Katsuki Bakugo was gifted with raw talent from the beginning of My Hero Academia. His Quirk “Explosion,” raw combat ability and physical strength were miles ahead of the average teenager. Since enrolling in U.A., he’s honed his abilities and grown even more powerful with his Quirk, learning to use his Explosion in even more versatile ways, and even developed a handful of powerful super moves. But of all the ones he's displayed in the anime so far, which is the most powerful?
5. Stun Grenade Is Effective But Not Very Offensive
Stun Grenade isn’t Bakugo’s most offensively powerful super move, but it’s handy for disorienting opponents so he can set up a more powerful attack afterward, or for incapacitating villains nonviolently.
In short, it’s his simplest attack to use. Bakugo cups his hands together and creates several tiny explosions between his palms, focusing on generating light with these explosions instead of heat or force. Once the attack is sufficiently charged up, he releases one final explosion in the form of a blinding beam of light.
Bakugo’s Stun Grenade was bright enough to completely knock Setsuna Tokage out when he used it against her in their Joint Training match in Season 5 of My Hero Academia. It was also bright enough to completely drain up all of Dark Shadow’s darkness when he found himself on the receiving end of Tokoyami's Quirk during the Sports Festival. Stun Grenade makes Bakugo one of the worst matchups for any villains with a Quirk rooted in darkness.
4. Maximum Firepower Turns Bakugo's Sweat Into a Flamethrower
Bakugo’s grenade-shaped gauntlets don’t just make his costume look cooler. They’re actually a really incredible support item that allows him to release more explosive power than his body is currently capable of handling.
As he fights, the gauntlets gather and store up the nitroglycerin-like sweat he releases until they are fully charged up. The gauntlets then use his sweat as fuel for an incendiary attack that works much like a flamethrower does. Once they are primed, he can pull a trigger on the side of either gauntlet and release all the energy stored in one great fiery blaze. His gauntlet blasts are powerful enough to reduce any obstacle in their path to rubble and have even succeeded in stopping All Might in his tracks.
Even without his gauntlets, Bakugo can still use the full power of his explosions. They do have a drawback, though. His maximum firepower explosions cause him great pain throughout his arms whenever he uses them -- not that this pain has never stopped Bakugo. In any situation he's that judged if his ultimate power was needed, he's never hesitated to use it with his unprotected palms.
3: Armor Piercing Shot Releases Strong But Small Blasts
Bakugo’s Armor Piercing Shot, or AP Shot as he calls it, is a smaller scale iteration of his basic explosion attacks. For a more concentrated blast, he creates a circle with his thumb and finger, then places it on the palm of his other hand and fires his explosion through the ring.
The smaller surface area greatly increases the power of his explosions, and the blasts his AP Shot produces are powerful enough to punch through solid concrete. The name “Armor Piercing” isn’t just for show, either: Its destructive nature makes it unsafe for use against humans so Bakugo dialed down its intensity to create the AP Shot: Auto Cannon.
To use Auto Cannon, Bakugo fires off dozens of small blasts in quick succession. Auto Cannon blasts aren’t as powerful as the regular AP Shot but they still pack enough punch to knock any unsuspecting villain out. Coupled with the sheer speed with which Bakugo can fire them off, Auto Cannon is a threat formidable enough to overwhelm most low-level villains.
2. X Catapult Is a Reckless, Full-On Assault
With X Catapult, Bakugo uses his powerful Quirk to complement a mostly physical attack. Melee fighters might be tempted to opt for a close-quarters battle against Bakugo but after seeing X Catapult in action, anyone would agree that getting in close with the boy wonder is a terrible idea.
Bakugo sets up X Catapult by grabbing his opponent. Once they’re held securely in one hand, he forcefully spins himself and his captive with explosions from his free hand, launching them both in the air.
As he spins, Bakugo continues to raise the intensity of each explosion, increasing his momentum severalfold while disorienting his opponent in the process. When he reaches optimum speed, he flings them away with one final explosion, forcing them to crash into the nearest obstacle at high speed and dealing even more damage.
X Catapult isn't an exclusively offensive move. It can also be used with teammates to deliver devastating combo attacks as he proved during his team-up fight with Deku against Nine in My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising. Bakugo caught Deku, who was flailing in mid-air, then spun him around with X-Catapult before finally throwing him at Nine so Deku could deliver an even more powerful St. Louis Smash.
1: Howitzer Impact Is Bakugo's Ultimate Finishing Move
The Howitzer Impact is Bakugo’s most complex and powerful attack, so it’s no wonder he defaults to it as his finisher. To pull it off, Bakugo first launches himself high into the air using explosive blasts. Once he’s high enough, he aims himself at his target and then uses more explosions to spin while propelling himself towards it at incredible speed.
The speed at which he spins gathers the resulting smoke from his explosions and forms a miniature tornado around him. This tornado sucks in a large volume of oxygen and gives him an additional speed boost that ensures he reaches his target that much faster.
Once he’s close enough to his target, Bakugo lets off one final explosion. Ordinarily, it wouldn’t be any more powerful than the regular ones he uses in combat but the tornado he forms forces all the oxygen gathered into the explosion. The oxygen then ignites, triggered by his final blast, and creates a second, exponentially more powerful explosion. Bakugo’s pulled off the Howitzer impact twice so far in My Hero Academia and neither of his opponents remained standing after getting hit with it.
