Introduction:
With DEATH BATTLE Season 3 on its way I have decided to pay tribute to a certain person that has been heavily involved in DEATH BATTLE’s production recently. None other than the guy with the crazy hair and the current 3D Animator for DEATH BATTLE, Torrian Crawford. Now there were a lot of ways I could have paid tribute to Torrian but in the end I asked myself - “Who is the one character that Torrian always talks about” and I realized - Lighting. Torrian is a huge fan of Lighting so I decided to put Lighting in my next blog but then I realized something else. Who could Lighting face? I mean she is one of the strongest RPG characters as well as a slayer of God. Then I realized - it was like a spark hitting my at just the right moment - Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles - of course both are Modern JRG Protagonists who use futuristic weaponry and at the end of both of their respective games become God Slayers.
As I researched this fight I realized more and more just how close this fight was and so this blog was born. I hope you guys enjoy it. As for you, Torrian, this is for you. I am the Gaming News Guy and it’s time to look at their weapons, armor, and skills to see who wins this DEATH BATTLE. Will it be Shulk’s time to defeat Lighting or will Lighting bring the thunder?
BACKGROUND:
Shulk
The world of Xenoblade Chronicles was once just an endless ocean with no life. This was until two great titans rose up from the sea.These giants were called the Bionis and the Mechonis. The two titans fought a timeless battle - sword versus sword, until with one final blow from both giants the two giants became unmoving corpses. As centuries continued new life started to grow from the two giants.The Bionis gave birth to organic lifeforms including human like Homs, the tiny creatures known as the Nopon, and a race known as the High Entia. I know you are asking, what about the Mechonis? Well, it gave birth to the machine race known as the Machina.
The Machonis started to attack and the Homs fought back, but they were having issues fighting back the Machina. Until the Monado was found by the Homs during an expedition. while they managed to find the Monado all the crew members of the expedition lost their lives mysteriously - except for one - Shulk. Dickson, who i must say looks a lot like Hulk Hogan, managed to not only obtain Monado but also Shulk. Deciding to use the sword against the Machons, Dunban became the best hope of defeating the Machina forces.
Dunban did not have complete control of the sword but it was enough to use it effectively use as a weapon against the Mechon at the Battle of Sword Valley. In doing so, he was able to thwart an attack against Colony 9 with the help of Dickson, as well as Mumkhar who is totally not Xenoblade’s version of Pigma. Mumkhar turned tail and ran (what a surprise) and was thought to died. While Dickson did manage to get out unscathed for the most part - Dunban lost the use of his right arm.
Now this is where our tale truly begins, Shulk having grown up on Colony 9 dedicated himself to the researching the Monado’s true power as Shulk believed that there was untapped potential in the sword that still hadn’t been fully used by Dunban. He befriended Reyn who also lived in Colony 9 and Dunban’s younger sister Fiora. Everything was going well for him, and just right about now i should say - the Fire Nation Attacked well you would be 100% correct. Colony 9 was invaded by the Mechon and a new foe - Metal Face who totally may or may not be a character that was present in the intro bit.
Knowing that Colony 9 stands no chance without the use of the Monado, Dunban tries to use it but due to his injuries is unable to do. Shulk wanting to protect his home decides to pick up the Monado for himself and surprisingly he uses it even more effectively than Dunban. He even gets a certain power that Dunban could never use - the ability to see the future (cue the Team Four Star quote). With the new power of the Monado he manages to fight off the Mechos with the exception of one being - Metal Face (What a surprise) who right in front of Shulk’s eyes kills Fiora.
