Ie is Laxus performance v Wahl not good enough to be ranked similar to DiMaria?
That's hard to say. Remove age seal from the possibilities and Laxus definetely stands a chance. But, with age seal, he doesn't. Does that mean he's tiers below Dimaria, or that Dimaria's hax is overkill? Probably the latter.
I think Kagura did notice something, but it wasn't enough for he to actually know what happened. Tbh I think it's possible that you can notice/counter Age Seal through MP strength, but as it's not defined I give Age Seal the benefit of the doubt of time-stopping Laxus completely.
Agreed!
This is really splitting hairs. Grand Chariot took longer than Natsu's FDK move to use, yet Jellal is likely a Natsu-tier on feats. 1-2 seconds is still quick. Who would stop it if they didn't know, other than DiMaria?
Well I don't know but a couple of seconds may be too little time to people like us, but to characters like them, some of which move above the speed of sound and so on... One second is quite a lot, get me? I mean, if I was completely sure that upon joinin his hands, Jacob kills me; and I'm as fast as Laxus, then I definetely can do something about it. Or if I'm not that fast but I've got some kind of magic like Hyberion's, that seemingly paralyzes you... I'd use it right away.
Brandish shrunk Marin close to instant. Thought processes I assume are the same.
I know this is really going to be splitting hairs, but I think we could say that 'stopping time' or 'shrinking someone to a negligible size' are automatized thoughts, and work faster than 'I'm going to pinpoint x's heart and shrink it to the point he dies'.
Whereas shrinking someone like Dimaria might not be productive, because maybe she can still activate Age Seal even if she's the size of a cell... Shrinking her heart will make her die and unable to activate Age Seal... But before Brandish actually pinpoints her heart and shrinks it, time has already stopped and Brandish is dead. But when it comes to Jacob, Brandish might have a chance at shrinking his heart to the point she kills him before he joins the palms of his hands. Does it make sense?
I wouldn't assume Wahl would've been beaten easily, but easier yes. It really depends if you want to downplay Wahl or hype Laxus though. Earlier in the arc he dropped a nuke that August thought might wreck Ajeel, so I've been giving Laxus the benefit of the doubt thanks to that (ie assume Laxus is above 'regular' spriggan level, by a fair margin). That assumption does fit with Laxus winning how he did, and Wahl not being a weak Spriggan.
I don't aim at either downplaying Wahl or hyping Laxus. The thing is, if lightning isn't going to work against Wahl, he has to beat him by means of magicless punches and kicks. Laxu's cqc magicless abilities should be superhuman, but not enough to break through Wahl's durability (=Laxus cannot harm Wahl with bare punches and kicks). But now add him a kind of magic, any type, with the intensity of his MP, and then he should actually wreck Wahl. I mean, the only reason why Laxus wasn't harming Wahl was because his attacks weren't magic imbued, or they were immune magic imbued. Give him any other element and he wipes the floor with Wahl, I think.
I wouldn't put Laxus above regular spriggan level, I'd say that, haxes aside, he'd be the most proficient cqc-based spriggan (if he were one), alongside God Serena.
This is what I'm getting at with the hax countering. Lets pick 4 characters - August, Laxus, Wahl and Bradman.
Under the assumption that you need to counter a hax to be in the same tier, Wahl can counter Bradman for sure. August and Laxus can't. So Wahl > Bradman > Laxus.
Under the assumption that hype is correct and fight outcomes represent power ranking in some way, August > Laxus > Wahl.
If you combine the 2 lines of thinking, then it's obvious there's something wrong with one of them, as they conflict. I'd be more inclined to believe the first one is wrong.
Not really. In this case I'd say Wahl is a natural counter of Bradman's because he is not a human being/alive + he can render MBP particles useless. He's a counter as much as Laxus is a counter of any lightning magic. Even if a lightning magic is vastly more powerful than Laxus, Laxus can still win because he can absorb the enemy's lightning and become stronger. Does that mean Laxus > that mage? No. He might beat him, but he's still got more MP, better cqc abilities and so on and so forth.
