swedish_bum
R.I.P Dimebag Darrell!
Darth Vader is a brilliant strategist and one of the greatest pilots in the galaxy. Vader still possesses his former persona's amazing engineering skills, having overseen the design of the TIE/Advanced fighter and the construction of the second Death Star. His talent with the lightsaber is legendary. All of these skills, however, are secondary to his incredible mastery of the Force. He was born with the highest known midichlorian count (a measure of Force-aptitude) in the history of the galaxy, surpassing that of both Yoda and the Emperor. However, Lucas states that his injuries on Mustafar cost Vader much of his Force potential. Lucas claims that, as a masked and suited Darth Vader, Anakin has roughly 80% of the power of the Emperor. Had he sustained none of his injuries on Mustafar, he would have been about twice as powerful. Vader's lack of organic hands is the direct reason he cannot create Force lightning, as Dooku and Palpatine could. [6]
In The Empire Strikes Back, Vader was able to block Han Solo's blaster bolts with his hand. One explanation is that Vader used the Force, while an Expanded Universe novel states that Vader's right glove was indestructible.
Vader also has great physical strength, which he demonstrates in his first and last appearances in the original trilogy: lifting a Rebel captain by the throat with one hand in A New Hope, and picking up the Emperor and hurling him to his death in Return of the Jedi. The Expanded Universe has shown him punching through the skull of savage predators and bludgeoning opposing Jedi onto their knees with one blow.
In battle, Darth Vader lacked the mobility and ease he once had, but his bionic suit gave him sheer strength. His blows were forceful even when using only one arm to fight. He was calm when fighting, rarely using acrobatics. He struck to kill and used psychology and his appearance to intimidate his foes. When striking with both hands on the grip of his lightsaber, he was able to pound his enemies with an onslaught of strong but somewhat slow strikes. This fighting style contrasted with Anakin's style before his disfigurement, which utilized more speed and acrobatics. This a fairly accepted explanation for the less-elaborate saber fighting in the original trilogy as compared to the prequel trilogy. Luke's less-developed saber skills were ostensibly a result of his minimal training. While most padawans were trained from early ages for at least a good 15 years, Luke started very late. However, the most widely accepted explanation for the slower combat of the original trilogy is the lack of "film magic" in the 70's, considering Obi-Wan also fought slowly in A New Hope at age 57 despite Count Dooku fighting with intense speed in the prequels at age 80+. A possible explanation could be that he was doing so on purpose. Obi-Wan may have recognized that it was the fate of Vader/Anakin to kill Palpatine, as per the prophecy. Obi-Wan expressed that his purpose was to distract Vader and the Imperial forces to allow Luke and the others to escape the Death Star. Another explanation for Obi-Wan's decreased lightsaber skills could simply be that he was out of practice and in poor physical condition, having lived in the harsh desert setting of Tatooine for twenty years, and not being able to use the Force for fear of attracting Palpatine's attention.