Discussion Ranking the Pillars

[XXGenesis]

How do you rank the 9 strongest Swordsmen of the Demon Corps.
#1 Gyomei is the strongest, but where does everyone else lie in comparison to each other....I'm dissecting my list into 3 parts..High Pillar, Mid Pillar, Low Pillar..

My list goes

#1 Gyomei
#2 Sanemi
#3 Kanroji

#4 Giyu
#5 Obanai
#6 Kyojuro

#7 Muichiro
#8 Tengen
#9 Shinobu

I believe Tengen & Shinobu to be the weakest among of them all...Shinobu cant decapitate a demon, short limb yet fast.
Tengen had to retire after a fight with upper 6, which he had assistance in...=/
Muichiro marked or not face off against upper 5 wasnt impressive imo.

Kyojuro did pretty good against Akaza 1 v 1, even though he lost. & Giyu marked as well did pretty good but he actually had help from Tanjiro who was Pillar lv at the time.
Obanai seems to have some good swordsmanship but idk if he's stronger than Kanroji who also has unique swordsmanship is marked, and faced off pretty well against upper moon 4, with assistance.

So yea, all Pillars have great swordsmanship. Few have unique styles like Gyomei, Kanroji, & Obanai. As for High Pillars, I dont think Giyu is stronger than Kanroji..& because Obanai doesn't have feats nor hasn't been shown to be marked I rank Giyu stronger at the moment..But Obanai can possibly be stronger than Giyu or Kanroji.

 

[Peter16373]

1. Marked Gyomei w/ See-Through-World (No explanations needed here)
2. Marked Sanemi (Shown to be on par with Giyu if not slightly stronger in their brief spar. Also has his ultra rare marechi blood which could slow down demons)
3. Kyojuro (Fought on par with Akaza and nearly chopped off his head)
4. Marked Giyu (On par with Akaza for a brief while)
5. Marked Muichiro w/ See-Through-World (Managed to land a hit on Kokushibo with help from Gyomei)
6. Marked Mitsuri (On par with and held off Zou Hakuten off screen for an unknown period of time until she reached her stamina limit)
7. Shinobu (Briefly surprised Doma with her speed and landed several attacks on him when he was playing around)
8. Tengen (Fought Gyutaro although he was losing until he completed his score)

Obanai doesn’t have any feats yet so I’m not adding him. But if I were to guess I think he would probably be stronger than Mitsuri. If I were to put them into tiers

S Tier: Marked Gyomei w/ See-Through-World

A Tier: Marked Gyomei

B Tier: Base Gyomei, Marked Sanemi, Marked Giyu, and Kyojuro

C Tier: Marked Muichiro w/ See-Through-World, Base Sanemi, Base Giyu, Shinobu, and Marked Mitsuri

D Tier: Marked Muichiro and Base Mitsuri

E Tier: Base Muichiro and Tengen

Unknown Tier: Iguro

Iguro would probably be C Tier or D Tier.

 

[Laminariales]

I'm not sure, the thing is pillars tend to undersell themselves since they compare their flaws with those who bypass these flaws, so I'll make it like a stats system (made up by myself) and just add the point as inaccurate as that is:

Himejima:
Speed: 5 Agility: 5 indurance: 5 strength: 5 intelligence: 4
= 24 ∞

Uzui:
Speed: 5 Agility: 3 Indurance: 5 strength: 4 intelligence: 4
= 21

Sanemi:
Speed: 5 Agility: 5 indurance: 5 strength: 4 intelligence: 2 special skill: +2 (on basis vs demon)
= 23

Tomioka:
Speed: 4 Agility: 4 indurance: 4 strength: 4 intelligence: 4
= 20 (Tomioka is jinxed with all fours)

Rengoku
Speed: 3 Agility: 4 indurance 5 strength: 4 intelligence: 3
= 19

Mitsuri:
Speed: 3 Agility: 5 indurance: 3 strength: 5 intelligence: 2
= 18

Shinobu:
Speed: 5 Agility: 4 indurance: 1. Strength: 2 intelligence: 5
= 17

Tokitou:
Speed: 4 Agility: 3 indurance: 2 strength: 5 intelligence: 4 potential for growth: ∆
= 18

Few Notes,

• very biased

• it's tiresome to separate based on marks so those who never received marks it was their destiny

• Iguro-san doesn't matter

• There is a translation error or like delivery error when uzui talk about himejima and tokitou, it goes there are those with monstrous power (himejima) and those who became pillars in only 3 months (tokitou) the statement doesn't apply to both!

