Horikoshi really reached new heights of creativity when creating My Hero Academia. The series has so many powers we never could’ve imagined!
Every superhero story tends to have the same regular superhero powers like superhuman strength, invisibility and elemental powers like fire, water, wind and ice.
Horikoshi broke the mould when creating quirks, making My Hero Academia a fresh, welcome surprise.
The world of My Hero Academia is full of creative, unimaginable quirks. From telekinetic ones like Fiber Master to physical mutations like Fierce Wings and a wide range of power-emitting quirks like Softening and Decay.
Further, every other chapter and episode introduces us to new characters with new unique quirks! That being said, here are 25 of the strongest quirks we’ve come across in the series so far:
25 Brainwashing
User – Hitoshi Shinso
Although Shinso did not make it into the hero course, his quirk isn’t one to be underestimated. ‘Brainwashing’ is activated by making the target respond to anything you say while focusing on brainwashing them.
Using this quirk, Shinso can control anybody and make them follow every command.
The only drawback is the brainwashed target cannot carry out complex tasks, and a simple jolt is sufficient to break the effect.
24 Dark Shadow
User – Fumikage Tokoyami
‘Dark Shadow’ is the name of the mysterious shadowy figure that Tokoyami controls as his quirk. Dark Shadow is incredibly agile and so powerful that even Tokoyami loses control over it often.
Through his time spent with Hawks, Tokoyami has even learned to use Dark Shadow to fly. Dark Shadow’s only weakness is light and light-centered attacks, which make it cower away.
23 Muscle Augmentation
User – Goto Imasuji/Muscular
Goto Imasuji, better known as Muscular, wields the quirk called ‘Muscle Augmentation.’
This quirk allows him to increase and enlarge the muscle fibres anywhere on his body, giving him the strength to destroy a cliffside and durability to withstand an attack from One For All at 100%.
Imasuji can also increase his speed by focusing the quirk on his legs.
However, the muscle fibers themselves are not indestructible and fall away after their energy is used up. Deku easily defeated Imasuji in Chapter 308 after Shindo weakened the muscle fibers using his quirk Vibrate.
22 Electrification
User – Denki Kaminari
Kaminari’s quirk ‘Electrification’ lets him emit and absorb electricity. He can paralyze anybody that touches him or gets too close by electrocuting them. He can also use his quirk for communication.
Using his quirk at a high voltage fries Kaminari’s brain making him a liability in battles. His quirk also has a natural weakness against insulators and quirks like Shiozaki’s vines and Todoroki’s ice that are poor conductors.
21 Vines
User – Ibara Shiozaki
‘Vines’ is the quirk held by Shiozaki from Class 1-B. Shiozaki’s quirk takes the form of thorny vines on her head that she controls at will. Her quirk is very well-rounded and can be used to fill every spot in a team.
The only weakness of Shiozaki’s quirk is that if her vines are cut off to the root, she can be defeated. Her vines take time to grow back out.
20 Meatball
User – Seiji Shishikura
Shishikura’s quirk ‘Meatball’ is a terrifying one. It allows the Shiketsu second-year to manipulate flesh– both his own and his opponents’. All it takes to activate the quirk is a slight touch.
Shishikura can also turn his flesh into projectiles. Once one of these projectiles hits its mark, he can incapacitate opponents by kneading them into meatballs.
Maintaining the disfigured form of his opponents requires concentration. If Shishikura takes too much damage and loses focus, his opponents revert back.
19 Compress
User – Atsuhiro Sako/Mr. Compress
Sako, also known as Mr. Compress, is a member of the League of Villains and uses the quirk called ‘Compress.’ His quirk lets him shrink any object or person into tiny marbles by touching them.
Snapping his fingers unshrinks them like a magic trick. He can also use his quirk to maim opponents by compressing only a part of their body.
Like many quirks that activate on physical contact, losing his arms is the biggest threat to Sako’s ability to use his quirk.
18 Softening
User – Juzo Honenuki
‘Softening’ is the quirk of one of the strongest students of Class 1-B, Juzo Honenuki. Honenuki can turn anything he touches into a softened semi-liquid state.
His quirk is an excellent counter against most quirks, can restrain enemies as massive as Gigantomachia and can also increase his mobility by swimming in the softened material.
His only weakness is that his quirk doesn’t work on living things.
17 Arbor
User – Shinji Nishiya/Kamui Woods
‘Arbor’ is the quirk used by Shinji Nishiya, popularly known as the pro-hero Kamui. Using his quirk, Nishiya can manifest and control wooden branches that sprout from his body.