Grief Stricken over the loss of his best friend and potential love interest, deciding to pursue revenge Shulk decides to pursue Metal Face and revenge for what he did to Fiora. He is joined by Reyn (Aka best bro) and the duo head off together They are joined by the sexy medic Sharla who is as good with a gun as she is healing people, Dunban after getting over the grief of her sister’s death, the Teddie Rip-Off i mean Nippon Riki who is best Heropon, The time travelling assistant to the Doctor i mean High Entia Princess Melia and later on Flora who has been transformed into a half human,half machine being. Along the way Shulk discovers the true purpose behind the Monado and who is really pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Lighting:
Lighting real name Claire Farron, along with her sister Serah is a resident of Cocoon (If you think that name is dumb you haven’t seen anything yet), an artificial world hovering above the planet Grand Pulse (Confused yet don’t worry you will be soon). Each of these regions is controlled by a sect of the fal'Cie who are a demigods. The two factions, the "Sanctum" population on Cocoon and the "Pulse" fal'Cie from Gran Pulse and let’s just say they are not friendly towards each other.
Lighting’s childhood wasn’t a happy one as her and Serah's parents died when their children were young, and that Lightning decided to become her sister's protector but this sadly ended up having the effect of Lighting neglecting her. She even changed her own name to Lighting in order to get into the delusion that her past was unnecessary and that she didn’t require love but on the inside she was simply just a lost girl who wanted the love and care of her parents who were no longer there (That’s surprisingly sad)
After graduating from high school, Lightning joined the Guardian Corps Bodhum Security Regiment under Lieutenant Amodar, this is when she obtained the rank of sergeant but this led to a divide between her and Serah due to how little time she spend with Serah.Nine days before Lightning's twenty-first birthday, NORA rescues her from an attack. This is when Lightning meets Snow Villers, their leader and her sister’s boyfriend. Light objects to NORA's vigilantism and unsuccessfully demands for him to stop dating Serah.Then Lighting creates a plan to go on a holiday with Serah and slowly convince Serah to stop dating Snow
During Lighting's Birthday, Serah tells her sister that her and Snow are engaged and that she is a I’Cie. When the Sanctum reveal that there is indeed a I’Cie hidden in the village Lighting realizes that she is telling the truth. Lighting then volunteers to be purged along with the civilians in order to find her sister. She then resigns from the Guardian Corps to get into Hanged Edge in order to rescue her sister before it is too late. Lightning is approached by a man named Sazh Katzroy, who joins her in order to reach the Pulse fal'Cie.
After being captured she manages to get herself freed and defeats as the PSICOM soldiers on board. PSICOM forces then attack the train and deploys a Manasvin Warmech - i am no expert on war but isn’t that a bit overkill in order to bring the train to a screeching halt. They eventually arrive at Vastage and encounter Sarah outside of the Pulse fal’Cie’s throne. Then other people start to arrive - Serah’s boyfriend Snow, Hope and Vanille arrive, and Serah asks Lightning to save Cocoon and enters a crystal state, having achieved her Focus (I am not going to even try to explain that). Lightning and the group confront and destroy Anima, but are branded l'Cie and plummet into the lake. This is the backstory of Lighting. There is a lot more regarding Lightning's story but i think it’s best i don’t talk about it because it’s extremely confusing.
PERSONALITY:
Shulk
Shulk has a lot of the typical Shonen Action Hero Traits but also doesn’t at the same time. He is a Weapons Researcher and while rather friendly to most people due to his kind nature he likes to be on his own and research weapons. He is extremely smart and is the brains compared to Reyn’s brawn. He cares about the people around him. Despite Shulk not being Reyn’s brother - they both treat each other as brothers and pretty much always look out for each other - he has high respect for Dunban and while not at first its hinted he may have a romantic interest towards Fiora.
While originally having a very negative view towards the Mechons - believing that they all should be exterminated. He later becomes more pacifistic - only killing life when faced with no other option. He even discards the notion of killing Metal Face who supposedly killed Fiora.
He is not perfect as he personally takes all the blame on himself if his friends get injured, he is always looking out for them as such when something bad happens to them he hates the fact he was powerless to stop it - for example “Fiora’s death”.He may go berserk if he sees his friends critically injured or killed. But most of the time he is a good person through and through who truly cares about the people around him.
