Galen Marek's/Starkiller's lightsaber mastery

So... I was just wondering, where should we rank Galen Marek's lightsaber mastery. How good duelist is he?

Please provide an exemplary tier where he belongs to. For example: he is in the same tier as Fisto, Kolar etc.

Top tier 7 at the very least imho.

He is stated to have been 'trained to near perfection.' in lightsaver combat by Darth Vader personally and he proves it when he successfully deflects and blocks Vader's all-out offensive early in the novel.

Galen claims later on in the novel that Vader held back during their early sessions, so it wasn't all-out. Galen had speed, knowledge of Vader's form, and Force abuse to aid him in defeating Vader.

In raw skill, Galen is hardly very impressive. He has some hype from the databank but it's not reliable if you look at his track record.

Vader had better knowledge of his form than vice versa tbh

That was never stated in the novel, and it's pretty illogical that it wasn't, but there was seemingly a big deal out of Galen knowing Vader's form.

Funny, cause in the game, Marek, almost killed him, and while there are doubts for Sidious, you can't say Marek didn't almost kill him, he sabered his helmet off and force-pushed him through a window.

Originally posted by AncientPower
lightsaver

Made me cringe so hard.

Originally posted by Jmanghan
Funny, cause in the game, Marek, almost killed him, and while there are doubts for Sidious, you can't say Marek didn't almost kill him, he sabered his helmet off and force-pushed him through a window.

Well according to Sam Witwer, the plans for TFU3 were for Vader to show his true power and completely batter Starkiller.

Originally posted by SunRazer
That was never stated in the novel, and it's pretty illogical that it wasn't, but there was seemingly a big deal out of Galen knowing Vader's form.

I don't see why it would need to be stated, Vader literally taught Galen to duel. Obviously he knows his techniques and style inside and out. Meanwhile, Vader held his own skills and true ability back from Marek.

Originally posted by DARTH POWER
Well according to Sam Witwer, the plans for TFU3 were for Vader to show his true power and completely batter Starkiller.

Quote? I'm genuinely interested.

Originally posted by DARTH POWER
Well according to Sam Witwer, the plans for TFU3 were for Vader to show his true power and completely batter Starkiller.

So I take it in TFU 3 you play as Vader? Would have liked that.

Originally posted by DARTH POWER
Well according to Sam Witwer, the plans for TFU3 were for Vader to show his true power and completely batter Starkiller.

Probably low or mid tier 7, he's better than Darth Zannah, Kao Cen Darach, and maybe Adi Gallia- but probably beneath Kyle Katarn, Aryn Leneer, Sora Bulq, and definitely not tier 8 material

I'd put him well above all of those TBH. At the end of the game he can out duel Vader.

Is the fight depicted in the novel differently than the game?

Yep.