Proper Ranking of the Espada

I think we can all agree, the order given in the manga seems really, really screwed up and not accurate at all. Can we do better? Things to take into account:

It was stated arrancar are stronger in Hueco Mundo, so that should be taken into account when comparing the top three with the ones who stayed and might resolve some inconsistencies.

This isn't really "who would beat who", but rather who would do better against a wide variety of opponents and is just more powerful in general. So it is quite possible for an Espada who might beat one above him through some kind of exploitation or good matchup, to still be below them.

Ranks both released and pre-released averaged out in the ranking. This includes Yammy as well, even though it might be kind of tricky.

This should be from an in-character perspective more than what the character could do if using OOC or just exploitative tactics.

Barragan should be above Starrk first of all, in my opinion. Although Stark is pretty fast, yeah, Barragan is not lacking in that department and has the cheapest move of all the Espada.

This is going to be a little weird but lets see if I can do this

Unreleased:
1)Stark...because he had enough energy to actually make another person when sealing his power up
2)Ulquiorra
3)Halibel
4)Barragan
5)Grimmjow
6)Nnoitra
7)Zommari
8)Szayel
9)Aaroniero
10) Yammy

Released:
1)Barragan(hard to beat someone who can age you and your attacks to dust)
2)Yammy
3)Ulquiorra(second release anyway)
4)Stark
5)Aaroniero(I think I really need to explain this one but I'll wait)
6)Grimmjow(hey! he earned it)
7)Nnoitra
8)Halibel(I think I'll switch her with Aaroniero)
9)Szayel
10)Zommari

This is weird and I'll have some explaining to do for probably all of these but that's how I would rank the espada respectively(or not).
Maybe I shouldn't have made a big-ass list.

1. Barragan - No questions there. His time ability is teh shit

2. Starrk - Despite his poor showing, he still has speed, is very analytical and observant, and with his release, could annihilate groups of enemies

3. Ulquiorra - Not sure if his second release puts him above Starrk, undecided. Definitely at least third in my book

4. Nnoitra - Physical beast akin to Kenpachi. Could take out many guys due to his durability.

5. Grimmjow - From his battle with Vizard Ichigo, he honestly seems more powerful than Harribel.

6. Szayel - With prep, could probably beat anyone. Otherwise, his analytical abilities and release abilities (regeneration, dolls, control etc) could **** opponents up.

7. Harribel - Didn't see much from her in her fight against Toshiro. If she truly were 3rd ranked, she should have annihilated him at the start.

8. Zommari - Kickass ability, but rather glaring weakness.

9. Aoaro (**** his name) - The weakest. Has the potential to be very powerful, but from what we saw, pathetically weak.

Yammy's a wild-card. Haven't seen what his new form can do. Aside from incredible durability, he hasn't got much apart from a slow build-up, but powerful cero in his first form.

Personally:

1. Barragan, for reasons stated thusfar. Even though I think Starrk can beat him.

2. Ulquiorra. Even his first release was not just above Vizard Ichigo, but so far above him that nothing Ichigo did could so much as put a scratch on him. Even with just his first release, he'd be third at least. With his second, he's a shoe-in for #2.

3. Starrk. His guns are very abusable, and he shows good skill, speed, and strength. I think it was pretty strange how he never seemed to be able to hit anyone with his guns when he should have easily been able to.

4. Yammy. We'll see more of him, but his current size and apparent ability to heal when he gets angrier should at the least put him this high.

5. Grimmjow. I'm pretty baffled how Nnoitra is supposed to be above him. His Hiero didn't seem that much stronger, and Grimmjow certainly is faster and has much more varied abilities.

6. Szayel. His Gabriel ability pretty much gives him auto win if not specifically countered in a way like Mayuri did.

7. Aaronario: If his release really has the powers of thousands of hollows he should be first on the list, but he really didn't demonstrate this at all.

8. Harribel: She just didn't seem effective and losing one on one to Hitsugaya was just lame as all hell. Her released abilities were clearly running on the low end of creativity.