Lighting:
Wait Lighting had a personality, in all seriousness, at first she comes off as very cold - this is because of her soldier training and general attitude to everyone. As such she liked to keep away from people. As such many people think she is completely uncaring and only looks out for herself and that’s not true. She truly loves and cares for Serah and wants to be strong for her. When Serah becomes a crystal she lashes out blaming only herself for what has happened to her and cursing herself for failing to save her sister in time. While travelling with Hope Lighting begins to feel compassion again and becomes a lot more willing to put her trust in others which is something she would have never did before.
In Final Fantasy 13-2 she has become even more willing to trust others and express her emotions because in 13 she realized that keep all her emotions bottled inside is not a good thing believe me i know. In Lightning Returns, Lightning is back to her old persona - being cold and distant from everyone. However, unlike before this is not entirely her fault as most of her emotions sapped from her, although her memories remain. She does later become more compassionate towards her allies particular Hope and the two help each other to retain both of their humanity. In the end she decides to let go over her own warrior persona completely as she realized that it was herself that was preventing her chance at happiness. While she had plenty of rough spots she eventually became a true hero and a champion of her race.
PHYSICAL ABILITY
Shulk:
Superhuman Strength: While Shulk mainly relies on the Monado for damage that doesn’t mean he isn’t physically strong as he is able to leap several feet in the air using physical strength and slash at a Mechon. Using sheer brute force he managed to damage Metal Face.
Superhuman Durability: Shulk is also rather durabile. He once got inflicted with physical blows from a Telethia. A similar one forced Metal Face into retreating as he was worried he might get killed by it. He even tanked a blast from a Face Mechon which are much stronger than normal Mechon and simply just got knocked over but his best feat regarding this is the fact he once fell few dozen feet with only a strip of metal to protect him. He was also holding Fiora’s body at the time. He managed to even tank Zanza who at full power is Universal as such his Durability is Universal
Superhuman Speed: Not only is he durable and strong but he’s also fast. He managed Dodges an electric blast from a Mechon at the very last second. And he managed to dodge blasts from Egil’s Mechon. He is even fast enough to block bullets even without Vision. He has faced Mechon who are faster than light and also how about that time he ran across the solar system in seconds so yeah at max he is massively faster than the speed of light
High Level of Intelligence: Shulk is quick witted, tactical and extremely smart. For the most part he remains calm under tense situations though he can break under pressure. Due to being a weapons researcher he is extremely book smart. Plus with his future vision which i will get into later he is able to quickly react to situations and plan out the next move.
Skilled Fighter: Shulk while not having that much combat experience is still a very skilled fighter able to easily kill three Mechon at once and able to do one of the most awesome things ever convinced, Cloud eat your heart out. Plus he managed to overpower Zanza who is pretty close to god.
High Amount of Willpower: Zanza has been attempting to control him for fourteen years, Shulk is able to resist Zanza's influence despite this. Normal men have fallen to its influence instantly.
Lighting:
Superhuman Strength: Lighting is very strong as she is able to injure Orphan who has been calculated at least being moon level. She has managed to hold off large planet level foes such as Caius and even overpowered Bhuinvelze who is a Universe Level Durability and through her strength she managed to stop the Chaos that caused the Apocalypse and was able to stop a black hole that would destroy the entire universe
Superhuman Durability: Lighting is as durable as she is strong. Early in Final Fantasy 13 she tanked an explosion that according to Outskirts Battledome has been calculated as 233.7 gigatons. She has also taShe tanked Orphan's Merciless Judgement which has been calculated as moon level. She has tanked attacks from planet level foes such as Caius and has even tanked his most powerful magic which is Large Planet level. Finally at her most powerful she tanked attacks with Bhuinvelze who is a Universe Level in Destructive Capability and even tanked his Hypernova which is Universe Level +.
