The popularity of Demon Slayer is an undeniable fact. The manga and the demon anime show have, in a very short time and with relatively little content (when compared to the “Big Four” anime series, for example), achieved a lot and true anime fans are commonly naming Demon Slayer as one of the best manga and anime series of the modern era.
In order to honor that legacy, here is a list of the 25 strongest Demon Slayer characters that have appeared in the manga (and/or anime). The characters will be taken from different narrative arcs. You’ll find out some basic information about them, from which you will be able to deduce why we have positioned them as we have on our list.
Strongest Demon Slayer Characters
The list is going to include a total of 25 characters. They are going to be ranked from 25th to 1st place, with the 25th being the weakest on this list, and the 1st one being the strongest.
25. Kaigaku
As a demon, Kaigaku’s Thunder Breathing techniques have been strengthened and improved. However, he was still attuned to his newfound demon abilities at the time of his death. Yushiro said that if only a year of training and Kaigaku’s strength would knock Zenitsu down on the spot.
Thunder Breathing is a Breathing style that Kaigaku learned from his teacher. Although he was unable to master the first style, he was able to learn the other five styles using Thunder Breathing.
24. Enmu
As the Lower Moon 1, Enmu is the strongest Lower Moon and most closely matches the strength of the upper ranks. After receiving more blood from Muzan, his powers and skills continued to improve. However, as evident from his loss to Tanjiro and Inosuke, he is nowhere near as strong as the devils of the upper echelons.
Like all demons, Enmu has strong regenerative abilities. Since he is one of the Lower Moons, his self-healing was probably above average for normal demons. By mixing his blood with the ink on train tickets, Enmu can put anyone who held them in their hand to sleep, making them vulnerable to his powers. Enmu is able to fuse with large, inanimate objects. He has been able to transform his body into that of a train.
23. Mitsuri Kanroji
Mitsuri has a special muscle mass, the density of which is eight times that of an ordinary person. At the same time, her limbs are quite thin, but they have unsurpassed strength. She is hardy, so she is able to withstand the attacks of the demons of the Higher Moons. To keep fit, Mitsuri eats the same food as three sumo wrestlers.
Kanroji’s sword is very thin and flexible. Due to the difficulty of wielding this sword, only she can use it. She possesses incredibly fast techniques thanks to the flexibility of her blade, the softness of her muscles, and the flexibility of her joints. According to the author, her techniques are faster than those of the Sound Hashira.
In her battle against the Upper Moon 4, she was able to outrun his normal attacks, forcing the High Moon to begin using the Art of Demon Blood. After awakening the mark of the demon slayer, its speed increases even more.
However, she is not as fast as some of her fellow Hashira, as shown in the battle against Muzan, where she struggled to keep up with the others, forcing her to rely on luck and dodge instinct. This was unsuccessful, as the young lady was subjected to multiple attacks, which completely forced her out of the battle.
22. Shinobu Kocho
Despite being the only Hashira that cannot decapitate a demon, her attacks are powerful and deadly as she sealed Doma, the Upper Moon 2, onto the wall with one blow. Insect Breathing is an offshoot of Flower Breathing, which itself is an offshoot of Water Breathing. Using it, she coats her weapon with wisteria poison, which is lethal to demons.
21. Kanao Tsuyuri
Kanao possesses extremely keen eyesight, being capable of accurately predicting the next attacks and movements of the enemy, simply by observing the subtlest displacements of his muscles, joints, and sclera of the eyes. This allows her to make effective counterattacks and dodges.
The Upper Moon 2, Doma, complements this feat and notes that thanks to this skill, Kanao can be more skillful than Shinobu. Kanao has complete control over her physical functions. During the battle with Doma, she manages to completely stop breathing in order to avoid the cold fog created by Doma.
This allows her to engage in close combat against him without destroying her lungs. Kanao uses Flower Breathing. This Breathing was most likely taught to her by Kanae Kocho, who also used this Breathing.
20. Inosuke Hashibara
Growing up in the mountains, Inosuke developed an incredible sense of touch. He can feel small vibrations in the air. Using this ability, he can tell if anyone is watching him, especially if they have bad intentions. He can even find the exact location they’re looking at, which gives him an advantage in combat.
Inosuke is a very good fighter as he is able to match Tanjiro and even outdo him with his flexibility and unconventional fighting style that resembles “four legs of a beast” because of the way whose punches come from such a low angle while being very fierce and incorporating other unorthodox moves, making him unpredictable and vicious.
