Like her wardrobe, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's powers have evolved over time. With every passing year, Buffy has honed her skills and spent time learning about the origins of her powers.
The Slayer’s powers are varied. She has physical powers that give her super strength and make her a formidable opponent in battle. Her physical prowess is only matched by supernatural beings.
She also has mystical powers, ones that link her to the First Slayer and all other Slayers. Through her link with other Slayers, she is connected to a long line of Slayers that helps her gain knowledge about the past and the future.
Buffy has also had a number of temporary powers, some of which she chose to wield and others that were given to her without her knowledge. Sometimes, these powers turned out to be useful, like when Buffy gained the ability to hear other people’s thoughts.
However, despite being one of the strongest beings in existence, Buffy still has her flaws – which is why we love her so much. She doesn’t always know what’s best for her, like when it comes to picking out clothes or romantic partners, but she does everything with an open heart, which is one of her most endearing qualities.
Buffy is the hero and role model we deserve. She embraces her strengths and takes her failures in stride, learning from each of them and growing into a better and fiercer Slayer.
With that said, here are the 10 Hidden Powers Buffy The Vampire Slayer Has (And 10 Weaknesses).
20 Weakness: Academics
Buffy is a lot of things, but she was never a good student - which isn’t to say that she isn't intelligent.
She is smart, but with the weight of the world often resting on her shoulders, she seldom had the time to study and didn’t always excel in school.
This is also despite Willow’s valiant efforts to help her with last minute cram sessions.
It should be noted, however, that while Buffy wasn’t the valedictorian and occasionally slept through class lectures, she did graduate high school and received near-perfect SAT scores, all while saving people, closing the Hellmouth, and getting over a traumatic breakup.
Needless to say, if there were a class on multi-tasking, Buffy would pass with flying colors.
19 Power: Superpowers
The comics introduced a prophecy that spoke of a new era, Twilight, that would be brought about by a Slayer who would change the order of things.
When Buffy chose to awaken all the Potential Slayers, she proved to the Universe that she was that Slayer, and so she was temporarily granted the powers of a god.
All of Buffy’s existing powers, liker her strength and agility, were enhanced, but she also gained new powers, such as the ability to fly, and enhanced vision and hearing, as well as invulnerability.
Buffy lost her newfound super powers when she destroyed the Seed of Wonder, the source of all magic in the world.
18 Weakness: Dawn
Most of Buffy’s weaknesses are the people she cares about, like her friends and family. She would do anything to save the people she loves, and this is especially true when it comes to her sister Dawn.
In fact, the monks who transformed Dawn from a key that could unlock portals to other dimensions into a human girl were banking on Buffy doing whatever it took to protect her little sister, including sacrificing her own life.
While Dawn does get captured several times and requires saving, placing Buffy in difficult and compromising situations, her love and support, like the love and support Buffy gets from the Scooby Gang, often makes Buffy stronger.
17 Power: Super-Slayer
Season four of Buffy the Vampire Slayer introduced the Frankensteinian Adam, the Big Bad of the season.
Adam was an experiment made by the Initiative, who created Adam out of various parts of demons, vampires, and tech.
Outmatched by Adam, Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles performed an Enjoining Spell, one that invoked the First Slayer and granted Buffy enhanced Slayer powers, as well as the skills of the rest of the Scooby Gang.
Once the spell was complete, Buffy was able to transform and levitate objects, cast spells, and manipulate technology.
16 Weakness: Spells And Research
Like most Slayers, Buffy is a woman of action. When she’s faced with a problem, she wants to act fast.
Does this mean she doesn’t think things through before she acts? Sometimes, but Buffy can be a brilliant strategist when she wants to, and one of her greatest gifts is her ability to think on her feet.
This is why spells and research don’t really appeal to her. They’re too much like schoolwork.
Will she do it? Yes, because Buffy gets stuff done, but why should she when she has Willow and Giles around to do it for her?
Depriving those two of research would be tragic because there’s nothing purer than the giddiness of a Willow and Giles who’ve been told they get to spend hours reading ancient texts.
15 Power: Telepathy
While Buffy was telepathic for one episode, it was a memorable episode. Like many episodes of Buffy, season three’s “Earshot” carries a lot of resonance today.
After absorbing the blood of a demon she defeats, Buffy gains the ability to hear people’s thoughts.
At first, the power is entertaining, like when she learns about her mother and Giles sleeping together and promptly teases the librarian about it.
However, things quickly turn dire when Buffy hears the thoughts of a student who is planning to shoot someone on campus.
Buffy eventually identifies the student, Jonathan, and learns that he was planning on ending his own life. She talks him down, telling him that no one has it easy.
