Top ten strongest vampires in the Buffyverse

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Hi everyone, I'm a big fan of this show and have watched Buffy/Angel religiously for the better part of ten years and I'm new here too so I thought this might be a fun thread.

We've all watched Buffy and we know that as strong as vampires are, they're not as strong as demons and a lot of other evil creatures as they retain a lot of their humanity unlike pure demons, ie; Angel and Spike have encountered much opposition where they have been overpowered and beat down but they usually use they're fighting iq, ability, weapons, numbers and resiliency or one or all of the other depending on who the enemy is at the time to come out the victor.
From watching Buffy, we know that in cases, age does matter in how powerful a vampire becomes but that's not always the case as I'm sure Spike and Angel are stronger than Drusilla and Darla as their respective sires, so I'll start my list and I'll list my top ten strongest vampires in the buffyverse in my opinion.

1- The Master- you don't get a name like the master from being a push-over, not only was he a natural leader among vampires but he possessed hypnosis powers as well as his incredible strength. The Master was 800-1000 years old, from what I read previously, he was not sired by another vampire but he was cursed with vampirism by an old one, unlike the Turok-Han who is the only vampire that is pure vampire, The master retains some humanity despite his features due to his age, his humanity makes him all the more dangerous with his persuasiveness, cunningness and intelligence.. he easily killed Buffy on two occasions, first during their first fight scene and secondly in the alternate universe during "The Wish", when Buffy killed the master, he was taken off gaurd as he was surprised she was alive and she was at her full slayer ability which we only seen a few times throughout the series. The Masters vampire sireline, 4 in particular all appear on this list also which is a testament to how powerful The Master was.

2- Angel/Angelus- Angelus was the most evil vampire of all time and that's an incredible feat considering The Master, Kakistos, Vlad The Impaler (Dracula) are all his age multiplied and Dracula is based off the historical Vlad Tepes who was one of the most evil people in recent history and Angelus is more evil than him in his demon form. Angelus on top of his pure evil demeanour, is an artist in psychological torture liking to pick on the weak and slowly punish their mentality, Angelus was a very smart vampire as well coming off as a tactician more than a fighter, Angelus doesn't like to fight but when it comes down to it, he has proven to be a great warrior shown by his dominance over Buffy in their swordfight before she gained the upper-hand, he also got the better of another slayer in Faith in combat Angelus always seems to be totally relaxed and composed in a fight as well and he was the only one that came up with a solution to kill the beast while bookworms like Wesley with a team couldn't figure it out over a duration of time. I spoke of him constantly as Angelus instead of Angel because that's when his at his strongest form with no holding back and even in his gentler form, he has fought off apocalyptic events, Angel is around 350 years old considering he spent 100 years being tortured in a hell dimension on top of his 240+ years on Earth. Not is much said about Angel having been anything spectacular as a human but the lack of it, so it's probably his father's embarrassment and constant verbal disapproval of him that drove him to be a drunkard, useless, fighting Irish man to the most brutal vampire of all time to a hero sent by tptb.

3- Spike: William The Bloody, sired in 1880 as a 30 year old man who lived with his mother, sired by Drusilla, mentored to become the second most vicious vampire of all time by Angelus & his great grandsire was The Master. Spike was very humane even as a vampire displaying so much love and emotion probably due to how overly sensitive he was as a human but he could also be disgustingly evil due to Angelus teaching him the essentials in how to be a pure killer from 1880-1900, Spike was ballsy as a young vampire and loved the thrill out of combating with his life on the line, Angelus, Darla and Drusilla disapproved of his behaviour and told him an angry mob would kill him or the slayer, spike became intrigued by slayers and became the only vampire ever to seek them out killing his first vampire slayer as a very young vampire only having been sired 20 years at the time, Spike and Drusilla went their own way after Angelus was cursed with a soul in the late 19th century and Darla returned to the master, Spike and Drusilla toured the world slaughtering, killing and partying for the next few decades until Spike came across his second slayer in the 1970's, he confronted her first to get a feel of how she fights so he could further study how to defeat her and in his second time meeting her, he finished her and at that time Spike had not even been a vampire 100 years and he already killed 2 slayers making him a legend. For the next couple of decades, Spike and Drusilla continued their affairs before arriving in sunnydale in 1998 and the rest is history.
Spike happens to have more guts than brains but he is the ultimate fighting genius and happens to be mentally and physically unbreakable, demonstrated to how when he went to fight for his soul, the shaman laughed at him for thinking he could endure the trials to grant his wish after already recognising him as a legendary dark warrior, Spike was still talking smack following the trials despite his wounds; another example of his never quit attitude was when he wouldn't give up Dawn as the key while Glory was torturing him or how after his retrieval of his soul, he recovered from his depressing criminal doings as a demon in a matter of months opposed to Angels 100 years while he also had the first mentally picking him a part as well.

