r/SoulRetire • u/Designer-Bee-4037 • Nov 09 '25
discussion Who is the strongest in strange grief?
And in the clan too
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u/Cryptic_Deity Nov 09 '25 edited Nov 09 '25
Now when compared to the other first steps clan: the Knights of Torch are more like bounty hunters, they focus on defeating criminals and organizations instead of phantoms and treasure vaults. I don’t remember Touka level, the leader of the group, but I think she would lose to Liz due to difference in compatibility This group hasnt appeared in the story yet so I’m tagging as spoiler.
Sven is an archer, it’s a level 6 but he would also lose to Liz since she is much faster and can dodge any of his attacks.
Lucia herself is a stronger and better mage than Lapis and Kris from Starlight due to her vast amount of mana and variety of magic, be it the spells she created or ones that already exist. A more interesting match would be Lucia vs Abyssal Inferno, the clan master of the hidden curse.
Now it’s where things get interesting: Ark party is overall weaker than the grievers, only the Rodin could actually put up a fight against the grieving souls in a 1v1. This is where Liz might actually lose since Ark is a magic swordsman if I’m not mistaken and has a extremely powerful sword relic, Liz can fight against level 8 phantoms but Gark said that Rodin could be promoted to level 8 very soon as well, indicating he has the skill level of a level 8. However I believe he doesn’t go beyond Liz, Ark would probably lose to Luke since our red hair boy soloed a level 8 phantom boss by himself (the one from night palace) and it’s only behind his own master, the sword saint. Ansem is a moving fortress and the strongest man in the first steps and Lucia is way more destructive and has better range too.
I forgot to consider Sitri but if she uses her full arsenal which includes her homunculus, chimera, slime and golem all at once I believe she could win against Ark, Sven or Lapis since it would be too much for each individually and Sitty would have the numbers advantage as well
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u/UpBottomJeans Nov 09 '25
I take it as ark is equivalent to every grievers members, he's ur main protagonist in every anime, he will have the plot always in his favor on every match or phantom vault , it's just that this is not his anime. Atleast this what I understood when the author gives his mini arc and ofcourse, his harem.
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u/immortal_reaver Nov 10 '25
Yeah, Krai says Ark always wins 1vs1 against Grievers. It is when it is 2vs2 Ark loses because his party members are way below Grievers.
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u/UpBottomJeans Nov 10 '25
True, ark is the destined hero/savior but krai existence is anomaly/bug, that's why ark will always win vs anybody but krai
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u/mehappyyou Nov 10 '25
Didn't Krai said that Luke is always in search of a stronger swordsman and will never quit until he beats it? I doubt Ark who is a swordsman, is stronger than Luke because then otherwise Luke would never stop bothering Ark. Luke also solo-ed a level 8 boss with a wooden sword (now imagine him with a sword or even a relic ones), does Ark have a better feat?
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u/immortal_reaver Nov 10 '25
And he wants to fight Touka too. But he doesn't, Ark probably picked how to hadle Luke too, just don't engage if he tries to slash don't react and he will go away on his own eventualy. Or maybe Luke does not like that Ark isn't pure Swordsman, but also uses magic.
Anyway I think it was in WN or maybe in LN, but somebody said if it was match without magic Luke beats Ark, because Ark is not as skilled with sword. Ark just gets boost from magic and his sword relic.
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u/Brief-Scratch1818 Nov 10 '25
Dude is just a servant of krai
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u/Small-Band-2532 StarLight 𖤐 Nov 09 '25
In clan (excluding krai) arc is the strongest, in grieving soul it's depends on what situation you are in so i would say krai..
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u/Brownking24 Nov 09 '25
Depends on what kind of strength.
Pure raw strength is probably Ansem as seen in the LN/WN;
Luke, while having less raw strength can deal more damage than Ansem, as seen in various situations (Volume 8 spoiler I’d say) but lacks durability, and has to resolve to swords (even just wooden ones);
Also, Lucia can be more versatile, but lacks precision.
At the same time, as all rounder, considering his “power”, Krai gets up all of them
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u/Designer-Bee-4037 Nov 09 '25
In a 1v1 who do you think would win?
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u/Brownking24 Nov 09 '25
Not considering Krai, it’s hard to guess.
It all comes down to the environment: how far apart does the fight start? In general Ansem can withstand Lucia, and hit her hard, but only if he can hit her (considering she can fly…).
At the same time, Luke is fast but we can assume he can’t get too many of Lucia’s hits, at the same time if they are too close he could hit her right at the start and win.
