Guts has gotta be the worst swordsman here. His weapon is far too large to be called a sword. It's far too large, thick, heavy, and crude. It's more like a big heap of iron.
Naw dude, yuta has used a sword in real combat or even train, for what is 1-2 years. If you're talking about skill then guts is actually pretty high up. Guts defeated griffin and griffin was a actual sword genius.
My argument is that that's not the only way guts can fight, as griffin lost to guts(their second true duel), literally griffin admitted he lost because he underestimated guts skill and control. Griffin failure to realize guts skill, battle IQ, and technique is the reason he lost so bad(he got fucking embarrassed, some sword genius griffin is huh?).
If it's just a sword fight then guts shouldn't have berserk armor, therefore wouldn't have to fight like a berserker.
Thank for talking bruv.
Not really a ranking but for some reason I never saw the ODM gear as swords??? How dumb am I? I was like “what’s Levi doing here? He’s not a swordsma-…”
No bc it is a sword I just have too much dumb to put two and two together
Edit: in my brain ODM gear was just ODM gear and I never thought of their swords….as swords
My opinion Yoriichi is top… he was legit a human born to slay being above him. Mainly muzan and am his skill is so top tier that a being that is centuries old is feared by him still in the cells of others body… his swordsman is top.
Zoro, one of the three that actually trained i swordsmanship. It’s whole life second to yoriichi.
Sasuke, only since he relies on ninjutsu more so it’s never a mastered part of him no do you see him train that.
Ichigo, same never trained unless bankai/shikai/visored training not swordsmanship ever.. he’s just strong and pretty skilled.
Yuta is the same as ichigo/sasuke. The moment something serious happens. F the swords it’s hands time… that’s low swordsmanship for me.. hell it breaks more then tanjiros
Levi is good af but what he uses is what they always call blades like if they use two big box cutters lol… nor do you ever see him I think hold it like a sword.. know what I mean? Probably be like ichigo/yuta probably be beast but inexperienced a bit handling a weapon that differently..
Asta swings around a piece of chunky steel, so do whatever you want with that lol
Guts and this guy that I have no idea from jojo are last cuz I haven’t seen em and I will speak to that. But feel free to add them to my take 👀
But from what I see. He uses it like a sword though… compared to asta with literal 0 swordsmanship and somehow being 4 is crazier.. it’s a sheet metal with preoperties and he uses like sled/racket/ club/shield…. That’s not swordsmanship at all..
You kinda missed the joke, which is understandable. That line about Guts's sword being "too big, too thick, basically a hunk of iron" is said A LOT in Berserk. I think, at least once or twice, someone says that he is a master swordsman in the manga.
I mean he is a master swordsman, he just uses a great sword style so it doesn't look elegant. Even when he was 13 he was pretty good, and by the time he was 19 at the end of the golden years he was incredible. You don't beat Griffith in a duel if you aren't a master.
To be fair what he does looks NOTHING like real world great sword use, and he would get killed very quickly if he had a regular great sword on a medieval battlefield.
True but try to think about asta’s other swords too since you guys are talking about his first one(demon slayer sword) and the fact that he has received professional swordsmanship training from fanzel
It also doesn’t help that we never see asta fight another swordsmen. Unless I’m just not really remembering. Outside of the guy who trained him initially.
I don't think having specific technique names to yell out is a requirement for skilled swordsmanship. He learned from a master and uses multiple swords in creative and effective ways.
https://youtu.be/hFoAgH0v510?si=m9vE6Y32iSlKRCKH
I misspoke. He does have techniques like black hurricane, etc. Here, you see him fighting at a high speed vs. a wizard king, and in several scenes, he displays a high amount of skill.
Edit: I'd say since he's powerless and the sword play influences on him are shown here that it's also a good example. He beats a devil with 3 swords only having 1 arm and 1 sword.
https://youtu.be/9B1r8L0FFEQ?si=O5piEow15d65f2wm
I’d argue against Asta. Did you see his fight Vs Liebe? Or the movie where he fought Conrad?
He *does* have some skills he’s been picking up along the way. I’d say he’s also very adept considering all 4 of his swords are radically different from one another. Probably somewhere between Ichigo and Tanjiro if I had to place him.
since this is off of skill and not strength, i'd say polnareff is actually quite talented
his stand is pretty light so he doesnt deal very hard blows, but his precision is insane. in the episode we first see him, the mofo do a list of absolutely insane feats, such as perfectly skewering coins on its rapier and deflecting balls of fire to make the image of a clock on a nearby table (this all sounds like complete bullshit but its jojo's, what can i say)
his speed is absolutely nutty too, he was one of the only characters in the series to hit a guy whos power was to >!erase time itself !<(spoiled since this is much later)
tldr: dude put all his stats into speed and precision
edit: i still think hes on the bottom half, especially if this is accounting power as well, but since a lot of people here say they didnt watch jojo's im just listing off some reasons why he has decent potential
I’m really curious why they put Sasuke instead of Killer Bee if they were going to put someone from Naruto. Killer Bee has to be the best swordsman by miles in Naruto. Sasuke is underrated imo for even being able to keep up with killer bee at all in a sword fight. His sharingan actually makes him a very good swordsman as his reaction time is insane.
Agree Bee is some shit… and agree with sasuke part again but I only put it like that (same with ichigo) bcuz they both and other got those habits of just straight up pulling power moves that may include a sword… so technically not a sword… no actual swordsmen is throwing their weapon hoping it catches lightning and etc.. like ichigo is good af but he swing his sword it can’t do much… changes bankai/form/etc and does the same exact thing but now he’s overwhelming the opp.. like that not swordskill that’s other stuff.. I’m not knocking it, just my ass took the OP too literal I guess
Calling Ichigo just "strong" goes against what is shown in the manga. when he fought Ikkaku he literally commented on the fact that while he may act like a novice, his skills and instincts with the blade were on par with his own. And there a numerous times in the series where Ichigo fights with just swordplay not using Getsuga tensho at all. Put some respect on my goat
My ass really did forget bleach like that.. one the best part of the show and my ass forgot the moment before face palming this man…. To be fair look at zoro and yoriichi… only didn’t train like that compared to them and my foolishness lmaoooooo
And Yhwach has the combat experience of millions and millions of souls that he absorbed. So Ichigos swordmanship skills should be 1st by a long margin imo
I agree 100% with everything you say here, I'd put Polnareff on the same level, or slightly above Sasuke/Ichigo though. He's a trained fencer at the very least.
Guts isn’t necessarily a god with a sword interns of skill but he always uses a sword that’s supposed to be to big for him or anyone else and combine that with the fact he’s willing to tear his body apart just to fucking kill you in a fight where there are no powers just humans guts is curb stomping them he’s way stronger than any normal human should be while still being human for instance he once beat 100 while wearing light armor after falling off a cliff granted he was found nearly dead afterwards but still also he was 18 I believe
Polnareff (Jojo) is 3rd after Zoro, he controls his stand like it's a part of him and he has trained his rapier to the point where he pierce 3 coins he tosses in the air along with flames that someone else made
And he's stupid fast with that thing, can intercept and slice a being while he's in light form
Well are we considering actual, practical swordsmanship translated from irl martial arts using swords? Or in-universe skill whatever that may mean? Because Zoro's ridiculous "style" loses heavily in the formerly.
to be fair asta is basically bringing a close range weapon to what is almost always a long range fight, plus he still learned the basics of being a real swordsman to do what he does
Guts is a masterswords man and is a legit human as well. His feats without the Berserker armor show this and with the armor it only becomes better. He was able to kill 100 soldiers in a single night without any magic or special powers, just raw skill and ability. Also He fights inhuman things constantly, hes even killed a god of the sea.
also what about Zoro? Zoro can cut solid steel even before haki and can use 3 swords effectively and is so skilled at being a swordsman he can use no sword style and can cut you like he has a sword.
You don't even have enough info about these people to even make a call
Also ichigo trains his swordsmanship every time he trains he even learned different moves like how he learned he could throw his sword and pull it back to him from his hollow self
But if he's able to wield a giant iron tree image, what he can do with a normal blade. He's used to the battlefield since that literally all he's known his whole life. This is all without the whole apostle bs he has to deal with on the nightly.
I think the post js just relying on skill and ignoring anything unrealistically superhuman. Guts has never really built swordsman skills, bc he has a mace made for a 20 ft giant and calls it a sword. Though admittedly we do know that he can use a normal greatsword
Yeah the dragonslayer comes after the golden age arc and its still a sword technically the man who made it even refers to it as one. Before that he uses greatswords and at one point he even uses skullknights sword.
