There’s only supposed to be a sole Slayer in every generation, so maybe that’s why, whenever one Slayer meets another, they tend to end up fighting. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it is the eponymous heroine’s job to fight vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness, but sometimes she will come to blows with other Slayers, as well. Of the various Slayers that Buffy encountered throughout the series, she ended up trading punches with most of them at least once.
All Slayer vs. Slayer fights are not created equal, however, as some of these scenes are much more epic and exhilarating than others. Once you exclude the briefer confrontations, in which maybe a single blow or heated moment is shared, there are nine instances of Buffy fighting another Slayer across the franchise, including both on TV and in the canonical comic books. Here are all of these fan-pleasing fight sequences, as ranked from least to most exciting.
9
Buffy vs. Faith — Round Two
Enemies (Season 3, Episode 17)
Buffy and Faith come to blows several times over the course of the series, because how else are two superpowered teen warriors going to hash out their differences? Of their many fights, the duo’s tussle in Season 3’s “Enemies” is the shortest and least dramatic, although it’s not without its merits.
In “Enemies,” Faith has seemingly succeeded in bringing back Angelus, but just before the pair start torturing Buffy, Angel reveals he was faking being evil all along, as part of a plan concocted by Buffy to get info about the Mayor’s schemes from Faith. Angry at being deceived and outwitted, Faith attacks Buffy. They trade a few blows before holding knives to each other’s throats, at which point Buffy hesitates. Faith kisses Buffy on the head and flees the scene.
The whole fight hardly lasts longer than half a minute, but no doubt this scene was deliberately kept short, given that a much bigger confrontation between the two was coming in the Season 3 finale (see below). As a tease for a grander showdown, this Slayer fight does its job well.
8
Buffy vs. Kendra
What’s My Line, Part 1 (Season 2, Episode 9)
The very first Slayer vs. Slayer fight in Buffy comes from Season 2’s “What’s My Line, Part 1,” which introduces Kendra, the first other Slayer seen on the show. Kendra gets the jump on Buffy when she launches at her while Buffy is sleeping in Angel’s apartment. With each assuming the other is a vampire due to their enhanced strength, Kendra and Buffy do battle, until they belatedly realize that they are on the same side.
The Buffy vs. Kendra fight is a fun introduction for the latter, playing on the classic “two heroes fight until they figure out they’re both good guys” trope. It effectively showcases Kendra’s combat skills — she almost kills Buffy with an axe — but also her by-the-book rigidity, which will ultimately prove to be a fatal flaw when Kendra is killed by Drusilla. This is Buffy and Kendra’s only fight in the series, as they are allies from this point on.
7
Buffy vs. Simone — Round One
Predators and Prey (Season 8 #23)
The Buffy continuation comics from Dark Horse reveal the unexpected downside of the Scooby Gang activating all the Potentials in the series finale: not all of these new Slayers are going to be good people. Similar to Dana in Angel Season 5, Simone Doffler is a rogue Slayer with none of the heroism usually associated with the Chosen Ones. Season 8 #23 sees Buffy encounter Simone and her army of criminal Slayers for the first time.
Though Buffy attempts to talk her around, Simone just doesn’t understand why she should use her powers to save the world when she could rule it instead. The pair engage in a duel with fencing swords, which Buffy wins, before Simone pulls a gun on her. Thanks to an intervention by Andrew, Simone is distracted and Buffy and friends escape. Similar to Buffy and Faith’s fight in “Enemies,” this was a worthy taster for grander battles between these two to come.
6
Buffy vs. Sineya
Restless (Season 4, Episode 22)
Buffy’s fight against Sineya, AKA the First Slayer, is unique in Buffy lore as it’s not a physical battle but a psychic one. In Season 4 finale, “Restless,” the Scoobies are attacked in their dreams by Sineya after they accidentally summoned her spirit while defeating Adam. At the episode’s climax, Buffy and Sineya engage in an astral fistfight in a dream version of the desert that was once the First Slayer’s home.
The choreography of the Buffy vs. Sineya battle maybe isn’t as ambitious as other Slayer fights — although the two of them tumbling down a sand dune is a memorable moment — but this one stands out thanks to its surreal trappings and unique setting. In reality, Sineya’s sheer physical strength would probably overpower Buffy, but in this battle of the minds, it is the latest Slayer, not the first, who comes out victorious.
5
Buffy vs. Simone — Round Two
Last Gleaming, Part 5 (Season 8 #40)
The finale of the Season 8 comics storyline sees Simone return, having now allied with the General, a corrupt military man dedicated to taking Buffy and her Slayer army down. Eager to get revenge against Buffy after their last encounter, Simone ambushes her with a legion of her rogue Slayers. Despite being hopelessly outnumbered, Buffy proves why she’s the greatest Slayer of them all by outclassing her many opponents and escaping to slay another day.
