Background
Killua was born as the middle child of the Zoldycks, a well-known assassin family. Killua, who had shown remarkable promise since birth, followed the traditional Zoldyck training that Silva and Illumi had instilled in him. He had already learned several killing tactics at a young age and was poised to become one of the family's top assassins. He began training in tailing at the age of three, putting his life in danger on a regular basis. His family concluded at an unknown period in his youth that he lacked the attitude of a true assassin and had Illumi implant a particular needle in his skull to subliminally modify his character via terror, as well as to prevent him from rescuing Alluka from her captivity. Sick of murdering, he rebelled against his family at the age of 11, wounding his mother and elder brother, and ran away from home to take the Hunter Exam for pleasure, where he met Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio.
Powers & Abilities
- Nen: As a Transmuter, Killua's most efficient in changing the form of his Nen. As such, Killua developed a Hatsu in which he transmutes his aura into electricity. This feat was both inspired and made possible by the years of electric shocks he received as a child, both as training against torture and as punishment from his older brother Milluki. Killua needs to charge himself by absorbing electricity through a socket to use the ability. Killua can use all the basic and various advanced techniques. According to Wing, he is a Nen User of outstanding talent being one in ten million. Killua is generally hailed as the one with the best control out of the duo, to the point that by the time he confronted Razor he was already capable of distributing his aura with a margin of error lower than 1%, which caused Biscuit to comment that she reached his degree of mastery only in her late twenties. Despite his lack of experience, he can accurately measure how much aura he should employ and in which area in a split second, relying solely on the intuitive knowledge granted by his fearsome potential. He quickly got ahead of Gon during their training on Greed Island, overcoming his inexperience with sheer insight.
- Ten: Ten is the first of the four principles of Nen. While it may seem basic, it’s actually the most important aspect of Nen. Ten is the process of keeping their aura nodes open at all times and causing said aura to continuously flow throughout the entire body. Due to the energy of the body no longer leaking out, this grants the user reduced aging. Finally, Ten grants a defense against both emotional and physical attacks, although the latter is quite limited.
- Gyo: Gyo is a more advanced application of Ren where a person focuses larger quantities of aura around a specific body part. It increases the strength of the body part at the stipulation of leaving the rest of the body more vulnerable as a result. When applied to the eyes, it allows a user to see a person’s aura that would otherwise be too faint or invisible to spot normally.
- Zetsu: Zetsu is the second of the four principles of Nen. If Ten is the ability to open all Aura nodes, then Zetsu does the opposite and closes them all. By closing one’s Aura nodes, the user becomes almost impossible to sense. While this does make seeing the Aura of others also impossible, the sensibilities towards the Aura of others is heightened.
- En: An advanced form of Ten and Ren where the user’s aura extends to a minimum of a range of two meters. This allows the user to sense the shape and movements of everything within the range of their aura. This is especially useful for finding fellow Nen users due to their movements being immediately detectable upon entering a field of En. This technique however is extremely tiring and drains the user of their Nen constantly. It is important to note that despite Killua being incapable of extending the radius of his aura to the full two meters that’s required with En. He can use this application of Nen at a smaller scale of fifty seven centimeters instead.
- Ken: An advanced version of both Ten and Ren. This is a very powerful defensive ability that protects the user's body from all directions. Due to the massive amount of aura it emits, this ability is very tiring to use. The aura can be expanded in range to be able to sense attacks that the user wouldn’t be able to see normally.
- Ko: Ko is the technique that focuses all of one’s aura into one spot. This technique makes the area where the aura is focused extremely powerful at the cost of making the rest of the body defenseless. Due to this, Ko is purely an offensive ability.
- Ryu: Ryu is a state of utilizing Gyo while in a state of Ken to have a balance of offense and defense. The user is capable of distributing certain percentages of their aura to different parts of their body to better adapt to the situation. This requires great control over one’s Nen to use.
- Ren: Ren is the third of the Nen principles and is the ability to exert your aura to an immense degree, increasing the user’s physical power, durability and granting a wider aura pool for stronger and more expensive skills. Users of Ren can also weaponize their hostility as “bloodlust”. This can cause a variety of effects such as paralysis, immense dread or even death if the victim is not using Ten. If the Ren is sufficiently strong and malevolent, mere exposure can cause mental breakdowns for even those with Nen defenses.
- Hatsu: Hatsu is the final principle of Nen and is essentially the ability to express a person’s Nen through Nen techniques. Through the use of Hatsu, a person is able to project their own aura to perform abilities specific to that person’s Nen Aura Type (more on that later). Through enough practice, Hatsu can allow a person to create a wide variety of possible techniques that are more or less tailor-made for the person in question.
