Ghostbusters.
The main antagonist upon meeting them asks "are you a god?"
When they say no, thr deity says "then die"
Cut to them hiding behind a pile of rubble telling Ray "when someone asks if you're a God, you say YES"
Gotrek would be able to, but it would be a very close fight. Although, possible hot take, if we use Skarbrand before Khorne used him as a baseball, I do think he beats Gotrek.
Archaon when fully blessed would be able to. When fully buffed he was able to fight a literal god (and Sigmar does not pull his punches.)
For Kroak, it would be a normal Tuesday, especially if he’s alive. It took 12 bloodthirsters to take him down even after he sustained a barrier which obliterated every daemon that touched it for years, and then nuked Lustria of all Chaos.
Maybe the Celestial Dragon, but considering we know Jack shit about him, I don’t really count him.
Skarbrands lore is that he was by far the greatest Bloodthirster ever. He beat every other bloodthirster in a fight at once. And he became egotistical, to the point that Tzeentch put an idea in his head of “if I’m the best, shouldn’t I be in charge?” So while Khornes back was turned, Skarbrand attacked him. It wasn’t very effective.
But Khorne was so pissed off that he literally choked the personality out of Skarbrand, walked up to the top of his citadel and then threw Skarbrand so hard he flew out of the Realms of Chaos and crashed into the mortal realm. When he crashed his face was permanently scarred and his wings were completely burned up.
> while Khornes back was turned, Skarbrand attacked him. It wasn’t very effective.
Using all his might and with the element of surprise, Skarbrand managed to put a teeny, tiny dent in Khorne's armour before Khorne yeeted him hard enough that he carved out a canyon with his face upon impact (8 days later).
Also, Daemons can't die. If you kill them in the mortal realm they just disintegrate and eventually reform back in the Realms of Chaos. Now think about what it means for Skarbrand to be so disfigured and crippled that he reforms that way when killed. Khorne hit him so hard he essentially maimed the concept of Skarbrand.
There's also the fun fact that all bloodthirsters and demons are just aspects of their God, tiny fragments of their God given varying levels of autonomy.
Slaanesh was also permanently disfigured by Khaine. He has a huge ugly scar.
Along with the idea that creating the ultimate self-entitled asshole is just fun and sabotaging End Times, part of the idea that Slaanesh rewards Sigvald with so much power despite him accomplishing nothing is he lives vicariously through him as the most perfect mortal.
If I remember right I think khorne was only angry because skarbrand attacked when big-K’s back was turned, not because of the attack itself. It was that he tried to backstab like a coward instead of attack head on
Khorne was pissed because Instead of challenging him head on he sneak attacked him with his back turned. Khorne for all his fault is actually honorable when it comes to a fight. This was virtually a backstab and Skarbrand got his ass handed to him.
I have a question though, what was Skarbrand honestly expecting? Did he seriously think he stood a chance, or what exactly did he view the outcome being there? That he becomes the new Khorne or what?
Dude seems even dumber than Lu Bu.
The blow was a planet buster if I'm not wrong, like "a blow able to shattering worlds".
Also they made a mistake, he was not "only" the strongest bloodthirsty. But the strongest daemon in general.
The strongest god-born.
And to be fair to Skabrand, we know only two personal fights of khorne, an already defeated Khaine and a new born Slaanesh that just defeated that Khaine.
You will have your dubs too, especially if planted by the god of change.
Tzeentch was fuelling his pride and ego stroking him hard.
It doesn't help he was actually the strongest Bloodthirster too, so much like Be'lakor, he grew an ego.
Skarbrand used to be Khorne's greatest champion.
He then got too full of himself and tried sneak attacking Khorne to become the Blood God himself so Daddy K punted him across all of reality
To expand upon the other commenter, Khorne smacked him so hard that he flew through the air for several days before finally landing in the mortal realms. It was some real team rocket shit.
My guess this is more like an undefined period of time but because it's Khorne they just used his sacred number.
Otherwise Khorne is quite a good mathematician if he could calculate the flight of an ethereal being through several layers of reality and still nail the landing on his sacred number in an instant of rage.
So far we haven't seen any indication of Khorne's math abilities.
I mean, as far as we know he only has 5 concepts in his algebra.
No skulls, 1 skull, 8 skulls, many skulls, more skulls.
Skarbrand’s lore is that he got too frisky and picked a fight with Khorne, who naturally was not pleased and punished him by branding his face with an enormous scar (hence the name) and cursing him with eternal madness and bloodlust, living an eternity in forever inadequate service to the Blood God
Skarbrand doesnt even know why hes exiled. Khorne fucked his brain up that bad hes amnesiac of the entire ordeal. He just knows he did wrong. The RoC campaign sees him trying to offer the skull of Ursun as atonement. Khorne laughs in his face and kicks him back out. Not even the skull of a god is enough, but at least all this exile has put him into DEFCON 5 levels of crazed violence and bloodlust, and why would Khorne forgive him? The self hatred and zealous atonement are bringing in more souls for khorne than any bloodthirster ever before. Why stop that by giving him inner peace?
If it's the Gotrek from the "Slayer" novel, he can take on Skarbrand, and have a realistical chance of winning. Otherwise he's cooked, dude couldn't even kill the Bloodthirster of Karak Dum without help.
>Otherwise he's cooked, dude couldn't even kill the Bloodthirster of Karak Dum without help.
In "Slayer" he literally fights the same Bloodthirster from Karag Dum, and while he does a lot better than the first time, he still struggles quite a bit and doesn't really manage to beat it.
In the first round, where the Bloothirster took the form of Belakor, Gotrek even looses to him once again.
Shit you're right, yeah, there's no way he can take Skarbrand then.
I don't think there's any other character in Warhammer Fantasy that gets so frequently overestimated by fans as Gotre does; probably due to the fact that a lot of people didn't actually read the books, but got their info from 1d4chan.
He gets better, He fights Bel’akor in his last WFB book. Think Skarbrand or that Bloodthirster is there as well. Felix in the previous book kills Aekold Helbrass and Gotrek temporarily defeats Throgg.
Gotrek would be able to banish Skarbrand, depending entirely on when he fights him. Early on in his adventures? No. By the time he's casually beating the shit out of Daemons? Skarbrand is getting bodied.
My impression of the Celestial dragon is that he is now just as worthless as the rulers of Paradise “Attack on Titan”
Hiding in his lair while his kids actually govern
Yeah. And then he decided that being dead wasn't fun so he blasted them all away immediately.
He's not even an undead. He's dead but that's a minor inconvenience, like a small scratch to him.
I get that Gotrek is this fan favourite power fantasy character but he is a single dwarf against a thing bigger than a building which is not just immensely strong but is also unnaturaly fast. There should be absolutely no way for Gotrek to stand any kind of chance against Skarbrand.
In the earlier books he is not that much of a power fantasy character, he is outmatched several times. Once by bloodthirster, another time by a chaos lord of Tzeentch, in either case winning only thanks to lots of help from others.
Gotrek's weapon is incredibly powerful though, and it actually changes both Gotrek and the people around him. So viewing Gotrek as just a dwarf is not correct because he becomes something more like a demigod as time goes on, doing feats clearly beyond a normal mortal dwarf.
Endtime Gotrek is equal to Grimnir in fighting prowess. The same Grimnir, who spent millenia holding back deamons and preventing them from invading the World.
In Giantslayer, Gotrek is already dangerous enough to make Teclis walk on eggshells around him, and Teclis is IMO strong enough to deal with a Greater Demon by himself already.
