Top 10 Most Powerful Breathing Styles In Demon Slayer (Ranked)

Demon Slayer has many cool concepts that have made it one of the most popular Anime today but the coolest has to be the Breathing Styles used by DS corps to slay Muzan’s Demons. There are numerous different breathing styles.

However, just like me, you’ll be wondering which are the most powerful Breathing Styles in demon slayer. Well, worry not cause we MyAnimeGuru have made a comprehensive list of the Top Ten Most Powerful Breathing Styles in Demon Slayer for you.

This list will be based on the strength of the style, the versatility of its techniques and the strength of its users. So without further ado, let’s start this of the most powerful breathing styles in demon slayer.

Origin of breathing techniques 

Before we get into the list of the most powerful breathing styles in demon slayer, let’s see its origin.

The creator of the breathing styles was Yoriichi Tsugikuni who first created the Sun Style. This was possible because he was physically gifted with otherworldly abilities. As such he devised this method to slay demons.

Soon he started teaching his technique to others, but due to lacking the innate ability to master Sun Style, his students modified the properties of Sunstyle to create new styles to suit their abilities. Thus new styles and substyles emerged.

Chart styles
Relationship between different styles

Sun Breathing gave rise to the 5 main styles- Flame, Water, Wind, Stone, Thunder and a direct derivative Moon Style. Flame gave rise to the Love style, Water gave rise to Flower and Serpent style.

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Flower Style in turn gave rise to Insect Style. Wind style gave rise to Mist Style and Beast style while Thunder gave rise to Sound Style. These are all the known forms of Breathing styles.

Breathing style
Chart of the Breathing Styles.

Most Powerful Breathing Styles In Demon Slayer

Now that we know the origin of the breathing styles, let’s begin with our list of the Top Ten most powerful breathing styles in Demon Slayer

10. Serpent Breathing(5 Forms)

Serpent breathing
Serpent Breathing by Obanai Iguro

The 10th name on our list is Serpent breathing used by the Serpent Hashira Obanai Iguro. He is also the sole user of this style, making it one of the most powerful breathing styles in Demon Slayer.

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This style is a derivative of the water style. Obanai created it himself and this style is reminiscent of the movements made by a slithering snake. This technique uses a specialised sword resembling a real-life Indonesian Kris Sword.

It has the user envision themselves attacking in tandem with the visualisation of giant white snakes. Due to its complex movements, it’s very hard to predict the attack patterns making it very deadly.

It has 5 known forms with the 5th form Slithering Serpent being the strongest technique of this style. All 5 forms have been seen

Obanai
Known Users of Serpent Style

9. Mist Breathing(7 Forms)

Mist Beathing
Mist Breathing by Muichiro Tokita

The 9th on the list is Mist Breathing. It is a derivative of the Wind Style and used exclusively by the Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokita, making it one of the most powerful breathing styles in Demon Slayer.

This style is based on the properties of mist and is based on swift attacks which take advantage of the disoriented senses of the enemies because of the mist.

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The user envisions themself to be engulfed by the mist and uses confusing patterns. Since the only known user wears baggy clothing, covering his whole body, this must play some role in this style.

There were 6 original techniques with a 7th technique invented by Tokito himself in order to kill Muzan. This 7th form, Obscuring Clouds is the strongest technique of this style

Users of Mist style
Known Users of Mist Style

8. Water Breathing(11 Forms)

Tomioka
Water Breathing By Giyuu Tomioka

The 8th of the most powerful breathing styles in demon slayer is the Water style. It is one of the 5 main base styles and is said to be the easiest to learn of all styles.

It is mainly used by Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka and Tanjiro. This style has the user envision themselves using the fluidity and the adaptability of flowing water while visualising torrents of water around their blade.

It’s good for both offence and defence due to the nature of water making it one of the most powerful breathing styles in demon slayer.

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There were 10 forms originally till Tomioka created an 11th form specifically to fight Muzan. This 11th form, Dead Calm is the strongest technique of this style.

Water style users
Known Users of Water style

7. Flame Breathing(9 Forms)

Rengoku
Flame Breathing by Rengoku

The 7th of the most powerful breathing styles in demon slayer is the Flame style. It is one of the 5 basic styles and the known users are the Flame Hashira Kyojiro and his father, the former Flame Hashira, Senjuro.

The user envisions themselves covered in flames and use powerful single strikes that have a burning effect and are generally made from a high stance. The users visualise themselves controlling flames.

As it is used by a Hashira, it is one of the most powerful breathing styles in demon slayer. There are 9 known forms with the last form, Rengoku being an esoteric art of the Rengoku family, exclusive to them. 6 of the 9 forms have been shown.

Flame users
Known users of Flame Style

6. Sound Breathing(5 Forms)

Tengen-sama
Sound Breathing by Uzui Tenzen

The 6th of the most powerful breathing styles in demon slayer is the sound style, which is derivative of the Thunder style. It is solely used by the Sound Hashira, Uzui Tenzen, who was also the now who developed it.

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Uzui was able to develop it, because of his extraordinary sense of sound, Musical score which allows him to understand the flow of vibrations all around him and through them analyze the movements of everyone around him which leads to him decoding them.

Uzui uses Anti-demon bombs along with his twin swords in order to deal more damage to his enemies.

Currently, there are 5 techniques with 3 of them being seen. The last of them, String Performance is the strongest technique of this style.

