There was a time when Bleach was held in high regard as one of the Big Three in shonen anime. Along with Naruto and One Piece, this manga had accomplished many incredible things over time, especially during its Soul Society arc. However, the consensus is that the series lost some of its edge after this incredible arc, but there's no denying that Bleach's highlights alone make it well worth a watch.
The protagonist of this tale is a mixed bag, with many people being split down the line when it comes to Ichigo. He's a pretty decent main character for the most part, although there are times when his blandness can frustrate certain viewers to no end. Thankfully, the wealth of abilities that he can pull out in battle makes him a pretty interesting character during battles, with the most powerful of the lot discussed below.
Updated August 16, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War has blown up like never before, allowing viewers to enjoy the final arc of Bleach that had never been adapted until now. The improved animation and unique power-ups have helped this series enter the mainstream once again, even if fans are worrying that the final arc of the series is going to be a huge disappointment unless the anime changes things. Regardless, seeing Ichigo flaunt his power to defeat his enemies time and time again is bound to be a blast, and fans can't wait to see his powers in full display during this arc.
17 Soul Control
At first glance, Soul Control might seem like a really powerful ability to use in Bleach. However, Ichigo is only able to manipulate the souls of inanimate objects. This caveat turns it into more of a party trick than anything else.
Soul Control allows Ichigo to move objects without having to maintain any physical contact. If Ichigo somehow managed to use this ability to target living beings, then this could easily become his strongest ability by far, but as it stands, it's not his best.
16 Tracking A Person's Reiatsu
Ichigo's natural ability to sense spiritual pressure is unmatched. Even someone as talented as Rukia was absolutely astonished that Ichigo could track someone's Reiatsu without too much effort, even when he wasn't a Shinigami.
Ichigo can essentially track a person's Reiatsu by envisioning their energy as ribbons. This allows him to track said person down without too many problems, which is definitely quite impressive and useful in plenty of situations.
15 Reishi Absorption
Reishi absorption is an ability limited to the Quincy, letting them absorb the energy around them to use in battle. This is in stark contrast to the ability of a Shinigami, who draw energy from within them to fight.
Ichigo was able to absorb Reishi from the atmosphere almost unconsciously at times. This made him even more powerful in battle, and turned him into one of the toughest characters in the show by a country mile.
14 Shunpo
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Shunpo is a pretty basic technique that most Shinigami need to master to be even slightly effective in combat. However, Shunpo is a classic example of a technique that is exceedingly simple yet can be extremely effective in the hands of a master.
Ichigo relies on Shunpo in most battles to keep up with the pace of his opponent. It's one of the most crucial moves in his arsenal, without which he would have been down for the count multiple times in fights where he emerged victorious at the end of the day.
13 Energy Blast
Ichigo's Fullbring powers were pretty underwhelming, with some of these techniques feeling like imitations of his Shinigami abilities. The only unique technique he develops is an energy blast that isn't really all that effective either.
In fact, it's stated that Ichigo can only launch a few of these blasts before he's left open for a counterattack. It's a pretty basic ability that goes away as soon as it's introduced, with Ichigo gaining the powers of a Shinigami once again.
12 Fullbring Getsuga Tenshou
Many people consider the Fullbring arc to be one of the worst in the series, despite the unique ideas that Kubo brought to the table. However, the fact that this arc and its characters had very little impact on Bleach as a whole was a huge shame, with all this promise being quietly done away with in favor of the Shinigami and Quincy conflict reigning supreme once again. The fact that the anime ended after adapting this insignificant arc was a slap in the face to Bleach fans.
However, this arc did have moments where it played around with Ichigo's suite of powers in a unique way. His Fullbring transformation was pretty unique even if it only lasted for a brief moment. Ichigo was able to wield a unique version of the Getsuga Tenshou in his Fullbring state, which looked pretty neat. It wasn't as powerful as his energy blasts as a Shinigami, but it could still do some damage if enemies were hit by it.
11 Blut Vene
The fact that Ichigo is half-Quincy makes him a jack-of-all-trades in Bleach. It lets him enjoy the best of all worlds, with his powers being great for a variety of situations.
His Quincy half allows him to use Blut powers, with Blut Vene saving his life in a battle against Yhwach. It's a simple yet useful defensive technique that ultimately let Ichigo secure victory against his toughest enemy to date.
10 Getsuga Tenshou
Ichigo's most iconic attack is easily Getsuga Tenshou. By swinging his blade, Ichigo unleashes a wave of Reiatsu that can defeat lesser enemies with ease.
