Discussion Fairy Tail Power Ranking Thread

[grey matter]

I’m disappointed in u bro gray>laxus? Base on what? beating invel? Are u gonna say that gajeel is also on that tier cuz he beat Bradman? 2. Laxus has magic cancer wahl even question him how he is till alive? Meaning that he was till he was till affected by it. Plus wahl had an advantage over him. End was hype and was stalemated by gray and was stop by erza causally. What make u believe that FDKM>laxus during the Alvarez arc?

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 21, 2020, Original Post Date: Sep 21, 2020 ---

So was every1 in FT

Not based on beating Invel (I mean, stomping Invel is impressive, but Laxus stomped Wahl too), based on stalemating partial END. Normally Gray is fodder (I mean, out of the relevant powerhouses among good guys, he's probably the weakest), but the new mode he got put him at that level.

I'd actually put Gajeel also >= Laxus, IF what he got is DF. Think about it. Base Gajeel ~ 80-90% base Natsu. If his DF gave him anywhere close to the powerup that it gives Natsu, think about how strong Gajeel would be, If it's not DF, then I wouldn't put Gajeel anywhere close to Laxus
FDKM is on Laxus tier, >= is my opinion. He gave the vibe that his FDKM was unstoppable (he basically one shotted everyone he used FDK attacks on, but considering half the Spriggans got one shot, idk lol).

Wahl's advantage became disadvantage when Red lightning appeared, since it bypassed immunity and has some corrosive properties which are bad for machines.

Erza didn't stop them casually. She almost crumbled her hands in doing so, while END and darkness Gray were trading blows for several minutes

This would be my list:
Natsu (DF)
Gildarts
partial END / darkness Gray
FDKM Natsu/ Laxus/ Jellol / DF Gajeel
Erza
ISM Gajeel
Mira (plutogrim)
regular DeS Gray

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 21, 2020 ---

I disagree with END being superior to FDK. The attack that beat FH Zeref was an FDK Demolition Fist. Sure you can say that feat involved POF, but so was every single attack that was used with END's power. END's power requires a constant supply of rage just to keep Natsu from falling into a coma. END without any emotional boosts is terminal cancer-patient level. All of a sudden oneshotting Jacob, as unimpressive as that is, doesn't look too bad as a baseline for FDK.

Well, I don't even want to consider that legit lol. FH Zeref easily handled full power DF Natsu's attack, but got one shotted by a FDK punch? . I mean, if we consider that feat legit, FDK Natsu one shots anyone in the series bar high tier dragons
(also, wasn't it "flames of wild emotion" or some shit, which destroyed Zeref in the end? Is that "guild flames" or fire dragon king flame?)

Probably not. IMO, when Natsu was END, his demonic side took over. The seeds came to a balance and he collapsed when Natsu suppressed his demonic side. That's the "dilemma" here. His illness was caused by his uncertainty, which lead to different sides competing for control. Does Natsu want to be a demon, or a dragon? What does he choose? When he was END, he obviously was instinctively leaning towards demonic side. When he chose human, both seeds died.
i.e, he would be fine if he chose anything, as long as he's not wavering. If he chooses demon, he fully turns into END. If he chooses dragon, he becomes a fire dragon. If he chooses human, he stay as he is. If he chooses nothing, the competing forces destroy each other and Natsu dies. This is my interpretation.
What do you think?

 

[sharkai]

He kinda did stomp, to the point where you think he made Wahl look like fodder and Laxus look too OP

It's not FDK that's stronger than END, it's Natsu. Base Natsu is stronger than Dragon Force lol, and not by a little bit.

no it reminded me of senseless erza vs koyoka.

laxus at no point stomped wahl. gray stomped invel. only one pof hit affected wahl

 

[grey matter]

Laxus was stomping him......re read that fight. Only time Wahl managed to land a hit was when his cancer kicked in. No you didn't address the immunity. What that fight showed was that Laxus was a whole tier above Wahl but immunity saved him. All it took was one hit when it was bypassed.

I don''t disagree that Laxus is a tier above.
I re-read the fight, they were trading blows before the cancer kicked in as well. Though I'll agree that the trade would've definitely been in Laxus' favour if not for Wahl's immunity.
Well, I addressed that one hit. It was a super effective blow on a Wahl who wasn't on guard because he assumed he had immunity.