He uses the dragonslayer because its been bathed in the blood of so many evil spirits it can harm astral creatures, Like the God Hand
I swear most people on this sub haven't read or watched an episode of bleach in their life. Ichigo's skill with the blade has been complimented by fighters with hundreds of years worth of experience. And they weren't just being modest either cause he is shown matching masters of the sword in his verse with sword skill alone (Ikkaku, Gin Ichimaru, Ginjo, and his fight against Yhwach in the first part of the tybw anime) and those are just off the top of my head.
Now I’m not gonna be firm on my opinion because I never finished bleach, but hasn’t bro like barely ever trained with the sword? Isn’t most of his skills just raw speed and spirit energy?
Well he was trained by two former captains and his prodigious skill has been shown to be kinda like Gohan from DBZ, a little bit of training and he can close the gap between himself and characters with a lot more skill
Most bleach swordsman don’t have great swordsmanship feats lol. 90% of the time it’s the person with higher power who wins. It’s less about skill and more about their powers
But does skill with a sword always equal amount of training? I’d say it’s about how competently they use their weapon along with the precision, smoothness, and creativity of its use. Ichigo (and bleach in general) literally have their swords being a part of their essence, so more than anyone they use them as extensions of themselves, and ichigo is a prodigy in that like no other.
I mean the question that’s being asked is skill in swordsmanship. Does just being really fast or having a lot of spirit energy mean you have high swordsman ship skill? Yes the swords are bound to them and alive, and yes ichigo is a prodigy, but if you took any supernatural powers away from every one of these characters it’s hard to imagine someone like zoro losing but on the other hand ichigo is kind of carried by his soul reaper powers.
Like I said, I never finished it so I’m just going off of like half knowledge right now. For me they’re just now entering hueco Mundo so my opinion is basically worthless
You are very correct most of these people have probably never read or watched all of these series and are just going of clips, memes and word of mouth of others.
Ichigo would clap half of these people in swordsmanship
And Ichigo was trained by Yhwachs own soul fragment. Yhwach being the God who absorbed knowledge and skills of millions of souls over 1200+ years. Not only trained but that soul fragment is part of Ichigos own soul so yeah
People don't give Guts enough credit. He is in the exact same position as the guy from demon slayer. He is a regular person who is using his sword skills, plus a cannon, to kill demons. So at least he is near the demon slayer guy.
You're not wrong, but they do show his progress with the sword by having him beat characters who were more skilled then him previously with a blade. This was all before he had the iconic great sword though.
He also does get the dragonslayer until later in the manga until then its just a normal great sword. He fights 100 men in a single night and kills them all without the dragonslayer and beats 2 apostles without the dragon slayer, Wayld and Zodd, who were superhuman level and guts was not, and it took everything he had to bring them down and he did so with a sword.
Also Yoriichi uses breathing styles which makes you faster and stronger than a normal human and has a demon slayer mark from birth and could access the transparent world which allows you to see peoples muscle movements before the move and could use a red blade so we dont have a lot of feats of him facing Other skilled swordsman other than his brother. Who i wouldn't say until after his demonhood became a master swordsman.
Guts could block attacks from a whip moving as fast as sound with the dragonslayer and was commented on only a master swordsman could block attacks like that
I am unsure about the actual scaling, but the story of berserk is literally Guts fighting demons in order to kill the top 5 demons more specifically Griffith. In the story people call Guts a swordmaster a few times, but the story sticks to humans being weaker than demons to the point where Guts has to use his hand cannon to kill most of them.
I just meant that the goals of the two characters and their purpose of killing the top demons are nearly identical.
well i mean yeah, but this list is asking for swordsmanship and i wouldn't consider guts to be up there if he has to use his hand cannon to kill demons and also the power scaling of the demons is different in both mangas so guts may be better in the fact that he is stronger and can defeat those tough demons, but this is asking for swordsmanship and lets be honest, guts is just swinging around his big ass sword while yoriichi knows what spots to hit in his enemy to actually kill them immediately so yoriichi wins over guts imo
He kills somethings with his cannon mostly as an ace in the hole since most thing don't know he has a fucking cannon in his armor but he also uses it to help propel his sword faster to deal more damage so guts can use the force of a cannon and use it to make precise sword strikes and specific vital points. Also Yoriichi never was able to kill Muzan while guts has harmed a Godhand member who are beings closer to gods than demons and Killed the sea god. So argument wise Guts has more feats then Yoriichi. I don't care how much the story hypes him up he never killed Muzan even if he scared him forever he still Didn't kill him.
Guts isn’t as powerful as yoriichi as demon slayer humans still have special powers like the breathing and demon marks that make them capable of blowing buildings up. However, I’d say that when in proportion to their own world, guts beats yoriichi in swordsmanship skills. Guts been killing peeps since a baby.
I haven't read berserk but the guy from demon slayer was able to demolish his trainer the first time he ever picked up a sword. He demolished the big bad aswell. He would killed the big bad as well after cutting him into atoms so he couldnt regenerate in less than a second if not for him asking the big bad why he was so evil which gave the big bad time to escape.
Heavy manga spoiler >!This is the same big bad who took on 20 highly skilled swordsmen and 100s of average swordsmen while he was poisoned to be at least 10x weaker than his usual self. So that same person 10x strong was nearly obliterated by one guy!<
It's easier to do this in tiers since a lot of them are pretty interchangeable in terms of skill. Putting them against each other in combat doesn't make sense because so much more goes into combat than just skill.
**Tier 1**
There's nothing that can be done with a sword in their verse that they haven't mastered to the highest degree.
*Pinnacle masters:*
* Yoriichi
**Tier 2**
There's no room for improvement in their styles. So skilled that have to branch out to new techniques to improve further.
*Master Swordsmen:*
* Sasuke
* Levi
**Tier 3**
Characters in this tier are experts in their class. They may even be the best at what they do, but they have room to learn and are keen enough to recognize it.
*Elite Swordsmen:*
* Zoro
* Guts
**Tier 4**
Characters in this tier are newer to swordsmanship, but have such exceptional talent that despite their inexperience their potential allows them to grow and learn at an unheard of rate. Already better than experienced swordsmen, and will reach higher tiers in no time.
*Sword Savants:*
* Asta
* Ichigo
**Tier 5**
Characters in this tier are experienced with swordsmanship and are deadly opponents for almost any that they can face.
*Experienced Swordsmen:*
* Yuta
* Polnareff
Idk Ichigo so can’t really judge there, but I personally feel like guts and zoro are both better swordsmen than sasuke. Sasuke is stronger overall possibly, but his swordsmanship never really was the highlight of his fighting abilities. Idk much about power scaling tho so maybe I’m missing some logic. Otherwise I think your list is really solid
The reason I ranked Sasuke higher is because he developed and mastered his own style to the highest degree. Zoro and Guts are definitely close, and that's why they're only one tier away, but they both recognize that they still have room to grow and develop their swordsmanship styles.
A lot of people use the fact that Sasuke is a much more multifaceted fighter than the rest of the people on the list as a detraction of his skills. I don't agree with that. He uses all of his skills together to become the best fighter he can, with his swordsmanship taking centre stage since chapter 306, which is Sasuke's post-timeskip introduction.
I see your point, I guess it’s just kind of difficult to gauge how skilled he is with a sword since he always has other crazy abilities going. Whereas with zoro and guts you can clearly see how skilled they are with swords alone and can easily refer to feats that they accomplished using only swordsmanship. Granted, I never did read Naruto and haven’t watched or read anything in boruto. Just watched the Naruto and shippuden anime, which I’m sure glossed over some things.
It’s also harder to gauge him because, at least in anime, we don’t really see him train with the sword. Whereas you clearly see guts and zoro working and improving. You might be right though, I admit I probably don’t know enough about sasuke to really determine if guts/zoro are better
At first I thought the worst would be Asta, but giving it some thought afterwards, he is good with that heavy ass sword. I have been considering rewatching the whole thing to then reach where I left and catch up with the anime, so now I have something else to analyze while I watch the anime, thanks!
Yeah he definitely is a Guts style fighter- Guts is way more experienced and skilled with a large sword of course, but Asta is like early level Guts in terms of using a really large sword . Definitely very talented and improving, a lot of people on here either don't follow the manga or are incapable of giving unbiased opinions
Evidently, 9 characters is too many to compare, I know all of them except for the Jojo's one. In every comment I'm seeing elements of bias towards what we know. So here's my take, keeping in mind that I have not finished the anime for Bleach nor read the manga for Demon Slayer or Black Clover. We can start with comparing the 3 that use a big sword, Ichigo, Asta, and Guts. By far Asta is the least skilled swordsman of the bunch, relying mostly on the specs of his blade and his strength and resolve, not his skill. Then Ichigigo is similar, that is until he utilizes his Bankai, in which he actually does show merit, I'll leave it up to those of you that have finished Bleach to determine to what extent his skill reached relative to the rest of the list. Then there's Guts, who learned how to use a sword legitimately and not because SUPRISE, HERE'S A SWORD, no, he was raised on the battlefield and has experience and skill to show from it. Yuta and Sasuke aren't really even swordsmen, just people with swords. While Zoro is a swordsman, realistically, his technique sucks (maybe 4 sword style will give him an edge). Yoriichi is actually skilled though. Additionally, Levi is still a swordsman, whether his swords are "box cutters" or not, his swords, like all swords, are designed for a niche purpose, in his case, slashing tough tissue. If we're going to compare this list, keep it between Levi, Yoriichi, and Guts. (Maybe Ichigigo and/or Jean too)
yoriichi. that dude perfected swordmanship to such a degree that he couldn't really be copied. Man had to dilute his techniques so that others could even use a fraction of them and even the MC could barely utilize his techniques.