In this case, Wahl can counter Bradman's hax. Does that put him above Bradman? No. Still, I believe Bradman to be above Wahl, but not for that.
So, I wouldn't say that fight outcomes represent power ranking AT ALL. For example, Erza beat Ajeel but Ajeel > Erza, TO Chelia beat Dimaria but Dimaria > TO Chelia, Tenrou Natsu beat Hades but Hades > Natsu.
I never really get the variety argument when it comes to beating someone strong.
Well I kind of get your point. Levy or Cana are two super versatile mages but still, their versatility won't help them defeat anyone from Wizard Saint tier on. But if Bradman was all MBP and that's it (which was what I initially thought), he'd still be classed Spriggan tier (because he cannot be hurt, and you can't get close to him without dying), and he wouldn't have many powerful attacks that he actually does have.
So, for example, imagine that Wahl turns out to be vulnerable to ice (we don't know, but think of such scenario). Bradman with only the MBP curse is powerless against Wahl. However, now, Bradman can potentially kill Wahl because he's got Silver's magic. Get me?
It's a toolshed analogy. Let's say you want to knock down a wall. What matters most? That you have tools for demolition, or that you have more tools?
It depends on what you want to do. Think of Elfman and Levy. Elfman is arguably way stronger than Levy. Elfman can break any wall you want, and Levy may not be able to. But Levy can do many things that Elfman cannot do.
By that same token, imagine Levy fighting a powerful enemy like Bradman. Think of this hypothetical scenario: Levy can create a mask that actually WORKS against MBP. And then she creates the word "tangible" and it turns out to be a weapon that actually works against Bradman and hypothetically, she ends up hurting Bradman way more than Elfman would. But Elfman is superior, right?
So, versatility helps.
My example is Laxus and Jellal. Laxus knows less spells, but can arguably use spells that rival Jellal's best. Jellal knowing bind snake or telekenesis wouldn't matter worth a damn in a fight like that. If someone says having more spells gives Jellal a better shot I'd ask why. What matters for Jellal is that he has powerful spells, not more spells.
Even if Jellal knows more spells, in this case, it comes down to the strongest they can use, because we're talking about one isolated kind of magic. Heavenly body magic is the basis of all of Jellal's spells, while Lightning is the basis of all Laxus' spells. Now, imagine that Jellal could use different kinds of magics at a level that rivals Jellal best Heavenly Body magic's spells. Then, no doubt I'd rank Jellal above Laxus.
This is my guess with GS. God Serena is underrated because the AoE of his attacks didn't seem to be powerful, but imagine he can create attacks that rival Laxus' or Natsu's best, and in varied different elements. Then he definetely is more powerful than Laxus or Natsu, right?
This could be true, I won't deny it. But his attacks aren't weak. His CQC is up there, probably the best on feats. The damage he did on Laxus rivals what Serena did to the GoI. Even if we equalise Laxus' durability with the GoI's, we get Wahl's 3 attacks ~ God Serena's 3 slayer spells, given Laxus was beaten up in much the same way. Of course Wahl got plot help with the sickness, while Serena actually overpowered his opponents, but I think it's also worth noting that none of the GoI can put up a fight like Laxus could. And again if the GoI ~ Laxus, then GS >> Wahl.
While this is true, remember that before going DF, Gajeel was actually being wrecked by Bradman, so his offense shouldn't be taken lightly.
As for the GoI argument, you already know how it works. There are two possibilities: either you consider them utter fodder, vastly below Laxus, and then you equalise Wahl and God Serena; or you decide they're not that weak, it's just that GS is too strong, and you claim GS >> Wahl. Both should be correct until we get some proof that GS = Wahl or that GoI are not as weak as some think.
She was the only one who was extremely close to Bradman and didn't die! How can you account for that?
If Jura ~ Bluenote, then wouldn't one Base Roar of Natsu's be equivalent to all of God Serena's attacks?
You could say that, but it's all very relative. On the one hand, you could argue Natsu's roar was not casual, it was full-powered because he acknowledged the danger of the enemy; whereas GS was just playing around.