His quirk is excellent for rescue missions and restraining enemies. During the mission to retrieve Bakugo, Nishiya was able to restrain the entire League of Villains.
Arbor’s natural weakness is fire. Quirks like Compress, Warp Gate and Telescopic would also be able to evade Arbor’s restraints.
16 Fierce Wings
User – Keigo Takami/Hawks
Takami’s quirk takes the form of stunning red wings on his back. He can control each feather dexterously. Besides using them to fly at impressive speeds, he can spread them over a large area to widen his senses using the connection he has with each feather.
He can also extend a feather and use it as a blade. Each feather is strong enough to carry a person and aid him in rescue operations.
The inherent weakness of this quirk is fire. Once feathers are burnt away, they take two whole days to regenerate. Takami’s quirk also isn’t powerful offensively, its sole strength being speed.
15 Wave Motion
User – Nejire Hado
Hado being one of the Big Three of U.A., has a very powerful quirk. Hado’s quirk ‘Wave Motion’ creates powerful blast waves using her life energy. Hado’s attacks are powerful enough to take down enemies, several leagues stronger and larger than her.
The drawbacks of this quirk are that the blast waves take the form of spirals, making them slower. They also depend on Hado’s limited life force reserves.
14 Fat Absorption
User – Taishiro Toyomitsu/ Fat Gum
‘Fat Absorption’ is the quirk used by Taishiro Toyomitsu, known as the pro hero Fat Gum. This peculiar quirk makes anything that comes in contact with his body stick to it and sink into his body fat.
Toyomitsu’s quirk makes him incredibly strong defensively since attacking him usually allows him to restrain opponents. He can also stockpile the power behind an opponent’s attacks into one single deadly counterattack.
However, this counterattack is a last-ditch effort. Since it burns away Toyomitsu’s body fat, it leaves him vulnerable if he doesn’t manage to take down the opponent.
13 Dragon
User – Ryuko Tatsuma/Ryukyu
As the name suggests, Ryukyu or Ryuko Tastuma’s quirk ‘Dragon’ lets her transform into a huge intimidating dragon. In her dragon form, Tastuma has incredible strength and durability. Tatsuma’s dragon form also has wings that she uses to fly.
During the Shie Hassaikai Arc, she mainly held back one of Chisaki’s henchmen Rikiya who had superhuman strength after using a quirk-enhancing drug and even managed to restrain him.
12 Fiber Master
User – Tsunagu Hakamada/Best Jeanist
‘Fiber Master’ is possibly the strongest quirk for restraining opponents. This quirk gives Hakamada the ability to telekinetically control all kinds of fibers, from fabric fibers to carbon fibers.
He can manipulate these threads to restrain even the likes of All For One, Gigantomachia and the League Of Villains.
Similar to Shishikura’s ‘Meatball,’ this quirk requires concentration. Losing focus can loosen constraints.
11 Warp Gate
User – Kurogiri
Using ‘Warp Gate, ‘ Kurogiri can create portals by manipulating a black fog. He can also cover his body with this black rog which makes it difficult to attack him. He can also teleport people through his fog-covered body.
The weakness of this quirk is that Kurogiri should be able to picture the place he wants to open the portal. If not, he needs to be familiar with the exact coordinates. Although Kurogiri’s body is covered with the dark fog, it is possible to defeat him by striking his real body, which must be present to activate his quirk. Kurogiri cannot open portals remotely.
10 Explosion
User – Katsuki Bakugo
Bakugo possesses the quirk called ‘Explosion,’ which creates huge explosions from his palms by igniting special nitroglycerin sweat.
Although Bakugo’s quirk seems unpredictable and dangerous at first, we’ve seen him hone his quirk into creating concentrated, precise attacks like ‘AP Shot.’
The only real weakness of this quirk is that creating explosions from both hands simultaneously can create relatively weaker explosions.
9 Manifest
User – Tamaki Amajiki
Amajiki arguably has the strongest quirk among the Big Three. His quirk ‘Manifest’ gives him the ability to manifest physical traits of the foods he eats. From cow hooves to octopus tentacles, Amajiki can manifest and use several traits simultaneously.
However, he can only use a particular trait while the food it is from is still in his system. He needs to eat the food again to manifest the trait again.
8 Hellflame and Cremation
Users – Enji Todoroki/Endeavour and Touya Todoroki/Dabi, respectively
Although Hellflame and Cremation are similar at first glance, two glaring factors separate the two, which gives them both different strengths and weaknesses: resistance to overheating and the heat level of their flames.
