@eisenfauste: Yup I am. Great series. A bit inconsistent, but I enjoy it.
Kyp can take him if he uses his black force lightning, sabers can go either way.
Kyp taking force?
Kyp taking force?
@dccomicsrule2011: All right, let's begin. Running purely by Legends appearances for my argument, my case for Vader will differ from several of my past comparative arguments in that I want to dissect Vader's power in a more holistic manner instead of relying exclusively on feat-wars. This is a summarized breakdown of Vader's growth in power and understanding of the Force and how it translates to his showings. Really, I'm only doing this because I've wanted to analyze Vader's power within the framework of his history for a while now, and this provides me with a glaring opportunity. If this is overkill and you just want a tl;dr version, I'll give you an abridged version at the end.
Let's start at the beginning of Vader's existence in his life support armor. As we all know, Vader's infamous "No!" scene in RotS after awakening on the operating table showed us an example of his infuriated power Post-Mustafar. By consequence of his raging and despairing the news of Padme's death, Vader's surroundings, namely droids, machinery, and (according to the novelization) the table, burst apart from Vader's power.
And you rage and scream and reach through the Force to crush the shadow who has destroyed you, but you are so far less now than what you were, you are more than half machine, you are like a painter gone blind, a composer gone deaf, you can remember where the power was but the power you can touch is only a memory, and so with all your world-destroying fury it is only droids around you that implode, and equipment, and the table on which you were strapped shatters, and in the end, you cannot touch the shadow.
--Taken from Revenge of the Sith
Palpatine took a cautious step backward as Vader moaned with grief and rage. Around the laboratory, equipment and droids began to rapture and burst as Vader lashed out in all directions with his Force powers. There was a loud snap of metal as he tore his left arm free from the table, then his right. He lurched forward on alloy legs that were fitted into cumbersome boots until he stood at the edge of the surgical floor. And somehow, through all his anger, he suddenly sensed at least one truth: Padme was dead, along with their unborn child.
--Taken from The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
Of course, this represents the version of Vader in the earliest part of his history, which is to say, this represents his minimum power, not his cap. Throughout his career Vader was stated to have increased in his knowledge, recovering his power with the Force. While some characters' accumulation of knowledge of the Force is disproportionate to their power, with Vader, it serves as an accurate means of gauging his abilities, as some sources tell us:
Unable to survive without the constant life support provided by his suit, Vader is nonetheless a powerful figure whose knowledge of the dark side of the Force makes him unnerving and dangerous.
--Taken from Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
So we can understand then that Vader's power can in part be attributed to his study and meditation. After the formation of the Empire, Vader had free (and sometimes forceful) access to any repository of lore in the galaxy. Chief among his resources were the Banite Sith archives and the Jedi Temple archives. These two alone contained more volumes than Vader could likely ever thoroughly explore. On a faux-mission from Sidious, Vader gathered items stored in the Temple archives and retrieved them for the Empire. These included holocrons and other files that Anakin originally had no access to because he was never promoted to the rank of Jedi Master (Revenge of the Sith).
From the high-backed chair that was his seat of power, Sidious watched Darth Vader turn and march from the throne room, long black cloak whooshing, black helmet burnished by the lights, anger palpable.
Atop a pedestal alongside the chair sat the holocrons Sidious had asked his apprentice to search out and retrieve from the Jedi archives room. Pyramidal in shape, as opposed to the geodesic Jedi version, the holocrons were repositories of recorded knowledge, accessible only to those who were highly evolved in the use of the Force. Arcane writing inscribed on the holocrons Vader had fetched told Sidious that they had been recorded by Sith during the era of Darth Bane, some one thousand standard years earlier. Sidious didn't have to imagine the content of the devices, because his own Master, Darth Plagueis, had once allowed him access to the actual holocrons. The ones stored in the Temple archives room were nothing more than clever forgeries—Sith disinformation of a sort.