On the other hand, if you don't like this argument, you can always claim that yeah, Base Natsu can actually output more power in one attack, but if Serena can successively burst attacks like he does, he eventually overpowers Base Natsu's roar, and ends up outputing similar or superior amount of damage.
However, I do believe Jura's durability to be superior to Bluenote's, and equal to the GoI, but I believe Bluenote's magic to be more haxy/superior/powerful
Jura endured the same stuff the GoI did, and went down at the same time. Even if we say the GoI have double the endurance of Jura, then 1 base roar of Natsu's is about the same as 2 of Serena's DS spells.
It's been widely argued. Yeah, Jura might be as durable as the GoI, but he very well may not. Maybe he received only part of the damaged, maybe, offpanel, he received less damage so he was fresher, whatever... it's hard to say! Since Mashima was going to fodderize the GoI either way he thought it was nonsense to make Jura still weaker than them haha
I do think GoI AND Jura's durability is above Bluenote's, though; I don't think they are falling as easily as BN did, but who knows.
Natsu has never done a FD Iron fist on the level of God Serena's Hellflame. Well not to my knowledge anyway. First time I saw it was against Zeref's army. Even the one against the War God was less (this is the first attack, not demolishing strike).
Well IMO Natsu's attack against the War God was more impressive than God Serena's attack, but I might be wrong here. I do recall Natsu's pre-timeskip attacks having more AoE than Hellflame's God Serena attack though. Which does not mean by any means pretimeskip Natsu is superior to GS, it only makes GS's attacks more concentrated and less AoE based.
I do agree. I think people shouldn't take too hard a stance. I do pick a stance, but if more stuff becomes available I have no problem changing.
So do I. I used to favor GS over Natsu to death. I still do think GS could beat Natsu, but I'm beginning to be reluctant to the idea Natsu isn't going to hurt GS. I'm beginning to think BDKM Natsu may actually outclass GS. So, yeah, we can always change our stance.
There is also another point that we need to consider and that is actually having a basis of feats in X792. Essentially the wealth of feats pre-skip are redundant. So we're left with assessing feats 'fresh' for the first time in a long time. By fresh I mean we have no pre-existing evidence or basis. So there's going to be a lot of varying opinion until we get enough feats to compare, and then make better judgments. I mean just look at Jellal's durability. Some say it's rubbish, some say it's Laxus+. When we get the feats we'll now. Same goes for all facets/characters, more feats = better judgement.
You couldn't be more right. Still, I don't think we'll see many feats from God Serena, Bradman or the GoI, hahaha
I'm trying to understand your first paragraph,but it isn't adding up.
First off GS is below dragons in terms of power.
First of all, GS, and many spriggans for that matter, should be above some dragons, and below some dragons. That's been argued before. God Serena could probably beat Motherglare.
Neinharts power isn't brute force or nukes,but the ability to overpower his opponents with historias.If he had all the historia to fight with him against GS he would give a fair run for his money.
So far, Neinhart's only summoned people who God Serena could fodderize. By powerscaling, Natsu fodderized Bluenote of one roar. God Serena can output similar levels of power so he's going to fodderize anyone who's Bluenote level~. And most of the mages who Neinhart has summoned are around Bluenote level. I only see Hades or Kyoka being superior to Bluenote. And still, they're not going to be a problem for him. I just can't see how you think 7 fodders are going to actually give GS a run for his money.
If he use water based attacks? UR freezes them
Fire? Zancrow
Earth?Azuma could create trees to catch them.
Air/Wind? Ezel cuts through it.
And the others could just attack,while the others channel their spell or just protect Neinhart.
Assuming GS does not oneshot. Or do you think Zancrow could actually give current Natsu any problems at all? No, he couldn't. Zancrow would be as fodderized from Natsu's roar as Bluenote was. So would Ur, Azuma and Ezel.
Jura would be worth shit on the machine.He uses earth,but Erza fought him in the air,where no solid earth is present.
And yes,the GoI are fodder in my eyes.
Jura is below current Erza and anything below current Erza is fodder, I agree. But the GoI are Erza tier and if the GoI are fodder, Erza is so. I don't blame you for thinking the GoI are fodder though, since they were pretty much fodderized.