Who Is the Best Wand Duelist in Harry Potter? Here’s Top 5 Ranked!

When you read all the books by J. K. Rowling and after watching all of the movies, you’re aware that wands are a huge part of the spell-casting process, and not all wand duelists are created the same. Properly utilizing wands requires discipline, training, experience, and, to a degree, inborn talent. Having said that, some of the wand duelists in the Harry Potter franchise stand out from the rest. Let’s see who they are.

The best duelist in the Harry Potter series is the one and only Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Dumbledore pretty much checks out all our boxes. He is experienced, is known for some of the best feats of magic in the franchise, has vast magical knowledge and discipline, and, last but not least, he controls the Elder Wand.

Except for Dumbledore, we have included four more wand duelists. If you’re interested in who they are, why don’t you give it a look?

5. Harry Potter

Despite being the hero of the whole series, we put Harry Potter in the last place. He had only one mission – to avenge his parents and kill Lord Voldemort, who was responsible for their deaths. Harry Potter had all the makings of a perfect hero. He was wise, resourceful, and had a band of misfits with the same noble motivation as him.

Even though Harry Potter lacked the proper support channels that most of the kids at Hogwarts had, he would get one of the most powerful magic wands with the phoenix feather core and the Invisibility Cloak as a Christmas gift.  He was the youngest wizard who could perform the Patronus spell, an excellent seeker in Quidditch, and could even speak the Parseltongue.

But, moving on to the duels and the reasoning behind putting Harry in the last place. Harry was skilled in duels but had no experience or instinct like the others. His favorite spell is Expelliarmus, which refers to disarming an opponent, but in a more serious fight, that would certainly not be enough. 

4. Bellatrix “Bella” Lestrange

We couldn’t help but mention this pure-blood evil witch whom we think definitely deserves a place on this list.

Bellatrix Lestrange was a thoroughbred witch, the smart and intelligent eldest daughter of Cygnus Black III. and Druelle Black. She was related to Sirius Black and also a member of the two famous families: Malfoy and Tonks.

Of course, she was attending the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and became a member of the Slytherin (is there any other house that would want her?). After finishing school, she became one of the Death Eaters, completely loyal to Lord Voldemort. She was also known for her extreme brutality and violence, like her participation in the torture of Neville’s parents, Frank and Alice Longbottom, after which she was imprisoned in Azkaban to serve a life sentence.

Egocentric and arrogant, blindly loyal to Lord Voldemort, she enjoyed torturing her victims and casting spells on all those who were not pure-blooded wizards but also on members of her family with different opinions. Along with Lord Voldemort, she remained the last standing Death Eater in the last battle for Hogwarts.

Besides, she was an experienced Occlumens, the mistress of the Dark Arts, and an especially accomplished and lethal duellist. 

Two members of the Order of the Phoenix, her cousin Sirius Black and her niece Nymphadora Tonks became victims of her insanity. She is the only Death Eater who manages to repel the spell of Albus Dumbledore himself, which allows her to escape.

We simultaneously witnessed an incredible fight against Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasley. Underestimating the maternal strength of Molly Weasley (who had just lost her son) in defending her daughter Ginny, Bellatrix finally loses her last battle.

3. Lord Voldemort 

Voldemort was a very successful performer of Legilimency and Occlumency – he could read minds and protect his mind from the intrusion of other people. He showed these magical abilities from his early youth, with a special talent and a great desire to learn.

Voldemort was extremely skilled in duels: he could cast spells and defend himself with protective spells as well. He was also very successful in defeating his opponents, using the Unforgivable Curses, especially his most famous Avada Kedavra, which was deadly for Lilly and James Potter.

He was a duellist of immense skill, with his only rival being Dumbledore. He could also easily overpower many other witches and wizards, such as the extremely powerful ex-Auror, Alastor Moody. Voldemort’s dueling style was very aggressive, using powerful Dark magic to overwhelm his opponents. 

He was the only known wizard in history to face Dumbledore and avoid defeat or capture. Although Harry Potter defeated Voldemort in the last battle for Hogwarts, it was only because he had mastered the Elder Wand, as we mentioned before.

2. Gellert Grindelwald 

Gellert Grindelwald was amongst the greatest wizards to have ever lived, side by side with Tom Riddle (a.k.a. Lord Voldemort) and Albus Dumbledore.

This evil wizard was first mentioned in the first book of the Harry Potter series – ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,’ and eventually, we discover that he was one of the most powerful and dangerous Dark Wizards of all time. He was a duellist of extraordinary skill and received it through training in dueling during his student days at Durmstrang Institute. 

Becoming an owner of the Elder Wand, Grindelwald began to spread terror throughout Europe, killing everyone who stood in his way. He has one goal only – to establish a new wizarding world based on the enslavement of the Muggles worldwide.

He was eventually defeated by Albus Dumbledore, and their duel went down in history as among the greatest ever fought between two wizards.

1. Albus Dumbledore

Finally, we have the dueling winner!

Once upon a time, a gifted student, then became the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, later the Transfiguration Professor, and finally, at the end, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Dumbledore’s power was primarily in his wisdom but also in his great magical abilities: nonverbal and wandless spells, astonishing skills such as Occlumency and Legilimency, predicting the future, the ability to understand multiple languages, and so on. This list is infinite.

When it comes to the dueling thing, there are two moments: 1) Voldemort feared Dumbledore, which proves that he did not attack Hogwarts in his presence; 2) Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald even though he had owned the Elder Wand at the time. If anyone else had been in his place, he would not have succeeded.

Who do you think is the best Harry Potter duelist of all time? Let us know in the comments below!