- Floating:
- Lightning Palm: As the name suggests, Killua can shock an opponent by touching them with his palms. This does formidable damage and temporarily paralyze even stronger opponents.
- Thunderbolt: Killua is also able to project large bolt of lightning from his hands, striking an opponent with electricity from a distance which paralyzes them.
- Godspeed: With his hair, hands and feet changed into electric type aura, Killua's Kanmuru ability allows him to react and move his body at speeds that would typically be physically impossible (even in Hunter × Hunter universe). This ability changes Killua's aura into a field capable of transmitting all electrical impulses from his brain in a straight line directly to the part of the body he wants to use, completely bypassing his nervous system. It is split into two core functions.
- Whirlwind: The first core function of Godspeed has Killua react automatically to external stimuli. Instead of the normal process of the stimulus being perceived by the nerves, which transmit a signal to the brain, which in turn sends an instruction to the muscles, Killua programs his aura to send an electric signal to his muscles to instantly react to a threat, bypassing the comparatively slow nervous system. The aura can be preprogrammed to respond to different stimuli: physical contact, sinister intent in the enemy aura, or someone stepping in a predetermined perimeter, and the specific response is preprogrammed as well. This allows Killua to react automatically, which he uses to evade enemy attacks with flawless speed and timing.
- Lightning Ring:
- Speed of Lightning: The ability to move his body according to his own will, used to travel long distances at high speed.
- Honed Radar:
- Aura Sence:
- Muscle & Joint Control: Killua is capable of dislocating his joints at will. He dislocated his shoulders, arms, and fingers to escape Machi’s strings while they were restraining him.
- Finger Claws: Killua can strengthen and sharpen his fingers at will to form piercing claws.
- Silent Footsteps:
- Healing Factor:
- Preternatural Perception:
- Enhanced Strength:
- Immense Speed & Reflexes:
- Immense Agility:
- Enhanced Stamina:
- Advanced Durability:
- Enhanced Endurance:
- Resistance to Electricity: As part of his assassin training, he was subjected routinely to electric currents. He is able to handle 1 million volts of electricity without issue, though he does still feel pain.
- Immense Poison Resistance: He is immune to most poisons, including from genetically enhanced insects.
- Genius-Level Intellect:
- Master Strategist:
- Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant:
- Assassin Mode: Killua enters a heightened state of concentration where he is fully focused on killing his opponent. Killua also states that there is a noticeable increase in his overall power when he enters this mode.
- The Snake Awakens: A technique Killua activates when in his Assassin Mode which allows him to move his arms with such incredible speed and fluidity that they can be mistaken as whips. It not only looks cool, but it has been shown to cleave through limbs of a genetically enhanced Chimera Ant.
- Bloodlust:
- Master Weapon Specialist:
- Master of Stealth:
- Silent Gaits:
- Rhythm Echo: An advanced assassination technique, Rhythm Echo allows one to create a series of afterimages by moving continuously in a rhythmic fashion. It completely masks the user's sound completely while the afterimages disorients a target, making it a useful way of landing a discreet fatal blow on an unsuspecting opponent.
- Expert in Tailing:
- Masterful Skater:
- Masterful Darts Player:
Alternate Forms
Assassin Mode
Godspeed
Equipment
- Superalloy Yo-Yos: After passing the Hunter Exam, Killua was given by Milluki two yo-yos made of a special metal alloy that he began using as a secret weapon. The yo-yos are extremely durable and heavy, each weighing 50 kilograms. Their reflective surface allows them to be used as mirrors to stealthily look behind a corner. Biscuit noted that they work well with Killua's ability to turn his aura into electricity.
- Skateboard: The first time he faced the Hunter Exam, Killua brought a skateboard with him. It was able to bear the weight of 5 people and a wooden shelf without breaking, although it was damaged in the process. The skateboard is yellow with red wheels and a red arrow painted in the middle, reaching almost to the curved end of the deck (dark blue-green with a yellow arrow in the 1999 anime). The skateboard is also briefly seen at the beginning of Hunter × Hunter: The Last Mission.
- Knife: A knife that Killua has used to force Sadaso (a cheating Nen User) to give up his treacherous ways and quit competing in the Heaven’s Arena tournament. Although he has yet to wield this weapon in combat, it’s extremely likely he knows how to, given his background as an assassin.
- Taser: A taser that Killua initially utilized on himself as a means to transmute his Nen with the properties of electricity. While he has yet to wield this taser as a means of offense, similar to his knife, there is little reason to assume he wouldn't if the time was right.
