Ranking of Keyblade Wielder strength

[Luxu]

I am making this list for the fun of it, however it will be as accurate as possible.

Spots can also be shared if deemed necessary...Which is going to happen a lot

Feats are how the ranking is going to go, like always. Certain people will be missing if they have a Keyblade, but haven't had any feats yet.

THIS LIST IS PRONE TO CHANGES!

1. Xehanort
2. Mickey
3. Aqua
4. Riku/Sora/Terra
5. Aced/Ira/Eraqus/Roxas-Xion
6. Invi
7. Gula/Ava
8. Player/Ventus/Vanitas
9. Ephemera/Skuld/Kairi
10. Strelitzia (RIP)

Unranked: Blaine, Lea, Yen Sid, Master of Masters, Luxu, and Lauriam

Provide any complaints and other feats, so this can be more accurate and better.

 

[Soldier]

I think Mickey should be a little bit higher on the list (maybe above Luxu?) because of his overall strength. The mouse cut down darksides in the realm of darkness in a single slash, something not many keyblade wielders (like sora or riku) could do.

 

[Ballad of Caius]

I don't think we should be ranking the MoM until we see if he's a capable fighter. For all we know, he could be a genius, but a lame wielder.

 

[Hakan Xatos]

I don't think we should be ranking the MoM until we see if he's a capable fighter. For all we know, he could be a genius, but a lame wielder.

Exactly what I was wondering. Maybe put him in the unranked with the others that haven't displayed their Keyblade abilities yet.

 

[Luxu]

I don't think we should be ranking the MoM until we see if he's a capable fighter. For all we know, he could be a genius, but a lame wielder.

Understood!

I think Mickey should be a little bit higher on the list (maybe above Luxu?) because of his overall strength. The mouse cut down darksides in the realm of darkness in a single slash, something not many keyblade wielders (like sora or riku) could do.

Mickey is without a doubt powerful. However, Sora and Riku are implied to at least two hit Darksides. Seeing as the Keyblade can insta kill Shadows. I also only choice Luxu based on the fact Xehanort inherited his Keyblade. Also, the blocking Ava feat.

 

[Muke]

I… don't like the list at all. I definitely think the Foretellers are stronger than Mickey, Riku, Sora, Aqua, and Terra. There's not a single doubt about that. I don't see why you are even ranking Strelitzia… she never fought. Anyways, this is how I feel the list should be:

1. Xehanort
2. Invi/Aced/Ira/Gula/Ava
3. Aqua/Terra/Mickey
4. Riku/Sora
5. Player/Ventus/Vanitas
6. Ephemera/Skuld/Kairi

 

[Not Ienzo]

I personally feel like Sora, Ventus, Roxas and Xion would be on the same level in terms of strength, while Aqua, Terra and would be more powerful. I'm not sure about Riku though. And I also believe that the Foretellers would be some of the most powerful wielders aside from Xehanort.

As for Kairi, we sadly haven't seen her do much with it yet.

 

[Chuman]

i'm not going down the wormhole that is UX discourse, i will, however, say that strength is entirely dependent on one's heart and given the situation, is flexible for plot purposes. lingering will, for example, HAS NO HEART. but through sheer willpower and strength, he overpowered him. sora defeats the will 11 years later, twice. sora is another great example of this, his power draws from his friends and those connected to him. riku is stronger than sora in strength and in heart, but its pretty difficult to imagine him taking down LW, and we all know donald and goofy assisting didn't give sora the edge to take him down.

not to mention, sora and riku are on par with terra and aqua during DDD give or take. not taking into account the raw strength of heart needed to survive in the realm of darkness for 12 years of course. but the most intriuging character is sora, who, despite having his power reset at the beginning of all of his adventures, is still able to topple threats like xehanort or LW, who defeated even xehanort. that's the basis for my argument that a list of who's toughest pmuch goes out the window.

edit: @not ienzo you do realize that xion was easily defeated by riku, right? she had to turn into a megazord and was sapping roxas' strength and he STILL killed her. no, xion is not on the same level as roxas, who was defeated by riku and sora, and both of them have been absorbed by sora. ventus' heart is shattered, and again, absorbed by sora. he couldnt defeat xehanort and needed aqua just to defeat his own darkness.

