Try it
Tools for Demon Slayer fans
How powers are paid for
Why every Demon Slayer power has a price
Human lungs against demon flesh
Every Breathing Style is paid for by a human body. The user cannot regrow a lost arm or shrug off poison, and the stronger styles wear out lungs and legs fast. Pushing past the limit can bring out a Demon Slayer Mark, which multiplies strength but, as far as anyone knows, kills its bearer before the age of 25. Demons pay the opposite price: they heal from almost anything, but sunlight destroys them, a Nichirin Blade across the neck kills all but Muzan, and they must keep eating people to stay strong.
Drawback what the slayer pays
Burning lungs and limbs, wounds that never heal on their own, and a Demon Slayer Mark that shortens your life.
Weakness what the demons fear
Sunlight, a Nichirin Blade across the neck and wisteria poison.
Ranked by Tier
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Powers ranked by Tier
We rank by what a style or art did on screen against the strongest opponents it met, not by fan theories.
Cosmic0
None on this page.
World-Class6
Major16
Minor2
24 Powers
Every Power and what it costs
Breathing Styles belong to the Demon Slayer Corps; Blood Demon Arts belong to demons. Each card says who uses it, what it costs and what beats it.
Sun BreathingWorld-Class
Also known as: Hinokami Kagura (Dance of the Fire God)
The first Breathing Style, which every other style copies in part. Its twelve Forms link into one another in an endless loop, and that loop is the hidden Thirteenth Form. Cuts from it burn a demon's flesh so badly that the wounds struggle to heal.
Price · It asks more than an ordinary body can give. At first Tanjiro could use only a few Forms before his lungs and limbs gave out.
Weakness · It still needs a clean hit on the neck. Muzan survived Yoriichi's attack by bursting into pieces and fleeing.
Known holders
- Yoriichi Tsugikuni
- Tanjiro Kamado
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Moon BreathingWorld-Class
Slashes that throw out a swarm of small, uneven crescent blades, so each cut lands many times. As a demon, Kokushibo grows his sword out of his own flesh and widens its reach with every Form.
Price · Its creator gave up his humanity to keep using it: Michikatsu Tsugikuni became a demon rather than die young from his Demon Slayer Mark.
Weakness · Because its user is a demon, sunlight and a Nichirin Blade to the neck still end him, and he cannot fight by day.
Known holders
- Kokushibo
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Water BreathingMajor
One of the five basic styles and the one most taught to new slayers. Its ten Forms flow and bend like water and adapt to almost any opponent; Giyu Tomioka added an Eleventh Form of his own, Dead Calm, which cuts down everything that enters his reach.
Price · It is flexible rather than heavy, and Tanjiro's body was never suited to it, which pushed him toward Sun Breathing.
Weakness · A Breathing user is still a human body: wounds stay open, poison spreads and the user tires, while the demon they fight heals in seconds.
Known holders
- Giyu Tomioka
- Tanjiro Kamado
- Sakonji Urokodaki
- Sabito
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Flame BreathingMajor
A basic style of all-out forward attacks, built on stepping in hard and cutting with full force. The Flame Hashira line has passed it down in the Rengoku family for generations.
Price · It favours attack over defence, so its user takes hits head-on. Kyojuro Rengoku held off Akaza until dawn but died of his wounds.
Weakness · A Breathing user is still a human body: wounds stay open, poison spreads and the user tires, while the demon they fight heals in seconds.
Known holders
- Kyojuro Rengoku
- Shinjuro Rengoku
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Thunder BreathingMajor
A basic style built on the legs: the user bursts forward faster than the eye can follow and cuts in a single flash. Its First Form, Thunderclap and Flash, is the root of every other Form.
Price · Mastery comes hard. Zenitsu could only learn the First Form and, early on, used it well only once fear had knocked him unconscious; he later created a Seventh Form of his own.
Weakness · Straight-line speed is easy to read once seen, and a miss leaves the user wide open. A Breathing user is still a human body.
Known holders
- Zenitsu Agatsuma
- Jigoro Kuwajima
- Kaigaku
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Wind BreathingMajor
A basic style of wild, slicing attacks that look like whirlwinds and gusts. Its user charges straight in and cuts from every angle at once.
Price · It is reckless by design: Sanemi Shinazugawa fights covered in scars and lets himself be cut so his blood can draw demons in.
Weakness · A Breathing user is still a human body: wounds stay open, poison spreads and the user tires, while the demon they fight heals in seconds.
Known holders
- Sanemi Shinazugawa
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Stone BreathingMajor
The heaviest basic style, fought not with a sword but with a spiked flail and an axe joined by a chain. Gyomei, the strongest Hashira, swings both from a distance.
Price · It needs enormous strength, so few can wield it at all. Gyomei is blind and steers the chain by its sound.
Weakness · The long chain makes close fights hard, and anything that breaks the weapons' rhythm leaves the user open.
Known holders
- Gyomei Himejima
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Mist BreathingMajor
A style derived from Wind Breathing that hides the user's movements like a fog, so the opponent loses track of where the blade will come from. Its Seventh Form, Obscuring Clouds, was created by Muichiro himself.
