In short
The ranking of Demon Slayer demons comes down to a clear hierarchy: Muzan above everyone, Kokushibo the best swordsman in the enemy camp, then Doma, Akaza, Nakime, Hantengu, Gyokko, and finally Daki and Gyutaro along with Kaigaku. The ranks engraved in their eyes give the declared hierarchy, but the number of Hashira killed and the fights in the story sometimes tell a different tale.
Contents
In Demon Slayer, twenty-two Hashira on the counter for Upper Moon Six. None for the new Fourth. A rank obtained through a vacancy for the new Sixth. The numbers engraved in the demons’ eyes say one thing, and the story sometimes shows another.
This article ranks the demons of Demon Slayer from weakest to most powerful, explaining the criteria used, the contested cases, and what the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps had to muster to bring each of them down. Each of them is presented on our page about the demons of Demon Slayer and the demon Moons.
How do you rank a demon?
Four criteria make it possible to compare the series’ demons without settling for the number written in their eye.
The first is the dose of blood received from Muzan Kibutsuji, the first demon. It is this that determines raw strength, regeneration speed and the ceiling of progression.
The second is the record. How many Hashira has a demon killed, and how many demon slayers were needed to bring it down?
The third is the nature of the Blood Demon Art, detailed in our article on demons’ Blood Demon Arts, because a power that controls the terrain is worth more than a more brutal one.
The fourth is experience. A four-hundred-year-old demon has faced generations of swordsmen, and reads a technique after seeing it once.
A fifth element weighs in less often, but it matters in several fights in the story: the location. A demon fighting at home, in a setting it controls, gains an advantage its rank does not reflect.
Rank is not everything
The numbers of the Twelve Moons measure a demon’s value in Muzan’s eyes. Nakime has killed no one and ranks above Gyokko.
The complete ranking
The table below places the ten most powerful demons in the story, taking account of the four criteria above rather than the number engraved in the eye alone.
| Rank | Demon | What places them |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Muzan Kibutsuji | immortal except in the sun, he survives a beheading and kills his demons from afar |
| 2 | Kokushibo | the best swordsman in the enemy camp, four centuries of training, four opponents to bring him down |
| 3 | Doma | he kills two Hashira, Flower and Insect, and adapts to any poison |
| 4 | Akaza | he kills the Flame Hashira, breaks the Water Hashira’s sword, and regenerates his head |
| 5 | Nakime | she controls the Infinity Castle and stays out of reach, without ever striking |
| 6 | Hantengu | seven bodies, four combined powers, and it takes Tanjiro, Nezuko, Genya and Mitsuri |
| 7 | Gyokko | he puts the Mist Hashira in difficulty, but falls to him alone |
| 8 | Daki and Gyutaro | twenty-two Hashira between them, and a simultaneous beheading required |
| 9 | Kaigaku | a rank taken through a vacancy, and defeat against Zenitsu alone |
| 10 | Enmu | the strongest of the lower ranks, beaten by two low-ranking demon slayers |
This Demon Slayer ranking blends declared ranks with actual performance. It puts Nakime ahead of Gyokko because of her strategic usefulness, and leaves Daki and Gyutaro fairly low despite their record, because they fall in a single night.
Muzan, in a class of his own
The first demon of Demon Slayer holds a place apart. He survives a beheading delivered by the Stone Hashira, regenerates instantly, and splits into fragments when he has to flee.
His place above Kokushibo has nothing to do with the sword. The story presents Upper Moon One as the best fighter in the enemy camp, and Muzan as the one nothing can kill by the usual methods.
His most decisive power is not a combat technique. He reads the thoughts of all his demons, sees through their eyes, and can kill any of them by an act of will.
His final combat form adds yet another level. Arms turned into blade-tipped whips several metres long, mouths that suck his opponents towards him, nine tentacles sprouting from his spine: three Hashira can no longer get near him.
It takes the entire Corps to overcome him, and even then only by holding him back until sunrise. Our article on the ways to kill a demon details why no blade was enough.
