Finishing Solo Leveling leaves a very specific gap: the weakest hunter working his way to the top, a system handing him quests, and fights drawn so well you want to save them. Our breakdown of Solo Leveling sales in Japan shows how big an audience the series has found since. The following ten manhwa fill that gap, each in its own way: some copy the leveling loop, others the return to the past, still others go for pure power fantasy. Here they are, along with what sets each one apart.
Pick by what you enjoyed most
| If you were hooked by… | Read |
|---|---|
| the system and the leveling loop | Leveling Up With The Gods, Return To Player |
| a second life with all your experience | Swordmaster’s Youngest Son, Descent Of The Demonic Master, Tomb Raider King |
| rising from rock bottom | The Second Coming Of Gluttony |
| fight choreography above all | The God Of High School, Return Of The Blossoming Blade |
| towers, gates and monster waves | The World After The Fall, Solo Necromancy |
The ranking
1. Leveling Up With The Gods
The closest to Solo Leveling of them all. Kim Yuwon is the only survivor of the war between the Inner and Outer Gods that destroyed humanity, and he gets a chance to go back to the moment he first entered the Tower. The Tower gives the story the same escalating structure Solo Leveling has with its gates: clear a floor, get stronger, meet something worse. Ongoing, reader rating 4.3/5.
2. Swordmaster’s Youngest Son
Jin Runcandel is the disappointment of the strongest sword clan in the world. He gets thrown out, makes a pact with the clan’s guardian deity Solderet, breaks the curse that held him back, and gets killed anyway. He wakes up as a baby, before any of it happened. Going back in time is the hook; the clan politics are why people stick around. Ongoing, 4.2/5.
3. Return To Player
Ten years ago, a group of gods turned humanity into players of a sadistic monster-killing game. Sehan Kim has already seen how it ends once (everyone dead except him), and he gets the chance to play the run again. If what you loved most about Solo Leveling was the system and the feeling of a game grafted onto the real world, this is it in its purest form. Ongoing, 4.0/5. Before you dive into a new manhwa, check out the fan-made merch inspired by Solo Leveling at the GamersTogether shop – t-shirts, hoodies and mugs.
4. Descent Of The Demonic Master
Jinho Kang loses his family and his ability to walk in an accident and is reincarnated as the Red Emperor, a demonic master. When that life ends too, he returns to his original one, this time with all his combat skills. The modern world plus supernatural powers, exactly the combination Solo Leveling is built on. Ongoing, 4.0/5.
5. Return Of The Blossoming Blade
Cheongmyeong was the sword master of the Mt. Hua sect until the leader of the Demonic Cult killed him. He gets a second life as a beggar child, finds his sect in ruins and decides to restore it to where it belongs. The setting is Chinese-style martial arts instead of modern dungeons, and the tone is much funnier than Solo Leveling. Ongoing, 4.4/5, the highest rating on this list.
6. Tomb Raider King
Jooheon Suh is betrayed and killed by his own employer after discovering powerful relics. He wakes up fifteen years earlier, right when the “Tombs of the Gods” are starting to appear. Action mixed with properly dark humor, and above all a complete story: it ran from 2019 to 2023 and is finished. 3.9/5.
7. Solo Necromancy
Seongwu is a former special forces soldier who has gone back to university just as the whole world has to choose a supernatural path. He picks necromancy and uses it to protect others, not for his own rise. Military professionalism plus raising the dead is a combination the genre doesn’t use very often. Ongoing, 3.9/5.
8. The World After The Fall
Towers full of monsters appear around the world with a single goal: to wipe out humanity. Jaehwan stays and fights while everyone else runs, and he chooses a fate that may be worse than death. It’s darker than Solo Leveling and far more interested in what that choice costs. Ongoing, 4.1/5.
9. The God Of High School
Mori Jin enters a tournament for the title of strongest fighter. Visually, it’s some of the best-executed action in the genre. The first part, a pure martial arts tournament, is the strongest; later the story expands to cosmic scale, which won’t sit well with everyone. Ongoing, 4.0/5.
10. The Second Coming Of Gluttony
Seol Jihu starts out as a compulsive gambler despised by his own family. That’s exactly why his arc is the most earned of them all. His progression is driven by the “nine eyes” ability in Lost Paradise. One warning: the manhwa departs from the web novel at several points, so don’t read it as a faithful adaptation. Completed, 2019–2020, 4.1/5.
How to choose
Four questions that narrow the list down fast:
- A strong hero from page one, or gradual growth? The return stories (Swordmaster’s Youngest Son, Return To Player) start at full speed. The Second Coming Of Gluttony takes its time.
- Modern world, or pure fantasy? Solo Necromancy and Descent Of The Demonic Master keep one foot in the present; Return Of The Blossoming Blade doesn’t.
- Completed, or ongoing? You can read Tomb Raider King and The Second Coming Of Gluttony in one go, start to finish.
- Art, or story? The God Of High School is here for the fights, The World After The Fall for its weight.
FAQ
Leveling Up With The Gods. Its Tower gives it the same escalating structure Solo Leveling has with its gates, and the protagonist gets a second attempt at a world whose end he has already seen once.
Two titles. Tomb Raider King ran from 2019 to 2023 and The Second Coming Of Gluttony from 2019 to 2020. The rest are still ongoing.
Manhwa is Korean, manga is Japanese. Manhwa is usually published in color and read vertically because it’s made for phones, which is why it fits webtoon platforms so well.
No. Each title stands on its own; Solo Leveling is only here as a reference point for the kind of story you’re looking for.
Mostly, yes. Most of these series have an official English release on webtoon platforms.
Information verified as of 7 September 2026. Ratings reflect reader scores as of that date and change over time, as does publication status. If you want to stay with Solo Leveling itself, we explain what exactly the System is and where Sung Jin-woo’s power comes from. From other anime, we have the eight strongest anime heroes, who can defeat Imu in One Piece, Loki’s powers, what happened to Naruto in Boruto and release dates for Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.