‘Hellflame’ is the quirk used by Enji Todoroki or Endeavour. His quirk lets him produce yellow-orange flames. He can cover himself with his flames and also control how hot they are.
Enji also has the ability to burn an enemy like the High-End Nomu to ashes. Overusing his quirk can cause overheating and compromise his bodily functions.
Touya, unlike his father, has even weaker resistance to overheating.
Since he inherited his mother’s constitution, his quirk ‘Cremation’ burns his body and melts his skin, making him unrecognizable to even his own family. However, his flames are far hotter than Enji’s, giving them a blue color.
7 Half-Cold Half-Hot
User – Shoto Todoroki
Shoto’s quirk surpasses both pohis father’s and siblings’. Using ‘Half-Cold Half-Hot,’ Shoto can produce flames from one side of his body and ice from the other. Unlike his father and Touya, Shoto can avoid any consequen
ces like overheating or frostbite by using both together or alternatively.
Mastering using both sides together is incredibly difficult, and Shoto is yet to master it.
6 Decay
User – Tomura Shigaraki
Living or non-living, Shigaraki’s quirk ‘Decay’ makes anything he touches disintegrate till it crumbles into dust. His own traumatic childhood experiences initially repressed Shigaraki’s true potential.
Receiving All For One magnified Decay’s power immensely. In Chapter 272, Shigaraki released a wave of Decay, leveling the hospital, the surrounding buildings and heroes.
Since activating the quirk depends on physical contact, losing his arms could mean losing his quirk. Decay is also ineffective against sand and water-based quirks.
5 Overhaul
User – Kai Chisaki
‘Overhaul’ gives Chisaki the terrifying ability to take apart and then put back together anything he touches with his hands. His quirk works both on living and non-living targets. He can also combine two objects together and heal injuries using his quirk.
The most terrifying use of Overhaul was during the Shue Hassaikai raid when Chisaki fused himself with his men Shin and Rikiya when facing Deku.
Much like Shigaraki, the only threat to this quirk is losing the body part needed to activate it– in Chisaki’s case, his hands.
4 Erasure
User – Shota Aizawa
‘Erasure’ is a rare quirk held by Aizawa that lets him erase a person’s quirk by looking at them. He can also erase multiple quirks at once.
Erasure is only ineffective against mutant-type quirks like Iida’s, and the effect wears off once Aizawa blinks or looks away.
3 Rewind
User – Eri
Eri, the granddaughter of the yakuza boss of the Shie Hassaikai, possesses a rare quirk for which Kai Chisaki weaponized her. Her quirk ‘Rewind’ lets her rewind all living things to a previous point in time.
She can completely erase a living thing’s existence with enough power. Her quirk can also heal injuries and undo evolution.
The drawback of ‘Rewind’ is that Eri needs to be in physical contact to activate it. So far, it hasn’t shown any potential as an offensive quirk.
2 All For One
User – All For One
All For One is the main antagonist of the series. His quirk, which goes by the same name, is the only known quirk capable of manipulating quirks to such an extent.
All For One can take away, bestow, transfer and even create copies of quirks. All For One’s quirk lets him hold and use multiple quirks at once.
The quirk can also be used to create nearly unbeatable beings called Nomu, who also possess several quirks.
Since All For One can take away any quirk if he wishes, it nearly impossible for anyone to stand up against him. Its only weakness is One For All– the only quirk that cannot be stolen and must be given freely.
1 One For All
User – Izuku Midoriya
‘One For All,’ wielded by Midoriya, is the strongest quirk in My Hero Academia. One For All is a power-stockpiling quirk that gets stronger with every generation it is passed on.
It is the only known transferable quirk. One For All also lets Midoriya access the quirks of the previous holders.
Since One For All can only be transferred willingly, it is the only quirk All For One cannot steal and thus the only one with a chance at defeating him. Since the quirks of the previous users are also a part of One For All, they cannot be stolen either.
About My Hero Academia
My Hero Academia is a Japanese superhero manga series written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since July 2014, with its chapters additionally collected in 37 tankōbon volumes as of February 2023.
It follows a quirkless boy Izuku Midoriya and how he backed the greatest Hero alive. Midoriya, a boy who has been admiring heroes and their ventures since the day he was born, came into this world without a quirk, where almost everybody is born with one.
On one fateful day, he meets All Might the greatest Hero of all time and discovers that he was quirkless as well. With his diligent attitude and unwavering spirit about being a hero, Midoriya manages to impress All Might. He is chosen to be the heir to the power of One for All.
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