Discussion Fairy Tail Power Ranking Thread

[Siddz1988]

Power Rankings

0. Anakhsarem - God character in the Manga
1.Aconologia
2. Zeref/ END - Natsu (unknown potential, will be revealed by Zeref why END is uber)
3. Magic King August (Based on Makarov's description)
4. Invel (Commander of the Spriggan Army)
5. Gildarts/ Serena/Jacob (Assumption based on surviving Acnologia's death dealing blows way back in the manga, that is pretty handy considering Serena got killed, although Acnologia went for the kill here) (For Jacob, it is also an assumption that he is Top Tier Spriggan
6. Laxus (Dunno if wahl survived, or was beaten permanently, but this rating is as per Manga chapter 473)
7. Di Maria
8. Ajeel/Brandish/Wahl/ Heavenly Noobs of Ishgar (Losers) (Heavenly losers might be able to fight with lower tier spriggans, but it was their badlucj
9. Erza (She acknowledged that Spriggans are above her in power, but still held up to Ajeel before requesting backup) and Kagura

Currently not rated , Neinhart, Badman, and unrevealed Spriggans. Jellal Gang, Gray, Gajeel, Sting, Rogue, Minerva, Juvia, Lyon, Wendy, and other allies. They need more screen time in current fights to assess a rating. Then again, since this arc is about survival FT is using gang bang power to survive and win, so even if spriggan are stronger, they are facing a co-ordinated enemy.

 

[Aizen]

I'm still a bit baffled why people believe the spriggan's have to be separated into tiers lol it's just so subjective and really is not backed by anything the manga has said. That said i feel like the power ranking as far as the top goes is simple Acnologia is clearly number 1 followed by Zeref at 2, August at 3 and than the other spriggan's with Laxus apparently on par with them. Everyone else is so jumbled it's hard to say who is ahead of who especially with characters like Gildarts who i honestly believe with what we know right now is one of the most overrated characters in the manga, He might very well be spriggan level but you can't just give him the benefit of the doubt that he's on there level yet, We have not seen the man fight since Tenrou where he had trouble with Bluenote who Natsu oneshotted after the timeskip. However subjectively speaking i believe Erza,Gray,Natsu,Gajeel,Mirajane,Laxus who i mentioned and yes Gildarts will be among Fairy Tail's Elite, I could also see Makarov being somewhat up there as well, That's not to say that Wendy,Lucy,Juvia,Cana,Elfman and the Thunder Legion have not or will not be useful there all solid fighters too. As far as the other guilds i Feel like Kagura,Lyon,Minerva,Jellal and the Twin Dragon's fighting together are probably there best fighters but the rest of Crime Sorciere,Sherria,Orga,Rufus,Yukino,Bacchus and the Trimens working together could help as well.

 

[XXEliteXXAceXX]

I'm still a bit baffled why people believe the spriggan's have to be separated into tiers lol it's just so subjective and really is not backed by anything the manga has said. That said i feel like the power ranking as far as the top goes is simple Acnologia is clearly number 1 followed by Zeref at 2, August at 3 and than the other spriggan's with Laxus apparently on par with them. Everyone else is so jumbled it's hard to say who is ahead of who especially with characters like Gildarts who i honestly believe with what we know right now is one of the most overrated characters in the manga, He might very well be spriggan level but you can't just give him the benefit of the doubt that he's on there level yet, We have not seen the man fight since Tenrou where he had trouble with Bluenote who Natsu oneshotted after the timeskip. However subjectively speaking i believe Erza,Gray,Natsu,Gajeel,Mirajane,Laxus who i mentioned and yes Gildarts will be among Fairy Tail's Elite, I could also see Makarov being somewhat up there as well, That's not to say that Wendy,Lucy,Juvia,Cana,Elfman and the Thunder Legion have not or will not be useful there all solid fighters too. As far as the other guilds i Feel like Kagura,Lyon,Minerva,Jellal and the Twin Dragon's fighting together are probably there best fighters but the rest of Crime Sorciere,Sherria,Orga,Rufus,Yukino,Bacchus and the Trimens working together could help as well.

