Strongest Cats

Firestar also beat a full-grown warrior as a new apprentice with no training, and beat Clawface as an apprentice with like three moons of training. 

Scourge should be higher - Firestar was able to kill him by outsmarting him, but only after Scourge beat him the first time and killed him, and he got a boost from StarClan, and he still had a lot of trouble then. He doesn't just beat stupid cats.

Ivypool was losing to Hawkfrost before despite his injuries, maybe she should be lower. And even her victory against Antpelt was a very close fight (though we never really saw her fighting against a cat who wasn't another trainee, and Hawkfrost was her mentor who had lots of experience fighting her, she might do a lot better against aa regular Clan cat)

Hollyleaf should be higher, she was a fighting prodigy as an apprentice, and everyone always forgets that she didn't just fight bravely against Hawkfrost but get easily killed, she essentially won the fight and got him to retreat, but was mortally wounded in the process. The animations always make her look like a pathetic fighter who gets killed easily, which is not what happened in the books.

Onestar also has some other achievements, like how in Forest of Secrets he beat the rest of WindClan into the ThunderClan camp, it seems he was a better fighter than the rest of his Clan. 

Crookedstar also beat Mapleshade and he trained in the Dark Forest, which he used to be able to pin down Oakheart (though Oakheart didn't want to fight), who is established as strong. He got beaten easily by Tigerstar but he was quite old at the time.

Other cats that could be on this list:

Given that Firestar seems to beat everyone, it's worth noting that Leopardstar nearly killed him and Stonefur held his own against him though the battle got interrupted (and of course Stonefur beat Darkstripe while weak and starving).

Yellowfang beat Blackstar and beat Brokenstar twice, despite being old at the time and not having had real combat experience for a very long time. 

Graystripe killed Clawface and Darkstripe pretty easily, fought new apprentice Firestar as well as Longtail did despite being a new apprentice, and pinned down Leopardstar pretty easily.

I think Scourge is still 2nd. He seems a pretty intelligent cat and Tigerstar is pretty brute force so fighting intelligence is an advantage that makes him stronger than Tigerstar.

I think Bone is pretty underrated and somewhere up there. I used to have a top 10 list in my head in an earlier thread. BloodClan are all really strong warriors so Bone being the 2nd strongest of all of them is a big feat. I recall BloodClan cats training hard all the time.

In terms of physical strength?

1. Tigerstar I, I think that even though his run in the series is over, he holds the top spot for "strongest" cat. Pretty much gone over how many times in the first arc that he's a fierce, strong, warrior.
2. Darktail, how many cats has he killed in his run in the series? It's quite a number, and he's a damn good fighter for what it's worth.
3. Lionblaze, I'm certain it was established that he was a formidable fighter, and arguably one of ThunderClan's best warriors.
4. Ivypool, Dark Forest training and all.
5. The Sisters. Can't name a specific one since I think they're all on the same level as one another. They're huge cats, and Creek (who was a kit) was able to hold off Thornclaw and Cloverfoot, two experienced senior warriors, by himself.

I forgot Stonefur.
Beating Darkstripe in a half starved state, he should definitely be on the list.
Also Graystripe, he was pretty strong and killed Clawface and Darkstripe without any trouble at all (Darkstripe seems to be pretty weak btw) and beat Leopardstar when she tried to kill Firestar.

And maybe Cloudtail and Brightheart, Cloudtail because of how he faught against Scourge while Firestar was recovering and Brightheart because she beat like four WindClan warriors at once.

Breezepelt failed to kill blind Jayfeather in short order and was slapped aside by his father with ease. His fight against Lionblaze consisted of him jumping him from behind while Lionblaze didn't even want to fight and then inflicting no damage, he's nothing special at all.

In any case, I'm going to repost my assessment on this since nothing in TBC or Squirrelflight's Hope has changed it(aside from bringing down Bramblestar, he looked like a bit of a punk against the Sisters who themselves were basically nothing more than big kittypet types ala Jacques) has changed it

1. Firestar - Basically, he shines best when things are at their worst, and Firestar at his best pulls off Herculean feats. He's killed the next two contenders for top spot, even while fatally wounded and old in the latter. Smart, strong, and never giving up, that's what makes Firestar number one. 


