Best Stranger Things Season 4 characters

Max wins 68% of her duels and tops the Stranger Things Season 4 ranking ahead of Steve.

Max holds the crown with 1442 ELO points, pulling 101 points clear of Steve in second place. That gap marks the sharpest divide in the entire ranking, underlining the community's strong preference for Max over every other character. Dustin follows in third with 1319 points, while Eleven lands at fourth with 1300 points despite her central role in the plot. Nancy rounds out the top five with 1285 points and a 53% win rate across 542 duels. At the bottom, Karen and Argyle struggle to gain traction, with Argyle closing the ranking at 957 ELO points. The low scores suggest these characters failed to resonate with voters during Season 4, lacking the depth or screen time that elevates fan favorites.

This ranking draws on 4218 duels submitted by 102 players across 16 contenders, last updated on 11 October 2026. The sample size reflects a dedicated fanbase willing to weigh the merits of each character head to head. If you have your own take on who deserves the top spot in Hawkins, cast your vote and shift the standings.

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 →