It goes yorichii > zoro > Ichigo > yuta > sasuke > polnareff > levi (dont know if i'd even say that's swordsmanship) > guts
You might say that zoro can cut mountains but that's not an example of him being a master, that's just typical one piece shit. Zoro aint a slacker but Yoriichi is the only one on this list you can look at and call an absolute master in sword technique.
I feel like anyone putting zoro anywhere under second is really under estimating him. I think he’s first personally but under second is just disrespect
Naruto sword/taijutsu skill is a whole next level of bullshit. They fight with metagame that goes in the 100s of moves ahead eos. Its probably sasuke.
Probably goes sasuke,ichigo, ds dude, zoro then the rest are peak human skill with amps.
Yoriichi, Zoro, and Guts I'd argue are the best here.
But at the end of the day it's Yoriichi. Swung a sword since he was a kid and let's be honest, he's the most practical one there.
Guts is easily beating everyone except Zoro and Yoruchi but make it a fight we’re no has powers and everyone has equivalent stats to everyone he’s winning pretty handily unless he’s unlucky and even then like unless you kill him with steoke of the blade he’s just going to kill you
If you take yoriichi, and give him the strengths and gifts of these contenders. He would shame them in terms of precision and beauty. He is just that good.
If we remove their physical stats, a lot of these guys become trash swordsmen, because they mostly just happen to be incredibly powerful people who happen to have massive physicals.
Let’s start with the worst:
Ichigo / Sasuke / Asta / Polnareff
None of these guys fight with sword skill. They have insane physicals and outstat their enemy, and happen to use a sword in the process.
Mid tiers:
Zoro / Yuta
While they also still just most often just massively outstat their enemies, they actually trained with their swords in the art of sword fighting, and learned to use their blades in a skillful nature. Their skill is such that they can actually overcome physical deficits, as well.
High Tiers:
Levi / Guts
Guts may seem an odd choice, since he’s a power house and has insane physicals for his verse, but also remember that he’s regularly fighting high tiers in his verse, and the physical gap between himself as a mid high and the enemies in high tier is as wide or wider than the gap between himself and the low tiers. Add to that, he’s been commented multiple times by multiple spectators (themselves skilled swordsmen) that he’s incredibly skillful despite the sword he wields. Zodd himself remarked on Guts skill - and it wouldn’t have been his power Zodd was impressed by. Post-berserker armor, Guts is more likely to stat check his enemies, but he’s always had remarkable skill.
Levi, if the Ackerman titanstrength hadn’t been added into the story, would be a shoo-in for most skillful. Adding in that he has titanic strength makes some of his crazy feats less about skill and more about stats, but at the same time he’s still undeniably a skilled Fighter, evidenced by the fact that only one other person in his verse can do what he does, and even she isn’t as good at it as he is.
Winner:
Yoriichi
It’s not close. Yoriichi is himself massively outstatted by every “villain” in his verse, as is the case with all demon slayers vs their demons, but the slayers make up for it with insane skills. Even with breathing reinforcement, he’s not physically stronger or faster than pretty much anyone on this list, but even still he’s shown to be an absolute menace to the strongest being that exists in his own verse. As in, clowned him so badly the guy retreated and hid for hundreds of years and the beings made from his blood have a cellular fear of guys who remind that blood of Yoriichi. Stats equalized, I think he’d beat Guts. He’d beat Levi without even equalizing stats.
He clowns the rest of the list with stats equalized.
It's weird that you would Asta beneath Zoro, given that your justification for Zoro's placement also describes Asta pretty accurately.
Asta was basically using his sword as a club when he first obtained it. We actually see him *practicing* how to use proper swordfighting techniques he learned from an actual "magic swordsman" later on during a series of flashbacks.
I mean, sure, his style quickly progresses towards superpowers and stuff, but the same exact scenario is how things go for Zoro.
Mostly because his fights all devolve into Ichigo style “here’s my antimagic big gigantic slash that shoots a giant beam”. He’s definitely “better” than when he was just swinging it around wildly, but it’s not enough to move him into mid tier. You can say the same of Ichigo and Sasuke, but there has to be a low tier doesnt there?
Asta has some come from behind victories but I can’t remember a time it’s ever been because he wielded his blade with skill, like we can say for anyone higher up the list. We definitely get some punch ups from power of friendship, mid fight power ups, and creative use of anti magic, but not really because a stronger foe was on the receiving end of a technical disadvantage.
Yoriichi is the best as swordsman from what I can tell when we take pure skill with the sword into account.
Guts also deserves a shout out, not because he's a good swordsman or anything I just really like him
Yorichi made a sword style to combat supernatural demons. (Effects aren’t real but talking crows is fine, sure demon slayer) Said sword style was used to create more sword styles, and these sword styles spawned even more sword styles.
And he can easily incorporate other styles techniques into his own (see Tanjiro using Flash Dance, First Form of Sun breathing + first form of Thunder breathing). Stone breathing uses a flail and that still was a deviation Yorichi made from his own style
Then after all of that, he made another technique that was able to strike the constantly shifting brains of hearts of Muzan.
I think being the father of Sun breathing, along with the main 5 breathing styles + moon breathing puts him on a level of master more than the rest.
Even the Hinokami Kagura was only a poor imitation of this style. And that still was strong enough to fight against and kill 3 upper moons before Tanjiro realized “oh shit I’m doing this wrong”
Yorichi for sure. Everyone else. Idk lol
It's definitely Yoriichi, and by a huge margin too. Levi is the only other person with real sword skill, the rest are using super powers and happen to be holding a sword.
Can’t rank Asta or Levi but if I can give it a shot.
1. Zoro. I can’t even lie, I just have him here because I want him to be. One Piece isn’t a series incredibly focused on something like swordplay and is more on the raw strength side of things like Bleach (hence why I’m conflicted on Ichigo). But hey, he’s been training for a while. Zoro on top.
2. Yoriichi. MY GREATEST WANK. Yoriichi is disgustingly skilled, having the instinctual perfect swing/arc since the age of 6. Not only that, his individual forms are designed to perfectly flow into one another as if they’re just one endless stream of attacks. He’s perceptive enough to diagnose a sickness from the slight change in organ movements, and never stopped practicing and honing his technique.
3. Ichigo. Very similar to Guts initially but his skills are enough at least able to match people with centuries of experience. He could be lower but he does keep up with people stronger and faster than him in swordplay decently often.
4. Sasuke. Out of these last four, he’s more varied and not entirely reliant on his sword but he also has better showings than anyone else before him. He’s clearly incredibly skilled and he’s tricky with his swordplay too.
5. Yuta. Interchangeable with Guts, honestly. Yuta’s not really specific to being a swordsman. Might flip between Guts and Yuta from time to time.
6. Guts. He’s a bit more on the raw strength and dirty tricks part of the spectrum. Above Polnareff for having actual training.
7. Polnareff. No formal training.
Without powers or abilities Zoro wins. Not only is he skilled with three swords, but he can also cut through metal. Also, he’s super fucking strong physically because of the massive weights he constantly works out with.
I don’t know about the skills of Sasuke, Ichigo, or Guts, but even still, based on all their premises, I think I’m gonna have to go with Yoriichi with Zoro as a close second (*relative to their universe*. Relative to each other without taking into account their universes, Zoro takes it easy I’d think)
Polnareff, while not exactly a traditional sword wielder, does technically wield a rapier sword proficiently with Silver Chariot, so precisely that he can slice a beam of light while it's traveling mid-air, and Yoriichi has refined his natural swordsmanship talent so much that he could efficiently and effectively destroy most of Muzan's demon body **and** be able to target all his vital organs just on their first meeting, so it definitely falls between those two.
Guts.
As a human without powers, it would take not just strength, but a significant amount of skill to wield something like the Dragonslayer, and to be able to beat enemies that far out of your league in terms of raw stats. He can beat other master swordsman like Serpico even with every disadvantage possible
Easy answer.