I wouldn't necessarily use the fact that Gildarts had trouble fighting Bluenote against him. The Tenrou Tree plot never make sense to begin with ever since it was introduced. Additionally, it's not like Natsu one-shotting Bluenote really tells us anything. After all, Natsu was the one who had trouble defeating him to begin with. As long as Gildarts trains which from what it seems, he probably did, then he should still be up there. Therefore, I have to disagree that Gildarts is overrated but it is your opinion.

I agree that the Spriggans cannot really be ranked in order as of now due to little feats. Most likely, it would be speculative and inaccurate. However, they are definitely not all the same even excluding August. I would separate them into tiers, but like you said, just not now.

 

[Aizen]

I wouldn't necessarily use the fact that Gildarts had trouble fighting Bluenote against him. The Tenrou Tree plot never make sense to begin with ever since it was introduced. Additionally, it's not like Natsu one-shotting Bluenote really tells us anything. After all, Natsu was the one who had trouble defeating him to begin with. As long as Gildarts trains which from what it seems, he probably did, then he should still be up there. Therefore, I have to disagree that Gildarts is overrated but it is your opinion.

I agree that the Spriggans cannot really be ranked in order as of now due to little feats. Most likely, it would be speculative and inaccurate. However, they are definitely not all the same even excluding August. I would separate them into tiers, but like you said, just not now.

Yeah and it is just my view but remember the Tenrou plot is a canon event just cause it does not make complete sense does not nullify it, in fact if i'm not mistaken it was stated that the Tenrou tree increases the magic power of Fairy tail members while on the island so Gildarts should have Gained power and than add in the fact that it appeared that when they first started fighting they looked rather equal one could make the jump that Gildarts was weaker than Bluenote had he not had the Tenrou tree to help him, I'm not necessarily saying that is true i just think this whole though process that Gildarts is either inherently powerful enough to hold his own against a spriggan or that he has trained is complete speculation i mean what proof do we have that he did train? In fact most older characters in the manga appear to have not trained hardly at all look at Makarov,Bluenote and Jura, I will say however i do personally believe that Mashima will state he has trained otherwise bringing him back would not have the same impact. As far as the spriggan tiers go the fact of the matter is unless somewhere in the manga it is stated that one spriggan is more powerful than another other than August who we know is or Mashima states it in a volume extra i don't see how you can say there is "Definitely" tiers among them, Most of the arguments for one spriggan being over another are based on a subjective opinion of feats which involves attacks and who they fought but considering the fact we don't and may never know a clear hierarchy of Fairy tail characters even that is difficult to judge. I personally think that there may very well be 1-2 more spriggans that are stated to be above others but that's just my opinion because it's kinda a shonen trope, However if it's never said than i feel Objectively speaking there all equal. Overall i am not bashing speculating at all in regards to anything, in fact that's what makes these threads fun i just think it's important to be mindful of how much we project in terms of certainty on these subjects.

 

[Firepower]

Gildarts and everyone did have a power boost before the tree fell, but after Azuma was defeated he could only return their strength, without the power boost because the tree was not up yet. The Tenrou tree didn't get back up until ft was deep in battle with Hades, when Ultear brought it back.

When Gildarts showed up and they both traded punches hitting fist to fist, Bluenote was shocked to have been pushed back. Gildarts didn't seem to punch his hardest. I'm not sure if the tree increases both magic power and physical strength. If I recall correctly Gildarts only used his magic on the piece of land that turned upside down. The other time was after the tree fell, using magic to break the black hole magic to pieces. Right after that came the finishing flying uppercut, no magic used for that. Several of these mages don't fight purely with magic. Physical strength is used more by Gildarts, Erza, and Natsu. Laxus is really good with both.

It's possible that Gildarts didn't get any stronger. I think he did. Makarov didn't train because he was in Alvarez the whole time hoping to meet the emperor and see if he can negotiate with them. Training there would not look good for Makarov. Plus he was gonna sacrifice himself, knowing Ajeel is far stronger than he is. The wizard saints are old, Jura could have gotten stronger, but not enough to pass the top three as we've seen. If they all survive this arc, I predict Gildarts will be surprised by Natsu's power at best, but not likely surpassed yet. Maybe Gildarts will show his magic strength again the same way he scared Natsu during the s class trial, but this time Natsu won't back down, but will still lose easily. Gildarts hasn't been seen since Natsu ran into him during his one year of training.

