The fluid and high-quality animation of the Seven Deadly Sins means it's easy to see the wacky powers of the characters on full display, and also makes for some fun and interesting fight scenes. No matter the character, they always have some hidden and mysterious trump cards. These trump cards usually provide huge power buffs, which make the fights even more intense.
Fights in the Seven Deadly Sins can oftentimes boil down to simple slugfest, but the unique abilities always throw a twist in the story and, though it is easy to see coming, it is still interesting to watch. Meliodas is oftentimes a part of these critical battles, where he's shown that he's one of history's greatest ever warriors. Here are characters he can easily defeat and some that he might not quite be ready for.
10 ESCANOR (CAN)
Escanor is the Lion Sin of Pride and is widely regarded as one of the world's strongest fighters. Escanor's powers rise with the sun and, when it's at its peak, he can be unbeatable, even against the strongest of demons and gods. With his Divine Axe, Rhitta, he can release all the energy he has stored up in Rhitta. The energy released takes the form of heat and it burns so intensely that onlookers often mistake it for the sun itself. Meliodas himself stated that Escanor is stronger than him, ultimately meaning that he'll lose if they were to fight.
9 GILTHUNDER (CAN'T)
Gilthundder is a man who spent many of his formative years idolizing Meliodas, one day hoping to be as strong as him. To that end, Gil spent many of his young years honing his skills and developing his body. This and his strong sense of justice led to him becoming a Holy Knight. Gil is exceptionally strong for a human of his age, and also possesses considerable talent in sword fighting and lightning magic. Using his thunderbolt techniques, he can summon destructive lightning bolts as well as clad himself in lightning armor. This makes Gil both offensively and defensively strong, but he would still be too weak to defeat a serious Meliodas.
8 MAEL (CAN)
Estarossa or Mael, as he is truly known, is one of the Four Archangels of the Goddess Clan. He was brainwashed into doing the Demon King's bidding as one of his ten commandments. In that time, he was the cause of much destruction. Estarossa's commandment renders any person who has hatred in their heart powerless against him. Any person harboring feelings of hatred becomes immobile if they try to approach Estarossa. His Full Counter magic grants him the ability to reflect physical attacks, with more than twice the power output. That, in conjunction with his Ark magic, means he could be a quite deadly opponent for Meliodas.
7 DIANE (CAN'T)
Diane is a powerful giant warrior and the Serpent Sin of Envy. With her incredible size, she can easily topple mountains. Her Creation ability grants her the power to change the landscape of a battle in a split second through manipulating the Earth.
Her size greatly increases her durability and this, coupled with her determination, means she can withstand even the harshest of onslaughts. She wields the War Hammer, Gideon, and, with this ginormous weapon, she can easily shatter several mountains. On top of that, when in possession of this hammer, Diane's Creation ability becomes even stronger.
6 LUDOCIEL (CAN)
He is a member of the Goddess Clan and current leader of the Four Archangels, the four strongest warriors in the Goddess Clan. Owing to his possession, Ludociel is a man that is held in high regard by the members of his clan. He's regarded as a quiet and level headed man. As a fighter, Ludociel is extremely durable, being able to stand against waves and waves of attacks while carefully planning a counter-strategy in his head. His Ark abilities would be quite dangerous in a fight against Meliodas, given that he is a demon. Meliodas would put up a strong fight against Ludociel but, ultimately, he would lose.
5 GOWTHER (CAN'T)
Gowther is a former member of the Ten Commandments, where he had the epithet of Gowther the Selflessness. In this capacity, he served directly under the Demon King. Gowther is currently the Goat Sin of Lust. For a long while, Gowther was not able to interact with the outside world due to being imprisoned in a demon prison. His only means of gaining access to this world was through using a doll he had created, which is the body he used to become a member of the Seven Deadly Sins. Gowther has a wide range of skills, ranging from his Invasion to his transformation abilities. Gowther is an ancient demon, meaning he could probably compete with Meliodas for a while, but, eventually, he would definitely lose.
4 ZELDRIS (CAN)
Zeldris is the current leader of the Ten Commandments, having been given the position by his father, the Demon King. He is known as Zeldris the Piety and, due to his ability, any person who turns their back towards Zeldris falls under his curse.
Anybody who falls under this curse gets their mind taken over and they become a willing servant for the Demon Lord. Zeldris is a powerful demon with numerous dangerous skills such as Hellblaze, God, and Ominous Nebula. These abilities grant Zeldris incredible destructive force making him hard to beat for anybody, including Meliodas.
3 BAN (CAN'T)
Ban is the Fox Sin of Greed, and is a cunning thief who drank from the fountain of youth and gained immortality. Ban and Meliodas have been known to butt heads from time to time and these battles would be intense. At times, Ban even attempted to kill Meliodas. With his ability, Snatch, he can steal a person's physical abilities and add them to his own. This strengthens him while it weakens his opponent, however, there is a limit to how much he can actually steal. Ban has superhuman strength and reflexes and, when he uses his Sacred Treasure, Courechouse, he can attain an even higher level than that. Despite this, if Ban were to go up against a fully powered Meliodas, he would definitely lose.
2 DEMON KING (CAN)
The Demon King is the father to Meliodas and Zeldris, and the leader and ruler of the Demon Clan. As the ruler of the Demon Clan, the Demon King has complete control of the clan and a majority of its members. The Demon King is held in high regard by the demons and they eagerly await the day he shall return and wreak havoc upon the world. The Demon King is an immortal life form that can survive in purgatory for millions of years. This alone speaks to his immense spirit and durability, but he also has abilities such as Nature Manipulation, Poer Bestowal, and curses. His greatest ability, The Ruler, inverts any attacks that are used against him. This means that whenever he's attacked instead of getting damage he instead gets healed and becomes stronger. This would be a great fight to witness but it's hard to see Meliodas defeating his father one on one.
1 DERIERI (CAN'T)
Derieri was known as the Purity during her time as a member of the Ten Commandments. She worked closely with Monspeet, where they would go around terrifying humans, demons, and gods alike. Derieri is a character that is very quick to anger and, once angry, she is quite hard to calm down. In this emotional state, she can be childish and will only calm down after getting exactly what she wants. Derieri's special combo ability means her punches get stronger with every successive hit. A move like this greatly increases her fighting power and gives her opponent something to think twice about. Despite this strength, Derieri is still far outside Melioda's league as he showed when he saved Elizabeth back in the Ten Commandments Saga.