How Strong is Velen?

[Wyrt]

the issue I see isn't that he didn't fight when outnumbered it's that the entirety of draenei lore after the retcon from them just being broken is "I don't wanna join sargeras, let's run away" "I don't wanna try and fight the wave of enemies chasing us, let's run away to the next inhabited planet and let them massacre this one without even giving a warning" "I'm not sure we can handle the orcs, let's let them kill most of us so the rest can run away abandoning the survivors", "oh hey, alliance...we can stop running away now guys we have a faction protecting us"

In other words, they're smart enough to not die horribly in a one-sided battle.

The rest of your bullshit is speculation and I don't feel like getting into it.

[razorfire]

In other words, they're smart enough to not die horribly in a one-sided battle.

The rest of your bullshit is speculation and I don't feel like getting into it.

interesting rebuttal considering I wasn't trying to insult you, I'm not saying he's stupid I'm saying that from a perspective of lore and combat the draenei have never been shown as a strong race, the only advantage that has ever been shown for velen is his visions which he actively gets caught up in till he does nothing, heck ANDUIN has to point that out to him. the only actual times draenei have been on the offensive in the lore are when they've had the alliance or another large faction helping them out.

[Deleted]

He should be in terms with Kil'Jaeden and Archimonde.
And of course pacifist runs instead of massacring attacking orcs.
Doesnt killing bring more killing and isnt killing other living kinda against whole peacefull thinking that Valen is trying to spread with his own example

[Dreknar20]

Doesnt killing bring more killing and isnt killing other living kinda against whole peacefull thinking that Valen is trying to spread with his own example

lets kill people who are killing people to show them how much killing people is wrong

[Combatbutler]

interesting rebuttal considering I wasn't trying to insult you, I'm not saying he's stupid I'm saying that from a perspective of lore and combat the draenei have never been shown as a strong race, the only advantage that has ever been shown for velen is his visions which he actively gets caught up in till he does nothing, heck ANDUIN has to point that out to him. the only actual times draenei have been on the offensive in the lore are when they've had the alliance or another large faction helping them out.

Well the Draenei and blood elves repelled the demonic invasion on Quel'danas, that is quite a feat.

[Immitis]

id say hes atleast more powerful than jaina.

[Aquamonkey]

He should be in terms with Kil'Jaeden and Archimonde.
And of course pacifist runs instead of massacring attacking orcs.
Doesnt killing bring more killing and isnt killing other living kinda against whole peacefull thinking that Valen is trying to spread with his own example

He doesn't have to kill the orcs, but if he had KJ level power, he could at least use that great power to prevent the orcs from massacring his people. But he didn't. So either he likes seeing his people get slaughtered or he was powerless to stop it.

[Murderdoll]

Hes very different to his brothers KJ and Archimonde. They are fighters. Velen is a visionary. He has immense healing powers as well as the ability to see the future.

So he may very well be as strong as his brothers, but in a different way.

[razorfire]

Well the Draenei and blood elves repelled the demonic invasion on Quel'danas, that is quite a feat.

yes, the scryers and aldor, a mix of forces trained and sent from shattrath working together repelled the invasion. I'm not saying draenei are alone in not having done much as a race on its own but they do seem to have a very long streak of fleeing despite the costs or not attacking without other groups risking their lives too.

[Scummer]

He would appear to be one of the most powerful if not the most powerful.

Appear being the key word

The Draenei are a very magically powerful race. Perhaps more so than the races on Azeroth given how Sargeras specifically tried to recruit them for this very reason. Velen was one of the three strongest which puts him already in a very powerful spot when compared to others heroes.

Also how you define strong is also relevant. Velen's ability to see the possibilities of the future certainly require him to be very skilled to be able to so. He seems to be able to do it on demand during his meditations unlike other Farseers who simply see glimpses occasionally during dreams.
So while this does not display his strength in combat it does show his power in other areas that are unique to him.

However we've only really seen his power once, and that was the reignition of the Sunwell. Consider for a moment that no other being had been able to reignite it because of the scale of it's power. Even the Blood Elves who knew the most about it and who were highly attuned to it's power and magic in general could not reignite it. Yet Velen who knew little about it was able to waltz in and reignite a fountain of magic that effectively supplies an entire race. It's also worth noting he very much too it in his stride when he did this, it did not appear to exhaust him at all despite the magnitude of what he had just done.
That's no small feat.

I would ignore those who bring up the fact he and his people always fled the Legion. He is still a mortal and can still die. Yet his people would suffer the most. His people die out if they had not run. In the end it has little to do with Velen and everything to do with his people dwindling numbers and forces that pursued them of whom had more numbers and appeared to be headed by Kil'jaeden who is more powerful.

But like I mentioned at the start we simply do not know enough about him to guarantee how strong he truly is so until we do know (which will likely be next expansion) these answers need to be taken with a grain of salt.

[razorfire]

Hes very different to his brothers KJ and Archimonde. They are fighters. Velen is a visionary. He has immense healing powers as well as the ability to see the future.

So he may very well be as strong as his brothers, but in a different way.

honestly it's this, as a healer and a prophet he's great (assuming he can sort out what he foresees and pick a course of action). but if it comes to strength by other terms including tactics he seems to fall short and depends on others, the escape plan from shattrath back when the orcs were first corrupted by demons wouldn't have been possible if his general hadn't actively made the decision to stall and trick the orcs

- - - Updated - - -

However we've only really seen his power once, and that was the reignition of the Sunwell. Consider for a moment that no other being had been able to reignite it because of the scale of it's power. Even the Blood Elves who knew the most about it and who were highly attuned to it's power and magic in general could not reignite it. Yet Velen who knew little about it was able to waltz in and reignite a fountain of magic that effectively supplies an entire race. It's also worth noting he very much too it in his stride when he did this, it did not appear to exhaust him at all despite the magnitude of what he had just done.
That's no small feat.

he used the remains of muu'ru, a naaru and conduit of holy energy to reignite the well, it's not clear how much if any energy used in it was his own.

