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The best duelist of Dark Eldar (yes, I put him above Lelith) vs the best duelist CSM (not sure about Abaddon). Who will win if they meet? Battle in real space

Is Kharn a duellist though? Whilst certainly handy in a fight, he’s more of a lawnmower.

I think I’d give edge (heh) to Drazhar if it’s a background fight.

Now…Drazhar vs Lucius? Who knows!

In the background, Khârn doesn't rate himself as a duellist, and often lost in the practice cages, so if it were a 1 on 1 gladiatorial fight, could go either way. On the battlefield, though, Khârn would likely tear through Drazhar without realizing that he'd killed anyone of significance.

 JamesY wrote:
In the background, Khârn doesn't rate himself as a duellist, and often lost in the practice cages, so if it were a 1 on 1 gladiatorial fight, could go either way. On the battlefield, though, Khârn would likely tear through Drazhar without realizing that he'd killed anyone of significance.

On the lines of that particular argument, I’d argue that’s Advantage Drazhar.

Once the Nails are singing, Kharn is largely lost to sense, consumed with the need to claim skulls. A sufficiently skilled warrior, such as Drazhar, can use that as an opening. Perhaps not for a one on one fight, because a Fair Fight Is A Fool’s Fight outside of martial arts. But to use Kharn’s relative lack of focus to jump him and give him a good stabbing or decapitation.

Get him when he’s knee deep in soft targets and wreaking havoc, and Kharn may simply be far too gone to suddenly switch to “oh, it’s a fight is it?” type stance.

Not this is postulation only, not a conclusion.

Maybe. From what I've read/listened to though, I don't think that Khârn has any meaningful focus when fighting. In Chosen of Khorne, what's going on in his head bears no resemblance to the actual fight he's having- his body seems to act on instinct whilst his mind fantasises. I am biased, though, as the 2nd ed chaos codex represents the peak of my hobby interest and enthusiasm, so those special characters are always the tops for me.

I thought in Chosen Of Khorne Kharn saw how he'd lose the fight and acted accordingly.

Depends on who the Author is.

I don't really know much of Drazhar's showings tbh. I'd probably write him winning because he's cooler, but Kharn honestly might have the better showings in the background.

Kharn for sure, he's only died the once.

FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
Depends on who the Author is.

This. Although eldar named characters are still pretty prone to losing even in their own books. Also insert my usual spiel here about how it depends on what serves the narrative better and so on.

Basically, contests to see whose dad can beat up the other guy's dad tend to boil down the whims of the author. You want a real contest between these two? See who can murder more of his own allies accidentally or otherwise!

EDIT: Though given that you've specified that they're fighting in realspace, Draz is at a bit of a disadvantage unless someone is stopping by to feed him pain. He can still last for days (going off of his duel with Karandras where he killed a bunch of his students), but presumably he'll be in a bad way once enough of his soul has been leeched by Slaanesh. And that leeching happens faster in the materium than in the webway.

It's probably a situation like Oberyn and the Mountain from Game of Thrones.

Draz will likely be all over Kharn from a skill and speed perspective, but Kharn only needs to get him once and it's game over.

But yeah, otherwise it depends on the author.

 Afrodactyl wrote:
It's probably a situation like Oberyn and the Mountain from Game of Thrones.

Draz will likely be all over Kharn from a skill and speed perspective, but Kharn only needs to get him once and it's game over.

But yeah, otherwise it depends on the author.

Hmm. Actually, I'm not sure if that's necessarily true in this case. I know Drazhar is base Strength and Toughness 4. Is the same true for Kharn? Between (basically) being a phoenix lord, maybe or maybe not having a meat body inside the haunted armor that matters, and being in the same ballpark in terms of how much he can bench, I'm not sure a single hit necessarily wins it for Kharn. Against Lelith where a single hit means he's probably chainaxing into the muscle of a character whose defense is largely about movement, sure. But Drazhar might actually be able to take a hit on the armor or lose a limb or whatever and keep going.

EDIT: ^Or looking at it another way, they're probably both lethal enough to finish things with a single solid hit. Either way, I don't see Kharn having a clear advantage in terms of durability/lethality.

Plus, Drazhar is definitely faster. I'm not sure what kind of magic-induced stats Kharn's axe has, but I know that Drazhar's demiklaives are well-suited for slicing into marines. I know that incubi in general are dedicated to being the most efficiently lethal killers they can be where Kharn seems like he may or may not let his efficiency slide for the sake taunting, yelling, slaughtering a passing ally, etc. So while I agree that the winner is just going to depend on the whims of the author, Drazhar probably should win based on his resume.

This is like Gaz vs the Space Wolf guy. Neither won, and both did. Ghaz got his head cut off, but survives, and the space wolf guy literally dies, but then comes back to life. No way GW kills off one of their best lore gods just to suit a Who would X whim.