As My Hero Academia ramps up to its final big confrontation, the heroes need to work overtime to sharpen their strategies for battle. One of the most vital keys to their victory will no doubt be Deku and his many quirks, but which of these quirks will likely play the biggest role?
From his humble beginnings as a quirkless middle schooler, Izuku Midoriya has dragged himself into the position of the most important hero in a massive unfolding conflict. When he first inherited his quirk from his hero All Might, he couldn't use it at all without sacrificing one of his body parts. Now, he sports a total of 6 quirks, with a 7th that has yet to be revealed, and can manage them with impressive efficiency. All of Deku's quirks have their utilities, but there might be one that sticks out as even more vital than the rest.
One For All
While the quirk itself encompasses all the other quirks in Deku’s arsenal, the core of One for All is the boosts it provides to the user’s physical attributes. As the sole quirk that All Might had access to, it’s easy to argue that the other quirks can’t stack up to it, even taking into account their newly boosted states, All Might was able to become the number one hero and defeat All for One twice without any of the predecessor’s quirks.
Through All Might, we get an idea of just how far OFA’s strength boosts go. Even in his weakened state, he was able to clear clouds, create small tornadoes and launch a Nomu clear into the sky, all from just punches. The one disadvantage of OFA is that Deku himself is unable to fully utilize it. If you consider OFA in terms of what Deku can do with it without sacrificing his limbs, it becomes less of an overwhelming force. Even then, it has been shown to be able to create powerful gusts of wind and level walls as low as 5-20%, and Deku can now safely access 45% of its power.
Blackwhip
The first new quirk manifested by Deku, Blackwhip was originally shown as a destructive mass of tendrils that almost annihilated UA’s training field. While Deku has learned to use it more sparingly, there remains the possibility that Deku could unleash it in its original form again. Blackwhip not only functions as a Spiderman-esque rope that Deku can use for grappling, hooking, and swinging, but it has also been shown to have the ability to harden itself like a pole when Deku used it to catch two heavy pipes in his fight with Shinso and Class B.
These factors mean that at full power, Black Whip has the potential to become a faux Dark Shadow of sorts. If he loses his temper enough, Deku could use it to create a massive swarm of tentacles that even Shigaraki could not decay. And since it’s unclear how much force is necessary to destroy or tear Blackwhip, it may also have hidden defensive uses. Deku already used it to help reinforce his arm during 100% OFA punches, so this isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Float
While its original user, Nana Shimura didn’t make much of a name for herself with it, Float is by no means a useless quirk. Flight itself is always a useful ability for superheroes to have. However, its uses in the story so far have been limited, so it’s unclear just how useful it is. Initially it seems to only aid the user by suspending them in midair, and didn’t seem to give any mobility beyond that.
Considering all the quirks within OFA have been boosted beyond their initial limits, Float did still have some hidden utility. Float has grown to enable medium or high speed flight, but so far not nearly to the level of Hawks or even Ryukyu’s flight capabilities. It also has the added utility of being able to keep Deku off the ground, making it harder for him to be hit by Shigaraki’s decay. Although, since there is little it offers in terms of direct combat, it’s fair to say it’s one of Deku’s weakest quirks.
Smokescreen
This is in contention for the simplest of Deku’s quirks. It lacks any extra tricks or complex strategies. From the beginning, it was simply a quirk that created large amounts of smoke. In its boosted state, the only improvement it has received seems to be the ability to produce larger volumes of smoke.
While the smoke has obvious utility in obscuring the battlefield and making it harder for Deku’s opponents to see him, it also has the potential to also limit Deku’s vision, making it a double-edged sword. Considering Shigaraki and All for One have access to sensory abilities, it’s hard to see a scenario in which smokescreen plays a vital role in the climactic battle.
Danger Sense
Another likely reference to Spider-Man, Danger Sense similarly warns Deku of incoming attacks. There is more to it, though. Danger Sense seemingly responds to negative emotions or intentions, and OFA seems to have boosted its effective range. This means that Deku can actually sense danger from a fairly long distance, which aided him in finding villains across the city.
Like Smokescreen however, Danger sense is not a net positive ability. It has been shown that when the negativity it senses it too great, it can start to overload Deku’s brain and somewhat paralyze him. It was also recently revealed to be unable to warn of danger if the source of the danger feels no malice towards Deku. So when he was attacked by Himiko Toga, it didn’t activate, as she attacked out of pure affection. It’s doubtful All for One will be able to exploit this weakness, but it’s a weakness nonetheless.
Fa Jin
The newest of Deku’s quirks, Fa Jin is also one of his most useful. Fa Jin is a combat and mobility oriented quirk that allows the user to store and release kinetic energy. It is said that this energy is stored via repetitive movements, meaning that Deku can be charging it up using his normal movements during a fight. It also allows the flexibility of selecting how much force the user wants to expel at a time, meaning Deku can always keep some energy stored up for emergencies.
Fa Jin’s potential truly shone during Deku’s fight with the assassin lady Nagant. Using it and Black Whip in conjunction, Deku was able to make up 55% of OFA’s power, meaning Fa Jin by itself could possibly give Deku the ability to use power equivalent to 40-50% of OFA without triggering any drawbacks. And by combining them, he can likely start to surpass 100% without taking on the physical toll it usually requires.
Ultimately, the general flexibility and well-roundedness of One for All, Black Whip, and Fa Jin make them easily the most valuable quirks in Deku’s arsenal. It is hard to say which of them specifically takes the top spot, but One for All likely wins out due to its raw power, even if Deku can’t reliably use all of it. Regardless, it’s going to take a clever combination of all his quirks for Deku to stand a chance at finally bringing down Shigaraki and All for One.