Lightsabers are synonymous with Star Wars. From the moment any of us ever saw our first Star Wars movie, sticks, wooden spoons, wrapping paper tubes, you name it could be repurposed into a lightsaber. They have become a staple of our pop-culture consciousness and it’s nearly impossible to see one without thinking of Ben Burtt’s famous “VOOM! VOOM!” sound effect.
So this May 4th for Star Wars Day, we are breaking down the 25 most iconic lightsaber duels in Star Wars and ranking them from worst to best. Whether it’s the stakes or history behind the fight, the actual choreography, what the fight means to the overall Galaxy, or just plain how cool it is, we have the definitive ranking right here.
Here’s your list of the best lightsaber duels in Star Wars:
25. KIT FISTO, SAESEE TIIN, AGEN KOLAR, & MACE WINDU vs DARTH SIDIOUS (Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith)
One of the most frustrating lightsaber duels in all of Star Wars begins with the attempt by Mace Windu, Saesee Tiin, Agen Kolar, and Kit Fisto to bring Supreme Chancellor Palpatine under arrest.
It features one of our greatest prequel memes (“I am the Senate”), but it also features terrible CGI Palpatine, bizarre spinning, odd screaming and facial expressions, and a “shocking” unmasking of Palpatine’s “true face”, the schematics of which is still the source of debate 15 years later.
All of this doesn’t even cover the fact that Mace Windu had Sidious on his death bed and couldn’t close it out, thus dooming the galaxy to two decades of Imperial rule.
Seriously though, why didn’t Mace just kill him? C’mon man!
24. REY vs KYLO REN III (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker)
Rey and Kylo Ren’s duel on the Endor moon of Kef Bir is frustrating for a number of reasons.
First, the duel feels like it was added because the film “needed” another fight for some reason between Rey and Kylo Ren before he could be turned back to the Light, which is fine, but the motivations are just not there.
The fight has almost no stakes as Kylo has no interest in killing Rey, he’s basically defending himself the whole time, and Rey is fighting him because he broke the Wayfinder.
It’s odd circumstances all around.
The setting is intriguing though and Leia sacrificing herself as a Hail Mary to kill Kylo Ren and bring Ben back to the Light almost saves it.
23. REY vs KYLO REN II (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker)
This fight between Rey and Kylo Ren on Kijimi is actually pretty inventive.
It just falls so far on this list because the choreography is kinda “meh” and it’s pretty short and masked Kylo isn’t nearly as interesting as unmasked Kylo.
But the fact that Rey and Kylo are essentially fighting each other through their Force Dyad is one of the best ways that JJ took some of the new Force powers and abilities set up by The Last Jedi and worked it into his film.
The way that neither of them knows where the other is, together they smash the Vader statue and it rolls out of Ren’s ship and onto the Kijimi ground, giving Rey’s location away is pretty great.
22. OBI-WAN KENOBI & ANAKIN SKYWALKER vs COUNT DOOKU (Star Wars: Episode II–Attack of the Clones)
The first 2v1 lightsaber fight without double-bladed sabers, Obi-Wan and Anakin’s fight with Count Dooku is interesting in that it highlights the fighting styles of all three of these Force-wielders.
Anakin is the brash and arrogant Padawan who dives headfirst into the fight and paying for it with a faceful of Sith lightning, Dooku is the master duelist, using a perfect blend of skilled saber combat and Force abilities, and Obi-Wan is the defensive expert.
There are some cool visuals with Anakin fighting with two sabers in the dark (although the logistics make no sense), but the way he loses his hand is just puzzling.
21. OBI-WAN KENOBI & ANAKIN SKYWALKER vs COUNT DOOKU (Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith)
The rematch to their fight in Attack of the Clones, Obi-Wan and Anakin finally get to settle the score with Count Dooku aboard Grievous’s flagship, The Invisible Hand.
Again, another fight fraught with meme-worthy banter from Dooku and Anakin, but the fight itself is short. Dooku blows Obi-Wan away and pulls a whole staircase landing on him before Anakin chops off his hands and then…ya know….his head. It ends almost as fast as it started, but it does push Anakin further towards the Dark side.
20. COUNT DOOKU vs YODA (Star Wars: Episode II–Attack of the Clones)
After getting wrecked by Dooku, Obi-Wan and Anakin had to be saved by Master Yoda.
This fight is a “love it” or “hate it” for most Star Wars fans.
We’d never seen Yoda wield a lightsaber before and here he is, hobbling into a fight on a cane and spinning around like Sonic the Hedgehog.