• Tokitou felt inferior to uzui's physic

• Stuff like gyutarou poisen and douma antifreeze are unfair

• People are driven by their hearts or "how much do you hate this one demon"

Thank you for the opportunity

 

[Piratehunter Zoro]

Here is my list

#1 Gyomei

#2 Sanemi
#3 Rengoku
#4 Giyu

#5 Tengen
#6 Muichiro

#7 Shinobu
#8 Kanroji

Can't rate Obanai, because we haven't seen much of his capabilities. I am surprised that some of you have Tengen Uzui at the bottom of your list. Tbh the fight against upper moon 6 is still my favourite fight. Bear in mind that he was envenomed right from the get-go. Upper Moon 6 was probably stronger than its current position. Furthermore, Uzui burdens himself with fighting flamboyantly, although he wanted Daki to die plainly...

Gyomei is for sure the strongest. Sanemi, Rengoku and Giyu are probably on the same level. Shinobu with Tamayo's venom is scary, but on her own, she lacks a bit of "power".

 

[XXGenesis]

@Piratehunter Zoro
No way, Kanroji is under Shinobu....She's possess a lot more capability than her overall. Even more so than Tengen. Not to mention her Swordsmenship which is powerful & Unique in its own.

@Peter16373
Nice tier list..That may be more adequate for the pillars and series, overall. Gotta find a way to make it a simpler read and more appealing..like Asteriks for Mark's or suttin.

Rengoku was strong but idk if I say he's stronger than Marked Giyu. I say slightly weaker. I Think Kanroji is being severely underrated. Muchiro & Tengen imo are around the same lv with both having different skills.Tokito speed & swordsmanship & Uzui endurance, & power. But Shinobu w/o a doubt, has to be the weakest among them. She died really fast against #2. Doubt she fairs good against any other Upper Moon.

 

[Peter16373]

Yeah I really feel like Shinobu is getting seriously underestimated here. She fought against UM2 the 2nd strongest UM who is way stronger than all the other UMs so of course she’d die fast. But still her speed was able to somewhat surprise and impress Doma. Plus according to the volume extras Shinobu only has a weak swinging strength. Her push and thrust attacks are far stronger than everybody else and is capable of piercing through boulders. And the very same extra page also said it is thought to be faster than Breath of Water: Piercing Rain Drop. So yeah Shinobu is overall just heavily underestimated she is not the weakest pillar. Though I do think that Marked Mitsuri and Shinobu are kinda interchangeable. Just like how Kyojuro and Marked Giyu are interchangeable.

 

[Laminariales]

Yeah I really feel like Shinobu is getting seriously underestimated here. She fought against UM2 the 2nd strongest UM who is way stronger than all the other UMs so of course she’d die fast. But still her speed was able to somewhat surprise and impress Doma. Plus according to the volume extras Shinobu only has a weak swinging strength. Her push and thrust attacks are far stronger than everybody else and is capable of piercing through boulders. And the very same extra page also said it is thought to be faster than Breath of Water: Piercing Rain Drop. So yeah Shinobu is overall just heavily underestimated she is not the weakest pillar. Though I do think that Marked Mitsuri and Shinobu are kinda interchangeable. Just like how Kyojuro and Marked Giyu are interchangeable.