 

[Aizen]

Gildarts and everyone did have a power boost before the tree fell, but after Azuma was defeated he could only return their strength, without the power boost because the tree was not up yet. The Tenrou tree didn't get back up until ft was deep in battle with Hades, when Ultear brought it back.

When Gildarts showed up and they both traded punches hitting fist to fist, Bluenote was shocked to have been pushed back. Gildarts didn't seem to punch his hardest. I'm not sure if the tree increases both magic power and physical strength. If I recall correctly Gildarts only used his magic on the piece of land that turned upside down. The other time was after the tree fell, using magic to break the black hole magic to pieces. Right after that came the finishing flying uppercut, no magic used for that. Several of these mages don't fight purely with magic. Physical strength is used more by Gildarts, Erza, and Natsu. Laxus is really good with both.

It's possible that Gildarts didn't get any stronger. I think he did. Makarov didn't train because he was in Alvarez the whole time hoping to meet the emperor and see if he can negotiate with them. Training there would not look good for Makarov. Plus he was gonna sacrifice himself, knowing Ajeel is far stronger than he is. The wizard saints are old, Jura could have gotten stronger, but not enough to pass the top three as we've seen. If they all survive this arc, I predict Gildarts will be surprised by Natsu's power at best, but not likely surpassed yet. Maybe Gildarts will show his magic strength again the same way he scared Natsu during the s class trial, but this time Natsu won't back down, but will still lose easily. Gildarts hasn't been seen since Natsu ran into him during his one year of training.

Yeah fare points i'm just saying Gildarts and Bluenotes fight is super subjective and therefore is hard to judge and considering that we really have not seen him fight since that silent chapter with natsu before the timeskip where we see Natsu is still weaker than he is i just don't see how he is rated as high as he is. Don't get me wrong i agree that he will probably have trained like i said it would lessen his impact in this arc if he did not i just don't agree with the foregone conclusion that he has that's all, I just think were going to have to wait and see. The way i see it is he is either slightly more powerful than Bluenote or is even perhaps on spriggan level that's how far the gap is with him. Either way i doubt we will have to wait that long to find out anyways.

 

[Firepower]

Yeah fare points i'm just saying Gildarts and Bluenotes fight is super subjective and therefore is hard to judge and considering that we really have not seen him fight since that silent chapter with natsu before the timeskip where we see Natsu is still weaker than he is i just don't see how he is rated as high as he is. Don't get me wrong i agree that he will probably have trained like i said it would lessen his impact in this arc if he did not i just don't agree with the foregone conclusion that he has that's all, I just think were going to have to wait and see. The way i see it is he is either slightly more powerful than Bluenote or is even perhaps on spriggan level that's how far the gap is with him. Either way i doubt we will have to wait that long to find out anyways.

The way he powered up to scare Natsu, I don't think that was just flashy fake aura, but extreme power to match which he hasn't shown in battle. Untested monstrous strength. Can't wait to see, as long as he shows up.

 

[reesestl]

I think Acno may be far stronger than Zeref considering that Zeref thinks he can't defeat Acno even if he and all the Spriggan 12 attacked him simultaneously.
Jellal et al. specifically trained for defeating Zeref. looking forward to see how strong they have become.

 

[Damon blevins]

I think Acno may be far stronger than Zeref considering that Zeref thinks he can't defeat Acno even if he and all the Spriggan 12 attacked him simultaneously.
Jellal et al. specifically trained for defeating Zeref. looking forward to see how strong they have become.

That's pretty obvious at this point tbh. Ancnologia is clearly tiers above zeref.

 

[reesestl]

That's pretty obvious at this point tbh. Ancnologia is clearly tiers above zeref.

what I don't get is why Zeref had the power to summon acnologia in Tenrou Arc.

 

[BluePegasus]

That's pretty obvious at this point tbh. Ancnologia is clearly tiers above zeref.

I don't think there are tiers between Zeref and Acnologia. Acnologia is the highest tier, Zeref is the second highest tier. There is no one stronger than Zeref except Acnologia.

