Top Ten Duels in the Suikoden Series

This list goes over the greatest duels that happened in the Suikoden franchise. It needs to be a one-on-one duel in some form or another. The mechanics for dueling in the Suikoden games are more or less the same, you attack, defend or special/wild/desperate attack in a rock/paper/scissors format.
The Top Ten
1 Riou vs. Jowy (Suikoden II)

The duel at Tenzan Pass at the very end of the game (assuming you didn't get the default ending already). Riou goes back to meet Jowy at the place they promised to return to, but fate has had its ways with the two friends, given them their runes, and fating them to duel. A real Duel of the Fates if you will. In any case, this duel can also lead to multiple endings. If Riou is to defend the entire time and not ever attack Jowy, and as long as you meet the requirements for the good ending, the duel will end with them going together, finding Nanami alive, and journeying in the good ending. Of course, you can attack Jowy where he dies, and Nanami wouldn't have been alive as well.

2 Riou vs. Luca Blight (Suikoden II)

After the epic climax that is three entire parties of six to take down one psychopath of a mad prince, not to mention a shower of arrows hitting him and his men, Luca Blight still stands strong. Yes, the prince, and for a short time, king of Highland has a memorable duel with Riou, which is his true last stand. Yes, he is down to about an eighth of his health when you duel him, but he still can do damage if you couldn't read his attack patterns. But winning and finally ridding the world of Luca Blight is a truly epic moment.

3 Pahn vs. Teo (Suikoden)

Many players often consider this to be the most difficult duel in the entire series, some attribute it to Pahn not being a required character after he's actually recruited, but in any case, Teo (your character's father) is ready to storm your castle and your bodyguard Pahn stands in his way. Teo will hit hard and has a lot of health, making this a difficult duel. Although you can lose it, you will permanently lose Pahn if you do lose.

4 Prince (or Zegai, Belcoot, or Richard) vs. Childerich (Suikoden V)

This is the most interesting duel due to the fact you can have numerous characters to duel Childerich with, if they are in the Prince's party at the time. During this duel Childerich drinks a Raging Nostrum drug, which enhances his strength but makes him lose his sanity. In a way, this makes him relatively easy to read his attacks, but if you duel and lose with any of the people in parantheses (Zegai, Belcoot, or Richard), they will permanently die.

5 Roy vs. Childerich (Suikoden V)

This duel is actually optional, because it is on a path that will not net you a good ending, but it's worth seeing at least once. You need to win this duel with Roy (the Prince's doppelganger) to get a special scene involving Roy's sacrifice, when arrows start hitting him after the duel. But it buys enough time for the dragon cavalry to come to the Prince's aid. As I said though, Roy will die no matter what in this path and you won't get the best ending, but it is a very notable scene.

6 Luc vs. Sasarai (Suikoden III)

This duel happens if you got all the Stars of Destiny and have access to Luc's chapter. It's an interesting variant as it is a duel between two powerful mages, with you controlling Luc. It's yet another battle for True runes too.

7 Prince vs. Gizel Godwin (Suikoden V)

Suikoden V had some of the best duels in the series. Gizel is surprisingly an affable fellow, knowing full well of his current situation, but knowing that he cannot coexist with his enemy's army. Therefore, he must duel with his brother-in-law. And he knows he lost too.

8 Lazlo vs. Troy (Suikoden IV)

There's not a whole lot of duels in Suikoden IV and most are really easy, but I had to put the duel with Troy here as it's basically the very last thing you do in the game. Troy and Lazlo are just another pair fated to battle, and when Troy loses, he basically goes down with his ship, knowing he is defeated.

9 Riou vs. Han Cunningham (Suikoden II)

Han previously dueled Genkaku, his old friend, but due to the circumstances, won without even battling. Here, Riou, the adopted grandson of Genkaku, gets to face him in a duel. Here, Riou must win, and Han will die, but does give the sad backstory of the runes and hopes that Riou wins in the end.

10 Kyril vs. Martin (Suikoden Tactics)

This one breaks the formula a bit but is still technically a duel since it's just these two characters on the tactical field. Kyril basically is protecting Corselia and Martin (her father) originally believed Kyril to be a kidnapper. But since Kyril just helps her out, Martin duels Kyril to fully believe that Kyril is a good man, in one of the few actually difficult duels of the series.

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