Exar Kun and Darth Plagueis vs. Darth Bane and Darth Caedus

• Morals off. All are bloodlusted.
• No preparations, random encounter. Standard equipment and gear for all.
• Victory via killing both members of the other team.
• All are in their primes. (Bane is withouthis orbalisks)
• Battle takes place in the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban.

versus

Jeez. What a battle. I'm inclined to go with team 1...however, I know much about Bane and Plaguies, but very little about Exar Kun and Jacen.

I would think Team 1 in a slight majority. Good matchup.

^ This

I really want to say Team 1. Caedus and Bane are also really powerful though. Team 1 by a tiny majority.

@_raptor_: I'd have to applaud you for making such an even fight.

Probably team 2, but it could go either way. I'll have to think about it.

@shootingnova: Exar Kun vs. Bane, Plagueis vs. Caedus damn...props to this dude @_raptor_

@_raptor_: This isn't NJO Exar Kun, right?

Yeh didn't it take Luke and his entire Order to take down Kun's spirit?

I believe it would be Team 2 with Caedus beating Team 1 by a slight majority and Bane stalemating or losing very slowly to Kun allowing him time to wait for Caedus to help him.

It's pretty sure he was amped up though.

@shootingnova: Haha thanks, and nope

Hmmm. I'm going with team two. I think Caeddus would take the slight majority over Plagueis via being a better duelist, while Darth Bane would also take a slight majority over Kun.

Either way it's a great match-up indeed.

@dccomicsrule2011: I might just say Caedus stalemates Plagueis. Caedus might be more skilled, but that's more due to the lack of exploration on Plagueis's skill. Plagueis is definitely more powerful. Skill tends to take priority over power, but I might think the power gap between them is larger than the skill gap, so they might be even.

I'd tend to go with Caedus but I say Bane takes Exar even if Caedus can't beat Plagueis.

Team 1.

@ssjdarthplagueis: Why?

This is a really nice battle - well done.

I'm backing team 2. It's close, but team 2 should win.

It is isn't it? :) I never see even battles anymore.

Kuns Sorcery might have a little advantage for them to win. Plaguies is the better duelist and faster for the team.

However, this is a close match, and with Caedus on team two it can turn around.

Plagueis or Kun could beat Bane, but Caedus is the real threat.

I'd say that Caedus could beat either and Bane could at the very least stalemate Kun as he was shown to be able to nearly overwhelm Darth Zannah despite her sorcery who I think was a better sorcerer then Kun anyways. Along with that all he would have to do is hold out long enough fro Caedus to beat Plagueis and come to his aid.

Team 2 with a slight majority.

Pretty much. Very close fight though. :P

I'd go with Team 1. While Plagueis might not be as technically capable as Caedus, he holds over him a definite Force edge, which could tip the fight in his favor. Meanwhile, Exar impressed me quite a bit more than Bane and would beat him, IMO.

Both sides could win

^

Hmm.. true, but battles are almost universally decided by skill rather than power.

Team 1

Exar kills Bane and Plagueis kills Caedus.

@shootingnova:

By TPM, Sidious' skill feats supersedes Plagueis' own, but Luceno claimed that the Muun would be victorious should a battle occur.

@intrepid37: I'm a bit unsure of that. However, the disparity between them is different.

I'm still loving this battle.

@shootingnova:

What disparity are you referring to?

@intrepid37: The disparity between Caedus and Plagueis is different.

@shootingnova: Different than the disparity between Bane and Exar Kun?

@jaken7: Between Plagueis and Sidious. I was talking to Intrepid.

@shootingnova: I know I thought you meant the disparity between Plagueis and Caedus was different than the diisparity between Bane and Exar Kun.

I see what you're saying now though.

I'll toss my support to team 2 because of Caedus, though I would go with the first team if Caedus were replaced by any Sith Lord besides Palpatine.

@shootingnova: I'm not sure that's true. TPM Sidious has the feats to compete with Caedus, IMHO.

@intrepid37: Sidious's skills at this point are mostly inference. It may be he was as skilled as he was in RotS - he hadn't fought for well over a decade since TPM, so that might actually be plausible. But factually? He has only beaten Maul and demonstrated knowledge and mastery of Force pikes by fighting hundreds of the best Kursid warriors alongside Plagueis. Technically, Sidious's own training should include spars with Plagueis, but I don't recall that being outright stated. He did train Maul, and we can draw on that to suggest he mastered multiple lightsaber forms and martial arts, but that's just technical skills and knowledge, not so much feats. Technical knowledge might not amount to much (such as when Cin Drallig lost to Darth Vader).

I consider contending with Luke to be a bit beyond, but not well beyond, TPM Sidious's skill levels. Discounting Caedus's own inconsistencies, I think I would give him a slight majority over Plagueis on the account of skill being more of a deciding factor than power.

Darth Dern solos.

@shootingnova: Sidious beating Maul while holding back is a feat that, considering Maul's status as a formidable swordsman and martial artist, I would put on par with Caedus' own feats.

@intrepid37: LOL. Luke Skywalker is vastly out of Maul's league. Caedus fighting almost evenly with him is definitely superior.

@shootingnova: It wasn't almost evenly, bro. At best, Caedus is in between Mace and Yoda as a duelist, and Maul is very, very close to Mace's level; easily beating him is a great feat.

Also, Force strength helps a lot even when not applied directly in combat such as telekinesis. When Bane fought Kas'im, the latter was slightly more skilled but Bane was noticeably more powerful in the Force, which was why he was winning the fight before Kas'im shifted to Jar'Kai. I could see the same occure between Plagueis and Caedus.

@intrepid37: Yes, it was. IIRC, they had about similar injuries. It's definitely worth noting.

And I doubt it works in that manner. Bane was really winning because he knew just about every nuance of Kas'im's technique. While this could go the other way, it was never conclusively stated, IIRC, and Kas'im's own technical skills and knowledge may have made him overlook the need to intensely study Bane's technique while they were sparring - at least, not as intensely as Bane did him.

Ventress has challenged Anakin many times in saber combat, although Skywalker has wrecked her with the Force. Obi-Wan and Anakin sparred evenly, but Anakin is more powerful. Obi-Wan fought evenly with Maul, but Maul is much more powerful. Heck, Grievous challenged Dooku and Windu, and he isn't even Force-sensitive. Quinlan Vos had greater Force showings than Kolar, too, but that didn't prevent him from getting creamed.

@shootingnova: No, the text plainly said ''Bane was too powerful in the Force''.

@intrepid37: I checked for confirmation, and it looks like you are right. However, this does nothing to disregard the other scenarios I listed, and frankly those scenarios just outweight the ones where Force power randomly gives you saber advantages. PoD was written by somebody who had a abysmal understanding of the Force, so....

I mean, going by that, which doesn't happen often anyways, Kreia would be one of the most skilled swordswomen in history, especially considering she has among the best TP, Memory Rub, Heal and Cloak feats to date, some pretty good TK feats, and just a myriad of esoteric abilities in her own right.

@shootingnova: It varies. For example, Kas'im said a superior duelist can beat someone stronger in the Force, which was probably what happened with Agen and Quinlan.

@intrepid37: LOL. And Kreia said a more powerful Force user can beat somebody more skilled with a lightsaber :P

But we both know fights are almost universally decided by skill, not power.

@shootingnova: Depends. For Plagueis and Caedus, the difference in skill is very slim, whereas Plagueis enjoys a sufficient advantage in power.

@intrepid37: Hardly very slim.