Turns out breathing correctly is a lot more complicated when demons are trying to tear your head off. Check out our Slayers 2 Breathing Styles tier list!
Screenshot by Pro Game Guides
Picking the best Breathing Style in Slayers 2 is one of the most important decisions you'll make as a Demon Slayer. Each style comes with a completely different moveset, combat flow, range, mobility, and combo potential, meaning that choosing the right one can significantly change how you approach both PvE and PvP. That's where our Slayers 2 Breathing Styles tier list comes in.
I've ranked every Slayers 2 Breathing Style primarily according to its overall combat performance, taking into account damage, combo potential, mobility, range, crowd control, utility, ease of use, and performance against both regular enemies (PvE) and other players (PvP).
However, it should be noted that a lower-tier Breathing Style isn't necessarily unusable. Slayers 2 has a highly active combat system, and player skill, matchup knowledge, build choices, and how comfortable you are with a particular moveset can make a major difference.
As always, please remember that this tier list is not definitive. It is based on my personal observations and experiences with the game, which means it inherently includes some subjectivity. Your mileage may vary, and you might have a different opinion on the meta, which is perfectly fine! With that said, check out my Slayers 2 Breathing Styles Tier List:
S: Water · Sound · WindA: Flame · Thunder · StoneB / C: No placements yetPending: Insect · Serpent
Breathing Style
Evaluation
SWater Breathing
All-Rounder · Mobile Melee · Aerial Pressure
Kit:
Surface Slash, Whirl Pool, Water Wheel (two functions), Constant Flux, Dead Calm.
Best for:
Hybrid; flexible progression builds.
Difficulty:
Moderate; approachable core, more demanding aerial follow-ups.
Synergy:
Tomioka for resets and reactive damage; Urokodaki for efficiency; Sabito for mobile sword pressure.
Unlock:
Urokodaki, underwater cave near Bamboo Grove; level 25, 5,000 Wen and 30 Demon Horns in early access.
The broadest build recommendation. Surface Slash gives Water a direct approach, Water Wheel keeps its offense moving, and Whirl Pool lifts both fighters. That mix earns S-tier consideration without relying on one spectacular attack.
Control the landing. Whirl Pool provides an aerial setup, while Constant Flux offers sustained offense. Use those roles to plan a string, but a shared launch animation does not prove an uninterrupted combo between skills.
Tomioka raises the ceiling. Flowing Motion resets two random skill cooldowns, and blocking boosts the next Water skill within five seconds. The extra opportunities matter, but random resets cannot guarantee repeated Dead Calm.
Urokodaki makes a practical progression partner: +15% Water Damage Factor and -10% Water Stamina Cost Factor directly improve the build. Sabito offers a more mobile sword-focused alternative; his Water party bonus is conditional.
Respect the entry commitment. Advancing attacks still need contact, and aerial displacement demands follow-through. Dead Calm is a catch-and-finisher here; its name alone does not establish a counter, invulnerability window, or universal panic button.
SSound Breathing
Control · Combo Setup · Zoning
Kit:
Bursting Bloom, Roar, Exploding Beads (long range / close range), Resounding Slashes, String Performance.
Best for:
PvP; controlling approaches and fighting around placed threats.
Difficulty:
High; bead timing and knockback management.
Synergy:
Dual cleavers; Uzui's damage mark and skill-imprint defense; deliberate setup play.
Unlock:
Sound Trainer, Icevail Valley; level 25 and wall climbing.
S-tier for controlling the exchange. Bursting Bloom closes distance and stuns without ragdolling, keeping the target nearby. That makes it a valuable setup candidate, although the exact follow-up escape window still needs testing.
Beads give the kit depth. The ranged version leaves contact-triggered threats with manual detonation. The close version disables blocking on hit while moving you backward, creating a different answer to defensive opponents.
Spend knockback deliberately. Roar creates separation, while Resounding Slashes ends by pushing the target away. Treat them as spacing tools or enders instead of inserting them blindly into a close-pressure sequence.
Uzui supports a burst window through Enhanced Hearing's damage mark. Musical Score is a separate clan defense against a recorded skill; Sound itself should not get credit for that protection or an assumed rhythm-gauge mechanic.
The weakness is setup dependence. Opponents can avoid your placed threats, and most of the kit lacks the close beads' confirmed block-disabling property. String Performance still needs its initial catch; cinematic length proves neither damage superiority nor safety.
High; spacing, repeat inputs, and tap/hold selection.
Synergy:
Shinazugawa; sword pressure backed by ranged threats and stamina support.
Unlock:
Snow-biome trainer route; level 25 and 50 Demon Horns in early access.