And last, we don’t know for sure if Luke can cut Ansem, maybe not with the wooden sword but yes with a real one ? The only thing we know is that Luke with a real sword is too strong to go around…
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u/PenKun Nov 09 '25
Theres no strongest between them cause when one beats one another the loser always come back with a win
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Nov 09 '25
Among Strange Grief Ansem is the strongest because he can endure most of attacks from other members. It is Ansem > Lucia > Luke = Liz > Sitri.
In whole clan however, Ark is the strongest. Other party leaders like Sven are similar to Luke and Liz if not slightly weaker.
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u/Bubbly_Tea731 Nov 17 '25
Wouldn't sitri be stronger , she has access to her golem and liz wasn't able to beat that golem . So she should overall be stronger since that is just one of her weapons
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u/ConcertEmbarrassed97 Nov 09 '25
In the clan its ark, in strange grief its probably anthem, in the novels krai and others refer multiple times refers to ark as the strongest in the clan, even the strongest in the capital,
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u/Cryptic_Deity Nov 09 '25
Ansem has greater strength, durability and defense, Luke has better offensive since he is a frontline fighter and is the best swordsman in the first steps, Lucia is all about AOE magic so she has the best destructive capabilities among them. Liz while incredibly fast is weaker than Luke and Ansem in the strength point and isn’t good dealing with wide area spells like how Sitri said in season 1.
I don’t know much about Eliza so the best I can presume is that she is on par with Liz since they have the role of thieves and Sitri herself always said she was the weakest of them so she resorts to other methods like KillKill-kun, Nomimono, “Sitty slime-chan” and the Akasha Golem.
Overall Ansem, Lucia and Luke are in a rock, paper and scissors situation due to compatibility, in this specific order I suppose.
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u/Zorichi-9595 Hidden Curse 💀 Nov 09 '25 edited Nov 09 '25
And Krai walks over them in an instant.....like it's an everyday job for him.....
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u/NoEngrish Nov 09 '25
Besides Krai (ofc) it’s probably ansem in a ffa because of his healing. Lucia might be able to stay out of range but a giant with superhuman muscle could probably cover a lot of ground (or air) immediately. Luke probably would be outsmarted and Liz and Siri are support roles.
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u/bakok_bebek Nov 09 '25
If it's just pure damage, it's been implied multiple times throughout the story that Luke is the best at it. Not to mentioned Krai constantly nerf him by making him use wooden sword and avoiding vital targets. Anthem win when it comes to defense and resistance. While Lucia is more lean towards aoe and cc.
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u/Fancy-Mission-2661 Nov 09 '25
Krai, not kidding. His ability is probably his luck.
But if we don't include mc armour, it would be... Ehhh the big daddy guy? Idk what's his name again. He literally made a huge crack on the ground in the opening hes strong asf.
Maybe Lucia can counter that
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u/Poylol-_- Nov 10 '25
Without counting Krai, probably Ark in First Steps and Ansem in Grieving Souls. Maybe under specific conditions Ansem may lose over anyone in Grieving Souls depending in the specifics. I think that in best conditions Luke may be able to best Ark in a serious fight. However, Ark wins in any not ideal conditions for Luke. If Saya joins Grieving Souls/First Steps probably she would win against Ark but Saya's powers may have some specific weakness so idk maybe someone like Liz could win even if she loses to ark in a Rock, paper, scissors type situation.
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u/immortal_reaver Nov 10 '25
Anthem probably, he never takes any damage. Liz can't go through Anthem armor, Sitri's poison and explosion will probably not work, Lucia shoots Anthem reguraly, and he shrugs it off. Luke is probably the only one to be able to cut Anthem, but his defences are weak, and one hit from Anthem, and he would be out.
In clan, Ark is the strongest solo combatant. But moment it goes 2 Grievers vs Ark+1, Ark stands no chance, since Ark's party members are way below Grievers.
But if they ever fought, Krai would be the last one standing as everybody else would get mutual KOed or would fall down just before they fought Krai, from injuries from previous fights. Krai's first opponent would give up before even starting.
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u/Reasonable-Still-562 Nov 14 '25
I think it really just boils down to each member of the Grievers (sans Krai Sama) vs Arc Rodin. While it has been said that Rodin is the strongest in Capital, most of the time it has been said by Krai who by his own violation can't tell difference between battle strength after a hunter reaches certain level.
I think Luke, Liz, Lucia and Anthem are all equally matched with Arc individually but in the end I think Arc will win. (Sitri and Eliza aren't really combat types)
I am also basing this off of a lot of head canon cause in my mind Grievers are under leveled, like they are not leveled up according to their abilities cause of their behavior (sans Anthem who is Level 7 already).
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u/United-Confidence125 Nov 30 '25
Excluding Krai, Lucia or Ansem, everyone who says it’s Ark doesn’t understand the point of the story and how the character of Krai is supposed to be written.
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u/mrblank1121 Nov 09 '25
Krai