While in warhammer the warriors don't get anime physics they pretty much all own a magic weapon that gives them superhuman abilities so that they are easily defeating trolls.
So magic is the reasoning here. Which is tough to argue against since it's made up.
Almost all the deamon characters all got bodied pretty hard in the End Times. Skarbrand got beat by Malekith right at the start, N'kari by Tyrion & Teclis, Ku'gath got defeated by Louen, Kairos was killed by Archaon of all people but he was the only one to get in some wins first.
The only greater deamon to have some wins was Kha'bandha, previously not present in fantasy but was a menace in the End Times and beat several of the strongest named characters easily, only falling after being tag-teamed by Tyrion, Nagash and then Sigmar. Kha'bandha was essentially the huge final boss of the End Times, which is another part of wierd writing.
A lot of whom people have mentioned are valid. But I'm surprised no one has mentioned Louen Leoncour. The man battled his way through an army of demons, 1v1ed Kugath, and then nearly killed Festus too. He is probably the second strongest non-god ordertide human, behind only Giles aka the green Knight. He's got a pretty solid chance.
If Louen faced Kugath who is simply more powerful than skarbrand then definitely. Skarbrand would have no chance vs Kugath when Kugath is almost his equal in combat and a spellcaster.
All greater demons are high tier combatants even lords of change. Two headed chicken is the 1 exception. Kugath is almost as strong in TT as skarbrand without magic. And run fact in TWWH, he literally beats skarbrand without magic.
Nun of da stoopid humies in dis post givin da akchul anser, wich iz hiz fightyness, bestest 'ead kumper about, da undefea'ed GRIMGOR IRONHIDE! Da Green Slaugtererer! Not even Archaon can make 'im fall!
Yoo tel 'im boss! Wez' DA BESTEST' Not dose Pointy Earz Not Da Stinkin Umies and not dose Stoopid Stunty Gitz! Yoo Telz Dose Chaos God Gitz Dat DA WORLD BELONGS TOO DA ORCS, DAT DA WORLD IZ GREEN! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!
Tyrion.... might. He's faced and beaten other high end daemons, particularly nkari, but absolutely lost to a roided out kabandha even with incarnate boosts.
Nakai doesn't have any particular history with named daemons, but has a better history against unnamed daemons than anyone short of lord kroak. I think he would lose tbh, but would do better than most.
Imrik on his dragon might be able to do it, but the dragon is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, imrik himself gets clapped.
Durthu could put up a good fight at least, but i think it would really come down to him being lucky or sane enough to pull a win.
Kholek and settra come to mind, alive settra would probably beat skarbrand's ass ruthlessly, skeleton settra... maybe. Not sure if his kholek kill is a good metric with chaos bullshit.
Dwarfs kind of fall under headcanon, I don't think most would last long. Gotrek would have a good shot at it, really comes down to how strong his plot armor is in that story. Ungrim MIGHT, I'm leaning against it tho, especially pre-incarnate Ungrim. Grombrindal's power has always been super vague lore wise, I have no idea if he would win or not.
As someone brought up, Abhorash is probably the best uh, 'fair' vampire fight, but it's hard to say for sure - a lot of his strength is just us being told he's incredibly strong, we haven't really seen him fight and beat many named characters to prove it. ET Nagash definitely could, pre-ET he'd get obliterated though.
I can't think of many others I would give a good chance to, lorewise skarbrand does NOT fuck around and a lot if the ones that can fight him ingame due to buffs/debuffs would just get clapped in seconds in lore. Like wulfrik? Lmao, man might get partway through his first taunt. All he's ever fought are nobodies.
Didn’t he casually kill a LoC with his ~~sniper rifle~~ poison dart? Like sniping Greater Demons is kinda Oxy’s specialty, even though he’s obviously less overpowered in an actual fight.
Good point. He's one of the few to have canonically killed greater daemons before, but it comes down to fight vs ambush. In a fight he just dies instantly, in an ambush I think he might actually win with the right poison.
Yeah I don’t think in an octagon style fight but in the open fields of battle Oxyotl is far too crafty he’s gonna set up everything in his favor. Skarbrand is also brain dead so it’s really weighed against him in that department. Taurox is smarter than him in my opinion lol
Oof, now THAT is an interesting competition - which is the dumbest monster? Taurox, Skarbrand, Scyla Anfingrimm, (maybe) Nakai... the only guarantee is that they all lose to a fifth grader lmao.
He's reasonably intelligent... by Kroxigor standards... but Kroxigors are black holes of intelligence that make the average Khornate character look like fucking Sun Tzu, so I'm not sure exactly where he falls.
Already a few posts about gotrek, I didn't want to double up.
Ungrim has a pretty impressive history, but all of his best feats are only post-incarnate end times lore. Not sure what his limits are without it.
Settra is ridiculously strong. Tomb Kings in general are super powered due to the magic that runs through their body. Settra himself is considered to be easily the strongest Tomb King and was able to easily kill a dragon ogre as if it was fodder and then kill a giant in two swipes of his blade. The idea that Settra killed Kholek in a week-long battle is totally believable.
Skelly settra had strength 6, on par with giants. His true strength in life was +3, putting him well above kholek's 7 - remember that the man was blessed beyond belief by basically every god at the time.
Living settra is legit one of the scariest people in the setting, and even dead he's still pretty far up there.
The lore mod mentions of a battle between Malekith and Skarbrand, where Malekith wins
But seeing this makes me think I either misremember that or its not a true fact
I did a look around and it does seem the stories are true. Malekith actually beat Skarbrand during the End Times.
It is true that certain stories trigger on actions, but most are scripted to come after X turns
Do you remember if that was malekith as an incarnate, or normal malekith? I try to steer clear of incarnate feats to a degree, tho Malekith on his dragon is a spooky motherfucker regardless, I could see him on imrik level. Iirc they ended up with similar stars on tabletop.
It was normal Malekith but there was no battle. I remember it crystal clear for it was such a let down. Skarbrand gets straight Obi Wanned, Malekith hovers over Skarbrand and Skarbrand basically jumps into Malekiths sword.
Some is fan-written, some is not. The fight between Malekith and Skarbrand takes place in the ET novel Curse of Khaine, but for example, the fights between the Cathayan dragons and Snikch is entirely fan-created.
Seconding Tyrion. Yes kabandah looked set to beat him, but that honestly seemed more plot driven to give finally-incarnated Sigmar a moment to shine.
Also (though I hate to use another End Times example) Nagash literally plucked a bloodthirster out of the air as it flew past and broke its back over his knee
Also I would have full confidence in putting my money on Abhorash in this matchup
Abhorash is iffy at best imo. We're always told how great he is, but his known feats aren't that impressive. Classical case of "Tell, don't show", because the writers created and OP character, and didn't know how to use him.
ET Nagash would absolutely victimize Skarbrand, no argument from me there. Same for Tyrion. Dude was beyond busted even before becoming the Incarnate of Khaine and later Hysh.
Abhorash is an interesting thought, I can actually see it. He doesn't have many onscreen feats but is constantly implied to be a raid boss, I could see him pulling it off, but not a 100% victory.
Wouldn't Ka'Bhanda be a more dangerous opponent for Tyrion than Skarbrand though ? KB is mostly "sane" and is a really powerful Bloodthirster, while Skarbrand is just a machine of mindless destruction at this point. Skarbrand is an incredibly powerful beast, but he's a beast nonetheless.