2. Scourge - He is the strongest if one is speaking about ordinary circumstances. He's said to be very fast and his one-shot kill technique combined with his claws lets him end fights before they even begin. It should be noted that when he lost to Firestar, he had just finished whipping four cats in a row(Onewhisker, Firestar's first life, and Cloudtail), and even then he was still winning against Firestar until he let his bloodlust get the better of him. Offense is the best defense, as they say. I don't believe the argument that Tigerstar was off-guard because Tigerstar actually attacked him first, and Scourge proceeded to counter and obliterate him in two moves.


3. Tigerstar - He's big and he's always hyped up as a huge threat, and it's pretty believable, he only lost to the most overwhelming opponents or due to bad luck. Every other time, he generally came out on top. Combined with all the talk of him being so strong, it's hard to not put him high up.


4. Hawkfrost - Even wounded, he was slapping around Ivypool and he did kill Hollyleaf and overwhelm Brambleclaw fairly easily. Combined with being a high ranker of the Dark Forest and a lack of any real low showings(all his deaths have been rather cheap shots), I'd say he deserves this spot but there's a real argument you could put him lower, I think.


5. Hollyleaf - As has been said, the fandom does her a gross disservice by having Hawkfrost slaughter her. She was not slaughtered at all, in fact she basically crippled his fighting ability afterwards and left him limping and unable to see in one eye. She may have lost her life, but she gave as good as she got against him. It's something worthy of putting her high.


6. Graystripe - The only cat who's killed others accidentally, I'd say he proves the adage that sometimes brute strength just works. Not to say he's a total brute, but it does factor into his style heavily. 


7. Ivypool - Tigerstar respected her skills and she seems to be the most prodigious of the Dark Forest trainees. She lacks in many combat feats directly, but she has many combat skills stated and she's shown to not be weak at any point really save against Hawkfrost, not too big a shame.


8. Cloudtail - He fought Scourge while Firestar recovered and wasn't instantly defeated, he gets points for that alone. Could arguably be below his mate, but I'd say they're roughly even, just depends on whose gimmick works better; Cloudtail's never give up attitude or Brightheart's tricky style.


9. Brightheart - Brightheart's being able to exploit others underestimating her is a very good trick. I imagine if it failed she'd be far lower, but the fact that it is a good trick puts her pretty high up, since she can leverage her weak appearance against most opponents.


10. Blackstar/Bone - Big, tough, and thick as a brick, that describes these two black and white deputies. Still, they've got a few nasty kills under their belt and aren't easy to kill themselves. Blackfoot's on par with Bone despite Bone's dogtooth claws solely for that scene where he kills Reedwillow by ripping his chest open.



Honorable Mention. Yellowfang - She did fend off Blackfoot by exploiting his stupidity and broke Brokenstar's neck easily, no small feat. I think that such a win on her part is more a sign of Blackfoot's idiocy than her fighting skill, though, and Brokenstar was always sort of a cowardly weakling.


????. Lionblaze - I have no idea where to put this guy. Sometimes, Ashfur is pummeling him. Sometimes, he's lifting trees. Sometimes, Shredtail is pummeling him. Sometimes, he takes on armies of cats with no problem. At his best, he's number 1 or 2, at his worst he's jobbing like he's not even breaking into the top ten.

With regards to the Sisters(since they're the only new thing since the list), while they have brute strength, they're basically just a budget Blackstar or Bone in that they rely on nothing more than being big and when that fails they have problems. This is best exemplified by their fight with the Shadowclan cats where despite outnumbering the Shadowclan cats, the Sisters are only able to give them a torn ear whereas one of them ends up mortally wounded. Whenever they face an opponent that isn't simply scared of their size and bullied away, the Sisters' poor fighting skills leave them wide open to be damaged badly. I imagine they might have some success against fighters with similar game plans of brute strength(Blackfoot or Bone), but they'd get utterly humiliated by skillful and quick fighters who can exploit their weaknesses.