Price · It relies on a calm, empty mind. Muichiro lost his memories after his brother's death and fought for years without knowing why.
Weakness · A Breathing user is still a human body: wounds stay open, poison spreads and the user tires, while the demon they fight heals in seconds.
Known holders
- Muichiro Tokito
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Serpent BreathingMajor
A style derived from Water Breathing with winding, twisting slashes that curve around guards like a snake. Obanai's blade is bent to match its strokes.
Price · Its winding strikes trade raw power for angle, so it relies on precision more than force.
Weakness · A Breathing user is still a human body: wounds stay open, poison spreads and the user tires, while the demon they fight heals in seconds.
Known holders
- Obanai Iguro
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Love BreathingMajor
A style derived from Flame Breathing, fought with a whip-thin, ribbon-like blade that lashes wide arcs. It only works because Mitsuri's muscles are eight times denser than normal, letting her bend and strike from impossible angles.
Price · Nobody else can copy it: it is built around one person's unusual body.
Weakness · The thin blade is easy to deflect if a demon gets past its arcs. A Breathing user is still a human body.
Known holders
- Mitsuri Kanroji
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Insect BreathingMajor
A style derived from Flower Breathing that stings rather than cuts. Shinobu's thin, needle-like blade injects wisteria poison, which kills demons she is too weak to behead.
Price · Shinobu is not strong enough to cut off a demon's head, so everything rests on the poison. A demon who learns to break it down shrugs off her attacks.
Weakness · Doma digested her poison faster than she could inject it. A Breathing user is still a human body.
Known holders
- Shinobu Kocho
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Flower BreathingMajor
A style derived from Water Breathing, graceful and quick, named after blooms. Its Final Form, Equinoctial Vermilion Eye, sharpens the user's eyesight so far that the world seems to slow down.
Price · The Final Form strains the eyes so badly that Kanao lost most of the sight in her right eye after using it.
Weakness · A Breathing user is still a human body: wounds stay open, poison spreads and the user tires, while the demon they fight heals in seconds.
Known holders
- Kanao Tsuyuri
- Kanae Kocho
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Sound BreathingMajor
A style derived from Thunder Breathing. Tengen swings two cleavers joined by a chain and sets off small explosives with each strike, while his Musical Score reads the opponent's rhythm to find the gaps in it.
Price · The Musical Score takes time to build, and Tengen needs it to land his attacks safely.
Weakness · Gyutaro's poison and sheer pressure cost Tengen an eye and a hand; he retired after the fight.
Known holders
- Tengen Uzui
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Beast BreathingMajor
A self-taught style that Inosuke made up while being raised by boars. He swings two jagged blades with wild, unpredictable cuts, senses movement around him through his skin, and can dislocate his joints to squeeze through gaps.
Price · There is no teacher and no polish: it works on instinct, and Inosuke often charges in without a plan.
Weakness · A Breathing user is still a human body: wounds stay open, poison spreads and the user tires, while the demon they fight heals in seconds.
Known holders
- Inosuke Hashibira
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Moon bladesWorld-Class
Kokushibo's Blood Demon Art lets him grow a sword out of his own flesh and fire the crescent blades of his Moon Breathing as a demon, longer and wider with every Form.
Price · None he feels: as a demon his only price is that he can never walk in daylight again.
Weakness · Sunlight. He survived being beheaded by regrowing his head, then fell apart when he saw the monster he had become.
Known holders
- Kokushibo
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Cryokinetic bloodWorld-Class
Doma's Blood Demon Art freezes his blood into ice. He fans out frozen mist that ruins the lungs of anyone who breathes it, and builds ice statues and lotus flowers that fight for him.
Price · Breathing users suffer most: every breath of his mist damages their lungs, so he wins long fights by waiting.
Weakness · Shinobu's whole body was full of wisteria poison when he absorbed her, and it weakened him enough for Kanao and Inosuke to behead him.
Known holders
- Doma
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Destructive DeathWorld-Class
Akaza's Blood Demon Art is pure martial arts sharpened by a snowflake-shaped compass under his feet, which senses an opponent's fighting spirit and points his fists at it.
Price · The compass reads fighting spirit, so it is blind to someone who fights without any, like Tanjiro in the Transparent World.
Weakness · Losing his head did not stop him at first; he died when memories of his human life made him give up.
Known holders
- Akaza
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Emotion clonesMajor
Hantengu's Blood Demon Art splits him into demons that each embody one emotion, such as Sekido for anger and Karaku for pleasure. They can merge into stronger forms while the real Hantengu hides, tiny, elsewhere.
Price · His clones only die when the real, tiny body is found and beheaded.
Weakness · Finding and cutting the real Hantengu ends every clone at once.
Known holders
- Hantengu
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Pot demonMajor
Gyokko's Blood Demon Art lets him move between his pots and pour fish, needles and water out of them. In his true form, anything his hands touch turns into a fish.
Price · He has to be near a pot to move around.
Weakness · Muichiro beheaded him once his attacks became too slow to catch the Mist Hashira.