 

[Muke]

i'm not going down the wormhole that is UX discourse, i will, however, say that strength is entirely dependent on one's heart and given the situation, is flexible for plot purposes. lingering will, for example, HAS NO HEART. but through sheer willpower and strength, he overpowered him. sora defeats the will 11 years later, twice. sora is another great example of this, his power draws from his friends and those connected to him. riku is stronger than sora in strength and in heart, but its pretty difficult to imagine him taking down LW, and we all know donald and goofy assisting didn't give sora the edge to take him down.

not to mention, sora and riku are on par with terra and aqua during DDD give or take. not taking into account the raw strength of heart needed to survive in the realm of darkness for 12 years of course. but the most intriuging character is sora, who, despite having his power reset at the beginning of all of his adventures, is still able to topple threats like xehanort or LW, who defeated even xehanort. that's the basis for my argument that a list of who's toughest pmuch goes out the window.

edit: @not ienzo you do realize that xion was easily defeated by riku, right? she had to turn into a megazord and was sapping roxas' strength and he STILL killed her. no, xion is not on the same level as roxas, who was defeated by riku and sora, and both of them have been absorbed by sora. ventus' heart is shattered, and again, absorbed by sora. he couldnt defeat xehanort and needed aqua just to defeat his own darkness.

Wait, what do you mean "twice"? Sora only fought the Lingering Will once afaicr. Also, Sora NEVER beat the Will. LW stopped after realizing it wasn't MX he was fighting.

I highly doubt that Sora and Riku are close to Aqua and Terra's strength, it's just… nah. They surely aren't on par with them, I just don't see it. Riku might be close… but Sora? Nooo. I agree that strength of heart is important - but that just makes Aqua all the more stronger than Sora. He nearly gave into the Darkness in DDD and became Xehanort's vessel, which just proves that his heart isn't all that strong - of course ''his'' hurting memories of the others were also a factor, but still.

 

[Chuman]

Wait, what do you mean "twice"? Sora only fought the Lingering Will once afaicr. Also, Sora NEVER beat the Will. LW stopped after realizing it wasn't MX he was fighting.

I highly doubt that Sora and Riku are close to Aqua and Terra's strength, it's just… nah. They surely aren't on par with them, I just don't see it. Riku might be close… but Sora? Nooo. I agree that strength of heart is important - but that just makes Aqua all the more stronger than Sora. He nearly gave into the Darkness in DDD and became Xehanort's vessel, which just proves that his heart isn't all that strong - of course ''his'' hurting memories of the others were also a factor, but still.

its his connection to his friends that gives him his strength. in DDD, he almost gave into he darkness alone. but with his friends by his side he was able to come back from being a heartless, defeat ansem, take down the org, etc.

and if we're basing this off of strength of heart rather than brute strength, terra is most certainly not above riku.

 

[Veevee]

I think it's hard to rank them because technically, Sora would be stronger than all of them just because of the reason that he is controlled by the player. Going from brute strength, I'd rate Aqua and Terra higher than Sora and Riku - Terra was know for relying on brute force, still Aqua was able to guard and defend herself just fine. Plus, Aqua and Terra received years of training, especially combat training. I always suspected Riku to be stronger than Sora, but Sora might have more stamina. I'd put Roxas slightly above Sora because of the techniques he is capable of, but I actually never understood why he was able to beat Riku. Riku was determined to beat him and Roxas was probably weakened due to sharing his power with Sora (maybe, who knows how exactly that worked, they shared memories, soo...), but he absorbed Xion (did she have power of her own or did he just got his own power back?) so the fight should've been at least equal. In the end, I don't think power isn't something to be ranked because it depends on so many sublevels (strength, strength of heart, techniques, agility, magic power, stamina and so on), so yeah.

 

[Hakan Xatos]

I am making this list for the fun of it, however it will be as accurate as possible.

