Espada Power Ranking

[KingKenjo]

I've been trying to work out which Espadas are stronger than which for a while now, and it's been a real pain. Obviously the major stuff I know (the ones where tier gaps exist are kinda no-brainers), but things like scaling Segunda Etapa in comparison to the top 3 kinda make things a little harder.

So, I turn to you guys. I'd totally appreciate making a digestible "weakest to strongest" list with the reasons for each placement explained. For the sake of being reasonable I'll only ask to rank the strongest forms for the 10 of them, but if you wanna go the extra mile and go form-by-form that'd also be cool.

I also wanna specify that this is pre-Blood War I wanna know about. I already know that Blood War/CFYOW Grimmjow is way stronger than any of the Arrancar Arc Espada.

 

[KingKenjo]

Bump

 

[KingKenjo]

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[KingKenjo]

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[KingKenjo]

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[KingKenjo]

B'ump

 

[Reio35]

B'ump

The espada are ranked based on reiastu level. But when you factor in other things like hax,speed durability ect the ranks would change imo.

But yammy is the strongest cuz he has the highest ap and reiastu out of all the epsada. But he's really slow he would lose to a lot of the espada.

Ulqirroras 2nd release is stronger than all the espada. This form is not rank by aizen cuz he isn't aware of it. Infact ulqs rank disappears when he goes into this form. And u can probably somewhat scale to VL ichigo cuz he cutt his horn off. VL is above the espada for sure

 

[KingKenjo]

The espada are ranked based on reiastu level. But when you factor in other things like hax,speed durability ect the ranks would change imo.

But yammy is the strongest cuz he has the highest ap and reiastu out of all the epsada. But he's really slow he would lose to a lot of the espada.

Ulqirroras 2nd release is stronger than all the espada. This form is not rank by aizen cuz he isn't aware of it. Infact ulqs rank disappears when he goes into this form. And u can probably somewhat scale to VL ichigo cuz he cutt his horn off. VL is above the espada for sure

So how would you put each of them in a ranking list involving all ten?
Aaroniero at #1 babyyyy

 

[Reio35]

Lol nope hes pretty trash but has the most potential.

But taking hax and stats into consideration i would say

1. Ulq
2.Barragan
3.Zommari
4.Starrk
5. Halibel
6.grimmjow
7.Nnoritora
8.yammy
9.sazyle
10.aranerio

All in their strongest forms

 

[KingKenjo]

Bump

 

[Jo-Smooth]

The espada are ranked based on reiastu level. But when you factor in other things like hax,speed durability ect the ranks would change imo.

But yammy is the strongest cuz he has the highest ap and reiastu out of all the epsada. But he's really slow he would lose to a lot of the espada.

Ulqirroras 2nd release is stronger than all the espada. This form is not rank by aizen cuz he isn't aware of it. Infact ulqs rank disappears when he goes into this form. And u can probably somewhat scale to VL ichigo cuz he cutt his horn off. VL is above the espada for sure

Aizen did know about Ulquiorra's 2nd release. In the manga, he specifically says that he had Ichigo fight Ulquiorra to develop his hollow powers, and the panel has Aizen envisioning Segunda Etapa Ulquiorra.

As for the number disappearing, Halibel, Barragan, and Starrk's numbers all disappear when they go Res, so saying Ulq is the strongest just because of that isn't right either. Also, Yammy sensed R2 Ulquiorra and when comparing their Reiatsu, he called it trash in comparison. Ichigo didn't disagree with that notion and sort of agreed, but said even so he'd still win. This is supported by Ichigo hitting Yammy with a Getsuga and him tanking it, when Striped Mask Ichigo drawing on his hollow powers should be the same power that he used against Ulq. The guides also state that Yammy really was the strongest. He even has a second rage boost/form ontop of the form that was already stronger than Ulq, and offscreen he was able to tag and damage Kenpachi and Byakuya, meaning he isn't as slow as people think. All that aside, Ulq said that there are 3 Espada that are stronger than him, and he never had knowledge of Yammy being Espada 0 as far as we know, so that would mean Halibel, Barragan, and Starrk, but if you wanna make the argument that he knew Yammy was Espada 0, then Barragan, Starrk, and Yammy would be stronger than him.

