Being strong and having a strong ability are not the same thing in Solo Leveling (IMDb rating as of August 16, 2026: 8.5/10). A Monarch can have insane raw stats, tanky durability, or terrifying speed, but none of that automatically makes their signature power scary.
Some Monarchs win fights just by punching harder than everyone else in the room. Others win because they have one specific move that breaks the rules of the fight entirely, like resurrecting armies out of nowhere or erasing enemies in a single hit. So, let’s rank every monarch by their strongest ability, while ignoring their overall comparison.
10. Legia – Pledge of Trust
Legia from Solo Leveling | Credit: D&C Media
Legia’s Pledge of Trust forces total honesty out of anyone affected. It is an amazing ability, but also useless during actual combat. No good would come if your opponent cannot lie, if you simply cannot hurt them. Compare that to every other Monarch in this ranking, and it is obvious why Legia sits at the bottom of this ranking. He was even captured by the Rulers at one point, something no other Monarch suffered, and his ability had zero part in helping him escape that fate.
9. Yogumunt – Gate Creation
Yogumunt from Solo Leveling | Credit: D&C Media
Yogumunt can summon massive gates out of nowhere, which is impressive in scale but not exactly a combat move. It is more of a utility power, useful for deploying armies or opening pathways, rather than something that directly ends a fight. In fact, his strongest ability is something some of the other monarchs can do as well.
Yogumunt’s real value comes from his status and the fear other Monarchs have for him, not from this specific ability. Since Gate Creation cannot really hurt or stop an enemy, but it can summon an ally, it sits right above Legia.
8. Rakan – Spiritual Body Manifestation
Rakan from Solo Leveling | Credit: D&C Media
Rakan can transform into a giant, mythological wolf using spiritual body manifestation, giving him a serious boost in size and raw power. This form lets him casually dominate Thomas Andre, who is easily the strongest Tank Class Hunter in the anime, which says a lot. The issue is that Rakan’s ability is mostly a strength multiplier and does not come with any tricky mechanics, area control, or long-term advantage. It is a strong brute-force option, but nothing that outsmarts an opponent.
7. Baran – Lightning-Infused Swordsmanship
Baran from Solo Leveling | Credit: D&C Media
Baran fights with a flaming sword paired with lightning magic, and this combo genuinely gave Sung Jinwoo trouble during the tower arc in the anime. Lightning-infused swordsmanship blends offense with a debuff-style shock effect, making it more layered than a simple stat boost.
Still, it is fundamentally a melee-range ability, meaning Baran has to get close to use it effectively. That limitation that does not apply to some other monarchs, plus his infamous defeat against Sung Jinwoo’s weaker version, keeps him from climbing any higher.
6. Querehsha – Parasitic Corpse Reanimation
Querehsha from Solo Leveling | Credit: D&C Media
Querehsha’s power to control corpses as an undead swarm is genuinely disturbing and effective at the same time. It gives her an expendable army she can throw at enemies without risking herself directly, similar in concept to Sung Jinwoo’s own shadow soldiers.
Paired with her toxic venom, this ability makes her a dangerous long-range threat. However, this ability cannot be compared to the soldiers of Shadow Monarch, as these zombie-like beings can, in fact, die.
5. Sillad – Instant-Freeze Ice Magic
Sillad from Solo Leveling | Credit: D&C Media
Sillad’s instant-freeze ice magic can lock enemies solid within seconds, and he backs it up with ice golems and sleep spells for extra utility. This is a genuinely versatile ability, since it controls the battlefield instead of just dealing damage.
He used it to easily outclass Go Gunhee and even pushed Sung Jinwoo to his limits. The only reason it ranks this low is that fully awakened characters can simply shrug off or break free from the freeze.
4. Tarnak – Unbreakable Body
Tarnak from Solo Leveling | Credit: D&C Media
Tarnak’s defining trait is a spiritual manifestation body that conventional attacks basically cannot damage, making him one of the hardest Monarchs to actually put down. This is not a flashy spell, but pure durability is an incredibly strong asset in any fight, since it lets him tank hits that would kill almost anyone else.
He held his own against Andre because of this. His ranking is capped only because he lacks any complex magic to pair with that toughness, meaning, while he can have amazing defense and even attack, he does not have any concept-based magic like others to actually win against the top 3.
3. Ashborn – Shadow Extraction
Ashborn from Solo Leveling | Credit: D&C Media
Shadow Extraction lets Ashborn permanently resurrect defeated enemies as loyal, immortal shadow soldiers, essentially building an army that never runs out and never gets tired. This is something that makes Ashborn stronger the longer the war goes on. Most kills just mean more allies.
Ashborn used it to solo multiple rival Monarchs who tried to betray him, walking away without a scratch. The only reason it is not ranked higher is that it takes time to build up, unlike abilities that end fights instantly.
2. Antares – Breath of Destruction
Antares from Solo Leveling | Credit: D&C Media
The Breath of Destruction is about as close to an instant-kill move as it gets in Solo Leveling. It ignores defenses completely and is powerful enough to erase shadow soldiers from existence entirely, which are said to be unkillable.
Other Monarchs were terrified of Antares specifically because of this attack, often refusing to even approach Sung Jinwoo without Antares nearby for backup. In a clean one-on-one fight, this ability alone made Antares nearly invincible, which is exactly why it lands at number two.
1. Sung Jinwoo – Absolute Shadow Army (Post-Black Heart)
Credit: D&C Media
Credit: A-1 Pictures
Credit: A-1 Pictures
Once Sung Jinwoo fully absorbs Ashborn’s Black Heart, his shadow army stops being just a strong tool and becomes something else entirely. He commands millions of immortal shadow soldiers at once, combined with insane speed, stealth, and instant shadow teleportation.
Unlike Ashborn’s version, Jinwoo pairs this ability with real battle intelligence built from starting out as the weakest Hunter alive. That mix of scale, versatility, and instinct is what makes his post-Black Heart shadow army the single strongest ability of any Monarch, hands down.
Which monarch’s power would you like to have in real life? Let us know in the comments.
Solo Leveling is streaming on Crunchyroll and is available to read on Tapas
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