But between the Force ability showdown to start the fight and the wild and crazy skill that Yoda exhibits, it’s definitely one of the most jaw-dropping moments I’ve had in a theater watching Star Wars.
19. OBI-WAN KENOBI vs JANGO FETT (Star Wars: Episode II–Attack of the Clones)
While one of the few fights on this list that doesn’t include two lightsabers actually clashing, Jango Fett’s battle prowess against Obi-Wan Kenobi in their rain-drenched showdown on the Kamino landing platform is definitely deserving of a spot here.
Jango is menacing in his ability to utilize all of his weapons to disrupt Obi-Wan’s ability to use the Force. Jango’s constant onslaught (with the help of Boba Fett inside Slave I) gives him the edge and gives him the chance to escape what would have been a quick fight and take off to Geonosis.
18. DARTH SIDIOUS vs YODA (Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith)
When George Lucas was wrapping up his prequel trilogy and (at the time) was getting ready to shut the book on the Star Wars saga for good, he didn’t hold back.
Revenge of the Sith is full of some crazy stuff that is so off-the-wall nuts, it’s stuff I can hardly believe is in the movie. But the lightsaber duel between Yoda and Sidious is pretty high on the list (not the highest).
The fight starts out as a last-ditch effort to kill Sidious and ends with Yoda and Sidious not just dueling their way around his office, but eventually find themselves in the center of the Republic Senate throwing ambassador pods at each other like frisbees.
The fight is absolutely bonkers and has some kind of weird editing in a couple of moments, but John Williams’ score keeps that thing soaring, even if it does jump the shark a little bit.
17. KANAN JARRUS & EZRA BRIDGER vs THE SEVENTH SISTER & FIFTH BROTHER (Star Wars: Rebels, Season 2)
Of all the high stakes lightsaber duels in Star Wars animation, this one between Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, and the Inquisitors actually feels the most like a kid’s show.
Ezra still is using his blastersaber (a lightsaber that also has a blaster incorporated inside of it) and uses it to take out the Seventh Sister’s droid that is grabbing Kanan’s head.
The fight choreography is very cool as Kanan and Ezra use the Force to throw each other at the Inquisitors to throw them off balance.
16. ANAKIN SKYWALKER & YODA vs COUNT DOOKU & DARTH SIDIOUS (The Clone Wars, Season 6)
The fight we never thought we would see–the 2 strongest Jedi vs the 2 strongest Sith in an epic showdown finally happened in The Clone Wars.
Admittedly, this fight doesn’t happen in the “real world” and is more a mental fight that happens in a vision as Dooku and Sidious use Sith Alchemy in order to break Yoda’s will. With that being said, it’s excellent in that it is a shadow of things to come as Sidious tells Yoda that saving Anakin is what will allow him to bring as his plans to fruition.
It’s a mental duel and any time you can get Sidious with a lightsaber, in a vision or not, it’s a win.
15. OBI-WAN KENOBI & ADI GALLIA vs MAUL & SAVAGE OPRESS (The Clone Wars, Season 5)
The rivalry between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul is one of the most underrated plotlines in Star Wars.
While this wasn’t their first fight and it surely wouldn’t be their last, the two danced around each other throughout the galaxy as Maul’s vow for revenge on Kenobi overcame him. After teaming up with his brother, Savage Opress, Maul baited Obi-Wan out and faced him down in a 2v2 matchup that included Adi Gallia.
The fight showcases Obi-Wan’s skill as a defensive genius but also puts him on the offensive wielding the fallen Gallia’s saber.
14. KANAN JARRUS vs THE GRAND INQUISITOR (Star Wars: Rebels, Season 1)
In the first season of Rebels, the “Big Bad” was the Grand Inquisitor; a menacing Pauan who, in a previous life, was actually a member of the Jedi Temple Guard. But at the end of Season 1, Kanan and the Grand Inquisitor finally faced off.
Ezra attempted to enter the fight but once the Inquisitor remove from the fight, Kanan “had nothing left to fear” and the fight shifted in his direction. The Grand Inquisitor was a flurry of saber blades with his spinning hilt, but Kanan is an absolute beast in the fight, creating a new style of fighting wielding both his own lightsaber and Ezra’s blastersaber.
13. MAUL vs PRE VIZSLA (The Clone Wars, Season 5)
Sometimes a lightsaber fight sets dozens of things in motion and can have a far-reaching impact throughout the Star Wars galaxy. For example, look at all that the Duel of the Fates put in motion.
