Demon Slayer took the world by storm after its anime debut in 2019. The manga is now finished and continually dominates the best-selling charts, selling millions of copies worldwide. Demon Slayer is a historical shonen series that takes place during Japan’s Taisho period, but with a demonic twist.
After Tanjiro Kamado’s family is killed by the Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji, his sister Nezuko becomes a demon. Tanjiro teams up with the Demon Slayer Corps after meeting Giyu Tomioka, the introverted, melancholic Water Hashira. The Corps is the last line of defense against the bloodthirsty demons who rule the night, and only the strongest Demon Slayers can stand up against Muzan and his Upper Moons and stand a chance to come out of the fight alive.
Update April 15th, 2023, by Louis Kemner: Season 3 of Demon Slayer has begun, ushering in the swordsmith village arc, complete with new heroes and new villains alike. The swordsmith story arc will dive deeper into the world of demon slayers and the special swords they wield in battle, meaning it’s a good time to review who the 15 strongest demon slayers are and what they are capable of.
Manga spoilers ahead!
15 Genya Shinazugawa
Genya is considered a weaker Demon Slayer, as Upper Moon 1 thought he was the smallest threat during his battle against Genya and multiple Hashira. Genya can absorb a demon’s power by eating part of them, gaining its abilities, and shaping them into his own unique Blood Demon Art.
Genya is also capable of regenerating himself, but his primary weapon is his Nichirin gun. Unlike other Slayers in Demon Slayer, he wouldn’t have lasted against an Upper Moon on his own for very long.
14 Inosuke Hashibara
Inosuke is the series’ fan favorite boar in a china shop. He endured the same brutal training as Zenitsu and Tanjiro, though he needed some motivation to keep him going. Inosuke is able to do whatever he sets out to do, and his competitive spirit is his ultimate driving force.
His rivalry with Tanjiro is equally hilarious and empowering. Inosuke was raised in the mountains, so he grew up around wild animals. He’s flexible, agile, and has sharp, beast-like senses, making him fast and powerful.
13 Zenitsu Agatsuma
Zenitsu claims to have never wanted to become a Demon Slayer and was forced into it to pay off a debt. He’s always asking girls to marry him so he can get out of being a Demon Slayer and live a long life, but he is not to be underestimated.
Zenitsu is incredibly powerful, but only when he’s unconscious. He falls asleep when he crumbles under the weight of his fear, and his body fights on instinct alone, utilizing his Thunder Breathing Style. He proved he could be a capable fighter even while awake, defeating Upper Moon 6 alone.
12 Kanao Tsuyuri
When Kanao first met Tanjiro, he could already tell that she was very close in ability to a Hashira. She was trained by Shinobu Kocho and her sister, Kanae Kocho, and was one of the few survivors who made it out of the Final Selection.
Like Inosuke, she is key in defeating Upper Moon 2, although she has to use a Breathing Style that allows her to see the world in slow motion. Kanao is very shy and used to never make decisions without consulting her lucky coin toss, but she’s since come out of her shell.
11 Shinobu Kocho
Shinobu Kocho may seem laid back, always with a smile on her face. However, that’s just to mask the fierce Demon Slayer she really is. As the Insect Hashira, Shinobu cuts down fierce demons with a smile. Shinobu is a user of the Insect Breathing Style, a branch of the Flower Breathing, which itself is branched from Water Breathing.
Shinobu Kocho wields a thin sword that doesn’t do much damage in and of itself, but she infuses her attacks with wisteria poison to make short work of any demon she faces. She may not have the strength to slice off a demon’s head, but her extensive knowledge of poisons makes her incredibly deadly.
10 Obanai Iguro
While Shinobu is regarded as the weakest Hashira, Obanai is known as the second weakest. Unlike Shinobu, who never activated her Demon Slayer mark, Obanai was able to activate his. This allows Obanai to fight at peak performance, even when he loses his vision.
Obanai relies on his white snake, Kaburamaru, who tells him everything he needs to know about his surroundings. However, he’s regarded as the weakest due to his small stature and limited agility. Still, Obanai put up an excellent fight against Muzan in the Infinity Castle.
9 Tanjiro Kamado
Protagonist Tanjiro Kamado became a Demon Slayer to hunt down the demon who murdered his family and turned his sister into a demon. A rarity among the other Slayers, Tanjiro empathizes with demons. He kills them but understands that most demons had no choice when they were transformed.
Tanjiro uses the Water Breathing Style and later remembers that he can also use Dance of the Fire God, a technique taught to him by his father that can only be used by members of the Kamado family. Tanjiro is a key player in the series when it comes to defeating many of the Upper Moons.