--Taken from Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Contrary to popular belief, Vader's studies and experiments were a respectably effective endeavor. While not the obvious scholar or sorcerer that the Emperor is, Vader did conduct his own research and practices in the dark side through the years.
Vader eventually created his own private retreat, Bast Castle, on the storm-scoured planet Vjun, where Count Dooku had once taken refuge during the Clone Wars. On Vjun, Vader conducted his own studies of the dark side. He had no doubt that the Emperor knew what he wanted more than anything: the power to kill his Master.
--Taken from The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
I say this mostly to show that the advancement of Vader's powers throughout the years leading up to Return of the Jedi are supplemented and to some extent contingent on his expanding knowledge. As to his growth itself, the process of rediscovering his powers was something Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader made a point to narratively underline. At first, Vader was clumsy and felt weak in his new armor and had difficulty maneuvering it; Sidious was convinced he needed to make a special effort to help Vader repossess his power. So for the span of a few weeks in the months after the fall of the Republic, Vader worked on perfecting his control and power and regained much of it. When he encountered Olee Starstone and Roan Shryne for the second time on Kashyyyk, Starstone noticed improvement in Vader's lightsaber technique, and his Force-gleaned senses were sharper and allowed him to anticipate Forte and Kulka's attacks. After defeating Shryne later on in the bombardment, Vader felt a renewed sensitivity and potency in the dark side.
Just long enough to glimpse Chatak, all grace and speed, working her way into her opponent's space. Her moves were broad and circular, and the lightsaber seemed an extension of her. Vader, by contrast, was clumsy, and his strikes were mostly vertical.
And so it fell to Sidious to complete Vader's convalescence.
As Emperor Palpatine, he had no need to reveal his Sith training and mastery to anyone, and for the moment Vader was his crimson blade. Let the galaxy think what it would of Vader: fallen Jedi, surfaced Sith, political enforcer... It scarcely mattered, since fear would ultimately bring and keep everyone in line.
Yes, Vader was not precisely what he had bargained for. Vader's legs and arms were artificial, and he would never be able to summon lightning or leap about like the Jedi had been fond of doing. His dark side training was just beginning. But Sith power resided not in the flesh but in the will. Self-restraint was praised by the Jedi only because they didn't know the power of the dark side. Vader's real weaknesses were psychological rather than physical, and for Vader to overcome them he would need to be driven deeper into himself, to confront all his choices and his disappointments.
Powered by treachery, the Sith Master-apprentice relationship was always a dangerous game. Trust was encouraged even while being sabotaged; loyalty was demanded even while betrayal was prized; suspicion was nourished even while honesty was praised.
In some sense, it was survival of the fittest.
Fundamental to Vader's growth was the desire to overthrow his Master.
Had Vader killed Obi-Wan on Mustafar, he might have attempted to kill Sidious, as well. In fact, Sidious would have been surprised if Anakin hadn't made an attempt. Now, however, incapable of so much as breathing on his own, Vader could not rise to the challenge, and Sidious understood that he would need to do everything in his power to shake Vader out of his despair, and reawaken the incredible power within him.
Even at Sidious's own peril...
At Sidious's insistence, he had spent the recent weeks sharpening his ability to summon and make use of his rage, and felt poised at the edge of a significant increase in his abilities.
Forte and Kulka were skilled duelists, but Vader was not only faster than Starstone remembered him being on Murkhana against Master Chatak, but also more agile. He employed his awesome power to put a quick end to the fancy twirling of his opponents, who fell back against the hammering blows of Vader's bloodshine blade.
Time and again the two Jedi Knights attempted to alter their style, but Vader had an answer for every lunge, parry, and riposte. His style borrowed elements from all techniques of combat, even from the highest, most dangerous levels, and his moves were crisp and unpredictable. In addition, his remarkable foresight allowed him to anticipate Forte's and Kulka's strategies and maneuvers, his blade always one step ahead of theirs, notwithstanding the two-handed grip he employed.