19. Zenitsu Agatsuma
Zenitsu has an overdeveloped hearing, which allows him to detect danger with even the weakest sounds. He is also able to hear people’s inner thoughts if he uses his senses to the fullest. He can use this gift to help him locate demons by comparing the sounds made by a demon and those made by a human.
Zenitsu is more powerful when he sleeps. When his life is in danger, the fear he feels goes beyond the limits that his body can bear and causes him to pass out, which makes him reach his true potential; when Zenitsu is asleep, he wields the sword at a high level and this only based on his instincts.
However, as the story continues, he hones his skills and courage and relies less and less on this ability, starting to show the same talents with awareness.
18. Obanai Iguro
As one of the Hashira, he is one of the most powerful swordsmen in the entire organization. Obanai ponders every step he takes and tries not to panic in any situation. He starts an attack when he recognizes what his opponent is capable of. Such a lead often allows him to win.
Iguro is able to bend his sword at all possible angles, although his sword is exactly the same as that of other people. His sword can slide into small slits like a snake.
Obanai, who was always partially blind in his right eye, developed a fighting technique using his Kaburamaru snake. Kaburamaru is able to read enemy attacks and transmit this information to Obanai. This technique is shown in full when Obanai is completely blind due to Muzan, but can still fight as if nothing had happened.
17. Tengen Uzui
He uses the Sound Breathing style, as well as two short blades linked by an iron chain. In battle, he often uses special bombs that can cause serious damage to the demon. He strikes when he hears a gap in the “song”. Also, Tengen can stop his heart for a while, as he did against Gyutaro, in order to stop the circulation of the poison.
Sound Breathing is a Breathing style that only Tengen uses. Sound Breathing is an offshoot of Thunder Breathing. With it, the slayer can read his opponent’s movements and deconstruct them into sounds.
By analyzing what he has heard, he can understand the rhythm of the opponent’s movement and use this information for his own purposes. For example, to strike at a better time when the enemy opened up.
16. Gyutaro
As a human, he learned to use the tame braid while playing with a child as a child in the lower caste of the Red Light District. His skills improved significantly when he started using this skill as a debt collector. Already able to move his body fast enough to catch the trained samurai off guard and kill him.
As a true holder of the position of the Upper Moon 6 and receiving more blood from Muzan, Gyutaro was an incredibly powerful demon as he himself possessed the necessary strength, experience and skills to easily fight both Tengen and Tanjiro, a very talented fighter and crushes both of them in battle.
15. Gyokko
Gyokko can use his pot to teleport to any location to avoid attacks. Although he will no longer be able to do this if the pot is destroyed. After destroying the pot, Gyokko emerges from it in his “true form”.
His body is covered with scales that serve him as armor, because they are much harder than the diamonds that were also inside his pot. Only three people have seen Gyokko with this appearance, since in this state everything he touches with his hands turns into a cute little fish.
14. Nakime Otokawa
Although Nakime’s Demon Blood Art was not as martial as the rest of the Upper Moons, her ability was as strong, if not more, than that of her comrades in terms of utility and strength, as she alone could control and manipulate an entire fortress at will as if they were her limbs.
Nakime has the ability to manipulate and control a seemingly endless interdimensional fortress while playing the Biwa, capable of leading anyone to a fortress and capable of creating entrances and exits wherever she wants, and by attaching and rooting her hair to a wall nearby within the fortress, she can control position fortress, as she likes, moving and changing the position of the various walls, as she wants.
Later, attaining the rank of Upper Moon 4 and presumably receiving more blood from Muzan, she demonstrated a new ability to create and detach multiple eyeballs from her body, which allowed her to spy on others from a great distance.
With this new ability, she was able to locate almost all of the members of The Demon Hunting Corps throughout Japan, as well as the hidden mansion of Kagaya Ubuyashiki, who did his best to hide his whereabouts even from high-ranking members of the Demon Slaying Corps.
13. Daki
Daki is considered a powerful Demon, whom Muzan personally recognized as a “special Demon”. She was able to overwhelm and maintain an advantage over Tanjiro Kamado, Nezuko Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Inosuke Hashibira – all of whom were talented fighters.
She maintained her original claims as one of the Upper Moons of the Twelve Moon Demons. However, her rank and position among the Moons are only due to her brother’s powers and abilities, which enhance her own.
12. Hantengu
Hantengu can split into several younger forms, each with its own distinctive emotion and abilities. What distinguishes them from each other is their clothing and a kanji tattoo that denotes their basic emotions. The main form of the Upper Moon 4, which is a smaller version of the original body, as well as a body that has a Hantengu “core”.
