Tier 1 - Polymath Masters - What seperates them from Tier 2s are their instincts, which allow them to explore magic with a level of ease that Tier 2s struggle with. The difference between the two might only be relevant outside of direct confrontation.

• Voldemort
• Dumbledore
• Grindelwald (Not quite sure about this one to be honest. I don't know why, but I feel like Grindelwald might actually only barely be out of Tier 2 if at all.)

Tier 2 - Polymath Masters - While they are extremely advanced at everything, when it comes to advancing magic they lag noticeably behind Tier 1s.

I think I'd actually leave this one blank to account for the gap between Tier 1s and everyone else. No one exists at this level in canon from what we see, except for maybe Snape and potentially Lily if she had lived longer.

Tier 3 - Masters - People who have mastered 1 or 2 fields of magic that have combat applications.

• Snape
• Lily (I know we don't have many canon feats for her, but her control of accidental magic and the power of her sacrifice convince me that she was fairly powerful. If she lived as long as Snape I am convinced she would be here.)
• Sirius
• James
• Bellatrix
• Mcgonagall

Tier 4 - Veterans - Very capable professionals.

• Shacklebolt (Might be able to jump to Tier 3, but I would need to see more feats. )
• Slughorn (I'm not sure about this one, but I'm fairly certain his magical prowess is at this level. However, I have a feeling he might gimp himself in actual fights, thus bumping him down a tier.)
• Moody
• Dolohov
• Lupin
• Harry (I feel like this placement would be far more solid once he's older. I also think that if he were to spend time actually studying magic for the sake of studying magic, he could easily jump to Tier 3.)
• Hermione (As and adult and especially if she gets more experience with dueling.)

Tier 5 - Professionals

• Tonks
• Flitwick (Might jump up a tier if he had more feats.)
• Ron (Might jump up a tier when older, but I can't say for certain.)
• Pettigrew (I feel like he could have easily jumped a tier if he weren't such a coward.)
• Death Eaters
• Hogwarts professors
• Aurors

Everyone else is somewhere below Tier 5, but I don't feel like outlining the rest of the tiers.

Edit: I edited the tiers a bit. Honestly, I feel like I might need to make a tier between 2 and 3 to account for where I feel Snape and older Lily should be.

Edit 2: Tiering is harder than I thought. I keep having second thoughts.

 

This whole premise of power levels of magic feels like the wrong perspective. It's like ranking intelligence/talent or something. Are Kasparov, Gell-Mann, or Cormac McCarthy god-like intelligences or savants in a narrow field?

Snape is a master Occlumens/Legillimans; Harry is a master-level autodidacatic mind mage.

Harry and Ollivander are master-level wandlore experts. Harry was a generational savant in wandlore.

Molly Weasley smacked down Bellatrix like she was nothing.

The Weasley Twins and Snape were both astonishingly creative inventors of spells, potions, and devices.

Rankings just don't capture the texture of magic.

 

What's the argument for Lupin being as high as he is?

Poor Bellatrix. Being that high and then being brought down in such a lolcow way.

I note u also forgot teh Daphnez. (Shakes head sadly)

Malfoy strikes me as right on the money - his talents are in other areas, not magic.

Edit: Better Ranking System

Tier 1: Harry's primary antagonists (Voldemort, Demons, Evil!Dumbledore, Enoby Snap, etc.)

Tier 2: Harry, mid-fic

Tier 3: Harry, early-fic; Ron, Hermione, girl(s) Harry is Chamber of Secreting on the one-way Hogwart Express to Azkabait

Tier 4: Malfoy

Tier 5: Various students, denizens, red shirts.

 

I guess the one thing he has is that he was the only Order member at the Department of Mysteries who didn't get taken down. But I don't remember him doing anything there before Sirius died, and he was kind of out of focus for the rest of the series.

 

I can understand the labeling of Harry as a 'master-lvel autodidactic mind mage' for his apparent mastery of Occlumency against V in DH, but I'm confused as to the equating of Harry and Ollivander on wandlore and the idea that Harry was a generational savant. Is this on the basis that he was able to figure out where the Elder Wand's loyalty was without even seeing it?

 

Harry's learned in wandlore because of the twin cores. And I don't think they're being equated, but, by the end of DH, he did understand it in a way Ollivander didn't.

 

Agreed, but I think mostly people are thinking of the answer to the question "Who would win in a duel which was a fair fight, with no allies, special weapons, or situational advantages?" That narrow question at least should be in principle apt for ranking, though of course where people are close together in ability then you have issues of whether they are on form on that particular day, luck, etc.

 

I use the tiering mainly for fights.

 

Why is Flitwick so low? Isn't he a 5 time duelling world champion? @Scarat

 

I see your point, but they did defy Voldemort three times and survived each of them, something that doesn’t appear to be common- I’d think that demonstrates a proficiency all its own.

And while Lily’s sacrifice isn’t combat magic, it shows a depth of understanding in magic that allowed her to give her son a protection that saved his life.

 

There is 0 evidence afaik that Lily knew her sacrificing herself was anything other than the final act of a desperate woman.

Lily was a well regarded student, certainly a peer of James or Snape, but she definitely did not know sacrificing herself would save Harry from Voldemort.

