Mistborn – Every Metal Ranked

“Mistborn” is my favourite book series of all time. I find its world and magic system to be utterly entrancing, and my imagination always runs wild whenever I read about the various in-universe applications of these metals.

I’m going to indulge my nerdy side for this list. I want to rank all sixteen metals based on their coolness / usefulness – both Allomantic and Feruchemical (I’ll explain what that means soon). This means I’ll be ranking all thirty-two possible applications of metals in the “Mistborn” universe.

If you’re a “Mistborn” nerd like me and you’re wondering why I’m only looking at sixteen metals, that’s because I’m not including the “God” metals (such as Atium). I’d rather look at the metals which are more common / affect the world in interesting and widespread ways.

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

10 Books I Loved In 2024 (And 4 I Didn’t)

“PARANORMASIGHT: The Mermaid’s Curse” – REVIEW

I Fear “Steel Ball Run” May Be Peak

All Six Middle Earth Films Ranked – Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit

A Brief Lesson In Allomancy And Feruchemy

Sometimes a metal’s usefulness can be highly dependant on its medium and / or synergies with other metals. I’ll try to explain some of my rules and how I approached this ranking.

If you’ve clicked on this blog post randomly and you don’t know what I mean by “using metals”, or if you need a quick refresher, I’ll quickly explain how the magic system(s) works in this universe:

ALLOMANCY

If you’re lucky enough to be born on Scadriel with the ability to burn metals for their powers, this metallic art is known as “Allomancy”. Allomancers consume metals (usually via phials or other small, suspended liquids) and burn them from within their body.

This creates all sorts of weird and wonderful effects – I’ll explain each one when I get to them.

As a side note, I won’t be taking into account the metal’s readiness / price when ranking their usefulness for this list. Sometimes an expensive metal can be really hard to come by and implausible to use as a result, but I’m going to assume that each metal on this list is easily obtainable.

FERUCHEMY

Allomancy is powerful, but it’s limited by the metal reserves on hand. The other metallic art which people regularly use in this universe is Feruchemy.

Feruchemy differs from Allomancy in its usage of the metal – Feruchemists store and draw an ability from a “metalmind” (a physical piece of metal, e.g. an earring), not needing to consume or burn any metals in the process.

For example, a Feruchemist with a Pewter metalmind can store and draw a reserve of physical strength. If they spend a few days being weak and deflating their muscle mass, they can draw on the metalmind in an emergency to buff their strength and muscles.

No metal is consumed in this process at all – the metalmind acts as a sort of catalyst. Feruchemy is therefore a very balanced, give-and-take metallic art.

MISTINGS, TWINBORNS AND MISTBORNS

In “Era 1” of the series (i.e. the first trilogy), Allomancers were either Mistings or Mistborns. Mistings only have access to one Allomantic ability whereas Mistborns can use them all if needed.

In “Era 2”, the “Wax & Wayne” quadrilogy, there was an emergence of Twinborns. These Allomancers were like Mistings in that they could use only one Allomantic metal, but they could now also use one Feruchemical metal as well. This sometimes resulted in a strange phenomenon called “Compounding” … more on that in a bit.

If you’re a Misting or a Twinborn, there are some Allomantic abilities – namely Aluminium and Duralumin – which are useless on their own because they work in tandem with other metals. These unlucky few are called “Gnats” because they effectively have no power at all.

For the sake of this list, I’m going to assume that each Allomantic metal is being used by a Mistborn – i.e. they can use these otherwise useless metals in tandem with all their other metals. I think it’s the best way to judge these metals’ true ability and worth.

BONUS – HEMALURGY & COMPOUNDING

There is technically a third metallic art on Scadriel aside from Allomancy and Feruchemy. “Hemalurgy” is a brutal metallic art where people implant metal spikes in themselves in order to obtain a new Allomantic or Feruchemical ability. In other words, a Misting or Twinborn could become a Mistborn if they loaded up on these painful spikes. For the sake of this list, I’m going to ignore these spikes and their potential uses.

A strange phenomenon which can occur in Allomancy and Feruchemy (especially in Twinborns, who use exactly one of each) is “Compounding”. There are exceedingly rare cases when a person’s Allomantic metal is exactly the same as their Feruchemical one, e.g. they’re both Steel, and this leads to an incredibly amplified Feruchemical effect (but the Allomantic effect isn’t affected).