 

[Holt]

About Gildarts, well at the beginning of the timeskip, we saw him still capable of tanking Natsu's attacks with his bare arms (without any special magic). We also saw him easily launch Natsu several meters in the air with a casual punch. Then we saw him destroy the island when he got pissed. We also saw Natsu who is always eager for a fight, get scared and refuse to fight...again. Yes I know that Natsu grew tremendously since then, but even if we take Gildarts showing right before the timeskip (silent chapter), it's still at a level impressive enough to hold his own against a spriggan at least and this is considering that we have yet to actually see him go all out. Obviously, the likes of Natsu and Laxus have shown impressive attacks that imply they've surpassed that Gildarts but he does have a very powerful magic. Crash is capable of breaking magic itself and Gildarts hasn't gone all out with this. We know that he can at least use crash on a scale big enough to affect an entire island, technically speaking, the crash we've seen should still be able to keep up with majority of the high level attacks we've seen in this arc. He also survived Acnologia and considering how he described Acnologia back then and his comments during the tenrou arc, the implication is that he faced off against dragon Acnologia. When Acnologia fought FT on tenrou, Gildarts mentioned that Acnologia was simply toying with them and wasn't fighting at the level that he did against him. Sure Gildarts said he still lost easily, but Acnologia took him quite seriously apparently. Considering how easily Serena lost to Acnologia (one hit kill), it just paints Gildarts in a much more impressive light. Gildarts went against a dragon (about the strongest as well) without having DS magic, saw enough to be able to compare Acnologia's seriousness on tenrou to when they fought and actually survived the onslaught. Honestly, if Gildarts could survive Acnologia, it shows how durable he is. How many spriggans can attack at Acnologia level? Even simple attacks from Acnologia are devasting (at least enough to OhKO a spriggan). All things considered, with his durability and powerful magic, Gildarts is still a worthy enemy even for spriggans.

Also, I believe Mashima wouldn't leave Gildarts behind. It wouldn't make much sense for Gildarts to have been away majority of the war only to come in and get his ass kicked by a spriggan. Gildarts role is normally to be the cavalry which would be impossible if he's weak. Gildarts also typically fights alone because of how dangerous his magic is as well as difficulty in controlling it so he probably won't team up when/if he faces a spriggan. Natsu will eventually surpass him (maybe as END) but I really doubt Mashima intends for that to happen now but this is just my opinion. However, I'd say that last we saw Gildarts, that level should be able to allow him hold a spriggan at least. As for where he ranks now, we'll obviously have to wait and see.

 

[reesestl]

About Gildarts, well at the beginning of the timeskip, we saw him still capable of tanking Natsu's attacks with his bare arms (without any special magic). We also saw him easily launch Natsu several meters in the air with a casual punch. Then we saw him destroy the island when he got pissed. We also saw Natsu who is always eager for a fight, get scared and refuse to fight...again. Yes I know that Natsu grew tremendously since then, but even if we take Gildarts showing right before the timeskip (silent chapter), it's still at a level impressive enough to hold his own against a spriggan at least and this is considering that we have yet to actually see him go all out. Obviously, the likes of Natsu and Laxus have shown impressive attacks that imply they've surpassed that Gildarts but he does have a very powerful magic. Crash is capable of breaking magic itself and Gildarts hasn't gone all out with this. We know that he can at least use crash on a scale big enough to affect an entire island, technically speaking, the crash we've seen should still be able to keep up with majority of the high level attacks we've seen in this arc. He also survived Acnologia and considering how he described Acnologia back then and his comments during the tenrou arc, the implication is that he faced off against dragon Acnologia. When Acnologia fought FT on tenrou, Gildarts mentioned that Acnologia was simply toying with them and wasn't fighting at the level that he did against him. Sure Gildarts said he still lost easily, but Acnologia took him quite seriously apparently. Considering how easily Serena lost to Acnologia (one hit kill), it just paints Gildarts in a much more impressive light. Gildarts went against a dragon (about the strongest as well) without having DS magic, saw enough to be able to compare Acnologia's seriousness on tenrou to when they fought and actually survived the onslaught. Honestly, if Gildarts could survive Acnologia, it shows how durable he is. How many spriggans can attack at Acnologia level? Even simple attacks from Acnologia are devasting (at least enough to OhKO a spriggan). All things considered, with his durability and powerful magic, Gildarts is still a worthy enemy even for spriggans.

