The Most Powerful Characters of Hunter X Hunter

At last, the Hunter X Hunter manga series is finally picking up. Any HxH fan knows that the manga has been marred by problems and hiatuses. But trust me, it is worth the wait. New story development, new powerful characters, same old good stuffs. Gone is the “chimera ant arc”, personally think that this arc has dragged on for so long and the whole purpose of it is to get rid of the Chairman Netero – the president of the Hunter X Hunter association.


For the benefit of those who are not updated or unaware, Chairman Netero has been killed by the King the of the chimera ants. Said arc also seemingly disclosed that he is still the most powerful Nen user and hunter on the HxH universe – aside from the King of the chimera of course which I don’t really consider a nen user so it would be a travesty if he would be killed by any other human hunter or nen user. This leads to the question many HxH fans have in mind: who are the echelons, the top, the powerful characters in the HxH series.

Well, obviously, Netero and Ging Freecs (father of Gon Freecs to which the whole story of the HxH is about) are among the top 5 most powerful nen users. Who are the other three? Apparently, the other three can be found on any of the group below:

Genei Ryodan / Spider Brigade / Phantom Troupe –
Hands down, one of the most powerful group in the HxH universe. The members of this group are thieves, killers, though they randomly do philantrophy work. Headed by Kororo Lucifer, the group consists of 13 members. Membership can be achieved in two ways, killing a current member wherein the killer can take the number of the killed member or by appointment by Kororo. There are numerous instance wherein the strength of the group or of an individual member has been showcased: killing other expert nen users, being able to go in and out of greed island and killing other players, easily killing mid to mid-high level chimera ants, etc…

The Zoldyck Family –
Unlike the Spider Brigade, the Zoldycks are assassins and each of their kill is purely business – this entails that they won’t kill if not paid. Killua, Gon’s best friend, is the chosen successor of the family. Silva, Killua’s father fought with Kororo Lucifer twice and almost killed him on the 2nd encounter. Silva also killed a Spider Brigade member. Zeno, Killua’s grandfather, is a friend of Netero and assisted the chairman in assaulting the chimera king’s palace. Needless to say, all the members of Zoldyck family are incredibly strong as seen in different episodes or chapter of the anime and manga.

The Zodiac 12 –
The members of the Zodiac 12 are personal friends, sparring partners, or confidants of chairman Netero. Ging Freecs, father of Gon is a member of this group. Netero also willed that the next chairman should be chosen from the Zodiac 12. Little is known about this group and though each member appears to be strong and exceptional hunters, Hisoka ranked Illumi, Killua’s eldest brother, as stronger on some of the members.

Ging’s Gang –
The creators of Greed Island. Greed Island is a place created nen users and all things inside the island are made of nen. Only nen users can enter the island and some are trapped and died within the game. Genei Ryodan tried to play the game but able to discover its secret. Having decided to steal the treasures of the island instead of playing and finishing the game, their plans are thwarted by Razr, a gamemaster and one of the creators of Greed Island. Razr is the only member of the gang that displayed combat abilities by heavily damaging Hisoka and Killua.