IMO, if you completely remove immunity, and had Laxus vs Wahl, it would be a low-mid (leaning towards mid) diff instead of one shot. Wahl seems to be a Spriggan who's relatively balanced in stats. He was holding his own in physical combat. Even if there is lightning immunity, the fact that he was able to land blows on Laxus and make Laxus hurt with his attacks is impressive. If he was no diff/one shot material for Laxus, this wouldn't be possible (see Kyria vs Laxus, her attacks couldn't even scratch him lol. This is what would happen if stats are low enough for a stomp)

END has hype....cool. So did the GOI. All that proved was he had enough MP to bypass time stop and we all know she's average without it. Him having a large MP reserve isn't going to stop him from RL or a nuke that could've come closed to killing a Spriggan.

PoF Laxus > PoF Gray

Regular Laxus > Regular Gray

The thing is, MP in Natsu's hand means a lot. Stats scale with MP, the scaling factor being different for different mages. For some mages (like most Spriggans and GOI), the scaling is pretty pathetic. But for those like Natsu, they becomes absolute monsters when given enough MP. END is Natsu with additional powers, whatever scaling Natsu gets is arguably applicable even more for END

The thing is, this isn't just POF. If it was just POF, I'd agree with you. But, there was a new mode for Gray here as well. PoF may have added to his powers, but the major bulk of his powerup came from being overcome by darkness. PoF was the key to unlocking this mode, but the mode is what gives him bulk of his powerup. Just like, POF allowing Natsu to unlock DF, there is some powerup from POF to him but bulk of his powerup is coming from the DF that Natsu unlocked

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 21, 2020, Original Post Date: Sep 21, 2020 ---

exactly, so why would we put laxus above say gajeel or gray. all these people needed pof and cis to win

Base on hype (hype of being able to one shot or at least low diff Ajeel) and portrayal, Laxus is above them easily.

What makes things confusing here is that Gray and Gajeel got new (temporary) modes in Alverez. Normally, Laxus >> Gajeel and Gray, I assume everyone here agrees with that. But, the new modes complicate things .How does things change when they get an entirely different mode? That, IMO, is the discussion here

 

[Seven777]

no it reminded me of senseless erza vs koyoka.

laxus at no point stomped wahl. gray stomped invel. only one pof hit affected wahl

Uhuh

i am not talking about the action, i am talking laxus kicking wahl around. in the last arc, no one should be overpowering the villains like that, period

 

[grey matter]

Uhuh

lmao.

But yea, he does have a valid point tho. It wasn't a stomp. Laxus vs Kyria is a stomp, her offence couldn't even put a scratch.
Wahl was holding his own in physical combat (i.e physical strength, speed etc.......only attack power was nerfed for Laxus because of immunity) before cancer kicked in; and Wahl was actually able to damage Laxus with his offence.

This would be my opinion on Laxus vs Wahl, if you remove immunity:

IMO, if you completely remove immunity, and had Laxus vs Wahl, it would be a low-mid (leaning towards mid) diff instead of one shot. Wahl seems to be a Spriggan who's relatively balanced in stats. He was holding his own in physical combat. Even if there is lightning immunity, the fact that he was able to land blows on Laxus and make Laxus hurt with his attacks is impressive. If he was no diff/one shot material for Laxus, this wouldn't be possible (see Kyria vs Laxus, her attacks couldn't even scratch him lol. This is what would happen if stats are low enough for a stomp)

 

[Seven777]

lmao.

But yea, he does have a valid point tho. It wasn't a stomp. Laxus vs Kyria is a stomp, her offence couldn't even put a scratch.
Wahl was holding his own in physical combat (i.e physical strength, speed etc.......only attack power was nerfed for Laxus because of immunity) before cancer kicked in; and Wahl was actually able to damage Laxus with his offence.

This would be my opinion on Laxus vs Wahl, if you remove immunity:

Sure, he did better than Kyria in terms of offense. In terms of defense though, Kyria was able to get up, while Wahl got killed with one attack... There was a time when I would've ranked Wahl above Ajeel, but at this point it's just meh, Wahl gets eradicated by a nuke if he wasn't immune to lightning. Kyria prob would too if Laxus put in the effort, but I consider her more or less average spriggan tier anyway.

