In light of looking at the warrior cats forums recently and seeing a lot of talk about which cats would win in fights based on their canon performances, I want to ask about... fighting skills in your rewrite. I feel like canon makes ThunderClan cats overpowered with them winning all of their battles, and I already know you have made some changes to at least one cat's level of fighting skills, with Deadfoot getting a buff with his leg gauntlet and now being on the same level as Leopardfur. So, who do you plan to be the strongest and weakest fighters? I would love if you included some more minor characters in Clans other than ThunderClan in "strongest fighters" here.
An opportunity to explain which of my Littlest Petshop figurines has the strongest smash abilities? Don't mind if I dooo
Absolutely don't worry about ThunderClan hogging all the strongest fighters, I disagree heavily with the general fandom consensus that TC is The Fighting Clan. It's a BATTLE CULTURE. They ALL fight. They all have to fight THUNDERCLAN too at points, it's not like TC is the sleeping giant of the forest you know?
While I haven't made "stat charts" yet (though i am only one bored afternoon away from making one), I try to imagine my major characters (and plenty of supporting ones) as having specific strengths and weaknesses
Brief list of some of the "stats" I've considered
Battle Skill = NOT raw strength; how good they are at fighting period.
Hunting (General) = Overall ability to find food in all situations
Hunting (Specific) = RiverClan's canonical 'white water fishers' or Bonefall Tallpoppy's frog hunting talent
Diplomacy = Conflict deescalation skills and persuasion
Craftiness = Problem-solving skills and dexterity
One of the reasons my Clan Culture series has slowly started to bleed into the Bonefall Rewrite is exactly because "craftiness" makes a really good 'stat' when the imagined 'mass' of a given Clan starts to become too generic fighter/hunter heavy.
But a Deputy is chosen exactly because they excel in as many skills as possible. So you can safely assume that any time you are dealing with a deputy, you are getting ready for a miniboss fight.
Exceptions to the rule being, of course, when the deputy has been chosen for reasons unrelated to their actual skill. Onewhisker was an unfortunate example; nepotism picks also happen.
Some Amazing Fighters In No Particular Order
When I pick cats who are GREAT fighters I try to avoid just picking large, muscular cats like canon does. Sorreltail is HUGE like her dad Whitestorm, but she really doesn't have the same chops. I really like to consider actual fighting styles.
Like other WindClan fighters, he's super fast. His gauntlet is actually more defensive than you'd guess. Getting a FULL bonk with it is cumbersome, but if it lands, it's devastating. To do it he has to rear up and bring it down with full speed so if his enemy is anticipating this, it leaves his belly wide open
Plus, that time he fought Leopardfur by the gorge, he was probably wearing his travel gauntlet (lightweight for comfort). Not the battle one. It was a very fair fight.
His fighting style is distinctive and looks horrific to an observer. Because he's blind and fast-moving targets evade him, he has been trained to latch on. Like a dog. He gets a bite and grapples, only letting go to get a better position.
I think it's kinda fun to think that Deadfoot's grandson has an equally unique fighting style to his own.
And there are a ton of great ShadowClan fighters, but Tangleburr LOVES to fight and gets in so many spats and brawls that she's just ferocious. I like to think her and Brokenstar used to playfight a lot as kids, when he wasn't hanging out with Runny.
Lizardstripe wasn't an ABUSIVE mother, but she did have a generally bad idea of what sorts of activities were developmentally appropriate. If the kids wanted to brawl she would happily tussle. She probably nicked an ear on accident at some point.
So, Tangle has had a lot of experience fighting cats who are larger than herself. Important skills, considering she's about the same size as Runningnose.
Of course she's a very strong cat, but I also want to mention she kills Thistleclaw, because the patrol that he dies on is now the same one that kills Sunfish. She ripped his throat open in revenge and he drops like a sack of potatoes.
She also has a habit of dramatic entries in canon that I really like and want to work in more of-- that time in Dangerous Path where she drops off a cliffside and JUST barely misses Fireheart's neck, slicing his shoulder open like a dropped butcher knife? Marvelous. I love that for her
When Mistyfoot has to kill her later, she got a bit lucky, or maybe a little bit blessed. There was a large stone just poking above the water and Misty smashes Leopardstar's head against it. She might not have won if it wasn't for that stroke of fate.
Bonefall Hawkfrost is much thinner than his dad and brother. He's an excellent fighter because his WHOLE body moves, a sort of cat-ambidexterity. I really like that one scene in OotS where he's training a bunch of the DF trainees how to fight a crowd so I based his entire fighting style on it.
He can be grappling the cat in front of him, then twist his weight to throw them right at the next cat running up. Sneaking up on him never works as his back leg lashes out to strike you square in the face. He's like a war machine.
His drawback of course is that fine motor skills are beyond him. He couldn't weave a nest if his life depended on it.
There's others that I've picked to have a generally high Fighting Skill stat but hasn't really worked out their styles; Torear, Whitewater, Rosepetal, Thornclaw, Graystripe, Skyheart, Icewing, Mudclaw, Sedgewhisker, Marshwing, so on.