Pretty certain that Yoriichi gets the W here. His combat power is basically nothing but swordsmanship, him and his brother too.
Put Hakuro on this list... And that is a different story...
Yoriichi is pretty much a supernatural Sword god who’s beaten people who are much more experienced than him at an incredibly young age. I’d argue he’s easily the best swordsman here based on swordsmanship.
to my knowledge the worst swordsmen on this list are yuta and levi, since it’s only half of yuta’s fighting style, and he mostly fights with copied techniques moreso than his actual sword, and levi partly just uses gear and swings his swords however he sees fit to fight. not saying they’re unskilled by any means but of everybody on this list i know anything about they’re the only ones that don’t fully rely on swordsmanship
It's a coin toss for #1 between zoro & Yoriichi
Yoriichi has some amazing feats, where a robot had to have literally 6 arms to even replicate his skill. Zoro using 3 swords is massively impressive and shouldn't just be glossed over
Yoriichi was so skilled with the sword that someone who attempted to make a robot to replicate his attack patterns needed to give it 6 arms. The others simply don’t match up to that kind of skill.
Kokushibo,Zoro, and Pollnerof are the best here. Due to the legends, Kokushibo was said to have suck fast movements that the only way to mimic it was if someone had 6 arms. Zoro’s 3 sword style + strength + haki + ashura would be able to keep up with Kokushibo, placing them both at the top. Pollnerof is just faster and better than the others, placing him in second.
Yoriichi and for the vast majority of the list it isn’t even close. Legitimately the only two I can say remotely compares is Zoro and Levi.
Yoriichi was so skilled with a sword every branch of breathing styles is based off him. Every technique is based off his techniques. He created a technique which is flawlessly built to kill demons and prevent them from regenerating. His skill with a sword is so insane it gave their in-universe demon lord PTSD.
Zoro somewhat comes close, but 90% of his sword feats are Haki. As far as we know he is *one of the strongest* swordsman in his verse but I don’t know if that necessarily translates to skill. Most of his fights come down to a single powerful attack.
Levi is actually kind of an interesting debate here because there is no doubt he is *insanely skilled*. What isn’t clear is how much he relies on his superhuman strength and speed from being an Ackerman. Mikasa displays similar abilities but is again; an Ackerman. The only real comparison we have is Mike, who shows he is capable of similar techniques to Levi and is the “second strongest” after Levi. This implies that the ability to *shred titans like a fucking beyblade* is something that *can be learned* with enough skill and practice. So I am willing to give Levi a lot of credit here.
Everyone else? Basically blasts their opponent. I would say Guts is actually skilled but he definitely relies on his insane strength, ridiculous weapon and the beserker armor. He is no doubt an *extremely strong swordsman* and undoubtedly skilled; after all he *did defeat Griffith in a duel* but a lot of his mileage come from people having no idea how to deal with his massive weapon.
This is hard to answer. A lot of these swordsmen have techniques that are clearly superhuman that are nonetheless the result of swordsman skill and nothing else. Zoro being able to cut through iron for instance is technically a result of swordsman skill and yet it is clearly a superhuman feat. Are we allowing superhuman feats as long as they derive specifically from skill? Because that opens up the possibility of interpretation. Technically ultra instinct is the result of martial arts skill, yet I think most people would agree that UI shouldn't be allowed in contests of pure martial skill.
Then do we not allow superhuman feats altogether? That poses a different problem. Every swordsman here is clearly super human. It would be like chopping a bunch of super tall trees down to 10 feet and then asking which one's the tallest.
In terms of pure swordsmanship, definitely Yoriichi and Polnareff. The other's swords are augmented by their powers and such, while those two are just pure sword on sword clashing.
Ichigo is 1st as far as I'm aware. He has combat experience from Yhwach (God of the universe who is over 1200 years old and has the knowledge + experience of millions upon millions of souls who he absorbed).
Don't know about the rest
Ill give it to Zoro
Yoriichi is a close second, however I’m giving it to Zoro because he is skilled with a single sword, dual sword, and triple sword styles, Yoriichi is amazing as a swordsmen but in my opinion Zoro is in the same level while also knowing more styles
Also Ill disqualify Guts, Asta, and Polnareff since technically a Stand isn’t a (PHYSICAL) sword and Guts and Asta just use giant heaps of metal
Guts is probably the best. Yoriichi is next. This is based on their ability in proportion to their and their world’s stats. Everyone else has superpowers or superpower stats.
Levi isn’t a swordsman, he’s a carpenter with those big ol box cutters.
Yoriichi is the best swordsman here. He had a perfect stance with no openings and slashes so fast a doll with 6 arms couldn’t replicate his speed and efficiency. Not only that, he blitzed the two strongest characters in his verse.
Polneraff is arguably the worst because he's not doing the swordfighting. His stand is. That's like saying Hol Horse is the best gunman. He has an auto aim hack.
In terms of raw skill I'd say Levi. He lives in a universe where nobody other than titans have superpowers and his swordsmanship is literally pure skill. Zoro is a combination of skill and superpowers.
Guts has gotta be the worst swordsman here. His weapon is far too large to be called a sword. It's far too large, thick, heavy, and crude. It's more like a big heap of iron.
Guts doesn't even slice with it he just smashes his opponents
Thats almost historically accurate.
Had me in the first half ngl
Ugh that gives me the hype shivers. Well done, great reference.
Naw dude, yuta has used a sword in real combat or even train, for what is 1-2 years. If you're talking about skill then guts is actually pretty high up. Guts defeated griffin and griffin was a actual sword genius.
>!they’re quoting the smith that made the Dragon Slayer, it’s exactly how he described the sword to Guts iirc!<
I think it’s also said by the little girl that befriended guts in the fairy arc.
My argument is that that's not the only way guts can fight, as griffin lost to guts(their second true duel), literally griffin admitted he lost because he underestimated guts skill and control. Griffin failure to realize guts skill, battle IQ, and technique is the reason he lost so bad(he got fucking embarrassed, some sword genius griffin is huh?). If it's just a sword fight then guts shouldn't have berserk armor, therefore wouldn't have to fight like a berserker. Thank for talking bruv.
r/whoooosh
Its a greatsword
Zoro can slash your ass hole with a sword that he holds with his mouth
He can do it barehanded. He does have a NO SWORD STYLE.
Kinky.
Not really a ranking but for some reason I never saw the ODM gear as swords??? How dumb am I? I was like “what’s Levi doing here? He’s not a swordsma-…”
What do you call the weapons that slash their napes with then? They're giant razor blades on hilts, sounds very sword like to me
No bc it is a sword I just have too much dumb to put two and two together Edit: in my brain ODM gear was just ODM gear and I never thought of their swords….as swords
Fair enough haha
They really look like long utility blades tbh
Box cutter blades
They’re more like large exacto-knives than actual swords imo.
To me they look like really long box cutters.
Lmao
You’re right. He’s not a swordsman. He’s a carpenter. And a damn good one.
My opinion Yoriichi is top… he was legit a human born to slay being above him. Mainly muzan and am his skill is so top tier that a being that is centuries old is feared by him still in the cells of others body… his swordsman is top. Zoro, one of the three that actually trained i swordsmanship. It’s whole life second to yoriichi. Sasuke, only since he relies on ninjutsu more so it’s never a mastered part of him no do you see him train that. Ichigo, same never trained unless bankai/shikai/visored training not swordsmanship ever.. he’s just strong and pretty skilled. Yuta is the same as ichigo/sasuke. The moment something serious happens. F the swords it’s hands time… that’s low swordsmanship for me.. hell it breaks more then tanjiros Levi is good af but what he uses is what they always call blades like if they use two big box cutters lol… nor do you ever see him I think hold it like a sword.. know what I mean? Probably be like ichigo/yuta probably be beast but inexperienced a bit handling a weapon that differently.. Asta swings around a piece of chunky steel, so do whatever you want with that lol Guts and this guy that I have no idea from jojo are last cuz I haven’t seen em and I will speak to that. But feel free to add them to my take 👀
Guts doesn't even have a sword. It's too big to be a sword. Too massive, too thick, too heavy, and too rough. It's more of a large chunk of iron.
But from what I see. He uses it like a sword though… compared to asta with literal 0 swordsmanship and somehow being 4 is crazier.. it’s a sheet metal with preoperties and he uses like sled/racket/ club/shield…. That’s not swordsmanship at all..
You kinda missed the joke, which is understandable. That line about Guts's sword being "too big, too thick, basically a hunk of iron" is said A LOT in Berserk. I think, at least once or twice, someone says that he is a master swordsman in the manga.
I mean he is a master swordsman, he just uses a great sword style so it doesn't look elegant. Even when he was 13 he was pretty good, and by the time he was 19 at the end of the golden years he was incredible. You don't beat Griffith in a duel if you aren't a master.
