The case for Vitiate > RotS Sidious: Powerscaling

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The Ellimist
I hold that TPM Sidious > Valkorian (and Plagueis > Valkorian), but this is the most convincing counterargument IMHO.

So if we want to put the Sith Emperor above Sidious, we just need to compare how thoroughly they dominate the competition.

Palpatine is obviously far stronger than the likes of Dooku/Maul/Savage etc. But, he still needs to engage the B-team in a precious several seconds of actual dueling that gives Windu time to sink into vaapad. His relative peer, Yoda, seems to be exerted when he duels Dooku in AotC. Dooku, in turn, struggles against (and loses to) Anakin and Obi Wan, each of whom frequently struggle against the likes of Maul and Savage. So if we buy this chain, Sidious cannot be inconceivably more powerful than anyone else in the PT.

The story is different for Vitiate. He is apparently so much more powerful than pretty much everyone else in his era that it's kind of ridiculous. He is >>> all six dread masters combined, each one of which has fleet-soloing TP feats. He is >>> Revan 3.0, Malgus, Jadus, Satele, etc. He takes out entire strike teams of high powered sith and jedi.

So, if we have Sidious > Vitiate, we would have to put each dread master at < 17% of Palpatine's power, and subsequently make them insects compared to, say, Vader (80% of RotJ Palpatine). A lot of other TOR heavyweights seem to be on par with or weaker than the dread masters, so we'd have to assume that pretty much everyone in TOR is weaker than Kit Fisto by a substantial margin for the arithmetic to make sense.

This becomes more loaded when we look at Vitiate's crazy progression; by the Revan novel he's already noticeably above Revan Reborn, then he gains several substantial power boosts from there. If Revan ~= Vader as some people believe, or even ~= Dooku, I don't think there's enough room between Vader/Dooku and Sidious to say that TOR Vitiate hasn't surpassed Palpatine.



I also think that people intuitively get this impression. If someone created a thread "Malgus, Jadus and HoT vs. Valkorian", most people would probably say Valkorian (that's the impression the game gives you). But the thread about Palpatine vs. his apprentices has a decent chunk going for the apprentices. Vitiate gives off the vibe of being more unbeatable than Sidious.

FreshestSlice
If everyone in TOR was even remotely comparable to Valkorion in anything, and if Malgus, Jadus and the HoT were close to Maul, Dooku, and Vader, you'd have a point with scaling. Unfortunately, neither is true. Valkorion is impressive because he has feats no one in his era can currently match. Sidious has Force Storm and that's about it, and even then it's whon that it can be stopped by a fetus.

XSUPREMEXSKILLZ
Originally posted by FreshestSlice
If everyone in TOR was even remotely comparable to Valkorion in anything, and if Malgus, Jadus and the HoT were close to Maul, Dooku, and Vader, you'd have a point with scaling. Unfortunately, neither is true. Valkorion is impressive because he has feats no one in his era can currently match. Sidious has Force Storm and that's about it, and even then it's whon that it can be stopped by a fetus.

Even assuming Malgus, Jadus and the HoT aren't close to Maul, Dooku, and Vader, it's nitpicking given that you can easily replace the former 3 with Arcann, Revan, and the Dread Masters. Valkorion is impressive because of Ziost and the fact that he's shown himself to be so utterly superior to beings that can down fleets, rape the Outlander, slaughter through armies of dark Jedi, Jedi-killing mega droids, and the Dark Lord of the Sith far pre prime, and easily one shot one of the 3-5 most powerful dark council members we've seen (Nyriss). Oh yeah and resist the Dread Masters/Vitiate for 300 years.

The Ellimist
Originally posted by FreshestSlice
If everyone in TOR was even remotely comparable to Valkorion in anything,

That's the point, though - you can make the case that nobody else in TOR is, which makes it unlikely that Sidious > Valkorian unless if you have Maul/Dooku/Vader >>>>>> Malgus/Jadus/HoT.



Most people put Jadus and Revan around Vader's tier. For Sidious > Valkorian to hold, you'd arguably have to put even SOR Revan below Maul.



Sidious also has other feats such as his musings of tearing down the imperial palace and dismantlement of the B-team. Honestly the best arguments for Palpatine are his accolades ("most powerful sith lord in history"wink and feats.

FreshestSlice
Originally posted by XSUPREMEXSKILLZ
Even assuming Malgus, Jadus and the HoT aren't close to Maul, Dooku, and Vader, it's nitpicking given that you can easily replace the former 3 with Arcann, Revan, and the Dread Masters.
Except those were the examples given, so it's not nitpicking at all, lel.

With Battle Meditation.

Eh.

