And being that 80% of the populace in the show has superpowers (or Quirks), there are plenty of flashy abilities to be seen. But of course, some abilities are a lot stronger than others. I mean, there’s that one kid who can just pull his eyeballs out of his head. And then there are people capable of destroying armies. So today we’re going to be looking at the strongest Quirks in My Hero Academia, and rank them in accordance to their versatility, destructive power, and duel prowess. I’m only counting the first four anime seasons, so movie watchers and manga readers, feel free to scream at me. Also, in case you weren’t ready to scream already, I will not include Eri. Because as it stands at the time of writing, she can’t control her Quirk at all.
25. Compress – Mr. Compress
I’m going to start off with Compress, as it’s an incredibly strong ability. But only in the right circumstances. This ability allows Mr. Compress to shrink anything within his grasp down to a little marble. The person inside is not damaged, but they cannot get out on their own. As we’ve seen in the Forest Training arc, it allows for really quick abductions. And if Mr. Compress wanted to use it offensively, he could always just let someone out of the marble the second the threw it from a high distance. So extremely powerful, but if the enemy knows what to look out for, it’ll be difficult to pull out a W.
24. Warp Gate – Kurogiri
Warp Gate is low for a similar reason; it’s one of the most useful abilities a person could have, but without ally support, you can be easily overpowered. Besides just the convenience of going from place to place, Warp Gate can also be used to set up your ally’s attack. Or in order to displace the enemy. But in a similar fashion to Mr. Compress, if the enemy knows what to look for, they can easily avoid any damage. I’m putting it higher than Compress simply because it’s way more versatile.
23. Elasticity – Gentle Criminal
Elasticity is a Quirk with an extremely high skill ceiling. In its essence, all it allows you to do is make anything you touch elastic. However, this applies to air and to larger objects, like buildings. So when used correctly, it makes for a fantastic Quirk in duels. You can set up air barriers to deflect any attacks from your opponent. Or make the ground elastic so that they lose their footing. Or even abuse the cooldown of your Quirk to hurdle heavy objects at your enemy. It’s far from all powerful, and if the enemy is clever they can counter. But if they don’t have the mental capacity to remember all of your little traps, they’re in for a bad time.
22. Foresight – Sir Nighteye
If this Quirk gaves you any type of physical boost, it probably would have been in the top 3 honestly. Since it allows you to see someone’s near or distant future, it can allow you to dodge or counter any attack that your enemy dishes out, given that you’re fast and/or strong enough. It can also do wonders in terms of data collection and plan building. It’s extremely practical, and can make you feel like an Uchiha in a one-on-one duel… however it can only be used once a day. And if your opponent overpowers you, it doesn’t matter that you saw it coming.
21. Clones – Ectoplasm
Although we haven’t really seen Ectoplasm in a real fight, we know from Naruto how oppressive and busted clone techniques can be. Having more hands on deck means a lot of utility. And being able to tire your opponent out with fakes can be a decisive blow in a battle. Plus, if the enemy is really tough, Ectoplasm can opt for one giant clone to crush his enemy. It takes him a second to create his clones, so you can overpower him in a sneak attack. And the clones aren’t extremely strong on their own, but this Quirk is definitely powerful.
20. Creation – Momo Yaoyorozu
Now this Quirk is the definition of utility, as it can literally create any item from thin air, given that it’s not too large, and that the user knows the atomic configuration of the item. We’ve seen it save the day a few times in the show. But its dual and destructive powers are rather low. This Quirk allows you to outsmart your enemy, but not really overpower them. So if you’re not with your team and you face nearly any other person on this list, you’ll have a tough time getting out alive.
19. Hardening – Eijiro Kirishima
Hardening is one of the best defensive Quirks we’ve seen in the show, as when Kirishima enters his Unbreakable form, he seems like a compact tank. Not only can he take serious hits without injury, but it also allows him to charge in and inflict some serious damage. Kirishima hasn’t mastered his Quirk just yet. So it’s far from invincible. But the second he learns how to maintain Unbreakable for longer durations of time, he’s going to be an extremely good dualist and tank.