More important, Vader's bloodlust had been appeased; replaced by self-possession of a sort he had never before experienced. It was as if he had crossed some invisible threshold to a new world. He could feel the power of the dark side surging through him like an icy torrent. He felt invulnerable in a way that had nothing to do with his durasteel prostheses, his suit of armor and gadgets, which now seemed little more than an outfit. And it had taken a Jedi-yet another Jedi-to usher him over that threshold.
--Taken from Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
This chronicles development in Vader's powers over the course of months and not the last of his development either. It's worth noting that one of Vader's earliest missions was his attack on the Jedi conclave at Kessel. According to all available timelines, this occurred before the Imperial bombardment of Kashyyyk later the same year, which means that RotS Vader, the weakened and clumsy Vader, was the one who fought a group of Jedi on Kessel. That is the weakest incarnation of the character we have. I only bring this up because Vader's confrontation with those Jedi is often thought of as one of his greatest accomplishments. I personally disagree, but Vader's inexperience in his armor and depowered state elevates its impressiveness.
Following the bombardment of Kashyyyk, Vader then went on to demonstrate very impressive feats. Among his powers are more standard abilities, such as Force Deflection and Barrier which he typically uses to repel blaster bolts; pay attention to the number of bolts his shields withstand in The Ghost Prison (scans in reverse order).
But then we also have more unusual abilities. Just as a one-off power (that was interestingly also exhibited by Aayla Secura in the Republic series), Vader has put others to sleep via a Mind Trick. This is just peripheral to Vader's other telepathic powers, which include mind control, Drain Knowledge, inducing fear, and so on.
He seems to be versed in Alter Environment. In the TESB novelization and other sources, it was said that Vader summoned and/or controlled the winds around himself and Luke in Cloud City.
Another large piece of machinery glanced off Luke’s body and crashed out the large window, letting in the screaming wind. Suddenly everything in the room was blown about, and the fierce wind lashed Luke’s body and filled the room with a bansheelike howl. And in the very center of the room, standing still and triumphant, was Darth Vader.
“You are beaten,” the Dark Lord of the Sith gloated. “It is useless to resist. You will join me or you will join Obi-Wan in death!”
As Vader spoke these words, a final piece of heavy machinery soared through the air, striking the young Jedi and knocking him through the broken window. Everything became a great blur as the wind carried him, tossing and rolling, until he managed to grab hold of a beam with one hand. With the wind subsided a bit and his vision cleared, Luke realized that he was hanging from the gantry of the reactor shaft outside the control room.
He didn’t want to believe Vader, tried convincing himself that it was Vader who lied to him—but somehow he couldfeel the truth in the Dark Lord’s words. But, if Darth Vader did speak the truth, why, he wondered, had Ben Kenobi lied to him? Why? His mind screamed louder than any wind the Dark Lord could ever summon against him.
The answers no longer seemed to matter.
His father.
With the calmness that Ben himself and Yoda, the Jedi Master, had taught him, Luke Skywalker made, perhaps, what might be his final decision of all. “Never,” Luke shouted as he stepped out into the empty abyss beneath him. For all its unperceived depth, Luke might have been falling to another galaxy.
Darth Vader moved to the end of the gantry to watch as Luke tumbled away. A strong wind began to blow, billowing Vader’s black cloak out behind him as he stood looking over the edge.
--Taken from The Empire Strikes Back
They stared at him. He used his good foot to leap across the grate, and hit the lever with his bad ankle, forcing the lever back despite the pain. As he did so, he used all his strength to pull the blasters toward him. A huge wind blew up and yanked them toward him. It sapped him, made him weak. He wondered vaguely if the same thing had happened to Vader when he had made the same move in Cloud City.
--Taken from The New Rebellion
Vader is also skilled with Dun Moch:
The wind picked up, and Vader's black cape rippled at his back. "Luke—you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny." He opened his left hand end held it out to Luke. "Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son."
His voice is so hypnotic, Luke thought, and he felt part of him falling under Vader's spell.