Well the ranking is based on how affective they are against demon, mainly their head cutting ability, shinobu is inferior in two aspects she can't cut heads; poor swing, and her small stature; like tokitou losing less amount of blood than the others is fatal. Her speed is where she stands out but that's just avading, she can't finish anyone UM level like that, . Thrust ability is as useful as the poison is, in case where it's ineffective the end result circle back to zero

Her most damaging move, which equels her death and 700+ thrust only weakened douma, without someone with power to slice his head (which again she can't) he'd recover

I love shinobu, she's a hard worker, but she's as useful as the poison is. Also we're comparing her to other pillars here, she already did well reaching a pillars status with all her short comings

 

[Peter16373]

Well the ranking is based on how affective they are against demon, mainly their head cutting ability, shinobu is inferior in two aspects she can't cut heads; poor swing, and her small stature; like tokitou losing less amount of blood than the others is fatal. Her speed is where she stands out but that's just avading, she can't finish anyone UM level like that, . Thrust ability is as useful as the poison is, in case where it's ineffective the end result circle back to zero

Her most damaging move, which equels her death and 700+ thrust only weakened douma, without someone with power to slice his head (which again she can't) he'd recover

I love shinobu, she's a hard worker, but she's as useful as the poison is. Also we're comparing her to other pillars here, she already did well reaching a pillars status with all her short comings

I thought this was a thread discussing how the pillars compare to each other and not against demons. XXGenesis even wrote where they lie in comparison to each other. So it seems like a comparing pillar against each other thread.

Also even if Shinobu is unable to decapitate demons I still think she could win against UM 4-6 as long as they don’t have resistance to her poison like Doma does. And they likely don’t have resistance as not even Doma started off with the poison resistance. The weaker upper moons will probably take a much longer time adapting to the poison since they are much weaker than Doma. So while they are trying to adapt she could just use her speed and inject even more poison to kill them.

 

[Laminariales]

I thought this was a thread discussing how the pillars compare to each other and not against demons. XXGenesis even wrote where they lie in comparison to each other. So it seems like a comparing pillar against each other thread.

Also even if Shinobu is unable to decapitate demons I still think she could win against UM 4-6 as long as they don’t have resistance to her poison like Doma does. And they likely don’t have resistance as not even Doma started off with the poison resistance. The weaker upper moons will probably take a much longer time adapting to the poison since they are much weaker than Doma. So while they are trying to adapt she could just use her speed and inject even more poison to kill them.

Oh my bad I assumed. Howevah! she still end on the low end imo, she feels like a normal, albeit crafty, human who try super hard, unlike her age group kanroji and tokitou (gorilla women and smashed a demon bare handed as a child). Tomioka incapacitated her quite easily. She's full with tricks but gross strength she still end up the lowest

 

[Peter16373]

Oh my bad I assumed. Howevah! she still end on the low end imo, she feels like a normal, albeit crafty, human who try super hard, unlike her age group kanroji and tokitou (gorilla women and smashed a demon bare handed as a child). Tomioka incapacitated her quite easily. She's full with tricks but gross strength she still end up the lowest

I mean we know that her speed is easily one of the highest among the pillars so physical strength won’t matter that much overall. Look at Tengen he has the second highest physical strength among the pillars yet he struggles against UM6 both before and after the poison starts kicking in while other pillars like Mitsuri despite being physically weaker can keep up with UM4.

Although now that I think about it Shinobu is probably rated a bit high on my list. She’s still stronger than Tengen, Base Muichiro and Base Mitsuri imo though. I just don’t really think that she’s stronger than Marked Mitsuri now. She’s probably in between Base Mitsuri and Marked Mitsuri. So yeah guess I’ll be moving her down one spot.

 

[HereNThere]

It's hard to really rank them because they all specialize in different things and have different strengths.

The only individuals who are clearly at the top are Gyomei and Sanemi. Both of them have shown qualities that put them far beyond what the others have shown, including physical strength, technique, and experience.

After them, I'd say it's Rengoku. Given how strong Akaza was, it's incredibly impressive that he could hold him in place for as long as he did. He had to abandon both of his arms to escape his grasp.

After them, you'd probably have to break up everyone into categories to see who tops those lists. Things like speed, technique, durability, etc. People are really underestimating Tengen and Mitsuri though.