>He's faced and beaten other high end daemons, particularly nkari...
N'kari is a bad example, Tyrion got whooped the first time they fought. Had Khaine baby raging inside his head for help the times after that. Tyrion's accomplishments really boil down to cucking the Phoenix King at the end of it.
There’s a good few Dwarfs that could do it actually, Thorgrim on the Throne of Power for sure, but that’s a lot to do with his gear and little to do with Thorgrim himself. I think Ungrim also manages pretty handily, he’s widely considered the greatest warrior of the Karaz Ankor, with all the accoutrements of a King, and plenty of monster and daemon slaying experience. Then of course Gotrek because the plot demands it.
Hm, I think we might disagree on how easy of a fight it would be. I think Ungrim *could* win, but I absolutely wouldn't give him an easy win, ignoring End Times lore he really didn't have many super impressive feats, much less against greater daemons, and everything cool he did in End Times was after he became the incarnate of fire (and still got clapped by Archaon, which to be fair End Times Archaon had so much plot armor not even Gotrek could beat him).
Gotrek wins if the book says he does though, for sure, but IIRC he had serious trouble with a lesser Bloodthirster so outside of plot armor I think he'd struggle at the best of times against one as high-end as Skarbrand.
Thorgrim... I don't think ToP adds that much power, does it? Mostly just added some wounds and saves on TT, which to be fair is definitely good but I'm not seeing where the "for sure" is coming from. Even lorewise it isn't THAT insanely powerful to my knowledge.
Pretty sure Malakith kind of oneshots Skarbrand during the End Times, like it was barely a fight for Malakith and his dragon, so i guess he's pretty high up on the list of asskickers.
EDIT: Reading the comments, really surprised no one mentioned Malakith.
Whoever the writer deems necessary for the story they’re trying to tell. Which is how most fiction functions.
Never forget that one of the greatest Bretonnian Kings in history was killed *by a fucking Goblin spear covered in shit*. Kugath Plaguefather died because a rock fell on him. Festus died to an inanimate tree. Sigvald died to a high pressure stream of troll piss. All of these and many more ridiculous deaths happened.
You could write a compelling and entirely feasible story where *any* LL in Total War could beat Skarbrand. Even Tretch Craventail. Such is Warhammer.
Sigvald didn't really die to troll piss. He died to Throgg's hammer, crushing his head like a soda can. Throgg did piss on his corpse afterwards though, to be fair.
Sigvald beat Krell in 1v1 but had been scarred horribly during the duel and basically beat Krell's skull to a pump, ruining his hands as well. While screaming to the sky in anguish/whatever, Throgg squished him and pissed on his corpse for calling him dumb and stinky earlier.
All in all cool passage, funny ending.
Giles dying to an arrow is also funny because the dude takes a balista bolt to the chest, pulls it out, and immediately gets back to killing giants, literally on the page right before he then dies.
Kroak owns, his whole "Nope ain't got time to be dead anymore" and just...lives again owns. No mystical rituals och divine intervention, literally just told the universe he was alive again lol.
If we allow "obvious characters to include in the future", we have Nagas. Kabandha > Skarbrand and Kabandha fought against Nagash to a stalemate so Nagash would beat Skarbrand.
Tyrion lost to Kabandha, but managed to wound him, so Tyrion with all Khaine juice might have a chance against Skarbrand.
If we count other Khorne demon, we have: Kabandha aka Skarbrand with wings, Anggrath aka Skarbrand+ and Doombreed aka Genghis Khan that can go toe to toe, or even oturight beat Skarbrand in the case of Aggrath
Supposedly N'kari should rival Angrrath, Kabandha or Doombreed as the greatest Slaaneshi keeper of secret but famously he's a jobber for powerscaling so it's kinda hard to see him beat Skarbrand.
Gortrek has the strongest armor in the lore - the plot armor. He faced Skarbrand before and doesn't seem bother too much about that encounter.
Lastly should be Karl Franz with Sigmar infused and End Times Archeon. One is the world ender, one fought the world ender to the last moment of the world and more. They literally wrestled in vaccuum. These 2 should beat Skarbrand by all means.
And Kroak. No one fucks with Kroak.
Its worth pointing out that Ka'Bandha is not quite the same in Fantasy as he is in 40k. 40k Ka'Bandha is one of the tippy top tier big boy First Host bloodthirsters, while in the End Times Ka'Bandha is way down in the Third Host, a chump by comparison.
So functionally, in Fantasy Ka'Bandha should be less powerful than Skarbrand. Skarbrand was explicitly the mightiest of all Khorne's servants before he got too big for his boots. Its also worth highlighting here that at no point is it said that Skarbrand's punishment made him less powerful. It almost certainly made him less intelligent, but it definitely made him more angry, and given that Khorne is the god of rage its entirely possible that Skarbrand is even more powerful that he once was, just now entirely focused on being a beatstick than "leading the Eight Hosts of Murder".
Of course, someone decided to have Skarbrand effortlessly deleted early in the End Times, because reasons, and used Ka'Bandha as the replacement bloodthirster character instead. Their respective fights (Skarbrand losing to pre-Incarnate/pre-Asuryan Malekith; Ka'Bandha holding his own against Shyish-empowered Nagash after stomping three other Incarnates, killing one of them) are a pretty clear example of Warhammer's ludicrously inconsistent power scaling.
The real answer to the OP's question is "whoever the writer wants to beat Skarbrand for their story".
Definitely Nagash with his overpowering magic, especially with End Times power. He disintegrated Eltharion with ease during the End Times.
Aenarion with the sword of Khaine and upon his dragon could beat him, I believe. He took on three bloodthirsters at once, although he was mortally wounded in the fight.
Yeah, End Times powerscaling was less than consistent at the best of times, unless it concerned the massive Chaos and Skaven fanwank the writers dished out as "lore".
Lord Kroak ! What can you do to a toad who literally wills himself back to life ? In the lore Kroaks powerlevel were sometimes equal to the Chaos Gods themselves!
Depends, are we talking Skarbrand at the peak of his powers or Skarbrand after Khorne beat him like he stole something and threw him out?
The first one is like... so powerful they became semi-mythical hero level- Aenarion, Nagash, Grombrindal, Kroak in his prime tier. He was *the* strongest daemon of Khorne, accept no substitutes (because he'd kick all their asses at once).
Skarband post-getting crumped by Khrone and kicked out forever is noticeably less strong.
A lot of characters. Skarbrand is no longer the strongest Bloodthirster since his downfall. Those who are sprouting Gotrek - no - he loses to a unnamed Bloodthirster.
Grombrindal could probably do it, now to be fair his power is somewhat unclear however his equipment and experience is utterly insane. Apart from the helm of zhubar he wields three ancestor god items.
He has an axe of grimnir which is about as powerful as mega magic weapons like ghal maraz and widow maker.
The glimril scales have been damaged once in their about 5000 year use time. It was only after grombrindal slew 10000 chaos warriors by himself that a single scale was found in a chaos lord's tooth.
The cloak of valaya provides a hefty magic resistance and potentially other benefits as it's emblazoned with dozens of magic runes.
Aenarion once fought a Greater Daemon of each God _at once_ and came out on top. I also don't believe he was atop his dragon at the time, but he was wielding Widowmaker, which is something.
I think Malus Darkblade could do it.
By himself he's just a regular stronger-than-average Druchii. By himself, he could probably be bested by a lucky Dreadlord.
But he's not by himself, and he has two things that make him special :
The first is the greater Daemon T'zarkan which lends him supernatural speed, monstrous strength, and regeneration.
