Best Death Note characters

118 ELO points separate L from Light Yagami at the top of the Death Note ranking, after 2525 duels.

L dominates the podium with 1465 ELO points and an 80% win rate across 239 duels, establishing a commanding lead over his intellectual rival Light Yagami at 1347 points. The gap between ranks 1 and 2 is the sharpest in the ranking, reflecting the fanbase's clear preference for the enigmatic detective over the series' antihero protagonist. Ryuk claims third place with 1257 points, followed by Near at 1234 and Misa Amane at 1212. At the bottom, Watari lands at rank 10 with 1030 ELO points and a 34% win rate, while Naomi Misora sits just above at 1067 points. The lower positions reveal how secondary characters struggle to match the appeal of the central cast, though Rem at rank 8 maintains more competitive ground with 1127 points.

This ranking draws from 2525 duels contributed by 112 players across 10 contenders, updated on 11 October 2026. The volume of head-to-head matchups has produced a hierarchy that mirrors the narrative weight each character carries in the series, with the L versus Light dynamic still driving engagement years after the manga's conclusion. VAINKEURZ invites Death Note fans to cast their votes and shape the ranking through direct comparisons, adding their voice to the ongoing debate over which character left the strongest mark on the story.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →