Though for the most part, we focus on characters who use some form of enchanted punches or weaponry, Fairy Tail is full of different mages who possess vastly different magical abilities. A particularly interesting group are the Celestial Mages, who are essentially the Summoners of Fairy Tail, are capable of bringing out Celestial Spirits.
The Celestial Spirits are beings made entirely of magic who are essentially immortal, and they each form contracts with Celestial Mages based on compatibility and overall magical power. Throughout Fairy Tail, we’ve seen many of these Celestial Spirits from different mages, both good and bad, and these are the most powerful of them all!
10 SCORPIO
Though not as frequently as Loke or Aquarius, Lucy actually seems to summon Scorpio quite a bit. He originally belonged to Sorano of the Oración Seis, but his key fell into Lucy’s hands after Sorano was defeated in battle.
Since then, Scorpio has been a frequent ally of Lucy and Fairy Tail...but he hasn’t exactly been one of the most powerful. His best ability is shooting sand from his tail cannon, and when that doesn’t work (which is fairly often), he runs out of ideas. He’s even sent himself back before when his most powerful sand attack fails to work.
9 LIBRA
One of Yukino’s Golden Zodiac Celestial Spirits, Libra doesn’t appear until the second half of the series during the Grand Magic Games. In theory, Libra should be incredibly powerful, considering her abilities give her control over gravity. She can make things have zero gravity or increase it to the point where they can’t even stand and get crushed under their own weight.
Having said that, none of this seemed to be of much good when Yukino got into it with Kagura, though at the time the character was certainly one of the stronger threats during the Grand Magic Games. Outside of this ability, Libra's combat capabilities certainly seem limited.
8 PISCES
Yukino got the short end of the stick when it comes to Celestial Spirits. Pisces certainly look cool, as these two giant fish that can transform into a mother and son warrior combo who can attack using water magic as well as weapons in combat.
However, they were both easily taken out the first time we saw them by Kagura, and while she’s powerful she isn’t exactly at the top end of the scale in the series. But worse than that, the two also have a weakness to...water. Yes, if they’re submerged in their own element they turn back into fish and aren’t able to fight. Genius.
7 GEMINI
Give these cute little guys their credit. Though they appear unassuming enough, they’re actually very powerful. Gemini has the ability to copy the appearance of any other person, which is useful enough in situations requiring some form of espionage.
The pair aren’t just good at cloning appearances, they’re also capable of imitating the powers and abilities of anyone they copy...so long as their summoner has the same or more magic than the person they’re copying. Since Lucy is fairly strong thanks to her time in Fairy Tail, Gemini has shown the ability to copy mages like Gray or Ichiya. They’ve even copied Lucy herself and aided in her using Urano Metria, her ultimate spell.
6 VIRGO
Though she’s easily one of the weirdest Celestial Spirits held by Lucy, Virgo is also one of the more powerful. Originally retrieved from the corrupt politician Everlue, Virgo is a dutiful maid with an...odd taste in recreational pastimes. But setting aside her love for being “punished”, she’s proved useful time and again.
Virgo can summon herself and is also talented in hand to hand combat. That’s without looking at her expertise with Earth magic and her chain powers, which make her one of the most versatile Golden Key spirits.
5 TAURUS
Taurus is a bit of a creep, what with the constant lecherous praising of his summoner’s appearance. However, in terms of raw strength, he might be the strongest Celestial Spirit outside of the King himself. He’s been able to cause Earthquakes with his massive ax and can punch through solid rock with nothing more than his fists.
Taurus is also surprisingly fast with such a large weapon, proving capable of blocking bullets just by spinning the ax around. Though he can’t quite hang with the upper-level Celestial Spirits like Loke or Capricorn, Taurus is nonetheless a powerhouse worthy of respect.
4 CAPRICORN
Another of the 12 Golden Spirits, Capricorn remained off the board for a period thanks to being under the control of Zoldeo, who became a member of Grimoire Heart while using Capricorn’s strength combined with his own magic.
Nonetheless, Capricorn proves himself to be fairly powerful during his introduction, trading blows with Loke fairly equally. When Capricorn is later freed, it doesn’t take very long for him to recover his strength in the Spirit World before returning and helping to give Hades, the leader of Grimoire Heart, the beat down he deserved.
3 AQUARIUS
Admittedly, most of the time Aquarius is used more for humor than anything else. There are several points throughout the series where she shows up, mocks Lucy for not having a boyfriend or gets mad for being summoned, before promptly leaving.
If Lucy is lucky, Aquarius will attack her enemy...while attacking Lucy herself. Still, Aquarius has been noted as one of the stronger Celestial Spirits, with Lucy rating her quite highly. Considering Lucy has been a Celestial Spirit Mage for years, she would certainly have the experience to know.
2 LEO
It goes pretty much without saying that outside of the Celestial Spirit King, Leo is the strongest of the Celestial Spirit summons. He spent three years in the realm of the humans without returning to the Celestial Spirit realm, something that should have been impossible.
Staying for a week for most spirits is considered fatal, and even a year shouldn’t really be possible. Not only did he manage to stay, but he joined Fairy Tail as Loke and played key roles in many battles alongside them. His Light-based Regulus magic puts him on par with many of the stronger Fairy Tail mages, and near the top of this list.
1 CELESTIAL SPIRIT KING
The Celestial Spirit King is so powerful his position in this list is a no-brainer. He’s capable of absurd things like stopping time and banishing high-level enchantments. He is technically not even a summon, as unlike other Celestial Spirits he isn’t something someone can just “find a key” for.
Instead, it takes a high-level Celestial Mage, someone with the power to open multiple gates at once and also requires they destroy one of their own Golden Keys. This proves to the King the necessity in him being summoned and allows him to unleash his full power in the world of the humans.