Superhuman Speed: Lighting is fast enough to dodges a speeding car, jumps over some debris, and stops a Behemoth's charge. She is also fast enough to dodge gunfire. She is able to keep up with foes such as Caius. At the end of Lightning Returns she is massively faster than light as she is able to react and dodge attacks from Bhulverse making her massively faster than light.
High Amount of Stamina: She is able to fight through a city full of monsters for hours and once.
Unstoppable Willpower: The entire crew (Minus Fang & Vanille) are turned into Cie'th - basically you become a walking soul since you lose all 5 senses, is plunged into black flames, and must wander the eternal darkness. Despite this Lighting managed to return to her human form through sheer willpower and destroyed Orphan’s shell with little difficulty.
Skilled Fighter: Due to her training, she has learned various styles of combat and is able to defeat soldiers with ease. She has managed to fight Caius and the two forces could not overpower the other. She has fought and overpowered Snow during Lightning Returns. Unlike Lighting Snow had more experience and yet she still beat him.
WEAPONS:
Monado
Oh boy, it’s time to talk about one of the greatest weapons in video games - in my personal opinion…
Wait what, no i mean the Monado, oh screw it. The Monado for those who don’t know powerful energy blade that has the ability to manipulate ether. It has the power can change the material and immaterial shape of the world and you guys thought Cloud’s Buster Sword was cool. Monado’s ability to warp reality all depends on his or her skill with the blade. However, not everyone can use the power of the Monado as it all depends on the strength of will of its user; most Homs don’t have the strength nor the will to control it. Before we go over some it’s abilities i will mention the Monado’ three different forms:
Monado 1:
This is Monado’s Base Form that Shulk uses at the beginning of the game
Monado 2:
During the events of Prison Island,The Monado upgraded itself through Shulk’s will into the Monado’s second form. Monado 2 allows the Monado's skills to be upgraded to level 10. With Monado II, Shulk can also attack any Face Mechon and being of Bionis.
Monado 3:
The Monado III is also known as the True Mondo, is a weapon in Xenoblade Chronicles. Shulk obtains the Monado III after beating the second form of Zanza. The Monado IIi in terms of strength is Universal as it managed to finish off Zanza who is well a god. With Monado 3 Shulk became god and it was he who ended up deciding the fate of the universe, Monado II can also warp reality universally.
Monado Arts:
Shulk can activate the Monado's Arts by selecting the large icon in the center of the screen when it has been charged with enough power. Then Shulk can choose which Arts he wants to use. The Arts he can use are as follows:
Buster generates a long glowing blade, allowing Shulk to cut an enemy from a distance.It also deals double damage to Mechon and Machina.
Strengthens the weapons of the party. It allows normal weapons to damage Mechon which only Monado can only do.
Generates a Force Field in order to protect Shulk and his party from attacks.
Makes Shulk much faster than before and allows him to evade attacks much easier.
Reduces physical and ether damage taken.
It’s an AOE attack that damages all enemies around the user
While Smash is technically not canon, DEATH BATTLE have used Smash before such as with the case with Luigi so i feel it’s fair to include the arts from Smash Bros 4:
ç¿” (Jump): increased jump height, increased air speed,lower defense.
ç–¾ (Speed): increased ground speed but decreases attack power, decreased jump height.
盾 (Shield,): increased defense, increased weight,decreased height, decreased attack power
æ–¬ (Buster,): increased attack power,decreases defense of Shulk
æ’ƒ (Smash,): increased launch power, deceased attack power
And that’s the Monado, awesome laser sword that has the ability to slay gods. I am willing to bet that Lighting’s powers are not as cool. As for the future predicting thing don’t worry i will go over that.
Blazefire Saber:
I had a difficult time decided on which weapon i should give Lighting. In the end i decided to go with her most iconic weapon the Blazefire Saber- The Blazefire Saber transforms between gun-mode and blade-mode but lighting mainly uses it’s blade forming only using her gun mode when she is out of range. Out of all of Lightning's weapons the Blazefire Saber is the most a balanced weapon between Strength and Magic makes it useful for a character such as Lighting who relies both on strength and magic. Using the Saber she can switch from physical attacks to magical attacks easily.
