Originally posted by XSUPREMEXSKILLZ
To be honest, I could care less about speed when it comes to characters at these levels of power. Look no further than Valkorion. The guy who stands still and oneshots everybody in all of his fights.
The Maladian feat does indeed impress me due to the context of the feat. Plagueis is literally almost dead, having to use heart stun just to keep himself alive, and he's still sending out force waves that are literally, "all but atomizing," the armored Maladian assassins. A comparison I'd like to draw is that Luke Skywalker, the son of the Chosen One that's generally regarded as the most powerful Jedi to ever live in his prime, was shocked when he reduced someone to bone with a telekinetic attack, (I'm sorry I can't recall the source in which this occurred, I'll try to find it). Another similar feat is Vitiate unleashing his rage on T3-M4 and disintegrating him/it. Plagueis accomplished the Maladian feat while:
1. Near-dead
2. Long before his prime, (later on Plagueus uses midichlorian manipulation to become, "far more powerful"
.
And yes, Plagueis and Sidious throwing the force out of balance, even if it was done with Sidious and also months of meditation, is an absolutely immense feat. Though it doesn't tell us anything about his combative aptitude, neither does Sadow using the meditation sphere.
I think it's also important to note that based on his fight with Venamis coupled with his immense raw power/speed/physical strength, Plagueis is an incredibly skilled and adroit lightsaber combatant. And Luceno implies that Plagueis could have found a way to defeat his apprentice in a duel had it come down to that. This is Sidious, probably the most frighteningly skilled lightsaber duelist amongst the Sith we've ever seen from a feats-standpoint. Ultimately, I just find Plagueis's cosmic scale of affecting the force, along with his immense physicals and lightsaber/force skill in combat, to put him above any ancient Sith we've seen bar Vitiate, who's one shotting the likes of Revan long before his peak in Knights of the Fallen Empire as Valkorion.
Just to clear a couple of things up:
1. Vitiate was not a teen when he nom'd Nathema, he was a century-old sorcerer by that point.
2. He needed the aid of 8000 Sith Lords to complete this immense ritual.
3. The ritual is described as the most complex sith ritual ever attempted, more so than anything Hord, Sadow, Ragnos, or Muur ever dared to do.
4. Interestingly enough, Revan's transcript of Vitiate's ritual inspired the Thought Bomb. Good points, I would also add and he was also carving them apart with his bare hands, crushing their skulls and smashing their spines. Again while mortally injured and before his prime.
There is also a moment in Sidious' attempt to kill him where, without offering a defense, was able to absorb burst of lightning from Sheev when he was "drawing more deeply on the dark side than he ever had."
Crackling from his fingertips, a web of blue lightning ground itself on the Muun's breathing device. Plagueis's eyes snapped open, the Force gathering in him like a storm, but he stopped short of defending himself. This being who had survived assassinations and killed countless opponents merely gazed at Sidious, until it struck him that Plagueis was challenging him! Confident that he couldn't be killed, and in denial that he was slowly suffocating, he might have been simply experimenting with himself, actually courting death to put it in its place. Momentarily taken aback, Sidious stood absolutely still. Was Plagueis so self-deluded as to believe that he had achieved immortality?
The question lingered for only a moment, then Sidious unleashed another tangle of lightning, drawing more deeply on the dark side than he ever had.
...
Sidious peered at Plagueis through the Force. "Oh, yes, by all means gather your midi-chlorians, Plagueis." He held his thumb and forefinger close together. "Try to keep yourself alive while I choke the life out of you."
Seemingly sustaining himself solely through manipulating his midichlorians, which I would say is among his most impressive accomplishments.