Spots can also be shared if deemed necessary...Which is going to happen a lot

Feats are how the ranking is going to go, like always. Certain people will be missing if they have a Keyblade, but haven't had any feats yet.

THIS LIST IS PRONE TO CHANGES!

1. Xehanort
2. Mickey
3. Riku/Sora/Aqua/Terra
4. Aced/Ira/Eraqus/Roxas-Xion
5. Invi
6. Gula/Ava
7. Player/Ventus/Vanitas
8. Ephemera/Skuld/Kairi

Unranked: Blaine, Lea, Yen Sid, Master of Masters, Luxu, Strelitzia, and Lauriam

Provide any complaints and other feats, so this can be more accurate and better.

I think this works fairly well. Aqua could be bumped up to her own tier because of 0.2, but still below Mickey. Since Sora fought LW to a standstill, a sentient Terra might have the edge but it'll be close. Riku is right in between that razor thin gap of Terra and Sora so ranking them in the same tier is fair. As for foretellers I think this is fine. We know they're really strong against KHuX Keyblade wielders who aren't particularly strong themselves. I think anyone from tier 3 can handle the Player better than the foretellers. I think Eraqus is right being just below Terra. So is Roxas as he displayed close loses to Riku and Sora. Everything else looks good as well.

 

[Alja]

and if we're basing this off of strength of heart rather than brute strength, terra is most certainly not above riku.

Hold up. You can't compare apples and oranges.
First of all, Riku's and Terra's situations are vastly different. Riku gave into his Darkness early on, he embraced it and used it. It was a tool to get everything he wanted. Terra used his Darkness, too, but only in the most dire situations - the situations where he wanted to protect somebody (Xehanort, Ventus, Ventus and Aqua). Other than that, he actively beat himself up over his own Darkness and basically got reprimanded by his father figure. He never accepted and embraced it like Riku did and thus he never really learned to control it. Riku having control over it to a certain point probably helped him in fighting against Ansem SoD in the right moment whereas everything on Terra's end was a horrible accident: Not only did he never learn to accept and control his Darkness, he activated his Keyblade armor a moment too late, actively trapping Xehanort's heart (and Darkness) within him - I mean don't forget, it is meant to keep Darkness out, so it figures that it also keeps Darkness within, making it so much easier for Xehanort to consume him.

It also stands to reason that since Ansem SoD is the Heartless of Terranort, there's some part of Terra in him, even if it's Terra's Darkness. That part might've recognized Riku and helped him get rid of Ansem SoD (it's just a theory though).

So yeah... there is no saying that Terra's strength of Heart is less than Riku's just because they were involved in VERY different situations concerning the Darkness. Also, Terra's heart is still existent in Blank Points, 12 years after Xehanort took control of him. He might lack the strength to get rid of one of the most powerful Keyblade Masters on his own, but he certainly has the strength to co-exist beside him and gain control from time to time (after all, it is most likely Terra thanks to Naminé who makes Xemnas visit the Chamber of Repose to contact Aqua. Yes, he does lose control over Xehanort for a second there, but it only shows that he is still fighting. Essentially he is shown to be on par with Xehanort there).

 

[Muke]

Hold up. You can't compare apples and oranges.
First of all, Riku's and Terra's situations are vastly different. Riku gave into his Darkness early on, he embraced it and used it. It was a tool to get everything he wanted. Terra used his Darkness, too, but only in the most dire situations - the situations where he wanted to protect somebody (Xehanort, Ventus, Ventus and Aqua). Other than that, he actively beat himself up over his own Darkness and basically got reprimanded by his father figure. He never accepted and embraced it like Riku did and thus he never really learned to control it. Riku having control over it to a certain point probably helped him in fighting against Ansem SoD in the right moment whereas everything on Terra's end was a horrible accident: Not only did he never learn to accept and control his Darkness, he activated his Keyblade armor a moment too late, actively trapping Xehanort's heart (and Darkness) within him - I mean don't forget, it is meant to keep Darkness out, so it figures that it also keeps Darkness within, making it so much easier for Xehanort to consume him.