Something they couldn't do after KotOR II, so not sure how that's a point for Vitiate.

As impressive as that all is, Revan drawing off a Force Ghost for the last part, with killing droids as most of the first, it's not what makes Valkorion or Vitiate, or whatever, powerful as that still brings in power scaling. It's him being able to do what others in his era can't

FreshestSlice
Originally posted by The Ellimist
That's the point, though - you can make the case that nobody else in TOR is, which makes it unlikely that Sidious > Valkorian unless if you have Maul/Dooku/Vader >>>>>> Malgus/Jadus/HoT.

Or you can stop with the assumption that Sidious must be more powerful than Valkorion.

Again, the above.

Vader can tear down the Imperial Palace and take on the B-Team.

True. Valkorion isn't a Sith so it's now relevant.

The Ellimist
Originally posted by FreshestSlice
Or you can stop with the assumption that Sidious must be more powerful than Valkorion.

confused That's the literal opposite of what I was arguing for...

FreshestSlice
Exactly? I realize. Doesn't matter what you're arguing for. I argued the opposite.

The Ellimist
No, dude, I was making a case for why Vitiate is more powerful than Sidious. You weren't arguing the opposite, you were inadvertently agreeing with me and still trying to argue for some reason. I think you messed up reading the OP, lol. It's no big deal.

XSUPREMEXSKILLZ
Originally posted by FreshestSlice
Except those were the examples given, so it's not nitpicking at all, lel.

With Battle Meditation.

Eh.

Something they couldn't do after KotOR II, so not sure how that's a point for Vitiate.

As impressive as that all is, Revan drawing off a Force Ghost for the last part, with killing droids as most of the first, it's not what makes Valkorion or Vitiate, or whatever, powerful as that still brings in power scaling. It's him being able to do what others in his era can't

Nitpicking was probably the wrong word. "Irrelevant" would probably be more sound.

Yeah.

Arcann raping HoT then resisting weakened Valkorion's still insanely powerful lightning for some time is immensely impressive. And yet he gets casually cast aside by Peak!Valkorion.

I agree that him being able to do things far beyond the capabilities of other force users in his era is what makes him powerful. But the fact of the matter is that's clearly facilitated by him annihilating Revan far pre prime, one shotting Arcann, being considered infinitely more powerful than the Dread Masters by the Wrath, etc.

FreshestSlice
Sure, I agree there, but I don't agree with the general vibe of the OP that everything in TOR is comparable to everything in the OT, and this makes Valkorion more powerful, which is kind of what I'm saying, though.

FreshestSlice
Originally posted by XSUPREMEXSKILLZ

Arcann raping HoT then resisting weakened Valkorion's still insanely powerful lightning for some time is immensely impressive. And yet he gets casually cast aside by Peak!Valkorion.

The HoT still has a long ways to go in the defence department for me to consider that "immensely impressive."

Sure, but that still leaves the scaling issue. You'd have to eliminate that first. Revan 'far pre prime" by a margin his author won't verify could be anywhere on said scale. Valkorion's going to have to stand on his own hear. Things like Asylum and Ziost help that more than defeating Revan, honestly. It doesn't hurt by any means, but Revan not killing a thing in 300+ years does, at least as far as using him as a benchmark goes.

S_W_LeGenD
Interesting analysis. I approve. smile

Col. Valerian
Of course you do.

S_W_LeGenD
Originally posted by Col. Valerian
Of course you do.
His assessment makes sense. Got anything against it?

Power-scaling is a useful method to assess the position of a character vis-a-vis to his surroundings.

Sinious
With KOTFE, Valky might have surpassed Sidious in the force, but he still isn't beating him all out imo.

The Ellimist
Tempest, respond.

The_Tempest
Yes, my child?

The Ellimist
Produce your opinion.

Rebel95
Is Sidious being the most powerful sith lord in history a canon quote? If so it shouldn't matter because Vitiate is legends right?

Darth Abonis
Yes, Valkorion is stronger than Palpatine, but he isn't canon so who cares.

The Ellimist
Originally posted by Rebel95
Is Sidious being the most powerful sith lord in history a canon quote? If so it shouldn't matter because Vitiate is legends right?

Those quotes are actually from Legends.

XSUPREMEXSKILLZ
Originally posted by Darth Abonis
Yes, Valkorion is stronger than Palpatine

smile

FreshestSlice
Originally posted by Rebel95
Is Sidious being the most powerful sith lord in history a canon quote? If so it shouldn't matter because Vitiate is legends right?
I highly doubt Canon will ever outright say it, since they seem to be wanking Skywalkers right now, but he's probably the strongest in Canon too.

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