9. Nnoitra. He's a brawler, plain and simple. And not very effective at once, doing worse than Shikai Ichigo against the same opponent is just pathetic.

10. Zommari. Do I really need to say anything? He was just sad and pathetic. I'd even put pre-released Yammy above him. He could have won if he just took control of Byakuya's brain right away, but apparently he's too stupid to think of these things. With that power, he could have been one of the best.

As an honorable mention: Luppi. I'd probably put him between Harribel and Nnoitra.

Kenpachi fought and was winning against two captains, eyepatch on, and he was tooling released Yammy, once again, eyepatch on.

The fight with Shikai Ichigo has long since been obsolete, using that to downplay Nnoitra is faulty.

Looks like nobody like Halibel. Oh well. Aaroniero was cheated out of his true potential. Granted that he was a gillian, he had enough power to possible match Grimmjow(not saying that he would win a fight) and being killed by PIS doesn't really seem weak to me. Yammy's hollow-hulk powers put him as a top contender too.

Everyone left out Luppi! Espada 6 1/2- below Grimmjow, above everyone else!

Luppi is sad.

7. Harribel - Didn't see much from her in her fight against Toshiro. If she truly were 3rd ranked, she should have annihilated him at the start.

They were both stalling to build up moisture apparently. Also she did survive his ultimate attack without any damage, whereas Luppi was badly wounded by Toshiro's far-less-ultimate attack.

I'm pretty sure she could run over a lot of Espada on shear power and toughness (frankly, the lower ranks, that is Luppi and below, struck me as fairly definitively sub-captain).

I'd put Barragan at the top of my list followed by:

Stark
Ulquiorra
Grimmjow (hey, he's alot more versatile than most of the espada)
Szayel
Nnoitira
Halibel
Aaroniero
Zommari
Yammy (could be potentially higher on my list, but until he does something that proves that he really is worthy of being rank 0, he's at the bottom of my list)

i dont know why people give hallibel so much credit against toshiro... she basically lost against him... the only reason she survived was because WW broke the ice prison thingy before the final snow flake could fall and according to toshiro the victim didnt die until the final flake fell... so its not really fair to says he did well against him...

shes the second best though cause shes my favorite besides grimmjow >\

Originally posted by Q99
Everyone left out Luppi! Espada 6 1/2- below Grimmjow, above everyone else!

Luppi is sad.

They were both stalling to build up moisture apparently. Also she did survive his ultimate attack without any damage, whereas Luppi was badly wounded by Toshiro's far-less-ultimate attack.

I'm pretty sure she could run over a lot of Espada on shear power and toughness (frankly, the lower ranks, that is Luppi and below, struck me as fairly definitively sub-captain).

Who cares about Luppi...He(she) sucks! Most people give Halibel more credit that she deserves is because they hate Toshiro's guts; why is that brat still alive? You also have to give Halibel some credit due to her nearly killing Toshiro with one blow: stupid ice clone. However if Halibel were truly #3 material, she should've killed Toshiro without even releasing but hey...fanservice talks.

Stark was also cheated(or just misplaced in the ranking) out of his potential too. I wonder why Neliel doesn't get any love, she didn't suck that bad did she?

Neliel was weaker than Nnoitra (needed to release just to beat his unreleased form), and I put him low on my list. It was flat out stated that older Espada like her can't compare to the current lineup. That said, i'd still put her above Zommari.

I see nothing wrong with Starrk's #1 rating, it was just the way the fight was written that he lost, not necessarily anything to do with his abilities being insufficient. Add to that, Shunsui had more help than the others did fighting him.

Well Stark handled the vizard ex-captains pretty well but then Kyoraku turned out to have some cheap-shot shikai ability. I still find it weird how he can tank Stark's cero but goes down from one attack by Aizen; which is why I say Stark was cheated out of his potential.

Neliel could've ben a beast if she stayed. I don't think she would have a random decrease in power once Aizen showed up and since she was #3 in the old set she had no where to go but up; she might have even became #1 had she'd stayed but we'll never know.

Originally posted by Q99
They were both stalling to build up moisture apparently.