--Taken from A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker
With Palpatine's training, it's said that Vader can "kill with mere suggestion." Take that as you will. Again, my intention here is not to list powers I believe Vader can harness against Kyp to defeat him in a fight, just powers that point to Vader's knowledge, which is expressly what this quote attributes this to.
Under the Emperor’s tutelage, Vader learns to kill with mere suggestion.
--Taken from Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
These powers denote Vader's mastery and understanding of the Force. As is evident, he learned a fair number of applications in his study and retraining. However, the most significant unknown skill that he was learning in my opinion is his healing technique. During the Rebellion era at least, if not earlier, Vader was preparing a healing technique that he believed would eventually fully repair his body and regenerate missing tissue and organs. As unsubstantiated as that goal is, it is known that Vader managed to sustain his body through the Force, and although his goal of complete restoration was never realized, he did manage to breathe without a breathing apparatus in Shadows of the Empire.
Darth Vader sat naked inside his hyperbaric medical chamber. The interior lighting was turned off, and he was free of the armor that he had to wear to sustain himself in public. The Force was powerful; Vader thought the dark side even more so, but he had never been able to use it to heal his badly burned body to the extent that he wished. That he was alive at all was something of a miracle, but he had somehow failed to master the energies needed for complete regeneration. He believed that it was possible; that with sufficient meditation and training, he would someday be able to rebuild himself into the man he once had been.
Enough. It was time for another test.
Vader waved his hand over the motion-sensitive controls in his chamber. The spherical chamber opened and the lid lifted with a hydraulic hiss and escape of pressurized air. He sat exposed to the surrounding room, unprotected by the supermedicated and oxygenated field inside the chamber.
He concentrated on the injustice of his condition, on his hatred of Obi-Wan, who had made him so. With the anger and hatred, the dark side of the Force permeated Vader.
For a moment, his ruined tissues altered, his scarred lungs and dead alveoli and constricted passages smoothed out and became whole.
For a moment, he could breathe as normal beings breathed.
His sense of relief, his triumph, his joy at being able to do so drove the dark side from him as surely as a light chases away shadow. The dark side eagerly consumed anger, but it was poisoned by happiness. It left him, and when it did he could breathe no longer.
Vader waved his hand, and the half-dome lowered and sealed him into the chamber once again.
He had achieved it briefly, as he had done several times before. The trick was to maintain it. He must not allow himself to feel relief, but must somehow cling to his rage even as he healed.
It was difficult. He had not purged all of Anakin Skywalker, that blemished and frail man from whom he had been born. Until he did, he could never give himself over totally to the dark side. It was his greatest weakness, his most terrible flaw. A single spot of light amid the dark that he had been unable to eradicate over all the years, no matter how hard he tried.
Vader sighed. He would have to try harder. He could not afford any weaknesses, given his enemies—and more especially, given his friends.
--Taken from Shadows of the Empire
Over time Vader has advanced in his ability to manipulate the dark side of the Force, and has used it to sustain his own damaged body as well as to persuade opponents of his will.
--Taken from Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
With his knowledge covered fairly extensively, I want to discuss an adjacent point to Vader's healing powers: his will and survival. The injuries Vader suffered on Mustafar to Obi-Wan and the lava pit were tended to by Palpatine and medical droids. While it was not Vader's will alone that allowed him to survive his wounds, it was his will alone that allowed him to survive long enough for the Emperor and his troops to arrive. So his pain tolerance and will was at work there, even if Sidious and the droids took to maintaining his life after escorting him. Before their arrival though, Vader tried to crawl up a sandy hill with one arm before falling unconscious, and he later awoke during his operation and felt every procedure being done to repair him.
The flames finally burned out. Anakin's mechanical right arm dug into the sand. He pulled, and slid a few millimeters up the slope.
Again!
With each movement, hot volcanic shards scraped and tore at his roasted flesh. It took all of his concentration to shift his scorched remains up the slope and away from the lava river.
He moaned. Only his powers kept him from blacking out.
Again!
Only his hatred for Obi-Wan made him want to live another day.
