SUMMARY

Guts may not be ranked among the top 5 strongest, but his skills and sword are unmatched in human strength.
Grunbeld, Irvine, and Locus are among the formidable characters in Berserk known for their deadly abilities in battle.
The God Hand and the impending threat of the Idea of Evil stand as some of the most powerful entities in the Berserk universe.

Berserk’s dark fantasy universe includes an impressive roster of fascinating characters in the physical, astral, and ideal worlds. Guts’ long-lasting predicament puts him at odds with what appear to be the most powerful contributors to the story’s world, but that hasn’t stopped the Black Swordsman from performing enormous feats of strength. The strongest characters in Berserk are often put there by the nature of Causality in its universe, but some force their way higher by fighting against it, however much in vain.

Still, the characters of Berserk are often struggling either together or against one another as the world continues to slip into ruin, with the different realities folding into each other. While not all the strongest forces are strictly evil, they are all capable of devastating violence and bloodshed to frightening degrees in the series.

Custom image by Merlyn De Souza

Even though it might not equal right in Berserk, it accounts for a great deal, with the strongest characters often being the longest-enduring ones.

10The Sea God

The Shipbreaker

An especially fascinating trait about the Sea God’s might is that even its internal tentacles can fight Guts like the immune system fighting off an infection.

The Sea God is a colossal-scale beast in Berserk. It is hardly classified as a sentient character and almost more like an impossibly huge monster sealed within an island in the Fantasia Arc. This creature stands alongside multiple deadly threats, including apostles capable of easily killing regular human opponents, as shown by the ship graveyard in its digestive system. An especially fascinating trait about the Sea God’s might is that even its internal tentacles can fight Guts like the immune system fighting off an infection.

9Irvine

Hawk Lord of the Hunt

Irvine is given a more subdued role as one of the gentlest of Femto’s apostles, yet he’s still incredibly deadly.

One of Griffith’s reborn Band of the Hawk members, Irvine, is given a more subdued role as one of the gentlest of Femto’s apostles, yet he’s still incredibly deadly. In his released form he resembles a horned lupine centaur-like beast, with Irvine’s humanoid torso stretching from above the hind quarters, able to use his horns like a ballista-like bow. Irvine’s specialty is as a sniper, able to obliterate human opponents from long-range while simultaneously being a highly mobile fighter.

8Locus

The Moonlight Knight

Shown as a particularly fierce fighter for Griffith, Locus is also a stalwart member of the Band of the Hawk and a key asset in their campaign against the Kushans. Locus’ released form is akin to a centaur with a shiny, silvery beetle-like armor coating, clear crescent contours, and a deadly lance capable of piercing hordes of enemies simultaneously, making him an agile, armored cavalryman. Locus’ loyalty to Griffith is seemingly absolute. Still, he is puzzled even after Griffith doesn’t retaliate against Rickert for slapping him in the face in one of the best panels in Berserk.

7Grunbeld

The Great Flame Dragon

Grunbeld barely needs his apostle form to be among Berserk’s most physically imposing characters while being one of Guts’ strongest and most natural enemies. His clash with Guts in the Hawk of the Millennium Empire Arc was a good litmus test for the Black Swordsman before and after acquiring the Berserker Armor, with Grunbeld crucially surviving Guts’ rage. Grunbeld’s released form boasts corundum skin, speaking strongly to his past as an elite defender, and armed with a greathammer and shield bearing a cannon. Even Grunbeld’s arsenal is perfectly matched to Guts’.

6Guts

The Struggler

Guts’ iconic sword isn’t the only deadly weapon in his arsenal — he’s also armed with an arm-mounted repeater crossbow, miniature bombs, a prosthetic arm that conceals a cannon, and the Berserker Armor.

It may be surprising to see the protagonist not ranked in Berserk’s top five strongest characters, but it speaks to the threats still ahead for Guts and his party. Still, Guts has plenty to his advantage, including enormous swordsmanship skills and the Dragonslayer, weighing hundreds of pounds and steeped in the malice of the legions dead by its blade. Guts is the only purely human character among Berserk’s strongest characters because he’s also the strongest human, and chapter #220 demonstrates that his sword is ready even to pierce astral beings, including Slan’s partially manifested form.

5Nosferatu Zodd

The Immortal

Berserk readers grow especially excited to see more confrontations between him and the Skull Knight and Guts, seeing Guts’ growth while admiring this iconic apostle’s immense blend of strength, skill, and resilience.

Zodd’s presence has largely been an imposing yet understated one in Berserk compared to other apostles; he’s immensely strong, and given his allegiance and position with Griffith, the other apostles recognize his might. This is demonstrated by the hundreds of years in which he’s honed his skills while amassing key foes, namely his nemesis, the Skull Knight.Berserk readers grow especially excited to see more confrontations between him and the Skull Knight and Guts, seeing Guts’ growth while admiring this iconic apostle’s immense blend of strength, skill, and resilience, even if Zodd’s role in the anime is reduced.

4Ganishka

The Thunder Emperor

The Kushan Empire is a fascinating faction in Berserk with varying allegiances, such as Daiba and Silat’s use of Guts’ party in their fight against Griffith and Rakshas’ position as one of the new Band of the Hawk. But above them stood Ganishka, the emperor with aims at godhood, whose second reincarnated form pierced the heavens as the scariest eldritch monster yet seen in Berserk, dubbed Shiva. Ganishka’s power as an apostle is so high that no other character has come close in sheer scope as a threat, although even he couldn’t withstand the might of Berserk’s strongest, oldest warriors.

3The Skull Knight

Foe of the Inhumans

The Skull Knight is easily the most enigmatic presence in Berserk, with most questions being geared toward who he is in the series lore, even with some pretty clear hints, even as recently as chapter #362 teasing his origins. Still, the Skull Knight deserves recognition for his incredible power. One instance of this includes his Sword of Actuation being once primed to attack Griffith in his Femto form, instead redirected into Ganishka, destroying the apostle and causing the Great Roar of the Astral World. Still, his might is seemingly matched only by one other faction in Berserk.

2The God Hand

The Guardian Angels of Desire

While it’s easy to consider Void for his puzzling past as seemingly the longest-serving member and Griffith’s Femto form for his brutal mastery over his abilities, truthfully, there’s no clearly defined winner.

Since the God Hand hasn’t given a compelling enough case to suggest any of its members are stronger than one another, it’s best to group them in this instance, as they are each considered stronger than the rest of Berserk’s characters. While it’s easy to consider Void for his puzzling past as seemingly the longest-serving member and Griffith’s Femto form for his brutal mastery over his abilities, truthfully, there’s no clearly defined winner, unlike the Band of the Hawk. However, despite their dominant position among Berserk’s strongest characters, they, too, are outranked by one other character.

1The Idea of Evil

God of the Abyss

The Idea of Evil’s main canonical appearance, chapter #83, was requested by Miura never to be reprinted, affecting this entity’s position within series canon, yet it’s alluded to hundreds of chapters later.

The Idea of Evil is less a humanoid entity than the other strongest villains in Berserk, but it also functions as the god of the series’ universe. The God Hand executes the Idea of Evil’s will, and even Kentaro Miura was unsure he’d revisit the character. Despite this, the Idea of Evil’s implicit existence dictates the flow of everything. Still, even Miura felt that introducing this concept in chapter #83 would be too early and could hurt the story’s flow. While the Idea of Evil’s canon status is questioned, its implications are frightening and far-reaching in Berserk.