Tigerstar slipped on a pool of blood. It was dumb luck that time.

1. Scourge
2. Firestar
3. Tigerstar 1
4. Lionblaze
5. Brambleclaw

Dark Tail and Yellowfang would be somewhere in my top 10

This thread makes me realize we really need a kickass she-cat, that's known for being on par strength-wise with Tigerstar and the boys :-P

Hmm, I guess here's my personal take.

1. Firestar
2. Tigerstar
3. Hawkfrost
4. Graystripe
5. Bramblestar
6. Ivypool
7. Mapleshade
8. Ashfur
9. Lionblaze
10. Hollyleaf

I think some other notable cats are Brokenstar, Darktail, Mudclaw, Bone and Honeyfern.

When Lionpaw fought Breezepaw, neither was fully developed and furthermore, Lionpaw was winning up until he decided to freeze up and look for Heatherpaw. The fact that Breezepaw can whack someone in the face who was standing still and not fighting back for a moment doesn't prove him as being on par with Lionpaw. Indeed, that was the only blow he actually landed on Lionpaw, that cheap shot while Lionpaw wasn't even looking at him and totally distracted. Other than that, Breezepaw landed zero hits. 

Against Jayfeather, while he may have been toying with him, he also had Brokenstar's help. The fact that he felt the need to call him up speaks poorly of him. And in the very same scene he's easily beaten by Honeyfern as well. 

In Night Whispers, the fight was far from even. In fact, Lionblaze describes Breezepelt as a fly by comparison. Crowfeather also tosses Breezepelt "like a piece of prey". He manages to surprise Lionblaze with a single attack to zero avail before being slapped aside again, in a scene where Lionblaze was getting cocky over it being "too easy". It shows that Lionblaze is a cocky idiot but that's about all, even after that brief moment of shock Breezepelt was ragdolled.

Scourge's fandom perception is the result of I imagine fan works not wanting to depict there being a second fight(in the interest of screentime? drama?), which in the books there certainly was. Scourge beat Firestar the first time, and he was also going toe to toe with him the second time. Scourge and Hollyleaf suffer a lot of very poor perception due to being depicted commonly as being easily killed, when that was far from the case.

THANK YOU

anyways hasn't it been confirmed that Tigerstar was the strongest?

also i don't think lionblaze deserves to have a super high ranking bc he was only "strong" bc of his stupidly OP powers. we don't really know how strong he is without them. plus like vectoring said, his strength was so inconsistent it's hard to really determine a rank for him, he's like the cat version of Ash's Pikachu. I'm not saying he's weak or average or anything but still

we've already had a version of this debate before so I won't repeat myself too much, but scourge was able to overkill tigerstar bc he caught him off guard and had the claws. it wasn't because he was physically stronger

firestar is probably tied with tigerstar for strength tho

Physical strength is irrelevant. The OP itself points out that Firestar probably has less physical strength than some others, yet still put him at the top. It's a thread about how good someone is in a fight, and Scourge's speed and claws aid him greatly in that regard. And the off-guard idea has been bandied about endlessly, but there's never been any real proof to that end. Tigerstar knew Scourge was dangerous and he struck the first move, and with the way Firestar describes it, it wasn't like it was some half-hearted, toying attack either. Tigerstar was going for the kill, and he failed miserably in that. 

In so far as Firestar and Tigerstar, again, in The Last Hope Tigerstar was totally fresh, not aged at all since the old days, and unwounded because he hadn't fought anyone in the battle yet. Firestar, meanwhile, had been fighting since the very beginning, was getting older, and was wounded already. Tigerstar only managed a mutual kill with Firestar who was probably already dying anyway, that doesn't seem even at all.

i mean we're obviously using different definitions of strength here so i think we should agree to disagree

Tigerstar 2? What impressive fights has he won? You mean Tigerstar 1?