 

[grey matter]

Sure, he did better than Kyria in terms of offense. In terms of defense though, Kyria was able to get up, while Wahl got killed with one attack... There was a time when I would've ranked Wahl above Ajeel, but at this point it's just meh, Wahl gets eradicated by a nuke if he wasn't immune to lightning. Kyria prob would too if Laxus put in the effort, but I consider her more or less average spriggan tier anyway.

Isn't that because Laxus was casual against her? He had no intention of killing her. Laxus probably spent like 5-10% of his total MP on Kyria. While, against Wahl, he put all the power he could muster in that one attack (and, IMO, Wahl wouldn't have been one shot if not for him not having his guard on due to assuming he's immune to lightning, and if not for red lightning which has corrosive properties)
Wahl would mid (high at most) diff Kyria IMO

I'd put Ajeel above Wahl too (because of intang and sandstorm), but in terms of stats I'd put Wahl above Ajeel

 

[Seven777]

Isn't that because Laxus was casual against her? He had no intention of killing her. Laxus probably spent like 5-10% of his total MP on Kyria. While, against Wahl, he put all the power he could muster in that one attack (and, IMO, Wahl wouldn't have been one shot if not for him not having his guard on due to assuming he's immune to lightning, and if not for red lightning which has corrosive properties)
Wahl would mid (high at most) diff Kyria IMO

I'd put Ajeel above Wahl too (because of intang and sandstorm), but in terms of stats I'd put Wahl above Ajeel

Meh, he ended up using Roaring Thunder. As for intention of killing her, I see no reason he would want to kill her less than Ajeel.
As for Wahl, even if he had better stats than Ajeel, that just means he requires a stronger attack than the nuke, which would be Red Lightning. Red Lightning might cost more power than the normal attacks + Roaring Thunder he spent on Kyria, but I don't imagine it's by a large amount so it doesn't really matter to me.
Kyria would beat Wahl with hax. Outside of that, Wahl might beat her, sure.

 

[Jko]

I don't see how anyone can still put Jellal high on their tier list let alone high enough to be above Erza who straight up tied against Laxus.

 

[Axiomus]

[/QUOTE]

It's not FDK that's stronger than END, it's Natsu. Base Natsu is stronger than Dragon Force lol, and not by a little bit.

Well yeah. FDK is stronger because Natsu is the one using it. He will always be able to use his POF to make his FDK attacks stronger. That's what he did to beat Zeref. The only other guy that might use FDK flames is Igneel, and he's stronger than END too.

 

[Seven777]

Well yeah. FDK is stronger because Natsu is the one using it. He will always be able to use his POF to make his FDK attacks stronger. That's what he did to beat Zeref. The only other guy that might use FDK flames is Igneel, and he's stronger than END too.

Everything is stronger because Natsu uses it, it's not FDK that is special it's Natsu's "guild power" or whatever. Base Natsu is stronger than FDK+Ignia+Atlas Flame+Dragon Force combined.

 

[Axiomus]

Well, I don't even want to consider that legit lol. FH Zeref easily handled full power DF Natsu's attack, but got one shotted by a FDK punch? . I mean, if we consider that feat legit, FDK Natsu one shots anyone in the series bar high tier dragons
(also, wasn't it "flames of wild emotion" or some shit, which destroyed Zeref in the end? Is that "guild flames" or fire dragon king flame?)

Probably not. IMO, when Natsu was END, his demonic side took over. The seeds came to a balance and he collapsed when Natsu suppressed his demonic side. That's the "dilemma" here. His illness was caused by his uncertainty, which lead to different sides competing for control. Does Natsu want to be a demon, or a dragon? What does he choose? When he was END, he obviously was instinctively leaning towards demonic side. When he chose human, both seeds died.
i.e, he would be fine if he chose anything, as long as he's not wavering. If he chooses demon, he fully turns into END. If he chooses dragon, he becomes a fire dragon. If he chooses human, he stay as he is. If he chooses nothing, the competing forces destroy each other and Natsu dies. This is my interpretation.
What do you think?