Feats
Strength
- In order to enter his residence, pushed open a gate that weighed 16 tons
- Later on in the series, when pushing the same gate he could push up to 64 tons
- Kicked through a building’s wall
- Broke Pakunoda’s arm
- Broke several of Machi's ribs with a kick
- Held the weight of a large boulder over his head in his sleep while training with Bisky
- With Snake Awakens, cleaved through the limbs of Mosquito
- Pierced through Rhino’s body. Prior to his fight with Killua, Rhino was boasting about how impenetrable his hardened skin was.
- Knocked out Gon with a punch
- Decapitated Rammot and crushed his head
- Consistently shown to be able to tear apart Chimera Ants
- When using Godspeed, harmed Youpi with his electric-charged punches and kicks. This is despite Youpi claiming that Killua should be 10 times weaker than himself.
- When using Godspeed, burned away parts of Pouf’s body
- Ripped lllumi's needle out of his brain
Speed
- (Movie Only) Dodged bullets from point blank range
- Before learning Nen, speed blitzed Johness and stole his heart before he could even process what was going on
- Killed two guys before they could even notice
- Knocked out nearly 1500 people and collected their badges in an hour and a half; all they saw was a blur
- Casually outmaneuvered all of Zushi’s attacks in their fight at Heaven’s Arena, despite not having learned Nen at the time, and Zushi having already learned most of the basic principles
- Moved in tandem with his own lightning attacks (Mach 18.6)
- Capable of reacting to the Greed Island card Accompany, which can travel between continents in a very short timespan (Mach 1185.862)
- Blitzed and tore off Rammot’s head before he could finish his sentence
- In Godspeed, was stated to be faster than a full-power Pouf
- In Godspeed, was consistently shown blitzing and tagging Youpi. Despite being a Chimera Ant officer with one of the better reaction speeds in the series, Youpi still was unable to keep track of Killua’s movements and attacks.
- In Godspeed and while holding Alluka, ran so fast that he appeared as a blur of electricity
- Moves at the speed of lighting
- When activating his Godspeed reflexes for the first time, reacted to a dart which required “light-speed” reflexes to react to (Mach 2217.3 - 1.7% SoL) (See Before the Verdict)
Durability
- Was relatively fine after getting tortured for days
- Withstood being shocked by Riehlvelt’s whips that unloaded one million volts of electricity, feeling only mild pain
- Survived being injected with a lethal poison from Mosquito’s poison sting, despite Mosquito’s poison being one of the most potent in the world
- Survived an explosive fart from Carabid Beetle, which incinerated a large assortment of trees (1.5 - 3.3 Kilotons of TNT)
- Survived being constantly pelted by fish darts that were created by the Ortho Siblings; despite bleeding out tremendously, he still pushed forward and finished both of them off
- Blocked multiple blows from Palm, who could casually punch craters into the ground
- Endured Gon's Jajanken Rock
- (Movie Only) Blocked punches from Uvogin
- Uvogin is powerful enough to create large craters and casually destroy chunks of rock by just charging up his aura
Skills
- Passed the Hunter Exam by defeating every other participant
- Along with Gon, learned and mastered the four basic principles of Nen within the span of only a few months, whereas for most Hunters it would take several years
- Made it to floor 200 in Heaven’s Arena, “twice”
- Escaped the clutches of the Phantom Troupe, despite him and Gon being physically outmatched and outnumbered
- Figured out how to transmute his aura into electricity, creating his own Nen-centric fighting style
- Along with Gon, Biscuit, and a few other hunters, defeated Razor in one of most intense games of anime dodgeball
- Beat Greed Island with the help of Gon and Biscuit
- Supported the Extermination Team in their invasion on the Chimera Ants
- Reconnected with his sister Alluka, rescued her from their family, and utilized her Nen ability to save Gon from having his body slowly decay
- Defeated Johness, the Amori Brothers, Zushi, Riehlvelt, Binolt, Bopobo, Sub, Mosquito, Rhino, Rammot, the Ortho Siblings, and Illumi
Weaknesses
- Despite being resistant to electricity, he is not immune.
- Overusing his Nen abilities will eventually result in him running out of electricity, requiring him to absorb more electricity in order to use his Nen abilities again.
- Regarding Nen as a whole, he can keep it active for up to three hours before exhausting himself and leaving himself more vulnerable without his Nen defense.
- If he were to utilize the Zetsu technique, it would leave his body unprotected by Nen. Without Killua’s Nen aura enveloping his body, Killua’s attacks nor his defense would be nearly as potent as they would be with Nen active; this would put Killua at a massive disadvantage due to most of his significant feats only being done with the massive stat boost that he receives from his Nen aura.
- He also has a severe gambling addiction.