It also stands to reason that since Ansem SoD is the Heartless of Terranort, there's some part of Terra in him, even if it's Terra's Darkness. That part might've recognized Riku and helped him get rid of Ansem SoD (it's just a theory though).

So yeah... there is no saying that Terra's strength of Heart is less than Riku's just because they were involved in VERY different situations concerning the Darkness. Also, Terra's heart is still existent in Blank Points, 12 years after Xehanort took control of him. He might lack the strength to get rid of one of the most powerful Keyblade Masters on his own, but he certainly has the strength to co-exist beside him and gain control from time to time (after all, it is most likely Terra thanks to Naminé who makes Xemnas visit the Chamber of Repose to contact Aqua. Yes, he does lose control over Xehanort for a second there, but it only shows that he is still fighting. Essentially he is shown to be on par with Xehanort there).

Full agreement - my exact thoughts. You said it better than I would ever be able to.

 

[Zettaflare]

I'm surprised some people are ranking Ven and Vanitas so low. In the KG, Vanitas himself stated that Ven became stronger thanks to fighting the Unversed. And Vanitas proved himself to be capable wielder numerous times.


They both should be ranked among Aqua and Terra.

 

[Luxu]

I… don't like the list at all. I definitely think the Foretellers are stronger than Mickey, Riku, Sora, Aqua, and Terra. There's not a single doubt about that. I don't see why you are even ranking Strelitzia… she never fought. Anyways, this is how I feel the list should be:

1. Xehanort
2. Invi/Aced/Ira/Gula/Ava
3. Aqua/Terra/Mickey
4. Riku/Sora
5. Player/Ventus/Vanitas
6. Ephemera/Skuld/Kairi

However, we have an idea on Strelitzia's strength on her death scene. She gets deathly harmed from a single strike. However, it could either be: She is fragile, or the "assassin" was just strong.

Regardless, the only Chi characters that can be ranked correctly is: Skuld, Ephemera, Player, Aced, Ira, and Gula

i'm not going down the wormhole that is UX discourse, i will, however, say that strength is entirely dependent on one's heart and given the situation, is flexible for plot purposes. lingering will, for example, HAS NO HEART. but through sheer willpower and strength, he overpowered him. sora defeats the will 11 years later, twice. sora is another great example of this, his power draws from his friends and those connected to him. riku is stronger than sora in strength and in heart, but its pretty difficult to imagine him taking down LW, and we all know donald and goofy assisting didn't give sora the edge to take him down.

not to mention, sora and riku are on par with terra and aqua during DDD give or take. not taking into account the raw strength of heart needed to survive in the realm of darkness for 12 years of course. but the most intriuging character is sora, who, despite having his power reset at the beginning of all of his adventures, is still able to topple threats like xehanort or LW, who defeated even xehanort. that's the basis for my argument that a list of who's toughest pmuch goes out the window.

edit: @not ienzo you do realize that xion was easily defeated by riku, right? she had to turn into a megazord and was sapping roxas' strength and he STILL killed her. no, xion is not on the same level as roxas, who was defeated by riku and sora, and both of them have been absorbed by sora. ventus' heart is shattered, and again, absorbed by sora. he couldnt defeat xehanort and needed aqua just to defeat his own darkness.

Sora can also pull the powers from Ventus, and the connections she has made with other people. So, the moment he gains connections with the Foretellers (Through Ventus, any one of the Dandelions, or a Union Leader) he could become overwhelmingly strong. If the Foretellers are as strong as people claim them to be. However, the Player did do some damage on each of them during the Keyblade War. Regardless, this list is only feats done. Also, for the Roxas-Xion argument. They are in the same place because of Xion draining Roxas. Meaning she could've ended up as strong as Roxas.

