Power Hierarchy

[thunderhawk86]

Arguably the five strongest characters on the side of good in the Buffyverse are Buffy, Angel, Spike, Faith, Connor and Illyria. Barring mystical upgrades that don't last forever, who would win the most fights between them?

I think Illyria is the strongest fighter followed by Buffy, Spike, Angel, Faith and Connor in that order.

I haven't read the comics, only the recaps I can find online so maybe I missed something. I think the hardest to place is Angel vs. Spike. I think Spike has consistantly been more sure of himself in who he is which would give him a slight 6-4 edge in a ten fight matchup.

What do you think?

 

[Don]

Angel gets possessed and kills everyone. Fight ends.

 

[white avenger]

Illyria was definitely the most powerful fighter before Wes reduced her powers, and during and since the "After The Fall" arc seems to have regained a lot of that physical power. Buffy would be the next most powerful fighter, which doesn't necessarily mean that she could lift more weight as much as it means that she is the most skillful fighter, which is a totally different thing. Angelus spent over a year intimidating, bullying, and generally convincing Spike that he could never Angelus' equal, but I think that Buffy's faith and encouragement in Season 7 gave him the confidence to beat Angel the next time that they fought. From that, I would put Spike as number 3. Faith should have been the next most skillful, but her being only number 5 is her lack of experience, due to the time that she spent in prison would have given Angel the edge on her at the time of Buffy Season 7/Angel Season 4. Even from being out of action for so long, she managed to hold her own against Angelus for awhile, even after being almost pulverized only a day earlier by the Beast. Give her another year to get back in shape, as she almost certainly would be by Season 8, and she might very well be more than Angel's equal once more. And that brings us finally to Connor. Bearing in mind that he spent the first 15 years in a hell dimension and lived says a lot for his survival skills, and, bearing in mind that he is only an adolescent, he hasn't developed his full physical power yet. Given a few years' training and experience, he could very possibly become Angel's equal, if not superior.

So, at the time of Season 8, I would rank the overall fighting skills as:

1) Illyria
2) Buffy
3) Spike
4) Faith
5) Angel
6) Connor (But give the kid a few years, and he may be able to kick his old man's a**, though I think that Faith will always be better than he will be.)