Known holders
- Gyokko
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Obi sashes and blood sicklesMajor
Upper Moon Six is two siblings sharing one rank. Daki attacks with living obi sashes that cut and trap people inside them; Gyutaro hurls spinning sickles made from his own poisoned blood.
Price · Their life is shared: as long as one survives, the other cannot die.
Weakness · Both heads have to be cut off at the same moment, which is how Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke and Tengen finally killed them.
Known holders
- Daki
- Gyutaro
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Demon King's bloodWorld-Class
Muzan Kibutsuji, the first demon, turns people into demons with his blood and can read their thoughts, see through their eyes and kill them with a thought. He reshapes his body at will and regrows from almost any wound.
Price · Sunlight terrifies him: for a thousand years he searched for a way to walk in daylight and never found one.
Weakness · Sunlight. Beheading alone does not kill him, so the Corps had to hold him in place until dawn.
Known holders
- Muzan Kibutsuji
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Exploding BloodMajor
Nezuko's Blood Demon Art sets her blood on fire. The pink flames burn only demons and their poison, so it can heal a human ally while burning the demon inside them.
Price · Using it takes a toll on her: she sleeps for long stretches to regain strength instead of eating people.
Weakness · Sunlight threatened her until she became the first demon to overcome it.
Known holders
- Nezuko Kamado
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Sleep and dreamsMinor
Enmu, Lower Moon One, puts people to sleep and traps them in dreams. He sends helpers into a dreamer's mind to destroy their spirit core and leave them asleep for good.
Price · He needs his targets to fall asleep first, through his tickets, his voice or his scent.
Weakness · Killing yourself inside the dream wakes you up, which Tanjiro found out.
Known holders
- Enmu
Held by
Closest Power on our list
Blood threadsMinor
Rui, Lower Moon Five, spins threads out of his blood that are hard enough to slice through bodies and blades, and weaves them into cages and nets.
Price · His threads harden with his blood, so a cut to his body weakens them.
Weakness · Giyu Tomioka's Dead Calm cut through every thread before beheading him.
Known holders
- Rui
Held by
Closest Power on our list
5 Branches
Branches and their Powers
Showing 5 of 5
- Sun and MoonThe first Breathing Style and its darkest copy, made by twin brothers about four hundred years before the story.
- Basic Breathing StylesThe five styles that came from Sun Breathing and still have their own Hashira.
- Derived Breathing StylesStyles that branched off a basic style, plus one made up from scratch.
- Upper MoonsThe six strongest of the Twelve Kizuki, Muzan's elite demons.
- Other demonsMuzan himself, Nezuko and two of the Lower Moons.
Across fiction
How Demon Slayer powers compare to other fiction
- PyrokinesisFlame Breathing only looks like fire: the flames show how its cuts feel. Nezuko's Exploding Blood is real fire, and it burns only demons, which makes it a rare fire power that can heal.Read the Pyrokinesis page →
- CryokinesisDoma's ice is a fighter's ice: frozen mist that wrecks the lungs of anyone who breathes it, which is why it beats Breathing users in particular.Read the Cryokinesis page →
- Healing FactorDemons heal from almost anything, so in Demon Slayer a healing factor is the enemy's power. The slayers win by finding the one wound that still kills: the neck, or sunlight.See Healing Factor in the list →
- DuplicationHantengu's clones are each one emotion of the same demon, and none of them is the real one, which hides elsewhere in a tiny body.See Duplication in the list →
FAQ
How many Breathing Styles are there in Demon Slayer?
The series shows 14: Sun Breathing, the five basic styles (Water, Flame, Thunder, Wind and Stone), the derived styles Mist, Serpent, Love, Insect, Flower and Sound, Inosuke's self-taught Beast Breathing, and Kokushibo's Moon Breathing.
What is the strongest Breathing Style?
Sun Breathing. It is the original style that all others copy, and Yoriichi Tsugikuni, who created it, nearly killed Muzan with it on his own. Kokushibo's Moon Breathing is the strongest style used by a demon.
Who are the Upper Moons?
The six strongest of the Twelve Kizuki: Kokushibo (One), Doma (Two), Akaza (Three), Hantengu (Four), Gyokko (Five) and the siblings Daki and Gyutaro (Six). Nakime and Kaigaku later fill the empty Four and Six spots.
Are the water and fire effects in Demon Slayer real?
No. The water, fire and lightning drawn around a slayer's blade show what each Breathing Style feels like; the slayer is only swinging a sword. Demons' Blood Demon Arts, by contrast, are real powers, such as Doma's ice and Nezuko's fire.
Unofficial fan reference
This page is fan-made and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Koyoharu Gotouge, Shueisha, Aniplex or Ufotable. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and its characters and terms belong to their owners and are used here only to identify the series. Every description is written in our own words. The header image is used only to identify the series and belongs to its rights holder; no logos are used.
Sources and how this page was written Updated October 22, 2026 +
We checked each Power and Branch against the pages below, then wrote every line ourselves.
- Wikipedia: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Wikipedia: List of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba characters
Koyoharu Gotouge / Shueisha.