Introduction
As at Chapter 1010, a healthy Zoro is unquestionably a top tier. For now, I think the "low top tier" designation is appropriate, but tI may revise upwards or downwards Zoro's placement as new information reveals itself. In this post, I plan to cover where I think Zoro stands currently, and where he might end up after Wano.
Chapter 1010 Zoro's Combat Ability
Here's how I believe Zoro's combat stats shake out:
Primary Combat Stats
[+]: The given stat is probably above the norm for other characters in the tier and may be placed in the next higher tier.
[-]: The given stat is probably below the norm for other characters in the tier and may be placed in the next lower tier.
The strongest characters I feel confident in declaring that a healthy Chapter 1010 Zoro can beat are:
Marco, Mera Sabo, Dragon Kaido, MF Sengoku, MF Garp.
Characters for which the matchup goes either way:
Gura Teach, Base Kaido.
The weakest characters that should beat him:
Old Rayleigh (by virtue of his superior Haki mastery).
Zoro's Future Growth in Wano
There's a lot of growth for Zoro left in Wano post Chapter 1010:
Post Wano Zoro's Combat Ability
At the end of Wano, I expect Zoro's combat ability to range from Mid Top Tier [-] to High Top Tier [-]. Because I believe Zoro would surpass Oden (by portrayal, I have him at Mid Top Tier [+], I am leaning towards the upper end of that range).
Here's how I expect his combat stats to shake out:
Primary Combat Stats
Base Kaido, Issho, Oden
Battles I think might go either way for Zoro:
Kuzan, Linlin
The weakest characters that would be able to beat him are:
Hybrid Kaido (very high difficulty), Borsalino (mostly due to matchup by virtue of his exceptional speed)
My Top Tier List
To help contextualise the stats breakdown I provided above, here's some characters in my top tier List:
Zoro's Combat Growth and Development After Wano
Some people are very leery of the concept of Zoro being a mid top tier post Wano, as they question what future growth would be left for him at that point, and if he would not be too strong for his next major opponents. I think that contention is misguided, as Post Wano Zoro would be quite close in combat ability to Mihawk Fight Zoro. There isn't all that much growth left for Zoro after Wano. In fact, Zoro would grow a lot more over the course of Wano, than between the end of Wano and his fight with Mihawk.
Zoro's Future Battles
As for Zoro being too strong for his future opponents, need I remind you that Post Timeskip Zoro was massively stronger than all opponents he faced until he made it to the Rooftop? The only time Zoro was pushed to his limits Post Timeskip was in a team battle against Hybrid Kaido and Mama (two High Top Tiers). Post Wano, Zoro may well stomp several of his arc opponents going forward.
Anyway, here's how I expect some particular battles against Zoro's future opponents to go
As mentioned earlier, I think Zoro will improve COO and reactions (perhaps Attack Speed as well) against Shiryuu and Borsalino. That's the main growth in combat ability I see for Post Wano Zoro before his Mihawk fight. I don't really think he'll forge any other of his swords into kokuto before that fight.
At the end of the series Zoro may well be the strongest swordsman of all time. This would place him above the likes of Roger, so Top Top Tier [+]. Alternatively, the minimum for Zoro is significantly stronger than all alive swordsmen (Mihawk, Shanks, Mama, Borsalino). If Perhaps I'm overrating Mihawk and he's just a High Top Tier, this would place Zoro at minimum at High Top Tier [+]. I find this unlikely as Mihawk is supposedly waiting for a swordsman that surpasses Shanks, so there should be a noticeable (no matter how small) gap in combat ability between them (at worst, I would place Mihawk at High Top Tier [+]). This would make the floor for EOS Zoro Top Top Tier [-].
If there's no power inflation at EOS, I would expect Zoro to be somewhere in the Top Top Tier spectrum.
Conclusions
Things may change in future, but for now, I think my scaling is more or less accurate.
The main events that would cause me to make significant revisions (downwards) to my current scaling are:
I don't really think there's much that can cause me to revise upwards my scaling as I am already taking pretty optimistic interpretations of things (I'm already accommodating the possibility that Post Wano, I'll place Zoro at High Top Tier [-]). Perhaps if Oda goes crazy with the Zoro wank, I might remove the [-], but it's not really plausible to rate Post Wano Zoro any higher than High Top Tier.
More likely, I'll end up placing him in the Mid Top Tier range (where exactly will depend on how he and Luffy perform going forward).
As at Chapter 1010, a healthy Zoro is unquestionably a top tier. For now, I think the "low top tier" designation is appropriate, but tI may revise upwards or downwards Zoro's placement as new information reveals itself. In this post, I plan to cover where I think Zoro stands currently, and where he might end up after Wano.
