Thread:Omega64/@comment-4503935-20190703001710/@comment-10330822-20191218021335

You would think he was one of the stronger ones, because he was apparently the closest to achieving Bankai out of the Lieutenants, Chojiro excluded because he already had Bankai. Ikkaku also had it, he just refuses to use it thus limiting his battle power.

The closest to achieving Bankai after Renji were Rukia and Shuhei, achieving it 1 1/2 years after Renji. Shuhei is especially held in high regard by the Captains. So it gives you perspective that Renji was probably held in the same regard. Granted Shuhei is much more balanced than Renji.

However, it kind of depends what you consider "elite". Sure, Renji had higher reiatsu than a most Lieutenants being on the higher lieutenant side and the lower captain side, and he was a master swordsman and probably a shunpo expert, but I have to feel some Lieutenants were probably more balanced. Rukia for example didn't have Renji's reiatsu and sword mastery levels, but she makes up for it in capable hakudo and kido skills. Shuhei likewise seems to have far more Kido mastery than Renji with equal if not more sword mastery. Still, I'd say its better to be a Bankai user than a Kido expert, because Bankai bumps your reiatsu up about 5-10 times what it usually is, and has Aizen explained if your reiatsu is high enough, Kido becomes pretty much irrelevant.

The reason Renji is so strong is because he training so much with the Eleventh Division, specifically Ikakku who is a Bankai master. So it should come as no surprise that Renji ends up being one of the stronger Lieutenants in term of sword and Zanpakuto mastery. The other Lieutenants don't seem to train as hard as him. Momo and Izuru specifically were pretty much groomed to be Aizen and Gin's Lieutenants because their blind loyalty made them easy to manipulate.