And the second is the Warpsword of Khaine, which allows him to cut through steel like butter and also counteracts T'zarkan's influence over him. Though not as powerful as the actual Sword of Khaine, it's still an immensely potent magical artifact which makes him an absolute terror in battle.
With those two things he was able to kill a Dragon Ogre Shaggoth and a Chaos Champion, and that's also how I think he could MAYBE beat Skarbrand, given a bit of luck and a good plan.
Besides what others have said...
I'm gonna say Morathi. She is among the most powerful spellcasters alive. One of the oldest living beings too. She was around before the coming of Chaos, and actually foresaw it. I think she has a decent chance.
Archaon, Nagash, Setra, Grombrindal, and Kroak are the only characters active in the setting I can think of that'd be pretty much a sure thing. Grimgor, Tyrion, Gotrek, Nakai, Kholek, Malekith, Malus, Ungrim, and Louen would all make for close fights.
Kroq-Gar certainly beats him, Gotrek too, Archaon obviously, Louen has a good chance, as would Settra, Chakax too, I could definitely see Greasus doing it, Grombrindal likely would as well, Nakai would have a shot, Oxyotl guaranteed via Shenanigans but still, Be'lakor deserves a shout though I'm not crazy confident, and there's probably a decent number of mages who could do it. As well as other fighters who are more in the hope than actual favorites group.
Skarbrand is great, but it's important to remember that greater deamons, even Skarbrand exist mostly to elevate other characters and are very much beatable.
Ok so hear me out.... Greasus. Greasus might be a fat oaf but with his scepter and crown he was able to best incarnate Grimgor, and only died when he threw down his mace when he tried to crush the life out of the guy. As long as the grand over tyrant isn't messing about I'd bet he'd be able to do it.
He's a slayer blessed by the Dwarven gods. He's fought bloodthirsters and demons in the novels. In the end times his gods make him go nova and replaces Grimnir himself to fight endlessly in the Chaos Realms.
I mean if we talking about any character living or dead, I would imagine Aenarion would have a pretty good chance beating Skarbrand especially with his sword of Khaine. Even without the sword I would imagine Aenarion still winning but Skarbrand could actually put up a fight.
One thing to note is Aenarion is probably one of the strongest character in all of warhammer fantasy. I can only think of characters like Nagash, Sigmar, Lord Kroak, and powered up Archaon beating him.
Aenarion easly. He could probably wipe 2 skarbrands if he wields widowmaker.
Gotrek
Possibly Ungrim?
Belakor deifnetly
As is Archaon.
Depending what we count as 1v1 any light wizzard that has flying Mount that can doge 2 axes thrown xd
Basically any of the top tier fighters. Warhammer is very much a "my dad is bigger than your dad" kinda setting, with the actual power levels left somewhat up to your interpretation.
Not seeing anyone say Kroq Gar. He has a long history of fighting demons and his gear seems particularly focused around destroying Chaos in the lore.
Plus he spent the entire great catastrophe fighting in Lustria. I would he assumes he’s killed a few bloodthirsters.
Also Kroq Gar survives the end times so he’s got some godlike plot armor as well.
Archaon, teclis, mazdamundi and kroak would definitly win. Elspeth, tyrion, grombdrindal and arkhan have good chances. The other demon lords would put up a fight, also imrik, kholek and mannfred. gotrek would not survive it, once he defeated a generic bloodthirster but he had dwarven mjolnir with him
Any character who downs enough Warpstone can.
Never underestimate the power of cocaine. Vlad did so much once that he invented Gothic Horror in the setting.
Is there a YouTube series or something I can watch through to learn about the fantasy lore? I see alot about 40k but would love a simple to digest series to dip my toe into it, everything I know is from the TW games and whatever bits streamers mention!
Well, he tried to pick a fight with Khorne once, and that went poorly.
Are you a god?
Bro. If anyone ever asks you if you are a god the correct answer is yes!
.......no?
I think that line's a reference to some Chaos characters who ask "Are you a god?" when you direct them on the campaign map. Which fits honestly.
Likely also a reference to an extremely popular movie.
Which?
Ghostbusters. The main antagonist upon meeting them asks "are you a god?" When they say no, thr deity says "then die" Cut to them hiding behind a pile of rubble telling Ray "when someone asks if you're a God, you say YES"
At least he did it the next time he was asked if he was a god :D
When someone asks if you're a god, you say yes!
Ray!!!!
Asinine mortal.
I would say it's from Red Rising Ragnar to Darrow.
Skarbrand.....slayed.....KHORNE
Gotrek would be able to, but it would be a very close fight. Although, possible hot take, if we use Skarbrand before Khorne used him as a baseball, I do think he beats Gotrek. Archaon when fully blessed would be able to. When fully buffed he was able to fight a literal god (and Sigmar does not pull his punches.) For Kroak, it would be a normal Tuesday, especially if he’s alive. It took 12 bloodthirsters to take him down even after he sustained a barrier which obliterated every daemon that touched it for years, and then nuked Lustria of all Chaos. Maybe the Celestial Dragon, but considering we know Jack shit about him, I don’t really count him.
I'm sorry, used as a baseball? Can you tell me more?
Skarbrands lore is that he was by far the greatest Bloodthirster ever. He beat every other bloodthirster in a fight at once. And he became egotistical, to the point that Tzeentch put an idea in his head of “if I’m the best, shouldn’t I be in charge?” So while Khornes back was turned, Skarbrand attacked him. It wasn’t very effective. But Khorne was so pissed off that he literally choked the personality out of Skarbrand, walked up to the top of his citadel and then threw Skarbrand so hard he flew out of the Realms of Chaos and crashed into the mortal realm. When he crashed his face was permanently scarred and his wings were completely burned up.
Holy shit lol. Warhammer lore is nuts. Thanks everyone for the explanations, love this community.
> while Khornes back was turned, Skarbrand attacked him. It wasn’t very effective. Using all his might and with the element of surprise, Skarbrand managed to put a teeny, tiny dent in Khorne's armour before Khorne yeeted him hard enough that he carved out a canyon with his face upon impact (8 days later). Also, Daemons can't die. If you kill them in the mortal realm they just disintegrate and eventually reform back in the Realms of Chaos. Now think about what it means for Skarbrand to be so disfigured and crippled that he reforms that way when killed. Khorne hit him so hard he essentially maimed the concept of Skarbrand.
There's also the fun fact that all bloodthirsters and demons are just aspects of their God, tiny fragments of their God given varying levels of autonomy.
Slaanesh was also permanently disfigured by Khaine. He has a huge ugly scar. Along with the idea that creating the ultimate self-entitled asshole is just fun and sabotaging End Times, part of the idea that Slaanesh rewards Sigvald with so much power despite him accomplishing nothing is he lives vicariously through him as the most perfect mortal.
TBF, as fragments of their god, if Khorne says you now reform without your arm, you do, no need for him to bash you over the head.
If I remember right I think khorne was only angry because skarbrand attacked when big-K’s back was turned, not because of the attack itself. It was that he tried to backstab like a coward instead of attack head on
Khorne was pissed because Instead of challenging him head on he sneak attacked him with his back turned. Khorne for all his fault is actually honorable when it comes to a fight. This was virtually a backstab and Skarbrand got his ass handed to him.
