An Adaptation from the Web Novel “Only I Level Up“, Solo Leveling covers the genre of Action, Adventure, and Fantasy, written by Chu-gong and published by D&C Media.
Later this Web Novel was adapted into a Webtoon series and was illustrated by Dubu from Redice Studio which gained massive popularity in the Webtoon Community.
With unique character design and an artistic series, Solo Leveling enthrall its reader with its Protagonist Sung Jin-Woo, and his journey.
He is deemed as the World’s Weakest hunter of E-rank class and grows from being looked down upon by almost everyone to being the Strongest Hunter in the World.
In the Web Novel, the protagonist, Sung Jin-Woo was chosen by the System to become the next Shadow Monarch. Monarchs were the powerful monsters of calamity and also the archnemesis of the Rulers who wanted to invade Earth as their new home ground.
Sung Jin-woo, as a player, when leveling up started acquiring different sets of skills and abilities. One of his unique skills is called Shadow Extraction, this skill enables him to extract the mana out of anybody without life and turn them into a shadow soldier.
As his journey continues as a player and a Hunter Sun Jin-Woo are seen acquiring a lot of shadow soldiers and finally makes an Army of shadows fight for him.
In this post, we are going to talk about the Top 20 Strongest Shadows of Sung Jin-Woo and also ranked them according to their ranking and power.
Table of Contents
Top 20 Strongest Shadows of Sung Jin-Woo in Solo LevelingÂ
20. Shadow Ants (Rank- Normal Grade)
During the Jeju Island arc, each one of these ants was ranked as nearly an A-Grade monster. These ants were very durable, had wings, and possessed enhanced speed and strength.
On top of this, they got stronger after Sung Jin-Woo turned them into their shadows. Their most powerful strength is their numbers, as they could easily use them to gain an advantage over stronger opponents.
19. Shadow Soldiers (Rank- Normal Grade)
These were among the first infantry soldiers that Sung Jin-Woo had used. During the Red Gate arc and the initial arcs, these were his most trusted soldiers and they took care of most lower-level monsters.
Yet again, this specific shadow unit has several number advantages, and Sung Jin-Woo had almost 1000 normal shadow soldiers by the end of the manga. Although they did get less relevance at the end of the series, they were the original shadows of Sung.
18. Shadow Ice Boars (Rank- Normal Grade)
When Sung Jin-Woo used Igris and the rest of his shadows to fight against the Ice Boars, he instantly turned them into shadows. On top of turning the leader of Ice Boars into a summon, he also turned all the normal ice boars into shadows.
The best part about these ice boars is that they are more durable than other shadows. Moreover, these are very ferocious beasts with a lot of attack prowess.
17. Shadow Knights (Rank- Normal Grade)
Although these were mostly soldiers from his infantry, this is slightly different. These soldiers are way better and upgraded versions of the initial shadows of Sung Jin-Woo.
These shadows had more attack, speed and durability stats and came in huge numbers. By the end of the series, we were also able to see their full potential, and they are arguably the best foot soldiers in Sung Jin-Woo’s shadow army.
16. Shadow Infantry (Rank- Normal Grade)
These are some of the most basic infantry soldiers in the Shadow Monarch army. They generally do not have any names and are almost equivalent to C-Rank Hunters or Below.
Regardless of their power level, they are very handy to use in battle. The infantry army could be used as a horde of shadows for attacking or scouting, which makes this one of the strongest Shadows of Sung Jin-Woo in Solo Leveling.
15. Shadow High Orcs ( Rank- TBD) 
On the 14th rank, we have the Shadow High Orc which was first introduced in chapter 73 of the series, or the Hunter Guild Gate Arc.
These High Orcs were under the command of Kargalgan who was massacred by Sung Jin-Woo and later used his skill of Shadow Extraction and added them to his shadow army along with Kargalgan.
14. Shadow Dragons (Rank- TBD)
Sung Jin-Woo created many other Shadow Dragons after fighting against the army of Antares and Tarnak. He cleverly absorbed most of their armies to create more powerful shadows for him.
Despite not seeing these shadows in action much, we know that the normal form of these Dragons was also too powerful. Sung Jin-Woo further strengthened these dragons by turning them into his shadow army.
13. Tank (Rank- Knight) 
Tank was originally the boss of the Ice bears who was introduced in the Red Gate Arc of the series.
After entering the C- rank dungeon, Sung Jin-Woo and four others were forced to form a party since the raid leader Kim Chul excluded anyone lower than the C-class rank. Later in this arc, we can see Jin-Woo attacking the Ice bear’s Home and decimating them.
Tank after being defeated by Sung Jin-Woo was added to the shadow army. Since tank possessed great physical strength, endurance, and enhanced senses he is ranked 13th on the list.
12. Kaisel (Rank- Knight) 
Kaisel was a Wyvern by nature, who possesses enhanced strength and sense and also can fly. He was also the mount for the Demon king Baran from the Demon Castle who later was eliminated by Iron.
Using his shadow extraction skill, Sung Jin-Woo turned him into a shadow soldier named Kaisel. After the Shadow extraction, his grading was that of a Knight. Hence, he ranks 12th on the list.
11. Jima (Rank- Elite Knight) 
Origin of a Naga, this magical beast resembles a hybrid of a human and a sea serpent. Expertise in both melee and magic attacks, this magical beast is capable of giving Hunters a hard time.
During the first Dungeon raid of the Ahjin guild, Sung Jin-Woo, and Yoo Jin-Ho encounters this magical beast who acts as the boss for their dungeon raid.
Jima also possessed enhanced strength and can also grow in size using mana. With his enhanced strength, Jima can even skewer a giant and send it flying; thus he ranks 11th on the list.