A specialist with S-tier potential. Wind combines ranged attacks, nearby multi-hit pressure, and follow-ups triggered by landing a hit. That breadth rewards execution instead of forcing the style down a tier simply because it takes practice.
Purifying Claws is the key conversion tool: land the first attack, then use the second input to teleport above the target. That built-in follow-up is firmer ground than claiming an entire cross-skill string is guaranteed.
Choose the right attack shape. Rising Dust Storm provides a traveling cyclone at range or repeated hits nearby. Whirlwind Cutter offers an airborne suspension on tap and sustained spinning attacks on hold, with knockback to account for.
Shinazugawa strengthens the specialist build. Windstorm Vigor adds +20% Wind Damage Factor, +10% Additional Damage Factor, and reduced stamina costs. Those bonuses reward offensive uptime; they do not establish a verified combined damage multiplier.
Displacement is both strength and liability. Launches and knockbacks can interrupt your own pressure if you lose the target's position. The ranged Typhoon follow-through also depends on its final slash connecting, so it cannot replace careful aim.
Rengu, house near Mistfall Village's red bridge; level 25 and 10 Demon Horns in early access.
A strong, coherent offensive kit. Unknowing Fire turns a successful entry into follow-up slashes and a launch. Flame Undulation adds an M1 counter, giving aggressive players a way to punish someone pressing back.
Flame Tiger prevents a purely melee game plan. Tap for the projectile or hold for close slashes. Switching with the situation gives Flame a useful answer when another forward commitment would be too predictable.
Rengoku is the standout pairing. Ignition Hit adds non-stacking burn to several named Flame attacks, while Indomitable Will supplies extra control. That complete build is an S-tier contender; its clan tools are not part of baseline Flame.
Use Purgatory to capitalize on an opening. Its dash-through finisher still depends on contact. Blazing Universe also commits forward, so a missed approach can leave you poorly positioned even without assigning an invented recovery value.
A-tier reflects the comparison, not weak damage. Flame offers fewer distinct placement and range-control tools than Sound or Wind. Its counter targets M1 pressure; do not treat it as a confirmed answer to every skill or boss attack.
AInsect Breathing
Close Pressure · Aerial Play · Poison Build Potential
Kit:
TBA
Best for:
PvP specialist candidate; boss performance unresolved.
Difficulty:
Not established for the current full kit.
Synergy:
Kocho's Insect Affinity, Aerial Mastery, and Poison Draw.
Unlock:
Trainer on Butterfly Mansion's main roof; level 25 baseline in early access.
Potentially a serious specialist, not a default low-tier pick. The earlier kit centers on close contact, displacement, and airborne offense. Current move-level evidence is too incomplete to weigh that ceiling against the ranked styles.
Kocho provides concrete build value. Insect Affinity poisons targets hit by Insect skills, and Aerial Mastery improves airborne Sword attacks. The latter should not be extended to every airborne Breathing hit without a scaling test.
Poison Draw can change an exchange through a slow, percentage-health damage, or stamina disruption. Its effect is rolled on a skill hit, so a particular debuff cannot be treated as a guaranteed combo starter.
Poison has relevant counters. Kocho has poison immunity and Uzui has Poison Conversion. Those matchups complicate a poison-focused plan; they do not erase the direct damage or utility of the rest of the kit.
Placement needs the missing mechanics: current attack names, guard interactions, follow-up escape windows, and poison behavior on bosses. No complete true-combo route or automatic anti-regeneration effect is assumed.
AThunder Breathing
Mobility · Catch · Burst Pressure
Kit:
Thunder Clap & Flash, Lightning Folds, Rice Spirit, God Speed, Flaming Thunder God.
Best for:
PvP; closing gaps and punishing exposed targets.
Difficulty:
Moderate; higher ceiling through aim and movement discipline.
Synergy:
Agatsuma; sword pressure and reserved stamina for pursuit or retreat.
Unlock:
Mountain trainer route near the bear village; level 25 baseline in early access.
A mobile PvP specialist. Thunder Clap & Flash turns dash contact into a follow-up strike, while God Speed attacks along its movement path. Closing space is valuable, but neither mechanic proves unavoidable tracking.
Rice Spirit changes the approach. Its field catches a target before the dash-and-slash sequence, adding a positional threat alongside direct pursuit. Lightning Folds contributes an aerial attack rather than another identical forward dash.
Agatsuma materially improves the build. Sleepless Knight adds Thunder damage, dash speed, and cooldown reduction. Enhanced Hearing creates another damage window, while low-health bonuses can reward a comeback without making deliberate damage-taking sensible.