Also, I believe Mashima wouldn't leave Gildarts behind. It wouldn't make much sense for Gildarts to have been away majority of the war only to come in and get his ass kicked by a spriggan. Gildarts role is normally to be the cavalry which would be impossible if he's weak. Gildarts also typically fights alone because of how dangerous his magic is as well as difficulty in controlling it so he probably won't team up when/if he faces a spriggan. Natsu will eventually surpass him (maybe as END) but I really doubt Mashima intends for that to happen now but this is just my opinion. However, I'd say that last we saw Gildarts, that level should be able to allow him hold a spriggan at least. As for where he ranks now, we'll obviously have to wait and see.

It was post-Tartoros Natsu in the silent chapter and hence already quite strong. Gildart has never been shown to have trouble defeating anyone and has lost only against Acno. I don't think Mashima will change that now. I think Gildart would be stronger than most Spriggans.

 

[Brandish μ]

@Holt - do you consider Empyrean or the mountain buster NOT a representation of Gildarts high-end capabilities? I felt they were. Empyrean was basically his only named spell. And the mountain buster was him hitting the ground with a whole lotta crash magic. In both situations he's serious.

I think Gildarts can get better by controlling his powers better. And there'd be no point bringing him back now if he's unable to fight against Spriggans.

 

[Firepower]

About Gildarts, well at the beginning of the timeskip, we saw him still capable of tanking Natsu's attacks with his bare arms (without any special magic). We also saw him easily launch Natsu several meters in the air with a casual punch. Then we saw him destroy the island when he got pissed. We also saw Natsu who is always eager for a fight, get scared and refuse to fight...again. Yes I know that Natsu grew tremendously since then, but even if we take Gildarts showing right before the timeskip (silent chapter), it's still at a level impressive enough to hold his own against a spriggan at least and this is considering that we have yet to actually see him go all out. Obviously, the likes of Natsu and Laxus have shown impressive attacks that imply they've surpassed that Gildarts but he does have a very powerful magic. Crash is capable of breaking magic itself and Gildarts hasn't gone all out with this. We know that he can at least use crash on a scale big enough to affect an entire island, technically speaking, the crash we've seen should still be able to keep up with majority of the high level attacks we've seen in this arc. He also survived Acnologia and considering how he described Acnologia back then and his comments during the tenrou arc, the implication is that he faced off against dragon Acnologia. When Acnologia fought FT on tenrou, Gildarts mentioned that Acnologia was simply toying with them and wasn't fighting at the level that he did against him. Sure Gildarts said he still lost easily, but Acnologia took him quite seriously apparently. Considering how easily Serena lost to Acnologia (one hit kill), it just paints Gildarts in a much more impressive light. Gildarts went against a dragon (about the strongest as well) without having DS magic, saw enough to be able to compare Acnologia's seriousness on tenrou to when they fought and actually survived the onslaught. Honestly, if Gildarts could survive Acnologia, it shows how durable he is. How many spriggans can attack at Acnologia level? Even simple attacks from Acnologia are devasting (at least enough to OhKO a spriggan). All things considered, with his durability and powerful magic, Gildarts is still a worthy enemy even for spriggans.

Also, I believe Mashima wouldn't leave Gildarts behind. It wouldn't make much sense for Gildarts to have been away majority of the war only to come in and get his ass kicked by a spriggan. Gildarts role is normally to be the cavalry which would be impossible if he's weak. Gildarts also typically fights alone because of how dangerous his magic is as well as difficulty in controlling it so he probably won't team up when/if he faces a spriggan. Natsu will eventually surpass him (maybe as END) but I really doubt Mashima intends for that to happen now but this is just my opinion. However, I'd say that last we saw Gildarts, that level should be able to allow him hold a spriggan at least. As for where he ranks now, we'll obviously have to wait and see.