Mitsuri's biggest weakness so far is her apparently inability to think things through before acting. Every time we've seen her fight, she's been harmed because she jumped into the fray without thinking about what the opponent could do. She was keeping up quite well with Hantengu's Child form even before the mark came into play. Hell, if we go by damage, she's the only Pillar who escaped with the least amount of damage after fighting solo against an Upper Moon.

As for Tengen, I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit biased, but I think Gyotarou and Daki would've given the majority of Pillars the work. They just had way too much stuff going on with them, despite them just being Ranked 6. Hell, I'd honestly say their rank didn't match actual strength level. You can't tell me that Gyokko was stronger than them. I ain't going to hold that against Tengen.

 

[XXGenesis]

Well the ranking is based on how affective they are against demon, mainly their head cutting ability, shinobu is inferior in two aspects she can't cut heads; poor swing, and her small stature; like tokitou losing less amount of blood than the others is fatal. Her speed is where she stands out but that's just avading, she can't finish anyone UM level like that, . Thrust ability is as useful as the poison is, in case where it's ineffective the end result circle back to zero

Her most damaging move, which equels her death and 700+ thrust only weakened douma, without someone with power to slice his head (which again she can't) he'd recover

I love shinobu, she's a hard worker, but she's as useful as the poison is. Also we're comparing her to other pillars here, she already did well reaching a pillars status with all her short comings

Great Post. This Sums up Shinobu perfectly.

I thought this was a thread discussing how the pillars compare to each other and not against demons. XXGenesis even wrote where they lie in comparison to each other. So it seems like a comparing pillar against each other thread.

It's both Peter. We would have to find some measure to compare the fights that they had against different opponents of different classes. To asses who's above who..like how Nemi & Gyomei preformed against UM#1..While Tokito lost a hand & got impaled to a pillar...to later kamikaze himself losing leg and lower torso.

Also even if Shinobu is unable to decapitate demons I still think she could win against UM 4-6 as long as they don’t have resistance to her poison like Doma does. And they likely don’t have resistance as not even Doma started off with the poison resistance. The weaker upper moons will probably take a much longer time adapting to the poison since they are much weaker than Doma. So while they are trying to adapt she could just use her speed and inject even more poison to kill them.

I personally dont think shinobu can take out any UM besides the infinity fortress...UM# 6 & 5 use poison themselves... I think they would neutralize it...& they won't be getting decapitated so Shinobu loses stamina & endurance & dies eventually..

It's hard to really rank them because they all specialize in different things and have different strengths.

The only individuals who are clearly at the top are Gyomei and Sanemi. Both of them have shown qualities that put them far beyond what the others have shown, including physical strength, technique, and experience.

After them, I'd say it's Rengoku. Given how strong Akaza was, it's incredibly impressive that he could hold him in place for as long as he did. He had to abandon both of his arms to escape his grasp.

After them, you'd probably have to break up everyone into categories to see who tops those lists. Things like speed, technique, durability, etc. People are really underestimating Tengen and Mitsuri though.

Mitsuri's biggest weakness so far is her apparently inability to think things through before acting. Every time we've seen her fight, she's been harmed because she jumped into the fray without thinking about what the opponent could do. She was keeping up quite well with Hantengu's Child form even before the mark came into play. Hell, if we go by damage, she's the only Pillar who escaped with the least amount of damage after fighting solo against an Upper Moon.

As for Tengen, I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit biased, but I think Gyotarou and Daki would've given the majority of Pillars the work. They just had way too much stuff going on with them, despite them just being Ranked 6. Hell, I'd honestly say their rank didn't match actual strength level. You can't tell me that Gyokko was stronger than them. I ain't going to hold that against Tengen.

Agreed!!
UM#5 was so meh compared to #6.
Tengen is strong & fast, but his Swordsmanship was getting countered a lot & he used those bombs often also..which is why I believe he ranks lower than most...