Confirm before spending the finisher. Flaming Thunder God needs its catch. Agatsuma can add burn to it, but that clan interaction does not establish innate burn, guard bypass, or invulnerability for every Thunder user.
A-tier for its narrower recommendation. Thunder emphasizes contact and pursuit more than persistent area control. It suits duelists, but movement speed alone cannot establish the best farming rate, boss damage, or matchup spread.
AStone Breathing
Defensive Bruiser · Counter · Close Control
Kit:
Volcanic Rock, Seismic Burst, Upper Smash, Demolishing Blow (two functions), Arcs of Justice.
Best for:
PvP; patient melee punishment and defensive play.
Difficulty:
High; counter reads, charge decisions, and target positioning.
Synergy:
Axe-and-flail kit; Himejima for defensive support and skill-to-M1 pressure.
Unlock:
Lower trainer route near the bear area; level 25 baseline and a Stone weapon prerequisite in early access.
A-tier as a reactive specialist. Holding Demolishing Blow gives an M1 counter; releasing can grab an opponent already nearby. That choice makes close-range pressure more interesting than simply waiting for a counter to trigger.
Seismic Burst offers a commitment choice. Tap for the immediate action or hold the stance before its short dash and slash. A heavier weapon model is not evidence that every Stone move is slow.
Positioning decides the follow-up. Upper Smash stuns before launching, while aerial Volcanic Rock drives the target beneath you. Those tools suggest useful control routes, but boss knockback resistance and cross-skill confirms still need checking.
Himejima supports the bruiser loop. Repetitive Action converts skill damage into a temporary M1 bonus. Stone Skin adds defense and M1 retaliation, making it easier to justify staying close without inventing innate hyper armor for Stone.
Its reach is the practical concern. The counter/grab rewards enemies who enter your space; ranged pressure can force you to work for that engagement. Arcs of Justice still needs its initial catch, so reserve it for a real opportunity.
TBASerpent Breathing
Multi-Hit Pressure · Duelist Build Potential
Kit:
TBA
Best for:
PvP build candidate; full PvE comparison unresolved.
Difficulty:
Not established for the current full kit.
Synergy:
Iguro's Serpent damage mode, Kaburamaru, and Flash Step.
Unlock:
Obari, mountain/cliff near spawn; level 25, 20 Demon Horns and 5 Beast Cores in early access.
The Iguro pairing warrants attention. Serpent's Wrath adds +20% Serpent Damage Factor alongside general damage and movement benefits. That establishes direct synergy, but cannot tell us how consistently the Breathing moves land.
Kaburamaru creates a possible setup window. Its close-range follow-up binds for 1.3 seconds. Whether a particular Serpent attack connects before that window closes depends on startup and spacing that still need testing.
Keep percentage-health damage in the right column. Kaburamaru's bites and poison belong to Iguro. They are not evidence that baseline Serpent has innate percentage-health scaling or an automatic boss-melting rotation.
Flash Step supports repositioning. Its steerable movement can help a duelist change angles, but the clan's disappearance animation does not establish invulnerability frames for Serpent's own attacks.
A tier would currently overstate the evidence. The full kit, block behavior, endlag, and sustained damage comparison remain unresolved. Iguro is promising; ranking the entire Breathing Style from Iguro alone would confuse two different parts of the build.
The comparison assumes access to the core kit and considers both baseline tools and realistic clan builds. Unlock cost does not improve a combat ranking. Difficulty matters when it reduces consistency, but a demanding style can still earn S tier through valuable, usable tools.
S Tier: Exceptional overall tools, specialist strength, or build synergy with a clear practical advantage.
A Tier: Excellent choices with a narrower strength or a meaningful constraint compared with the leading recommendations.
B Tier: Viable styles whose practical impact falls behind the upper tiers. No placement is justified yet.
C Tier: Substantially inconsistent or outclassed choices. No placement is justified yet.
These placements express kit-based judgments, not measured win rates or damage rankings. A move's internal follow-up is different from a true combo across several separate skills. Normal stun, strict stun, blocking, and block-dashing can change whether a sequence actually holds together.
One build for varied content: Water, especially with Urokodaki for efficiency or Tomioka for a more reactive setup.
Setup-heavy PvP: Sound for placed threats, approach control, and a specific tool against blocking.
A technical kit to master: Wind for range variants and follow-up decisions.
Straightforward attack roles: Flame. Learn the approach, counter, projectile, and finisher before attempting elaborate strings.
Fast pursuit: Thunder, with Agatsuma offering explicit style synergy.
