Though I don't disagree with any of this, we forget about other impressive feats of the top notch channelers. Really, Egwene preparing a shield for anything coming from the White Tower when going to confront them, showed they can. I honestly don't see how channelers CAN be defeated by a normal army. Especially if they can just have a bubble of air around themselves to protect themselves. Just like the Asha'man at Dumais Well. That shield was from a bunch of men overlapping. But the overall size of it was FAR greater than what it would take to just encase one's self. And it was deflecting arrows, Aiel pressing against it, even OP weaves.

So, the one big problem has always been, channelers aren't in strong in battle as they should be. Aes Sedai can be excused slightly--they have to feel threatened, therefore they can't just use an "absolute defense". However, many times it isn't just Aes Sedai. Like the last book, with that general crushing the Seanchan and the damane. Shouldn't have happened.

Remember Sammael. When Rand was comatose from Fain's dagger during the bubble of evil attack, the asha'man were fighting against Sammael and his forces. They said Sammael would show up and just destroy a legion. By himself--no other channelers. Just Sammael being a bad-ass who knows how to use the Power.

Rand/LTT is the same. He showed during the other Trolloc Attack just how effective you can be. The fingers of light, the Deathgates, the "grenade" like attacks, all on a scale never before seen. And, we've seen even BIGGER explosions than that, that required much less power. The exploding gateway, for example, which will never be used to it's full potential.

Rand's the strongest of the strong (I know RJ said "there's always someone stronger"--but c'mon, we know that isn't really the case) and the smartest of the smart. He's not only the strongest channeler, he's now the smartest in it's use.

But, then again, his other "Light Powers" leave us questioning.

In the end, I can't say one way or the other. HOWEVER, I can point out, that Channelers, especially top-notch channelers, are severely underrated.