and creatures of all kinds appeared, some people have acquired powers and the ability to hunt them: they are called hunters.

Sung Jin-Woo is the weakest of the rank E hunters and barely stronger than a normal human. One day, he and other hunters find themselves trapped in an extremely dangerous dungeon, and only a few of them survive and manage to escape.

Sung Jin-Woo himself hardly survives and is the only one who completes all the trials in this dungeon. Thus, begins his journey of becoming the most powerful hunter!