Solo Leveling Episode 11 Review

Gearing Up in the Quest Change Dungeon

Solo Leveling Episode 11 was one of the better episodes of the series. I think it had the most action of any episode, so far. However, there still were some parts I could have done without (the Jinho stuff).

The big thing that came out of the first half of the episode was that Jinwoo got some gear. He’s gotten weapons and other items from monster drops before. But, he’s never received wearable gear until now. The knights he fought at the start of the episode dropped armor.

Why does this matter? Well, a lot of the other Hunters we’ve seen wear armor. I guess, there are plenty of low-ranked Hunters who don’t. And, that’s likely because E and D-Rank Hunters can’t afford armor. But, all the top Hunters use it — as does anyone else who can afford it (Jinho).

The obvious benefit of wearing armor is that it buffs Jinwoo’s stats. Specifically, the armor he gets at the start of the episode buffs his defense stats. But, we can assume there are a lot of different kinds of armor that boost different stats. I’m sure some pieces also come with skills.

Unfortunately, there’s one issue I have with Jinwoo’s armor acquisition. The armor he puts in is invisible. I assume he can toggle that on and off. As things stand now, though, he has the armor’s visibility toggled off. That’s bad because he looks stupid without armor.

Does anyone else have an issue with Jinwoo’s appearance? Or, is it just me? Something about him running around dungeons in jeans and a hoodie bothers me. He’s fighting monsters and knights and that’s what he’s wearing. I’d much rather see him actually wear some armor or a different outfit of some kind.

Knight Commander Igris the Bloodred

Most of this week’s episode was dedicated to Jinwoo’s fight against Igris the Bloodred. Igris is one of the strongest enemies Jinwoo has gone up against, so far. According to Jinwoo’s initial estimations, Igris is up there with the God Statue.

Now, are Igris and the God Statue actually equal in terms of power? I have to assume that the God Statue is more powerful. But, from what we’ve seen, Igris looks stronger. Based on Igris’s speed and power, I’d say he looks way stronger. From a story perspective, though, he’s probably not.

Considering that Jinwoo defeated Igris, it might be easy to assume he and Igris were on the same level. That’s not the case — we know this thanks to the simple fact that Igris’s name was red. The color of enemy names tells us how strong they are compared to Jinwoo.

We got an explanation of this earlier in the series. But, I’ll go over it again here, just in case. Jinwoo can’t see how objectively strong a particular enemy is. He can only see how strong they are in relation to himself. This means that the same enemy’s name can be multiple different colors.

White enemies are the weakest. These are enemies that are weaker than or on par with Jinwoo (like the knights from this episode). Orange enemies are stronger than Jinwoo (like the Kasaka from Episode 4). And, red enemies are much stronger than Jinwoo (like the Cerberus from Episode 7).

With the defeat of Igris, that’s two red enemies Jinwoo defeated. So, it’s by no means impossible. However, it’s also not normal. He almost died in both cases. The only reason he defeated Igris here is that he got a surprise attack in. That wasn’t very honorable.

Slippery Teleportation Stones

In my review of Episode 9, I mentioned a complaint I’d seen about Solo Leveling from manga (manhwa) readers. Their complaint is that the story is “straightforward.” It doesn’t do anything particularly unique. It follows a fairly predictable storyline and hits all the major beats you’d expect.

Episode 11 illustrated that the series might end up being pretty repetitive, too. At the end of this episode, Jinwoo is about to use a teleportation stone to flee a fight. But, just before he can use it, it gets knocked out of his hand, leaving him stranded.

We’ve actually seen this same exact development before. This is exactly what happened during the fight against the Cerberus. Jinwoo was going to flee with a teleportation stone, but it got knocked out of his hand. The author couldn’t even come up with a new way to add suspense.

To be fair, there’s a very slight difference between these two situations. With the Cerberus fight, Jinwoo didn’t need the teleportation stone. Killing the Cerberus was an option — and it’s what he ended up doing. However, in this situation with the knights, fleeing appears to be the only option.

According to the notification Jinwoo received, he needs to survive for as long as possible. There’s no set end to this battle. The knights will continue to spawn until Jinwoo either dies or flees. So, he’s going to need to get that teleportation stone back at some point.

Even with that difference, though, I’m not impressed by the same setup being used again. Dropping the teleportation stone the first time against the Cerberus is fine. Dropping it a second time? That’s no longer bad luck. Jinwoo needs to start putting his stat points into grip strength. This better not happen a third time.

Final Thoughts

What do you think about Solo Leveling Episode 11? Would you prefer if Jinwoo’s armor was visible, or do you like his jeans and hoodie look? Who do you think is stronger, Igris or the God Statue? And, how many more times do you predict Jinwoo will drop a teleportation stone?

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My review of Episode 12 is available now.