Every Solo Leveling Raid in the Anime, Ranked

Solo Leveling is an anime focusing on Sung Jinwoo, an extremely low-rank hunter who is initially at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of strength, power, and renown. As the events of the anime carry on, he discovers a power granted to him by the mysterious System. This “Second Awakening”, as the anime calls it, is a transformation that allows him to move past the static power-levels that other characters are bound by. Essentially, he can “level up” his abilities in a world where everyone else’s powers are static. This is done by collecting experience from hostile monsters within dungeons, which Jinwoo can access through raids.

In Solo Leveling, raids are centered around magical gates, which lead into dungeons filled with hostile monsters, traps, and bosses. Many hunters take up the duty of entering these gates and exterminating the creatures within, for varying reasons. While some hunters may do the work for the moral value in it, most hunters within the anime refer to the work as their way of making money. For some, like Jinwoo at the beginning of the anime, it is one of their only sources of income. The raids seen within the anime are mostly high-impact events, such as the failed raid on Jeju Island, but some are much more low-key affairs in a hunter’s day-to-day life.

8 Jinwoo and Jinho’s Assorted C-Rank Raids

A Fairly Routine Course of Events

In the Solo Leveling anime, Sung Jinwoo makes a deal with Jinho regarding clearing nineteen C-Rank dungeons. The catch, however, is that they must clear all of the dungeons by themselves, only bringing along the necessary personnel required to qualify for the task. This means that Jinwoo and Jinho hired stand-in hunters in order to boost their numbers and legally qualify to tackle the raids.

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The raids themselves were not anything of note, and mainly served as a route for Jinwoo to acquire more experience in order to level up. There were some sightings of curious monsters within, such as the goblins he had slain, as well as the werewolves within the dungeon where he had acquired his job-change quest. Overall, the C-Rank raids shown in this sequence are not too important, solidifying their places in the initial ranking.

7 The Convict Raid

Jinwoo’s First True Hunter Duel

In episode 8 of the Solo Leveling anime, Jinwoo, as well as many other survivors of the Double Dungeon incident, answer an urgent call towards a D-Rank dungeon. He and the survivors meet there, including Lee Joohee and Song Chi-Yul, the latter of whom expresses his thanks for Jinwoo’s help in surviving the Double Dungeon incident.

• Kang Taeshik had already committed several killing sprees.
• The three convicts were all C-Rank.
• After defeating Taeshik, Jinwoo acquires the “Stealth” skill.

They are quickly joined by three convict hunters, as well as their handler, Kang Taeshik, who is a B-Rank hunter. What follows during the raid is a chaotic mess. Taeshik was paid to kill the convicts inside the dungeon, but when seen by two bystanders, decides to just kill everyone. Jinwoo is eventually the one who halts his killing spree, but not without great difficulty. Taeshik is just as fast as he is, and more experienced at fighting hunters. However, utilizing his newfound abilities, Jinwoo proves to be far too well-rounded for Taeshik to handle.

6 Hapjeong Subway Station

The First True Test of Power

Fresh out of the hospital, Sung Jinwoo did not know what to expect with the instanced dungeon within Hapjeong Subway Station. Alone, and armed with a basic knife, Jinwoo was certainly unprepared for what lied within. Untested and not used to real combat, he showed a lot of hesitation when it came to fighting the goblins who appeared initially. The Steel-Fanged Lycans were also a massive issue for him as well, forcing him to truly abandon his old ways of cowardice in favor of a hunter’s mindset.

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His true test, however, lay in the boss of the dungeon. The King of the Swamp, also known as the Blue Venom-Fanged Kasaka, was what forced Jinwoo to push past his limits for the first time. Before, he was fighting only to survive, trying his best to stay alive and endure the serpent’s strikes. He eventually realizes the power that he invested within himself, and proceeds to take the fight directly to the boss, killing it with brute strength.

5 Sung Jinwoo’s First C-Rank Raid

A Dangerous World, Illustrated

The first C-Rank raid that Jinwoo participates in is one led by Hwang Dongsuk, the brother to the notorious S-Rank hunter Hwang Dongsoo. Dongsuk’s strike team is one full of damage dealers and martials, with no healers, which initially throws Jinwoo off, as it is an unorthodox combination. In addition, he and Jinho had been promised a lot of pay to fill in for the seventh and eighth spot. The raid went well at first, but betrayal from Dongsuk and his party meant that Jinwoo and Jinho would need to fight for their lives against the boss.

• It is implied that the reason Dongsuk’s party has no healers is due to their murderous tendencies.
• This is the first time that the lawlessness within dungeons is truly shown.
• Jinho continues to appear in expensive armor from this point onwards.