Agreed. Everyone talks about the massive size of spriggan attacks, yet some of us, including myself, forgot Gildarts accidentally destroyed the town long ago. That story was being told when Lucy was asking who this guy is and why the town was transforming. The time when Gildarts made his first seen.

 

[Holt]

@Holt - do you consider Empyrean or the mountain buster NOT a representation of Gildarts high-end capabilities? I felt they were. Empyrean was basically his only named spell. And the mountain buster was him hitting the ground with a whole lotta crash magic. In both situations he's serious.

I think Gildarts can get better by controlling his powers better. And there'd be no point bringing him back now if he's unable to fight against Spriggans.

Well those were both serious attacks but not necessarily representative of his max. And yes Empyrean is his only named spell so far but he could and probably does have more. What if empyrean is his go to move when he's serious? It could be the same with dragon roar that DS use. It's all speculation though. Anyway, my point was that we've seen him serious but we've not see him go all out. Against bluenote, he used magic twice. First to break the black hole and second to use empyrean to send him flying. More often than not, Gildarts fights without adding magic spells to the mix.

Well I don't think the problem with him is control in the sense that he can't use the magic well. For him, it's more along the lines of overdoing it or causing unintended collateral damage when he uses his magic and thus tries to hold back from it. It's puts those around him at risk and ends up destroying the area. In the silent chapter, you could tell that he didn't actually intend to do that much damage. He got carried away and let loose. Even in between the GMG after he saw Cana win, he got excited and while jumping around, accidentally used crash to destroy a large portion of the town. I think Gildarts consciously tries to restrain himself and his magic and thus might be reluctant to use it in battle except it's needed or when he gets pissed and because of that, he probably doesn't fight at his full potential. If Gildarts used his magic as often as others normally do in fights, there'll be a whole lot of difference. For instance, he could've dealt with bluenote a lot faster instead of refraining from using magic until he really had no other choice (the Blackhole would've gotten him) and simply trading blows while the latter was using gravity magic throughout. Instead of tanking attacks with his body, he would just crash them. And then there's disassembly magic which he used against Natsu though a mild version of it implying there are more dangerous and probably lethal variants but we've never seen him resort to it.

 

[Firepower]

Byro nullifies magic and if I remember correctly, Natsu had a hard time with him. Gildarts was the one that beat Byro, and because Byro nullifies all magic, physical strength is the only option. Right after everyone left Gildarts and Byro, Byro asked Gildarts something like, "Why were you holding back?" In the end with brute strength, Byro was taken down easily. Gildarts telling him that it's because he doesn't fight to protect his team, that he is weaker. Would be nice if Byro and Gildarts shows up together in this arc. If Byro joins the fight, expect him to be much stronger, and even more so after taking Gildarts advice to heart. Who knows, Gildarts might fight August with Byro nullifying all of August magic. Then August would be f**ked like how Dimaria is with Ultear's magic. To early to go there as Dimaria might be a monster even without time magic advantage. Plus August could still overwhelm Byro's nullifier if he's got more magic power, which is very likely.

Second off, a great matchup would be s class Bacchus vs Jacob. Bacchus magic is in his palms, combined with martial arts. Jacob might be more of a fighter too.

 

[Brandish μ]

Well those were both serious attacks but not necessarily representative of his max. And yes Empyrean is his only named spell so far but he could and probably does have more. What if empyrean is his go to move when he's serious? It could be the same with dragon roar that DS use. It's all speculation though. Anyway, my point was that we've seen him serious but we've not see him go all out. Against bluenote, he used magic twice. First to break the black hole and second to use empyrean to send him flying. More often than not, Gildarts fights without adding magic spells to the mix.

They might not be his very max, but not too far off. I assume the first punch Gildarts and Bluenote do that sends a shockwave through the landscape is actually a clash of crash and gravity magic - well I don't think 2 fists clashing can cause that without magic, and the shockwaves look like Gildarts' crash. I think he imbues his fists with crash when he's fighting seriously (like Laxus does lightning), but if he wants to deliver a higher end technique he'll go to a named spell (he did another one in Ice Trail I can't recall the name). He definitely use magic here and here.

Empyrean felt more like a finisher to me. Of course I am open to him having a better spell than Empyrean though he was exhausted after using it (might be due to getting a beating from Bluenote while Tenrou was down).