10. Shadow Giants (Rank- Elite Knight)
Originally appearing in Chapter 135, they were a strong opponent for the Hunters in Osaka. They have plagued Japan and destroyed the city, even killing some S-rank hunters.
They also have a plus point of attacking in numbers, which makes their power deadly. Even a single Giant, can rival Jiwa’s power among the strongest Shadows of Sung Jin-Woo in Solo Leveling.
9. Iron (Rank- Elite Knight) 
Iron was originally an A-rank hunter named Kimchul before Sung Jin-Woo turned him into a shadow soldier. After he was extracted his full plate armor, became even larger.
He can even taunt enemies using his skill. Iron could easily defeat an Ice bear boss of B-rank, and so he ranked 9th.
8. Kamish(Rank – TBD)
Kamish was the boss of the first S-rank Gate and was a very powerful Dragon. It had successfully managed to kill many S-Rank Hunters easily and create a huge destruction in its wake.
This incident was also regarded as Humanity’s greatest Calamity due to the destruction caused. Later after his death, Jin Woo revived Kamish as a shadow, and the Dragon was extremely loyal to Jin Woo.
But, this joy was short-lived as the Dragon started to crumble away because of being dead for 8 years. Still, it was one of the strongest Shadows of Sung Jin-Woo in Solo Leveling.
7. Ant Queen(Rank – Commander)
Ant Queen is a powerful monster, capable of holding against multiple S-Rank Hunters on its own. Even though it has less power than Ant King, its dominion over the Ants is far more than the King.
Sung Jin-Woo had brought it back as a Shadow after it died. Upon resurrection, it was immediately spawned as a General/ Commander rank Shadow. Along with this, the Ant Queen also took back its control of the Ants, and the army of Ants under Jin-Woo became weak.
He later had to terminate this Shadow, after Beru disclosed that the Queen is only useful for reproduction and controlling the ants. Even if we had not seen it in action, we can get a rough idea of its power level from its to summon rank alone.
6. Tusk (Rank- Commander) 
Tusk was originally a High Orc shaman named Kargalgan and was the former boss of the Hunter Guild Dungeon who led a horde of High Orcs.
He was an Elite Knight Shaman when he was extracted by Sung Jin-Woo and later became a Commander after he leveled up.
His powers and spells became stronger with levels and later after Sung Jin-Woo defeated the Shadow Monarch, he became even stronger and also gained the ability to talk.
Tusk possessed magic skills like Gravity magic, Telepathy Negotiation magic, and communication. From gaining a level, Tusk can grow even stronger, thus he is ranked 6th on the list.
5. Min Byung-Gyu(Rank – TBD)
Min Byung-Gyu was initially an S-rank Healer from Korea who appeared in Jeju Island Arc. He joined into the party and was very useful because of his healing attributes.
Their group had successfully killed the Ant Queen, but this led to the Ant King killing them. He died in this battle but was later resurrected by Jin Woo as a Shadow to heal Cha Hae-In.
This was only for a short time, as Jin Woo only wanted to heal Cha Hae-In. Regardless of this, he is one of the strongest Shadows of Sung Jin-Woo in Solo Leveling, due to his highly-ranked healing spells and attributes.
4. Greed (Rank – Commander) 
Greed was originally an S-ranked Hunter, namely Hwang Dong-Su who was crushed and was later turned into a shadow soldier by Sung Jin-Woo. After
after extraction, Greed was graded as a Commander rank and could also conversate with Jin-Woo. As seen in the series, only commander grade or higher can conversate. Since he was graded as a Commander after extraction, he ranks 4 on the list.
3. Irgis (Rank- Marshal) 
The Blood Red Commander Irgis or Irgis was one of the first shadows Sung Jin-Woo acquired while doing his Job Change Quest. He was first extracted as a Knight grade and later in the story, Igris developed as a shadow soldier and became a Marshal grade.
Igris possesses abilities like extreme speed and strength. He could also use skills like Dominator’s touch giving him the ability to manipulate objects by hand. Thus, being a Marshal grade, he ranks 3rd on our list.
2. Beru (Rank- Marshal) 
Beru was originally an Ant-king, a magical beast of S-grade that appeared during the 4th Jeju island reclamation raid. He was later eliminated by Sung Jin-Woo and extracted as Commander grade and was the first one to display the ability to communicate with Jin-Woo.
He was very agile and possessed abilities like healing and paralysis poison. Beru also has special abilities like Gluttony which made him gain the skills and abilities of those who he devours.
He can even manipulate his size and appearance, giving him enhanced strength abilities while sacrificing his agility. Overall, Beru is a very strong shadow soldier as compared to his peers and so he ranks 2nd on our list.
Strongest Shadows of Sung Jin-Woo in Solo Leveling –
 1. Bellion (Rank- Grand Marshal)Â
Bellion was originally the servant of the shadow monarch, Ashborn before he died. As seen in the Web Novel, Bellion possessed two pairs of wings which state that he is a very powerful being, as powerful rulers had three pairs of wings.
He can be seen wearing a full set of armor and holds a unique sword, shaped like a centipede with parts connected which can also be used as a whip.
When Bellion and Beru dueled each other, Beru’s direct hit couldn’t even faze this beast. No wonder Bellion is the Strongest Shadow of Sung Jin-Woo and so he ranks number 1 on our list.
This concludes our Ranking for the Top 20 Strongest Shadows of Sung Jin-Woo. The following ranking has been done through research and speculations and also referring to the Web Novel. Fans can also read the Web Novel using the platform WebNovel and the latest Webtoon series from w3 or Webtoon.
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Eswar Keshav is an ardent anime fan for more than a decade. Along with this, he also has been following anime and manga updates for years. He is also enthusiastic and passionate when it comes to writing about his favorite things. Combining his love for writing and his love for anime and manga, his articles speak of his love for the genre.