After killing the dungeon boss, Jinwoo faced off against Dongsuk’s party, who had decided to try to kill the two themselves. At this point, after Jinwoo was injured, he seemed to have another change in mindset, losing even more of his empathy as he effortlessly picked off Dongsuk and his group. If Hapjeong Subway Station taught him to use his powers, this C-Rank dungeon with Dongsuk’s group reminded him of the evil in his world, teaching Jin-woo to be merciless.

4 The Failure of Jeju Island

A Land of Nightmares

In the Solo Leveling anime, Jeju island is presented as one of the largest failures of the S-Rank hunters. Choi Jong-In, the guildmaster of the Hunters Guild, constantly has traumatic flashbacks to the failed raid. His guilt about the dungeon break led him to create another mission in order to scout the island once more, near the end of the anime. The result of this mission brought about the information that the ants on Jeju island were evolving to fly.

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The Jeju Island raid is mainly shown in the beginning of the Solo Leveling anime, a violent affair with many hunters losing their lives to the giant ants. The hunters who were known as S-Rank even struggled to fight some of the white ants, who were shown to be much more powerful than their smaller counterparts. Considering how strong the smaller ant soldiers were compared to the average hunter, it can be assumed that the raid groups simply got overwhelmed. With how impactful this failed raid is on the S-Ranks shown in the anime, it definitely takes a spot in the middle of the ranking.

3 The Demon King’s Castle

The Ultimate Goal

After a secret daily quest, Jinwoo acquires a random loot-box from the System. This special “Blessed Loot Box” provides him with a key to an instanced dungeon, similar to the one given to him for Hapjeong Station. It is shown to him that, in the Demon King’s Castle lies a magical cure-all for any and all diseases. Given that Jinwoo’s mother is currently hospitalized in a coma, he wonders if the cure-all will work on her, and resolves to try and use the key.

• The manhwa refers to the Demon King’s Castle as the “Demon Castle”.
• Jinwoo does not venture back to the castle in the anime as of yet.
• It can be assumed that the creatures within the castle are just as strong as Cerberus.

Within the instanced dungeon was a hellish landscape, dominated by a fiery tower. Guarding this tower is “Hell’s Gatekeeper Cerberus”, a giant three-headed hound that presents a challenge Jinwoo has not faced up until that point, nearly killing him multiple times. The battle is one that pushes Jinwoo’s strength, speed, and smarts to its absolute limit at the time, and it is the first moment in the anime where Jinwoo backs away from a challenge, opting to save the Demon Castle for another day.

2 The Job Change Quest

The Place Where He Overcame Adversity

The Job Change Quest is an optional quest that was offered to Jinwoo once he reached level 40. In the anime, the choice given to Jinwoo alarms him slightly, as he understands that the System has a habit of outright forcing him to do certain quests. The fact that he actually has a choice about doing this dungeon makes him think that the mission will be extremely difficult. In this prediction, he was right, and the resulting battles would be the toughest he would experience throughout the entire anime.

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The dungeon of the Job Change Quest is filled with medieval-style knights, archers, assassins, and mages. While these armored creatures stand little chance against Jinwoo on their lonesome, the true test lay on the other side of an imposing door. On the other side was a throne room, defended by Blood-Red Knight Commander Igris. This was the toughest fight Jinwoo experienced throughout the entire anime, with Igris dominating him the entire battle. Through sheer determination and luck, Jinwoo was able to defeat the Knight Commander with repeated stabs through his helmet slit.

1 The Double Dungeon Raid

Where it All Began

The Double Dungeon is the iconic Solo Leveling raid. It is here that Sung Jinwoo acquires his newfound power, though the events proceeding it are tragic and deadly. As the lowest of the E-Rank hunters at the time, Jinwoo was barely able to fight the weakest of creatures such as goblins. This meant that he needed to hide behind the upper ranked hunters present, and only attend D-Rank dungeons. Given his overwhelming weakness compared to other hunters of even an E-Rank standard, Jinwoo earned the nickname of the “World’s Weakest Hunter”.

The Double Dungeon raid included a few D and C-Ranks, including Lee Joohee, a healer, and Song Chi-Yul, a fire mage. The initial part of the dungeon was not much of an issue, going as most other D-Rank raids would go. However, mid-way through the dungeon, they encounter a pathway towards a hidden door. Through this large gate, they find themselves inside the iconic room filled with statues. After it is clear that they must follow the commandments presented to them, more hunters are killed. This entire sequence sets the precedent for what to expect in Solo Leveling, and it is an unforgettable series of events, crowning it at the top of the raids shown in the anime.

In a world of gifted hunters and monsters, a weak hunter Sung Jin-Woo gains extraordinary powers through a mysterious program, leading him to become one of the strongest hunters and conquering even the strongest dungeons.

Release Date

January 7, 2024

Cast

Aleks Le , Taito Ban

Main Genre

Action

Seasons

1

Studio

A-1 Pictures

Creator

Chugong

Writers

Noboru Kimura

Main Cast

Expand