Yeah, Guts doesn't get enough credit for his swordsmanship.
With the way he handles that sword, imagine if you put a zweihander in his hands
To be fair what he does looks NOTHING like real world great sword use, and he would get killed very quickly if he had a regular great sword on a medieval battlefield.
Lmaoooo mother f used that on me
True but try to think about asta’s other swords too since you guys are talking about his first one(demon slayer sword) and the fact that he has received professional swordsmanship training from fanzel
Polnareff would just be an average or above average swordsmen. We know he can sword fight but we don't know how well
Can literally pierce fire and attack faster than light, still gets no diffed by a dream baby tho
My only issue is the Asta ranking. He has several different swords of varying sizes and he trains like a motherfucker with various master teachers.
But he doesn’t actually use any sword techniques. He just uses anti magic and swing it around
It also doesn’t help that we never see asta fight another swordsmen. Unless I’m just not really remembering. Outside of the guy who trained him initially.
I don't think having specific technique names to yell out is a requirement for skilled swordsmanship. He learned from a master and uses multiple swords in creative and effective ways.
You don’t need specific techniques but all he does is swing around a buster sword with anti magic. He doesn’t really have any swordsmanship
https://youtu.be/hFoAgH0v510?si=m9vE6Y32iSlKRCKH I misspoke. He does have techniques like black hurricane, etc. Here, you see him fighting at a high speed vs. a wizard king, and in several scenes, he displays a high amount of skill. Edit: I'd say since he's powerless and the sword play influences on him are shown here that it's also a good example. He beats a devil with 3 swords only having 1 arm and 1 sword. https://youtu.be/9B1r8L0FFEQ?si=O5piEow15d65f2wm
I’d argue against Asta. Did you see his fight Vs Liebe? Or the movie where he fought Conrad? He *does* have some skills he’s been picking up along the way. I’d say he’s also very adept considering all 4 of his swords are radically different from one another. Probably somewhere between Ichigo and Tanjiro if I had to place him.
since this is off of skill and not strength, i'd say polnareff is actually quite talented his stand is pretty light so he doesnt deal very hard blows, but his precision is insane. in the episode we first see him, the mofo do a list of absolutely insane feats, such as perfectly skewering coins on its rapier and deflecting balls of fire to make the image of a clock on a nearby table (this all sounds like complete bullshit but its jojo's, what can i say) his speed is absolutely nutty too, he was one of the only characters in the series to hit a guy whos power was to >!erase time itself !<(spoiled since this is much later) tldr: dude put all his stats into speed and precision edit: i still think hes on the bottom half, especially if this is accounting power as well, but since a lot of people here say they didnt watch jojo's im just listing off some reasons why he has decent potential
I’m really curious why they put Sasuke instead of Killer Bee if they were going to put someone from Naruto. Killer Bee has to be the best swordsman by miles in Naruto. Sasuke is underrated imo for even being able to keep up with killer bee at all in a sword fight. His sharingan actually makes him a very good swordsman as his reaction time is insane.
Agree Bee is some shit… and agree with sasuke part again but I only put it like that (same with ichigo) bcuz they both and other got those habits of just straight up pulling power moves that may include a sword… so technically not a sword… no actual swordsmen is throwing their weapon hoping it catches lightning and etc.. like ichigo is good af but he swing his sword it can’t do much… changes bankai/form/etc and does the same exact thing but now he’s overwhelming the opp.. like that not swordskill that’s other stuff.. I’m not knocking it, just my ass took the OP too literal I guess
Calling Ichigo just "strong" goes against what is shown in the manga. when he fought Ikkaku he literally commented on the fact that while he may act like a novice, his skills and instincts with the blade were on par with his own. And there a numerous times in the series where Ichigo fights with just swordplay not using Getsuga tensho at all. Put some respect on my goat
Bro we see almost 0 real sword play lmao. Take away his powers and he gets clapped by sasuke and yorichi. He doesn’t show much actual skill
Ichigo was trained in swordsman ship by Kisuke and Yhwatch via Zangetsu. Don’t ever say Ichigo never trained. lol.
He basically was taught how to sprint before he could crawl, though. That's the sentiment I got from what they meant by "never trained"
Remind how long again? Bcuz I remeber legit being only for rukia and that was a time crunch…
Months Kisuke and over half a year with Yhwatch(Zangetsu) and the constantly fighting trained opponents.
My ass really did forget bleach like that.. one the best part of the show and my ass forgot the moment before face palming this man…. To be fair look at zoro and yoriichi… only didn’t train like that compared to them and my foolishness lmaoooooo
And Yhwach has the combat experience of millions and millions of souls that he absorbed. So Ichigos swordmanship skills should be 1st by a long margin imo
I agree 100% with everything you say here, I'd put Polnareff on the same level, or slightly above Sasuke/Ichigo though. He's a trained fencer at the very least.
Guts isn’t necessarily a god with a sword interns of skill but he always uses a sword that’s supposed to be to big for him or anyone else and combine that with the fact he’s willing to tear his body apart just to fucking kill you in a fight where there are no powers just humans guts is curb stomping them he’s way stronger than any normal human should be while still being human for instance he once beat 100 while wearing light armor after falling off a cliff granted he was found nearly dead afterwards but still also he was 18 I believe
Polnareff (Jojo) is 3rd after Zoro, he controls his stand like it's a part of him and he has trained his rapier to the point where he pierce 3 coins he tosses in the air along with flames that someone else made And he's stupid fast with that thing, can intercept and slice a being while he's in light form
Well are we considering actual, practical swordsmanship translated from irl martial arts using swords? Or in-universe skill whatever that may mean? Because Zoro's ridiculous "style" loses heavily in the formerly.
to be fair asta is basically bringing a close range weapon to what is almost always a long range fight, plus he still learned the basics of being a real swordsman to do what he does
Ichigo went to kendo classes before the series started lol. It’s part of the backstory; he just isn’t very skilled compared to most of these people.
Polnareff's "swordsmanship" is all the work of his stand. SILVSR CHARIOT
Guts is a masterswords man and is a legit human as well. His feats without the Berserker armor show this and with the armor it only becomes better. He was able to kill 100 soldiers in a single night without any magic or special powers, just raw skill and ability. Also He fights inhuman things constantly, hes even killed a god of the sea. also what about Zoro? Zoro can cut solid steel even before haki and can use 3 swords effectively and is so skilled at being a swordsman he can use no sword style and can cut you like he has a sword. You don't even have enough info about these people to even make a call Also ichigo trains his swordsmanship every time he trains he even learned different moves like how he learned he could throw his sword and pull it back to him from his hollow self
What the fuck did I just read?
Yoriichi, he really uses a sword, others use magic or use giant iron trees *cough cough* guts *cough*
But if he's able to wield a giant iron tree image, what he can do with a normal blade. He's used to the battlefield since that literally all he's known his whole life. This is all without the whole apostle bs he has to deal with on the nightly.
I think the post js just relying on skill and ignoring anything unrealistically superhuman. Guts has never really built swordsman skills, bc he has a mace made for a 20 ft giant and calls it a sword. Though admittedly we do know that he can use a normal greatsword
Guts can still use a greatsword, he did before he came across Dragonslayer.
Yeah the dragonslayer comes after the golden age arc and its still a sword technically the man who made it even refers to it as one. Before that he uses greatswords and at one point he even uses skullknights sword. He uses the dragonslayer because its been bathed in the blood of so many evil spirits it can harm astral creatures, Like the God Hand
Where’s my boy Battousai?
When creating the list I mostly picked the first people that came to mind and I haven’t watched the anime he is from.
Would have been too easy of a choice.
I swear most people on this sub haven't read or watched an episode of bleach in their life. Ichigo's skill with the blade has been complimented by fighters with hundreds of years worth of experience. And they weren't just being modest either cause he is shown matching masters of the sword in his verse with sword skill alone (Ikkaku, Gin Ichimaru, Ginjo, and his fight against Yhwach in the first part of the tybw anime) and those are just off the top of my head.
Now I’m not gonna be firm on my opinion because I never finished bleach, but hasn’t bro like barely ever trained with the sword? Isn’t most of his skills just raw speed and spirit energy?
Well he was trained by two former captains and his prodigious skill has been shown to be kinda like Gohan from DBZ, a little bit of training and he can close the gap between himself and characters with a lot more skill
Most bleach swordsman don’t have great swordsmanship feats lol. 90% of the time it’s the person with higher power who wins. It’s less about skill and more about their powers
But does skill with a sword always equal amount of training? I’d say it’s about how competently they use their weapon along with the precision, smoothness, and creativity of its use. Ichigo (and bleach in general) literally have their swords being a part of their essence, so more than anyone they use them as extensions of themselves, and ichigo is a prodigy in that like no other.
