Solo Leveling: How Strong Are S-Rank Hunters Actually, Explained

Summary

S-Rank Hunters’ strength ultimately falls short when dealing with the world’s threats.
They are somewhat strong, but not comparable to national-level hunters, monarchs, and other power players.

The following contains minor spoilers for the Solo Leveling manhwa and web novel.

For much of the Solo Leveling anime adaptation so far, S-Rank hunters served as the benchmark and goal of power that Sung Jinwoo set his sights on reaching. However, once Jinwoo finally reached a comparable power level, the S-rank hunters seemed to be a bit lackluster.

This begs the question, how actually strong are the S-rank hunters? We know they stand near the top of strength in the world of Solo Leveling, but how do they actually compare to the threats in the universe?

Solo Leveling: Cha Hae-In Is Powerful, But Did the Series Do Enough to Highlight Her True Potential?

Cha Hae-In stands out as a formidable S-Rank Hunter, renowned for her exceptional swordsmanship and unique abilities.

S-Rank Hunters Versus Dungeons

Power Level of Average S-Rank Hunters

solo leveling cha hae in — Solo Leveling Animation Partners

The rank system in solo leveling for hunters revolves around the expected performance they should have when tackling dungeons. In general, hunters should be strong enough to participate in dungeon strike teams of at least their same level, and combat-focused hunters should be able to clear the dungeon boss of a tier below them. This means that, for example, an A-rank hunter should be able to participate in an A-rank dungeon raid comfortably and should be able to defeat a B-rank dungeon boss by themselves.

While this rule generally holds across most ranks, S-rank hunters can vary more drastically because their rank is the highest. For example, S-rank hunter Chae Hae-In cleared the majority of an A-rank gate by herself and participated in the Jeju Island raid, which is seen as the equivalent of S-rank in difficulty. Goto Ryuji, an S-rank hunter from Japan, was stated by Sung Jinwoo to be much stronger than a typical S-rank, suggesting that there are tiers of power even within this ranking level.

With the rare exception of strong or miscalculated dungeon variants, S-rank hunters are generally strong enough to clear most normal gates that appear on Earth. However, because there are only a handful of S-rank hunters at any one time, they cannot effectively keep Earth safe from dungeon breaks without also relying on lower-rank hunters.

solo leveling jin woo life before hunter awakening

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S-Rank Hunter Versus Real Threats

How S-Ranks Stack Up Against the Powerhouses in Solo Leveling

Unfortunately for S-rank hunters, despite their name, they do not actually stand at the upper levels of power in the Solo Leveling universe. Directly above them in ranking would be the national-level hunters, who are said to possess as much power as an entire country’s military. National-level hunters are also thought to be able to clear S-rank dungeons by themselves. There are sparingly few hunters that rise to this level of power, with the primary ones being Thomas Andre, Liu Zhigang, Christopher Reed, and Siddharth Bachchan.

Next, above national level hunters in power are the rulers and monarchs. These are extremely powerful entities created by the Absolute Being that are meant to balance each other’s power. It is revealed that national-level hunters have only become so strong because the rulers granted them the power to help them stand a chance against the monarchs and denizens of the chaos realm. Even further above these rulers and monarchs are the god-like beings known as Itarim, who are thought to have created everything that exists and are the strongest entities in the universe.

“We have only two ways to gain strength: Perfecting our techniques and gathering allies.” -Chairman Go Gunhee

Compared to how powerful the beings that outclass them are, it turns out S-class hunters aren’t actually that strong in the grand scheme of things. They are well below the level that they can protect Earth from the threats of the gates and stand no chance against any of the true enemies of the world. Because a normal hunter’s power can never grow, this essentially makes most S-rank hunters fodder on the battlefield later in the series. Their purpose in the story was merely to be a measuring stick for Sung Jinwoo’s growth, and after that point, they quickly become outclassed by most of the other entities in the series.

Solo Leveling can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Amazon.

Solo Leveling

Release Date: January 7, 2024
Directors: Shunsuke Nakashige

Taito Ban

Shun Mizushino (voice)
Genta Nakamura

Kenta Morobishi (voice)