In cases of Compounding, an Allomancer could simply burn a metal to both bypass and enhance a Feruchemical metalmind. One major example of Compounding in Era 2 was when Miles Hundredlives was a Gold-Gold Twinborn, effectively making him immortal because he could constantly burn Gold as well as heal himself from his Gold metalmind. A normal Gold Feruchemist would’ve had to store health into the metalmind before drawing from it, but Miles could simply draw as much as he wanted (as long as he had Gold reserves to burn).

I’m not going to rank each Feruchemical ability as if they’re being Compounded, but I’ll certainly take the extreme / highest-potential power into account.

Right. With all of that explanation out of the way, it’s time for my ranking.

Borderline Useless

If I was lucky enough to be born a Misting, Twinborn or Mistborn, these are the metals I would hardly ever use.

32 – Allomantic Gold (See Potential Past)

Every single metal on this list, Allomantic or Feruchemical, has a use. Even if it’s a flimsy use. Allomantic Gold, on the other hand, doesn’t have a single positive application I can think of.

Burning Gold allows the Allomancer to “see their potential past” – not their immediate past, but a past that could’ve come to fruition if they’d made different life choices.

Not only is this ability useless in combat or real-world scenarios, but it could easily make the Allomancer existential and depressed as well.

31 – Allomantic Aluminium (Drain Own Metals)

No, it’s not “Aluminum” – even if Brandon Sanderson wrote it that way. It’s Aluminium. You need the “I” in there.

Allomantic Aluminium is perhaps the most comedically unhelpful metal in the whole series. When burned, it negates an Allomancer’s entire internal reserve of metals. In “The Final Empire”, for example, Vin was force-fed Aluminium in order to clear her metal reserves before meeting the Lord Ruler. Why would anyone choose to burn this?

This is arguably the one Allomantic ability you don’t want to be born with. Even Gold has a very specific application when Compounded (even if a Twinborn only has a 1/256 chance to be born as a Gold-Gold Twinborn … it’s still better than nothing).

30 – Feruchemical Copper (Stores Memories)

The first Feruchemical metal in this list, Feruchemical Copper allows someone to store and draw their memories from a metalmind. This is perhaps the most boring ability in the whole series.

I can maybe see it being useful for education or as a preservation of history. As far as I know, other Feruchemists can view the memories if they draw from someone’s metalmind, i.e. it could make studying a breeze if all the professors put their lectures on a Copper metalmind and all the students drew from it instantaneously.

29 – Feruchemical Electrum (Stores Determination)

I can only assume that any Feruchemist who stores and draws their Determination on a daily basis must come across as incredibly bipolar.

How does one “Store Determination”? I imagine drawing from an Electrum metalmind can be invigorating, so I guess depositing Determination will make the Feruchemist depressed?

Either way, having more enthusiasm for a task is the kind of thing a person can build naturally. You don’t need superpowers for that.

28 – Allomantic Cadmium (Slow Bubble)

“What’s a Slow Bubble?” you might be asking. Well, it’s exactly the opposite of a Speed Bubble. In other words, it would look like the Allomancer is moving incredibly slowly from an outsider’s perspective.

I would’ve put Allomantic Cadmium at the bottom of the list alongside Gold, but there are actually a couple of cool uses for it. Marasi used it in an ingenious way in “The Alloy Of Law”, for example, and I’ve seen people online point out how you could “cryogenically freeze” yourself for space travel. These were two very specific scenarios … but it’s better than nothing.

Need More Information

These might be the most important metallic abilities in the Cosmere … But we don’t know enough about them yet.

27 – Feruchemical Aluminium (Stores Identity)

From how I understand it, your “Identity” is who you are (crazy, I know). Your soul. I have no idea how you would store or draw from an Aluminium metalmind, if that was the case. Do you become more you if you draw enough? Do you lose yourself if you deposit too much? How the hell would Compounding even work?

There were some hints in “The Bands of Mourning” about possible applications of Identity and how metallic arts could potentially be transferred, but it’s nothing concrete. I imagine Brandon Sanderson will expand upon these ideas in future Mistborn books.

26 – Feruchemical Nicrosil (Stores Investiture)

Investiture is a big part of the Cosmere (Sanderson’s writing universe). Unfortunately, I haven’t read every single Brandon Sanderson book that’s ever been written.