I mean, a feat is a feat. I can accept that POF made Natsu's FDK punch stronger than his DF punch.
Without POF, FDK is about as strong as when we saw it against Jacob. At max POF, it's as strong as when he beat FH Zeref.
Without POF, END's power just gave Natsu a coma. When Natsu thought Lucy was dead, END's power makes Natsu around Gray's level.

Everything is stronger because Natsu uses it, it's not FDK that is special it's Natsu's "guild power" or whatever. Base Natsu is stronger than FDK+Ignia+Atlas Flame+Dragon Force combined.

How is it not FDK? He's using the guild's power to fuel that FDK spell, but it's an FDK spell nonetheless.

And how is base Natsu stronger than FDK or DF? It was an FDK spell that beat Zeref. FDK Natsu at max POF was stronger than DF Natsu.

Ignia's flames is arguably stronger. The form he had against Mercphobia was arguably the strongest Natsu's ever been. Eating Ignia's flames is probably also the reason Natsu's dragon force showed such an improvement.

 

[Seven777]

I mean, a feat is a feat. I can accept that POF made Natsu's FDK punch stronger than his DF punch.
Without POF, FDK is about as strong as when we saw it against Jacob. At max POF, it's as strong as when he beat FH Zeref.
Without POF, END's power just gave Natsu a coma. When Natsu thought Lucy was dead, END's power makes Natsu around Gray's level.




How is it not FDK? He's using the guild's power to fuel that FDK spell, but it's an FDK spell nonetheless.

And how is base Natsu stronger than FDK or DF? It was an FDK spell that beat Zeref.

Yeah, it's guild power that's special, not FDK, FDK was simply the best spell he could use to channel it. For example, if Laxus was using FDK, he ain't beating infinite magic, he's just getting a strong attack.

Because he was in base when he beat Zeref. Natsu with FDK, and Dragon Force, and Ignia's flames and Atlas Flame's flames, isn't as impressive as Base Natsu was. Using an FDK spell while in that state doesn't give FDK credit, it gives Base Natsu credit, because we've seen FDK stacked with a bunch of other powerups and yet still be lacking in comparison.

 

[grey matter]

I mean, a feat is a feat. I can accept that POF made Natsu's FDK punch stronger than his DF punch.
Without POF, FDK is about as strong as when we saw it against Jacob. At max POF, it's as strong as when he beat FH Zeref.
Without POF, END's power just gave Natsu a coma. When Natsu thought Lucy was dead, END's power makes Natsu around Gray's level.




How is it not FDK? He's using the guild's power to fuel that FDK spell, but it's an FDK spell nonetheless.

And how is base Natsu stronger than FDK or DF? It was an FDK spell that beat Zeref. FDK Natsu at max POF was stronger than DF Natsu.

Ignia's flames is arguably stronger. The form he had against Mercphobia was arguably the strongest Natsu's ever been. Eating Ignia's flames is probably also the reason Natsu's dragon force showed such an improvement.

Ok, how strong do you think that FDKM is? The regular FDK? Clearly, the final attack against Zeref was an anomaly which Natsu will likely never able to replicate.
Not really, it's the wavering of Natsu that caused the coma. That's what my previous comment was trying to explain.
POF was the trigger to END, the bulk of powerup came from the new mode itself.
Partial END was strong enough to stalemate darkness Gray.

 

[Ramen]

I don''t disagree that Laxus is a tier above.
I re-read the fight, they were trading blows before the cancer kicked in as well. Though I'll agree that the trade would've definitely been in Laxus' favour if not for Wahl's immunity.
Well, I addressed that one hit. It was a super effective blow on a Wahl who wasn't on guard because he assumed he had immunity.

