Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-36006024-20181107190534/@comment-29325824-20181112154929

Look, this topic has been discussed to beyond death by now. I'm not going to repeat everything that has already been said, just that there is nothing to truly suggest the order of the Espada was anything beyond what Kubo himself said they were.

To clarify: the Espada were ranked purely by their level of raw spiritual power. Anything else, no matter what (skills, unique powers, intelligence, etc.) was NOT relevant to their ranking. That's why an incompetent idiot like Yammy was higher ranked than Starrk, Baraggan, or Ulquiorra, who were all a LOT more dangerous than him.