Shang Bu Huan vs Nosferatu Zodd

[BitVyper]

Standard Khazan battle. No Sword Index for Shang.

[Nik Hasta]

Well, this is pretty niche so it might just you and me Bit haha.

Erm... Shang with just his wooden sword is still a bit of a monster. Zodd in his human form is fast enough to duel evenly with Guts fast enough that their moves were impossible for Rickert to track and they were doing stuff like picking up swords mid fight and so on.

In his beastial form he seems to be a little bit quicker and way stronger.

Shang is, notionally at least, more skillful (though if Zodd is even with Guts then he's not far behind because Guts is pretty ridiculously skilled) and has a bunch more options at range.

Hmmm...

I think Zodd might have this. His regen is a bit too much for my liking.

[BitVyper]

You should watch Katanagatari so I can go even more niche.

I get the sense that a guy who fights pretty much entirely with ki channelling might be bad news for an apostle's astral body, especially with Shang having a pure enough spirit to just pick up and flawlessly wield a holy sword that refused to even be held by Wan Jun Po (which god that was a good scene). I feel like Shang miiight hit harder too? Zodd's strong enough to rattle Black Swordsman Guts, but Shang threw Seven Blasphemous Deaths like 20 feet or so, and she was tossing around boulders with her scarf two seconds later. He also blocked an attack from Wan Jun Po that had enough of a shockwave to smash all the big stone tiles around them. At least he seems to have more explosive power. He might be able to force Zodd onto the defensive.

Zodd's regen is still a pretty steep hill to deal with though, and he might even have the better speed feats of the two of them. But then, once he's deprived of a sword (and he seems to carry around some pretty breakable swords), I'm not sure he's packing much more blunt force than what Shang typically has to deal with just in terms of shockwaves from stuff he blocks.

[Nik Hasta]

You should watch Katanagatari so I can go even more niche.

I get the sense that a guy who fights pretty much entirely with ki channelling might be bad news for an apostle's astral body, especially with Shang having a pure enough spirit to just pick up and flawlessly wield a holy sword that refused to even be held by Wan Jun Po (which god that was a good scene).

Eh, that's a little bit conjecture-y for my tastes. The Dragonslayer can hurt astral bodies because it's been drenched in the blood of apostles for years, it's pretty much the opposite of purity of spirit, it's like hyper corruption.

I feel like Shang miiight hit harder too? Zodd's strong enough to rattle Black Swordsman Guts, but Shang threw Seven Blasphemous Deaths like 20 feet or so, and she was tossing around boulders with her scarf two seconds later. He also blocked an attack from Wan Jun Po that had enough of a shockwave to smash all the big stone tiles around them. At least he seems to have more explosive power. He might be able to force Zodd onto the defensive.

I'll agree he hits harder, but it's worth noting that Zodd kool-aid man-ed through the wall of a mine, causing it to collapse on him and it held him down for all of 20 seconds before he blasted out of there, sending big old boulders flying in all directions. He is quite the strong boy.

Zodd's regen is still a pretty steep hill to deal with though, and he might even have the better speed feats of the two of them. But then, once he's deprived of a sword (and he seems to carry around some pretty breakable swords), I'm not sure he's packing much more blunt force than what Shang typically has to deal with just in terms of shockwaves from stuff he blocks.

His swords being breakable is more a testament to the strength of the Dragonslayer than his swords being specifically weak.

Though Shang tends to just chi cut his way through most conventional blades either way so it's a bit of a moot point there.

I think Shang needs to play keep away, I don't think he's strong enough consistently to be able to go into like grapple range with Zodd. Plus Zodd has big old teeth and claws which will do some nasty things. My view is he has to play defensively and at range, wearing Zodd down.

But given that Zodd can take having like three feet of sword cut through his guts and not even slow down, that will take a while.

[Melchior]

You should watch Katanagatari so I can go even more niche.

My biggest issue is finding Katanagatari that I can watch....

Only seen Season 1 of Thunderbolt Fantasy, but from what I can remember....

I think the fight will probably be decided in the first few minutes. Zodd can probably survive an exchange of blows, while I do not see Shang surviving (or at least, being meaningfully combat capable) after taking a full strike from Zodd with a sword.

Now, if Shang strikes at Zodd's weapon rather than Zodd himself.... I can recall a number of times of Shang just poking through his opponent's swords. Once disarmed, Zodd becomes a simpler (not necessarily easier) fight. Zodd does have incredible strength, claws and fangs and horn, and his charges and flight can be quite fast. But Zodd loses a lot of reach advantage without a sword, and I'm blanking on any sharp maneuvering when charging. Shang with sword is probably closer to monster-form Zodd's range of attack, so taking out Zodd's weapons should be a huge help. From there, as Nik stated, Shang just needs to chip away at Zodd at his longest range until the damage overcomes Zodd's regen.

Of course, in that case, Shang needs to be wary of Zodd feigning being crippled and getting close enough for Zodd to lunge and engage in close combat, which Zodd can use to win. Any major bite or claw will mean Shang's bleeding, and I imagine he'll bleed out long before he can overrun Zodd's durability.

Majority Shang wins. Zodd wins go to purposefully eating an attack to score a good hit/bleeding hit on Shang, getting lucky with a charge, and getting in close-enough combat that he can break or tear some bit of Shang before Shang gets enough wind-up to knock Zodd away.

[BitVyper]

My biggest issue is finding Katanagatari that I can watch....

Climb the Perilous Mountain

[Agent Z]

What stories are these guys from please?

[Nik Hasta]

What stories are these guys from please?

Nosferatu Zod is an antagonist from the manga series Berserk and Shang Bu Huan is from the puppetry based "anime" Thunderbolt Fantasy

Both are very good stories though in very different ways.