Anakin—he still thought of himself as Anakin—heard the engine of an arriving starship travel over his position. He had no idea how much time had passed before he heard a clone trooper's voice call out, "Your majesty, this way."
Then he heard Palpatine's voice, "There he is. He's still alive."
Anakin's blackened torso went completely limp as he finally allowed darkness to sweep over him.
Anakin awoke on an operating table, surrounded by droids. The recently appointed Emperor Palpatine had brought him to a surgical reconstruction center on Coruscant, and the droids were busily attaching robotic limbs to his quivering torso, which was strapped to the table by strong metal belts. The droids were working fast to maintain the precious midi-chlorians that existed in Anakin's blood and tissue. To prevent the midi-chlorians from becoming thinned by intrusive chemicals, the droids were working without anesthetics.
Anakin felt everything.
He felt each cold metal blade that sliced into his hideously scarred flesh to allow more tools to probe and stabilize his damaged internal organs. He squirmed as shattered bones were replaced by plastoid, and cringed as lasers grafted the new limbs into place. At some point, he overheard a surgical droid explaining to Palpatine that he would require a special helmet and backpack to cycle air in and out of his damaged lungs.
Despite this damage, throughout the entire procedure, he never stopped screaming.
--Taken from The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
This is only his first instance of survival in crippling circumstances. Then we have two other consecutive instances in Darth Vader and the Lost Command where Vader's power miraculously keeps him alive. The first is when he's downed by flamethrowers and a blast from a rifle; when he wakes up, he is informed by Garoche Tarkin that he "willed" himself back to life (if there is any suspicion about Tarkin's knowledge of Vader's powers or how he could conclude that was how Vader survived, Lady Saro was reading Vader's heart and mind and knew of his person and history on a private level). Then, Vader is deprived of much of his life support including his helmet and breathing apparatus and goes on to collapse a sizable cathedral on himself, remains buried for days, and survives on nothing but the dark side.
Let's review what some other characters have endured and how well they handled them. Qui-Gon Jinn was killed by a stab through the torso. Darth Plagueis was killed by the disabling of his life support systems and suffocation. Joruus C'baoth was killed by a stab through the chest. Several Jedi Masters, such as Ki-Adi-Mundi, have been killed by one to two blaster bolts. By contrast, Vader has survived having his limbs cut off, burning alive next to a lava pit, and undergoing surgical reconstruction without anesthesia (this included opening his torso to permit the droids to work on his internal organs). He later survived without his life support systems (his ability to breathe), buried under crystalline rubble for days unaided. Is all of that necessarily worse than being stabbed through with a lightsaber? I would argue it is, but in fairness, they do represent different types of injuries. Am I saying that Vader is necessarily more powerful than the characters I listed? No. Am I saying that nothing less than what Vader experienced on Mustafar or Atoa can drop him? No. What I am saying is that his feats of surviving debilitating harm unaided are nearly peerless. The sources outright state that Vader's ability to withstand these kinds of situations are a product of his power with the Force and his will, and they are a tremendous hint at his abilities, even if this grade of unfeasible survival wouldn't surface in a battle thread.
Which finally brings us back to Vader's numerous showings of sheer telekinetic power throughout his history. I already mentioned his collapsing a crystalline cathedral on Atoa; these are some more of his TK feats, most of which you've seen before. Nonetheless, these are some of the best feats of this kind in his era, and the regularity with which Vader pulls off showings like this is notable. Below, Vader lifts and throws an enormous mining vehicle (scale it in comparison with people and objects in its surroundings); crushes a Jedi's hearts and then collapses a hallway's walls and ceiling; batters a creature with a tree and casually tosses aside a herd of beasts; moves a giant stone slab; hurls away more than a dozen Imperials; throws and destroys a V-Wing; and chokes Sha Koon. (Scans are in reverse order.)