Even stronger enemies can be fazed by this technique, although it's clear that the base version of Getsuga Tenshou isn't enough to deal with powerful threats. It was around this time that Ichigo decided to up the ante.
9 Tensa Zangetsu
After realizing that his skills weren't enough to save Rukia, Ichigo decided to try and master the powerful Bankai before his eventual confrontation against Byakuya. He trains with Urahara for a while, pushing his body to the very limit so that he could fight against Rukia's brother on equal ground.
After three days of intense training, Ichigo finally attained the means to use a Bankai that transformed himself and allowed the Shinigami to heighten his reflexes and speed to new heights. This makes it harder for his enemies to match with his movements, catching Byakuya off-guard as he tried his hardest to keep up with Ichigo in this state.
8 Kuroi Getsuga
The first Bankai form that Ichigo achieved changed his appearance and the color of his sword, turning it into a completely black and thinner katana. This Bankai form let Ichigo use a powerful version of Getsuga Tenshou too.
This variant of Ichigo's iconic technique is black and hits for a ton of damage. So, it's only fitting that he calls this technique Kuroi Getsuga.
7 Augmented Getsuga Tenshou
After gaining control over his powers as a Hollow, Ichigo realized just how much his combat abilities were impacted as a result. By using his Hollow mask, Ichigo could augment the power of all his attacks.
This includes the Getsuga Tenshou as well, which becomes a highly powerful and damaging attack. This Augmented Getsuga Tenshou, coupled with Ichigo's Bankai form, is extremely potent and can destroy even the toughest enemies around.
6 Getsuga Juujishou
After Ichigo manages to unlock the true form of Zangetsu, he starts wielding two blades. This increases his options for attack and also lets him upgrade his Getsuga Tenshou technique.
By swinging both blades in a cross-like pattern, Ichigo can unleash a powerful variant of this Getsuga Tenshou technique. Given that it's powered by two blades and looks different, Ichigo fittingly named it the Getsuga Juujishou technique.
5 Combined Gran Rey Cero-Getsuga Tenshou
Ichigo's Hollow form with his new Shikai makes for a really devastating combination. Even someone as powerful as Yhwach had to start taking Ichigo seriously after he whipped this trick out.
The Gran Rey Cero is one of the most effective Hollow techniques in Bleach, and Ichigo can combine this with his Getsuga Tenshou as well. It makes for a deadly attack that any foe might find challenging, although Yhwach still brushed this technique off.
4 New Tensa Zangetsu
After realizing the true name and nature of his Zanpakuto, Ichigo was able to unlock his latent potential and become even more powerful than he already was. This allowed him to use a dual-bladed Zanpakuto that could wreak havoc against the toughest foes, but it was the power of his Bankai that was truly fearsome.
Tensa Zangetsu is one of the biggest what-ifs in Bleach. The Bankai was meant to be a natural evolution of Ichigo's powers that could allow him to fight Yhwach on equal ground, but Kubo decided to ruin this moment by making Yhwach break his Bankai before it could cause serious damage. It's one of the most disappointing moments in the entire manga, and brings the quality of the final fight down a peg since Ichigo could never show his full strength against this terrifying foe despite all signs pointing to an epic final confrontation.
3 Enhanced Getsuga Tenshou
Ichigo's new Bankai lets him use an enhanced version of Getsuga Tenshou. It's an extremely strong attack that even kills Yhwach, although he manages to reverse the point of his demise.
As a result, this is easily the most potent version of Getsuga Tenshou that Ichigo wields. It's only surpassed by another technique that Ichigo wields during his final fight with Aizen.
2 Saigo No Getsuga Tenshou
The sheer amount of power that Ichigo managed to attain before his final confrontation against Aizen was pretty immense. Aside from deflecting Aizen's attacks with his bare hands, Ichigo also unlocked the ultimate version of Getsuga Tenshou.
The Saigo no Getsuga Tenshou technique essentially turns Ichigo into the living embodiment of the Getsuga Tenshou technique. Suffice to say, it's a really powerful ability that unlocks another attack that is downright broken.
1 Mugetsu
After fusing with the Hogyoku, most people assumed that Aizen would be virtually unstoppable. However, Ichigo quickly nipped this notion in the bid and showed Aizen what true power is really like.
In his Getsuga Tenshou form, Ichigo unleashed his most powerful attack that destroyed Aizen in seconds. This technique, called Mugetsu, uses a ton of power at the cost of a Shinigami losing his abilities.