Combat was the ability to perform in a physical confrontation, may it be armed[1] or unarmed.[2]
Some powerful creatures like the Beast and Marcus Hamilton relied on their brute strength and durability in confronts rather than fighting skills.[3][4]
Examples[]
Slayers appeared to have innate fighting abilities, demonstrating proficiency even when they had little[1] to no combat training.[5][2] Buffy easily fended off multiple vampires at the same time while under a forgetting spell, having no memory of her combat training and relying entirely on her Slayer instincts.[5] Dana was also capable of holding her own against Spike without having any previous combat training.[2]
The Slayer fighting prowess also appeared to extend to her weapon proficiency. When Giles trained Buffy to spar with a quarter staff for the first time, she easily outmaneuvered him. Despite his initial insistence that he would teach her how to use a crossbow in steady time after mastering the quarter staff, which needed "countless hours of vigorous training," he quickly decided that Buffy was ready when she bested him.[1]
It appeared that, upon being sired, vampires gained inherent combat capabilities, even if they were never formally trained before. When being taught how to slay, Dawn hoped that the newborn vampire pitted against her might not "know all the fancy martial arts they inevitably seem to pick up," though she was proven wrong.[6] On one occasion, Angel, believing himself to be a teenager because of a memory spell, managed to defeat Connor by fighting purely on instinct.[7] Spike also fought off and killed multiple vampires while under a forgetting spell.[5]
Cultural importance[]
The ancient supernatural court Cahair Binse settled matters through trials by combat, in which a champion fought a demon knight in a duel of jousting.[8]
Los Angeles had, until the year 2000, a clandestine demon fight club called XXI, which humans created for the entertainment of the rich and powerful. Captured demons were forced to fight each other to the death with the promise of earning their freedom after twenty-one victories. The survivors escaped after Angel convinced the 20-time champion Val Trepkos to join forces with him against the club.[9]
In the VampCon event held in Las Vegas, Clem conducted the octagon in the traditional trial by combat to seal an alliance between humans and demons. Buffy and Spike reigned victors after defeating Golgotha and a demon in their respective fights.[10]