It’s hard to say how the “Mistborn” powers would interact with the other Sanderson magic systems. Nicrosil might be an incredibly powerful metalmind to draw from – we simply don’t have enough information yet.

Disappointing

These abilities have a time and a place, but they pale in comparison to the much cooler, more useful abilities.

25 – Feruchemical Bronze (Stores Wakefulness)

There’s a certain kind of person who would jump at the chance to stay awake for days on end. “Think of the productivity!”, they’d probably say. Good for them. I personally value my sleep.

What’s ironic about this Feruchemical ability (like all Feruchemical abilities) is that you would have to sleep for days on end in order to store your Wakefulness. In other words, you won’t gain any hours back.

24 – Feruchemical Cadmium (Stores Breath)

I can see storing breath being far more useful than staying awake for hours or days. It could be potentially life-saving to hold your breath underwater, or for a Steelpusher if they fly too high in the sky where the air is thin.

What I can’t wrap my head around is how someone would deposit their breath. Are they just really wheezy and out-of-breath for hours? How would that even work?

23 – Feruchemical Brass (Stores Warmth)

Storing and drawing warmth, on the other hand, is a far more straightforward Feruchemical ability.

It sounds pretty sweet to cool yourself on a hot day or warm yourself on a chilly one. This is a great utility ability … just not a very exciting one.

22 – Feruchemical Bendalloy (Stores Energy)

On the one hand, Feruchemical Bendalloy is yet another underwhelming Feruchemical ability. It allows you to store the energy of food and draw from it later – in other words, you could go hiking in the mountains and not need to eat for days. Big deal.

But, if we follow that logic through, that means you could pig out on a massive banquet and not get fat. Sure, that means you’d have to stop eating for a week or so, but how cool would it be if calories didn’t exist?

21 – Allomantic Electrum (See Potential Future)

Seeing the future sounds like an absolute slam-dunk of an ability. You’d be near-unstoppable, always predicting enemy attacks and acting accordingly.

There are two major caveats, however – firstly, you can only see your own future. Okay. Still not a bad ability. Secondly, you can only see a few seconds into the future … which won’t help you much at all.

In Era 1 Electrum was used as a counter for the “God” metal Atium, but this is far too specific a scenario to be truly useful.

Good

While not the most glamourous abilities, I’d still be happy to have them.

20 – Feruchemical Zinc (Stores Mental Speed)

“Mental Speed” sounds like a simple concept … but it’s not necessarily equivalent to intelligence. If you’re stupid to begin with, tapping a Zinc metalmind will make you stupid at Mach speeds.

Increased mental speed doesn’t sound like a bad power at all, but I don’t like the idea of lowering mental speed in order to fill the metalmind. What if you become so “slow” that you forget what a metalmind is? Are you then stuck as an imbecile for the rest of eternity?

19 – Allomantic Copper (Hide Allomancy)

In Era 1 of “Mistborn” when Allomancy was outlawed and the Lord Ruler sent lots of Steel Inquisitors to find and eliminate all traces … yeah. Being able to hide Allomantic traces sounds like a life-saver.

In Era 2 and beyond, however, there’s not much need to hide Allomancy. It’s completely legal and, to make matters worse, there are ways of piercing a “Coppercloud” anyway.

18 – Feruchemical Tin (Stores Senses)

I quite like Tin as an Allomantic concept. Being able to enhance your senses could be extremely useful, but – as we’ve seen in the series – it also makes you more susceptible to pain.

If “lowering” your senses by storing them in a Tin metalmind made you feel less or no pain, I would rank this highly. I just don’t know if that’s how it would work. On top of that, I don’t know if prolonged blindness is worth it in the pursuit of eagle vision (to give one example).

17 – Allomantic Nicrosil (Enhance Other’s Metals)

Allomantic Nicrosil is the ultimate support metal. It doesn’t help the weilder in the slightest, but it does boost the Allomantic power of teammates as long as the Nicrosil Allomancer touches the target.

I can see situations where this buffing role turns the tide of a battle. I can see a lot of other situations where physically touching your teammates – especially in a chaotic Allomancy battle – could prove challenging.

Very Useful

I could see these abilities being very helpful in a number of situations.