Chapter 1010 Zoro's Combat Ability
Here's how I believe Zoro's combat stats shake out:
Primary Combat Stats
- High Top Tier
- Offence [-]
- Hiryuu Kaen
- Mama warned Kaido to dodge out of fear for his life
- Asura Blades Drawn: Dead Man's Game
- It left behind a permanent scar on Kaido
- Hiryuu Kaen
- Defence [-]
- Zoro blocked Hakai for a few seconds
- Offence [-]
- Mid Top Tier
- Endurance
- He continued fighting while every bone in his body had been shattered
- Attack Speed
- He blitzed Mama and intercepted her "Heavenly Fire"
- He blitzed Mama again and cut Prometheus
- He blitzed Kaido with "Asura Blades Drawn: Dead Man's Game"
- Endurance
- Low Top Tier
- Reactions
- He reacted to Batman's sneak arrow attacks before Luffy
- He saved Luffy from Mama's Motherly Fire
- He intercepted Kaido's Boro Breath
- He alone reacted to Hakai of the Supernova
- He blocked/parried a few club swings from Hybrid Kaido
- Reactions
- Peak High Tier
- Stamina [+]
- He was worn out after at most a few hours of fighting against two top tiers
- Stamina [+]
- High Top Tier
- Physical Strength [-]
- Zoro was able to hold back Hakai for a few seconds
- Physical Strength [-]
- Mid Top Tier
- COA [+]
- Overflowing hardening on Enma for Hiryuu Kaen
- A massive barrier to block Hakai
- Durability
- He survived Hakai.
- A less durable Supernova in Law tanked a Hybrid COC infused Thunder Bagua.
- Range
- Hiryuu Kaen travelled several kilometres to cut off one of Onigashima's Horns.
- COA [+]
- Low Top Tier
- COC [+]
- He could subconsciously infuse COC into "Asura Blades Drawn: Dead Man's Game"
- Area of Effect
- Kokujo Ou Tatsumaki generated a tornado that completely engulfed Dragon Kaido's body, giving it a radius of several hundred metres
- COC [+]
- Peak High Tier
- COO
- He lacks exceptional displays of COO prowess
- COO
[+]: The given stat is probably above the norm for other characters in the tier and may be placed in the next higher tier.
[-]: The given stat is probably below the norm for other characters in the tier and may be placed in the next lower tier.
The strongest characters I feel confident in declaring that a healthy Chapter 1010 Zoro can beat are:
Marco, Mera Sabo, Dragon Kaido, MF Sengoku, MF Garp.
Characters for which the matchup goes either way:
Gura Teach, Base Kaido.
The weakest characters that should beat him:
Old Rayleigh (by virtue of his superior Haki mastery).
Zoro's Future Growth in Wano
There's a lot of growth for Zoro left in Wano post Chapter 1010:
- Forging Enma into a Black Blade
- Kokuto: extremely hard/durable = defence boost.
- The process of forging a black blade might further cause a bloom in his COA and/or COC.
- Saijo O Wazamono: Upgrading Enma 1 rank from an O Wazamono to a Sajio O Wazamono.
- This should provide a small but significant boost to Zoro's CQC ability, offence and defence.
- Kokuto: extremely hard/durable = defence boost.
- Acquiring the Nidai Kitetsu
- O Wazamono: Upgrading 2 ranks from a Wazamono to an O Wazamono.
- This should provide a considerable boost to Zoro's CQC ability, offence and defence.
- O Wazamono: Upgrading 2 ranks from a Wazamono to an O Wazamono.
- Mastering how to infuse COC into his attacks
- This should provide a considerable boost to offence and defence.
- This could also provide a considerable boost to COA and COC.
- Haki Bloom/Flashback Power Up
- Zoro was pushed to the limits of his ability and fell short. That may serve as an impetus for him to surpass those limits.
- Depending on its nature, this could provide a considerable boost to offence and defence.
- Depending on its nature, this could provide a considerable boost to COA and COC.
Post Wano Zoro's Combat Ability
At the end of Wano, I expect Zoro's combat ability to range from Mid Top Tier [-] to High Top Tier [-]. Because I believe Zoro would surpass Oden (by portrayal, I have him at Mid Top Tier [+], I am leaning towards the upper end of that range).
Here's how I expect his combat stats to shake out:
Primary Combat Stats
- High Top Tier
- Offence [+]
- Defence
- Mid Top Tier
- Endurance
- Attack Speed
- Low Top Tier
- Reactions
- Peak High Tier
- Stamina
- High Top Tier
- Physical Strength [-]
- COA
- Mid Top Tier
- COC [+]
- Durability
- Range
- Low Top Tier
- Area of Effect
- Peak High Tier
- COO
Base Kaido, Issho, Oden
Battles I think might go either way for Zoro:
Kuzan, Linlin
The weakest characters that would be able to beat him are:
Hybrid Kaido (very high difficulty), Borsalino (mostly due to matchup by virtue of his exceptional speed)
My Top Tier List
To help contextualise the stats breakdown I provided above, here's some characters in my top tier List:
- Top Top Tier
- Roger
- Primebeard
- Kaido (Awakening) [-]
- Mihawk [-]
- High Top Tier
- Sakazuki (Awakening) [+]
- Hybrid Kaido
- Shanks
- Borsalino (Awakening)
- Blackbeard
- Meme
- Kuzan (Awakening)
- Mid Top Tier
- Oden [+]
- Issho
- Post Chapter 1010 Luffy
- Base Kaido [-]
- Low Top Tier
- Old Rayleigh [+]
- Marineford Gura Teach [+]
- Chapter 1000 Zoro
- Marineford Garp
- Marineford Sengoku
- Dragon Kaido [-]
- Bottom Top Tier
- Mera Sabo [+]
- Chapter 1000 Luffy
Zoro's Combat Growth and Development After Wano
Some people are very leery of the concept of Zoro being a mid top tier post Wano, as they question what future growth would be left for him at that point, and if he would not be too strong for his next major opponents. I think that contention is misguided, as Post Wano Zoro would be quite close in combat ability to Mihawk Fight Zoro. There isn't all that much growth left for Zoro after Wano. In fact, Zoro would grow a lot more over the course of Wano, than between the end of Wano and his fight with Mihawk.