18. Vibrate – Yo Shindo
Vibrate is a simple ability that holds a surprising amount of power. It simply allows the user to send out controlled vibrations through his hands. This brings with it a lot of destructive power, as the user can make huge earthquakes at will simply by touching the ground. And although this hasn’t been shown in the anime, I imagine this could one shot kill someone if he ever managed to lay a finger on their body. So the enemy not only has to be a long range type, but also fast enough to avoid his earthquakes, to stand a chance.
17. Manifest – Tamaki Amajiki
I know it’s a bit controversial not to put this Quirk in the top five or top ten, but hear me out. There’s no doubt that the Quirk is strong. It offers you both defensive stats if you had some clams for dinner, offensive stats, most notably squid tentacles, and even some utility like wings. However, it does require prep time. And has a set time limit of however long it takes to digest the food. So if the user ever skips a meal or goes on a diet, they’re screwed. It also needs different types of food to be regularly available to get maximum potential. So traveling anywhere out of Japan would be a nightmare. Unless a burger gives you capitalist powers or something.
16. Copy – Neito Monoma
Similar to the previous entry, this Quirk has nearly infinite possibilities. But a lot of drawbacks as well. It allows the user to copy any Quirk as long as he’s made physical contact with the user in the previous 5 minutes. You can already see where the drawbacks are. If you’re facing a long range opponent one on one, you basically stand no chance. However, in team battles, this Quirk can be a game changer. The surprise element alone is pretty powerful. But the fact that you can switch around between your team’s Quirks and the enemy’s Quirks will make you near impossible to read.
15. Meatball – Seiji Shishikura
Meatball is one of the odder Quirks on here, but definitely with the potential to be OP. It allows the user to control their own flesh, as well as to turn enemies into sentient balls of meat. So the user can separate his arms and attack you from range, and then pretty much one shot you. Since he can “meatball” multiple people at once, even in group battles, he’s a force to be reckoned with. However, if the enemy has enough destructive power, the user has to either get really creative with how they use their Quirk, or run for the hills immediately.
14. Wave Motion – Nejire Hado
Wave Motion allows the user to shoot out big waves of pure energy from their body. The user can use it to fly and maneuver around, or to take down hordes of enemies. The waves themselves are rather slow. But they pack quite the punch, as they can take down villains the size of buildings in a single shot. There’s a set limit on how much energy the user can output too, but unlike Aoyama, the ceiling is pretty generous. So the Quirk grants you mobility, AoE, and burst damage, pretty nutty isn’t it?
13. Earth Flow – Ryuko Tsuchikawa
It’s basically Earth-bending. How can it not be powerful? Not only does Earth Flow allow the user to create devastating avalanches, but it also allows them to create giant puppets which the user can control remotely. Since Rhyuko hasn’t ever fully utilized this Quirk in close combat, we don’t know how powerful it can be. But I see no reason why she couldn’t just put you six feet under the second you got close. The range on this Quirk is pretty nutty, and it definitely offers some great utility and destructive power. Too bad the user wasn’t much of a fighter.
12. Brainwash – Hitoshi Shinso
Now this Quirk is either overpowered, or completely useless, depending on whether you have any knowledge on how it functions. To activate it, the enemy has to respond to a question that the user has posed, after which the enemy gets completely brainwashed. So if the enemy knows what you’re trying to do, or just isn’t the chatty type, this Quirk is useless. But if the enemy does fall into your trap, you’ve won without even lifting a finger. I can’t put it too high because it’s a coin flip. But man does it have potential.
11. Whirlwind – Inasa Yoarashi
We already had an Earth bender, and now we have an Air bender. This Quirk is extremely well rounded, as it has amazing destructive power, dueling potential, and utility. You can make a giant whirlwind and level a small village, or you can use the airflow to fly around and maneuver to disrupt enemies and their attacks. There’s no real downside to this Quirk, however, the user can be overpowered with some of the following entries.
10. Erasure – Eraser Head
Reasure can be one of the most powerful in the series. But only in the right hands. It allows you to completely erase your enemy’s Quirk as long as you’re looking at them. So if you can one-shot them while they’re Quirkless, you’re basically invincible. However, if you make a single mistake and blink, or if you’re attacked by more than one powerful enemy, it gets a lot more difficult. If it wasn’t for the fact that Eraser Head is basically a God in hand to hand combat, this Quirk would have been mid-tier. But he has propelled it too new heights.