Worth noting is that all of these showings occurred shortly after the formation of the Empire, around 19 BSW4. We have confirmation based on my above quotes from The Visual Dictionary that Vader's powers were in a continual state of growth in the Rise of the Empire era ("Over time Vader has advanced in his ability to manipulate the dark side of the Force"), and as you're aware, Vader achieved his peak power at the time of RotJ according to the novelization.
Lord Vader did not mind waiting, though, nor was he even aware of it. For it was an honor, and a noble activity, to kneel at his ruler's feet. He kept his eyes inward, seeking reflection in his own bottomless core. His power was great, now, greater than it had ever been. It shimmered from within, and resonated with the waves of darkness that flowed from the Emperor. He felt engorged with this power; it surged like black fire, demon electrons looking for ground...but he would wait.
--Taken from Return of the Jedi
From this, I surmise that Vader's previous displays of power, telekinetic or otherwise, are not indicative of his utmost ability. By the time of the Rebellion era, Vader has such showings as pushing a man down the length of an alleyway to crash into a wall at the end; easily knock down damage building rubble; pull down a towering tree (the width of which appears comparable to An'ya's height in some panels); lift and crush a massive droid; throw down and explode a Y-Wing; and crush a TIE Fighter. (Scan order...)
There are others; I haven't even referenced his TK feats from novels, only comics. The key factor is that all the showings above from the Rebellion era were done with what seemed to be less than Vader's maximum effort and thereby less than maximum expenditure. Considering that he has similar showings earlier in his career when he was less powerful, I think it would be fair to say that none of these constitute the limit of his telekinetic output.
Moving on, my last point is on source entries on Vader's powers. Several comparisons have been made between Vader and other characters, but I want to stick to a primary few. We both know Lucas' comment classifying Vader as possessing 80% of the power of the Emperor, which naturally sets a high benchmark for his power.
“Anakin, as Skywalker, as a human being, was going to be extremely powerful,” he says. “But he ended up losing his legs and an arm and became partly a robot. So a lot of his ability to use the Force, a lot of his powers, are curbed at this point, because, as a living form, there’s not that much of him left. So his ability to be twice as good as the Emperor disappeared, and now he’s maybe 20 percent less than him. So that isn’t what the Emperor had in mind.
--Taken from Vanity Fair Magazine
Then I have accolades such as the following:
In his distinctive black armor, Vader is an imposing figure. In the entire galaxy, he is second in power only to the Emperor himself.
--Taken from Insider #65
If I can qualify this quote: this was written years ago in a "Who's Who in Star Wars Galaxies" article, which of course dates it. We know there were other beings of superior power in the galaxy than Vader and the Emperor, such as the Anchorites and Abeloth. You could also interpret this quote to mean that Vader is second only in influence and control, not power with the Force. Regardless, I bring this up just to reinforce the point that Vader is the second most powerful Force user in the Empire, which I could corroborate with other quotes such as this one, which says that Palpatine was searching for potential Sith apprentices in Vader's place. In spite of the fact that Sidious wanted to train Vader regain his lost power, he still kept his eyes open for other candidates.
In the Emperor's eyes, Darth Vader was damaged. Palpatine secretly began looking for a replacement, expanding the ranks of his dark side adepts. From this pool of minor wizards and sycophants, Palpatine hoped to raise the next Sith Lord.
--Taken from Vader: The Ultimate Guide
Since Vader remained the Sith apprentice until his and Sidious' death in RotJ, we can gather from this that the Emperor never found a suitable replacement, and Vader remained more powerful than any of the Emperor's other students. Speaking of the Dark Side Adepts, despite their relatively second-rate fighting skills, they were somewhat accomplished Force practitioners, having learned Sith alchemy and Force Drain sufficient to feed on the population of Byss:
Training his most select servants in the ways of corruption, he made them into Dark Side Adepts, and with them, pushed the frontiers of the “science of darkness.” They rediscovered forgotten and long taboo applications of the Force, chief among them the draining of life itself from the populace.
