Whether it's "fight, fight, fight" or "tatakae, tatakae, tatakae," it seems Eren Jaeger/Yeager is too fixated on that idea to care about anything else. His most recent actions in Attack on Titan have painted him more as a villain than the reluctant hero everyone knew in the previous seasons. Despite the fact that he's hell-bent on murdering the world, he still gave the fans some jaw-dropping fights.
In fact, most of the astonishing fights in Attack on Titan usually involve either Eren or the Attack Titan. To that end, he serves as the perfect vessel for the said Shifter Titan as Eren Yeager has proven to be more violent and driven than this forebear, Eren Kruger. It's all for the best, either way, as without Eren's fixation on freedom, justice, and aggression, the viewers never would have seen these eight action-packed moments.
8 Jean-Boy Joust
- Appeared in: Season 3, Episode 49
- Characters involved: Eren, Jean, Levi
Apart from the Eldian Titan Shifters, Eren has always had a long-standing rivalry with one of his comrades, Jean Kirschtein. It has something to do with Jean adoring Mikasa except the latter is too obsessed with Eren to care about him. The built-up resentment between the two boys is almost tangible and this sort of blew up before the Battle of Shiganshina.
Both of them supposedly got too drunk and started fighting on the sendoff party for the Survey Corps members who would be joining the battle. It wasn't exactly a proper fisticuff, but it was refreshing to see Eren in a friendly fight for a change after all that shouting and murderous intent. In the end, it was a tie and Levi Ackerman emerged as the winner after beating some sense into his drunk underlings.
7 Armin Abuse
- Appeared in: Season 4, Episode 73
- Characters involved: Armin, Eren, Mikasa
Armin was never a fighter despite having the highest kill count out of all the Survey Corps members, but he's proven that he can still showcase what he learned in combat training. This one was a rather saddening fight as it involved a frustrated Armin who was only defending Mikasa after Eren verbally abused his foster sister.
Interestingly, Eren's brawl with Armin had 2D animations, which are undeniably smoother compared to the 3D titan fights of Season 4. They really put an effort in beautifying Eren eating Armin alive — figuratively, in hand-to-hand combat. Despite being a one-sided fight, this was an iconic Eren moment as in the eyes of the fans, this was what sealed Eren's role as a villain.
6 Founding Freedom
- Appeared in: Season 2, Episode 37
- Characters involved: Regular titans, Eren, Mikasa, Armored Titan, Bertholdt
It's always a pivotal moment when Eren finds out that he has some kind of hidden power, just like during the first time he unleashed the Attack Titan. He would later do something like that again in Season 2 upon meeting his half-brother's mom, Dina, who was a titan back then. Eren managed to activate the Founding Titan, whom his father granted along with the Attack Titan.
Thus, he was able to control all the regular titans around and sic them all on the Armored Titan. Suffice to say, it was Eren again who turned a losing battle into a close victory. While it wasn't exactly an action-packed battle on Eren's part, getting to command titans was one of the most special feats he could perform; plus, the Founding Titan's reveal was phenomenal.
5 Brotherly Betrayal
- Appeared in: Season 4, Episode 78/79
- Characters involved: Eren, Zeke
This one's more of a mental battle between Eren and Zeke but its prelude was quite grand as it involved Marley's Eldian Warrior Unit against Paradis and the Yeagerists. It's rare seeing Eren employ some cool-headed strategies and tactics, but he pulled off something only Erwin or Armin can by tricking his half-brother Zeke into taking him to the Paths.
There, the two of them vied for Ymir's power to control the Founding Titan. Zeke seemed to get the upper hand by revealing that he knew all along that Eren's plan for the world was different and involved genocide, but the latter pulled ahead thanks to his gaze of the future via the Attack Titan. Depending on perspective, it was more or less cheating on Eren's part but at least Zeke got to display his strategic genius one last time.
4 Besting Bertholdt
- Appeared in: Season 3, Episode 54
- Characters involved: Eren, Colossal Titan
As expected, Eren doesn't exactly bode well in his human form in the first three seasons of the series. It was only in the final season that he became competent as himself. Before that, he merely relied on the Attack Titan to get himself through hairy and sticky situations. In fact, as a human, he only has a handful of kills as a soldier of the Survey Corps.
However, there was one moment when Eren utilized some tactical brilliance in order to defeat Bertholdt and his Colossal Titan. After a prolonged endurance battle against the Colossal Titan, Eren as the Attack Titan feigned defeat while his human form snuck up behind Bertholdt to deliver the coup de grâce.
3 War With Willy
- Appeared in: Season 4, Episode 64-67
- Characters involved: All Titan Shifters except Annie, Survey Corps
Eren is certainly known for his impulsiveness and animosity, but even his own comrades were surprised at what he did against Marley. He went there as a spy to soften up targets before dragging all of Paradis to war. As a proper way to kick off the total war, Eren immediately ate Willy Tybur after declaring war on Paradis.
After that, Eren and his Survey Corps friends gave the Warrior Unit a taste of paradise devilry. At most, Eren fought the War Hammer Titan as the Jaw Titan and the Cart Titan were merely humiliated by the Survey Corps and the Ackermans. Reiner was also there with his Armored Titan, but he's too busy maintaining his losing streak.
2 Annie Arena
- Appeared in: Season 1, Episode 24/25
- Characters involved: Armored Titan, Female Titan
Annie Leonhart might have been underutilized starting Season 2, but one can't deny that she was one of the strongest characters when it comes to physicality and presence. She was the only rival to an Ackerman in terms of skill. So when her Female Titan fought Eren's Attack Titan, it was one of the most satisfying payoffs of the series.
For Eren, that fight opportunity alone was retribution due to how much Survey Corps veteran blood is on Annie's hands. It was also a test to see how well he finally mastered the Attack Titan after many trials. Eren somehow won after an exhilarating MMA match with the Stohess district houses as their ring.
1 Reiner Rivalry
- Appeared in: Season 2 onwards
- Characters involved: Armored Titan, Attack Titan
But it's not Annie nor Bertholdt who kept coming back for more scraps with Eren, but Reiner. Due to how many times they fought and just how much Eren loathes Reiner, it should be official that they're each other's nemesis by now. Hilariously enough, Reiner has never won against Eren. Even in their first fight, Eren would have won if not for Bertholdt's intervention.
Their subsequent fights often result in Eren unleashing some new trick he learned or just straight up disrespecting Reiner. Eren's superior fighting skills paired with a relentless type of titan always ensure his victory. Even when it came to psychological warfare, hobo Eren still won against Reiner. The only opponents Reiner can reliably defeat are walls.