Absolutely Kanroji isn't the smartest. But she sure as hell is stronger than Shinobu & Tengen if you ask me. Her sword play was very effective against UM#4 & like you mentioned she received the less damage amongst the pillars when fighting a UM

As for Rengoku, I think for having that solo fight unmarked its only right for him to hold the #3 strongest. He also taught Mitsuri ber breathing technique, so he's the most successful pillar behind Gyomei & Nemi

 

[Peter16373]

I personally dont think shinobu can take out any UM besides the infinity fortress...UM# 6 & 5 use poison themselves... I think they would neutralize it...& they won't be getting decapitated so Shinobu loses stamina & endurance & dies eventually..

To be fair they don’t use wisteria poison. Also Shinobu uses wisteria poison that she personally created herself so yeah not exactly sure if they can just straight up neutralize it as fast as Doma. Doma is Doma he is pretty much a monster among the upper moons so him neutralizing wisteria poison instantly doesn’t scale to the weaker upper moons.

Agreed!!
UM#5 was so meh compared to #6.
Tengen is strong & fast, but his Swordsmanship was getting countered a lot & he used those bombs often also..which is why I believe he ranks lower than most...

Absolutely Kanroji isn't the smartest. But she sure as hell is stronger than Shinobu & Tengen if you ask me. Her sword play was very effective against UM#4 & like you mentioned she received the less damage amongst the pillars when fighting a UM

Gyokko getting stomped by Marked Muichiro doesn’t mean he’s weaker than Gyutaro. You guys do realize that Marked Tanjiro during the Red Light District Arc managed to overpower and slice off Gyutaro’s head in the last few moments of the fight right? The mark is such a huge power up it made Tanjiro who at the time wasn’t even Daki lvl strong enough that Gyutaro couldn’t pull out his sickle and got his head sliced off.

Also Marked Mitsuri was literally about to die against Zou Hakuten when she reached her stamina limit off screen. So I don’t think she received the least amount of damage against a UM. Muichiro probably received a bit less since the only damage he received is the needles and the poison. After he unlocked his mark never got hit directly by Gyokko.

 

[Laminariales]

Pillars who have been noted for their speed: uzui (by the 3 boys) sanemi (by tanjirou) shinobu (by douma) and it sorta match their breaths sound, wind, insect. there is no hint if any is superior to the others. Mitsuri even marked couldn't defeat UM4, when tanjirou got the main body she was at her at her limit and it wasn't in your face battle as much as evading and trimming hedges

Shinobu fought UM2 true, was cheated with the freezing powder true, but she didn't get him to use any of his ice demon art beside occasional fan flattering, she cheated him back. That can't be compared with uzui who fought gyuutarou to the bitter end. The fight started with him getting poisoned and tanjirou barely standing, yet survived gyutarou demon art twice, he couldn't evade despite his speed. if shinobu was hit she'd be shattered to pieces, same with UM4 attack that kanroiji withstood. Shinobu is too fragile even if she landed attacks her capacity to withstand is so much less, she's the youngest beside tokitou and I don't see potential for growth

It's just difficult to make a case for someone lacking so much in both attack and defense, that's why she uses poison to begin with which is inferior, evidenced by kanao opting to use flower breathing instead (or poison science is headache idk) I'm of the opinion that poison does not work on all UMs

I used to underestimate uzui too but honestly he register well when I seriously thought about it: fast, grip strength, withstand poison, fine with blood loss/arm off, makes a "score", survive gyuutarou crazy demon art twice. heck nezuko only burned the poison but someone with his injury wouldn't survive, I sometimes feel 6 is the added score of DakiGyuu rather than 6 for gyuutarou and daki is an omake, bc seriously she's such a liability, even his last explosion had a destructibility akin to akaza's, akaza's was only smaller bc he was aiming for himself.. gyuutarou is a chaotic mantis the only people I can imagine even taking him are chaotic sanemi and drop iron ball on head himejima. of the demons I'm biased to gyuutarou

And about douma, I was disappointed in him but it was quite fitting, he doesn't possess drive like say akaza or gyuutarou, making him "easier" to defeat

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 21, 2019, Original Post Date: Oct 21, 2019 ---

On rengoku, I. Dont. Know. in my head he is tanjrou + kanroji + his dad = nobel, rash, normal . withholding akaza was amazing but again it was dependent on sun rising, plus akaza fights with no tricks. his biggest achievement is protecting the train people more so

 

[Piratehunter Zoro]

@Piratehunter Zoro
No way, Kanroji is under Shinobu....She's possess a lot more capability than her overall. Even more so than Tengen. Not to mention her Swordsmenship which is powerful & Unique in its own.