As for Zantetsuken, well i will go over that a bit later when we get to her Eidolon.
Omega Weapon:
This is Lighting’s Ultimate Weapon. Like her Blazefire, it can transform into a gun and a sword but has far higher physical and magic stats.
Talent Arts:
And you thought Monado Arts were the only Arts Shulk could use well you would be wrong there, Even without the power of the Monado - Shulk can perform Talent Arts in battle. While in combat Shulk focuses on positioning himself and hitting foes from specific areas such as the side and the back.
Light Heal - While Shulk is not the main healer of the group - that would be Sharla but he can still heal himself of another party member with Light Heal
Slit Edge - Damages single target.If Shulk hits the side of the enemy it reduces their physical defense which basically means Shulk can do more damage 
Stream Edge - Damages multiple enemies and fills up a gauge which when full will allow him to activate his Monado Arts
Paradigm Shift:
Lighting has the ability to shift between various roles on the fly but here main three roles are as a Commando, A Ravager and a Medic so those are the roles i will be giving Lighting for this DEATH BATTLE.
The Main Function of the Commando Role is to deal out damage. It is the most straightforward of the roles and has the least amount of command abilities:
Attack Commands:
Attack - Deals physical damage to one foe
Ruinga - Deal non-elemental magic damage to targets within a wide radius.
Passive Abilities:
Smite - Deals a heavily attack to a launched foe
Deathblow - Instantly kills a foe with low HP
Adrenaline - Boosts Lighting’s strength and magic when his HP is very high
The Ravager Role is to deal out magic damage.
Fire Magic - Lighting can use Fire Magic to attack foes. Firaga allows Lighting to deal fire magic to large group
Ice Magic - Lighting can use Ice Magic to attack foes. Blizzaga is the final form of her ice magic and also attacks foes in a wide radius
Thunder Magic - Lighting can use Lightning Magic to attack foes. Thundaga is the final form to deal lighting magic to a large group.
Water Magic - Lighting can use Water Magic to attack foes. Waterga is the final form to deal water magic to a large group.
Wind Magic - Lighting can use Wind Magic to attack foes. Aeroga is the final form to deal wind magic to a large group
Flamestrike - Deals a fire based physical attack against a foe.
Sparkstrike - Deals a lighting based physical attack against a foe
Aquastrike - Deals a Water based physical attack against a foe
Army of One - Lighting’s signature attack. Army of One consists of Lightning lunging at the enemy and hitting a foe multiple times in quick succession. Arsenal of One is an upgraded version of Army of One.
Cure Magic - This is basically the main role of the medic, to heal and Lighting can use cure magic in order to heal herself and her allies but since this is a DB and she will not be able to have party members she only gets to heal herself..bummer.
While Esuna and Raise are spells of the medic they only work when Lighting has other party members.
Those are the three main roles that Lighting uses, she can switch between them on the fly and thus has great versatility meaning she can deal with a wide variety of foes.
Vision:
I know what you must be thinking ‘surely we must be done with Shulk and Lighting’s main abilities’ well nope there is actually a couple more things i have not mention up until now including Shulk’s most important ability - Vision - this ability was granted to him by the Monado and basically it allows him to see the future in the form of visions. At first these visions were not controlled by Shulk and would show him brief flashes of the future, warning him of any potential danger or bad event that could happen to him and his allies..
By using these visions Shulk can alter fate in the direction he wants it to go. If you want a comic book comparison is basically like precognition with examples including Spiderman’s Spider Sense. When a foe is about to deal massive damage to Shulk and his party - Shulk will be shown a couple of seconds before it happens. This meaning that Shulk can avoid the attack or create a countermeasure to the attack.
Over the course of Xenoblade Chronicles he would hone his skills with Visions.Eventually his visions no longer occurred automatically, Shulk’s power grew so strong he was able to see the future at any time and when he wants. His vision was no longer restricted to extremely danger and instead he can predict anything he wishes. In combat this is highly useful as he can predict your movements seconds before a foe even things about those movements.