IMO, if you completely remove immunity, and had Laxus vs Wahl, it would be a low-mid (leaning towards mid) diff instead of one shot. Wahl seems to be a Spriggan who's relatively balanced in stats. He was holding his own in physical combat. Even if there is lightning immunity, the fact that he was able to land blows on Laxus and make Laxus hurt with his attacks is impressive. If he was no diff/one shot material for Laxus, this wouldn't be possible (see Kyria vs Laxus, her attacks couldn't even scratch him lol. This is what would happen if stats are low enough for a stomp)



The thing is, MP in Natsu's hand means a lot. Stats scale with MP, the scaling factor being different for different mages. For some mages (like most Spriggans and GOI), the scaling is pretty pathetic. But for those like Natsu, they becomes absolute monsters when given enough MP. END is Natsu with additional powers, whatever scaling Natsu gets is arguably applicable even more for END

The thing is, this isn't just POF. If it was just POF, I'd agree with you. But, there was a new mode for Gray here as well. PoF may have added to his powers, but the major bulk of his powerup came from being overcome by darkness. PoF was the key to unlocking this mode, but the mode is what gives him bulk of his powerup. Just like, POF allowing Natsu to unlock DF, there is some powerup from POF to him but bulk of his powerup is coming from the DF that Natsu unlocked

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 21, 2020, Original Post Date: Sep 21, 2020 ---

Base on hype (hype of being able to one shot or at least low diff Ajeel) and portrayal, Laxus is above them easily.

What makes things confusing here is that Gray and Gajeel got new (temporary) modes in Alverez. Normally, Laxus >> Gajeel and Gray, I assume everyone here agrees with that. But, the new modes complicate things .How does things change when they get an entirely different mode? That, IMO, is the discussion here

Wait but that's only half of the story, all you're saying is, "He got a new power-up with his PoF." First of all, that's technically not true. The term Darkness is a made up fan word that Mashima never used. It was just a more extreme version of his Devil Slaying with more PoF. Us the fans use Darkness because he was turning into an actual Demon.

Laxus was the one with an actual concrete new power-up that's able of killing Spriggans without much difficulty. Gajeel got a new power-up yes, but it's hard gauge him because all it did was let him land blows on Bloodman who's main power was his intangiblity in the first place. Like Wahl, he couldn't fathom the idea of being in a fair fight.

Your whole argument boils down to END defeating Dimaria. If it was August or Irene, I'd give it to you but we're talking about a Spriggan who was getting beat by TO Sherria and Wendy without here time stop.

If you were to say Gray with under extreme PoF circumstances could steal a win from Laxus under a tough fight then there's a discussion, but saying mid diff is objectively false given what we know.

In your rankings, why is Laxus above Gajeel in his new mode but Gray is a tier above? That doesn't make sense since Gajeel checks all the boxes in your criteria the way Gray does.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 21, 2020 ---

laxus with cancer should have been weaker than gmg laxus. but alas mishma
he didnt stomp. and he was on pof. so not really impressive

Yes he did stomp. What fight were you reading? Everyone's was on PoF including your favourite Erza. What's your point?

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 21, 2020 ---

Ignia's flames is arguably stronger. The form he had against Mercphobia was arguably the strongest Natsu's ever been. Eating Ignia's flames is probably also the reason Natsu's dragon force showed such an improvement.

Ignia's flames are arguably stronger than what? Because if were debating FDKM or END, he's solo both at the same time using those flames.

 

[Axiomus]

Yeah, it's guild power that's special, not FDK, FDK was simply the best spell he could use to channel it. For example, if Laxus was using FDK, he ain't beating infinite magic, he's just getting a strong attack.

Because he was in base when he beat Zeref. Natsu with FDK, and Dragon Force, and Ignia's flames and Atlas Flame's flames, isn't as impressive as Base Natsu was. Using an FDK spell while in that state doesn't give FDK credit, it gives Base Natsu credit, because we've seen FDK stacked with a bunch of other powerups and yet still be lacking in comparison.

But what's the difference? Natsu can make an FDK spell stronger than END's attack. Can Laxus use FDK to beat FH Zeref? Probably not. At the same time, I'm not convinced END's power can just make anyone strong enough to stalemate Gray. It too is reliant on Natsu's emotions. When Lucy had it, she wasn't about to go around and slug it out with Gray tiers.

Natsu used FDK flames to beat Zeref. Why would that give base Natsu credit?

Ok, how strong do you think that FDKM is? The regular FDK? Clearly, the final attack against Zeref was an anomaly which Natsu will likely never able to replicate.
Not really, it's the wavering of Natsu that caused the coma. That's what my previous comment was trying to explain.
POF was the trigger to END, the bulk of powerup came from the new mode itself.
Partial END was strong enough to stalemate darkness Gray.