 

@Typhon and I felt this was a serious issue and so convened the council to address this problem, thereby creating:

The Official, Canon Compliant, Tier List including addendi for Muggle Dueling Rankings​

Top Tier: POLYMATH MASTERS

1. Dobby (Here by virtue of never losing a duel [Bellatrix's thrown knife not withstanding], beats Lucius and escapes Harry, who is tier 2, as explained below)
2. Molly Weasley (Here by virtue of never losing a duel, and kills Bellatrix, who killed the god-like Dobby)
ADDENDUM: If Dobby is disqualified for knife incident, Aberforth broke Albus's nose, survived duel, and therefore is top tier. Also, Grawp becomes this tier if muggle dueling is allowed because he basically smashes everyone he meets.
ADDENDUM 2: Harry kills a basilisk with a sword when he was twelve, evidently this is why Voldemort feels he has to stick strictly to wand-based dueling. Harry is evidently a Polymath Master at Muggle Dueling.
ADDENDUM 3: Cormac McLaggen, not restricted to conventional thinking, knocks Harry out with a bludger and thereby might be the best at muggle dueling in the series.

Top Middle Upper Tier: Master-Level Autodidacatic Savants
1. Harry Potter (killed Voldemort, lost to Dobby, ez placement)
2. Stan Shunpike (Technically duels Harry to a standstill in DH. Emotional manipulation counts as a skill.)
3. Thorfinn Rowle (More confirmed Death Eater kills than basically anyone else in the series)
4. Bellatrix Lestrange (If we're not including her incredible muggle dueling proficiencies)
ADDENDUM: Neville Longbottom killed Voldemort Proxy with a sword, making him a high ranking Muggle Duelist
ADDENDUM 2: Hermione beats Draco with a magnificent demonstration of muggle dueling, putting her in this tier.

Upper Upper Middle Top Tier: Basically Just This One Guy, Otherwise This Is An Empty Tier To Emphasise The Superiority Of The Top Two Tiers
1. Draco Malfoy (Beat Dumbledore)

Upper Middle Top Tier: This One Is Actually An Empty Tier To Emphasise The Superiority Of The Top Three Tiers
1. Nobody (see above)

Upper Top Middle Tier: Talented Amateur Master-level Wandlore Experts
1. Dumbledore (See below)
2. Grindelwald (See below)
3. Voldemort (Voldemort and his two contemporaries go here on the virtue that Voldemort lost to Harry and duelled Dumbledore to a standstill, who in turn was self-described as maybe a shade more skillful than his rival. They miss out on the upper two tiers, by virtue of Dumbledore losing to Draco)
4. Cornelius Fudge (Dumbledore had to suckerpunch him [regretfully, not literally] and then fled before he could recover using a manner by which he could not be pursued [phoenix fire], also Voldemort fled when Fudge arrived in OotP. Evidently at full speed Fudge was fucking terrifying)

Lower Upper Top Middle Tier: Professional Veteran Generational Savant
1. Percy Weasley (Turned Pious Thicknesse, the Minister For Magic [as we've established Ministers for Magic are badass] into a sea anemone and gets points for style)
2. Xenophilius Lovegood (Such a proficient badass that he didn't fear dueling with an erumpent horn in his own house, got Top Middle Upper Tier Harry Potter to flee from him)

100% Canon Compliant. Come fite me.

 

Contributor Note: While the council could not reach on a concord on Kreacher the House Elf, it is this contributor's opinion his name too should be affixed in the annals of the Harry Potter Tier List (TM) - at least in the moste ancient and noble arte of muggle dueling.

Consider the evidence: bereft of figurehead and generational warrior Dobby the House Elf, Kreacher rallied a group of kitchen elves and led them into battle to terrifying results. While no firm evidence of his martial prowess can be provided, it seems unlikely that this feat would have been possible without mastery of the many forms of muggle dueling (with a suspected specialization in kitchen implements) in his own right (cf. his background in a household that casually beheaded elves for his familiarity with the blade).

 

Personally, I put Lily's sacrifice in a similar class of magic as Voldemort's curse on the Defense position. I consider both to be caused without direct intention on the creator's part. I don't think that if Dumbledore had rejected a lesser wizard, the curse would have manifested so powerfully. Similarly, I think Lily must have been a powerful witch for her sacrifice to have meant so much.

 

No, Harry did the same sacrifice in DH the only condtion is to have the attacker personally offer you a chance to live but you still give your life up to protect someone you love. This does not show as anything about her skill she didn't even know that this would be a magical act.

 

Harry is a unique case with a bunch of magical effects surrounding his sacrifice. Hell, his sacrifice may have been so powerful specifically because he already had his mother's protections boosting the effect. We don't really know how the situation would have played out if Harry were just some random dude that sacrificed himself.

 

Perhaps this is a necro, but I've become curious... where are the James, Snape, Sirius, and Lily people of Harry's generation? Just by the fact that there are/were four gifted talents (though not prodigious like the truly gifted -- GG, AB, LV), so with a rather likely erroneous extrapolation, shouldn't there be some other students in Hogwarts during Harry's time who at least had the potential comparable to those four?

I know someone could argue Hermione or perhaps Harry, though the argument against Hermione is that, of all characters, she was the closest in fulfilling her inherent potential, and she never displayed any truly inspired feats of magic. Harry might have an argument, but you'd need a lot of unfounded assumptions to make a strong argument.

Could this be the result of a likely diminished population? Or what?

 

It's actually insane that four boys from the same house, in the same year happen to be talented enough to become animagi purely based on self-study. I guess that all the talent in the Wizarding World died fighting with or against Voldemort(except Hogwarts teachers and few exceptions of course) leaving incompetents like Cornelius Fudge and Dolores Umbridge to get high ranking positions in the ministry.

 

Well only 3 became anamagi, and I thought it was heavily implied that James/Sirius basically handheld Peter.