The two most popular arcs in Hunter x Hunter are the Yorknew City arc and the Chimera Ant arc. The central villain groups of these arcs, Chrollo and the Phantom Troupe, and Meruem and his Royal Guards, respectively, also rank among the most beloved villains in shonen anime. With how powerful all of these villains are and frequent disagreements over which group is made up of better characters, a common subject of debate is: who would win in a fight?
In terms of raw power, Meruem and his Royal Guards are unrivaled in the world of Hunter x Hunter. What the Phantom Troupe lacks in raw power, they more than make up for in intelligence, creativity, versatility, teamwork and sheer numbers. The Phantom Troupe is among the strongest groups in HxH, but fans have debated for years if they could beat Meruem and his royal guards.
Menthuthuyoupi Is a Poor Matchup Against the Phantom Troupe
Among the elite Chimera Ants, Youpi relies the most on raw power. His Nen allows him to constantly evolve based on what the situation he's in requires, and he's no fool, but his attacks solely consist of intense physical blows and energy blasts. While Youpi is among the most powerful characters in the series, he's far from unbeatable. He was nearly defeated by the combined efforts of Knuckle, Meleoron, Killua, Shoot and Morel, and ultimately killed by radiation poisoning. All of this adds up to Menthuthuyoupi being the easiest target for the Phantom Troupe.
Like Godspeed Killua and Shoot, the strongest members of the Phantom Troupe, such as Feitan and Phinks, would be capable of briefly fighting Youpi head-on. As they did so, Franklin, Kalluto and Bonolenov could further chip away at the ant's enormous amounts of aura with ranged attacks. Machi could heal their frontline fighters as they were injured, and, depending on how much of his aura they could make Youpi expend, Shalnark could end the fight by using Black Voice to take control of Youpi.
Whether or not they were able to do this, Chrollo's presence seals Youpi's fate. Chrollo is a genius who knows how to bring the most out of his team. He also possesses several stolen hatsus that, among other things, would allow him to teleport those around him on the battlefield at will, to touch someone and make them look like himself, which would completely confuse Youpi, and to conjure the Fun Fun Cloth, which could be used to shrink Youpi down and trap him in a bag.
Shiapouf Is the Weakest Royal Guard, but as Smart as Any Troupe Member
Shiapouf is the most effective counter against the Phantom Troupe among the Royal Guards. While he lacks the raw strength of Menthuthuyoupi and Neferpitou, Pouf is still in the same league of power as his companions. Shiapouf is far more cunning than either of them, and he has the most versatile abilities. With his Nen, Shiapouf can hypnotize others, discover the mental states of others, split himself apart into thousands of weaker bodies, and regenerate at a cellular level, making him nearly unkillable.
The greatest benefit to the Phantom Troupe in this fight is that, as shown in Shiapouf's battle with Morel, he is extremely cautious. Not knowing the Troupe's abilities, he would hesitate to immediately go on the offensive, which would allow the Spider to take initiative. Feitan's speed and Franklin and Kalluto's ranged attacks would be effective at dispersing Pouf's copies, and the Troupe are all skilled enough Nen users to resist Pouf's hypnosis, but they possess no way to defeat him.
Black Voice and the Fun Fun Cloth would be ineffective against Pouf's multiple bodies, and even Phinks and Nobunaga wouldn't be able to fight him directly for long. In HxH, Shiapouf died of radiation poisoning, just like Youpi. Still, there's no way of knowing if Chrollo possesses any techniques capable of mimicking the effects of the Poor Man's Rose. The Phantom Troupe could very easily survive an encounter with Shiapouf, but them defeating him seems unlikely.
Neferpitou Is the Oldest and Strongest Royal Guard
Neferpitou provides a similar but greater challenge to Menthuthuyoupi for the Phantom Troupe. Pitou's only offensive Nen is Terpsichora, an ability that allows them to marionette their own body, increasing their strength and speed and enabling them to keep fighting, even if they die. Even more so than Youpi, Pitou relies entirely on simple, physical attacks, without even his shapeshifting or energy blasts, but they hit harder than either of their fellow Royal Guards.
While Kite never posed a serious challenge to Neferpitou, he did provide them with a fight they enjoyed. Fighting as a unit, Feitan, Phinks and Nobunaga would be able to more than replicate this feat. While Terpsichora would possibly counter Black Voice, Shalnark could aid his friends on the frontline using Autopilot. Attacks like Feitan's Rising Sun and Bonolenov's Battle Cantabile: Jupiter would severely damage Pitou and allow Phinks time to charge up a devastating Ripper Cyclotron.
Unlike the other Royal Guards, Neferpitou was killed in combat, completely overpowered by Adult Gon. It's doubtful the Phantom Troupe's physically strongest members would be able to achieve this, but aided by Chrollo, Machi and Franklin, they would be able to force Pitou to flee in a hard-fought battle or lead them right into Chrollo's Fun Fun Cloth.
Meruem's Only Challenger Would Be Chrollo
Meruem is the most powerful fighter in Hunter x Hunter and one of the most intelligent characters in the series. He was already the strongest from birth, and through Aura Synthesis, he only grew stronger by devouring other Nen users. After absorbing the Nen of Shiapouf and Menthuthuyoupi, Meruem gained access to their hatsus and became infinitely more powerful. Meruem defeated Isaac Netero, humanity's greatest Nen master, without even being injured, and even an atomic explosion wasn't enough to kill him, with the radiation poisoning from the bomb being the cause of his death.
When fans debate whether the Phantom Troupe could defeat Meruem, they pose two key questions: "Could they defeat Pre-Rose Meruem?" and "Could they defeat Post-Rose Meruem?". The former asks about Meruem prior to him being blown apart by the Poor Man's Rose and restoring himself by absorbing Pouf and Youpi, while the latter refers to Meruem after his power-up. Virtually no fans will argue the Phantom Troupe stands any hope against Post-Rose Meruem. This leaves Pre-Rose Meruem vs. the Phantom Troupe as the primary point of discussion.
Pre-Rose Meruem defeated Netero with ease. With this in mind, none of the Phantom Troupe's physical attacks would be effective against him. Meruem is too fast to be hit by them, and even with an attack like Bonolenov's Battle Cantabile: Jupiter, which locks in on its target, Meruem is too durable to be hurt by it. Shalnark would be unable to penetrate Meruem's skin with an antenna to activate Black Voice, Shizuku and Kortopi's support abilities wouldn't be able to do anything effective, and Meruem would kill Machi's friends before she even had the chance to heal them.
The only potential threat to Pre-Rose Meruem among the Phantom Troupe is their leader, Chrollo Lucilfer. The key word there is "potential," as none of Chrollo's known Nen techniques would be capable of stopping Meruem. Chrollo's book, Bandit's Secret, contains many stolen hatsus that fans have not yet seen, and it's only the possibility that Chrollo has a direct counter to Meruem up his sleeve that gives the Phantom Troupe a small hope against him.