This body possesses incredible physical strength and durability that even Genya’s bullets or sword cannot penetrate its flesh, despite Genya using his increased demon power to further enhance his attacks.
11. Giyu Tomioka
As a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, Giyu is a very powerful swordsman. He was able to easily defeat the transformed Demon Spider (Father) and Rui, the Lower Moon 5. During his battle with Akaza, the Upper Moon 3, he was able to hold on for a while.
As with Kyojuro, Akaza is amazed by Giyu’s skills to the point that he offers the Hashira to transform him into a demon, which Akaza only offers to the most worthy of his opponents. The latter asserts that he has not fought a Water Hashita as skillful as Giyu for fifty years and that the latter has a very developed sword art.
10. Kyojuro Rengoku
As a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, Kyojuro was a very powerful swordsman. Even such powerful demons as Akaza, the Upper Moo 3 and concurrently the fourth most powerful of all demons, recognized the power of Kyojuro.
Akaza was so impressed with Kyojuro’s strength that he even suggested that Kyojuro become a demon so that he could transcend his human limits and become stronger, which he only offered to swordsmen, whose abilities, in his opinion, were perfected.
Akaza also praised his fighting spirit and stated that he was approaching a “high point” which meant he was incredibly close to receiving the Transparent World technique awakened via the Mark of the Demon Slayers.
His father, Shinjuro Rengoku, stated that after his son gave up what he taught him, Kyojuro trained himself to Hashira level after reading the flame breathing style textbook, a book that was only 3 volumes in length.
9. Akaza
As the holder of the title of Upper Moon 3, Akaza possessed tremendous power, thanks to which he was able to defeat Kyojuro Rengoku, the Flame Hashira, as well as several former Hashira, according to what he stated. Later, he was able to fight on equal terms with Tanjiro and Giyu, even when both of them used their Demon Slayer Marks, and Tanjiro used the Dance of the Fire God.
If he had not lost the will to continue fighting, he would most likely have killed both of them. Further evidence of his power is that he is the fourth most powerful Demon in the series, who did not kill or eat any women, which drastically interfered with his growth in power as a Demon.
It is safe to assume that Akaza would have been much stronger and probably of a higher rank in the ranks of the Demon of the Twelve Moons, if he did not limit himself to killing only males.
8. Muichiro Tokito
As a Hashira of the Demon Slayers Corps, Muichiro is a very powerful swordsman. He is known to be incredibly talented despite his age, reaching Hashira status after just two months of training. After his Mark awakens, Muichiro is able to defeat Gyokko, the Upper Moon 5, with relative ease even after the Upper Moon has taken its true form.
His techniques were also praised by Kokushibo, the Upper Moon 1, saying that he was well developed for his age. Despite this, Kokushibo surpassed Muichiro in every way, chopping off his arm after Kokushibo pulled out his blade.
However, later in the battle, his contribution proved to be decisive in the defeat of the Upper Moon: after unlocking the Transparent World and the ability to paint his Nichirin Blade in crimson red, as well as his willingness to sacrifice his own life, Muichiro dealt a critical blow. However, he could have lost the fights in the very first minutes due to his inattention.
7. Doma
Taking the position of Upper Moon 2, Doma is considered the third most powerful demon in the series. His combination of fighting techniques and skills was powerful enough to defeat Shinobu, the Insect Hashira without much difficulty, and it was noted that he also defeated Kanae Kocho, the previous Flower Hashira.
His main form of combat was to channel his moves through his two fans, both powerful destructive attacks and paralyzed attacks from opponents. According to Doma, Akaza, the Upper Moon 3, would have had no chance of defeating him in battle.
With this in mind, it can be assumed that Doma is an extremely powerful demon, even if he hadn’t been seen in serious fights until he was severely weakened by Shinobu’s poison.
6. Tanjiro Kamado
From the start, Tanjiro proved to be a prodigious fighter, having a strong natural aptitude for combat, especially fencing. Tanjiro has previously been shown to have superhuman characteristics, such as extraordinary senses, a heightened sense of smell, immense willpower, and great intelligence.
His naturally obtained abilities go so far as to allow him to outsmart and catch Giyu Tomioka, one of the most powerful demon slayers, off guard and almost deliver a fatal blow to him with nothing but his intense emotions.
