Solo Leveling is one of the most popular manhwa to come out in the last decade, featuring a gripping story, an interesting universe, and some of the best fights in Korean serialization. Its recent anime adaption took everything the manhwa does well and improved upon it, adding incredible animation to Jin-Woo's fight sequences. In only 12 episodes, Solo Leveling became one of the most watched anime in it season, and its fights are a big reason why.

While Jin-Woo starts the series as the "weakest Hunter in the world, he doesn't stay that way. Through the mysterious System, Jin-Woo is able to get significantly stronger during the first season of Solo Leveling, taking on bosses he couldn't have dreamed of facing just a few episodes earlier. His newfound strength gives him some awesome abilities, and the animation team behind the first season of Solo Leveling did an excellent job at bringing them to life.

10 Jin-Woo vs. Steel-Fanged Lycans

Jin-Woo's Beginnings as a Hunter

Jin-Woo's fight versus the Steel-Fanged Lycans was one of his first in the series and set the tone for the hunter he would become. He had just entered the dungeon after completing some daily quests and fought some relatively easy goblins. When the Steel-Fang Lycans showed up, things got a bit more serious. The first Lycan came at him before a few more started circling him, creating the most serious situation Jin-Woo had faced up until this point in the series.

Before Jin-Woo's fight against the Steel-Fanged Lycans, he'd been having a relatively easy time leveling up within the system. Even his fight against the Goblins wasn't that difficult. This fight, however, was different. There were real, palpable stakes at play in this fight, giving it much more severity than other moments in the series.

9 Jin-Woo vs. Goblins

Jinwoo's Training is Paying Off

Jin-Woo's career as a Hunter had a terrible beginning. He was known as the "world's weakest Hunter", a title that fit him all too well. His experience in the Double Dungeon was one of his worst, where he met his end and had no chance to change his fate. That all changed when he was chosen by the System, the only way to get stronger as a Hunter in the world of Solo Leveling. When he got the chance to get stronger, Jin-Woo took it. After completing some daily quests to gain experience and level up, Jin-Woo got the chance to get some loot and fight some stronger opponents in an Instant Dungeon.

He goes to the instant dungeon and is immediately assaulted by some Goblins, enemies he handles well. This fight is one of the best in Solo Leveling because it goes to show that Jin-Woo's hard work is finally paying off. He was stuck so unfairly as the world's weakest Hunter. Now, he has a chance to prove himself, and he's not going to let it slip by.

8 Jin-Woo Grinding XP

Jin-Ho Doesn't Need To Worry When Jin-Woo Is Around

When Jinho sees Jin-Woo's skill as an E-Rank Hunter, he can't believe his eyes. Jin-Woo does an excellent job of defending the relatively weak Hunter from both the monsters they have to face in battle and the Lizards that betray them in the B-Rank Dungeon. Once he acknowledges his "Aniki's" skills, he has an offer from Jin-Woo. If Jin-Woo can protect them while the pair head into Dungeons together, Jin-Woo can earn a ton of cash, while Jinho gains the completed Dungeons he needs to become a guild master.

Jin-Woo flies through his enemies in one of the best montages of the series. He's constantly getting stronger, and every Dungeon shows it in magnificent animation. Jinho never gets used to seeing Jin-Woo's skills at work, and it makes for some of the most entertaining fights in the series.

7 Jin-Woo vs. Cerberus

The Hardest Boss Jin-Woo Faced

Solo Leveling is a series that constantly puts its protagonist in harder and harder situations. Jin-Woo's had his back up against the wall so often he might as well get used to it. He's done a great job accepting his new powers/responsibilities when he gets a key to go to the S-Rank Instant Dungeon called the Demon Castle, a Dungeon as vicious and unforgiving as it sounds. He enters an area filled with fire and brimstone before being immediately confronted by the Demon Castle's first guardian, Cerberus.

Jin-Woo's fight against Cerberus is awesome. If he thought his fights were hard before, Cerberus just took him to a whole new level. He's near death multiple times in the fight and is even close to giving up, the first time he's considered quitting since he's reawakening. During this fight, Jin-Woo has to dig deep and discover a new well of confidence within himself. He barely pulls it off, killing the Demon Dog, earning a ton of XP, and living to fight another day.

6 Jin-Woo vs. C-Rank Lizards (Betrayers)

The Lizards Got What Was Coming to Them

Jin-Woo didn't ever want to hurt people. He was happy to get stronger so that he could level up, take on harder dungeons, and earn more money for his family. When he and Jinho were invited to a B-Rank Dungeon with some reputable Hunters, he was excited at the opportunity. Unfortunately for the weakest Hunter in the world, the Lizards that trapped him in the boss room didn't give him any choices. Fellow Hunters betrayed Jin-Woo and Jinho in an attempt to kill them and steal their stuff.