Well I don't think the problem with him is control in the sense that he can't use the magic well. For him, it's more along the lines of overdoing it or causing unintended collateral damage when he uses his magic and thus tries to hold back from it. It's puts those around him at risk and ends up destroying the area. In the silent chapter, you could tell that he didn't actually intend to do that much damage. He got carried away and let loose. Even in between the GMG after he saw Cana win, he got excited and while jumping around, accidentally used crash to destroy a large portion of the town. I think Gildarts consciously tries to restrain himself and his magic and thus might be reluctant to use it in battle except it's needed or when he gets pissed and because of that, he probably doesn't fight at his full potential. If Gildarts used his magic as often as others normally do in fights, there'll be a whole lot of difference. For instance, he could've dealt with bluenote a lot faster instead of refraining from using magic until he really had no other choice (the Blackhole would've gotten him) and simply trading blows while the latter was using gravity magic throughout. Instead of tanking attacks with his body, he would just crash them. And then there's disassembly magic which he used against Natsu though a mild version of it implying there are more dangerous and probably lethal variants but we've never seen him resort to it.

You're probably right about him being able to control his magic.

I'm not trying to put pre-skip Gildarts down, but he was pushed by Bluenote in battle. God Serena on the other hand beat 4 guys at or above Bluenote's level with greater ease. I can see Gildarts performing well enough against a Spriggan such that he won't get beaten easily. He'll likely be like Erza or Hyberion - unable to solo but be competitive.

 

[Holt]

They might not be his very max, but not too far off. I assume the first punch Gildarts and Bluenote do that sends a shockwave through the landscape is actually a clash of crash and gravity magic - well I don't think 2 fists clashing can cause that without magic, and the shockwaves look like Gildarts' crash. I think he imbues his fists with crash when he's fighting seriously (like Laxus does lightning), but if he wants to deliver a higher end technique he'll go to a named spell (he did another one in Ice Trail I can't recall the name). He definitely use magic here and here.

Empyrean felt more like a finisher to me. Of course I am open to him having a better spell than Empyrean though he was exhausted after using it (might be due to getting a beating from Bluenote while Tenrou was down).



You're probably right about him being able to control his magic.

I'm not trying to put pre-skip Gildarts down, but he was pushed by Bluenote in battle. God Serena on the other hand beat 4 guys at or above Bluenote's level with greater ease. I can see Gildarts performing well enough against a Spriggan such that he won't get beaten easily. He'll likely be like Erza or Hyberion - unable to solo but be competitive.

Well the first punch doesn't look like a crash imbued punch to me. I doubt Gildarts would risk it with Cana that close. Also, there's no destruction to the surrounding area which would be indicative of crash being used.
For the rest, some do seem like crash was used indeed, but most seem to be destruction from both their immense magic power clashing and bluenote's gravity being in play. The shockwave seems more of magic power to me. Gildarts was definitely fueling his punches with magic power, but not necessarily with crash. Would crash leave a shockwave? My impression is that it'll simply destroy stuff.

There for example, the shockwave isn't like a sweeping motion, it's more like arbitrary/haphazard destruction. There's no pattern to it. But in the clash with Bluenote, the shockwave is sweeping and in turn destroys most of the area and there was also the falling debris from above which Gildarts destroyed.

I went back to re-read, and in the last picture you linked, bluenote flipped a large part of the earth over Gildarts, Gildarts might've used crash to disintegrate it, but when he and bluenote clashed, what Lucy and the others commented on is their immense magical power, implying that was what caused the shockwaves. In tenrou, we saw when Gildarts released his MP and had Natsu shivering. Considering that, it makes sense that he and bluenote create shockwaves from clashing. It really doesn't seem like he was using crash (imo anyway)

True, bluenote pushed him while Serena defeated numerous enemies above that caliber. But on the other hand, Gildarts apparently survived against dragon Acnologia while Serena got One shotted. I do think he'll be able to solo (personally). He'll definitely be competitive though.

 

[Axiomus]

I believe that Gildarts will probably be a beast when he shows up again.
However, Gildarts as he was on Tenrou Island would lose to a Spriggan.