Buffy says, “If you could hear what they were feeling. The loneliness. The confusion. It looks quiet down there. It’s not. It’s deafening."
14 WEAKNESS: GILES
There’s surely an idiom that can explain why Giles can at times be Buffy’s weakness, but Joss Whedon said it best in the lyrics to Giles' “Once More With Feeling” song, “Standing”.
In Buffy the Vampire Slayer's fan-favorite musical episode, Giles sings about standing in the way of Buffy’s growth.
Giles reasons that while Buffy is powerful and stronger than she’s ever been before, she isn’t pushing herself and living up to her full potential because he’s around, always there to help her deal with whatever craziness the universe throws at them.
Giles believes the road ahead will be even more difficult for Buffy, and despite his desire to stay and protect her, he leaves to help her grow stronger.
13 POWERS: PROPHETIC DREAMS
Buffy’s prophetic dreams appeared early on in the series, with Buffy dreaming about her future confrontation with the season one Big Bad, The Master.
Her prophetic dreams have always warned her of challenges she would face in the near or far future.
For example, in season three, she and Faith shared a dream in which the other Slayer told Buffy that “Little Miss Muffet,” in this case, Dawn, would be appearing in 730 days.
Buffy’s prophetic dreams have also provided hints for defeating future threats, as was the case with the Gentlemen.
In the episode “Hush”, Buffy dreams of a little girl who’s singing a lullaby about the Gentlemen while holding the box that the creatures use to trap people’s voices.
Thanks to the dream, at the end of the episode, Buffy knows she can defeat the Gentlemen by opening that same box.
12 WEAKNESS: 'NORMAL' JOBS
Being a full-time student and a Slayer, which is essentially a full-time job with no benefits (except for the occasional thank you), Buffy never had time for a typical job.
However, when money became tight for her and Dawn, she did take up a job in the fast-food industry.
Like the time Buffy spent as a waitress in Los Angeles when she was going by the name “Anne,” her time at Doublemeat Palace didn’t last long.
This was not because she wasn’t good at the job, but because the world, once again, needed the Slayer.
Buffy had to give up counseling students at Sunnydale High for the same reason - that, and the school was eventually devoured by a giant pit.
While her time at these jobs was short-lived, she undoubtedly gained valuable skills that helped her become a better leader to the Slayers.
11 POWER: INVISIBILITY
When Willow brought Buffy back to life after she had sacrificed herself to save the world (and to spare Dawn), the Slayer had a lot to work through.
While her friends wanted everything to go back to the way things were before, unbeknownst to the Scooby Gang, they had torn Buffy out of heaven, and the Slayer had trouble adjusting to the bleakness of the mortal realm.
So when The Trio accidentally shot Buffy with an invisibility gun, Buffy welcomed the opportunity to temporarily escape the drama surrounding her.
After engaging in some shenanigans and defeating Warren and the crew, Buffy became visible again and realized that while she a had a lot to work out, she was glad to be alive.
10 WEAKNESS: FASHION SENSE
It’s difficult to say who’s the biggest disaster when it comes to fashion on the show, Willow or Buffy. At times it seemed like the two women were in a contest for who could sport the most clashing wardrobe – Willow with her fuzzy, fluorescent layers or Buffy with her un-ironic leopard print and platform sandals.
However, many of us have experimented with out clothing when we attended high school and college, as we slowly started to discover who we were as a person, and this was brilliantly expressed in the wardrobe choices for the show’s two female leads.
As the two characters grow, they adopt a style that is wholly their own and that is A+ characterization from the costume department.
9 Power: Physical Enhancements And Fighting Skills
Buffy has possessed a number of powers over the years, but there are a handful that she’s always possessed and that are basically the Slayer starter-pack.
All Slayers have enhanced strength, speed, agility, and durability.
Slayers are fast and have good reflexes. They can also take a punch and don’t bruise easily.
In addition to these enhancements, Slayers are born with a talent for fighting and wielding all manner of weapons.
While all Slayers are endowed with these gifts, they need to be honed in order for a Slayer to reach her full potential.
For most of her life, Buffy engages in a rigorous training schedule to keep herself in shape and in top fighting form.
8 WEAKNESS: PERFECTIONISM
It seems like the only person who’s unaware of how amazing Buffy is is Buffy (and occasionally her mother, but only when she was unaware of Buffy’s slaying activities).
Despite repeatedly saving the world, in addition to more routine acts of heroism, Buffy constantly tries to be the best at everything, and sometimes gives herself a hard time when she’s not.
She wants to excel at school. She tries to be a good partner, a present friend, an understanding sister, and a responsible daughter. The list goes on.