Eidolon - Odin
Yes Lighting can summon other monsters such as the time she summoned Bahamut but her main summon as well as the one she uses the most often is the Norse God Odin so that’s the summon we will be using for her but it’s design is not the same as Odin from the Myths. Odin in Final Fantasy 13 is one huge horned knight who wears a white cape (and who doesn’t love capes) and wields a large double S-shaped sword in one hand, known as Zantetsuken along with a massive shield. Odin can change shape into his horse Selphir which Lighting can ride on. In Odin Form he basically acts a tank soaking up damage for lighting while also using lighting based attacks. While in horse mode Lighting can ride on Odin and use his weapon for her own use.
EXPERIENCE:
Lighting
Lighting has been fighting for most of her life in order to protect her younger sister. She was trained as a soldier and thus has a lot of experience when it comes to combat. Even in the prologue of Final Fantasy 13 she has been shown as a very competent fighter taking down armed guards and dodging bullets without any harm done to her. While she would later rely more on her party members she is still a very skilled fighter able to defeat Monsters, her own Eidolon Odin along with the help of Hope and of course Orphan which is no small feat. In Final Fantasy 13-2 she is able to keep up with Caius despite him having much more experience when compared with her. She even managed to fight off Choas Bahamut and dispatch him. In Lightning Returns she became the saviour of humanity and in the final fight of Lightning returns managed to defeat Bhunivelze who is basically a god and witnessed the birth of a new world and the death of her old one. While she may have been in status for 500 years she still has had plenty of experience throughout her years fighting.
Shulk
Shulk grew up more as a tech expert then a soldier as such pre Mechon Invasion he didn’t have that much experience in combat but after the invasion he not only grew as a character but his fighting ability also got better with time. He got more skilled at killing Mechon to the point where he could take out multiple foes at once with little effort. He has also managed to fight off the Face Mechon - who are far more dangerous than regular mechon. He even fought off the leader of the Mechon - Egil and while it was a tough battle he eventually defeated him and claimed victory. Shulk has also fought hundreds of monsters that live on Bionis including building sized monsters and yet has beaten them all. He has even fought Dickson who has far more experience in combat with him and yet still came out on top but his most impressive feat is the final battle against Zanza as he managed to defeat a being who is much more older and powerful then him. Shulk became the god of the new universe before giving up his power to be with his friend. If there is one downside to Shulk is that he wasn’t a solo act - he had help from his friends. Still Shulk’s one tough fighter.
FEATS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Lighting:
Power:
I love that gif
- Dealed damage to Anima who has Large Island Durability.
- Stronger enough to take on giant mechs, highly trained soldiers and destroy the with easy
- Strong enough to destroy building sized monsters with ease
- Is strong enough to damage Orphan who has Moon Level Durability
- Is strong enough to match Caius (Large Planet Level) and damage his ultimate form Chaos Bahamut
- By the end of Lighting Returns, Lightning is strong enough to take on Bhunivelze, who created his own universe and has Universal + Durability. She was even the one responsible for the death of Bhuinvelze.
Speed:
- Is fast enough to dodge bullets at close range and defeat soldiers before they have had time to react
- Is able to dodge natural lighting fired from Odin
- Is fast enough to keep with Odin which has been calculated as Massively Hypersonic+
- During the end of Lightning Returns she managed to dodge and react to a Massively Faster than Lighting being aka Bhuinverlze which via scaling makes me Massively faster than light at the end of Lightning Returns
Durability:
- Tanked Anima’s final attack which has been calculated as
- Has been shot countless times with bullets and and yet can still come back it
- Has been shot by Lighting by Odin and yet has survived the experience
- Tanked a meteor - through this calculation her durability has been calculated as 31.252 gigatons
- Tanked Orphan’s Merciless Judgement which is Moon Level +
- Tanked Caius’s most powerful spells which are large planet level
- Can tank Bhuinvelze’s Hypernova which is Universe Level +
Shulk
Power:
- At least strong enough to parry back a blow from a Faced Mechon easily 100 feet tall.
