Who is the WoL's Equal?

[AdamuKun322]

A random question popped into my head recently and I'm wonder who is equal to us in power? I know the WoD were formidable and could just about match us blow for blow, but now as level 70 WoL's, who is our new equal? I want to say Zenos, was but as we learned in story, his Echo was just Artificial. Thoughts?

[Enkidoh]

Technically the Warriors of Darkness were meant to be our equal, in so much as they were essentially dark counterparts to us and specifically anointed by Elidibus for that very purpose (especially as they were evil versions of 'Derplander' and his party, the nameless party who represent the player's character in official trailers and propaganda for the game since version 1.0)... but even they couldn't truly match us as equals,

being dead and all and from a parallel Hydaelyn.

Power wise Zenos did successfully manage to match us on equal terms,

fighting us twice to a draw (both times he really didn't 'win' as more simply walk away from boredom in the first fight and the second third parties showed up and evened the stakes, again making him withdraw out of spite), and only 'defeated' us by using some random plot coupon for instant victory. But he lost points by scaling up with Shinryu, which opened him up to a fatal weakness - we're the 'Eikon Slayer' after all, so he basically lowered himself in a way at the end, Shinryu's own immense power notwithstanding.

So really, at this time I don't think there really is an equal in terms of power to the Warrior of Light on Hydaelyn.

[Yuella]

Elidibus probably

[Okamimaru]

We don't know what elidbus is packing power wise... so far he's chosen to not engage us in battle... and varis has to have some heft to himself as well... he didn't just get that stupid looking crown by birthright. Not to mention putting someone as dangerous as zenos in any kind of position of power would be dumb unless you knew you could deal with him if needed

[Vexander]

Seems to me like our power fluctuates as well. Midgardsormir darkened our crystals of light, and we reignited them, making the Blessing of Light stronger. Even that didn't seem to be enough to defeat the Warriors of Darkness outright. Likewise against Fordola we wouldn't have succeeded without Urianger's assistance.

At the moment, aside from Varis, I doubt there is a named character on the planet we know of as our equal or superior. I imagine there are plenty of unnamed individuals though, probably in Garlemald.

[Matriqona]

Omega Weapon?

[Theodric]

I'd say that most of the major antagonists that the Warrior of Light goes up against can be considered to be his 'equal'. Every major battle is hard fought and sometimes involves the Warrior of Light having to bring additional support along for the ride.

It's often only plot convenience that prevents the Warrior of Light from actually losing properly - because then there wouldn't be a game and people would be pretty annoyed if their precious stand in characters ended up being killed off or physically injured to a prominent degree.

One could argue that many of the antagonists that the Warrior of Light goes up against are actually superior to the Warrior of Light - it's just that, again, they're not allowed to win because the plot and circumstances does not allow for it. Zenos sort of counts because he thrashed the Warrior of Light twice but the decision to spare him, again, ties into the plot convenience mentioned above. I'm hoping that we'll someday see an antagonist - or preferably a rival - that the Warrior of Light simply cannot beat due to being evenly matched.

[AdamuKun322]

Here's the ones that I think were our equal and could have killed WoL.

Nidhogg - Yes, he was a Dragon, but extremely powerful even though we had Hraesvalger's eye to protect us
Zenos - Our equal and also, the only Antagonist thatI know that actually beat the WoL twice before we became powerful enough to beat him
Ascians? Well... we don't know the full power they have

[YianKutku]

I have the strong impression that Raubahn with both arms would probably have been a match for the WoL. Maybe the WoL would still have won, but it might be a close fight.

Gaius van Baelsar managed to hold off several Scions, including the 1.0 WoL, single-handedly. I believe getting stuck inside Ultima Weapon was why he ultimately (rimshot) lost.

I'm still sore about the story thinking that Zenos defeated me in the Stormblood quests. In both "hopeless" battles, I was easily holding my own as WHM and SCH, and could basically keep chipping away at his massive HP bar indefinitely. Like, when he did that plot-ability stun and HP-to-critical, I was sitting there thinking "but Benediction is off cooldown..."

Ascians, and the Warriors of Darkness for the same reasons, require special plot devices to permanently defeat. So technically they would be superior to the WoL without those plot devices.

For non-martial prowess, Lolorito demonstrably screwed us over and got away with it. Then he made a point to give us a support structure in Kugane just to mess with our heads. The only time we got the better of Lolorito was in culinary accomplishments.

[Theodric]

I'm still sore about the story thinking that Zenos defeated me in the Stormblood quests. In both "hopeless" battles, I was easily holding my own as WHM and SCH, and could basically keep chipping away at his massive HP bar indefinitely. Like, when he did that plot-ability stun and HP-to-critical, I was sitting there thinking "but Benediction is off cooldown..."

Isn't that a case of game mechanic and story segregation, though? He was deliberately holding back at that point and simply toying with the Warrior of Light to sate his curiosity.