Everyone seems to be overlooking a very important factor concerning Faith and her fighting ability, or strength. When she was in Sunnydale in Season 3, Faith was a relatively new Slayer, a couple of years behind Buffy in training and experience. After a few months, she "rogued out" and soon thereafter, Buffy stabbed her and put her into a coma for the better part of a year, after which she awakened, confronted Buffy, fled to L A,was helped by Angel, and finally confessed her crimes and went to prison, where she remained until Season 7. During all of this combined coma/prison time, Faith was gaining absolutely no Slayer experience, and facing no enemies adequate to challenge her fighting skills, thereby strengthening her power as a Slayer.
In another thread, I rated Faith as the weakest fighter, right behind Angel, in a comparison of Buffy, Spike, Angel, and Faith, and gave my reasons for my beliefs, which remain the same up to now. Faith is a truly formidable fighter, but the Beast was right in recognizing the inexperience in her. Granted, Faith, as a Slayer, shares a mystical link with all the Slayers who came before her, and to a certain extent has all of their combined skills, but that is a mental link, not a physical one.
Her "weakness" was a lack of experience.
