There’s no doubt that “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” changed television forever. With Joss Whedon’s trademark quippy dialogue, the series was a major hit in the ’90s and sparked dozens of imitators along the way. There are many reasons to love “Buffy,” of course, with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s titular heroine being one of the most obvious. The truth is, “Buffy” was one of those shows that cannot truly be replicated. It’s no wonder that, due to its sheer popularity, the vampire slayer survived cancellation and lived to tell the tale.

But among the vast array of monsters and vampires who Buffy finds herself slaying, not all demons are created equal. Some are relatively harmless, while others could destroy the world with but a thought. With a countless number of supernatural beings out there, all of varying power levels, it can be hard to categorize who is a major threat and who isn’t. Setting main cast members and Big Bads aside, some of “Buffy’s” most powerful characters are actually its secondary figures who show up throughout the show. These are the types we’re ranking here.

Full disclosure, we’re not including characters like Tara (Amber Benson) or Faith (Eliza Dushku) who should arguably be considered main cast. Likewise, we’ve left Big Bads off TheShockNews because otherwise it might’ve just been full of them. Since we’re focusing solely on the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” television series itself and not the overall Buffyverse, you also won’t find comic book exclusive characters like Twilight or the cast of “Angel” on this list. With that in mind, let’s get to slaying.

While all vampires have supernatural abilities ranging from superhuman strength to immortality, not all blood-suckers are what you’d call formidable. This is especially true in the case of a teenage vampire like Harmony Kendall (Mercedes McNab). Though Harmony appears throughout “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” in a recurring capacity early on, it isn’t until Season 3’s “Graduation Day, Part 2” that she officially joins the supernatural community. After being attacked by a vampire at Sunnydale High’s commencement (one of the most pause-worthy moments on “Buffy”), Harmony is transformed into a demon, though she retains her clueless personality.

Unlike many of the other vampires on “Buffy” who threw themselves in the path of the Slayer, Harmony aims to continue her normal life. She dates Spike (James Marsters) for a time, and even forms her own vampire gang in one of her final appearances on the show, but that doesn’t last long. Being a vampire doesn’t come naturally to Harmony, and it’s frankly a miracle she survives her time on “Buffy” at all, especially after (very unsuccessfully) trying to kill both Spike and the Slayer.

Eventually, Harmony moves from Sunnydale to Los Angeles where she becomes a part of the “Angel” crew. By the end of that series, she’s Angel’s (David Boreanaz) secretary, though she (unsurprisingly) betrays him. As a creature more helpless than conniving, Harmony isn’t much of a vampire at all, and instead continues to live her life according to the “dumb blonde” stereotype she represents.

Appearing in only four episodes throughout “Buffy’s” early years, Ethan Rayne (Robin Sachs) is a man of mystery from Rupert Giles’ (Anthony Stewart Head) unconventional past. The pair had been friends in their younger years, and engaged in occultic practices together. All was fun and games until they accidentally summoned a demon who killed their friend during an exorcism. But while Giles learns from this experience and joins the Watchers Council to protect the world from evil, Ethan runs in the opposite direction, devoting his entire life to the study of chaos magic, eventually becoming a warlock.

“Buffy” had a longstanding tradition of noting that “nothing supernatural ever happens on Halloween,” but as early as Ethan’s first appearance in Season 2, this proved false. Ethan is a highly skilled magician whom Giles expressly says “worships” chaos in the Season 4’s “A New Man.” With an extensive knowledge of demonology and curses, Ethan is powerful enough to perform transmogrification spells, remaking one sort of object into another completely different one. Because of the Mark of Eyghon tattoo from his youth, Ethan can psychically link with various demons.

So why is Ethan Rayne so low on this list? Well, because he’s a terrible fighter. Giles takes Ethan out without hardly any trouble at all in his first appearance (Season 2’s “Halloween”), and given that Buffy’s Watcher isn’t exactly imbued with the strength of ages, that makes Ethan look especially bad. Later episodes didn’t do him any favors either.

A vengeance demon who sought out justice for neglected and abused children, Halfrek (Kali Rocha) was one of Anya’s (Emma Caulfield) closest demonic companions. Though she only appears in a handful of episodes in the back half of the series, Halfrek is immensely powerful, as most vengeance demons are. Though she maintains a supernatural durability that keeps her from most bodily harm, what makes Halfrek especially formidable are her empathic abilities. Able to sense Dawn’s (Michelle Trachtenberg) pain all over Sunnydale, Halfrek is called in to do something about it, posing as a guidance counselor, which leads her to grant Dawn’s wish.

Vengeance demons’ ability to grant otherwise impossible wishes is part of what makes them so notable in the Buffyverse. They have the ability to rewrite all of reality as Anya did back in Season 3’s “The Wish.” The same is true, of course, of Halfrek, who has also displayed powers such as teleportation, telekinesis, shapeshifting (at least between her human and demon sides), and superhuman strength.

