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You are correct, however, there are some general guidelines... Shannow Send a noteboard - 29/09/2010 09:18:49 AM
Every time a new book comes out, there are a number of new posts comparing the top channelers based on strength in the power. They generally don't make any changes to the previous rankings, and also usually treat strength and battle ability as if they were the same thing. This is not the case. They are obviously related, but there are a number of other factors that are probably more important than the minor differences in strength between the strongest channelers.

Certain weaves will absolutely make one channeler more dangerous. Reversed weaves make it very difficult to be countered in battle, unless the opponent is using a ter'angreal or weave detection. Unless the opponent is strong enough to completely overwealm the user of reversed weaves, it is likely they will be forced to use most of their strength in defense, similar to what happened between Rand and Lanfear. The ability to detect the opposing gender's weaves has the same effect. Someone like Rahvin without that ability would find himself completely outmatched by someone who does.

Angreal, sa'angreal, weapons and ter'angreal defenses will have another large effect. Debates about strength are less important when Mesaana is sitting on top of the biggest collection of *angreal on the continent (discounting ones that are well protected). Since tGS, almost anyone could steal from there so Mesaana has a window to steal whatever she likes.

Ter'angreal like the foxhead medallion will also completely unbalance the scales, and could become the only reason Nynaeve could survive if she ever battles one of the top Forsaken. Weapons like the balefire rod and shocklance are probably only useful for weaker channelers unable to do that by themselves.

The element of surprise can also play a part, and can potentially make Moghedien the most dangerous Forsaken of all.


Graendal makes it clear that she will not dare stand against someone of Rand or Ishamael's power. To quote her from memory:

"She had no intention of facing his STRENGTH head on, not if Ishamael and Rahvin had fallen before him".

Rahvin asks Lanfear: "Is he so STRONG? Could he OVERWHELM you face to face?"

Rahvin appeared in the ranks of the Shadow during the Collapse - well before the War of Power broke out. He has survived through a lot of battle and War. He was a general himself. So he would by default know a lot about One Power confrontations.

Moghedien said to Nynaeve that Rahvin in particular was much STRONGER in the Power than them, and that they would stand no chance in a direct confrontation against him.

The Guide says that Moghedien could never hope to counter Lanfear's superior STRENGTH in the One Power.

Bottomline, strength counts. And unless one is much more skilled than the other, strength will usually allow you to prevail in a confrontation.

The other issue is that strength and dexterity usually go hand in hand. We see that stronger channelers are usually able to weave more complicated weaves, handle more flows at the same time, and generally seem to have great dexterity compared to weaker channelers.

So it is highly unlikely that a super powerful channeler is going to be weak in dexterity, unless utterly untrained, like Alivia.

So a huge dexterity advantage is unlikely to be possible for a weaker channeler against a stronger one.

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On One Power Rankings - 29/09/2010 12:33:53 AM 2582 Views
Mesaana will get no angreal... - 29/09/2010 01:55:21 AM 466 Views
Mesaana will get no more angreal. - 01/10/2010 12:04:47 PM 472 Views
- 01/10/2010 10:18:14 PM 364 Views
Someone needs a re-read, it seems. - 03/10/2010 10:26:24 AM 496 Views
You are correct, however, there are some general guidelines... - 29/09/2010 09:18:49 AM 733 Views
Partially correct. - 29/09/2010 02:34:07 PM 409 Views
Have to disagree about the Cleansing. - 01/10/2010 12:26:32 PM 556 Views
Re: Have to disagree about the Cleansing. - 01/10/2010 10:09:25 PM 412 Views
Re: Have to disagree about the Cleansing. - 02/10/2010 07:49:56 AM 495 Views
Re: Have to disagree about the Cleansing. - 03/10/2010 10:47:20 AM 610 Views
Re: You are correct, however, there are some general guidelines... - 30/09/2010 12:57:54 AM 687 Views
Dexterity and Talents are also a factor. - 01/10/2010 12:40:37 AM 425 Views

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