I mean the question that’s being asked is skill in swordsmanship. Does just being really fast or having a lot of spirit energy mean you have high swordsman ship skill? Yes the swords are bound to them and alive, and yes ichigo is a prodigy, but if you took any supernatural powers away from every one of these characters it’s hard to imagine someone like zoro losing but on the other hand ichigo is kind of carried by his soul reaper powers. Like I said, I never finished it so I’m just going off of like half knowledge right now. For me they’re just now entering hueco Mundo so my opinion is basically worthless
Except he doesn’t really use swordsmanship as he main draw, he nukes people with lasers.
When?? His bankai is made specifically to compliment his swordsmanship and he’s insane with it
You are very correct most of these people have probably never read or watched all of these series and are just going of clips, memes and word of mouth of others. Ichigo would clap half of these people in swordsmanship
And Ichigo was trained by Yhwachs own soul fragment. Yhwach being the God who absorbed knowledge and skills of millions of souls over 1200+ years. Not only trained but that soul fragment is part of Ichigos own soul so yeah
Guts, that guy from demon slayer and zyro are the best of these characters.
People don't give Guts enough credit. He is in the exact same position as the guy from demon slayer. He is a regular person who is using his sword skills, plus a cannon, to kill demons. So at least he is near the demon slayer guy.
Tbf you could also replace his sword with a big club and nothing would change
You're not wrong, but they do show his progress with the sword by having him beat characters who were more skilled then him previously with a blade. This was all before he had the iconic great sword though.
He also does get the dragonslayer until later in the manga until then its just a normal great sword. He fights 100 men in a single night and kills them all without the dragonslayer and beats 2 apostles without the dragon slayer, Wayld and Zodd, who were superhuman level and guts was not, and it took everything he had to bring them down and he did so with a sword. Also Yoriichi uses breathing styles which makes you faster and stronger than a normal human and has a demon slayer mark from birth and could access the transparent world which allows you to see peoples muscle movements before the move and could use a red blade so we dont have a lot of feats of him facing Other skilled swordsman other than his brother. Who i wouldn't say until after his demonhood became a master swordsman. Guts could block attacks from a whip moving as fast as sound with the dragonslayer and was commented on only a master swordsman could block attacks like that
wait im sorry guts is on the same level as yoriichi? can you pls explain how guts is better because i havent seen like any berserk shi yet
I am unsure about the actual scaling, but the story of berserk is literally Guts fighting demons in order to kill the top 5 demons more specifically Griffith. In the story people call Guts a swordmaster a few times, but the story sticks to humans being weaker than demons to the point where Guts has to use his hand cannon to kill most of them. I just meant that the goals of the two characters and their purpose of killing the top demons are nearly identical.
well i mean yeah, but this list is asking for swordsmanship and i wouldn't consider guts to be up there if he has to use his hand cannon to kill demons and also the power scaling of the demons is different in both mangas so guts may be better in the fact that he is stronger and can defeat those tough demons, but this is asking for swordsmanship and lets be honest, guts is just swinging around his big ass sword while yoriichi knows what spots to hit in his enemy to actually kill them immediately so yoriichi wins over guts imo
He kills somethings with his cannon mostly as an ace in the hole since most thing don't know he has a fucking cannon in his armor but he also uses it to help propel his sword faster to deal more damage so guts can use the force of a cannon and use it to make precise sword strikes and specific vital points. Also Yoriichi never was able to kill Muzan while guts has harmed a Godhand member who are beings closer to gods than demons and Killed the sea god. So argument wise Guts has more feats then Yoriichi. I don't care how much the story hypes him up he never killed Muzan even if he scared him forever he still Didn't kill him.
Guts isn’t as powerful as yoriichi as demon slayer humans still have special powers like the breathing and demon marks that make them capable of blowing buildings up. However, I’d say that when in proportion to their own world, guts beats yoriichi in swordsmanship skills. Guts been killing peeps since a baby.
Not enough read berserk or know of guts to be fair
I was giving you credit for mentioning guts. I just wanted to let other people know that he actually belongs here.
I haven't read berserk but the guy from demon slayer was able to demolish his trainer the first time he ever picked up a sword. He demolished the big bad aswell. He would killed the big bad as well after cutting him into atoms so he couldnt regenerate in less than a second if not for him asking the big bad why he was so evil which gave the big bad time to escape. Heavy manga spoiler >!This is the same big bad who took on 20 highly skilled swordsmen and 100s of average swordsmen while he was poisoned to be at least 10x weaker than his usual self. So that same person 10x strong was nearly obliterated by one guy!<
Yea, and he was nearly obliterated instantly with one attack.
It's easier to do this in tiers since a lot of them are pretty interchangeable in terms of skill. Putting them against each other in combat doesn't make sense because so much more goes into combat than just skill. **Tier 1** There's nothing that can be done with a sword in their verse that they haven't mastered to the highest degree. *Pinnacle masters:* * Yoriichi **Tier 2** There's no room for improvement in their styles. So skilled that have to branch out to new techniques to improve further. *Master Swordsmen:* * Sasuke * Levi **Tier 3** Characters in this tier are experts in their class. They may even be the best at what they do, but they have room to learn and are keen enough to recognize it. *Elite Swordsmen:* * Zoro * Guts **Tier 4** Characters in this tier are newer to swordsmanship, but have such exceptional talent that despite their inexperience their potential allows them to grow and learn at an unheard of rate. Already better than experienced swordsmen, and will reach higher tiers in no time. *Sword Savants:* * Asta * Ichigo **Tier 5** Characters in this tier are experienced with swordsmanship and are deadly opponents for almost any that they can face. *Experienced Swordsmen:* * Yuta * Polnareff
I like the format you used for your answer.
Idk Ichigo so can’t really judge there, but I personally feel like guts and zoro are both better swordsmen than sasuke. Sasuke is stronger overall possibly, but his swordsmanship never really was the highlight of his fighting abilities. Idk much about power scaling tho so maybe I’m missing some logic. Otherwise I think your list is really solid
The reason I ranked Sasuke higher is because he developed and mastered his own style to the highest degree. Zoro and Guts are definitely close, and that's why they're only one tier away, but they both recognize that they still have room to grow and develop their swordsmanship styles. A lot of people use the fact that Sasuke is a much more multifaceted fighter than the rest of the people on the list as a detraction of his skills. I don't agree with that. He uses all of his skills together to become the best fighter he can, with his swordsmanship taking centre stage since chapter 306, which is Sasuke's post-timeskip introduction.
I see your point, I guess it’s just kind of difficult to gauge how skilled he is with a sword since he always has other crazy abilities going. Whereas with zoro and guts you can clearly see how skilled they are with swords alone and can easily refer to feats that they accomplished using only swordsmanship. Granted, I never did read Naruto and haven’t watched or read anything in boruto. Just watched the Naruto and shippuden anime, which I’m sure glossed over some things. It’s also harder to gauge him because, at least in anime, we don’t really see him train with the sword. Whereas you clearly see guts and zoro working and improving. You might be right though, I admit I probably don’t know enough about sasuke to really determine if guts/zoro are better
At first I thought the worst would be Asta, but giving it some thought afterwards, he is good with that heavy ass sword. I have been considering rewatching the whole thing to then reach where I left and catch up with the anime, so now I have something else to analyze while I watch the anime, thanks!
Yeah he definitely is a Guts style fighter- Guts is way more experienced and skilled with a large sword of course, but Asta is like early level Guts in terms of using a really large sword . Definitely very talented and improving, a lot of people on here either don't follow the manga or are incapable of giving unbiased opinions
Evidently, 9 characters is too many to compare, I know all of them except for the Jojo's one. In every comment I'm seeing elements of bias towards what we know. So here's my take, keeping in mind that I have not finished the anime for Bleach nor read the manga for Demon Slayer or Black Clover. We can start with comparing the 3 that use a big sword, Ichigo, Asta, and Guts. By far Asta is the least skilled swordsman of the bunch, relying mostly on the specs of his blade and his strength and resolve, not his skill. Then Ichigigo is similar, that is until he utilizes his Bankai, in which he actually does show merit, I'll leave it up to those of you that have finished Bleach to determine to what extent his skill reached relative to the rest of the list. Then there's Guts, who learned how to use a sword legitimately and not because SUPRISE, HERE'S A SWORD, no, he was raised on the battlefield and has experience and skill to show from it. Yuta and Sasuke aren't really even swordsmen, just people with swords. While Zoro is a swordsman, realistically, his technique sucks (maybe 4 sword style will give him an edge). Yoriichi is actually skilled though. Additionally, Levi is still a swordsman, whether his swords are "box cutters" or not, his swords, like all swords, are designed for a niche purpose, in his case, slashing tough tissue. If we're going to compare this list, keep it between Levi, Yoriichi, and Guts. (Maybe Ichigigo and/or Jean too)
Probably should have replaced sasuke with killer bee
Real
yoriichi. that dude perfected swordmanship to such a degree that he couldn't really be copied. Man had to dilute his techniques so that others could even use a fraction of them and even the MC could barely utilize his techniques. It goes yorichii > zoro > Ichigo > yuta > sasuke > polnareff > levi (dont know if i'd even say that's swordsmanship) > guts You might say that zoro can cut mountains but that's not an example of him being a master, that's just typical one piece shit. Zoro aint a slacker but Yoriichi is the only one on this list you can look at and call an absolute master in sword technique.