Unfortunately, Halfrek isn’t particularly durable, and her story doesn’t end well. After Anya returns to being a vengeance demon in Season 7, she struggles with inflicting pain on others after being human for so long. Wishing to restore the lives she’s taken, she makes a deal with her boss D’Hoffryn (Andy Umberger) that ends with Halfrek burning alive. Talk about a horrible way to go.

Arguably one of the scariest secondary villains on the entire series, Nathan Fillion’s Caleb is a force to be reckoned with in the 7th and final season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” An acolyte of the incorporeal First Evil, Caleb is imbued with Slayer-like strength, incredibly fast reflexes, superhuman endurance, and an army of Turok-Hans (the scariest vampires the show ever produced). Even more frightening, Caleb completely believes in his mission with a religious devotion and cannot be deterred from his “righteous” path.

This is the guy responsible for not just beating Buffy up, often appearing out of nowhere just to make sure the Slayer knew he was still lurking around, but also for taking out Xander’s (Nicholas Brendon) eyeball, which he removes directly from its socket in his very first appearance in “Dirty Girls.” Even if he isn’t the most powerful person on this list, he made such a mark on the series that it’s hard to remember that this is the same guy who played Malcolm Reynolds on “Firefly” around the same time.

Caleb is eventually defeated in the series finale, “Chosen,” when Buffy kills him with her new Slayer scythe. After having survived a good handful of would-be fatal injuries previously, the villain is finally defeated only after Buffy splits him in two. He may be strong, but without the First Evil’s power, he’s still just a man.

Certainly the most memorable of all the “Buffy” characters on this list, Drusilla (Juliet Landau) is more than just a vampire. Okay, she’s still just a vampire, but aside from her normal vampire abilities like supernatural strength, speed, and fast healing, Drusilla also learns to master hypnosis, an ability that not even her sire, Angel, could quite navigate. With this power, she convinces Giles that she’s the deceased Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMorte) and stops the Slayer Kendra Young (Bianca Lawson) dead in her tracks before killing her in the two-part Season 2 finale, “Becoming.”

Along with hypnosis, Drusilla has other abilities that may have originated from her life before she was turned into a vampire, namely precognition, divination, and the ability to detect supernatural power. But arguably the reason Drusilla really makes it onto this list (aside from her impressive powers) is because her mental instability makes her incredibly dangerous. Angel’s evil self, Angelus, drove the young human Drusilla mad before turning her, thus trapping her eternally in a disordered state. Because of her madness, Drusilla is an intimidating opponent, one who cannot be reasoned or bargained with.

Of course, she’s still a vampire, and, as such, she has all the common vampire weaknesses. Because of that, any Slayer who gets close enough could stake her through the heart, or burn her with sunlight if they manage to get her out during the day — not that anyone on the series was actually able to kill her, mind you…

When we first met Amy Madison (Elizabeth Anne Allen) back in Season 1’s “Witch” (the very third episode of “Buffy”), we didn’t think much of her. Having been body-swapped with her mother (another witch), the Scooby Gang saves her, restoring her to her own body. You’d think Amy would have learned that magic always has consequences, and yet, she develops an interest in the occult all on her own. By the time she reappears in “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” she’s now a full-blown witch herself. Over the years, Amy continues to grow in power, but accidentally turns herself into a rat in Season 3’s “Gingerbread,” forcing Willow (Alyson Hannigan) to take her in for years while she searches for a cure. 

While none of that sounds especially dangerous, Amy’s powers shouldn’t be undermined. Not only can she perform spells as competently as Willow, but her love potion nearly destroys all of Sunnydale as every woman in town flocks to Xander (except, ironically, the very girl he’s trying to impress). Eventually, Amy is freed of her rat form, and takes revenge on Willow by transforming her into Warren Mears (Adam Busch), whom she had killed mercilessly as “Dark Willow.” But that’s only the start of it.

The thing is, Amy is shown to be a lot more powerful in the Dark Horse continuation comics that take place after “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” ends. In them, she easily rivals Willow, holding a pure hatred for her former friend that conjures up a destructive darkness within her. Sure, we only see a fraction of Amy’s power on the actual TV series, but it’s enough that we can understand her full potential.

No Slayer, not even Buffy, is as powerful as the very first. At some point back in prehistoric times, in some unspecified African desert, a band of Shadowmen came together to craft a new weapon of their own to fight the demonic forces emerging in our world. Taking a young girl named Sineya (Sharon Ferguson) against her will, they used dark magic to infuse her entire being — heart, spirit, and soul — with the essence of a demon, thus giving her incredible powers. With them, she hunted down vampires and demons all across the world.