Sound Users
Known users of Sound Style

5. Thunder Breathing(7 Forms)

Thunder style
Thunder Breathing By Zenitsu

One of the 5 base styles, the Thunder style is one of the most powerful breathing styles in demon slayer. It makes use of lightning-fast strikes and extremely fast movements in order to disorient the enemy.

The users envision themselves as being able to attack and control with lightning. The attacks are so sharp and fast-paced that the air around the user starts vibrating and even footsteps appear in the form of loud thunder.

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Currently, there are 3 known users- Zenitsu, his cultivator Jigoro Kuwajima and former senior of Zenitsu and the new Upper Moon Six, Kaigaku.

There are 6 known techniques with a 7th one developed by Zenitsu to specifically defeat Kaigaku. It is known as Honoikazuchi no Kami and is the strongest technique of this style.

Most Powerful Breathing Styles In Demon Slayer
Known Users of Thunder Style

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4. Wind Breathing(9 Forms)

wind breathing
Wind Breathing by Sanemi Shinazugawa

One of the 5 base styles and the 4th of the most powerful breathing styles in demon slayer, the Wind style is extremely powerful. It has the user envision that they can control winds and create tornadoes and Whirlwinds with it.

It is a purely offensive style that takes advantage of the flow of wind around the user to increase the strength and speed of the strikes while also increasing the range of the strikes.

There are 2 known users. The Wind Hashira Sanemi Shinazugawa & his senior Masachika Kumeno who is dead. Because it is used by a Hashira, it is one of the most powerful breathing styles in Demon Slayer. There are 9 known forms with the last one Idaten Typhoon being the strongest technique of this style.

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Wind Breathing Users
Known users of wind style

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3. Stone Breathing(5 Techniques)

Stone Breathing
Stone Breathing by Gyomei Himejima

One of the 5 base derivatives, stone breathing is the 3rd of the most powerful breathing styles in demon slayer. It is used solely by the Stone Hashira Gyomei Himejima.

This style needs a very strong and powerful body in order to learn it and it has the user envision using the strength of the earth under them to deliver powerful blows to destroy the enemy. This is a breathing style that is great at both attack and defence.

There are 5 techniques and of these, the 5th Form, Arcs of Justice is the strongest technique.

Stone Breathing
Known users of Stone Style

2. Moon Breathing(16 Forms)

Moon Breathing
Moon Breathing by Kokushibo(Michikatsu Tsugikuni)

The 2nd of the most powerful breathing techniques in Demon Slayer is none other than the first derivative of the Sun-Style, Moon Breathing. It was invented by Kokushibo. Back when he was a human, Michikatsu Tsugikuni asked his twin, Yoriichi to teach him the sun style.

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Lacking his brother’s innate talent, Michikatsu modified the style and invented the Moon Style. This style is based on the crescent moon and uses swift and powerful strikes based on the patterns of the moon.

After inventing this style, he continued to hone it, but despite all his efforts, he couldn’t surpass Yoriichi. Thus asked Muzan to turn him into a demon after which he took the name Kokushibo and became the Upper rank One.

He infused his Blood Demon Arts into his moon style to enhance the technique with crescent blades made of his accompanying all his slashes. This makes his attacks so devastating that is nigh impossible to defeat him, making moon style the second most powerful style.

During his long life as a demon, he developed many forms for his Moon style with 16 known forms. The strongest of these is the 16th form, Moonbow, Half Moon.

Kokushibo
Known users of Moon Style

1. Sun Breathing(13 Forms)

demon slayer yoriichi sun breathing edited
Sun Breathing by Yoriichi Tsugikuni

The 1st and the top of the most powerful breathing styles in Demon Slayer is Sun breathing. It was the first known form and was developed by Yoriichi Tsugikuni. It was possible because he was innately gifted. He thus became the first demon slayer.

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He based the breathing on the 12 movements of the sun resulting in 12 forms that aren’t rigid and are extremely varied making it very versatile and effective against demons leaving swift cuts that result in certain death. Users envision themselves using Solar flames using this technique.

The 12 known forms are merged in a continually repeating form, simply called the 13th Form created by Yoriichi to kill Muzan. As the original style and the progenitor of all styles, The Sun Breathing is the strongest on this list of the most powerful breathing styles in Demon Slayer.

There are 4 known users. The initiator of the style Yoriichi, Sumiyoshi, (the ancestor of the Kamado family, whom Yoriichi entrusted with passing on the style through generations in the form of the Hanafuda earrings and the Hinokami Kagura dance), Tanjiro and Tanjiro’s father Tanjuro.

Most powerful breathing techniques in demon slayer
Known users of Sun Style

Conclusion

This concludes our list of the most powerful breathing styles in demon slayer. While depending on the skill and experience of the user, even weaker styles can be strong, objectively Sun breathing remains the strongest style.

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FAQ Page

What is Tanjiro’s strongest breathing style?

Tanjiro’s strongest breathing style is Breath of the Sun aka, Hinokami Kagura.

What is the strongest form of Water breathing in demon slayer?

Constant Flux is believed to be the strongest form of water breathing in demon slayer.

Which breathing technique is the strongest?

Sun breathing is the strongest style while also being the first style, thus being the progenitor of all other styles.

What is the strongest moon-breathing form?

The 16th form, the Moonbow half moon is said to be the strongest moon-breathing form. But there are controversies as it relies heavily on Kokishibo’s blood demon art.

Deepanjan Mitra

Reading Manga and watching Anime is my fav past-time. Since watching my first anime in 2012, Ive been an avid fan. Football, Pro wrestling and Heavy Metal are my fav interests . Read More

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