The best hunters in Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive as of November 2026 are Amamiya Mirei, Choi Jong-In and Esil Radiru, with Alicia Blanche, Cha Hae-In, Lee Bora, Lim Tae-Gyu, Baek Yoonho and Nam Chae-Young close behind. This tier list ranks the recruitable roster on what they add next to Sung Jinwoo, who does most of the damage in any team, and it notes every balance patch that has moved the picture since launch.
We built it from Netmarble's own patch notes and developer notes, the role-based tier list published by All Things How, Destructoid's roster table of roles and elements, and the build guides at Alcasthq, all checked in November 2026.
Hunter Tier List at a Glance (November 2026)
The table below is the short version. Tiers start from the All Things How ranking published on 2 January 2026, which judged hunters on PvE performance, upgrade value and team flexibility, and we have kept those placements while flagging the hunters Netmarble has buffed or nerfed since. Roles and elements come from Destructoid's roster table.
| Tier | Hunter | Element / Role | Patch notes since January 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Amamiya Mirei | Wind / Assassin | Damage raised in March, skills buffed in June |
| S | Choi Jong-In | Fire / Mage | Damage raised in March |
| S | Esil Radiru | Fire / Archer | Overdrive damage lowered, exclusive weapon buffed in March |
| A | Alicia Blanche | Aqua / Mage | Damage raised in March, skills buffed in June |
| A | Cha Hae-In | Light / Fighter | Damage raised in March |
| A | Lee Bora | Dark / Mage | Skills buffed in June |
| A | Lim Tae-Gyu | Dark / Archer | No balance change listed |
| A | Baek Yoonho | Light / Fighter | No balance change listed |
| A | Nam Chae-Young | Aqua / Archer | Bug fixes only |
| B | Emma Laurent, Han Song-Yi, Kang Taeshik, Kim Chul, Park Heejin, Song Chiyul | Mixed | No balance change listed |
| C | Lee Joohee, Min Byung-Gu | Aqua / Support, Light / Support | Healing raised in March |
| C | Seo Jiwoo, Yoo Jinho | Aqua / Tank, Light / Tank | No balance change listed |
| Unranked | Woo Jinchul, Goto Ryuji, Tawata Kanae | Woo Jinchul: Wind / Fighter | Goto and Tawata are paid DLC added in June |
How the Ranking Works (and Why Jinwoo Is Not on It)
Sung Jinwoo is your main character and your main damage dealer, so he is never ranked against the hunters. What the list measures is how much each hunter improves a run alongside him. Three things matter more than raw numbers: whether the hunter breaks enemy guards quickly, whether they cover an element your team is missing, and whether their support skill fires often enough in your playstyle to matter.
That last point is easy to overlook. Alcasthq's build guides explain that Jinwoo takes three recruited hunters into most missions, and each one briefly appears to perform a Support Skill when its trigger condition is met, at most once every 45 seconds. A hunter whose trigger lines up with what you already do (using QTE skills, applying elemental reactions, dropping below half HP) will contribute far more than one whose condition you rarely meet.
Element coverage is the other reason a mid-tier hunter can earn a slot. The game uses Fire, Aqua, Wind, Light and Dark, and bosses lean toward specific weaknesses, so a team with one strong option per element clears more content than three hunters of the same type.
S Tier: Mirei, Choi Jong-In and Esil Radiru
Amamiya Mirei is the most consistent pick at the top. All four Jinwoo build guides on Alcasthq (Ruler, Duelist, Assassin and Elementalist) list her as a recommended support, because her support skill deals heavy damage to the target whenever you use Overdrive or apply an elemental reaction, both things every build does constantly. Netmarble raised her overall damage in the March 2026 balance pass and buffed some of her skills again in June.
Choi Jong-In is the Fire mage the developers themselves used as an example when they introduced the Overdrive system: after applying Burn a set number of times he calls down meteors around him. All Things How ranks him S for very high base Attack and large Fire area damage, and the March patch increased his damage further.
Esil Radiru is the interesting case. She was strong enough at launch that Netmarble's March developer note singled her out, lowering her Overdrive damage and fixing gauge errors while buffing her exclusive weapon. She still shreds enemy guards quickly and remains the go-to Fire breaker, but the gap between her and the A tier is smaller than it was in January.
A Tier: Strong Picks That Fill Gaps
These six hunters can rival the S tier once invested in, and the right one for you depends on what your roster lacks.
- Alicia Blanche (Aqua mage): one of the hardest-hitting Aqua attackers, fragile but strong against bosses that can be frozen. She received damage increases in March and skill buffs in June, which makes her the A-tier hunter most likely to be underrated by older lists.
- Cha Hae-In (Light fighter): crit-focused melee damage. Her damage was raised in March, and the 4 November 2026 patch fixed an issue where she could not use skills after an Extreme Evasion, which hurt her in practice.
- Lee Bora (Dark mage): a damage and support hybrid with off-field summons, buffed in June 2026.
- Lim Tae-Gyu (Dark archer): a ranged breaker who controls space with damaging zones.
- Baek Yoonho (Light fighter): a frontliner who breaks guards reliably, with lower personal damage.
- Nam Chae-Young (Aqua archer): beginner-friendly, and her support skill damages and freezes the target when you use a QTE skill or stagger enemies, which is why three of the four Alcasthq builds slot her.