16 – Allomantic Zinc (“Riot” Emotions)

Zinc Allomancers, or “Rioters”, can push on people’s emotions to get them to do things they otherwise wouldn’t have.

The typical usage is starting violence or riots, but I think I remember Rioters being able to make people more persuadable as well (by pushing on specific emotions, like kindness). It could be a cheat code into getting people to do what you want.

15 – Allomantic Bronze (Detect Allomancy)

The days of hiding illegal Allomancy with Allomantic Copper are long gone. The days of catching criminals with Allomantic Bronze, however, is still going strong in Era 2 and beyond.

Burning Bronze allows you to detect anyone using Allomancy in the nearby vicinity … providing they aren’t burning Copper. It’s the best way of hunting down a rogue Allomancer – unless your name is Waxillium Ladrian, in which case you can just rely on your detective instincts alone.

14 – Feruchemical Duralumin (Stores Connection)

This is a Feruchemical power which freaks me out. I cannot begin to fathom how you could store your “Connection” to someone. Would it make everyone instantly like you?

The only thing holding this back, like all Feruchemical abilities, is that you’d have to endure some strenuous relationships (i.e. some “bad Connections”) while you’re charging the metalmind.

13 – Feruchemical Iron (Stores Physical Weight)

We actually see Feruchemical Iron get used a lot in Era 2, as it’s Wax’s Feruchemical ability. It compliments his Roughs fighting style nicely.

You could add weight to your body in a fight (maybe even to your fists as they connect), and you could shed weight when falling from a great height to land more softly.

12 – Allomantic Iron (Pull Metals)

The “Mistborn” magic system at its core is all about metals, and so any power to do with manipulating said metals is always going to be game-changing.

Sadly, Allomantic Iron is far less interesting than its Steel counterpart. Pulling on metals certainly has its uses (I can imagine a Spider-Man type of figure pulling on the tops of skyscrapers as they swing, or a bodyguard pulling bullets towards themselves), but across the series pushing on metals is proven to be far more effective.

11 – Allomantic Chromium (Drain Other’s Metals)

Like Allomantic Nicrosil, Chromium’s power would only work if you touched another Allomancer … but is it just me that thinks this would be a really great combat ability to have?

Especially if you’re a Twinborn with some other kind of physical Feruchemical ability, you could run around the battlefield and neutralize as many Allomancers as possible.

… Until they dodge out of your reach and load up on more metals, of course.

10 – Allomantic Duralumin (Enhance Own Metals)

Duralumin (and Aluminium) would be a terrible Allomantic ability if you’re a Misting or Twinborn. There’s a reason these types of Allomancers are called “Gnats” in-universe – there’s no way to enhance your metals if you can’t channel the other metals in the first place.

If you’re a Mistborn, Duralumin becomes one of the most important metals in your arsenal. If you burn it while burning another metal, suddenly that targeted metal would become super OP – a bit like Compounding. A Steelpusher, for example, may suddenly have enough strength to topple a building.

9 – Feruchemical Chromium (Stores Fortune)

Compounding Chromium – where the Feruchemist could draw on an infinite well of good fortunes – sounds like the most OP ability in the series. How could you beat someone with god-like luck on their side?

Regular Feruchemical Chromnium, however, comes with its requisite drawbacks. You would have to endure periods of bad fortune in order to manufacture some good fortune. But hey, this would still be a very useful ability to have.

Life-Saving

If someone has one of these abilities, chances are they’re one of the most powerful people around.

8 – Allomantic Brass (“Soothe” Emotions)

I’ve always been more a fan of “Soothing” emotions than “Rioting” them. Part of that is to do with my pacifist nature, but it’s also because of how OP Soothing can be in the right hands.

Imagine you’re in a fight with someone – verbal or physical – and then all of a sudden you’re just … not. You can convince the other side to concede without lifting a finger. That’s the kind of power I’d want to have.

You just have to hope that it’s used by honest, honourable people.

7 – Allomantic Tin (Enhance Senses)

Enhancing your senses sounds like a great, all-encompassing ability. Food would taste awesome. You could see miniscule details or spot something miles away. You could eavesdrop on someone across town. Enhanced smell might not be as pleasant …

We’ve actually seen someone use Tin for a much cooler reason – Spook in Era 1 was a “Tin Savant” (meaning he burnt Tin continuously), and that meant he had a heightened awareness of his surroundings. He was a great combatant because could sense any attack coming his way.

