How strong is Luke Skywalker in Disney Canon?

I've been putting together a personal tier list of Canon Star Wars characters by strength and Luke has been hard to put.

1. Post-ANH Luke trained with Sergeant Kreel, fought MagnaGuards, and got stomped by Vader.

2. His ESB self fought Vader and did alright (although Vader was holding back) but he also had trouble with the Grand Inquisitor (maybe the GI was stronger as a Spirit?)

3. With his ROTJ self I'm not sure if hes equal to, stronger, or weaker than ROTJ Vader. Both didnt want to kill the other at different points in the fight and Luke may or may not have been Dark Side amped.

4. Prime/TLJ Luke is easier to place, seeminly being at or above Snoke's level, who is in Palpatine's general power range, albeit inferior to TROS Sidious.

A lot of the statements I've seen on how powerful ESB and ROTJ Luke are seem to be before 2014 and thus apply only to Legends.

What do you think?

There are a few canon sources which state that Luke is an equal to Vader in ROTJ.

Luke's prime should be the flashback scenes in The Last Jedi, which take place 6 or 7 years prior to the main events of TLJ and before Luke had cut himself off from the force. That version of Luke would be far above Vader.

I know of one quote from a book called "Star Wars:Jedi vs Sith" from 2016 I believe where its stated that ROTJ Luke and Vader were equally skilled with a lightsaber. But I know "Skywalker:A Family at War" states that ROTJ Luke is less skilled then Obi-Wan.

Callouts if that's ok:

@void_reborn: @lord_tenebrous: @alextheboss: @mygod000: @emmafrostxmen: @flolikeyou: @kirkseven:

Luke being less skilled than Obi doesn't mean he can't beat Obi. If Luke is an equal to Vader in skill, and Luke is below Obi in skill, then by extension Vader is also below Obi in skill. Both would be able to defeat Obi in a duel though, because of their far superior force augmentation.

The same book you cited also says that Luke is even more powerful than Vader. So at base levels Vader and Luke are equal, but with the dark side taken into account Luke is above.

@frozen

Yeah that's what I was thinking. Just posting what I saw. I admit I did not know the Skywalker book said Luke>Vader.

For ROTJ I've been leaning on Dark Side Luke>=Vader>Light Side Luke. I looked up the ROTJ script and its stated Luke held the initial advantage against Vader due to using the Dark Side. Once he dropped his hatred Luke was forced on the defensive until Vader probed his mind about Leia, where Luke gains the advantage again and cuts Vaders hand off.

Vader and Luke have been confirmed to be equal per numerous sources as of ROTJ which gives him the same scaling the Dark Lord has which is being far above the likes of Anakin Skywalker (Who was been said to surpass the Jedi Council on strenght in the force as Revenge of the Sith) and Count Dooku (Who is far superior to the Likes of Grievous and Darth Maul)

Below Rey, like everyone else in the canon.

KEK

I pictured him eventually surpassing Anakin at his best, who imo he should be most comparable to, and near equalling Prime Vader in terms of force power - It's just that we have to speculate about that at the moment

There should be a bit of a gap between Anakin and Vader in the force. Though Anakin was recently confirmed to be above Yoda in the force, Vader surpassed his ROTS self a mere 5 years after ROTS and kept growing for the next 20ish years.

So was 26 year old Vader inferior to KFV overall then?

Why the 5 year mark?

@frozen: where was Anakin confirmed more powerful than Yoda. Do you refer to Skywalkers a Family at War?

@kirkseven: Lords of The Sith specifies that he surpasses his ROTS self 5 years post ROTS. The early Vader issues also show that he is rusty and needs to adjust to his new suit. So I would say early suit Vader loses to KFV, his injuries definitely did weaken him but after a few years he got back to that level and then surpassed it.

Yes I'm referring to that book.

I'm entirely serious. Luke is below Rey, like all the other characters.

@superdragoon978:

TESB: Sub Vader who I rank as a low 8 in saber combat and high 8 in the force. So beliw council members. Maybe low knight level in power and less with the saber.

ROTJ: Luke is a real Jedi knight. A KNIGHT not a master or council member. He is stated to be Vader’s equal now AND can perfectly equal Vader in an actual match, even get the upper hand on him at times.

Luke will lose against the PT’s best like Anakin, Maul, Dooku etc since they are much more experienced, similar in power and more skilled and he hasn’t specifically trained to fight them like he trained to fight Darth Vader.

Skywalker family at war locks Luke saber play under Kenobis and yodas who both mastered their forms to the fullest extent. No wonder why Luke would lose.

TLJ: TLJ Luke is the most powerful version of Luke we have seen so far in canon. He transcended the use of the lightsaber like palps did.

He cut himself off from the force which is extremely impressive. Especially since he didn’t have to keep the ability up.

He used one of the most powerful force repulses directly after he connected himself to the force again.

He became one with the force at the end of TLJ while still alive, something only Obi Wan Kenobi managed to do, however Luke actively controlled it, Kenobi let himself guide it(how he was able to stalemate Anakin in a raw contest of power).

Luke also became a force ghost like Anakin, Kenobi and yoda, only the most powerful Jedi could do that.

So yeah ST Luke is pretty insane for canon standards.

