18. Darth Plagueis
James Luceno’s novel Darth Plagueis touts the man as the “most powerful Sith who has ever lived.” He even received legend status through the tale “The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise.” That tale is how Darth Sidious sways Anakin Skywalker to the dark side, so it holds plenty of weight with the Sith.
While he may be the most powerful, this is a list of the best fighters and that’s why you won’t find him as the highest ranking Sith on this list. I think that Both Vader and Sidious use their power in a different way when they fight that puts them a little higher. Plus, Darth Sidious does kill Darth Plagueis eventually.
Darth Plagueis didn’t even particularly like using his lightsaber. Instead, he absorbed blaster bolts and was able to channel that into Force lightning. As someone who was extremely powerful when it came to using the Force, this was a better way of fighting for him. He could even use a Force Wave to atomize his opponents (not that using that makes for a very fun fight to watch).
There’s no denying that Darth Plagueis was insanely powerful, it just didn’t make for as good of a fight. Star Wars fans want to see great blaster shots or wildly good lightsaber duels, which Plagueis didn’t always give.