Ok. For some reason I remember seeing a thread a few years back recommending the best duels in HP FanFic. I've searched the forum, but can't seem to find it, and just decided to start another one since the thread I'm thinking of is probably dated anyway...

So rank your top 5 duels in HP FF.

The duels don't have to be "OMG so epic!!!111" fighting demons and shit; in fact, I'd rather they be based off skill and cleverness rather than raw power. More akin to the Dumbledore vs. Voldemort duel in Book 5 than something like the Harry vs. Voldemort duel at the end of Harry Potter and the Wastelands of Time (Even though it's one of my favorite stories, I didn't care much for the duel over London).

My 5:

1. The battle at Hogwarts in The Prisoner's Cipher
2. The duel in Diagon Alley in Catharsis
3. The duels in The Resistance of Azkaban
4. The duel at Hogwarts in Conlaodhs Song
5. The duels in The Unforgiving Minute

 

1. The duel at the Gaunt shack in Echoes of Power, Part I: Anger
2. Various duels in Sacrifices
3. The duels in the last chapter of The Lie I've Lived
4. Various duels in the Denarian Trilogy
5. The duel in the second-to-last chapter of Paradise Lost

 

I agree with most of the above choices but my favorite has to be the Harry Potter & Voldemort vs Merlin in Demon's Feign, Merlin's Pain.Also some other awesome duels are the various duels in Ambient and The duel in On the Way to Greatness.

 

1. Harry and Sirius dueling against Voldemort in A Black Comedy
2. Harry and Romilda storming the Defenders HQ in Ambient
3. Harry and Bella toying with the Order in Only Enemies
4. Harry against Voldemort in the skies over London at the end of Wastelands

There are definitely others that I forgot to mention and some that I didn't like as much (Shezza's), but these four immediately came to mind.

 

Anything by Jono.

 

The duel in the Atrium at the end of The Denarian Knight is pretty awesome. I go back and read it every so often.

 

I don't really have a specific top five, but the ones that come to mind are, in no specific order:

-Various duels in Shezza's Denarian Trilogy, but my favourite would have to be the fight in the DoM between Harry, Dumbledore, Voldemort and that crazy Denarian bitch I forgot the name of.
-Various duels in Enembee's The Skitterleap, especially the fight between Harry and that crazy Russian dude I forgot the name of. You can probably see why I can't list five specific duels by now...
-Like Trig, the fight between Voldemort, Harry and Sirius in Nonjon's A Black Comedy. Harry's arms were pretty damned awesome in that one, and Harry and Sirius had some amazing one liners.
-I haven't read it in a while, but I vaguely remember jbern's The Lie I've Lived having good duels, with Harry using a lot of transfiguration which was cool. Can't remember specifics though.

So yeah. I think this thread has taught me how truly terrible my memory is...

 

^This. Voldemort's characterisation was all kinds of awesome in this duel.

 

1) Moody vs. Gallowbraid in 'The Phoenix and the Serpent'.

 

The Lie I Lived had some good duels but I always thought that Bungle In the Jungle & Turn Me Loose had better fight scene's.

Harry & Sirius vs Voldemort in a Black Comedy was fantastic.

Shezza's Denarian Trilogy had great fight scene's, mixing melee and magic very well. The Rebirth in the Graveyard stands out in my memory as my favorite.

And Lens of Sanity always writes his duels towards a more epic then realistic way, but I still love his fight against the Frankcrux in An Old and New World

 

Must. Have. Links.​

 

My favorite is probably the duel with Sirius and Harry vs Voldemort in A Black Comedy. I like a lot of the other duels mentioned, but they are all waaaaaaay over the top, and that doesn't really get my excited. My second favorite would be some of the duels between Harry and Bellatrix in Only Enemies. You don't have to destroy demons, set the sky on fire, made obscure references to random thousand year old magics, and write 30k words for one duel for it to be good.

 

I RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE!

No, no I don't. My track record isn't so much intricate wizardly duels as... ejaculating a cacophony of magic onto the page and seeing what sticks.

Yeah, that paints a pretty visual.

As for duels - Shezza tops my list. Although I did like The Santi's bout in the forests around Durmstrang.

 

The duel between James and Voldemort in VotN's Sitra Ahra has to be my favourite.

 

1. The Lie I've Lived Harry, Lupin, and Dumbledore Vs. Voldemort, Snape, Malfoy, Petigrew, and Karkaroff

2. The Denarian Lord Harry Vs. Lartessa

3. The Unforgiving Minute Harry Vs. Dumbledore

4. The Wastelands of Time Harry and Dumbledore Vs. Demon
I love how Dumbledore is in a constant state of WTF in this scene. Hands down my favorite from the fic.

5. Path of Decision Harry Vs Dumbledore
Not much of a fight, more like a murder, but all the same one of my favorites.

Other fights I liked were from A Black Comedy, the last fight from Resistance of Azkaban, a number of them from Summer of Change, Harry Vs. Voldemort from Timely Errors. Hell there are dozens of others but meh too lazy to list them all.

 

The resurrection scene at the end of Denarian Knight will always be the most glorious duel in mymind. Shezza really transcended himself to write that. Two wizards of supernatural strength fighting, and the scene radiated sheer power.

 

Number one would definitely be Harry & Sirius vs Voldemort in A Black Comedy. It was a beautiful mix of gimmicks and spellfire, with interestingly asymmetrical combat and a wonderful setup and atmosphere.

The atrium battle in Denarian Knight was quite awesome, as was the final battle between Harry and Voldemort.

On the topic of An Old and New World I particularly liked the way the Jabberwocky battle was handled.

Most of the Duels In jbern's Lie I Lived were great, but there were so many they sort of fade into each other, and I don't remember any particular one standing head and shoulders above the rest.

 

My top five are all in the Denarian series. Shezza just writes combat better than anyone else. Other notable mentions include the end of Bungle in the Jungle and Harry v Voldemort in Wastelands of Time.

 

Harry and Grindlewald in DOM (Stranger in a Promised Land)- It's old but to this day I still consider that fight awesome.

Harry and masked stranger in Borgin and Burkes (Stranger in Promised Land)

Team Harry vs Chithola and Greater Demon (Bungle in the Jungle) + pretty much all the fights in it.

Dumbledore, Harry vs Voldemort, [Vesper?] - Denarian Knight + loads most the fight scenes along the series

Harry vs Dumbledore (escape training) More Equal Than You Know

Harry vs Dumbledore (Duelling Match) The Awakening Power by sib-ff [This is properly ancient. I think it was the first ever fanfic I read. Aged quite well too, props to the author]

There is another that I can't find at the moment. I am pretty sure it was nuhuh- Harry vs Dumbledore (I seem to remember Harry using a spell called Godric's Challenge against Dumbledore)

 

Yeah, from Catharsis (I think). That was indeed a pretty good duel.