- He is able to stop the attacks of Metal Face, a building-sized mech.
- Is strong enough to hurt and destroy faced Mechon, all of them being able to destroy continents
- Strong enough to defeat Building Sized Giant Monsters.
- Strong enough to defeat Egil who is large continent level
- At the end of the game his striking strength becomes universal as he was able to destroy a universe busting foe Zanza
Speed:
- He appears to move at peak human speeds normally.
- This is great enchanced with Monado Speed - with Monado Speed he can dodge and move much faster
- With Vision he can react and dodge to Hypersonic Attacks
- He was fast enough to dodge a barrage of laser barrages
- He managed to react to Zanza who is massively faster than light
- Managed to run across the solar system in seconds
Durability:
- He has shrug off hits from Large Building Level foes such as Metal Face
- Taken hits from Contient Level foes such as Egil
- Has taken lasers, electricity, fire and attacks from giant mechon and monsters and yet still lives to fight another day
- Shield gives him far more durability able to shrug off attacks from Nintendo’s greatest
- Has taken Universial Level attacks from Zanza and yet has lived.
WEAKNESSES:
Lighting:
Lighting is not perfect by any means. First of all while her summon Odin is extremely powerful it does have a time limit meaning that eventually it will retreat. The second flaw when regarding Lighting is that in order to shift between Ravager,Medic and Commander she has to stay still and it takes a couple of seconds and in a quick battle that is a huge concern. Also Lighting kinda suffers from the Ryu problem basically meaning while she is great a magic and strength she is not a master in either - she's basically a glass cannon due to her low defense and HP and reliance over attacks. While she has more experience then Shulk she prefers to overpower her enemy rather than use positioning. Still these are very minor flaws in a well rounded package that is Lighting.
Shulk:
Shulk for the most part is a pacifist and refuses to kill sentient life unless it's absolutely necessary as such he holds himself back from his full potential. But since this DB that won’t be the case but still Shulk has some noticeable flaws. The first flaw is that a lot of his arts requiring positioning and his fighting style is more about tactics and striking at the right position rather than straight up speed which would be fine if he was fighting a large foe but since he is fighting Lighting who is rather quick that’s a considerable problem. Another issue with Shulk is that he requires ether - without ether he is dead. While Monado 3 is very powerful at the end of Xenoblade Chronicles he gave up the power of a God so that he could live with the rest of the Homs...bummer. Though DB measures characters at their fullest potential so would use Monado 3. Shulk’s Monado Arts can only be used one at a time and have a cooldown meaning he can’t just spam them. Overall while Shulk is a very strong fighter he has a considerable amount of weaknesses.
Overall:
Lighting:
Name: Lightning/Claire Farron
Origin: Final Fantasy 13
Gender: Female
Classification: Human/L’Ci
Age: 21, 521 (Lighting Returns)
Destructive Capacity: Moon level+, Galaxy Level +, Universe Level
Range: Extended human melee range with her gunblade, dozens of meters with magic and gunfire
Durability: Moon level+,Galaxy Level +, Universe Level
Lifting Strength: Superhuman+
Stamina: Superhuman+
Main Weapon: Gunblade
Advantages:
- Commando is effective when dealing with foes at a close range
- Ravager is very effective at dealing with foes from a distance
- Medic allows Lighting to heal her wounds.