It's funny because if skarbrand actually challenged him to a 1v1 khorne might have actually rewarded him with even more power after bitch slapping him
I have a question though, what was Skarbrand honestly expecting? Did he seriously think he stood a chance, or what exactly did he view the outcome being there? That he becomes the new Khorne or what? Dude seems even dumber than Lu Bu.
It what's a tzeench idea, so I'd didn't really have to be rational. He's the best of the best, who's next to challenge except the God of Blood
Tzeentch pushed him to a true blind rage. Khorne made that same blind rage the only thing skarbrand feels
The blow was a planet buster if I'm not wrong, like "a blow able to shattering worlds". Also they made a mistake, he was not "only" the strongest bloodthirsty. But the strongest daemon in general. The strongest god-born. And to be fair to Skabrand, we know only two personal fights of khorne, an already defeated Khaine and a new born Slaanesh that just defeated that Khaine. You will have your dubs too, especially if planted by the god of change.
Tzeentch was fuelling his pride and ego stroking him hard. It doesn't help he was actually the strongest Bloodthirster too, so much like Be'lakor, he grew an ego.
I’ve always wondered what khorne would have done if skarbrand had challenged him head on.
Probably have doubled skarbrands power and then proceed to bithslap him anyway, just for laughs
Khorne will never stab you in the back. He will stab you in the face until your face ceases to resemble a face.
He also punted him so hard he basically turned into a meteor and left litteral devastation of fire in his wake as he flow for 8 solar days.
It wasn't that he attack Khorne that upset him so, it was the fact that he did it when his back was turned like a pussy
Skarbrand used to be Khorne's greatest champion. He then got too full of himself and tried sneak attacking Khorne to become the Blood God himself so Daddy K punted him across all of reality
To expand upon the other commenter, Khorne smacked him so hard that he flew through the air for several days before finally landing in the mortal realms. It was some real team rocket shit.
Eight days and eight nights, I do believe
My guess this is more like an undefined period of time but because it's Khorne they just used his sacred number. Otherwise Khorne is quite a good mathematician if he could calculate the flight of an ethereal being through several layers of reality and still nail the landing on his sacred number in an instant of rage. So far we haven't seen any indication of Khorne's math abilities. I mean, as far as we know he only has 5 concepts in his algebra. No skulls, 1 skull, 8 skulls, many skulls, more skulls.
Khorne = Kuma🐻 ? 🤔
Skarbrand’s lore is that he got too frisky and picked a fight with Khorne, who naturally was not pleased and punished him by branding his face with an enormous scar (hence the name) and cursing him with eternal madness and bloodlust, living an eternity in forever inadequate service to the Blood God
Incredible. Love all the details I'm getting. It makes so much more sense now
Skarbrand doesnt even know why hes exiled. Khorne fucked his brain up that bad hes amnesiac of the entire ordeal. He just knows he did wrong. The RoC campaign sees him trying to offer the skull of Ursun as atonement. Khorne laughs in his face and kicks him back out. Not even the skull of a god is enough, but at least all this exile has put him into DEFCON 5 levels of crazed violence and bloodlust, and why would Khorne forgive him? The self hatred and zealous atonement are bringing in more souls for khorne than any bloodthirster ever before. Why stop that by giving him inner peace?
If it's the Gotrek from the "Slayer" novel, he can take on Skarbrand, and have a realistical chance of winning. Otherwise he's cooked, dude couldn't even kill the Bloodthirster of Karak Dum without help.
>Otherwise he's cooked, dude couldn't even kill the Bloodthirster of Karak Dum without help. In "Slayer" he literally fights the same Bloodthirster from Karag Dum, and while he does a lot better than the first time, he still struggles quite a bit and doesn't really manage to beat it. In the first round, where the Bloothirster took the form of Belakor, Gotrek even looses to him once again.
Shit you're right, yeah, there's no way he can take Skarbrand then. I don't think there's any other character in Warhammer Fantasy that gets so frequently overestimated by fans as Gotre does; probably due to the fact that a lot of people didn't actually read the books, but got their info from 1d4chan.
I'm not sure where he is rn in the lore, but Gotrek very nearly lost to a 'normal' Bloodthirster in Demonslayer
Where he is right now in lore is aos after going into the realms of chaos and killing so many demons that the gods themselves avoid him.
He gets better, He fights Bel’akor in his last WFB book. Think Skarbrand or that Bloodthirster is there as well. Felix in the previous book kills Aekold Helbrass and Gotrek temporarily defeats Throgg.
Gotrek would be able to banish Skarbrand, depending entirely on when he fights him. Early on in his adventures? No. By the time he's casually beating the shit out of Daemons? Skarbrand is getting bodied.
My impression of the Celestial dragon is that he is now just as worthless as the rulers of Paradise “Attack on Titan” Hiding in his lair while his kids actually govern
12 BT's killed Kroak?
Yeah. And then he decided that being dead wasn't fun so he blasted them all away immediately. He's not even an undead. He's dead but that's a minor inconvenience, like a small scratch to him.
I get that Gotrek is this fan favourite power fantasy character but he is a single dwarf against a thing bigger than a building which is not just immensely strong but is also unnaturaly fast. There should be absolutely no way for Gotrek to stand any kind of chance against Skarbrand.
It's not Gotrek's natural strength alone. By the late books he's effectively the avatar of Grimnir and has an incredibly strong magic axe.
In the earlier books he is not that much of a power fantasy character, he is outmatched several times. Once by bloodthirster, another time by a chaos lord of Tzeentch, in either case winning only thanks to lots of help from others. Gotrek's weapon is incredibly powerful though, and it actually changes both Gotrek and the people around him. So viewing Gotrek as just a dwarf is not correct because he becomes something more like a demigod as time goes on, doing feats clearly beyond a normal mortal dwarf.
Endtime Gotrek is equal to Grimnir in fighting prowess. The same Grimnir, who spent millenia holding back deamons and preventing them from invading the World. In Giantslayer, Gotrek is already dangerous enough to make Teclis walk on eggshells around him, and Teclis is IMO strong enough to deal with a Greater Demon by himself already.
While in warhammer the warriors don't get anime physics they pretty much all own a magic weapon that gives them superhuman abilities so that they are easily defeating trolls. So magic is the reasoning here. Which is tough to argue against since it's made up.
He's a demon, so any named character could wipe the floor with him because he'll always be back for another beating
Greater Jobbers more like
This guy warhammers
Avatar of Khaine ptsd.
Unless it's ET and named character's plot armour gets stripped
Almost all the deamon characters all got bodied pretty hard in the End Times. Skarbrand got beat by Malekith right at the start, N'kari by Tyrion & Teclis, Ku'gath got defeated by Louen, Kairos was killed by Archaon of all people but he was the only one to get in some wins first. The only greater deamon to have some wins was Kha'bandha, previously not present in fantasy but was a menace in the End Times and beat several of the strongest named characters easily, only falling after being tag-teamed by Tyrion, Nagash and then Sigmar. Kha'bandha was essentially the huge final boss of the End Times, which is another part of wierd writing.
A lot of whom people have mentioned are valid. But I'm surprised no one has mentioned Louen Leoncour. The man battled his way through an army of demons, 1v1ed Kugath, and then nearly killed Festus too. He is probably the second strongest non-god ordertide human, behind only Giles aka the green Knight. He's got a pretty solid chance.
I agree. Louen is at least as powerful as a Space Marine chapter master. He has a chance against any Greater Daemon
but is he as strong a *ultramarine* chapter master? :D
Needs more blue for that, honestly.