Right after learning Water Breathing and taking the final selection, he was able to easily eliminate many low-level demons without the help of others, even those who possessed the Blood Power and were previously members of the Twelve Moon Demons, namely the Swamp Demon and Kyogai.
After recalling the Hinokami Kagura, he learned from his father as a child that he would have defeated Rui, the Upper Moon 11, if Rui had not cut his head off before, a feat that many believed only a Hashira could do.
5. Sanemi Shinazugawa
As a member of the Hashira, Sanemi is a very powerful swordsman. According to Kokushibo, Sanemi’s physical skills and techniques have reached their peak. Sanemi’s blood is one of the rarest blood types, making it extremely toxic to demons.
He is also unique thanks to his intense power, the slightest cut of which makes the demons immediately “salivate” and thus makes them lose concentration, since his blood was able to affect the strongest Moon.
For now, the only demon immune to Sanemi’s blood is Nezuko, due to her strong will and conviction to no longer eat humans which were further implanted in her mind by Sakonji Urokodaki.
Sanemi also has the ability to manipulate his own muscles to apprehend and prevent fatal wounds from opening and bleeding in the middle of a fight, as seen when he had his abdomen torn by Kokushibo, and when was he even able to continue to fight by manipulating his own muscles to close the wound.
4. Gyomei Himejima
As a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, Gyomei is a very powerful swordsman. Tanjiro and Inosuke claim him to be the most powerful slayer in the entire organization. This was also confirmed by the Upper Moon 1, Kokushibo, who noted that Gyomei’s physical abilities had been pushed to an absolute peak.
He also said that he had not encountered a warrior like Gyomei in the past three hundred years. He was able to fight the strongest Upper Moon for a short time without the Demon Slayer mark, further revealing the extent of his skill. Gyomei wields a hand axle with spikes attached to the handle via a long chain.
To wield his unique weapon, he uses the sound of the chain to judge the position of the strike, covering up and even taking advantage of his blindness. He, along with Shinobu, Uzui, Obanai, and Mitsuri, is the only one who uses unique weapons. The chain, spikelet, and ax are crafted using the same metals used to craft knives.
3. Kokushibou
Kokushibo was an extremely powerful swordsman, considered the strongest of the Twelve Moon Demons and the second strongest Demon in the series, after Muzan Kibutsuji. As one of the oldest demons in the series, he has fought numerous demon hunters and gained immense experience and knowledge in combat.
He was able to easily decipher the methods and skills of at least two Pillars and crush them in battle. As a breath user, he possessed high levels of strength and reflexes, which were further enhanced by his Demon physiology. General abilities and skills allowed Kokushibo to defeat the two Pillars with minimal effort and then fight on par with Gyomei, who was considered the most powerful Demon Slayer in the Corps.
Even when Gyomei and Sanemi awakened their Demon Slayer Marks, which increased his physical abilities far beyond their limit, he was still able to withstand both of them at the same time.
2. Muzan Kibutsuji
As the first Demon, Muzan’s powers surpass anything seen before. Muzan is so strong that he was able to withstand the confrontation with five Hashia and Tanjiro at the same time.
So strong is he, that he was able to leave Tanjiro on the brink of death, as well as several Hashira, and had it not been for the timely intervention of Chachamaru and the antidotes he supplied to the Hashira and Tanjiro so that they could survive the effects of the poison present in his blood – they would have died.
After 30 minutes of combat, Muzan manifested whips from his legs, increasing his attack speed exponentially, to a point where he instantly defeated five Hashira who were exhausted: Gyomei, Giyu, Sanemi, and Obanai, as well as Zenitsu and Inosuke at the same time, while leaving Kanao paralyzed with fear and with her sword broken.
1. Yoriichi Tsugikuni
Yoriichi is the most powerful known character in the history of the series and the most powerful swordsman and Demon Hunter, born with the Demon Slayer Mark and the Transparent World. As a kid not trained in sword skills, he was able to defeat a trained sword instructor and was called a miracle.
After training as a Demon Hunter, Yoriichi was able to defeat several Demons. He single-handedly managed to corner Muzan Kibutsuji and left him on the brink of death until he managed to escape. Muzan considered Yoriichi to be a real monster. Shortly before his death, at the age of 85, he fought with his older twin brother Kokushibo, who had turned into a demon.
Despite his extreme age and apparent blindness, he quickly gained the upper hand in battle in one move, even cutting his brother’s throat before he died on his feet. Kokushibo himself admits that if Yoriichi had fired a second blow before dying, he would have killed him, commenting that Yoriichi’s strength had not yet been matched.