Maul’s fight with Pre Vizsla on Mandalore gave him control of the Darksaber, control of Mandalore, and control of Deathwatch, therefore giving him an army of Mandalorian radicals ready to fight and die for him, if necessary.
The fight puts Maul’s skills as a duelist on display and has probably one of the most shockingly brutal endings in all of Star Wars.
12. DARTH SIDIOUS vs MAUL & SAVAGE OPRESS (The Clone Wars, Season 5)
After finally gaining control of Mandalore, Maul thought he had it all.
And then Darth Sidious, his former master, arrived on Mandalore to bring him down.
Maul and his brother Savage were no match for the dual-wielding Sith Lord, who bested them both, killing Savage and bringing Maul into submission.
His ability to counter an expert fighter like Maul while simultaneously countering the brute force of Savage is a true testament to how deadly Sidious was as a duelist and makes this fight incredibly captivating.
11. LUKE SKYWALKER vs DARTH VADER II (Return of the Jedi)
The power of the final lightsaber duel between Luke and Vader is that it really is a battle for two souls–Luke, fighting to save his father’s soul from the hand’s of the Emperor, and Vader, fighting to appease his master, to whom he sees no way of escape.
The duel has some incredible scoring by John Williams, which really swells as Luke nears closer and closer to the Dark Side in his fight with his father. Eventually, Luke realizes the plan of the Emperor and throws his lightsaber, unwilling to take up arms against his father, choosing peace and pacifism, fully declaring himself a Jedi.
10. OBI-WAN KENOBI vs DARTH VADER I (Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith)
The fight between Obi-Wan Kenobi and the newly minted Darth Vader is not the best lightsaber duel in the Star Wars saga.
In fact, it’s over the top and kind of bad.
There, I said it.
The fight between the two of them should have been an emotional powerhouse, and eventually, it does turn in that direction, but the amount of external forces continues to increase to the point of jumping the shark.
The Mustafar landscape serves as a fitting backdrop to the burning hatred of Anakin Skywalker, but the lightsaber spinning, fighting on swinging ropes, standing on little floating robots and the Force standstill between the two Jedi is so crazy and the fight itself lasts for so long that once Anakin gets hacked up by Obi-Wan, there’s a sigh of relief that it’s finally over.
With all that being said, it’s incredibly iconic and one of the high points of Episode III. Not to mention John Williams’ cascading Battle of the Heroes bringing down the house.
9. REY & FINN vs KYLO REN (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
Oddly one of the most criticized lightsaber duels, the showdown between Rey and Finn versus Kylo Ren starts off…okay.
Finn, trained as a Stormtrooper to subdue a Jedi using riot batons, faces off against Kylo Ren, who toys with him before eviscerating his back with his lightsaber.
But the highlight of the fight (and quite probably the entirety of The Force Awakens) is Rey using the Force that has recently awoken within her to call Luke’s lightsaber to herself. Rey, using her staff-wielding skills goes on the offensive against Kylo Ren, eventually wounding him and giving him the scar he will carry for the next movie and a half.
8. OBI-WAN KENOBI vs DARTH VADER II (A New Hope)
This is the easiest lightsaber duel to criticize as “boring”, but the final duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader is anything but boring. It’s the fight with the most history in all of Star Wars and once again pits master and apprentice against each other.
The duel isn’t as flashy or extravagant as other duels, even within the original trilogy, but its samurai film influence is apparent. Vader revels in knowing that he has an inevitable victory and Obi-Wan allows that temporary victory to take place in order for him to become “more powerful than [Vader] can possibly imagine.”
A classic duel.
7. AHSOKA TANO vs DARTH VADER (Star Wars: Rebels, Season 2)
Towards the end of The Clone Wars, Ahsoka Tano left the Jedi Order after being wrongly convicted and subsequently vindicated of bombing the Jedi Temple. After Order 66, Ahsoka had no way of knowing the fate of Anakin Skywalker and assumed that he had died, yet a part of her believed him to have survived. Fast forward to the season 2 finale of Rebels and Ahsoka faces down Darth Vader.
The dialogue between Vader and Ahsoka is some of her absolute best and the moment where Matt Lanter and James Earl Jones’s voices call out to Ashoka as a mix of Anakin and Darth Vader. ….Wow. Heartbreaking.
6. LUKE SKYWALKER vs KYLO REN (Star Wars: The Last Jedi)
The fight between Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren on Crait isn’t high on this list just because of what it was, but also because of what it wasn’t.
Yes, it’s an intense moment between former master and apprentice, but it’s also an excellently choreographed and beautifully shot duel that exhibits the growth of Luke Skywalker at his pinnacle form in The Skywalker Saga. Rather than simply seeking an opportunity to kill Kylo Ren, Luke finally embodied the heart of the Jedi by choosing the path of peace rather than attack.