As far as the Espada rankings, in terms of raw power, they're pretty much in order. But if we're talking in terms of hax, then Barragan, Szayel, Zommari, and Arraniero are basically the only 3 with any kind of hax at all, while the rest are raw power and stat based.

From 9-4, there are clear differences in their levels base to base, but from 1-3, their strength levels were all so comparable that the shinigami present couldn't tell which of them were stronger based on their raw levels of reiatsu alone. Halibel, Barragan, and Starrk are all relative/comparable to each other, but Barragan has the better hax. That being said, when he decays things, they aren't instant, and energy/rieryoku based techniques, while they do age, can get through the respira before dissipating, as well as things like explosions, so if you wanna say Starrk, even with less hax, is stronger with firepower, you can make that case. Same with Yammy and Halibel potentially, though the latter specializes in water and there's no way to tell how fast water decays compared to normal raw reiryoku. In theory, someone like Zommari should be able to take out people comparable to him like Grimmjow and maybe Nnoitra with his ability should it land, but overall, the Espada rankings should be pretty accurate.

 

[KingKenjo]

Aizen did know about Ulquiorra's 2nd release. In the manga, he specifically says that he had Ichigo fight Ulquiorra to develop his hollow powers, and the panel has Aizen envisioning Segunda Etapa Ulquiorra.

As for the number disappearing, Halibel, Barragan, and Starrk's numbers all disappear when they go Res, so saying Ulq is the strongest just because of that isn't right either. Also, Yammy sensed R2 Ulquiorra and when comparing their Reiatsu, he called it trash in comparison. Ichigo didn't disagree with that notion and sort of agreed, but said even so he'd still win. This is supported by Ichigo hitting Yammy with a Getsuga and him tanking it, when Striped Mask Ichigo drawing on his hollow powers should be the same power that he used against Ulq. The guides also state that Yammy really was the strongest. He even has a second rage boost/form ontop of the form that was already stronger than Ulq, and offscreen he was able to tag and damage Kenpachi and Byakuya, meaning he isn't as slow as people think. All that aside, Ulq said that there are 3 Espada that are stronger than him, and he never had knowledge of Yammy being Espada 0 as far as we know, so that would mean Halibel, Barragan, and Starrk, but if you wanna make the argument that he knew Yammy was Espada 0, then Barragan, Starrk, and Yammy would be stronger than him.

As far as the Espada rankings, in terms of raw power, they're pretty much in order. But if we're talking in terms of hax, then Barragan, Szayel, Zommari, and Arraniero are basically the only 3 with any kind of hax at all, while the rest are raw power and stat based.

From 9-4, there are clear differences in their levels base to base, but from 1-3, their strength levels were all so comparable that the shinigami present couldn't tell which of them were stronger based on their raw levels of reiatsu alone. Halibel, Barragan, and Starrk are all relative/comparable to each other, but Barragan has the better hax. That being said, when he decays things, they aren't instant, and energy/rieryoku based techniques, while they do age, can get through the respira before dissipating, as well as things like explosions, so if you wanna say Starrk, even with less hax, is stronger with firepower, you can make that case. Same with Yammy and Halibel potentially, though the latter specializes in water and there's no way to tell how fast water decays compared to normal raw reiryoku. In theory, someone like Zommari should be able to take out people comparable to him like Grimmjow and maybe Nnoitra with his ability should it land, but overall, the Espada rankings should be pretty accurate.

Where do you think Nnoitora would reasonably lie? Cuz he was able to hurt an eyepatchless Kenpachi before he started getting rekt. Do you think that'd put him roughly on the same level as Ulquiorra?

 

[LordTracer]

Also, Yammy sensed R2 Ulquiorra and when comparing their Reiatsu, he called it trash in comparison.

Doesn’t Yammy have garbage senses though? Like, when they were in the World of the Living, he constantly had to ask Ulquiorra how strong someone was instead of doing it himself.

Ulquiorra even says that Yammy needs to develop his Pesquisa, and he got his arm chopped off by Bankai Ichigo because of that.

 

[KingKenjo]

Doesn’t Yammy have garbage senses though? Like, when they were in the World of the Living, he constantly had to ask Ulquiorra how strong someone was instead of doing it himself.