They didn't stand a chance against the newly reawakened Hunter. Jin-Woo was able to kill several men in an instant without even breaking a sweat, highlighting just how much progress he's made. The system told him to defeat the 6 enemies in front of him, referring to the people who just tried to stab them in the back. Jin-Woo destroyed his opponents without a shred of emotion.

5 Jin-Woo vs. Blue Venom Fang Kasaka

The Boss of the Subway Dungeon

Jin-Woo's adventure into the Instant Dungeon was his first Solo Leveling experience. He had only ever gone Hunting with other people, so he wasn't entirely sure how this venture would go. He defeated Goblins, Steel-Fanged Lycans, and a ton of other monsters to try and head to the Boss. He finds the Boss in Blue Venom Fang Kasaka, a monstrous viper with poisonous fangs and a body made of steel. Jin-Woo's knife could do nothing against the beast, so he decided to beat it down with his bare hands.

Jin-Woo's fight against the Boss of the Instant Dungeon was one of his hardest. His main weapon was useless the second he started the fight, forcing him to come up with another option. He relied on his leveled strength stat to grab the snake by the neck and crush it to death, creating one of the coolest visuals in the series and one of the Solo Leveling.

4 Jin-Woo vs. Giant Arachnid Buryura

The Boss of the Insects Dungeon

The Boss of the Insect Dungeon was the hardest enemy Jin-Woo faced up until this point in the series. He didn't expect to face a B-Rank Boss alone, but for some reason, he didn't feel the need to back down in the slightest. Instead, he took the giant spider on alone and told Jinho to stay out of it for his own protection. Like Blue Venom Fang Kasaka, Giant Arachnid Buruya's armor was too strong for Jin-Woo's danger, forcing the Hunter to come up with a new strategy on the fly.

He was able to defeat the massive arachnid by leaping into the air and stabbing it in the eye, adding huge debuffs until Buruya was paralyzed and poisoned. It's a great fight in Solo Leveling because it shows that even when things don't go Jin-Woo's way, he's strong and smart enough to come up with a way to win.

3 Jin-Woo in the Double Dungeon

The Fight That Set Jin-Woo on His Path

The first episode of Solo Leveling set the stage for the entire series, and it's easily one of the darkest moments in the anime. Jin-Woo is the weakest Hunter in the world and can't do anything about it. He heads to a Dungeon with his team to try and earn some money, and finds a mysterious Double Dungeon within the first. The group heads inside the second Dungeon only to find horrifying statues that cut them down in an instant. Jin-Woo decides to sacrifice himself to save his friends and receives a brutal death because of it.

While this isn't so much of a fight as it's a one-sided battle, Jin-Woo's pure anger at his helplessness is the catalyst the System needs to choose him. He's later revived with a second chance at life, gaining the unique ability to get stronger. Without this brutal death, Jin-Woo never would have gotten any stronger.

2 Jin-Woo vs. Kang Taeshik

Jin-Woo Took Out a B-Rank Hunter Easily

Kang Taeshik could have been a much better character in Solo Leveling. Instead, he used his impressive B-Rank abilities as a hitman, taking out anyone he could for the right price. He never expected an E-Rank Hunter like Jin-Woo to be able to match him in power, and he never would have guessed that the weakest Hunter in the world would actually be stronger than him too. Jin-Woo was able to defeat Kang without much effort, thanks to his experience fighting in the Dungeons.

Jin-Woo's fight against Kang highlighted just how far into the abyss Jin-Woo is. He never wanted to kill other people, but the world and the System itself force him to, turning him into a cold, ruthless killer. He doesn't even need to get angry to kill Kang, and stabs him in the chest emotionlessly.

1 Jin-Woo vs. Igris

Jinwoo's First Ever Shadow

Jin-Woo's fight against Igris is as good as Solo Leveling gets. Blood-Red Commander Igris is one of the coolest-looking characters in the series, with blood-red armor covering every inch of his body. He has a long, flowing red mane to match his red weapons as well, making him look just as vicious as he really is. When Jin-Woo finds him, he's up against the strongest opponent he's faced so far. Igris begins the fight by flying at Jin-Woo at lightning speed, giving the Reawakened Hunter almost no time to react.

He summons the willpower to stab through his opponent, killing him and reclaiming his soul as a Shadow to fight in his army. The animation in this fight is amazing, the choreography is even better, and Jin-Woo's resolve is the best part of it all.