Only one person has ever dominated him in a thousand years. Yoriichi Tsugikuni cuts him to pieces in a few seconds in the Sengoku era, as told in our article on the Tsugikuni brothers and their rift.
A single defeat in a thousand years
Muzan lost only once, against Yoriichi. He escaped in one thousand eight hundred pieces and kept the burns for centuries.
If you want to wear his city outfit, a black jacket embroidered with gold, it is among the demon outfits, with the rest of his section in the collection devoted to Muzan Kibutsuji.
Embroidered Muzan cosplay
Black jacket with gold arabesques, black shirt, short-knotted white tie, straight white trousers and a white hat.
View the product · from €64.90Kokushibo, the best swordsman in the enemy camp
In Demon Slayer, Upper Moon One is the most powerful demon of the Twelve Moons, and the most accomplished swordsman of his era, behind only his twin brother.
His record speaks for itself. It takes Muichiro Tokito, Genya Shinazugawa, Sanemi Shinazugawa and Gyomei Himejima, three of them Hashira bearing the mark, to immobilise and then behead him.
He then regenerates his head, which only Muzan and Akaza had managed, and only the sun could have finished him. His full portrait can be found in our article on Kokushibo, Upper Moon One.
What stops him is not a blade but his own disgust. He stops regenerating on discovering the creature he has become, and the fight ends there.
Four opponents and two dead
It takes four demon slayers to bring Kokushibo down, and two of them do not survive. No other demon demands as much.
You will find his most imposing piece in the collection devoted to Kokushibo, among the demon figures.
Kokushibo 45 cm figure
Assembled from several parts, bare-chested, sword held vertically, in front of a burst of translucent purple shards.
View the product · €179.90Doma, third and the hardest to poison
Upper Moon Two is the third most powerful demon in Demon Slayer. He killed Kanae Kocho, the former Flower Hashira, and then Shinobu Kocho, the Insect Hashira.
His distinctive feature is adaptation. He breaks down a poison and produces antibodies within five injections, which made Shinobu’s usual method useless against him.
He himself claims that Akaza would have no chance against him in a duel, and Kokushibo, who knows them both, does not contradict him, as told in our article on Doma, Upper Moon Two.
It takes a year-long plan, thirty-seven kilos of wisteria and a Hashira’s life to bring him down, as detailed in our article on the Kocho sisters’ revenge.
The cult founder keeps his preacher’s pose on a piece in the collection devoted to Doma.
Cross-legged Doma figure
PVC piece, legs crossed, hands on his knees, black and gold crown, red jacket and finely striped trousers.
View the product · €39.90Akaza, fourth and the most relentless
Upper Moon Three of Demon Slayer kills Kyojuro Rengoku beside the Mugen Train, and had not met a Water Hashira in fifty years. He fights only bare-handed.
His level in close combat is the highest in the enemy camp. He breaks Giyu Tomioka’s sword with a sideways blow, keeps pace with a marked Hashira, and regenerates his severed head.
His Compass Needle also gives him an advantage no other demon has. It detects the opponent’s fighting spirit, tracks it outside his field of vision, and points out their vital points before they move.
His ranking behind Doma comes down to one detail. He never had the chance to beat him in a duel, and the story has him say that such a fight would be pointless.
His end is voluntary, as told in our article on Akaza, Upper Moon Three, and our article on Akaza’s human past explains what drives him to stop.
Hashira to his name
Akaza kills the Flame Hashira before Tanjiro’s eyes, and others before him. He is the only demon in the story to refuse to eat women, with Muzan’s consent.
The one who fights without a weapon has his own piece in the collection devoted to Akaza.
Akaza 30 cm figure
PVC piece, bare-handed guard, rank kanji in the irises, hexagonal base bearing his name.
View the product · €69.90Nakime and Hantengu, the two Fourths
The fourth rank in Demon Slayer changes holder during the story. Hantengu holds it first, then Nakime takes his place after his death, with an extra dose of blood.