Strong enough to beat Dooku or Maul.

1. Post-ANH Luke trained with Sergeant Kreel, fought MagnaGuards, and got stomped by Vader.

not a Padawan level character

2. His ESB self fought Vader and did alright (although Vader was holding back) but he also had trouble with the Grand Inquisitor (maybe the GI was stronger as a Spirit?)

Probably the same level as AOTC Anakin

3. With his ROTJ self I'm not sure if hes equal to, stronger, or weaker than ROTJ Vader. Both didnt want to kill the other at different points in the fight and Luke may or may not have been Dark Side amped.

his Base ROTJ self is enough to completely stomp Darth Maul and Low-Mid Diff the Count

good enough to match ROTS yoda and Sidious in pure Power in the force and Physicals , not close to those in Skill and experience ofcourse

4. Prime

far far above Prime Vader , thus putting him Far Above every Prequel Triology Titan

TLJ Luke is easier to place, seeminly being at or above Snoke's level, who is in Palpatine's general power range, albeit inferior to TROS Sidious.

TLJ Luke is ~ TLJ Kylo which is understandable considering how much he declined due to cutting himself from the Force .

Above ROTJ Vader

In my personal interpretation he is equal to Padawan Anakin at the beginning of RotJ.

I don't like the idea that he catched up with Vader with only 4 years of being a Jedi.

Luke from The Mandalorian shoud be somewhere between Knight Anakin and Prime Vader.

And at his prime he should be close to Snoke/Palpatine.

It is not that you need to be specialy powerful in order to do that.

The first Jedi to discover how to do it was Qui-Gon. After that the method got passed among the remaining jedi.

Pretty much anyone can do it.

@lucascosta: Snoke is nowhere near Palpatine level. ROTJ Luke can trash him.

@lucascosta: There is a quote from the Holdumspirits that only the most powerful jedi can do it and qui gon was highly attuned to the force. Kenobi was able to completely give himelf over to it.

@conterrum2k: Leia became a force ghost.

Post ANH - Luke is probably around Padawan level right before he goes to Dagobah. Facing Magnaguards , beat Kreel, facing down a stormtrooper army, beating Boba Fett, the Scarlet Queen and I literally could go on.

There aren’t many early padawans that are as accomplished.

Post ESB- Luke received a bunch of training from Yoda and it shows. Being able to control dozens of Tie Fughters simultaneously. Wrecking the Grand Inquisitor , casually moving speeders with the force, mastering the mind trick and typically showing more control over his abilities.

I’d say he’s on the cusp of knighthood like AOTC Anakin or TPM Obi-Wan and would go either way with them.

ROTJ- On par with ROTS Anakin and Obi-Wan overall . I mean he held his own with Vader for gods sake who is >Dooku.

Post ROTJ- Sits at the top of the verse and apparently beat the shit out of Snoke. If he used the sacred texts to learn esoteric abilities like Rey ended up doing them he’s not only more powerful than anyone who came before but he’s also more haxxed. He’s only exceed by Super Sayains like Dyad Palps and Super Rey.

@frozen: She has the same potential as Luke.

@conterrum2k: That doesn't mean she is as powerful.

Peak Luke is the most powerful alongside with Sidious

@heiqn: Wdym EOS?

@frozen: Powerful is often used in the comics text of potential in Star Wars. Just look at Anakins quotes. However this potential in power can not be applied to combat Ofc.

I didn't remember the word "peak" and used EOS instead of it (end of series)

@heiqn: Oh ok, I see and yeah your right. You watching the Book of Boba Fett btw?

@nassergrant19: I don't like waiting new episodes so I'm still waiting for full release. I hope it's good.

SA Palpatine is above Snoke. But i don't see much difference between RotJ Palpatine and TLJ Snoke.

@heiqn: Oh ok nice

@lucascosta: Zombie Sidious is weaker than ROTJ Sidious, and Snoke is confirmed as being sub Palpatine.

@frozen: Zombie Sidious isn’t weaker than ROTJ Sidious:

"As Vader hurled my body towards its inevitable demise, my great plan moved to its next phase. For my knowledge of the dark side was without equal. And its unlimited power was still with me."

Only his body was weakened. His spirit/soul were still intact:

"He returned from death on the Sith world of Exegol, body broken but spirit unbowed." -SW Databank

"Though my soul remained complete, the flesh designed to house it began to fail." -Secrets of the Sith

Many more sources say that when he absorbed the dyad, only his body was restored. Notice how these quotes do not mention anything about his force connection being restored:

"By draining their dyad, Sidious could restore his own body as the one true Emperor." -Star Wars Book

"But their defiance gave Sidious a new opportunity - he would drain the energy of their Force dyad to restore his body, then rule alone." -Star Wars Book

"But the Sith Lord used the dark side to drain both of their essences, rejuvenating his broken body." -SW Databank

"Sidious at first plans to take over Rey's body as a receptacle strong enough to hold his spirit, but is surprised to discover that Kylo and Rey are a dyad in the force of great strength. By drawing upon their power, he can revivify his body." -Skywalker: Family at War

On topic:

In his prime (before Kylo destroyed his temple and he cut himself off from the force) he's probably the second strongest force user after Palpatine.