Breathing styles inDemon Slayerare more than just combat techniques, they are reflections of a warrior’s philosophy, personality, and past struggles. Each form carries the weight of years of training, relentless discipline, and often, deep emotional scars that drive every swing of the blade.
While not all styles are created equal, most of them can be deadly in the right hands. Some are built for speed, others for adaptability, and a few are just raw power. But when ranking them by strength, it’s about how they can change the course of the battle. Their effectiveness, versatility, and the kind of opponent each style can take down.
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Ranking them by power requires considering impact, efficiency, and how much they can change the tide of a fight. Some are legendary, definingDemon Slayer’sstrongest swordsmen, while others offer unique advantages in unpredictable battles.
10Beast Breathing – Inosuke Hashibira
Wild Instincts Forged into Combat
Derived From
Wind Breathing
Beast Breathing is unpredictable, wild, and raw, just like Inosuke. It’s one of the least refined techniques in the series, but what makes it powerful is its unorthodox nature. Inosuke created it himself, pulling from his survival instincts and connection to nature.
While it doesn’t have the clean elegance of other styles, it keeps enemies guessing. Inosuke’s spatial awareness and muscle control let him sense and react almost on instinct.Beast Breathing isn’t at the top tier in pure power, but it’s still dangerous, especially when the opponent isn’t ready for a fighter who breaks all the rules.
9Sound Breathing – Tengen Uzui
Explosive Precision Through Rhythm
Thunder Breathing
Tengen’sSound Breathing is flashy, explosive, and unique in how it uses rhythm and spatial awareness.It works almost like a musical composition, with “scores” of battle that Tengen reads and reacts to.
Its strength lies in its unpredictability and its sheer physical power.Tengen’s dual Nichirin blades and sound-based analysis give him an edge, especially in chaotic environments. He may not be the strongest Hashira overall, but his style can dismantle enemies in close quarters with overwhelming force.
Still, its limited range and complexity mean it doesn’t quite measure up to the most dominant styles in long-term fights.
8Love Breathing – Mitsuri Kanroji
Grace, Agility, and Deceptive Power
Flame Breathing
Love Breathing is deceptive. It sounds soft and poetic, butMitsuriturns it into something fierce.The key lies in her flexibility and unnatural muscle density, allowing her to wield a whip-like sword with explosive precision.
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What makes this style strong is its range and unpredictability. Mitsuri can move like no one else, dodging attacks that should land and striking from angles her enemies can’t anticipate. Love Breathing might not hit with the same force as Flame or Sun Breathing, but it’s deadly because it’s tailored to her unique physical capabilities.
7Serpent Breathing – Obanai Iguro
Deadly Elegance in Close Quarters
Water Breathing
Serpent Breathing is sleek, agile, and almost surgical. Obanai’s swordsmanship relies on tight, controlled movements and precise strikes. What makes his breathing style powerful is how well it works in close combat.
Serpent Breathing doesn’t overwhelm with brute force, but it cuts where it counts.Combined with Obanai’s experience and his snake Kaburamaru, who aids in his movements, this style becomes hard to counter. Against stronger opponents, its efficiency is key.
6Mist Breathing – Muichiro Tokito
Speed and Confusion as a Weapon
DerivedFrom
Muichiro might seem like he’s floating through the world half-asleep, but when he fights, Mist Breathing becomes a terrifying force.It’s fast, disorienting, and focused on creating openings that other styles can’t exploit.
What makes Mist Breathing rank this high is Muichiro’s use of its Seventh Form, Obscuring Clouds.It allows him to vanish from his opponent’s sight, appearing at blinding speed.The technique doesn’t just rely on brute strength, it creates confusion and hits with deadly accuracy.
Muichiro’s genius and talent elevate the style beyond its base form. In his hands, it’s lethal.
5Thunder Breathing - Zenitsu Agatsuma
Lightning-Fast Execution and Devastation
Original Breathing Techniques
Thunder Breathing is all about speed and precision.Zenitsu, for the longest time, could only use the First Form, but he honed it to perfection. When used right, it turns him into a one-man flash strike team.
Its strength is in its simplicity. It doesn’t overwhelm, it ends fights before they start.And once Zenitsu developed his own variation, combining multiple First Form strikes in rapid succession, the style became even more deadly.
It’s not the most versatile, but in terms of finishing power and speed, Thunder Breathing is hard to match.
4Water Breathing – Giyu Tomioka and previously, Tanjiro Kamado
The Perfect Balance Between Offense and Defense
Water Breathing is one of the most balanced and widely used techniques in the series.Its fluid nature makes it adaptable to various opponents and fighting styles.Giyu’sEleventh Form, Dead Calm, is especially notable; he stands motionless and counters everything with a single, seamless strike.
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The strength of Water Breathing lies in its versatility and defense.It’s a style that can adapt mid-battle, and while it doesn’t have the overwhelming offense of some others, it makes up for it by keeping the user alive in the most dangerous situations.
3Flame Breathing - Kyojuro Rengoku
A Blazing Force of Unshakable Will
Flame Breathing is bold and powerful, just like Rengoku.It emphasizes strong, decisive strikes and pure offensive might. It’s not about subtlety.When Rengoku fights, it feels like a wall of fire bearing down.
The style demands precision and confidence, and in Rengoku’s hands, it was devastating. His techniques were able to hold off Akaza, one of the most powerful Upper Rank demons, in a brutal head-on fight.
Flame Breathing ranks high not just for its damage potential, but becauseit’s grounded in heart and conviction.Every attack carries intention. That kind of clarity? It’s powerful.
2Moon Breathing – Kokushibo
The Unpredictable Mastery of a Fallen Warrior
Sun Breathing
Moon Breathing is terrifying. It combines elegance with sheer destruction. Unlike most other styles, it’s used by a demon, Kokushibo, who was once one of the strongestdemon slayersbefore becoming a monster.
The style generates crescent-shaped blades with each slash, giving it both range and unpredictability.Kokushibo’s mastery over it makes him nearly untouchable, able to attack from multiple directions with ridiculous precision.
It’s essentially a corrupted version of the original breathing technique, and in his hands, it’s almost unstoppable. Few people have faced Moon Breathing and lived to talk about it.
1Sun Breathing – Yoriichi Tsugikuni later adapted by Tanjiro Kamado
The Origin and Pinnacle of All Power
Sun Breathing is the OG of all breathing techniques, making it the most powerful one.Every other breathing technique is a derivative of this one.It was designed to be flawless, with no wasted movement, and Yoriichi wielded it with terrifying grace.
Tanjiro eventually taps into this style, learning Hinokami Kagura from his father’s dance. Over time, he begins to unlock the potential within himself to fight at the level of the greats.
Sun Breathing doesn’t just overpower, it nullifies. It breaks the pattern of other styles. It’s fast, controlled, and deeply symbolic.It represents the core of whatDemon Slayeris about: life, warmth, and the will to fight against the dark.
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