Hantengu splits into seven bodies over the course of the fight, including a fused form that combines four powers, and it takes four opponents to find his real body, as detailed in our article on Hantengu and his clones.
His case also raises a question of method. Should a demon be ranked on its ability to win a duel, or on its real effect on the outcome of the war, in which case Nakime moves ahead of several fighters?
Nakime strikes no one and yet remains untouchable. She holds the entire Infinity Castle, scatters the whole Corps, and it is an allied demon who eventually neutralises her, as told in our article on the biwa player of the Infinity Castle.
The two cases show Muzan’s logic. He rewards usefulness more than brute strength, which explains a promotion with not a single fight on her record.
Gyokko, Daki, Gyutaro and Kaigaku
Upper Moon Five puts the Mist Hashira in real difficulty, traps him in a sphere of water, and only falls after the boy’s mark awakens, as detailed in our article on Gyokko, Upper Moon Five.
Upper Moon Six is the most debated in the ranking. Twenty-two Hashira killed between them, a shared rank that requires a simultaneous beheading, and yet a defeat in one night against a Hashira, three young demon slayers and Nezuko.
Their record is explained by surprise. A Hashira sent alone against Daki was in fact facing two demons, one of whom he did not see coming, and fifteen of them discovered Gyutaro too late.
Our article on Daki and Gyutaro, Upper Moon Six details this paradox, which comes down mainly to the coordination required to bring them down.
Twenty-two Hashira for one rank
Daki and Gyutaro have twenty-two Hashira killed between them, the heaviest record in the story. Their rank remains the sixth, because they fall together.
Kaigaku closes the list of Upper Moons. He inherits the sixth rank through a vacancy, has not had time to master his abilities, and falls against Zenitsu alone, as told in our article on Jigoro’s disciple who went over to the demons.
A rank through a vacancy
Kaigaku takes the sixth rank because the place was free. Zenitsu tells him so in the middle of the battle, and the story proves him right.
The lower ranks and the demons without rank
The gap between the two halves of the Twelve Moons in Demon Slayer is considerable. The Lower Moons are regularly killed by the Hashira, while the upper ones eat Hashira.
Enmu is the strongest of the six. He puts two hundred passengers to sleep, fuses with a train, and yet remains far behind the weakest Upper Moons, as detailed in our article on Enmu, Lower Moon One.
Rui comes next, with threads that withstand a Nichirin blade, and our article on Rui and his spider family details this level.
Kyogai’s case deserves a place of its own. He belonged to the Twelve Moons before being struck off, and the story specifies that his removal came from his progression ceiling, not from a defeat in combat.
The demons without rank close the list, from Kyogai to the Hand Demon, and our articles on Kyogai, the drum demon and Susamaru and Yahaba, the Asakusa demons show that a demon without a number can still stand up to several demon slayers.
Two unequal halves
The Hashira have been killing Lower Moons for generations, and the Upper Moons eat Hashira. The gap between the two groups is the widest in the story.
What the ranking does not say
A power ranking leaves several things out in Demon Slayer. Terrain matters as much as strength: Gyokko in a vase, Nakime in her castle, Enmu in his train are worth more than on a country road.
The make-up of the opposing team matters just as much. Kokushibo falls because four complementary fighters find themselves in the same hall, and Gyokko falls because a Hashira got a new blade at the right moment, after a swordsmith child blew air into his water prison.
Timing matters too. A demon faced at one in the morning and a demon faced as dawn approaches do not pose the same problem.
Finally, the ranking ignores the only creature that escapes everything. Nezuko Kamado withstands the sun, which no Upper Moon has managed, as detailed on our page about Tanjiro’s sister and her resistance to daylight.
A demon also often falls for a reason that has nothing to do with its strength. Akaza stops, Kokushibo gives up, Nakime is killed by her master, and our article on the Lower Moons executed by Muzan covers the rest.
Terrain changes everything
A demon in its lair is not the same opponent as on neutral ground. The ranking does not measure this gap.
