The Vampire Diaries: The 10 Most Powerful Vampires, Ranked – Screen Rant

The Vampire Diaries explores the complicated relationship between brothers and eternal hotties Damon and Stefan Salvatore, and their shared love of the same woman, Elena Gilbert. They all reside in Mystic Falls: a town bursting at the seams with an assortment of supernatural creatures. The Salvatores and Elena find themselves fending off all sorts of mystical mischief along with some help with their friends.

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Throughout eight seasons, vampires both good and bad test the Salvatore brothers' resolve to balance their hunger and humanity. Just like mere mortals, no two vampires are alike, and some possess gifts and skills that make them useful foes or frightening enemies. Here's a ranked list of The Vampire Diaries' most powerful vamps.

At the start of the series, Stefan Salvatore doesn't even fully possess the strength of a vampire proportionate to his age because of his refusal to drink human blood. Stefan's greatest source of power is also his greatest weakness: his humanity. Without it, he gives in to his insatiable need for blood and goes full "Ripper." But when his switch is flipped on, he's even able to fight Klaus' compulsion if it means keeping Elena safe.

Stefan's also able to manipulate others' thoughts and dreams, bringing Katherine Pierce comfort as she's "dying" by conjuring up memories of her childhood home. Compared to newbies such as Caroline Forbes and Elena (during her brief stint as a vampire), Stefan's age works in his favor, but he's just as vulnerable when it comes to sunlight, vervain, wooden stakes, bullets, and werewolf venom as the average vamp.

Damon can manifest fog and either take the form of crows or control them, or at least he does on The Vampire Diaries pilot. These Dracula-like magic tricks disappear quickly. Damon is stronger than Stefan early on thanks to a steady diet of human blood. Damon's greatest power is his moral relativism: he's willing to do the wrong thing for what he feels is the right reason, especially when it comes to Elena and Stefan. His powers are amped after he's injected with the "Ripper virus," and he begins to crave vampire blood.

Lexi's most obvious source of power is her physical strength. Clocking in at over 300 years old, she's easily able to best a younger vampire. Like other vampires, Lexie can get inside someone's mind and crawl around, but she has a particular talent for messing with Stefan's brain.

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She can create vivid hallucinations that make Stefan believe he's feeling the effects of things that aren't happening. Lexie is the first one to teach Stefan self-control, and she pulls him back multiple times after goes full-on Ripper, even doing so once as a ghost. So Lexie's greatest power? She's a devoted friend.

Tyler is the first werewolf Klaus successfully turns into a hybrid. Tyler no longer has to go through the pain of a full moon transformation every month. Tyler is initially so grateful to Klaus for releasing him from his curse, he doesn't mind being sired to the Original.He is less vulnerable than normal vampires since removing his head or heart are the only ways to kill him. Two things make Tyler a dangerous vampire: his werewolf aggression, and his lack of remorse or restraint. Being a vamp brings out all of Tyler's undesirable character traits and as Klaus' minion, Tyler turns against his friends and Caroline.

Because vampires are an abomination against nature, they can't be witches. Heretics manage to bypass this because as witches, they possess no powers of their own, only the ability to siphon it from others. After being turned into vampires, Heretics can siphon the mystical energy from their bodies and perform magic.

The three who figure in most prominently to the story arc of season 7 are Mary Louise, Valerie, and Nora. The heretics don't value human life, and it's their rampant feeding frenzies throughout Europe that land them in the Prison World. Their mere presence turns Mystic Falls into a ghost town. Nora and Mary Louise are volatile and act impulsively, especially when they're upset with each other.

Being strong isn't just about physicality. although being 500 years old does give Katherine Pierce an advantage over younger vamps. Katherine possesses the ability to seduce men, turning them against each other and bending them to her will. Katherine is incredibly cunning, and despite her innumerable deplorable acts, there's the smallest part of her that can still elicit sympathy in others when she finds herself no longer one step ahead of a threat.

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Katherine's power reaches its zenith when she takes over Hell following Cade's death. She's no longer a vampire, but like Cade, she's able to leave Hell when necessary. She has untold resources thanks to all of the souls stuck there willing to do anything to escape eternal torment.

The combination of the Gilbert ring, Elena's blood, and Esther's magic that turns Alaric into a vampire hunter is frightening enough to freak out Klaus. During multiple trips to the Other Side, Esther instills a deep-seated hatred of vampires and vampire sympathizers into Alaric. Esther creates Mikael 2.0. through Ric, and is stronger and faster than her husband, and he's tasked with wiping out every vampire in existence. He can't be killed, and his weapon, the white oak stake, is indestructible.

Ric isn't burdened with guilt or a conscience, and he blows the lid off every cover-up in Mystic Falls, leading to the capture and torture of every vamp in town. Ric murders people before Esther turns him, and all that hatred is magnified upon his transition. Too bad Esther's witchy workaround involves Elena's life being tied to Ric - his only weakness.

Mikael is the vampire who hunts vampires and the father of all of the Original siblings except for Klaus. He only feeds on vampire blood, and he spends 1,000 years trying to kill Klaus whom he hates because of his werewolf side. Mikael's Terminator-like determination to take out his children makes him legendary.

Mikael can't be killed by Klaus' hybrids, and as an Original, he has the power to compel them. Mikael is cruel and lacks compassion: he's the Original bully, and is determined to right the wrong he did when unleashing a plague on mankind. He is cold-blooded enough to murder his children once, and then chase them down for 1,000 years for the chance to do it again.

In addition to being stronger and faster than all other vampires, Elijah, Rebekah, Kol, and Finn are also able to compel other vampires: another way to gain an advantage over their vampire foes forcing them to act against their will. Ironically, the biggest threat the Mikaelson siblings face is from the people who created them - their parents. But if one Mikaelson falls, so does every vampire in their sire line, and this is an effective insurance policy.

Originals can be slowed down by ordinary wooden stakes and enchanted daggers dipped in white ash, broken necks and the occasional poison, but stopping them comes down to that stake made from the same tree that is the source of their immortality. Aside from this hard to procure weapon, the Mikaelsons' millennium of family dysfunction packs more punch than anything else.

Equal parts clever and paranoid, Klaus is an Original vampire-wolf hybrid. Klaus enjoys all the benefits of being an Original vampire along with the perks of being a werewolf. He creates an army of hybrids sired to provide the unwavering loyalty he feels he doesn't always get from his family. Klaus' blood is the only cure for a werewolf bite, and he uses this to manipulate both Stefan and Tyler.

Klaus is indestructible except for his daddy issues and the white oak stake (another threat emerges post-Mystic Falls). Klaus daggers his siblings repeatedly, but he has a pact with Rebekah and Elijah that they'll have each other's backs "always and forever," so they close in ranks whenever a threat arises.

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Jennifer has been working as a freelance writer for six years, contributing to BuddyTV, TVRage, Hidden Remote, Gossip On This, and PopMatters. She prefers binge-watching old episodes of The Office (British and American versions) to long walks on the beach. She's still holding out hope that Happy Endings will get a revival.

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The Vampire Diaries: The 10 Most Powerful Vampires, Ranked - Screen Rant

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