4. Kakistos: he is even older than The Master, has been alive for over 2000 years, killed numerous vampire slayers and it took 2 vampire slayers to defeat him but what gives him his lower position is that in less than a quarter of a time Kakistos was reigning terror, Angel and Spike made a bigger name for themselves and where's Kakistos's legendary sireline like the masters on top of the fact Faith permanently scarred his face in their first meeting. Besides his brute superior strength, his fight iq and strategic approach may let him down

5. The Turok-Han: some might argue that the turokhan should be number 1 based off the fact it easily handed down a beating to Buffy and it is the only vampire without a trace of humanity in it but that's what gives it a lower listing, similar to kakistos, the Turok Han has insane brute strength but also insane fighting ability but what is its downfall is its lackluster fight iq, the Turok-Han that was brought out of the hell mouth Individually by the first was evidently stronger than all the rest of them based off "Chosen"

6. Darla: The Masters pet and his self proclaimed favourite vampire minion directly sired by the master himself, Darla reigned terror and for centuries committed killings out of joy and pleasure, she sired Angelus because she was attracted to him in his human form, therefore siring him and helped mould him in to the most vicious vampire of all time. Darla is 400 years old and is very powerful.

7. Vlad Dracula: Vlad Tepes circa the 15th century was as I previously said one of the most evil people in recent history and as revealed in the buffy comics was more evil as a human than he was as a vampire said so by himself, that makes him a 500+ year old vampire in the buffyverse, more of a celebrity as a vampire than a warrior and more dangerous with his perceptive tongue than with his fangs. Spike was a former foe of his and persists that he is nothing special having learned all his magic and abilities from gypsies. Buffy made quick work of him but thanks to his usage of magic, he can't be killed. He appears to be very intelligent, a master in seducing, hypnotic and a great magician. Despite not much fighting skill, he has great power due to his age.

8. Drusilla: one of Angelus's projects was Drusilla, she was a nun and Angelus used to love targeting nuns but after finding out she was a psychic, he wanted to torture her in to insanity and then sire her so she would suffer eternal torment, he then recruited her forming a trio with Darla until 20 years later she sired her own partner in Spike. Drusilla also killed herself a slayer thanks to her hypnotism.

9. The trio- the three legendary vampires that were sent to kill Buffy by the master, they appeared to be very powerful resulting in Angel and Buffy having to run away only to later submit to the master in failure of their duties and be killed by Darla in the process.

10. Sunday- some of you may not remember Sunday but she was the vampire that was picking off college students on campus with her mini vampire gang in early Buffy season 4. The series original plan was to have Sunday as a big bad who had been sired as a vampire slayer but they scrapped that idea and went with the Adam, initiative scenario instead. Sunday and Buffy had a fight and she came off as incredibly strong effortlessly beating Buffy and breaking her arm resulting in Buffy retreating only for later that episode for them to have a rematch in which Buffy came out on top.
 
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Drusilla holds her own against Spike and Angel, and she takes down Kendra without breaking a sweat.

I wouldn't rate old-timey Angelus that high, because he probably did not fight all that much. His victims would be helpless humans. I am sure Spike could have easily beaten him by the time they met up in China. Of course, when Angel loses his soul in the present, he retains all of his new fighting skills.

I don't think Sunday is as strong as she seems. Her victory is more a reflection of Buffy's state of mind at the time. Buffy easily defeats her as soon as she gets her game back on.
 
I wouldn't rate old-timey Angelus that high, because he probably did not fight all that much. His victims would be helpless humans.

Dude, this just blew my mind. For some reason I never really considered the fact that vampires never actually really fight. For some of them, going up against a slayer might be the first proper fight they are in. A lot of the time they probably just snap their necks and drain them.

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Now, I do believe that the first Turok Han was imbued with a different strength than the others due to having The Masters blood line and definitely would have placed him above Spike - we see that Spike is helpless against the Turok Han.

Other than that, it was a great list!
 
But isn't it implied that age = strength for vamps? We see Angelus man handle Spike in the flashbacks and Angel seems surprised that Spike won against him in Destiny. The age thing would make the Tukey Khan, The Master and Kissing Toast the highest on the list.
 
Good points guys but I have to disagree on a few points, Drusilla killed Kendra via hypnotism not in combat, it would have been a different story if they were physically battling, Kendra got the better of Angel locking him in a cage and Angel is much more powerful than Drusilla.
Angelus didn't fight much but when push comed to shove he proved to be a warrior, he just would rather pick on the weak. Even as a human, the very first time Darla seen him in Galway, Ireland, he was effortlessly beating up guys in a tavern, he is a heavyweight build 6 foot plus and roughly 200 pounds combined with vampiric strength fueled with rage due to his father's disapproval of him before being sired. Angel/Angelus overall has beat down slayers like Faith & Buffy, he has defeated countless demons and he is the only one that figured out a way to stop the beast due to his genius. I retain his listing, he is stronger than Spike, when they had met in China, Spike had just killed a slayer and Angelus was a broken man so yeah he would have beat him on that occasion but when they met in the submarine roughly 50 years later, Spike didn't even challenge Angel as Angel preferring not to kill him sent him on his way in a boat. In the "harsh light of day" episode, Angel clearly overpowered Spike as he ran away then Spike had help from another vampire subduing him. Spike beat Angel in season 5 but that was the only the time he ever got the better of him and Angel had a lot on his plate at the time, in a few instances after this, Angel overpowered Spike and Spike immediately submitted, once as the puppet, once when Spike confronted Cordelia and again when Angel was pretending to ally himself with the black thorn in the final episode.
As for the Turok-Han, I believe that the Turok-Han that was individually set loose by the first was the alpha one of them all in the hell mouth as we see in chosen even the potential slayers are holding their own against numerous Turok-Han. Spike could have got the better of the Turok-Han in different circumstances, he was kidnapped and starved resulting in his weakness, Spike usually gets beat for the first half of a fight before he gains control and all that runs through the turokhans mind is kill, kill, kill, it has no fight iq whereas Spike has a great fight iq having killed two vampire slayers who were also much stronger than him but he still defeated them.
 
