The world of Hunter x Hunter is a dangerous one – namely because of the powerful villains who wreak havoc everywhere they go. But out of all these formidable foes, who is considered the strongest Hunter x Hunter villain? It’s important for a good battle shonen to have powerful villains. Not only do they need to be interesting characters who are as worthy of paying attention to as the heroes, they need to be strong enough to present a serious challenge. Hunter x Hunter clears both hurdles with ease.
For this list, we’ll be focusing on strength. Which HxH villains are the most powerful in the series? Well, the Chimera Ants certainly qualify, particularly Meruem and the Royal Guards. But some members of the Phantom Troupe might give them a run for their money, especially the group’s leader Chrollo Lucilfer. Meanwhile, Hisoka Morow doesn’t care if he’s stronger than his foes or not, he just wants to show off his Bungee Gum ability and fight the most impressive opponents he can find. Whether it’s their terrifying Nen abilities, super strength, or combat skills, you wouldn’t want to mess with any of these characters.
9. Shaiapouf
As one of the Chimera Ant Royal Guards, Shaiapouf is incredibly powerful. Emotionally, he’s kind of a mess – he can’t stop freaking out about Meruem’s friendship with Komugi – but physically, it’s a different story.
Using his Cocoon power, he can give anybody a new Nen technique. He can also disassemble his body into thousands of tiny clones that he can send to do his bidding in various locations, and reassemble himself into new forms. Using a move called Spiritual Message, he can send out scales that allow him to read the emotions of the thousands of people they encounter. This helps him form strategies. These scales can also hypnotize thousands of people at once into doing his bidding.
8. Phinks Magcub
Phinks Magcub’s greatest skill is his physical strength – that’s why he’s considered the second strongest Phantom Troupe member. By rotating his arm in a clockwise direction, he can drastically increase the power of his punches to the point where he can wreck a Chimera Ant with a single punch.
7. Illumi Zoldyck
Like all of the other Zoldyck children, Illumi Zoldyck was raised as an assassin. Out of all of his siblings, he’s the one who takes the gig most seriously. Not only is he a pro at it himself, he also makes sure that his younger siblings stay on track. That’s why he spends so much time chasing after Killua.
Illumi’s powers mostly revolve around needles. He can use needles to completely alter his own appearance to the point where he looks like a different person. He can also use them to control other people. This might involve having hordes of people follow his orders at once, or it might involve controlling corpses. He also uses needles to force his targets to obey commands over long periods of time – that’s how he stopped Killua from doing anything too dangerous.
6. Menthuthuyoupi
Just like the other Chimera Ants, Menthuthuyoupi is stupidly strong. He can completely control any part of his body, manifesting wings and manipulating his muscles at will.
His abilities evolve due to the incredible stress of trying to protect Meruem. He creates a move called Rage Blast that involves swelling his body with all of his pent-up emotions and then releasing them in a gigantic burst. He eventually upgrades this move into Rage Incarnate, which amps up his overall strength and turns his body into a centaur-like shape.
5. Feitan Portor
Feitan might be tiny, but his abilities are truly frightening. He’s an expert swordsman who can easily face off against most opponents. But if sword-fighting doesn’t work, he can use Rising Sun, an ability that lets him transform his aura into a literal miniature sun. The worse Feitan’s injuries are before he uses this move, the greater its strength and heat. You might think he’d only be able to use this move once before obliterating himself, but he can also summon protective gear using a move called Pain Packer.
All of that combines to make him an extremely frightening and ruthless person, which may be why he’s the Phantom Troupe’s resident torture specialist.
4. Hisoka Morow
Few things are more important to Hisoka than testing his strength against worthy opponents. The problem is, he’s so strong that finding worthy opponents who are willing to fight him is kind of a challenge.
Using multiple people as human weapons is no big deal to him, nor is having his arms blown off. He’s fast enough to catch projectiles moving at the speed of a bullet, and deft enough to turn playing cards into weapons.
His Nen techniques are Bungee Gum and Texture Surprise. Bungee Gum lets him manipulate his aura into a sticky substance that can be used to create traps or used as a flail. Texture Surprise can change the appearance and texture of a piece of cloth, allowing him to deceive opponents in a range of creative ways.
3. Neferpitou
Neferpitou is probably the most dangerous foe that Gon has ever had to face. To defeat them, Gon had to use not just all of his current strength, but borrow against his future power.
Not only is the Royal Guard ridiculously physically strong, they also possess several incredible Nen abilities. These abilities are both offensive and healing-based. Using Doctor Blythe, Neferpitou can perform a wide range of surgical interventions on both humans and Chimera Ants. Considering the fact that Neferpitou has only existed for a few days by the time they first use this, this is pretty impressive. They can also use a conjured puppet to control other people, and to control their own body, even after their own demise.
2. Chrollo Lucilfer
As the leader of the Phantom Troupe, Chrollo Lucilfer is one of its most dangerous members. He fights primarily using a move called Skill Hunter, which lets him seal other peoples’ Nen abilities inside of a book. Once sealed, he can use these moves himself until the person he took them from perishes.
Some of these abilities are practical ones – Fun Fun Cloth lets him reduce the size of anything he covers with a cloth until it’s easily carried, and Teleportation is exactly what it sounds like. Others are more macabre – Indoor Fish involves summoning skeletal fish that completely devour their victims, as long as they’re in a closed room. His power potential is practically unlimited.
1. Meruem
Meruem was created by feeding the Queen Chimera Ant hundreds of Nen-rich beings, including humans. This made him one of the most powerful beings in existence from the moment he was born. His primary Nen ability involves absorbing other peoples’ Nen, allowing him to take on some of their abilities and adding to his overall strength. Through this process, he learned how to transform parts of his body – for example, giving himself wings – and how to shoot blasts of concentrated aura.
Despite these powers, he mostly fights through brute force. His physical strength and endurance are off the charts. That’s why Netero had no choice but to sacrifice himself with the Poor Man’s Rose in order to defeat him. Even then, Meruem was the last Chimera Ant to succumb to the poison despite being the closest one to it.