Villains of Black Clover — Ranked (Weakest → Strongest)

Black Clover has a gift for sneaking tragedy into shiny shonen fights: Magical grimoire lore, sword-swinging yells, and villains who start as “that awkward arc boss” and end up rewriting the entire world map. Whether they arrive as vengeful elves, reality-warping devils, or the man smiling in the Wizard King’s shadow, they force Asta, Yuno, and others to level up in ways that actually sting. Here’s a compact ranking of the main antagonists (the heavy hitters who drove major arcs), ordered from weakest — still dangerous, but beatable — to strongest — the kind of foe that collapses kingdoms.

7) Patolli (Patry) — the Elf “leader” turned antagonist

Patolli (the elf who leads the Eye of the Midnight Sun during the Elf Reincarnation arc) is a top-tier human/magic-user with Light Magic and intense drive — but his power scale is still mortal-level compared to full devils and the Dark Triad. He’s an emotionally devastating antagonist and the “main villain” of that arc, but not on the same cosmic tier as devil-hosts.

6) Zagred — the reality-warping devil behind the Elf massacre

Zagred is an actual devil with Word/Soul-manipulating abilities who orchestrated the elves’ genocide and nearly broke reality in the Shadow Palace fight. He’s terrifying and required a huge combined effort to stop, but he’s a specific-devil threat rather than the endgame mastermind. (High power, but eventually defeated by combined hero feats.)

5) Vanica Zogratis (host of Megicula)

Vanica’s power comes from Megicula, a supreme devil of curses. She’s wildly dangerous (can access large percentages of her devil’s power and uses deadly Curse magic), and her fights (Heart Kingdom arc) showcased how destructive curse-based devils are — but she’s still a step below the Triad members who combine devil power with potent innate magic.

4) Dante Zogratis (host of Lucifero)

Dante is a sadistic aristocrat whose native Body/Gravity/Rotation-like magics are amplified to terrifying levels by Lucifero (one of the highest-ranking devils). Dante’s raw destructive power and tactical cruelty made him an apex threat in the Spade Kingdom invasion. He’s stronger than single-devil manifestations like Zagred in terms of battlefield dominance.

3) Zenon Zogratis (host of Beelzebub)

Zenon combines Spatial/Bone Magic with Beelzebub’s spatial/portal-level capabilities. When fully drawing on his devil, Zenon performs feats that outpace many top Magic Knights — he’s often placed at or above his Dark Triad siblings by fan and analytical rankings because Beelzebub grants massive battlefield control and raw destructive scaling. (Placement vs. Dante is arguable, but Zenon’s devil-heart transformation and space-warping feats push him high.)

2) Lucifero — the (arch) King of Devils

Lucifero is explicitly presented as one of the highest-ranking devils (gravity-based power, huge destructive potential) and his partial manifestation shook entire fronts; he’s a step above the Dark Triad’s individual displays because he sits near the top of the underworld hierarchy. His essence and the Qliphoth mechanics are major power-level escalators.

1) Lucius Zogratis — the final mastermind / top tier antagonist

Lucius isn’t just “another strong mage.” He’s the revealed mastermind behind much of the late-story conflict: the elder Zogratis sibling who had hidden himself inside Julius’s body, wielding Soul Magic (and linked to a supreme devil, Astaroth) and later absorbing/using other devil powers. Lucius’s feats in the final arc (global-scale spells, manipulation of Grimoires and souls, mass casualties, and reality-level plans) place him above even the highest devils — he orchestrates wars and rewrites rules about devils and grimoires. In short: final-boss energy.

Image credit Studio Pierrot, Yūki Tabata