Basically, being a Tin Savant means becoming Daredevil – but with the added bonus of having incredible eyesight on top of your other powers.

6 – Feruchemical Steel (Stores Physical Speed)

This might be a slight spoiler if you haven’t made it to Era 2 of the series yet, but there’s a character in “Shadows of Self” called “Bleeder” who can tap a Feruchemical Steel metalmind. As a result, she moves around at lightning speed and is incredibly deadly.

Once again, a Feruchemical power means you’d have to suffer through some lethargic hours and days in order to stock up on speed. But running around like Sonic the Hedgehog sounds like a lot of fun.

5 – Feruchemical Pewter (Stores Physical Strength)

Feruchemical Pewter is a lot like Feruchemical Steel, except you would trade unbelievably speed for a moderate speed boost and a HUGE strength boost.

Sazed in Era 1 is perhaps the most iconic user of Feruchemical Pewter. Sanderson describes Sazed’s muscles as being deflated and wilted while he charged the metalmind, but then when he tapped it he grew in both musculature and size.

Every time you left the house, providing you charged the metalmind enough in your downtime, you would be the strongest person in town.

4 – Allomantic Bendalloy (Speed Bubble)

I’m noticing that a lot of the abilities used by main characters in the series are the ones I’m ranking highly. You could argue that I’m being biased towards abilities we’ve seen more often … but I think Sanderson knows which powers are coolest and therefore uses them more than the others.

Wayne is my MVP of Era 2 – the Speed Bubbles he can create compliments his close-quarters fighting style perfectly, and it’s such a cool concept. The world around him slows down, giving him all the time he needs inside the Speed Bubble (until his Bendalloy runs out). Throwing up a Speed Bubble in a tight spot would almost guarantee your safety.

Iconic

These abilities would be incredible – and they’re what make the “Mistborn” series great.

3 – Allomantic Pewter (Enhance Physical Strength)

It’s just as empowering as Feruchemical Pewter, except for Allomantic Pewter you could burn the metal without needing to sap yourself of strength beforehand. You would become unstoppable in seconds.

People who burn Pewter in this universe are called “Pewterarms”. Not only are they strong but they have incredible stamina, a flawless sense of balance, amazing dexterity … Basically, any physical attribute you can think of is enhanced.

There’s a drawback to using too much Pewter (mainly for people who run fast for too long) called “Pewter Dragging”, but I don’t think that’s much of a con when the pros are so powerful.

2 – Feruchemical Gold (Stores Health)

Allomantic Gold is at the bottom of this ranking, whereas Feruchemical Gold is the second best metallic ability you could possibly have. Gold Twinborns are either the most intimidating or most useless people in this universe.

I’ve ranked all Feruchemical metals based on the catch that “storing” something means generally having a tough time, but I think Gold is the exception. Imagine if you could heal a bullet wound (or some other fatal wound), and all you needed was a week or two beforehand where you felt under the weather?

The other main draw of Feruchemical Gold is its Compounding potential. In “The Alloy of Law” we saw Miles Hundredlives use Gold Compounding to be effectively immortal. If he wasn’t the villain of the story (i.e. if the plot didn’t require him to be beaten), this would be an unstoppable ability.

If nothing else, having a reserve of health to draw from would be the dictionary definition of life-saving.

1 – Allomantic Steel (Push Metals)

To put it bluntly, there would be no “Mistborn” series without Allomantic Steel.

Steelpushers can, as their name suggests, push on any metals whenever they burn Steel. At its core this doesn’t sound particularly interesting – maybe only as useful as Iron-pulling.

But Steelpushers are the flashy Allomancers of this universe. They can launch themselves up into the air and float through the mists. They can use small metal objects, like coins, as deadly weapons if they fire them towards their enemies. It’s like if Superman used a gun.

It’s no mistake that both Vin from Era 1 and Wax from Era 2 both use Steel as the main weapon in their arsenal – it’s the coolest power both mechanically and visually, and its applications are near-infinite.

Aaaand that’s my list! If you liked this post and want to support me, please consider giving me a one-time donation. Even a few pence (or whatever currency you use) is fantastic! I’ve never monetized this blog before, but it would be great if I could do this comfortably and not have to worry about the yearly website domain costs. Thank you so much!