If Natsu is fairly casual, then Demolition Fist is about as strong as we saw against Jacob, Makarov, or Madmole. I'd say a little under red lightning. FDK Purgatory is strictly better than demolition fist, so maybe a little above red lightning?

Natsu's doubts caused the seeds to grow. The seeds fusing caused the coma. Natsu has no way to stop the seeds from fusing unless he goes into his heart and makes a choice. Natsu's rage over Lucy's fueled END's power, giving him a power-up to counteract his failing health. When those emotions were gone, the power-up went away and Natsu went back to dying.

 

[grey matter]

Wait but that's only half of the story, all you're saying is, "He got a new power-up with his PoF." First of all, that's technically not true. The term Darkness is a made up fan word that Mashima never used. It was just a more extreme version of his Devil Slaying with more PoF. Us the fans use Darkness because he was turning into an actual Demon.

Laxus was the one with an actual concrete new power-up that's able of killing Spriggans without much difficulty. Gajeel got a new power-up yes, but it's hard gauge him because all it did was let him land blows on Bloodman who's main power was his intangiblity in the first place. Like Wahl, he couldn't fathom the idea of being in a fair fight.

Your whole argument boils down to END defeating Dimaria. If it was August or Irene, I'd give it to you but we're talking about a Spriggan who was getting beat by TO Sherria and Wendy without here time stop.

If you were to say Gray with under extreme PoF circumstances could steal a win from Laxus under a tough fight then there's a discussion, but saying mid diff is objectively false given what we know.

In your rankings, why is Laxus above Gajeel in his new mode but Gray is a tier above? That doesn't make sense since Gajeel checks all the boxes in your criteria the way Gray does.

Yeah, it's something we made up to refer to whenever Gray had going on during that time, which made him incredibly strong (based on Invel, it's the darkness that ate away Gray's heart, hence the term. Grill my understanding).
The darkness eating away his heart did give him massive power up. He went from losing to Invel in his DeS mode, to stomping Invel in his base. I'd say that's an actual powrup, probably triggered from him losing his sanity and slowly turning demonic.

Laxus gained a new ability (RL), that's an upgrade to his attack power. While "darkness" is an overall boost to all stats, in that way it's similar to dragon force (I'd like to assume the darkness was actually the demon force, the demonic equivalent of dragon force)

Not really that alone. That's just used for comparison of feats between FDK and partial END. FDK stomped Jacob (without clap hax) and END stomped Dimaria (without timestop). Both of these Spriggans are equally mediocre when it comes to stats, and hence these two are comparable feats. END also has additional feat of overpowering timestop. I'm not arguing that FDKM can't do the same (in fact I believe FDKM could also overpower her timestop), but the fact is that this feat doesn't exist. So, partial END feat >= FDK feat.
Reception of hype is subjective. IMO END had better hype compared to FDKM.

I'd say high diff, not extreme

Not sure what you mean here. Laxus is obviously above ISM (iron shadow mode) Gajeel.
I put DF Gajeel on Laxus tier, assuming whatever he showed against Bradman was DF. If it's not DF, I wouldn't put it on Laxus tier personally (due to lack of conclusive feats, in which case I go by portrayal and hence give it to Laxus); but if someone would, I'll be able to see where they're coming from.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 21, 2020, Original Post Date: Sep 21, 2020 ---

But what's the difference? Natsu can make an FDK spell stronger than END's attack. Can Laxus use FDK to beat FH Zeref? Probably not. At the same time, I'm not convinced END's power can just make anyone strong enough to stalemate Gray. It too is reliant on Natsu's emotions. When Lucy had it, she wasn't about to go around and slug it out with Gray tiers.

Natsu used FDK flames to beat Zeref. Why would that give base Natsu credit?



If Natsu is fairly casual, then Demolition Fist is about as strong as we saw against Jacob, Makarov, or Madmole. I'd say a little under red lightning. FDK Purgatory is strictly better than demolition fist, so maybe a little above red lightning?

Natsu's doubts caused the seeds to grow. The seeds fusing caused the coma. Natsu has no way to stop the seeds from fusing unless he goes into his heart and makes a choice. Natsu's rage over Lucy's fueled END's power, giving him a power-up to counteract his failing health. When those emotions were gone, the power-up went away and Natsu went back to dying.