I think it's hard to rank them because technically, Sora would be stronger than all of them just because of the reason that he is controlled by the player. Going from brute strength, I'd rate Aqua and Terra higher than Sora and Riku - Terra was know for relying on brute force, still Aqua was able to guard and defend herself just fine. Plus, Aqua and Terra received years of training, especially combat training. I always suspected Riku to be stronger than Sora, but Sora might have more stamina. I'd put Roxas slightly above Sora because of the techniques he is capable of, but I actually never understood why he was able to beat Riku. Riku was determined to beat him and Roxas was probably weakened due to sharing his power with Sora (maybe, who knows how exactly that worked, they shared memories, soo...), but he absorbed Xion (did she have power of her own or did he just got his own power back?) so the fight should've been at least equal. In the end, I don't think power isn't something to be ranked because it depends on so many sublevels (strength, strength of heart, techniques, agility, magic power, stamina and so on), so yeah.

I should REALLY add sub-categories. However, this list is "overall"

I'm surprised some people are ranking Ven and Vanitas so low. In the KG, Vanitas himself stated that Ven became stronger thanks to fighting the Unversed. And Vanitas proved himself to be capable wielder numerous times.


They both should be ranked among Aqua and Terra.

That is why I put them up with the Player, who managed to survive the Keyblade War, and did sufficient damage to the Foretellers. Enough for Aced to see them as a threat, and enough for the others to leave them alive.

So, yes. I am well aware of how strong Ventus is. If he was whole, he could be either on 7 or 6.

 

[Apartion]

I'm going to leave out characters from chi, because I don't know enough about them.

I'll take into consideration, inherent weaknesses some characters have (for example, Terra-Xehanort's weakness of having Terra constantly fighting him from the inside.)

#1 - Terra

I say Terra because we've seen him go toe-to-toe with Aqua without losing, we saw him take on Eraqus one-on-one and win, we saw him take on Master Xehanort and win, we saw him (as the Lingering Will) take on Terra-Xehanort and win, and we saw him hold out for a very long time (as the Lingering Will) against Sora, and even then when he was "defeated" he wasn't really.

(Note: Some may say Xehanort planned on losing, but even he noted several times that his body was getting old and tired and he wasn't in his prime anymore - That's why he wanted Terra as a vessel. His subsequent loss as Terra-Xehanort against Terra, while not seeming to suffer any internal struggle, is another show of Terra's power dominance over Master Xehanort.)


#2 - Aqua

I put Aqua below Terra because we never saw her fight Eraqus, and the only time she fought Xehanort was when he was possessing Terra, and he was weakened by Terra's influence from within, and she still had a tough time fighting him, though she did take on a powerful pureblood Heartless, fought Ventus-Vanitas with the X-Blade, beat Dragon Maleficent... so she has several big wins.


#3 - Terra-Xehanort

Terra-Xehanort was able to go one-on-one with Aqua while fighting Terra on the inside, and almost win. He'd end up with the #2 spot if he wasn't hindered by an internal struggle.

#4 - Master Xehanort

Xehanort as he appears for most of Birth By Sleep, as an old man. He was able to hold out for a while against Terra, and even with his old body he was able to do fast, powerful chain combos and powerful darkness magic. Another big thing we saw him do as an old man was literally destroy the Land of Departure with little more than raising his keyblade to the sky.

#5 - Master Eraqus

Eraqus had to be pretty decent to hold out against Terra for a while, even though he lost. I put him below old man Xehanort because he was defeated by a then-younger (younger than during the game) Xehanort without even being able to land a hit on him. He trained Aqua, Terra, and Ventus as well, so he definitely knows a lot.

#6 - King Mickey

Mickey is supposed to be really powerful, but the only thing we've actually seen him do of any power significance was hold out against Ventus-Vanitas in a tag-team while an apprentice, and take out a bunch of Darksides. That was an instance, however, in which he took like 3 or 4 of them out at the same time, with one attack. So he's got some skills, but while I think he'd be able to hold out against the top 5, I don't think he'd be able to beat them.

#7 - Ventus-Vanitas

Even under an internal struggle, Ventus-Vanitas was able to take on both Aqua and Apprentice Mickey at the same time, and hold out for a while.