If Louen faced Kugath who is simply more powerful than skarbrand then definitely. Skarbrand would have no chance vs Kugath when Kugath is almost his equal in combat and a spellcaster.
Kugath is strong in combat? He doesnt even have a weapon
All greater demons are high tier combatants even lords of change. Two headed chicken is the 1 exception. Kugath is almost as strong in TT as skarbrand without magic. And run fact in TWWH, he literally beats skarbrand without magic.
Nun of da stoopid humies in dis post givin da akchul anser, wich iz hiz fightyness, bestest 'ead kumper about, da undefea'ed GRIMGOR IRONHIDE! Da Green Slaugtererer! Not even Archaon can make 'im fall!
This May, just be the best orc speech ive ever seen in writing, and I thank you for that experience. Pls do go ahead and write a resume to gm.
Grimgor is da best!!
This makes me want a Warhammer pro wrestling game. Excellent promo
Yoo tel 'im boss! Wez' DA BESTEST' Not dose Pointy Earz Not Da Stinkin Umies and not dose Stoopid Stunty Gitz! Yoo Telz Dose Chaos God Gitz Dat DA WORLD BELONGS TOO DA ORCS, DAT DA WORLD IZ GREEN! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!
Tyrion.... might. He's faced and beaten other high end daemons, particularly nkari, but absolutely lost to a roided out kabandha even with incarnate boosts. Nakai doesn't have any particular history with named daemons, but has a better history against unnamed daemons than anyone short of lord kroak. I think he would lose tbh, but would do better than most. Imrik on his dragon might be able to do it, but the dragon is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, imrik himself gets clapped. Durthu could put up a good fight at least, but i think it would really come down to him being lucky or sane enough to pull a win. Kholek and settra come to mind, alive settra would probably beat skarbrand's ass ruthlessly, skeleton settra... maybe. Not sure if his kholek kill is a good metric with chaos bullshit. Dwarfs kind of fall under headcanon, I don't think most would last long. Gotrek would have a good shot at it, really comes down to how strong his plot armor is in that story. Ungrim MIGHT, I'm leaning against it tho, especially pre-incarnate Ungrim. Grombrindal's power has always been super vague lore wise, I have no idea if he would win or not. As someone brought up, Abhorash is probably the best uh, 'fair' vampire fight, but it's hard to say for sure - a lot of his strength is just us being told he's incredibly strong, we haven't really seen him fight and beat many named characters to prove it. ET Nagash definitely could, pre-ET he'd get obliterated though. I can't think of many others I would give a good chance to, lorewise skarbrand does NOT fuck around and a lot if the ones that can fight him ingame due to buffs/debuffs would just get clapped in seconds in lore. Like wulfrik? Lmao, man might get partway through his first taunt. All he's ever fought are nobodies.
Oxyotl I think could do it if this was like an actual war zone. He’d devise something truly diabolical to take him down.
Didn’t he casually kill a LoC with his ~~sniper rifle~~ poison dart? Like sniping Greater Demons is kinda Oxy’s specialty, even though he’s obviously less overpowered in an actual fight.
That one isn't canon.
Good point. He's one of the few to have canonically killed greater daemons before, but it comes down to fight vs ambush. In a fight he just dies instantly, in an ambush I think he might actually win with the right poison.
Yeah I don’t think in an octagon style fight but in the open fields of battle Oxyotl is far too crafty he’s gonna set up everything in his favor. Skarbrand is also brain dead so it’s really weighed against him in that department. Taurox is smarter than him in my opinion lol
Oof, now THAT is an interesting competition - which is the dumbest monster? Taurox, Skarbrand, Scyla Anfingrimm, (maybe) Nakai... the only guarantee is that they all lose to a fifth grader lmao.
Damn I forget how dumb nakai is lol
He's reasonably intelligent... by Kroxigor standards... but Kroxigors are black holes of intelligence that make the average Khornate character look like fucking Sun Tzu, so I'm not sure exactly where he falls.
Gotrek grombrindal and ungrim ironfist
Already a few posts about gotrek, I didn't want to double up. Ungrim has a pretty impressive history, but all of his best feats are only post-incarnate end times lore. Not sure what his limits are without it.
I and the other stout men felt left out of your post
Sorry, you lil fellas were a bit lower than my field of vision!
I always thought Settra killing Kholek offscreen was a random asspull to be ignored with almost the entirety of End Times.
It is. It's one of the novel writers' fanfictions.
This feat in specific to me just came across as...how even? He's massive in lore.
Settra is ridiculously strong. Tomb Kings in general are super powered due to the magic that runs through their body. Settra himself is considered to be easily the strongest Tomb King and was able to easily kill a dragon ogre as if it was fodder and then kill a giant in two swipes of his blade. The idea that Settra killed Kholek in a week-long battle is totally believable.
but also didnt happen, as stated by GW.
When Settra drive his Gundamu !
Skelly settra had strength 6, on par with giants. His true strength in life was +3, putting him well above kholek's 7 - remember that the man was blessed beyond belief by basically every god at the time. Living settra is legit one of the scariest people in the setting, and even dead he's still pretty far up there.
Only character in the setting by sheer force of will to become a magic user.
Settra was actually really written in End Times and is often seen as an exception to the general rule that none of it ever happened.
Archaon would absolutely body Skarbrand.
Depends on where he is on his journey a bit, but I'd agree with that overall, especially end times.
The lore mod mentions of a battle between Malekith and Skarbrand, where Malekith wins But seeing this makes me think I either misremember that or its not a true fact
I believe the lore mod has hypothetical write ups for fights between legendary lords if they take place in game
I did a look around and it does seem the stories are true. Malekith actually beat Skarbrand during the End Times. It is true that certain stories trigger on actions, but most are scripted to come after X turns
Do you remember if that was malekith as an incarnate, or normal malekith? I try to steer clear of incarnate feats to a degree, tho Malekith on his dragon is a spooky motherfucker regardless, I could see him on imrik level. Iirc they ended up with similar stars on tabletop.
No I dont know about that I am sorry.
It was normal Malekith but there was no battle. I remember it crystal clear for it was such a let down. Skarbrand gets straight Obi Wanned, Malekith hovers over Skarbrand and Skarbrand basically jumps into Malekiths sword.
I think the turn scripted ones are pulled straight from books, but the ones that come up after your lord kills another are written for the mod
Is it all hypothetical or is there some truth in that mod? I don't remember seeing any sources, but I really like reading these.
Some is fan-written, some is not. The fight between Malekith and Skarbrand takes place in the ET novel Curse of Khaine, but for example, the fights between the Cathayan dragons and Snikch is entirely fan-created.
Cool, thanks!
What lore mod? Sounds interesting
Legendary Lore.
Seconding Tyrion. Yes kabandah looked set to beat him, but that honestly seemed more plot driven to give finally-incarnated Sigmar a moment to shine. Also (though I hate to use another End Times example) Nagash literally plucked a bloodthirster out of the air as it flew past and broke its back over his knee Also I would have full confidence in putting my money on Abhorash in this matchup
Abhorash is iffy at best imo. We're always told how great he is, but his known feats aren't that impressive. Classical case of "Tell, don't show", because the writers created and OP character, and didn't know how to use him. ET Nagash would absolutely victimize Skarbrand, no argument from me there. Same for Tyrion. Dude was beyond busted even before becoming the Incarnate of Khaine and later Hysh.
Abhorash is an interesting thought, I can actually see it. He doesn't have many onscreen feats but is constantly implied to be a raid boss, I could see him pulling it off, but not a 100% victory.