Sometimes, Buffy’s efforts to be perfect at everything all the time end with her breaking down and thinking she is less than.
This is completely human and what makes Buffy such a relatable character. Still, she could cut herself some slack.
7 POWER: SLAYPIRE
When a local child in a coma starts to make people’s nightmares come to life, Buffy is buried alive and turned into a vampire.
There are only a few known cases of a Slayer being turned into a vampire. '
When a Slayer is turned into a Slaypire, they obtain all of the strengths and weaknesses of a vampire. They become stronger than regular Slayers, but they also need to feed and avoid sunlight.
Simone Doffler, a rogue Slayer turned Slaypire, was able to overpower Buffy despite Buffy having years of experience on the relatively new Slayer.
Similarly, when Buffy was turned into a Slaypire, she was able to defeat the Ugly Man easily thanks to her enhanced powers.
6 WEAKNESS: THE SCOOBY GANG
Obviously Buffy could not have excelled as much as she did were it not for her friends. Not only do Willow, Xander, and Giles provide much needed help when there’s a crisis, but they also give Buffy the emotional support she needs when things get tough.
Overall, her friends make her stronger.
That said, on occasion, the Scooby Gang has made things difficult for her. Like, for example, when Willow turned evil and tried to end the world or when Xander cast the spell that made everyone sing until they combusted.
Still, while they have their faults, at the end of it all, the Scoobies will always be there for Buffy and helped make her the formidable force she is now.
5 POWER: SLAYER PSYCHIC LINK
Most Slayers, even potential ones, dream about the lives and exploits of former Slayers. It’s one way that they’re all linked.
Slayers also, from time to time, share dreams with Slayers from their own timeline, as was the case with Buffy and Faith.
When Buffy found herself far in the future, she was able to defeat the 23rd century Slayer Melaka Fray because she, unlike Melaka, had dreamt of every battle every Slayer had fought, giving her an advantage.
Additionally, Sineya, the first Slayer, functioned as a spiritual guide to Slayers and appeared to Buffy several times offering sage advice and insight on the origin of the Slayer.
4 WEAKNESS: OTHER SLAYERS
Even when you have a group of wonderful friends, being a Slayer can be an isolating experience.
As the show’s opening narration states, “She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer." It’s a huge burden.
So when Kendra shows up, despite being defensive at first, we see Buffy warm up to the idea of having a second Slayer around. She could share the load.
The same thing happened when Faith arrived.
Unfortunately, each time, things went sour. Buffy put her guard down and chaos ensued.
However, this is what’s so endearing about Buffy. She’s open and accepting, even when it ends up breaking her heart.
3 POWER: RESOURCESFULNESS
Near the end of season two, Angelus taunts Buffy just before he tries to pierce her with a sword, saying, “No weapons... no friends... no hope. Take all that away and what's left?”
Buffy grabs the blade with her hands. “Me,” she says, and hits Angel in the head with the hilt of the sword.
One of Buffy’s most significant powers is her resourcefulness. She’s found herself in many situations that don’t have an easy solution, but she almost always manages to outsmart her opponents with her quick thinking and tactical skills.
Even when Giles stripped Buffy of her powers for a standard Slayer test, she was still able to defeat her enemy by tricking a vampire into drinking Holy Water.
2 WEAKNESS: ROMANCE
This one’s kind of obvious. Buffy doesn’t have the best luck in the romance department. Her relationships are often sweeping epics, but they typically end in major heartbreak - or with one party trying to destroy the other party.
While it’s not Buffy’s fault that she falls for vampires, and, notably, a vampire who turns evil when he sleeps with someone, she could be slightly more selective about the people she chooses to date.
Even in the comics, Buffy’s love life is slightly troubled. When she and Angel rekindle their romance, they trigger a series of events that threaten Earth’s very existence.
While not all of her relationships have been bad, she has yet to maintain a semi-long relationship with someone who hasn’t, at one point, tried to claim her life.
1 POWER: LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Buffy is an incredibly gifted Slayer. What sets her apart from other Slayers is her ability to lead and inspire others.
All Slayers are born with a degree of leadership skills. It’s in their nature to take charge, but Buffy uses those skills to help others empower themselves.
In the series finale of the show, she chooses to share her power.
“I say my power… [but it] should be our power,” Buffy tells the Potential Slayers. “From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer... will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power… will have the power… can stand up, will stand up. Every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?”
Buffy’s ability to make others stronger, to inspire them and lift them up, is her most important power.
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Can you think of any other powers or weaknesses that Buffy the Vampire Slayer has? Let us know in the comments!
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