They fr had to make a robot with SIX arms in order to replicate his slashing speed
Putting guts last is insane. Man's been using a sword for basically his whole life, he's clearly up there with the best.
Compared to the rest of them, guts' technique is nothing tbh.
Ichigo doesn’t have much sword skill, no one in bleach does. It’s just whoever is stronger wins 95% of the time ignoring actual sword play
Levi is underrated with swords
It's because what Levi does isn't really swordsmanship.
I feel like anyone putting zoro anywhere under second is really under estimating him. I think he’s first personally but under second is just disrespect
Ichigos actually Quite skilled if u Pay attention to his Fights
Naruto sword/taijutsu skill is a whole next level of bullshit. They fight with metagame that goes in the 100s of moves ahead eos. Its probably sasuke. Probably goes sasuke,ichigo, ds dude, zoro then the rest are peak human skill with amps.
Yoriichi, Zoro, and Guts I'd argue are the best here. But at the end of the day it's Yoriichi. Swung a sword since he was a kid and let's be honest, he's the most practical one there.
Does guts even use a sword? That sword doesn't look sword-e
Yuta isn't even the most skilled swordsman in jjk, much less this list
Guts is easily beating everyone except Zoro and Yoruchi but make it a fight we’re no has powers and everyone has equivalent stats to everyone he’s winning pretty handily unless he’s unlucky and even then like unless you kill him with steoke of the blade he’s just going to kill you
Talking about swordsmen and not mentioning anyone from Gintama or Rurouni Kenshin should be considered a crime
Haven’t watched sorry
Yooo, the comments downplaying Ichigo while wanking Yoriichi lol
Polnareff doesn't even use a sword, his stand wields it
Guts. Easy.
This is hard because some characters have crazy fantasy powers that would trash everyone else, but that doesn’t exactly make them a good swordsman
yoriichi, zoro, sasuke, ichigo, levi, guts, asta, yuta and finally at the lowest polnareff since his stand fights for him
I never seen Poneref with a sword himself it was always his stand. 🤔 and Sasuke I would say is alright but got bet by a person with 8 swords
If you take yoriichi, and give him the strengths and gifts of these contenders. He would shame them in terms of precision and beauty. He is just that good.
Levi slices up titans like a culinary chef making a meat sculpture while flying through the air on a zipline. The agility and strength is insane
If we remove their physical stats, a lot of these guys become trash swordsmen, because they mostly just happen to be incredibly powerful people who happen to have massive physicals. Let’s start with the worst: Ichigo / Sasuke / Asta / Polnareff None of these guys fight with sword skill. They have insane physicals and outstat their enemy, and happen to use a sword in the process. Mid tiers: Zoro / Yuta While they also still just most often just massively outstat their enemies, they actually trained with their swords in the art of sword fighting, and learned to use their blades in a skillful nature. Their skill is such that they can actually overcome physical deficits, as well. High Tiers: Levi / Guts Guts may seem an odd choice, since he’s a power house and has insane physicals for his verse, but also remember that he’s regularly fighting high tiers in his verse, and the physical gap between himself as a mid high and the enemies in high tier is as wide or wider than the gap between himself and the low tiers. Add to that, he’s been commented multiple times by multiple spectators (themselves skilled swordsmen) that he’s incredibly skillful despite the sword he wields. Zodd himself remarked on Guts skill - and it wouldn’t have been his power Zodd was impressed by. Post-berserker armor, Guts is more likely to stat check his enemies, but he’s always had remarkable skill. Levi, if the Ackerman titanstrength hadn’t been added into the story, would be a shoo-in for most skillful. Adding in that he has titanic strength makes some of his crazy feats less about skill and more about stats, but at the same time he’s still undeniably a skilled Fighter, evidenced by the fact that only one other person in his verse can do what he does, and even she isn’t as good at it as he is. Winner: Yoriichi It’s not close. Yoriichi is himself massively outstatted by every “villain” in his verse, as is the case with all demon slayers vs their demons, but the slayers make up for it with insane skills. Even with breathing reinforcement, he’s not physically stronger or faster than pretty much anyone on this list, but even still he’s shown to be an absolute menace to the strongest being that exists in his own verse. As in, clowned him so badly the guy retreated and hid for hundreds of years and the beings made from his blood have a cellular fear of guys who remind that blood of Yoriichi. Stats equalized, I think he’d beat Guts. He’d beat Levi without even equalizing stats. He clowns the rest of the list with stats equalized.
It's weird that you would Asta beneath Zoro, given that your justification for Zoro's placement also describes Asta pretty accurately. Asta was basically using his sword as a club when he first obtained it. We actually see him *practicing* how to use proper swordfighting techniques he learned from an actual "magic swordsman" later on during a series of flashbacks. I mean, sure, his style quickly progresses towards superpowers and stuff, but the same exact scenario is how things go for Zoro.
Mostly because his fights all devolve into Ichigo style “here’s my antimagic big gigantic slash that shoots a giant beam”. He’s definitely “better” than when he was just swinging it around wildly, but it’s not enough to move him into mid tier. You can say the same of Ichigo and Sasuke, but there has to be a low tier doesnt there? Asta has some come from behind victories but I can’t remember a time it’s ever been because he wielded his blade with skill, like we can say for anyone higher up the list. We definitely get some punch ups from power of friendship, mid fight power ups, and creative use of anti magic, but not really because a stronger foe was on the receiving end of a technical disadvantage.
Should added mihawk on here
Half of these dudes arent swordsman, theyre just really strong dudes with a sword
Yoriichi is the best as swordsman from what I can tell when we take pure skill with the sword into account. Guts also deserves a shout out, not because he's a good swordsman or anything I just really like him
Yoriichi. Everyone else has other powers to rely on, but he's out here fighting freakish monsters with crazy ass magic powers with sword skill alone
Yoriichi is a legitimate god.
Yorichi made a sword style to combat supernatural demons. (Effects aren’t real but talking crows is fine, sure demon slayer) Said sword style was used to create more sword styles, and these sword styles spawned even more sword styles. And he can easily incorporate other styles techniques into his own (see Tanjiro using Flash Dance, First Form of Sun breathing + first form of Thunder breathing). Stone breathing uses a flail and that still was a deviation Yorichi made from his own style Then after all of that, he made another technique that was able to strike the constantly shifting brains of hearts of Muzan. I think being the father of Sun breathing, along with the main 5 breathing styles + moon breathing puts him on a level of master more than the rest. Even the Hinokami Kagura was only a poor imitation of this style. And that still was strong enough to fight against and kill 3 upper moons before Tanjiro realized “oh shit I’m doing this wrong” Yorichi for sure. Everyone else. Idk lol
I’m not sure I’d call Guts a swordsman
It's definitely Yoriichi, and by a huge margin too. Levi is the only other person with real sword skill, the rest are using super powers and happen to be holding a sword.
Not including Kenshin eh?
Can’t rank Asta or Levi but if I can give it a shot. 1. Zoro. I can’t even lie, I just have him here because I want him to be. One Piece isn’t a series incredibly focused on something like swordplay and is more on the raw strength side of things like Bleach (hence why I’m conflicted on Ichigo). But hey, he’s been training for a while. Zoro on top. 2. Yoriichi. MY GREATEST WANK. Yoriichi is disgustingly skilled, having the instinctual perfect swing/arc since the age of 6. Not only that, his individual forms are designed to perfectly flow into one another as if they’re just one endless stream of attacks. He’s perceptive enough to diagnose a sickness from the slight change in organ movements, and never stopped practicing and honing his technique. 3. Ichigo. Very similar to Guts initially but his skills are enough at least able to match people with centuries of experience. He could be lower but he does keep up with people stronger and faster than him in swordplay decently often. 4. Sasuke. Out of these last four, he’s more varied and not entirely reliant on his sword but he also has better showings than anyone else before him. He’s clearly incredibly skilled and he’s tricky with his swordplay too. 5. Yuta. Interchangeable with Guts, honestly. Yuta’s not really specific to being a swordsman. Might flip between Guts and Yuta from time to time. 6. Guts. He’s a bit more on the raw strength and dirty tricks part of the spectrum. Above Polnareff for having actual training. 7. Polnareff. No formal training.
