The 10 Strongest Characters in RWBY

Salem has walked the world of Remnant since before it existed in its current form.

As the last member of humanity before the gods abandoned it, she's the last living person to yield full magic, along with Ozpin.

Everyone else only has a semblance of magic, which puts them at a disadvantage against her.

Worse still, Salem is literally immortal. Angry at her selfish defiance of death, the gods punished her to walk Remnant eternally until they decide otherwise.

When Ozpin used the Relic of Knowledge to ask how he can defeat Salem, the answer he received was "you can't."

We've yet to see if it is just Ozpin who can't defeat her, but so far, there's no known way to kill Salem.

Like Salem, Ozpin yields strong magic from the old and now dead world the gods abandoned.

Unlike Salem, Oz can be killed, and he often has. As such, he's not the strongest character physically.

His ability to reincarnate in different bodies, however, makes him the most knowledgeable and experienced character.

Ozpin is an intelligent leader with a strong belief in humans. Over the years, he has become increasingly disillusioned and mistrustful, but ultimately, he's a key character in the fight against Salem.

His constant reincarnations mean that he often comes back in young, untrained bodies, but he makes up for it with his knowledge and that of the men he has shared a life with.

Raven Branwen, Yang's mother, is a very strong huntress who left her family and her place in Ozpin's inner circle to return to her tribe.

Raven was able to get into Beacon Academy with no formal training. This suggests that even as a largely self-taught child, she was extremely skilled and capable.

Ozpin chose her as a collaborator because of her unique skills. He gave her the ability to turn into a bird -- a magical ability that she loathes, though it has often proved useful.

However, what makes Raven one of the strongest characters in RWBY is that she's secretly the Spring Maiden.

In her fight with Cinder Fall at the end of Volume 5, Raven is able to use different elemental powers.

She can generate fire, electricity, and ice, which gives her an advantage over Cinder, who mainly specializes in fire.

With these unique powers, Raven would have been a worthy opponent against Salem's circle if she had been willing to fight.

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With her fiery semblance, Cinder Fall was always powerful, but stealing the Fall Maiden's powers made her unstoppable.

Throughout the series, she has consistently caused some of the most devastating defeats for the main characters. She stole the Fall Maiden's powers, killed Pyrrha and one of Ozpin's reincarnations, and secured two of the four relics.

At the end of Volume 3, Cinder sustains severe injuries, and Salem gives her a Grimm arm to replace her severed one. Her Shadow Arm can regenerate and reach further than a regular limb.

So far, this has added to Cinder's list of ever-growing powers. However, it also has a mind of its own, so it remains to be seen if it'll end up being a weakness instead of a strength.

Winter Schnee, Weiss's older sister, is a very competent and talented huntress who graduated on top of her class and joined the Atlas military soon after.

Not only is she skilled at using Glyphs -- the Schnee family's semblance -- but she's also a formidable opponent in combat.

Even before becoming a Maiden, Winter was able to hold her own impressively in most battles.

Gaining the powers of the Winter Maiden takes her powers and abilities to a whole different level, and we expect to see her in impressive action scenes in future RWBY Volumes.

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The show's protagonist is the most promising young huntress. Ozpin recruited her as a student of Beacon Academy when she was only 15, two years younger than the normal admission age.

Ruby has always wanted to be a huntress and can't imagine doing anything else.

Her nerdy love for weapons is endearing to watch, while her semblance, which allows her to transform into rose petals and move at extreme speed, is one of the coolest.

Her most promising power, however, is her silver eyes, which allow her to destroy Grimm in her proximity.

At first, Ruby is unable to control this power, but her understanding of it grows in later seasons.

Overall, Ruby has a lot to learn, but her unique abilities might be the key to victory against Salem.

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Qrow Branwen is one of Ozpin's most trusted huntsmen and is involved in some of RWBY's coolest fighting sequences.

Opponents might originally underestimate Qrow due to his alcoholism and nonchalant behavior. However, he proves extremely competent and possesses great physical strength.

Like his sister, Qrow can turn into a corvid and spy for Ozpin, taking him a step further than most characters where magic is concerned.

While Qrow's semblance, Misfortune, is great against Grimm, it doubles as a handicap because it can't tell friends from foes.

This has led him to become isolated and largely work alone to keep bad luck away from his loved ones.

Because of that, it's dangerous to be in battle with Qrow, even as an ally, though you definitely do not want him as an enemy.

With her signature librarian style, Glynda might not immediately strike you as one of the strongest characters in RWBY. Yet, she's one of the most competent characters in every scene she's part of.

Glynda's semblance, Telekinesis, allows her to move and control objects. From fixing a wrecked cafeteria in mere seconds to singlehandedly taking down wolf-life Grimm with her weapon of choice, Glynda never ceases to amaze us.

After the fall of Beacon, Glynda devotes her time to getting it back together, so we don't see much of her. Hopefully, she'll show up again in later seasons!

When Tyrian enters the scene, you know things are about to be dangerous. A serial killer with a psychotic personality, he loves causing pain to any character we love.

Despite being so unstable, Tyrian is scarily efficient in combat, as well as a skilled tracker.

Tyrian is a faunus and sports a poisonous scorpion tail. When this is cut off, he gets a prosthetic one.

His unpredictable combat style almost kills Qrow in Volume 4, and unlike other characters and some villains, he has no qualms whatsoever about causing unnecessary suffering.

This, along with his extreme devotion to Salem, whom he reveres as a goddess, makes him a terrifying enemy you wouldn't want to face in battle.

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Behind Neo's cute appearance hides a skilled and ruthless combatant who has bested some of Beacon's strongest students.

She might not be the strongest of RWBY's villains but she's a survivor in a show that doesn't hesitate to kill its characters, be they heroes or villains.

Neo's semblance allows her to create illusions that everyone can see, as opposed to Emerald whose illusions affect one person at a time.

After the death of her former collaborator, Roman Torchwick, Neo is set on revenge against Ruby and her team.

Since she's one of the characters who fell down the abyss, we expect to see her much more in Volume 9.