Zoro's Future Battles
As for Zoro being too strong for his future opponents, need I remind you that Post Timeskip Zoro was massively stronger than all opponents he faced until he made it to the Rooftop? The only time Zoro was pushed to his limits Post Timeskip was in a team battle against Hybrid Kaido and Mama (two High Top Tiers). Post Wano, Zoro may well stomp several of his arc opponents going forward.
Anyway, here's how I expect some particular battles against Zoro's future opponents to go
- Elbaf Giant: High High Tier [-] Low Top Tier
- Zoro is massively stronger than him and he's used as a hype tool for Post Wano Zoro.
- I expect the difficulty to range from no to medium.
- Shiliew:
- Zoro is considerably stronger than him, but he challenges Zoro due to his invisibility.
- He may force him to improve his COO.
- I am expecting a Zoro vs Pica style fight where Zoro defeats him once he gets a hang of his abilities.
- I expect the difficulty to range from medium to lower high.
- Zoro is considerably stronger than him, but he challenges Zoro due to his invisibility.
- Borsalino: High Top Tier
- Zoro is a match for or above him in most stats except maybe speed and reactions.
- He challenges Zoro by forcing him to improve his reactions and speed.
- I expect the difficulty to range from high to very high.
- Zoro is a match for or above him in most stats except maybe speed and reactions.
- Mihawk: Top Top Tier [-]
- He's a match for or above Zoro in all stats. He's at the very peak of the verse, and Zoro must surpass himself to overcome him. I expect the difficulty to range from very high to extreme.
As mentioned earlier, I think Zoro will improve COO and reactions (perhaps Attack Speed as well) against Shiryuu and Borsalino. That's the main growth in combat ability I see for Post Wano Zoro before his Mihawk fight. I don't really think he'll forge any other of his swords into kokuto before that fight.
- Wado Ichimonji
- I expect that Zoro will blacken it only after defeating Mihawk (or during/just before the fight).
- This is because Wado Ichimonji represents Zoro's promise to Kuina to become the World's Strongest Swordsman. It inherited Kuina's unfulfilled will to become the strongest swordsman.
- I think that for meitou that bear a will, fulfilling that will is a requirement to forge them into kokuto.
- Sandai Kitetsu
- It would be exchanged for the Nidai Kitetsu and never be forged into a kokuto.
- NIdai Kitetsu
- It might be exchanged for the Shodai Kitetsu and never be forged into a kokuto.
- Alternatively, it may be blackened in an epilogue or EOS.
- At the very least, there is no impetus for it to be blackened until after Zoro has defeated Borsalino and Shiliew.
At the end of the series Zoro may well be the strongest swordsman of all time. This would place him above the likes of Roger, so Top Top Tier [+]. Alternatively, the minimum for Zoro is significantly stronger than all alive swordsmen (Mihawk, Shanks, Mama, Borsalino). If Perhaps I'm overrating Mihawk and he's just a High Top Tier, this would place Zoro at minimum at High Top Tier [+]. I find this unlikely as Mihawk is supposedly waiting for a swordsman that surpasses Shanks, so there should be a noticeable (no matter how small) gap in combat ability between them (at worst, I would place Mihawk at High Top Tier [+]). This would make the floor for EOS Zoro Top Top Tier [-].
If there's no power inflation at EOS, I would expect Zoro to be somewhere in the Top Top Tier spectrum.
Conclusions
Things may change in future, but for now, I think my scaling is more or less accurate.
The main events that would cause me to make significant revisions (downwards) to my current scaling are:
- King gives a recovered Zoro a difficult fight
- Zoro doesn't blacken Enma in Wano
- Zoro doesn't acquire the Nidai Kitetsu
- Zoro doesn't learn how to infuse Advanced COC into his attacks
- Zoro never fights Kaido again
I don't really think there's much that can cause me to revise upwards my scaling as I am already taking pretty optimistic interpretations of things (I'm already accommodating the possibility that Post Wano, I'll place Zoro at High Top Tier [-]). Perhaps if Oda goes crazy with the Zoro wank, I might remove the [-], but it's not really plausible to rate Post Wano Zoro any higher than High Top Tier.
More likely, I'll end up placing him in the Mid Top Tier range (where exactly will depend on how he and Luffy perform going forward).
