The world of My Hero Academia introduces a wide variety of characters, most of whom have access to a unique array of Quirks. A Quirk is a supernatural power that people are born with. Over the course of the series, fans have gotten to know many heroes and the Quirks they use to save the day.
However, while some characters' Quirks make instant sense, it's not so straightforward for others. In fact, a few Quirks don't seem particularly suited for the heroic career path they've chosen to follow, as it doesn't seem to support all three of the ways heroes save the day — evading danger, rescuing others, and defeating the villain.
Updated on August 2, 2023, by Ajay Aravind: Although the manga is very close to ending, My Hero Academia remains as popular as ever. Fans can expect at least another season or two before the anime concludes, perhaps even a couple of movies thrown in. Given the importance of Quirks in the story, we've updated this list with five more examples of the worst Quirks in MHA.
15 Navel Laser
Yuga Aoyama
Aoyama's Quirk, Navel Laser, allows him to shoot sparkly laser beams from his stomach. The size and shape of the beams can be manipulated, and they're powerful enough to cut through metal and concrete. It can also be used as a beacon to alert others to Aoyama's current location. However, the Navel Laser requires a belt to use properly, so if the belt were to be destroyed, Aoyama would lose control of the laser beams. Overall, Navel Laser hasn't seen much use in combat against villains and remains one of the most useless Quirks in MHA.
14 Good Ear
Sirius
Sirius' Quirk Good Ear lets her hear high frequencies that humans normally cannot, as well as being able to detect the number of people nearby. This Quirk works extremely well for her in her present position, as it allows her to communicate with Selkie, but it doesn't have many other advantages in most situations. Without Selkie, Sirius' Quirk would not be nearly as useful, making this one of the worst Quirks in MHA. However, given her current environment, she does use her Quirk exceptionally well.
13 Mushroom
Kinoko Komori
Kinoko's Mushroom lets her spawn and spread fungus spores from her body. These spores grow into full mushrooms and can sprout on seemingly any surface, including someone's body. While this is a decent Quirk, it has one major drawback — the spores target people indiscriminately. This means that when Kinoko works with other people, she has to make sure that her allies have been treated with an antifungal treatment beforehand. This could be difficult in real-world hero work, as there isn't always time to treat allies, making Mushroom one of the worst MHA Quirks.
12 Tail
Mashirao Ojiro
Tail is the mutant Quirk that belongs to Ojiro of Class 1-A. Tail is exactly what it sounds like: a long tail that functions as a third limb. It's strong enough to break through many materials and has also been used to capture enemies and bear the weight of Ojiro's body. It's a flexible and durable third limb, but that's about it. Most of Ojiro's functionality as a hero comes from his background in martial arts more than his Quirk. While Ojiro's tail definitely has its uses, they aren't as spectacular as many of the other hero Quirks in My Hero Academia.
11 Telescopic
Tatami Nakagame
Tatami's Quirk, Telescopic, is one that is hard to imagine being overly useful for a hero, or anyone for that matter. It allows Tatami to pull all of her body parts into herself, like a turtle retracting into its shell. This doesn't have many uses for a hero, making it one of the worst Quirks in MHA. To be fair, though, Telescopic's range of abilities hasn't truly been seen in action yet. That said, one of the biggest weaknesses of Tatami's Quirk is that it takes her precious time to un-retract from inside herself. This gives the enemy plenty of time to attack before she's ready.
10 Sugar Rush
Rikido Sato
Sato's Sugar Rush is a strength-enhancing Quirk, which should be suitable for a hero. However, his Quirk's drawbacks and activation triggers quickly turn it into one of the worst Quirks in MHA. Sugar Rush gives Sato five times his strength for three minutes, for every 10 grams of sugar he consumes. This means he must constantly be consuming sugar on the battlefield in order to keep his strength, which wouldn't be easy to do while also fighting a villain. Plus, Sato's Quirk usage causes him to suffer from hypoglycemia, which lowers his cognitive functions, intelligence, and, ultimately, energy.
9 Black
Shihai Kuroiro
Shihai's Quirk, simply named Black, lets him merge into objects that are black and even take control of them. He seems to use his Quirk primarily by operating through shadows, which results in a major weakness when he's fighting in brightly lit areas. Overall, Black is a decent Quirk for both offensive and defensive maneuvers, even with major drawbacks reliant on the lighting. In addition, the all-black persona of Shihai's Quirk leads to a scary appearance for young kids, which also could make it a less socially acceptable Quirk for a hero to wield.