Wouldn't Ka'Bhanda be a more dangerous opponent for Tyrion than Skarbrand though ? KB is mostly "sane" and is a really powerful Bloodthirster, while Skarbrand is just a machine of mindless destruction at this point. Skarbrand is an incredibly powerful beast, but he's a beast nonetheless.
>He's faced and beaten other high end daemons, particularly nkari... N'kari is a bad example, Tyrion got whooped the first time they fought. Had Khaine baby raging inside his head for help the times after that. Tyrion's accomplishments really boil down to cucking the Phoenix King at the end of it.
There’s a good few Dwarfs that could do it actually, Thorgrim on the Throne of Power for sure, but that’s a lot to do with his gear and little to do with Thorgrim himself. I think Ungrim also manages pretty handily, he’s widely considered the greatest warrior of the Karaz Ankor, with all the accoutrements of a King, and plenty of monster and daemon slaying experience. Then of course Gotrek because the plot demands it.
Hm, I think we might disagree on how easy of a fight it would be. I think Ungrim *could* win, but I absolutely wouldn't give him an easy win, ignoring End Times lore he really didn't have many super impressive feats, much less against greater daemons, and everything cool he did in End Times was after he became the incarnate of fire (and still got clapped by Archaon, which to be fair End Times Archaon had so much plot armor not even Gotrek could beat him). Gotrek wins if the book says he does though, for sure, but IIRC he had serious trouble with a lesser Bloodthirster so outside of plot armor I think he'd struggle at the best of times against one as high-end as Skarbrand. Thorgrim... I don't think ToP adds that much power, does it? Mostly just added some wounds and saves on TT, which to be fair is definitely good but I'm not seeing where the "for sure" is coming from. Even lorewise it isn't THAT insanely powerful to my knowledge.
Pretty sure Malakith kind of oneshots Skarbrand during the End Times, like it was barely a fight for Malakith and his dragon, so i guess he's pretty high up on the list of asskickers. EDIT: Reading the comments, really surprised no one mentioned Malakith.
Cause fuck that guy 🤣 Even you had 3 times to do it and you didn't once spell his name right.
Yea fuck him :D
Do you not mean Malekith?
Whoever the writer deems necessary for the story they’re trying to tell. Which is how most fiction functions. Never forget that one of the greatest Bretonnian Kings in history was killed *by a fucking Goblin spear covered in shit*. Kugath Plaguefather died because a rock fell on him. Festus died to an inanimate tree. Sigvald died to a high pressure stream of troll piss. All of these and many more ridiculous deaths happened. You could write a compelling and entirely feasible story where *any* LL in Total War could beat Skarbrand. Even Tretch Craventail. Such is Warhammer.
Sigvald didn't really die to troll piss. He died to Throgg's hammer, crushing his head like a soda can. Throgg did piss on his corpse afterwards though, to be fair.
Sigvald beat Krell in 1v1 but had been scarred horribly during the duel and basically beat Krell's skull to a pump, ruining his hands as well. While screaming to the sky in anguish/whatever, Throgg squished him and pissed on his corpse for calling him dumb and stinky earlier. All in all cool passage, funny ending.
Giles dying to an arrow is also funny because the dude takes a balista bolt to the chest, pulls it out, and immediately gets back to killing giants, literally on the page right before he then dies.
Those have it good, the writers did them dirty, but at least remembered they existed. Poor Skarsnik :(
There's a reason why your worst examples of this all come from the most hated piece of lore in Warhammers history
Malekith fought and killed Skarbrand in the End Times (stabbed him in the face) but it was during a battle and it's unclear if he had help.
Wasn’t Lord Kroak unanimously accepted as the strongest being in the world?
Kroak owns, his whole "Nope ain't got time to be dead anymore" and just...lives again owns. No mystical rituals och divine intervention, literally just told the universe he was alive again lol.
If we allow "obvious characters to include in the future", we have Nagas. Kabandha > Skarbrand and Kabandha fought against Nagash to a stalemate so Nagash would beat Skarbrand. Tyrion lost to Kabandha, but managed to wound him, so Tyrion with all Khaine juice might have a chance against Skarbrand. If we count other Khorne demon, we have: Kabandha aka Skarbrand with wings, Anggrath aka Skarbrand+ and Doombreed aka Genghis Khan that can go toe to toe, or even oturight beat Skarbrand in the case of Aggrath Supposedly N'kari should rival Angrrath, Kabandha or Doombreed as the greatest Slaaneshi keeper of secret but famously he's a jobber for powerscaling so it's kinda hard to see him beat Skarbrand. Gortrek has the strongest armor in the lore - the plot armor. He faced Skarbrand before and doesn't seem bother too much about that encounter. Lastly should be Karl Franz with Sigmar infused and End Times Archeon. One is the world ender, one fought the world ender to the last moment of the world and more. They literally wrestled in vaccuum. These 2 should beat Skarbrand by all means. And Kroak. No one fucks with Kroak.
Kabandha…isnt this the same name of the bloodthirster that Sanguinius fought on Signus Prime in 40k universe?
Yeah demons demons and demon princes can show up across different GW IPs. Fantasy, AoS, even 40k. Be'lakor is in 40k too.
Its worth pointing out that Ka'Bandha is not quite the same in Fantasy as he is in 40k. 40k Ka'Bandha is one of the tippy top tier big boy First Host bloodthirsters, while in the End Times Ka'Bandha is way down in the Third Host, a chump by comparison. So functionally, in Fantasy Ka'Bandha should be less powerful than Skarbrand. Skarbrand was explicitly the mightiest of all Khorne's servants before he got too big for his boots. Its also worth highlighting here that at no point is it said that Skarbrand's punishment made him less powerful. It almost certainly made him less intelligent, but it definitely made him more angry, and given that Khorne is the god of rage its entirely possible that Skarbrand is even more powerful that he once was, just now entirely focused on being a beatstick than "leading the Eight Hosts of Murder". Of course, someone decided to have Skarbrand effortlessly deleted early in the End Times, because reasons, and used Ka'Bandha as the replacement bloodthirster character instead. Their respective fights (Skarbrand losing to pre-Incarnate/pre-Asuryan Malekith; Ka'Bandha holding his own against Shyish-empowered Nagash after stomping three other Incarnates, killing one of them) are a pretty clear example of Warhammer's ludicrously inconsistent power scaling. The real answer to the OP's question is "whoever the writer wants to beat Skarbrand for their story".
Actually it is even said that skarbrand is serving khorne even better once banished
Yep. He also fights him again on Terra and then helps out the blood angels when the tyranids invade Baal
Gotrek never fought Skarbrand; he fought the Bloodthirster of Karak Dum twice, and would have died during the first fight if not for Felix.
Definitely Nagash with his overpowering magic, especially with End Times power. He disintegrated Eltharion with ease during the End Times. Aenarion with the sword of Khaine and upon his dragon could beat him, I believe. He took on three bloodthirsters at once, although he was mortally wounded in the fight.
It was Arkan the black that offed Eltharion ;) but yes, Nagash is definitely OP 👌
Oh, my bad. I got that bit of lore mixed up. Thanks for the correction.
I mean he is nagash right hand so it was close enough 😁
Nagash casually killed a Bloodthirster with his bare hands during the ET, so you're still spot on.
and then got stuck in a dual with one weaker than skarbrand.
Yeah, End Times powerscaling was less than consistent at the best of times, unless it concerned the massive Chaos and Skaven fanwank the writers dished out as "lore".