Season 8’s finale is a bit of a mess, as there are so many juggled plot threads — e.g. Angel turning evil again, a sentient dimension called Twilight, and the destruction of all magic on Earth — but giving Buffy a new recurring Slayer enemy is one of its highlights. It’s easy to see why Simone was brought back in a major way for the Season 9 comics, which saw her promoted to the role of Big Bad.
4
Buffy vs. Faith — Round One
Revelations (Season 3, Episode 7)
Buffy and Faith’s first fight is only the second Slayer vs. Slayer tussle on the show, and it is vastly superior to the Kendra fight from a season prior. In “Revelations,” evil watcher Gwendolyn Post manipulates Faith into turning against Buffy. When Faith tries to stake Angel, Buffy steps in and the two do battle, only stopping when they realize Gwendolyn has armed herself with the powerful Glove of Myhnegon.
This fight holds such weight on a rewatch as it’s a fascinating bit of foreshadowing of what’s to come. In an ironic contrast to their later dynamic, Faith starts this fight because she believes that Buffy protecting Angel, a vampire, means she has gone bad. Though the pair are friends at this stage, there’s a real viciousness to their traded blows, previewing the way this friendship ultimately sours into hatred.
3
Buffy vs. Faith — Rounds Four and Five
This Year’s Girl/Who Are You? (Season 4, Episode 15-16)
Technically, these are two separate fights, but in effect they are two halves of the same fight. In the first chapter of Season 4 two-parter “This Year’s Girl/Who Are You?” — otherwise known as “the body swap episode” — Faith deliberately breaks into the Summers’ house and holds Joyce hostage to get Buffy’s attention. When Buffy arrives to save her mother, the pair launch into a savage fight, which ends abruptly when Faith activates a mystical device that switches her mind with Buffy’s.
In the second episode, Buffy-as-Faith and Faith-as-Buffy finally come face-to-face again, and this time their fight goes very differently. In the first fight, Buffy is the more brutal one, but this time Faith-as-Buffy savagely beats “herself” up, labeling the other Slayer as a “disgusting murderer,” making it clear that she is expressing her own self-loathing. Buffy then uses the body-swap device to switch them back. Together, these two fights do a fantastic job of digging into the layers and complexities of the Buffy/Faith rivalry.
2
Buffy vs. Simone — Round Three
The Core, Part 2 (Season 9 #25)
With Season 8 ending with Buffy forced to rid the world of all magic in order to save it, Season 9 saw the Slayer become a target for various disgruntled parties who were furious at her for what she had done. That included Simone Doffler. By the finale, Simone had gone to desperate measures to ensure she could defeat Buffy once and for all — she willingly allowed herself to be sired by a vampire, becoming a Slayer/vampire hybrid, AKA a Slaypire.
The concept of Slaypires was introduced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1’s “Nightmares,” in which Buffy briefly becomes a vampire in a nightmare made real.
Being a Slaypire means that Simone has the enhanced strength of both a Slayer and a vampire, so her ensuing battle with Buffy is one of the toughest of the Slayer’s world-saving career. Simone even manages to wrestle control of the Scythe and attempts to decapitate Buffy’s head with it. At the last moment, though, Buffy manages to free herself and gets the better of Simone, staking her with the Scythe’s spiked hilt. Fittingly, the weapon that made Simone a Slayer in the first place is the one used to destroy her.
1
Buffy vs. Faith — Round Three
Graduation Day, Part 1 (Season 3, Episode 21)
As epic as Buffy and Faith’s other fights and the Buffy/Simone battles in the comics are, the most definitive Slayer vs. Slayer brawl has to be the one that occurs at the end of Season 3’s penultimate episode, “Graduation Day, Part 1.” When Buffy corners Faith at her apartment, the ensuing head-to-head serves as the thrilling, gripping, and dramatic culmination of their season-long rivalry.
Rarely has a Buffy fight scene been as tense and as riveting as this one, as the force with which these two characters hate each other is brilliantly conveyed through the wince-inducing choreography. Buffy ultimately stabbing Faith in the stomach with her own knife is a shocking twist, as is Faith escaping by leaping off the balcony into a passing truck below.
The destructive power of two Slayers doing battle has never been more palpable than in this sequence, and the result is something far more than just fan service. While it faces some stiff competition, this Slayer-v-Slayer skirmish may just be the best fight scene in any Buffy finale.
- Release Date
-
1997 – 2003-00-00
- Network
-
The WB
- Showrunner
-
Joss Whedon
-
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Buffy Summers
-
Nicholas Brendon
Alexander Harris
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