8 Tape
Hanta Sero
Sero's Tape Quirk lets him shoot out adhesive tape from his elbows, similar to a tape dispenser. Overall, it's a strong Quirk, as he can eject large amounts of tape in one fight, and the tape itself is fairly pliant and resilient. However, while his Quirk is great for defensive maneuvers and propelling himself, it does not have many offensive uses. Sero has successfully supported offensive maneuvers with other students, but Tape does not help him much in combat if he's by himself. In this way, it's one of the worst Quirks in MHA.
7 Gyrate
Sen Kaibara
Gyrate, the Quirk used by Sen, allows him to rapidly rotate any part of his body at high speeds, creating a similar effect to a drill. This Quirk is rather dangerous, even for a hero. While it does enhance Sen's combat skills and turn him into a fearsome fighter, he's perhaps too fearsome. Sen's Quirk could easily cut off someone's limb by accident, making it very risky to use in civilian-packed areas. The Hero Public Safety Commission typically doesn't want to cause more damage than necessary, and severing a limb seems like the start of a lawsuit.
6 Centipede
Juzo Moashi
Juzo's mutant Quirk, Centipede, allows him certain features of a centipede. This includes long, prehensile limbs and a centipede head with venomous pincers. This unique Quirk is useful for restraining enemies from a distance, but that's about all the major advantages it has. The venomous pincers cause intense pain, which isn't ideal in most villain encounters where the hero simply wants to restrain the villain. In addition, Juzo's appearance very much resembles a centipede, which is unnerving for the average person who doesn't expect heroes to look like typical monsters.
5 Permeation
Mirio Togata
Mirio Togata's Permeation is arguably one of the worst Quirks in MHA, except this doesn't apply to him. In simple terms, anyone other than Mirio would find this ability extremely hard or even impossible to wield. Permeation is not only difficult to maneuver, but it can also kill its user if they don't understand its various limitations. In fact, becoming intangible means that even air won't be able to enter the lungs. Mirio manages to bypass his Quirk's drawbacks through sheer willpower and continuous hard work. That said, it's a terrible Quirk for reckless or impatient fighters.
4 Love
Manami Aiba
Manami Aiba, better known as La Brava, wields a Quirk known as Love. Although introduced as a villain, she's currently helping fight off the League of Villains, effectively making her a hero. La Brava's Quirk can enhance someone else's Quirk abilities, but it does nothing for her. This is seen during Deku vs. Gentle Criminal, when she uses Love to augment her partner's combat strength. In fact, La Brava's "Lover Mode" could have been really dangerous had she fallen in love with someone like Tomura Shigaraki. As it stands, however, Love is one of the worst Quirks in MHA.
3 IQ
Saiko Intelli
Saiko Intelli makes a very brief appearance in the Provisional Hero License Exam arc, where she and her cronies trap Froppy, Yaoyorozu, Shoji, and Earphone Jack inside a locked room. Her IQ Quirk requires a drink of tea before it can be activated, but it subsequently augments Saiko's already prodigious intelligence. Transforming into a genius in the middle of battle is quite helpful, but it doesn't have much of an effect against Creati's Quirk. It turns out that Creation is far too unpredictable for even IQ to analyze successfully. Fighting a strong villain is out of the question.
2 Weld
Awase Yosetsu
Class 1-B's Yosetsu relies on a Quirk known as Weld, which works exactly as the name suggests. He can effectively glue any two objects together on a molecular level, including human bodies. Weld is a great Quirk when it comes to construction or engineering ventures, but it seems somewhat problematic for heroic activities. For instance, the ability necessitates at least two target objects for it to work. Further, Weld has zero offensive capabilities, so the most Yosetsu can do is glue his enemies in place. This would (and did) fail spectacularly against someone powerful like Bakugo.
1 The Original One For All
Yoichi Shigaraki
One For All's original form is probably the most useless Quirk in MHA. Yoichi Shigaraki's unnamed Quirk had the ability to transfer itself to someone else, and did literally nothing else. This Quirk only gained strength after All For One forced Yoichi to accept a power-stockpile Quirk, merging the two into One For All. The fused Quirk was later inherited by eight chosen ones, all but two of whom were killed by All For One. At this point in the manga, however, the single most powerful Quirk is the One For All inside Deku. Along with six associated Quirks, Deku has taken One For All to a level far beyond Prime All Might.