As the First Slayer, Sineya is the most powerful. Though her abilities (and her calling) would be passed down through the Slayer line after her death, her direct connection to the shadow demon gives her an edge in battle. The fact that she killed an Old One (as explained in Season 7’s “End of Days”), one of the most pure-blooded demons out there, says all we need to know about her capabilities as a warrior. As the first wielder of the Slayer’s scythe, Sineya is responsible for establishing the longstanding Slayer tradition.

More than that, Sineya’s precognitive abilities and astral-projection abilities put her on another level. She can project into the minds of other Slayers, such as Buffy, even though she’s been long dead, living on as a sort of spirit guide for those who came after her. While we don’t get to see Sineya in action much on “Buffy,” we know from the way that she’s talked about (as well as subsequent comic book appearances) just how powerful the First Slayer is.

Okay, so this demon (played by Hinton Battle) isn’t what you might traditionally call a secondary “Buffy” character, given that he only ever appears once, but since he shows up in the show’s most popular episode, we’re going to let it slide. Appearing in Season 6’s musical, “Once More, with Feeling,” the demon we’ve come to call Sweet is the mastermind behind Sunnydale’s transformation from Hellmouth Central to Old Hollywood musical. Having seemingly been summoned by Dawn, the demon pulls a “Beetlejuice” and decides it’s time to tie the knot. Ultimately, Xander’s confession that he was actually responsible for calling Sweet to Sunnydale sends the demon on his way, opting not to marry Xander.

But this episode gives us a glimpse of the immense powers that Sweet has. For starters, he can force a person to dance themselves literally to death, he can control an entire town to unwittingly live as if they’re in a musical, and he can seemingly warp all of reality to his will. If he were any more nefarious in his motives, Sweet could theoretically end the world. His hypnotic prowess and charming flare for the dramatic makes him a tough opponent to apprehend, so much so that the cast of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” hardly even tries.

Sweet’s time in Sunnydale leaves the Scooby Gang in bad shape when he takes off, demoralizing everyone through the truthful (and very heartfelt) ballad that Buffy sings to her friends. If this was just this demon having fun, then we certainly don’t want to see him when he’s angry.

Another “Buffy” one-off character who gets a pass because of his memorable appearance, Count Dracula (Rudolf Martin) appeared in Season 5’s “Buffy vs. Dracula.” Playing out like just about every “Dracula” adaptation you can think of, the Count lures the Slayer into his clutches, turns Xander into his own personal Renfield, and seductively attracts all to his side. But what makes Dracula different from every other vampire is that he can do far more than just the normal vampire things. He’s also a powerful sorcerer, one who can even evade death. Some even believe the theory that Dracula may be responsible for Dawn’s creation.

Like most “Dracula” adaptations, “Buffy’s” version can shapeshift into bats, wolves, mist, and other forms that most vampires cannot take. His hypnotic powers are off the charts, and far more impressive than even Drusilla’s. At one point, Dracula nearly brings Buffy under his spell before she eventually stakes him. But unlike every other vampire on the show, Dracula can survive being dusted. Due to his powerful magic, he can resurrect himself upon death, which contributes to his infamy. “Dracula always comes back,” as Buffy says before staking him again. After that, the Count leaves Sunnydale forever.

Like Amy Madison, Dracula has a larger role in the official “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” comic books that continued the story after Season 7. It’s here we learn that, like the First Slayer compared to her successors, Dracula is significantly stronger than other vampires as well. Frankly, it’s a shame he didn’t show up again on the series, especially since actor Rudolf Martin went on to play Dracula in the TV movie “Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula” that same year.

Perhaps no secondary character on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is more powerful than the lord of vengeance demons D’Hoffryn. Though we have no idea how old D’Hoffryn might be, he is far older than most of the beings seen on the show. Like all vengeance demons, he has wish-granting abilities that have the potential to warp all of reality, but that’s not the end of it. D’Hoffryn can also effortlessly teleport himself between dimensions, astral project, see the future, and even light his enemies on fire, as he does with poor Halfrek.

Though D’Hoffryn seems kind and gentle on the surface, he’s actually quite vengeful himself. When rejected by Anya, who no longer wishes to be a vengeance demon, he punishes her not just by killing Halfrek, but by sending demonic assassins after her as well. The demon lord can likewise undo wishes, resurrect the dead, and has a vast array of other powers fully explored outside of the television series itself. Given his extensive lifespan, he’s no doubt picked up his fair of magical abilities along the way as well.

“Never go for the hurt when you can go for the pain,” he tells Anya in Season 7’s “Selfless.” Aside from supernatural power itself, D’Hoffryn is the master over all vengeance demons, and can even turn humans into new vengeance demons if he so chooses. With such vast demonic resources at his disposal, D’Hoffryn is one of the most powerful beings in the entire Buffyverse, making him quite the formidable opponent. Will “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” ever get a reboot? Who knows, but D’Hoffryn is our #1 pick for a new Big Bad.