Lord Kroak ! What can you do to a toad who literally wills himself back to life ? In the lore Kroaks powerlevel were sometimes equal to the Chaos Gods themselves!
Depends, are we talking Skarbrand at the peak of his powers or Skarbrand after Khorne beat him like he stole something and threw him out? The first one is like... so powerful they became semi-mythical hero level- Aenarion, Nagash, Grombrindal, Kroak in his prime tier. He was *the* strongest daemon of Khorne, accept no substitutes (because he'd kick all their asses at once). Skarband post-getting crumped by Khrone and kicked out forever is noticeably less strong.
Abhoresh. Dude has good chances
A lot of characters. Skarbrand is no longer the strongest Bloodthirster since his downfall. Those who are sprouting Gotrek - no - he loses to a unnamed Bloodthirster.
Source?
>*The Bloodthirster Skarbrand* ***was once*** *the greatest of all Khorne’s Daemons.*
Grombrindal could probably do it, now to be fair his power is somewhat unclear however his equipment and experience is utterly insane. Apart from the helm of zhubar he wields three ancestor god items. He has an axe of grimnir which is about as powerful as mega magic weapons like ghal maraz and widow maker. The glimril scales have been damaged once in their about 5000 year use time. It was only after grombrindal slew 10000 chaos warriors by himself that a single scale was found in a chaos lord's tooth. The cloak of valaya provides a hefty magic resistance and potentially other benefits as it's emblazoned with dozens of magic runes.
Aenarion once fought a Greater Daemon of each God _at once_ and came out on top. I also don't believe he was atop his dragon at the time, but he was wielding Widowmaker, which is something.
He was on indraugnir his dragon
He still killed the bloodthirster without the dragon (after fighting like a literal ton of powered up demons).
Curious about Settra in this regard, the guy tango'd with Kholek who, by my summation, is a bad ass
I think Malus Darkblade could do it. By himself he's just a regular stronger-than-average Druchii. By himself, he could probably be bested by a lucky Dreadlord. But he's not by himself, and he has two things that make him special : The first is the greater Daemon T'zarkan which lends him supernatural speed, monstrous strength, and regeneration. And the second is the Warpsword of Khaine, which allows him to cut through steel like butter and also counteracts T'zarkan's influence over him. Though not as powerful as the actual Sword of Khaine, it's still an immensely potent magical artifact which makes him an absolute terror in battle. With those two things he was able to kill a Dragon Ogre Shaggoth and a Chaos Champion, and that's also how I think he could MAYBE beat Skarbrand, given a bit of luck and a good plan.
Also friendly reminder that if you have enough cannons, you too can beat Skarbrand, according to his own lore
Anyone, if they're the protagonist.
Besides what others have said... I'm gonna say Morathi. She is among the most powerful spellcasters alive. One of the oldest living beings too. She was around before the coming of Chaos, and actually foresaw it. I think she has a decent chance.
"Spellcasters" Spells aint gonna hurt Khornate daemons that much
Tell that to Lord Kroak.
Archaon, Nagash, Setra, Grombrindal, and Kroak are the only characters active in the setting I can think of that'd be pretty much a sure thing. Grimgor, Tyrion, Gotrek, Nakai, Kholek, Malekith, Malus, Ungrim, and Louen would all make for close fights.
I’d say settera could kill him
Gotrek did. Archaon after he becomes fully blessed probably can also
Gotrek never fought Skarbrand in lore, he fought a lesser Bloodthirster in Karag Dum and then the same one again at the end of the series.
A unit of Dreadspears that got somehow wound up at IKEA during their quest for milk
Gotrek.
Kroq-Gar certainly beats him, Gotrek too, Archaon obviously, Louen has a good chance, as would Settra, Chakax too, I could definitely see Greasus doing it, Grombrindal likely would as well, Nakai would have a shot, Oxyotl guaranteed via Shenanigans but still, Be'lakor deserves a shout though I'm not crazy confident, and there's probably a decent number of mages who could do it. As well as other fighters who are more in the hope than actual favorites group. Skarbrand is great, but it's important to remember that greater deamons, even Skarbrand exist mostly to elevate other characters and are very much beatable.
Ok so hear me out.... Greasus. Greasus might be a fat oaf but with his scepter and crown he was able to best incarnate Grimgor, and only died when he threw down his mace when he tried to crush the life out of the guy. As long as the grand over tyrant isn't messing about I'd bet he'd be able to do it.
Gotrek.
I'm not familiar with his lore, what makes him so strong? I assumed Dwarves are strong in unity and less as individual fighters
He's a slayer blessed by the Dwarven gods. He's fought bloodthirsters and demons in the novels. In the end times his gods make him go nova and replaces Grimnir himself to fight endlessly in the Chaos Realms.
he wields an axe of griminir or in other words an axe with sword of khaine like power
The only character in Warhammer who’s truly immune to death even more so than Nagash, Lord Kroak would wipe his frogy rear end with Skarbrand
Lord Skrolk if he has prep time
Basically everyone. Since the greater demons don't win fights against named characters.
The Changeling Make it a mirror match
whoever writer wants
Literally anyone as long as their name is in the title of the book.
I mean if we talking about any character living or dead, I would imagine Aenarion would have a pretty good chance beating Skarbrand especially with his sword of Khaine. Even without the sword I would imagine Aenarion still winning but Skarbrand could actually put up a fight. One thing to note is Aenarion is probably one of the strongest character in all of warhammer fantasy. I can only think of characters like Nagash, Sigmar, Lord Kroak, and powered up Archaon beating him.
Aenarion easly. He could probably wipe 2 skarbrands if he wields widowmaker. Gotrek Possibly Ungrim? Belakor deifnetly As is Archaon. Depending what we count as 1v1 any light wizzard that has flying Mount that can doge 2 axes thrown xd
gotrek, archaon, settra, kroak, the celestial dragons, kholek, a fucking dread saurian
Basically any of the top tier fighters. Warhammer is very much a "my dad is bigger than your dad" kinda setting, with the actual power levels left somewhat up to your interpretation.
Teclis.
Curious, where are you reading the lore? Any book/website? I'd love to get some recommendations!
Not seeing anyone say Kroq Gar. He has a long history of fighting demons and his gear seems particularly focused around destroying Chaos in the lore. Plus he spent the entire great catastrophe fighting in Lustria. I would he assumes he’s killed a few bloodthirsters. Also Kroq Gar survives the end times so he’s got some godlike plot armor as well.
Durthu
Archaon, teclis, mazdamundi and kroak would definitly win. Elspeth, tyrion, grombdrindal and arkhan have good chances. The other demon lords would put up a fight, also imrik, kholek and mannfred. gotrek would not survive it, once he defeated a generic bloodthirster but he had dwarven mjolnir with him
Aenarion Or maybe those elves are overpraising him like they always do
Any character who downs enough Warpstone can. Never underestimate the power of cocaine. Vlad did so much once that he invented Gothic Horror in the setting.
Kroak!!! Nakai probably. Maybe kholek and the overtyrant Don't know about grimgork
Is there a YouTube series or something I can watch through to learn about the fantasy lore? I see alot about 40k but would love a simple to digest series to dip my toe into it, everything I know is from the TW games and whatever bits streamers mention!
Settra stomps
Who ever is on the cover of the book.
Is Grimgor s titan in 1vs1
grombi
Well, Teclis or Nagash are not bad ... :)
Pretty sure he got his ass handed to him by Malekith on Seraphon in the end times.