Ulquiorra even says that Yammy needs to develop his Pesquisa, and he got his arm chopped off by Bankai Ichigo because of that.

I mean, that's true. But I kinda just wanted to know how they compared power wise. Though now that I think about it, taking things like speed and hax into account could be fun too

 

[LordTracer]

My ranking of the Espada, in terms of raw power, would pretty much be: Ulquiorra > Yammy > Starrk > everyone else in number order

 

[Popted2]

Honesltly i would put Barragan as the 1 since has the better hax in the all Espada

but seriosly Yammy as the strongest really was a kick in the nuts i mean him, HIM ?

 

[Dangai_Ichigo]

Ulquiorra states "Ichigo is stronger than me when his Reiatsu fluctuates" aka his Hollow forcing himself on him. Ichigo using Hollow Powers can affect Grimmjow.

Reasonable to say Hollowfied Ichigo > Possessed Ichigo > Copy-Cat Ichigo yet each and every single one of the Vizards fought Ichigo for 10 minutes each.

Hiyori (Who would be fighting a stronger Hollowfied Ichigo than the one that first lashed out at the beginning) and Lisa (Who can take on Ichigo while Hollowfied, even considering Killing him if he goes out of control) have to team up against Halibel, even needing Hollowfication against her.

 

[Gitagon]

My ranking is pretty much the same way they are ranked in the manga.

 

[Dr.Fix]

They're already ranked. Other than R2 which is weaker than both FHI and Yammy there's not much to discuss ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[Popted2]

R2? FHI?

 

[Dr.Fix]

Second Ressurection "Segunda Etapa" and Full Hollow Ichigo.

 

[Lamentable]

1. Starrk

Reiatsu can nullify techniques, as we see with Soi Fon and Aizen. Starrk has a monstrous amount, and while Barragans ability is powerful, Starrk has enough he could just walk up and kill him with anything. Even prime Barragan is in a court of subjects, he never had close to the Reiatsu Starrk possessed. Not to mention Starrk fended off 4 captain (with 2 being among the most powerful) opponents without suffering a single hit until a battered Kyoraku stabbed him in the back with an unknown ability of what was otherwise to Starrk, a laid back battle.

Aizen only took to the battlefield once Starrk fell, not even caring about what Halibel could bring, implying Starrk was enough to turn the tides if he was performing at full power. Not to mention feeling Baraggans death shook Starrk, who was fearful of having to go through loneliness again and gave up after being stabbed because it became a lose-lose situation to him, mental down the drain. Man got hit with the shonen personality flaw, but the way he was portrayed gave us the viewpoint that he was wildly powerful even by Blood War standards should he have had any motivation or warning.

2 & 3. Ulquiorra/Baraggan

This is unclear in the sense that we do not particularly know the extent of the reiatsu gap between second release Ulquiorra and Baraggan. Obviously Baraggan possesses a ridiculously powerful ability, but Ulquiorra gains an extreme boost with second release which could possibly nullify the effects. It is unlikely the gulf is that wide, but the possibility exists, so these two remain clumped for now to me.

The rest follow suit as they are now in their sequence. Second Release Ulquiorra was the only real jump in my opinion, and only so by one place, if not barely by two. Same principle that his reiatsu is not seen to be nearly as potent as Starrk's. The guidebook states even that Starrk can fire an infinite amount of ceros (implying his energy is literally limitless, which would be pseudo-invincibility -- or that his regeneration rate is tremendous alongside naturally gargantuan reserves), whereas Ulquiorra seems to have a cooldown and limit on lances, as well as a poor grasp of how to handle it (granted by his inexperience with the form). We do not see the level of reiatsu that Kubo told us about Starrk until Aizen begins merging, which is the beginning of a transcendent being, making Starrk a powerhouse considering he was just a normal hollow at one point.

The rankings are pretty accurate as they are. If I assume Ulquiorra's second release doesn't possess enough of a reiatsu boost over Baraggan, then Halibels potential power (like Yammy), is what sets the number high. At standard, Ulquiorra second release does beat out Halibel for a long time I believe. Also, Yammy has no brains, his threat level is rather low, the 0 is just a twist for nothing considering all that reiatsu boost goes into inhabiting a kaiju body anyway and his potential has to slowly rise.