Patient melee defense: Stone, particularly when supported by Himejima's bruiser tools.
For bossing, there is no verified universal winner yet. Crowd control that works on normal enemies may behave differently against bosses, and percentage-health clan effects need separate boss tests. Build for repeatable damage windows and survival before treating a showcase combo as a farming strategy.
For skill points, use priorities rather than a made-up numeric split: unlock the attacks that define your style, retain a useful weapon follow-up, and budget for movement and survival. Exact allocations need current node costs, scaling, and resource tests.
Water is my pick for the best Breathing Style in Slayers 2 overall, thanks to its versatile mix of advancing attacks, aerial pressure, and strong clan synergy. Surface Slash helps you close the gap, while Whirl Pool opens up airborne pressure. Pair it with Tomioka for cooldown resets and bonuses after blocking, or Urokodaki for stronger, more stamina-efficient Water skills.
However, Sound and Wind are strong alternatives, especially for PvP. Sound rewards players who control space with explosive beads and capitalize on its close-range block disruption, while Wind offers flexible ranged attacks and hit-triggered follow-ups. These are preliminary rankings, but Water is the strongest starting recommendation if you want one style to build around across different content.
How I Ranked the Best Breathing Styles in Slayers 2
There are several factors I consider when ranking Breathing Styles, rather than simply looking for whichever ability produces the biggest damage number. The most important factors are:
Damage: Both individual skill damage and overall combo damage.
Combo potential: How easily a Breathing Style can start, extend, and finish combos.
Mobility: Dashes, gap closers, aerial movement, and other repositioning tools.
Range: Whether a style can threaten opponents without constantly fighting at point-blank range.
Crowd control: AoE attacks and abilities useful against multiple enemies.
Utility: Counters, defensive tools, stuns, knockdowns, and other effects beyond raw damage.
PvE performance: How efficiently the style deals with regular enemies, quests, and bosses.
PvP performance: How well the moveset performs against players who can block, dodge, punish, and escape predictable attacks.
Consistency: Powerful attacks aren't nearly as valuable if they're extremely difficult to land reliably.
Water is my best overall pick in these preliminary rankings, thanks to its versatile melee kit, advancing attacks, and strong clan synergies. Sound and Wind are excellent alternatives for players who prefer controlling space or mastering more technical follow-ups.
How many Breathing Styles are there in Slayers 2?
The launch roster includes eight Breathing Styles: Water, Thunder, Flame, Wind, Stone, Sound, Insect, and Serpent.
Can you change your Breathing Style in Slayers 2?
Yes. Slayers 2 has a Reset Breathing option that lets you reset your current style before pursuing another. Check the cost and reset details before confirming, and make sure you meet your new trainer's requirements.
How do you unlock Breathing Styles in Slayers 2?
Reach level 25, find the trainer for your chosen Breathing Style, and complete their requirements and training questline. Depending on the style, you'll need Wen, materials such as Demon Horns, or a specific weapon. Unlocking the style is only the start: mastery and skill-tree progression give you access to more of its kit.
Are original Project Slayers tier lists accurate for Slayers 2?
No. Slayers 2 reworks combat and Breathing abilities, so the original game's rankings, combo routes, and unlock requirements shouldn't be carried over. A style that dominated Project Slayers isn't automatically the best choice in the sequel.
Does your clan affect which Breathing Style you should use?
Yes. Clan bonuses can make a particular style much more valuable for your build. Rengoku pairs well with Flame, Agatsuma with Thunder, and Shinazugawa with Wind. Water has several strong partners, including Tomioka and Urokodaki. Consider your clan's full kit alongside the tier placement before committing to a style.
Still with me? Thanks for reading! As Slayers 2 receives balance updates and new Breathing Styles, I'll continue testing every option and update the rankings above whenever the meta changes. That would be all for now, and since you're already here, make sure to check out our other Slayers 2 guides, tier lists, walkthroughs, and everything else Slayers 2-related!
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About the Author
Nikola Savic
Senior Staff Writer
Nikola is a Senior Staff Writer at Pro Game Guides with over 14 years of experience in gaming and esports journalism. A former editor-in-chief of the Serbian gaming publication Play!Zine and the RUR Esports portal, he has covered games professionally since 2012 across both Serbian and international media (senior editor at GINX Esports and GosuNoob). At PGG, he focuses on Roblox guides and tier lists, with particular depth in anime-inspired action RPGs and horror experiences like Paradox. Having been gaming since the early ’90s, he is a longtime PC gamer, and he brings an RPG and strategy game mindset to evaluating builds, meta picks, and game mechanics.