#8 - Riku

Yes, I place Riku above Sora. We saw him get beat down by Sora in Kingdom Hearts 1, but that was when he was inexperienced and only using the Darkness. Now, he's got a balance between Light and Darkness, which gives him more potential than a primarily Light-leaning Sora. He's been able to beat Roxas, Ansem (Seeker of Darkness), Xion, Xemnas (in a tag-team admittedly), Young Master Xehanort, and the Armored Ventus Nightmare.

#9 - Sora

Sora's the main character, but he hasn't shown the huge power wins that people like Terra and Aqua have. He did, however, beat Ansem (Seeker of Darkness), Xemnas (in a tag team and separately by himself), Roxas, and Dragon Maleficent.

#10 - Ventus

Ventus hasn't actually had that many big wins, though they've been significant. He beat Vanitas twice, once when Vanitas had the X-Blade, but that's still pretty significant.

#11 - Vanitas

Vanitas had skills, that's for sure. We saw him put them to the test as Ventus-Vanitas, so he definitely has those good skills, but by himself without Ventus' power, he's not as powerful as even Ventus, as we saw when he was beaten.

#12 - Roxas

Roxas held out against Riku for a while, beat Xion, beat Axel, and held out against Sora for a while. Those are semi-decent feats, but nowhere near power wins.

#13 - Lea/Axel

My opinion of Lea as a keyblade wielder is based off of his skills as Axel. His biggest feat was clearing out a huge amount of Nobodies in an instant, even though it did cost him his life, and holding out for a while against Roxas.

#14 - Young Xehanort

He held out for a while against Riku, but lost. I consider his fight in Birth By Sleep to be one where he has a temporary boost in power. He'd just come through time, and it's obvious with how fast he is then in comparison to how fast he is in Dream Drop Distance that the time travel had some affect on his power.

#15 - Xion

She held out against Roxas for a bit. That's about it.

#16 - Kairi

Her usage of a keyblade in KH2 was pathetic. I get she was untrained at killing things, but so were Sora and Riku. Yeah, they were fighting each other constantly, but it was play fighting, they never tried to hurt each other or kill each other.

Honorary Mentions

#1 - No Heart / Prime Xehanort

I don't count him in the main list because he's never shown up canonically. But even so, his fight shows what Xehanort in his prime would've been like (though watered down a bit), and that's absolutely insane. Xehanort in his prime is probably one of the most powerful keyblade wielders that's ever lived, at all.

#2 - Yen Sid

We know he was a keyblade master. And even though we've never seen him fight, Eraqus holds him in high regard, so he had to have been really good to be both held in high regard by Eraqus AND be a Master.

#3 - Genie

Come on, he's Genie. COME ONNNNN

(I realized something, and I want to note that, of the fifteen ranked that fought other keyblade wielders, Terra, Aqua, and Mickey are the only three we've seen that've never legitimately lost a fight. Terra didn't lose an actual fight against Xehanort when he had his body snatched, Mickey never actually fought Vanitas when he was knocked out by him, and Aqua was never ambushed successfully nor beaten in a fight. Do with that note what you will.)

 

[Midori]

. Also, Terra's heart is still existent in Blank Points, 12 years after Xehanort took control of him. He might lack the strength to get rid of one of the most powerful Keyblade Masters on his own, but he certainly has the strength to co-exist beside him and gain control from time to time (after all, it is most likely Terra thanks to Naminé who makes Xemnas visit the Chamber of Repose to contact Aqua. Yes, he does lose control over Xehanort for a second there, but it only shows that he is still fighting. Essentially he is shown to be on par with Xehanort there).

!!!
Xehanort to Terra in Blank Points: "How you can remain here at all confounds the mind"
Even Xehanort's surprised at Terra's strength.

 

[Apartion]

!!!
Xehanort to Terra in Blank Points: "How you can remain here at all confounds the mind"
Even Xehanort's surprised at Terra's strength.

Even though Terra was really powerful when he had control of his body pre-Terra-Xehanort, and even though he does have a semi-strong heart, the only reason Terra's heart has been able to hold out this long is because of Eraqus. If you remember, at one point Xehanort notes that someone else has taken hold in Terra's heart, and immediately afterwards reveals it as Eraqus.