8 Mitsuri Kanroji
Mitsuri Kanroji is the Love Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps. Mitsuri is shy, gentle, bubbly, and has eight times the muscle density of an average human, making her wickedly strong despite her thin limbs. Her strength is so incredible that she can withstand attacks that the average human body cannot withstand and even tear off Muzan’s arm.
Mitsuri uses Love Breathing and wields a rather unique sword that only she can use. Her sword is extremely thin and soft, making it difficult to use as a traditional sword, so Mitsuri uses it as a kind of whip instead. Her strength and unique sword mean she possesses the fastest techniques of all the Hashira.
7 Tengen Uzui
Tengen Uzui is a flashy slayer of demons originally from a shinobi family. Tengen didn’t agree with his father’s ideology of using people as tools, so he left and joined the Demon Slayer Corps and became the Sound Hashira.
Tengen Uzui has a similar strength and speed to his fellow Hashira to easily outclass the demons he faces, but his Breathing Style sets him apart from others. He uses the Sound Breathing Style, which branches from the Thunder Breathing Style. Tengen invented it on his own.
6 Kyojuro Rengoku
Kyojuro Rengoku is the cheerful Flame Hashira. His Flame Breathing Style bathes demons in a sea of flames. Kyojuro even agreed to take Tanjiro under his wing and train him prior to the events of Mugen Train.
Demon Slayer fans only saw him in two major fights, both of which occurred during the Mugen Train film. Still, Kyojuro was able to battle demons while simultaneously protecting the 200 passengers of the train the battle takes place in, even holding his own against an Upper Moon, Akaza, for a time before he was defeated.
5 Muichiro Tokito
Muichiro may seem a bit air-headed, always lost in his thoughts, but he’s a dedicated Demon Slayer and one of the most powerful among them. As the Mist Hashira, he utilizes the Mist Breathing Style derived from the Wind Breathing Style.
Muichiro has completely mastered his Breathing Style to the point that he can easily fight and overwhelm an Upper Moon demon and create an entirely new form for the Breathing Style. Muichiro also unlocked a Demon Slayer Mark that gave him enough strength to kill Upper Moon 5 easily.
4 Sanemi Shinazugawa
Sanemi is a very hot-headed person who harbors a deep hatred for demons, but it’s understandable. Sanemi has lost so many people he cared about to demons. Sanemi’s body is also covered in scars accumulated over his years of slaying demons.
The Wind Hashira’s skill with the blade and mastery of the Wind Breathing Style are so great that even Kokushibo, the Upper Moon 1 demon with hundreds of years of skill and experience behind him, was impressed by Sanemi’s power.
3 Giyu Tomioka
Giyu Tomioka was the first Demon Slayer Tanjiro ever met. After witnessing a newly transformed Nezuko protect Tanjiro, Tomioka points them to Urokodaki and the Demon Slayer Corps. Tomioka may not be the best with social interactions, but his fellow Hashira recognizes him as one of the strongest among them.
As the Water Hashira, Tomioka is a master of the Water Breathing Style. Tomioka’s skills are so exceptional that he defeated the Father Spider Demon and Rui, a Lower Moon demon, without breaking a sweat. Even Akaza, an Upper Moon demon, said he was the most skilled Water Hashira in 50 years.
2 Gyomei Himejima
Gyomei Himejima is the Stone Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps. Instead of the typical Nichirin Blades that Demon Slayers use, Gyomei wields a devastatingly strong hand-ax with a spiked flail attached to the hilt by a long chain. Combined with his Stone Breathing Style, Gyomei is undoubtedly the most powerful Demon Slayer.
Tanjiro and Inosuke consider Gyomei the most powerful Demon Slayer, even among the other Hashira. Kokushibu, the Upper Moon 1 demon, further supports that claim by saying that Gyomei’s natural physical abilities have been trained to the absolute peak. The demon also admitted that he had not encountered a warrior of Gyomei’s caliber in the last 300 years.
1 Yoriichi Tsugikuni
Yoriichi is considered to be the strongest Demon Slayer ever to exist. He is so powerful that the battle doll crafted in his image needed multiple arms to accurately replicate his movements. Yoriichi was a demon-killing machine even as a child and was so powerful that he nearly killed Muzan.
The demon was so scared of him that he never appeared before Yoriichi ever again. Later in the manga, it’s revealed that Tanjiro’s Hinokami Kagura comes from Yoriichi’s Sun Breathing. Sun Breathing was the first Breathing Style ever invented, so everything else is derived from it.
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