Why didn't Gandalf use his powers?

Gah I was wrong not Celebrimbor, Cirdan of the Harbour. Besides, Gandalf couldn't have defeated Sauron as the White without the use of the ring and it was not his purpose to. Someone pointed out earlier that Isildur cut the ring from Saurons hand and defeated him, this is somewhat of a tainted view its often seen that it was the combined effort of Gil-Galad and Elendil that threw down Sauron but also cost them their lives. In his fall Elendil fell upon Narsil and broke it, after Saurons defeat Isildur then took up the shards of his fathers sword and cut the ring from Saurons hand.

Why even ask? Obviously if Tolkien had written the books the way YOU wanted then they wouldn't have been epic, wouldn't have been long enough, and wouldn't have sold. As a Maiar and having lived so long, perhaps Gandalf understood that doing everything for the race of Men would have gotten them nothing

Because it's not a comic book.
I sometimes feel like 60% of all questions on this forum can be answered by "It's Tolkien, not a comic book."

Because when you do something right, no one will be sure that you've done anything at all.

My theory is that gandalf draws his powers from the morale of his current allies, almost like the protronus spell in Harry Potter but different.

Gandalf doesnt NEED to use his powers! hes not like some wimpy HP character that relies compleatly on magic! He can actully FIGHT. So thats probably why. Gandalf dont need no magic to kick butt!