--Taken from Dark Empire Sourcebook
For Vader to transcend their power speaks well of his own.
tl;dr: Vader grew in power until RotJ, his Force feats years prior to RotJ are astounding, his showings of pain tolerance/willpower/survival are among the best, and he is the second most powerful being in the Empire.
In conclusion? I think Vader is more powerful than Kyp, not by a huge measurement, but I do consider him more powerful. So in Round 2 in a Force-only contest, I would favor Vader's chances overall, but Kyp can take a minority.
@silver2467: Just a few things.
If I can qualify this quote: this was written years ago in a "Who's Who in Star Wars Galaxies" article, which of course dates it. We know there were other beings of superior power in the galaxy than Vader and the Emperor, such as the Anchorites and Abeloth. You could also interpret this quote to mean that Vader is second only in influence and control, not power with the Force. Regardless, I bring this up just to reinforce the point that Vader is the second most powerful Force user in the Empire, which I could corroborate with other quotes such as this one, which says that Palpatine was searching for potential Sith apprentices in Vader's place. In spite of the fact that Sidious wanted to train Vader regain his lost power, he still kept his eyes open for other candidates.
Actually, there's another quote stating he is more powerful than anyone in the galaxy at large by virtue of his dark side mastery.
Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, has instilled terror throughout the galaxy since the beginning of the Empire. His devotion to the Emperor and mastery of the dark side gives him more power than any single individual in the galaxy except for the Emperor himself.
-- Shadows Of The Empire: Prince Xizor vs. Darth Vader Action Figure (Kenner)
And of course entities like Abeloth would not count, but the quote can still be used to prove that Vader is above any normal Force user that is not part of the Galactic Empire, including the likes of Gethzerion, who stomped 8 ABY Luke.
Since Vader remained the Sith apprentice until his and Sidious' death in RotJ, we can gather from this that the Emperor never found a suitable replacement, and Vader remained more powerful than any of the Emperor's other students. Speaking of the Dark Side Adepts, despite their relatively second-rate fighting skills, they were somewhat accomplished Force practitioners, having learned Sith alchemy and Force Drain sufficient to feed on the population of Byss:
Training his most select servants in the ways of corruption, he made them into Dark Side Adepts, and with them, pushed the frontiers of the “science of darkness.” They rediscovered forgotten and long taboo applications of the Force, chief among them the draining of life itself from the populace.
--Taken from Dark Empire Sourcebook
Not only that, but they also perfected Sorzus Syn's alchemy, one Palpatine's most powerful predecessors, who was capable of creating artifacts as potent as those of Karness Muur and Remulus Dreypa.
The alchemy developed by Sorzus Syn is being perfected on Byss, where my Dark Side Adepts join their potent skills to warp life on a broad scale. My monstrous chrysalides, with their magnificent metal-piercing fangs, guard the ramparts of my citadel. My mute Imperial sentinels stand by my throne, their annihilated minds and enslaved wills clear evidence the dark side can manipulate clones for any imaginative purpose.
-- Book Of Sith: Secrets From The Dark Side
And considering that alchemy on living beings is stated as far more difficult than the one used to create amulets, as well as the fact that they individually mutated Imperial Sentinels as part of their training, we can conclude that they're masters of the art.
I'd say that speaks well for not only Vader's power, but also his knowledge, because if mere adepts were allowed to study and learn such advanced stuff, Vader would obviously know much more.
As for Byss, they also domiinated the population of Byss while draining it.
What better lure for multitudes than Byss’s siren call of beauty and peace? Once there, their wills are destroyed by the Emperor and his Adepts, and replaced with an illusion of tranquility as they blissfully surrender their life energy to sustain the Emperor.
-- Dark Empire Sourcebook
Now, of course Palpatine did the vast majority of the job, but we're talking about 20 frigging billions, so that would most likely leave enough room for the adepts to drain and mind control many millions of people. Of course I'm aware it was a collective effort, but considering that Sidious trained only his most selected servants as dark side adepts, that would possibly lead to the conclusion that individual acolytes are capable of affecting dozens or hundreds of thousands of people with those powers.
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