I think strength is relative. Sunday isn't stronger than Spike, but she is stronger than the rest of her group. Vampire groups seem to have a hierarchy. The leader is normally the strongest, a position often obtained through violence eg in School Hard, Spike came in, displayed dominance towards the other vampires, led the group in the attack on the school as a result (he even commanded the other vampire at the Bronze), he started playing nice with the annoying but got fed up and killed him before taking full control of the group. Spike was still in charge whilst he was wheelchair bound, albeit with assistance from Dru. However, when Angelus came in, Spike was unable to defend his position and was thus forced to relinquish it to Angelus. Harmony led a group but then Mort challenged her and the others began following him instead because he displayed strength and dominance that Harmony couldn't match.

In regards to Dru in relation to Angelus and Spike, she seems like she can hold her own against them. In BB&B, Dru attacked Angelus to save Xander yet Angelus' response was merely to growl at her, ask her what she was playing at and teller that it didn't amuse. It almost seemed like he wasn't willing to fight her. In Becoming, we see her tackle Spike to the floor, grab him by the throat and slam him into a wall, and punch him hard enough that it sends him staggering. The only reason he seems to get the upper hand on her is because she got distracted by Acathla which gave him the opportunity to grab her from behind and choke hold her into unconsciousness. Spike has killed two slayers, Drusilla has killed one, Angelus and Darla haven't killed any, yet Angelus does seem to have influence over Drusilla.

Every vampire has different strengths. Spike's is through his refusal to back down from situations, Dru's strength is in her hypnosis, Angelus' is his creativity at psychologically torturing his victims whilst Darla's is through the use of her feminine wiles.
 
Drusilla killed Kendra via hypnotism not in combat, it would have been a different story if they were physically battling, Kendra got the better of Angel locking him in a cage and Angel is much more powerful than Drusilla.
Drusilla shoos her minions away and fights Kendra for a good while, appearing to be in total control. When she starts using her magic, she is already choking Kendra with her hand. I imagine Drusilla is particularly good at fighting slayers, because slayers are less resilient than vampires and demons, i.e. you can slit their throat.
Angel/Angelus overall has beat down slayers like Faith & Buffy, he has defeated countless demons and he is the only one that figured out a way to stop the beast due to his genius.
That is why I drew a distinction between the wig-wearing Angelus of the past and the Angel of the present. When Whistler brings Angel to see Buffy, Angel spends a year preparing, before he reveals himself to her in Sunnydale and starts fighting by her side. When Angel loses his soul, he then combines Angel's fighting skills with Angelus's malice.

But I am pretty sure Spike could have beaten Angelus in China, even if Angelus was still soul-less. Spike has a stronger penchant for violence and brawling than most vampires. By the time Spike is sired, Angelus and Darla have grown old and careful, and they act very differently from how they act in the earlier flashbacks. However, in no flashback do we see Angelus win a fight against ... anyone really. Certainly no-one who would be his match.
Every vampire has different strengths. Spike's is through his refusal to back down from situations, Dru's strength is in her hypnosis, Angelus' is his creativity at psychologically torturing his victims whilst Darla's is through the use of her feminine wiles.
I think this is a good distinction. Spike is a lot like Rocky Balboa. He is not really that good, but he can take a beating, and when he is fighting for Adrian or he just gets angry enough he becomes dangerous. In addition to her hypnosis, I think Drusilla's strength is her unpredictability. She does not look that intimidating, but she can do something weird, such as use her nails as fangs, swing a shovel from an unsuspecting angle or simply rip your ears off.

Darla seems to avoid fisty-cuffs at all costs, preferring to use weapons or have other people fight.
 
Re: Fighting; There's always been an trope in vampire fiction of Vampires being like wolves, fighting for territory and rank, with some vampire fiction making it possible for Vampires to drain other vampires. There are also vampire hunters, whose skill is simply unknowable, but mobbing is their likely tactic. So I like the idea of the Slayer being the first real challenge, but a society where the central law is to take anything you like, but you can't own it, is one where its members can get their claws dirty.
 
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