Berserk is an anime with an interesting cast of characters known for their strength, among other things. When the story isn't focused on fleshing out character narratives and world-building, it's spent on the action with grandiose battles and chilling fights that do not shy away from blood and gore. And the fights in Berserk are some of the best, but it raises a lot of interesting questions in anime circles: "Who is the strongest of them all?"
Unfortunately, due to Berserk's untimely ending due to the passing of Kentaro Miura (who passed away in 2021 at the age of 54), there won't be a definitive answer. However, speculations can be made, and there's enough narrative to make a few fair guesses on who the strongest characters truly are.
10 Rakshas Is The Weakest Of The Strongest Apostles
Under the four lieutenants, Rakshas may be the weakest, but that doesn't make him a weak Apostle by any means. Rakshas has excellent speed and combat ability, able to keep up in combat, going toe-to-toe with two Tapasa at once. At the very least, Rakshas has to be stronger than most of the other named Apostles such as Wyald and the Count.
Rakshas is notable for his speed more than his strength, so while he does have a few feats of tossing a horse and breaking through the roof of a building, he doesn't have much else that stands out.
9 Irvine's Marksmanship Places Among The Strongest
Irvine's an Apostle with a good advantage over most foes. As a bow user, Irvine's speed and ability are truly unrivaled. In one instance, he has managed to fire ten arrows consecutively, each hitting its designated target.
Irvine is considered a dangerous threat and someone who is near-impossible to beat if there's a considerable distance. And with the ability to evade attacks from Ganishka, who is the strongest Apostle, Irvine is formidable, presenting a massive challenge to someone like Rakshas with that sort of reaction speed.
8 Locus Is A Living Legend Of Battle
Locus was a notable warrior before he was an Apostle, being a man of legends before he gained even more power. Locus has a fairly notable set of feats that would arguably put him above the likes of Irvine and Rakshas. Locus was able to destroy arrows fired from him at several angles simultaneously, while already engaged in the heat of combat.
Locus was even able to take a direct attack from Ganishka as well, so it's more than plausible that Locus is pretty high up as one of the strongest characters in Berserk. And that doesn't even consider his years of battle before becoming an Apostle.
7 Guts Is The Strongest Human
Guts may just be the strongest non-demon character in Berserk. That being said, he's certainly not the strongest in the series. And while having the Berserker Armor was a big cinch in him keeping up with some Apostles, he's still not ready for Godhand. Guts was able to hold off against the likes of Grunbeld and force him to transform into his original form, but he certainly wouldn't have won in their fight as he was still adjusting to the Berserker Armor and reeling from his injury from Slan.
Many speculate that Guts would win if he was healthy, but it's a hard call to make if the battle goes at length – based on their feats so far. Grunbeld was tossing around Guts fairly easily and may win 7/10 encounters, even if Guts was healthy. There's enough of a gap between the two that Grunbeld would defeat Guts.
6 Grunbeld Truly Has The Strength Of A Dragon
Out of all the Lieutenants in Griffith's army, Grunbeld may stand as the strongest above them all. Grunbeld has the best feats on display out of the four, and it's not even close. While base Grunbeld had been able to fight somewhat on par with Berserker Guts, it didn't seem like he'd win.
That quickly changed when Grunbeld entered his Apostle state. While Berserker Guts was able to leave some scratches, he was easily tossed around and dispatched by Grunbeld. One of Grunbeld's strikes broke a few bones in Guts' body as well, making the scale slightly tilt in the favor of Grunbeld as things stood between them. Comparing Grunbeld to the other Apostles with his insane feats of strength (such as trampling other demons and lifting slabs of rocks with his mouth), and battle experience, it's hard to knock him off as just some giant with an edge due to his size. One must also acknowledge Grunbeld's skill and tactical prowess.
5 Zodd Is The Strongest General
Zodd is the strongest Apostle under Griffith. He's the commander of the others, acting as the leader and that alone is a testament to his strength if the likes of Grunbeld respect him. Zodd is a reoccurring "rival" to Guts, completely overwhelming him at every single encounter. He was able to take several lightning strikes from Ganishka (which have destroyed buildings).
To top it all off, Zodd destroyed a mine by rushing into it. Not even accounting for all of Zodd's combat experience as he's been walking on battlefields for hundreds of years. Zodd is arguably on par with the great Skull Knight himself, as the two have been fighting for years.
4 Skull Knight Is The Bane Of Apostles
Outside of the Apostles, there's the mysterious Skull Knight. Skull Knight has been fighting with Zodd for many years. Skull Knight himself is around 200 years old, and he spends most of his time taking down demons and challenging God Hand. It's hard to say if he's close in strength to either of the members of God Hand, but he's certainly above most Apostles aside from Zodd.
Skull Knight doesn't have too many feats and some that could be looked at with greater scrutiny, such as his ability to stop the Eclipse by destroying the moon. At the very least, someone can say Skull Knight is skilled enough to still be around despite all of the obstacles that he has faced for centuries.
3
The Sea God Is A Demon Of The Seas
The Sea God is only powerful due to size. It was a massive force but still had some conventional weaknesses. The fact that Guts had defeated it (granted, with a lot of time and work) puts the Sea God in a weird place.
Based on size and power alone, it is stronger than the likes of normal Apostles, Guts, Lieutenants, Zodd, and Skull Knight. Defeating the Sea God just isn't a simple task, and, by way of that, should be acknowledged as one of the strongest entities in Berserk. Under the right circumstances, the Sea God could defeat most of the characters aside from Shiva Ganishka and God Hand.
2 Shiva Ganishka Is The Strongest Apostle Ever
Ganishka was a fairly formidable foe on his own. At base, he was able to evade attacks from Irvine and was a feared military leader as the Emperor of the Kushan Empire. In his true form, he was a threat to the likes of Zodd and Berserker Armor Guts who needed to work together to fight him. His true form is even hard to deal with by most of the series' roster as he's mostly made of mist.
Ganishka even destroyed an entire city on his own, able to shoot off massive fireballs and amass armies of pseudo-Apostles at his feet. Shiva Ganishka was simply just an overwhelming force that required a member of God Hand to finally get rid of him.
1 God Hand Are Unrivaled By All
God Hand members are powerful. Characters like Femto and Slan have had some encounters with characters like Guts and Skull Knight, but there's no definitive scale and these encounters weren't great displays. Femto was simply tossing around base Guts and there wasn't much of a fight. And when Guts encountered Slan, it was a proxy of the woman and while she did almost kill Guts, it's not much to draw from.
What can be gathered from statements made by the story is that they are undoubtedly the strongest demonkind since every other Apostle fears them and their power. Femto does have some notable feats, such as creating a city, reality-warping Apostles like Zodd, and seeming to casually deal with Shiva Ganishka, but there is not much to say about the others. For these five, Berserk makes it very clear that no one compares to God Hand.