9. Fierce Wings – Hawks
Hawks is another example where the Quirk itself doesn’t sound too strong, but the user showcased just how powerful it can be. The Quirk just allows the user to control the feather from the wings on their back. But Hawks has shown that this Quirk is the king of utility. He can help pedestrians, stop criminals, and get a sandwich all at the same time! His feathers have pretty long range. And Hawks is deadly accurate with them, meaning that he can snipe out multiple targets before they even realize what’s going on. However, if you destroy his feathers, he can’t do much.
8. Decay – Tomura Shigaraki
Decay is a one-shot kill type of Quirk where whatever the user touches with all five fingers, turns into dust. It started off as quite the underwhelming Quirk, being that he could just scrape Eraser Head’s elbow, but it quickly became quite powerful. And yes, manga readers, this Quirk should be near the very top once the anime catches up. But for now, it’s a close-range ability. And can be easily countered with either long range or lots of mobility.
7. Double – Twice
Now this Quirk is absolutely nutty, and will only get nuttier as time passes. It allows the user to create a duplicate of anyone as long as he has their measurements. This wouldn’t be a big deal, if it weren’t for the fact that the double can also use the original’s Quirk. This means that if you have some powerful allies, you can send out god-tier duplicates and face no consequences if they’re defeated. Plus, if Twice hadn’t suffered a mental breakdown, he could have created an army of himself when going into battle. So through and through, overpowered to the bone.
6. Overhaul – Overhaul
Overhaul is just ridiculous. You can one-shot someone with a single touch, then you can revive that person if you choose, or use their flesh to give yourself some extra muscle. You can then manipulate the ground by touching it and heal any wound you’ve sustained – pretty much instantly. There’s quite literally only one way to counter this Quirk, and it’s to be a long range burst assassin who can avoid every attack thrown their way. And let’s just say there’s a limited number of people capable of such a feat.
5. Half-cold half-hot – Shoto Todoroki
Under this submission I’m also counting Dabi’s and Endeavour’s fire Quirk. Because honestly, Shoto just has the upgraded version. Not only can he blast fire capable of burning any enemy to a crisp, but he can also freeze the entire battlefield. And when used in conjunction, his Quirk has literally no weaknesses. He has huge range, huge utility, an insane damage output, and all of it can be single target or AoE. Honestly, if Shoto was hellbent on being the strongest, I’m pretty sure he could have achieved that goal.
4. Explosion – Katsuki Bakugo
Explosion seems like the type of ability where it’s all about destructive force, being that it allows you to create explosions and everything… But Bakugo has shown that it has more variety than that. Bakugo is nearly unmatched when it comes to mobility, as he uses the explosions to maneuver in the air while simultaneously attacking his opponent. He can also focus his blast to create a one hit K.O. ability with decent precision. But if he really wants to blow things up, he does. And the area he can cover in a single blast is no less than terrifying.
3. One for all – Izuku Midoriya
I can already feel the anger for this one. Well one for all is the ultimate good guy Quirk, as it allows people to store up power over generations and create an unstoppable hero. However, we’ve seen that it can be quite taxing on the body. Especially when first received. And although it can be infinitely scaled, it also took seven generations for the Quirk to gain sufficient power. So since we’re grading the Quirk itself, I can’t give it the top spot. It takes too much prep time, and can easily kill the user if used incorrectly.
2. Permeation – Mirio Togata
So this Quirk basically allows you to become Obito. Its destructive force is zero. But its utility and dueling prowess is unmatched in my eyes. Once trained to perfection, it can make it so that no one can touch you, no attack can land, and no one can hold you down. It also gives you insane mobility as you can phase in and out of the ground. Plus no one can block your punches either. In the hands of Mirio it is without a doubt the strongest dueling Quirk. Heck, if Mirio was a villain and a bit older, I doubt even All Might could have dealt with him.
1. All for one – All for one
All for one is the ultimate Quirk, and I’m honestly disappointed that it wasn’t used in a better manner in the series. It allows you to forcefully activate other people’s Quirks, steal Quirks for yourself, or even give them to someone else. You can combine however many Quirks you want, and there’s no downside to using them. Honestly, if All for one was just a bit more creative, he could have wiped the floor with the heroes. I mean, just imagine if someone had all the Quirks on this list, it would have been nuts.
