Originally posted by Nephthys
He one-shot losers like Brand and Rayf Ysanna, while Vitiate easily whooped 5 of the most powerful Jedi at the time. He reduced those acolytes to ash from behind, so big deal. Your contrast is dumb, like me saying that Malgus > Sidious because he's killed people with TK while Sidious has only subdued them. Vitiate has overpowered multiple powerful opponents who are actively resisting him. His lightning is superior.
You forget that, even when his back is turned, Palpatine's lightning in RotJ is fatal to Vader, despite the latter's tanking Galen Marek's lightning in both TFU installments. You know, the same lightning that he uses to crush AT-STs.
Also, Vitiate's lightning ownage feats, IIRC, occur on dark side nexuses, and always (again, IIRC) occur when he has convenient prep time to charge and harness his energies.
He enslaved said billions over a large period of time in an indeterminate manner. It has no provable combat application. And Vitiate ensnared Jedi better:
Mind domination isn't allowed per the OP, and even if it were, there is nothing to suggest that Vitiate has the power to dominate Mace Windu and his superconducting loop. The Revan novel suggests that Vitiate is vulnerable when he's trying to mind-rape; while he attempts this on the less powerful members of the arrest squad, Windu or possibly Kit Fisto could lunge in and chop his head off.
'The Sith Emperor has mastered the dark side’s power to become the most dominating Force-user the galaxy has ever seen. His corrupting influence is so complete that none can stand in his presence without succumbing to fear, anger and hatred. The Emperor can wither and ruin even the strongest Jedi’s connection to the light side. Jedi Master Tol Braga’s strike team was not the first group to succumb to the Sith leader’s oppressive influence. Hundreds of years ago, the Jedi Revan and Malak discovered Dromund Kaas and confronted the Emperor. They fell to the dark side and returned to Republic space as Sith Lords. Since then, dozens more Jedi have followed the same path into evil.'
Note that Revan and Malak were already on the precipice of the dark side, and a redeemed Revan was able to resist the emperor mental powers, first in the midst of combat, and then later for [b]three centuries while being held in stasis.
And Windu >= Revan.
Vitiates mental powers were also potent enough to make Scourge shit his pants at a brief touch. In contrast Starkiller was able to shake off Sidious comparatively wussier influence by merely being distracted.
Starkiller >>>> Scourge, who at that point lost to a no-name Nyriss, who was then one shotted by Revan into a heap of ash.
Granted, it's difficult to deny that the Sith Emperor possesses superior combat applicable mental domination powers to Palpatine. He is not, however, even remotely comparable in overall combat or saber prowess, and thus gets diced into multiple pieces.
To restate myself, Vitiate's combat performance in Revan is quite abysmal. He almost dies to Meetra's saber throw, only her instinctive protecting of Revan saving his life, and he almost fails to detect the droid's flamethrower. He relies on his raw Force powers, but against some of the most powerful Jedi in the mythos, and possibly the most potent vs. dark siders short of Luke Skywalker, yeah...he dies.