- Lighting is skilled at dealing with long range and close range situations
- Odin is extremely powerful ally to Lighting and gives her extra firepower
- She is very quick in combat preferring to focus on offense over defense
- Even without magic and her paradigm shift her gunblade allows for short and long ranged attacks
Disadvantages:
- Odin has a time limit
- She will need to stand completely still if she wants to change from Commando,Medic and Ravager
- Low HP
- She is a very offense focused character which means she lacks in both defensive moves and attacks
- While she is good at long and short range she doesn’t specialize in either
Shulk:
Name: Shulk
Origin: Xenoblade Chronicles
Gender: Male
Classification: Hom, God
Age: 18
Destructive Capability: Universe Level +
Range: Universal
Durability: Universe level +
Lifting Strength: Unknown
Stamina: Likely Limitless
Main Weapon: Monado
Advantages:
+Monado is more powerful than Lightning's GunBlade
+ Far superior to Lighting when it comes to close range combat
+Due to Monado Shield he can tank a lot more than Lighting
+Monado Arts already increase his strength and allow him to move much faster and tank more damage than normal
+Vision is pretty much like the spidey sense and at the end of the game it got so powerful that it makes Shulk almost impossible to kill since he can see your moves coming from a mile away
+Monado 3 is Universal in Destructive Capability and is able to overpower Lighting completely if Shulk can hit her with it.
+Relies more on tactics then Lighting and is a genius when it comes to close range combat
Disadvantages:
-Refuses to kill Sentient Life and as such holds himself back from his full potential
-A lot of his arts requiring position in order to be truly effective which is not good against a fast foe such as Lighting
-In terms of combat speed he is not as fast as Lighting
-Her less experience than Lighting
-In order to live he requires ether
-He gave up the power of Monado 3 at the end of Xenoblade Chronicles
-He can only use one Monado Art at a time
-His Monado Arts have a cooldown aka they can’t be spammed
-Has less experience than Lighting
The Verdict:
If i am being honest, this is a very tough choice because Lighting excels at certain areas and Shulk excels in others. Lighting is the all rounder - someone who excels at both long range combat and short range combat. If Lighting keeps Shulk at a distance and spam magic she could wear him down and with her quick movements she can do a significant amount of damage very quickly. If this fight was Shulk with just his Monado and Lighting with her paradigm shifts and Gunblade then Lighting would win this fight easily - she simply has more experience and training plus her offensive style of fighting would overpower Shulk but here’s the thing about this fight. Shulk’s other attributes are so significant that in my personal opinion while these two fighters are very close i personally believe that the victor of this fight will be Shulk. Shulk’s vision is downright broken - think about the Spidey Sense only times that by thousand - Shulk will see every move that Lighting makes and already formulate a counterplan to it. While Lighting’s magic is certainly impressive the fact she can’t move while performing her magic and healing gives Shulk the perfect opportunity to attack her and considering how Shulk focuses on short range combat over long range combat that’s going to be a huge issue for Lighting to deal with. While Odin is powerful based on my research it’s not going to be able to completely counter Shulk and then there are Monado Arts. While they do require time his Monado Arts are extremely powerful and while some will be less damaging to Lighting because she doesn’t use ether they are still going to hit like a nuclear powered truck. Shulk’s not just powerful but he’s also very intelligent easily able to think off plans on the fly and with his vision will be able to counter Lighting’s offense and then there’s the final nail in the coffin - Monado 3. While he gave up the power of Monado 3 DEATH BATTLE will still use it and transforms him from a very powerful being into a god. Lighting has a incredible amount of willpower but she is not able to counter its sheer power. Overral based on the research i have gathered Shulk will be the one who wins this bout. Don’t get me wrong this is a very close match and one of the closest matches i have ever done but in the end Shulk’s Vision and Monado 3 will be able to counter Lighting.
Move over Lighting because this time it’s Shulk's time
The Winner is Shulk:
This has been a blog i have wanted to do for a while on and i am extremely proud of it. Huge Thanks to SSBMonado and LousyTactician. Also thank you to the creators of DEATH BATTLE Ben Singer and Chad James as well as the entire Screwattack but finally thank you Torrian Crawford for all the hard work and determination you put into your animation. I am looking forward to seeing Dante vs Bayonetta.
And with that I am the Gaming News Guy Signing Off