He exhibited complete mastery of the Force by projecting his image across the galaxy to save the Resistance, dying victorious not just over Kylo Ren, but truly becoming the legend that the galaxy considered him to be.
5. AHSOKA TANO vs MAUL (The Clones Wars, Season 7)
Call this one recency bias, but it’s a doozy.
For years in other media, the story of an epic duel between Ahsoka Tano and Maul has been hinted at over and over again by Clone Wars helmer, Dave Filoni and in multiple media projects. From information gathered from their interactions in Rebels and the Ahsoka novel, we knew that there was some meeting between them and we could only imagine what all happened there.
With the final season of The Clone Wars finally realized, we have finally been able to see this fight in all its glory. Fueled by the revelation from Maul that Darth Sidious had been grooming Anakin Skywalker for years to become his apprentice, Ahsoka goes to town in this fight. And wow. With its motion-captured choreography from Episode I‘s Darth Maul himself, Ray Park, and Lauren Mary Kim giving mo-cap for Ahsoka, the fight between the two is fiery and realistic. Coupled with witty banter, it was definitely worth the wait, but it’s final moments from Maul are chilling within the context of what comes next for the galaxy.
4. OBI-WAN KENOBI vs MAUL (Star Wars: Rebels, Season 3)
Duration doesn’t make a great fight; history and stakes do.
After crossing the galaxy looking for revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi for decades, Maul had finally tricked his self-claimed “apprentice” Ezra Bridger into findingKenobi in the deserts of Tatooine. The two had spent the last 40 years entangled in each other’s lives and it all came to a head in their final match, the match for all the marbles.
The duel between the two was short, yes, but with its beautiful samurai influences, heightened intensity and subtle references to their first fight back on Naboo with Qui-Gon, Dave Filoni, and Star Wars: Rebels made one of the most rewatchable and dissectible fights in recent memory. I
t’s a fight between hatred and peace and actually ends with a touching moment between the two that gives clarity to Maul’s entire existence since that fateful day on Naboo.
3. QUI-GON JINN & OBI-WAN KENOBI vs DARTH MAUL (Star Wars: Episode I–The Phantom Menace)
As has been previously mentioned on this website, the biggest sin of The Phantom Menace is that it’s boring. Other than a handful of moments, it’s just kind of a slog.
But that all vanishes when the hangar doors open and the hooded Darth Maul confronts Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan as the opening choral notes of John Williams’ Star Wars magnum opus “Duel of the Fates” drops. What ensues is one of the most exciting, acrobatic and complex lightsaber duels in the Star Wars saga.
Backflips, strategic lightsaber moves and one of coolest lightsabers these movies have ever seen all culminate in a battle that may not have a ton of emotional stakes to begin with, but ends with a 1v1 showdown for the ages whose ripple effects will influence the entire Galaxy for decades (thus Duel of Fates… get it?).
2. REY & KYLO REN vs THE PRAETORIAN GUARDS (Star Wars: The Last Jedi)
Few moments have been as shocking, thrilling, and downright visually satisfying as the Throne Room scene from The Last Jedi.
Setting good or bad feelings for the film aside, the fight in Snoke’s throne room has great choreography and moves not just the story of The Last Jedi forward, but also the sequel trilogy as a whole as it offs Snoke and shows the ties that bind Rey and Kylo Ren together. But not just that, it shows us a new side of what could potentially be–a Dark Side user working side by side with a Jedi Padawan is new in Star Wars.
Between the blood-red aesthetic, raining fire and ash, and surprising turn, this duel could potentially be number one.
1. LUKE SKYWALKER vs DARTH VADER I (The Empire Strikes Back)
The king of all lightsaber fights; nothing comes close to this. This duel means so much to not just The Empire Strikes Back but to the saga as a whole.
Not only does this duel between Luke Skywalker and the infamous Darth Vader have the feel of a David vs Goliath battle, but knowing that Vader wants Luke alive adds even more dangerous stakes to the fight. Vader is toying with Luke throughout and young Skywalker, while skilled, severely overestimates his ability to fight the Sith Lord.
The fight is a white-knuckler, even knowing where it is going to end, but nothing compares to The Reveal™ when Vader reveals that he is Luke Skywalker’s father. It’s not just a physical victory for Vader at that point, it’s also an emotional and mental victory. It’s intense, scary, and thrilling–everything a lightsaber battle should be, making it an easy #1 on this list.