I'd agree with that. I put regular FDKM on Laxus tier too, but within the tier slightly above him

Yep, that's what I was saying. Natsu's wavering feelings is the cause of coma. When he was in END mode, he wasn't in coma because he subconsciously chose the demon side due to his anger/rage. My point here is that, it wasn't POF that prevented his coma while in END mode, but his subconscious choice of his demonic side. Then Erza's friendship speech got him to waver again, and he went to coma.

 

[Ramen]

Yeah, it's something we made up to refer to whenever Gray had going on during that time, which made him incredibly strong (based on Invel, it's the darkness that ate away Gray's heart, hence the term. Grill my understanding).
The darkness eating away his heart did give him massive power up. He went from losing to Invel in his DeS mode, to stomping Invel in his base. I'd say that's an actual powrup, probably triggered from him losing his sanity and slowly turning demonic.

Laxus gained a new ability (RL), that's an upgrade to his attack power. While "darkness" is an overall boost to all stats, in that way it's similar to dragon force (I'd like to assume the darkness was actually the demon force, the demonic equivalent of dragon force)

Not really that alone. That's just used for comparison of feats between FDK and partial END. FDK stomped Jacob (without clap hax) and END stomped Dimaria (without timestop). Both of these Spriggans are equally mediocre when it comes to stats, and hence these two are comparable feats. END also has additional feat of overpowering timestop. I'm not arguing that FDKM can't do the same (in fact I believe FDKM could also overpower her timestop), but the fact is that this feat doesn't exist. So, partial END feat >= FDK feat.
Reception of hype is subjective. IMO END had better hype compared to FDKM.

I'd say mid-high, leaning towards high diff.

Not sure what you mean here. Laxus is obviously above ISM (iron shadow mode) Gajeel.
I put DF Gajeel on Laxus tier, assuming whatever he showed against Bradman was DF. If it's not DF, I wouldn't put it on Laxus tier personally (due to lack of conclusive feats, in which case I go by portrayal and hence give it to Laxus); but if someone would, I'll be able to see where they're coming from.

All the PoF did (like it did for Laxus) was make his ice stronger. It didn't make him faster, more aware, it didn't boost any of his other stats.

Laxus already outclassed him in stats from the beginning, so we'd be debating attack power and one showed the power to kill, the other showed the power to not even beat a demon, as a demon Slayer.

So if you acknowledge Dimaria without her time-stop is mediocre and that FDKM could over power it, how's Gray beating Laxus?

 

[Ramen]

Um he has done nothing on Erza's level since GMG. His feats have been subpar since Tartarus.

He had an extreme high diff with Acno......

 

[Seven777]

But what's the difference? Natsu can make an FDK spell stronger than END's attack. Can Laxus use FDK to beat FH Zeref? Probably not. At the same time, I'm not convinced END's power can just make anyone strong enough to stalemate Gray. It too is reliant on Natsu's emotions. When Lucy had it, she wasn't about to go around and slug it out with Gray tiers.

Natsu used FDK flames to beat Zeref. Why would that give base Natsu credit?

Difference is Base Natsu was stronger when he used the FDK spell than he was when using END.
Lucy isn't Base Natsu tier, give END to Gajeel and he's hanging with Dark Gray, same as Natsu. As for it being reliant on Natsu's emotions, I mean sure, in the sense that he needs them to access the power(unless he willingly chooses to) but even in it's sleeper form END's power is great regardless of emotion, Natsu simply isn't able to access it or willing to use it.

FDK is a type of power, as is END, you're claiming that FDK is the superior form in power(at least that's what I got from what you said) because of what it did to Zeref, however I'm claiming that it's not the case because it wasn't FDK's strength that claimed the victory, it was Base Natsu's strength.
Let me put it in perspective, Grand Chariot is not superior to Sema simply because Grand Chariot beat Neinhart, Jellal's baseline strength was just greater now than when Jellal last used Sema in Tartaros. Similarly Natsu's Demolition Fist isn't superior to END, because Natsu's baseline strength with guild power is simply greater than it was when he was using END.