I disagree. Kanroji held back UM4 for short period of time, but she would have never beaten him. From what I remember she was wounded by him. She jumps into a fight without analyzing the situation. She is a bit impulsive and naive. I don't see her reading a fight and drawing conclusions from doing so. We have found out, that fighting the Upper Moons requires more than just beheading them.

Shinobu is the main reason why UM2 was defeated rather quickly. It was her plan right from the beginning to be consumed by him in order to release all that venom she had stored in her body. That might have resulted in her "quick" death. Unlike Kanroji she is able to read the abilities of her opponents and the situation she is in. She is intelligent and quite unique. Furthermore, she is more important to the Demon Slayer Corps than Kanroji because of her medical abilities. I would rank her above Kanroji without any doubt.

 

[Ace]

I guess Kocho main problem is her reliance on poison. I mean, when the poison doesn't work, she becomes a very average swordswoman at best when she doesn't have poison on her side, she has the speed and stamina of a great swordwoman, but like someone said earlier she lacks the "power" to behead one, I don't think she would make it very far with the rest of the upper moons if they like Duma able to just shrug off poison, but then again the top 3 Upper Moon have been shown to just be on another level then the rest of the UM so I could be wrong there.

Mitsuri main issue to me I think is IQ in battle. She is shown in two different battle situation that she tends to not know what the enemy attacks or plan is and tends to just run over and start fighting right away which could be fatal in future battles at this point in the story. but I don't think she is to be underestimated. Since the next fight is to revolve around her and Iguno I guess maybe we'll finally see their true capabilities.

It looks like everyone is in agreement with the top pick so im list mine

#1: Gyomei

#2: Sanemi
#3: Rengoku
#4: Giyuu

#5: Mitsuri
#6: Muichiro
#7: Tengen

#8 Kocho

Not ranking Iguno since I have yet to see anything from him battle wise.

Also question, is this thread about strictly the pillars? or are we allowed to include people like Kanao, Tanjiro, and Zenutsu since they the've all defeated upper moons and are pretty much pillar level at this point? Or are we just talking about the ones that have the pillar title?

Also, just something to slide in here. I find it funny that out of all the female characters, Kanao is the only woman in the series to actually have the traditional sword technique while the other two, Mitsuri uses a bit like a whip and while Kocho uses hers for quick stabs.

 

[XXGenesis]

@Ace
Nice list. My fav so far.
I wanted to focus solely on the Pillars for this thread. Our Main group are Pillar lv but aside from Tanjiro, I'd say they are all still rather weaker compared to the current pillars.

 

[HereNThere]

Tengen is strong & fast, but his Swordsmanship was getting countered a lot & he used those bombs often also..which is why I believe he ranks lower than most...

My only defense is that Tengen is way more of a long term fighter than the other swordsmen as he needs time for his "Score" to develop. Even poisoned and with one arm, he managed to counter Gyoutarou, with the series implying he could've went for the kill had he been at full health.

 

[XXGenesis]

My only defense is that Tengen is way more of a long term fighter than the other swordsmen as he needs time for his "Score" to develop. Even poisoned and with one arm, he managed to counter Gyoutarou, with the series implying he could've went for the kill had he been at full health.

True Tengen did get very bad ass when his Score kicked in. Long term fights are deadly to Demon Slayers vs Demons, which can be an issue.

I have to go back and re read that arc, it happens to be my favorite, I must say.

 

[Ace]

So question for this panel... If misuki defeats upper moon 4 by herself, does she move up or stay where she is? It's pretty clear that this upper moon is the one that hiding muzan location and if she defeats her then the rest of the crew could be able to get to muzan without any problems now.