Would love to bring up some new duels, but you just can't top Shezza's battle scenes in the Denarian trilogy. The climactic battles of all three are amazing. I'd probably choose The Denarian Knight's closer if I was pushed, but you really can't go wrong.

 

The ones that really stand out the most are definitely Catharsis, end scene of The Denarian Lord, Bungle and The Lie I've Lived.

The Lie I've Lived still remains one of my all time favorite fics.

 

Rolling my eyes. I was trying to quantify peoples opinions. Most of us are all circling around the same four or five. I was wondering of those five which was considered best, unfortunately I don't know how to set up a poll. Simple solution, list them individually and ask people to thumb up the one they most preferred.
It was just a suggestion (one I think is fairly logical)

 

I know that this isn't ff but the short duel between McGonagall and Snape in DH was pretty good.

 

Agreed. The Snape vs. McGonagall duel is very much like the Dumbledore vs. Voldemort one at the end of OotP. There's just something about them that feels sophisticated and advanced, something that even the best fanfiction has so-far failed to equal. I think it's a combination of restraint on the special effects budget, creative use of magic, and the flow from one spell to the next, the way it feels almost like chess, trying to turn your opponent's offence into your own advantage.

It's funny. For all her faults, JKR can write a damn good duel. I suspect it's her lack of a background in traditional fantasy. She thinks differently to those who have been immersed in the genre.

 

As old as it is, and despite how some parts have not aged well, I think Summer of Change has some of the best fight scenes out there. There's just something really gritty about the way they're written.

 

Any chance people could post link to some of these awesome duels for those who haven't come across them yet?

(yes I know we can always search for the story itself but depending on how chapter titles work it could easily be scrolling though 20+ chapters for the fight scene). Thanks

 

A lot of the stories you'd probably want to read the whole story anyway, otherwise you'd have no idea what was going on. Besides that, most of the fics people have listed in this thread are so amazing I don't know why you wouldn't want to read the whole thing anyway.

So yeah, just go read the whole stories, or if you were looking for any in particular I could probably get you a link to the duel if you said which ones.

 

A lot of great duels in this thread...but one of my favorite theoretical duels (as in, something that I would like to see actually play out) is in Taliath's In Light of Silver Memories:

Probably my favorite scene in HP fanfiction ever, actually.

 

Yea, that scene is definitely one of my favorites as well. That could have been a truly great story if not abandoned.

Not sure if anyone mentioned it, but A Clock on the Face of Hell had some pretty good fight scenes (Harry and Flitwick) if I recall correctly. Shame this one seems to be abandoned too.

 

Damn you for telling me about that story, silverlasso. I just went and read it, and I'm quite dissapointed it was abandoned. You're correct - that scene was indeed awesome. What a pity...

 

The duels in'The Lie I've Lived' were all epic on some level, from the ones against the Death Eater's and Voldemort to the TriWizard tourney duels. The fight against the Geist was especially awesome.

Harry slaughtering the Dursleys in the first chapter of 'Control' always makes me feel warm and tingly on the inside.

One my favorites of all time is Harry against the Vampires in 'To Fight the Coming Darkness'. He goes all unforgiveable on them and tears shit up. Theres also a part in that story where Harry battles Snape, Fleur (shes poisoned or something) and several other Death Eater's... epic. Jbern is one of my favorites, no doubt.

 

A Last Resort had several fantastic duels but the one against Dolohov stands out. The whole story is more like a long sequence of duels instead of really a good thought out plot. Nevertheless it's worth reading for its good parts despite its flaws.

 

Yeah my top group consists of:
Various duels in "The Lie I Lived" by Jbern.
Various duels in The Denarian trilogy by Shezza (though I just started it this weekend and am only on Denarian Knight.)
The duels in "An Old and New World" by Lens of Sanity (which has my favorite battle scene of Vorpal Bunny Harry versus the Jabberwocky.)
And the Harry and Dumbledore versus Demon in "Harry Potter and the Wastelands of Time" by joe.

 

Kind of surprised how often my story is getting referenced, weird.

Anyway; the High King of Atlantis vs. Bone Demon Army is my all time favourite fight scene, the Lords Black vs. Voldemort is probably the best duel, and while not really a duel there was that short Santi scene where Harry gets to view the memory of Dumbledore vs. Grindelwald in 1945 which I thought had some good imagery…

Still…

Jamie Evans vs. The End of Year Surprise

…hasn’t been mentioned. Man the shear scale of that battle was fucking incredible, not to mention I’m currently in the process of stealing all the awesome magic the author used during the fight.

 

Krum and HJ's second duel where HJ puts Krums wand in the center of a duplicate of the Quidditch World Cup trophy sticks out, as do most of Shezza's duels. But the best duel I've ever read was in the Prisoner's Cipher.

 

Off the top of my head, the ones that stood out the most were:

1. Harry vs Grindewald in Stranger in the Promised Land. Seriously, I've reread this fight more than any other scene in any fanfic.

2. The fight in the Atrium from The Denarian Knight.

3. Harry vs Dumbledore in Catharsis.

4. Collectively, the fights from The Unforgiving Minute

 

Given that nobody mentioned it. The duel between Harry and Rookwood in IP82's Potter's Resistance was too cool and awesome. Also, the Snape and Harry duel in JackOfDiamonds' Harry Potter and the Hero's Path was pretty good too.

Also, I think I did a good job in The Duellist, in the duel between Harry and Draco. Nothing too fancy but then again they were just two first year kids slugging it out.

 

Dumbledore vs Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest in TFTCD.