Who is the WoL's Equal?

[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.

[Mholito]

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.

I got that impression as well. He seemed to just be testing how much of a fight you could put up, before deciding that you weren't worth fighting.

[Quor]

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.

Ah yes, the great Chefsbane. But we still beat him. And on the only true battlefield that matters; the culinary one.

But otherwise I have to agree with you. I think Raubahn in his prime would have beaten anyone but the level 70 WoL.

The plot needs to allow for some characters or monsters to be written in such a way that they simply cannot be defeated by the Warrior of Light and thus some other method of dealing with them arises such as striking up a bargain or convincing them to temporarily align themselves for the sake of a greater cause.

I think Alexander kinda fits this bill. We won because he created a series of stable time loops that allowed us to win, and we won only because his capacity to explore the infinite permutations of possible realities showed him that any future that did not have us winning was a future in which the world would eventually end due to Alex's overuse of aether draining everything dry. Sure, we technically "defeat" him, but it's more of a testing to see if we're worth letting out of the time loop imo. If we beat him (and we do) then he accepts defeat and retreats to his little looping pocket reality while we progress forward. If we don't then I like to think he "resets" starting way back when with the Hotgo and going on until the stage is set for us to try again. It's very "Type-0" in that regard I guess.