If you are recruiting from scratch, our full list of every hunter and how to unlock them shows which of these arrive through the story and which you have to negotiate for.
Getting A-tier hunters early is mostly a question of currency. Recruitment runs on Hunt Coins spent in a negotiation: NoobFeed's recruitment guide explains that bigger offers raise the success chance without making it certain, and a failed bid only refunds part of what you put in. Netmarble raised Hunt Coin rewards from Chapter 1 to 10 Gates and Dungeon Breaks in November 2025 and again in the March 2026 update. It has also handed out Hunter Reports as gifts, such as the five mailed to every player alongside the December 2025 winter DLC so they could recruit Mirei. Our guide to Hunter Reports and where to get them explains the other sources.
B and C Tier: Specialists and Early Fillers
B-tier hunters are perfectly usable through the story; they simply scale worse or need stronger teammates. Emma Laurent is a defensive Fire tank with team buffs, Han Song-Yi adds Poison damage on an Aqua assassin, Kang Taeshik deals strong Bleed damage from behind but is fragile late, Kim Chul tanks and buffs Attack with very little damage of his own, Park Heejin opens fights with big skills but suffers on long cooldowns, and Song Chiyul is a Fire area specialist who struggles on single bosses.
The C tier holds the free story hunters and the pure healers. Lee Joohee and Min Byung-Gu both had their healing increased in March 2026, and Min Byung-Gu's support skill restores HP and Power Gauge when you drop below half health or get immobilized, which is why Alcasthq still pairs him with its Duelist build. Seo Jiwoo and Yoo Jinho are tanks you get early and can retire once better frontliners join.
Do not read a low letter as "never use." A B-tier hunter of the element a boss is weak to will often beat an S-tier hunter of the wrong element, and a healer whose support skill keeps Jinwoo alive through a hard boss phase is worth more than a few percent of extra damage. The sensible approach is to keep lower-tier hunters lightly upgraded for specific jobs and pour your best materials into the two or three anchors you actually play with every day.
Woo Jinchul, a Wind fighter, does not appear in the January ranking, and we found no recent source that rates him, so we have left him unranked rather than guess.
The DLC Hunters: Goto Ryuji and Tawata Kanae
Goto Ryuji and Tawata Kanae joined in June 2026 through the paid Jeju Island Raid Special Pack, each with an exclusive weapon (Distorted Dreams for Goto, The Path a Hero Must Take for Tawata). Because they arrived after most tier lists were written, there is no settled ranking for them yet.
What the patch notes do tell us: the 26 June 2026 patch added buff effects to both hunters' QTE skills and fixed an error with Goto's Ultimate Skill charge speed, and later patches mostly fixed animation and camera issues. The same June update also added both of them to the in-game Hunter Archive. Treat them as optional extras rather than must-buys for clearing content.
How Balance Patches Move the List
Netmarble has said openly that it does not want one fixed meta. Its March 2026 developer note called it regrettable that certain hunters were being picked purely for efficiency, and promised to tone down overpowered abilities while buffing sidelined hunters. That is exactly what happened: Esil came down, and Choi Jong-In, Cha Hae-In, Mirei, Alicia, Lee Joohee and Min Byung-Gu went up.
The practical lesson is to invest in two or three anchors you enjoy rather than chasing whoever tops a list this month. Upgrades and gear carry over when the meta shifts, and good artifact sets for your hunters often matter more than the tier letter. Pair that with a solid Jinwoo build, since he is the one doing most of the work.
Skipping the Recruitment Grind
Recruiting and leveling a full roster takes a lot of Hunt Coins and farming. If you would rather start with the team already built, the store's Complete Save includes a large hunter roster at level 75, a large stock of Tier 10 and Tier 11 artifacts at +5, all three currencies at 999,999,999 and the story completed through Chapter 11.
It is a modded save file for PS5 and PC only, so it will not work on Xbox, and you must already own the game. The Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive hub also lists a Starter Save if you would rather play the story yourself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the best hunter in Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive?
Amamiya Mirei is the safest single pick as of November 2026: she is S tier on the role-based list and every Alcasthq Jinwoo build uses her as a support. Choi Jong-In and Esil Radiru are the strongest Fire options.
Who is the best healer?
The two supports are Lee Joohee and Min Byung-Gu, both with healing buffed in March 2026. Lee Joohee's support skill heals you and knocks enemies back when your HP drops below half, and Min Byung-Gu also restores your Power Gauge.
What is the best hunter team?
A common setup is Mirei plus Nam Chae-Young plus a healer, which Alcasthq recommends for its Ruler and Assassin builds. Swap in Park Heejin and Cha Hae-In for an Elementalist Jinwoo.
How many hunters are in the game?
Destructoid's roster lists 20 recruitable hunters, and the June 2026 paid DLC added Goto Ryuji and Tawata Kanae, for 22 as of November 2026.
Are the DLC hunters worth buying?
They are optional. No content requires them, and there is no reliable ranking for them yet. Buy the pack if you like their style or want the Razor Frost weapon for Jinwoo.
Does this tier list apply to the mobile Solo Leveling: Arise?
No. The mobile gacha game has different hunters, stats and balance, so use a tier list written for that game instead.