Originally posted by Q99
Everyone left out Luppi! Espada 6 1/2- below Grimmjow, above everyone else!

Luppi is sad.

They were both stalling to build up moisture apparently. Also she did survive his ultimate attack without any damage, whereas Luppi was badly wounded by Toshiro's far-less-ultimate attack.

I'm pretty sure she could run over a lot of Espada on shear power and toughness (frankly, the lower ranks, that is Luppi and below, struck me as fairly definitively sub-captain).

She survived it, but she got incapacitated in the process. It's clear she lost to Toshiro.
And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for Wonderweiss meddling in his plans.

~ Imagine, a high level espada losing to a mid level captain. Pathetic. If her release was half as powerful as Ulquiorra became when he used his first release, the fight would have been over the minute she did so.

Originally posted by wakkawakkawakka
Well Stark handled the vizard ex-captains pretty well but then Kyoraku turned out to have some cheap-shot shikai ability. I still find it weird how he can tank Stark's cero but goes down from one attack by Aizen; which is why I say Stark was cheated out of his potential.

Neliel could've ben a beast if she stayed. I don't think she would have a random decrease in power once Aizen showed up and since she was #3 in the old set she had no where to go but up; she might have even became #1 had she'd stayed but we'll never know.

Originally posted by King Kandy
Personally:

1. Barragan, for reasons stated thusfar. Even though I think Starrk can beat him.

2. Ulquiorra. Even his first release was not just above Vizard Ichigo, but so far above him that nothing Ichigo did could so much as put a scratch on him. Even with just his first release, he'd be third at least. With his second, he's a shoe-in for #2.

3. Starrk. His guns are very abusable, and he shows good skill, speed, and strength. I think it was pretty strange how he never seemed to be able to hit anyone with his guns when he should have easily been able to.

4. Yammy. We'll see more of him, but his current size and apparent ability to heal when he gets angrier should at the least put him this high.

5. Grimmjow. I'm pretty baffled how Nnoitra is supposed to be above him. His Hiero didn't seem that much stronger, and Grimmjow certainly is faster and has much more varied abilities.

6. Szayel. His Gabriel ability pretty much gives him auto win if not specifically countered in a way like Mayuri did.

7. Aaronario: If his release really has the powers of thousands of hollows he should be first on the list, but he really didn't demonstrate this at all.

8. Harribel: She just didn't seem effective and losing one on one to Hitsugaya was just lame as all hell. Her released abilities were clearly running on the low end of creativity.

9. Nnoitra. He's a brawler, plain and simple. And not very effective at once, doing worse than Shikai Ichigo against the same opponent is just pathetic.

10. Zommari. Do I really need to say anything? He was just sad and pathetic. I'd even put pre-released Yammy above him. He could have won if he just took control of Byakuya's brain right away, but apparently he's too stupid to think of these things. With that power, he could have been one of the best.

As an honorable mention: Luppi. I'd probably put him between Harribel and Nnoitra.

I'd say this list is really close to mine. I'd change, MAYBE, one or two on that list...but it still works fine.

I rate Szayel lower than quite a few. Sure, he can contain releases. What's that gonna do against the ones who can beat the heck out of him even in basic form? Like Nnoitra, Grimmjow, and the other physical fighters.

She survived it, but she got incapacitated in the process. It's clear she lost to Toshiro.

She was trapped, but not hurt. Note how when she got out she didn't have any frost marks or anything on her when she got out.

So yea, it's a loss, but pretty much to ring-out rather than KO, and Toshiro's ultimate attack is supposed to be really powerful.

Originally posted by Q99
So yea, it's a loss, but pretty much to ring-out rather than KO, and Toshiro's ultimate attack is supposed to be really powerful.

Yeah but the problem is that Halibel didn't do anything no#3 worthy. Ulquiorra in his first release stomped Ichigo and I know he's stronger that Toshiro. Yet Halibel didn't have any people quivering at her feet when she released(or anyone I know). However Halibel's lack of feats can be due to her fighting Toshiro:which thanks to his fanbase he looks stronger than he actually is.