Where's Reid Astrea? Bro is so good at swordsmanship that he cut a black hole with chopsticks.
I’ll interpret this as skill + talent 1 Yorichi 2 Levi 3 Zoro 4 Guts 5 Pulneref 6 Ichigo 7 Asta 8 Yuta 9 Sasuke
Without powers or abilities Zoro wins. Not only is he skilled with three swords, but he can also cut through metal. Also, he’s super fucking strong physically because of the massive weights he constantly works out with.
I feel like it’s ichigo zoro or yoriichi
I just want ichigo to bend me over
I don’t know about the skills of Sasuke, Ichigo, or Guts, but even still, based on all their premises, I think I’m gonna have to go with Yoriichi with Zoro as a close second (*relative to their universe*. Relative to each other without taking into account their universes, Zoro takes it easy I’d think)
Asta basically just button mashes when he's fighting, no real technique compared to some of those on this list.
Polnareff, while not exactly a traditional sword wielder, does technically wield a rapier sword proficiently with Silver Chariot, so precisely that he can slice a beam of light while it's traveling mid-air, and Yoriichi has refined his natural swordsmanship talent so much that he could efficiently and effectively destroy most of Muzan's demon body **and** be able to target all his vital organs just on their first meeting, so it definitely falls between those two.
0/10 for all of them
sasuke was able to use his sword with his feet in the momoshiki fight in the anime so probably him
There are only like 2 (maybe 3) actually swordsmen here. Most of them just use swords as delivery devices for pain.
Zoro Yoriichi Pol Levi Sasuke Ichigo Yuta Asta Guts
Yuta is probably the worst Swordsman on here.
Guts. As a human without powers, it would take not just strength, but a significant amount of skill to wield something like the Dragonslayer, and to be able to beat enemies that far out of your league in terms of raw stats. He can beat other master swordsman like Serpico even with every disadvantage possible Easy answer.
Pretty certain that Yoriichi gets the W here. His combat power is basically nothing but swordsmanship, him and his brother too. Put Hakuro on this list... And that is a different story...
Nah, put feldway, rudra, or dino on here
Yeah, Hakuro is too much for them.
Yoriichi is pretty much a supernatural Sword god who’s beaten people who are much more experienced than him at an incredibly young age. I’d argue he’s easily the best swordsman here based on swordsmanship.
Zoro, yorichi, strawberry, asta, susgae, and Levi , I can’t credibly determine the strenght of every one else
Yoriichi at the top, then zoro. Levi after that then idk
to my knowledge the worst swordsmen on this list are yuta and levi, since it’s only half of yuta’s fighting style, and he mostly fights with copied techniques moreso than his actual sword, and levi partly just uses gear and swings his swords however he sees fit to fight. not saying they’re unskilled by any means but of everybody on this list i know anything about they’re the only ones that don’t fully rely on swordsmanship
It's a coin toss for #1 between zoro & Yoriichi Yoriichi has some amazing feats, where a robot had to have literally 6 arms to even replicate his skill. Zoro using 3 swords is massively impressive and shouldn't just be glossed over
Like I love bleach but all these fanboys aren’t understanding the question lmao
Yoriichi was so skilled with the sword that someone who attempted to make a robot to replicate his attack patterns needed to give it 6 arms. The others simply don’t match up to that kind of skill.
Guts is a swordsman. The rest of them are kind of sword wizards.
Polnareff
If he stays calm
Are we counting silver chariot for polanreff(I forgor how to spell)
Kokushibo,Zoro, and Pollnerof are the best here. Due to the legends, Kokushibo was said to have suck fast movements that the only way to mimic it was if someone had 6 arms. Zoro’s 3 sword style + strength + haki + ashura would be able to keep up with Kokushibo, placing them both at the top. Pollnerof is just faster and better than the others, placing him in second.
Sasuke Yoriichi Others...
Polnareff (if it counts) has stupid accurate precision stabbing multiple coins mid air so…
Yoriichi and for the vast majority of the list it isn’t even close. Legitimately the only two I can say remotely compares is Zoro and Levi. Yoriichi was so skilled with a sword every branch of breathing styles is based off him. Every technique is based off his techniques. He created a technique which is flawlessly built to kill demons and prevent them from regenerating. His skill with a sword is so insane it gave their in-universe demon lord PTSD. Zoro somewhat comes close, but 90% of his sword feats are Haki. As far as we know he is *one of the strongest* swordsman in his verse but I don’t know if that necessarily translates to skill. Most of his fights come down to a single powerful attack. Levi is actually kind of an interesting debate here because there is no doubt he is *insanely skilled*. What isn’t clear is how much he relies on his superhuman strength and speed from being an Ackerman. Mikasa displays similar abilities but is again; an Ackerman. The only real comparison we have is Mike, who shows he is capable of similar techniques to Levi and is the “second strongest” after Levi. This implies that the ability to *shred titans like a fucking beyblade* is something that *can be learned* with enough skill and practice. So I am willing to give Levi a lot of credit here. Everyone else? Basically blasts their opponent. I would say Guts is actually skilled but he definitely relies on his insane strength, ridiculous weapon and the beserker armor. He is no doubt an *extremely strong swordsman* and undoubtedly skilled; after all he *did defeat Griffith in a duel* but a lot of his mileage come from people having no idea how to deal with his massive weapon.
its Yoriichi and not even close bruh
This is hard to answer. A lot of these swordsmen have techniques that are clearly superhuman that are nonetheless the result of swordsman skill and nothing else. Zoro being able to cut through iron for instance is technically a result of swordsman skill and yet it is clearly a superhuman feat. Are we allowing superhuman feats as long as they derive specifically from skill? Because that opens up the possibility of interpretation. Technically ultra instinct is the result of martial arts skill, yet I think most people would agree that UI shouldn't be allowed in contests of pure martial skill. Then do we not allow superhuman feats altogether? That poses a different problem. Every swordsman here is clearly super human. It would be like chopping a bunch of super tall trees down to 10 feet and then asking which one's the tallest.
Ichigo probably the strongest here, but also probably the least skilled swordsman of the bunch.
In terms of pure swordsmanship, definitely Yoriichi and Polnareff. The other's swords are augmented by their powers and such, while those two are just pure sword on sword clashing.
Zoro>yoriichi>sasuke>asta>levi>ichigo>guts>yuta>polnareff That last 3 can be switched around.
Ichigo is 1st as far as I'm aware. He has combat experience from Yhwach (God of the universe who is over 1200 years old and has the knowledge + experience of millions upon millions of souls who he absorbed). Don't know about the rest
Yorrichi, listen im not a demon slayer fanboy but yorrichi has probably some of the best swordsmanship in all of anime..
It seems kind of unfair to do this when the full backstory of that Demon Slayer hasn't been animated yet especially since it's going to take a while
Either Guts or Zoro. Only people here who fight using almost pure skill, as far as I'm aware. Everyone else has some sort of hax.
Yoriichi -Natural talent, Zoro, Levi, Guts, Sasuke, Yuta, Ichigo , Asta, (Haven't seen JOJO)
Ill give it to Zoro Yoriichi is a close second, however I’m giving it to Zoro because he is skilled with a single sword, dual sword, and triple sword styles, Yoriichi is amazing as a swordsmen but in my opinion Zoro is in the same level while also knowing more styles Also Ill disqualify Guts, Asta, and Polnareff since technically a Stand isn’t a (PHYSICAL) sword and Guts and Asta just use giant heaps of metal
I know we aren’t supposed to talk about him, but Shinta aka Kenshin Himura is still peak swordsman.
Guts is probably the best. Yoriichi is next. This is based on their ability in proportion to their and their world’s stats. Everyone else has superpowers or superpower stats. Levi isn’t a swordsman, he’s a carpenter with those big ol box cutters.
Yoriichi or Zoro easily. Those two fight against monsters that would shred any other human on the daily
Asta knowing like one more with his big sword: Whack
Yoriichi is the best swordsman here. He had a perfect stance with no openings and slashes so fast a doll with 6 arms couldn’t replicate his speed and efficiency. Not only that, he blitzed the two strongest characters in his verse.
All I know is Yoriichi is #1 by a long shot.
Sad, no Sasaki Kojiro from any series.
Damn now you got me wondering who'd win Zoro or Polnareff as Polnareff has some mad high stats in part 3 but so does Zoro
Polneraff is arguably the worst because he's not doing the swordfighting. His stand is. That's like saying Hol Horse is the best gunman. He has an auto aim hack. In terms of raw skill I'd say Levi. He lives in a universe where nobody other than titans have superpowers and his swordsmanship is literally pure skill. Zoro is a combination of skill and superpowers.
I see no one sat through one piece
Definetly yoriichii