[Thermaplugg yer butt]

Nobody knows this, but Velen is actually a Protoss High Templar. In the final battle for the fate of the universe against the Burning Legion, he is going to channel so much energy that his body will explode in a blinding flash of divine light, turning him into an Archon. Immediately after he is going to launch himself into a collision course against Sargeras, completely obliterating the Prophet and the Dark Titan in the process.

[Saverem]

There are two answers to this, both contradictory to one another:

1. Lore: probably about as powerful as anyone.

2. Practical real world: He used to be just about the easiest of all the leaders to take down for the "For the Horde" achievement. Partially because he's a lot easier to get to and there used to be fewer guards to deal with at the Exodar. Still, if he was as powerful as the lore says...well, there's that.

Haven't done this in years so I don't know what it's like now though.

You can't judge someone's true strength by how easy they are to take down in PvE. I can go to Black Temple and easily solo Illidan to death, does that mean he's a push over? His strength should be judged by lore only.

With that said, he's definitely not as strong as Archi/KJ. Those two had their powers increased by Sargeras himself. It's sort of like how Hellscream with demon blood became super strong. Also, Velen is like a Holy Priest 24/7. He's too goody2shoes to dabble in shadow magic, so it's like fighting a Holy priest, they're good at healing, but their destructive power sucks.

[Aquamonkey]

He would appear to be one of the most powerful if not the most powerful.

No, it is explicitly stated that KJ was the most powerful of the 3 before Sargeras came to them.

The Draenei are a very magically powerful race. Perhaps more so than the races on Azeroth given how Sargeras specifically tried to recruit them for this very reason. Velen was one of the three strongest which puts him already in a very powerful spot when compared to others heroes.

Also how you define strong is also relevant. Velen's ability to see the possibilities of the future certainly require him to be very skilled to be able to so. He seems to be able to do it on demand during his meditations unlike other Farseers who simply see glimpses occasionally during dreams.
So while this does not display his strength in combat it does show his power in other areas that are unique to him.

However we've only really seen his power once, and that was the reignition of the Sunwell. Consider for a moment that no other being had been able to reignite it because of the scale of it's power. Even the Blood Elves who knew the most about it and who were highly attuned to it's power and magic in general could not reignite it. Yet Velen who knew little about it was able to waltz in and reignite a fountain of magic that effectively supplies an entire race. It's also worth noting he very much too it in his stride when he did this, it did not appear to exhaust him at all despite the magnitude of what he had just done.
That's no small feat.

I would ignore those who bring up the fact he and his people always fled the Legion. He is still a mortal and can still die. Yet his people would suffer the most. His people die out if they had not run. In the end it has little to do with Velen and everything to do with his people dwindling numbers and forces that pursued them of whom had more numbers and appeared to be headed by Kil'jaeden who is more powerful.

But like I mentioned at the start we simply do not know enough about him to guarantee how strong he truly is so until we do know (which will likely be next expansion) these answers need to be taken with a grain of salt.

KJ was powerful, wise, and decisive.
Arc was vain and impetuous.
Velen was cautious and had visions.

Status does not equal power. They worked well together as leaders because they balanced each other out. Velen's only stated contribution to the trio was that he had visions and was cautious. Velen is even described as impotent and having little influence over the Eredar compared to the other 2.

Velen grieved over his impotence. He wanted to save all of his people, as he had sworn to do, but he knew that was impossible. Most would trust in Kil’jaeden and Archimonde, and follow them to their doom. But there were a few who thought as he did, who would forsake everything merely upon his word. They would need to; their home world of Argus would shortly be destroyed, devoured by the madness of the demonic legion. Those who would survive would have to flee.
...
Velen saw that their number was sickeningly small. They numbered only in the hundreds, these who were the only ones Velen truly trusted.
--Rise of the Horde

[Kassadin]

I'm sure he's no pushover, but ultimately his strength lies in his prophetic abilities rather then his proficiency in combat. He certainly doesn't possess god-like powers, or he would of used them to protect the Draenei against the genocide conducted by the Orcs.

Although to be fair, because of his ability to see into the future, perhaps he saw use for the Orc, and hence didn't obliterate them. We'll never know. Perhaps he saw the Orc alongside the Alliance thwarting Archimonde's corruption of the World Tree, and Kiljaeden's summoning in Quel'danas.

[Aquamonkey]

Although to be fair, because of his ability to see into the future, perhaps he saw use for the Orc, and hence didn't obliterate them. We'll never know. Perhaps he saw the Orc alongside the Alliance thwarting Archimonde's corruption of the World Tree, and Kiljaeden's summoning in Quel'danas.

Don't have to obliterate them to stop them from massacring your people...

[Deleted]

I think he will get spotlight when we turn to the burning legion, he will do what thrall was in cata. There is a lot of lore and story behind him, happy when we get to see him more

[The One Percent]

He's the one behind the vanity helms in the Blizzard store.

[Aundas]

I don't think he's as powerful as Kil'Jaeden and Archimonde. Maybe he was, but I feel like Sargeras increased their powers when they joined him. That and the inability to defend his people from orcs as others have pointed out, suggests that Velen is powerful, but should not be compared to Kil'Jaeden and Archimonde as they currently stand.

[Therougetitan]

Velens power has always been exaggerated because people compare him to the other people of the original Eredar council, Archimonde and Kil'jaeden. They forget it is stated in lore that Sargeras gave them demi-god like powers for joining. At no point is it ever stated that Velen became super powerful.