Death Battle Predictions: Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake

Treasure hunting. The ultimate risk vs. reward scenario. Those who are willing to travel to the ends of the earth, brave the harshest environments and withstand all obstacles in their path are welcomed by riches as far as the eye can see. And for the Season 4 premiere of Death Battle, it’s now time to pit two of gaming’s most well-known treasure hunters against one another, both of whom rose up from small beginnings to achieve greatness and have pushed the limits of man’s capacity to survive anything: Lara Croft, the Tomb Raider and Nathan Drake, the Uncharted Adventurer.

Origin

Lara Croft

“I finally feel a sense of purpose again. Like I’m doing what I was meant to do. The journey will be perilous, but I must find a way.”

(Over the course of the last few years, the Tomb Raider franchise was rebooted a fair few times, so we’ll be listing the backstory of Lara’s most recent incarnation used from the 2013 game onwards.)

Born in 1992, Lara Croft was the child of Lord Richard and Lady Amelia Croft. While she lived a relatively happy childhood, tragedy struck when her mother died when she was five. Driven to despair, Richard dedicated much of his time to researching the keys to immortality, neglecting his daughter in the process. In spite of Richard’s obsession and later suicide, Lara became quite intelligent and adventurous, finding solace in her father’s previous expeditions and various books. She eventually decided to make her own path by attending University College London and became friends with Samantha Nishimura, who helped the introverted Lara grow out of her shell.

Lara was eventually tasked with joining an expedition to Yamatai, a lost Japanese kingdom. When their ship was struck by a thunderstorm and the crew became separated, Lara was forced to take up arms and find her friends, whilst learning more about the island’s mysteries in the process.

Eventually she managed to get off this island but instead of going back to her normal life, Lara decided to become a treasure hunter. She came across numerous foes including oni, giant T-Rexes, bears and all manner of supernatural creatures and yet she has always survived despite being pitted against foes with powers beyond that of mortals. This is because Lara is one to never give up and will always see a treasure hunt to the end no matter how dangerous or deadly it gets because at her core, she is a Tomb Raider.

Nathan Drake

“What's that saying? ‘Fortune favors the bold’? Yeah, right. Lucky me.”

Born Nathan Morgan in 1975, Nate and his brother Sam were left orphans by a pretty painful combination: a missing father and a mother who committed suicide. Raised in a Catholic orphanage, young Nate soon ran away following his brother, who had tracked some of their mother’s personal effects to a old manor. There, they learned that their mother believed that the English adventurer Sir Francis Drake had left heirs behind in spite of what the records say, and the Morgan brothers were entrusted with her journal to complete it. Now on the run as fugitives, Nate and Sam took on the surname “Drake” and set out to complete their mother’s life’s work.

Over the course of his life, Nathan discovered many an ancient location and the treasures kept inside alongside two of his recurring partners: Victor Sullivan, his pseudo-father figure, and Elena Fisher, a reporter who would eventually become his wife. His travels have taken him to the jungles of South East Asia, the mountains of the Himalayas and the scorching heat of the Rub Al’Khali desert.  While travelling, he’s come to fend off threat after threat on his life including mercenaries, warlords, ancient organizations and even supernatural foes such as the dreaded Descendants of El Dorado and the Guardians of Shambhala.

Currently, he’s retired with Elena and the two have a daughter named Cassie.

Arsenal

Lara Croft

Pistols

You can’t have Lara without mentioning her pistols. She’s had a wide array of pistols in the past that she dual wields most if not all the time in most of her games.

Rise gives her 3 different hand guns, which include the revolver, semi-auto pistol, and the heavy pistol. The revolver is the most balanced, with the semi-auto delivering faster bullet speed and the heavy pistol packing a bigger punch than the other guns.

The pistols Lara dual wields vary from time to time, but her strategy with them is all the same: shoot it until it dies.

Seriously, 3 shots from her guns can take out a velociraptor in no time. They also have unlimited ammo, at least pre-reboot.

Shotguns

Lara has a long range of shotguns, including pump-action, break-action, full-auto and tactical varieties. They all offer the same range of power and recoil stability, with break-action having the highest damage. She also has a shotgun called the Harbinger which has the highest rate of fire out of any of her other shotguns, delivering a decent amount of damage at a fast rate.

Lara also has access to Dragonfire shell casings for her shotguns that allow for fire damage as well.

Rifles

Lara has access to an array of rifles, like the SMG, assault rifle, bolt action rifle, military rifle and the Golden Fang. The Golden Fang has the highest damage out of any of the other rifles, at the expense of all other stats. One time she even went old school and used the Winchester Model 1892 saddle ring carbine.

All of Lara’s rifles can also be fit with a suppressor, a laser sight aim pointer, and be turned into a veritable grenade launcher as well. Which is… actually insane.

Bows

The bow is without a doubt one of the most versatile weapons Lara has at her disposal. They come into 4 types.

• Recurve bow, which allows for a balance of damage, draw speed and accuracy
• Compound bow allows for a faster draw and arrow speed for increased damage
• Ancient Horn bow is another jack of all trades with an exception of an increased rate of fire
• Grim Whisper, another balanced bow that offers the fastest rate of fire of any other bow.  Coupled with pretty decent damage, it seems to be Lara’s best bow.

It doesn’t stop there, her bows also have several different types of ammunition, ranging from your basic arrow, to poison, fire, and grenade arrows. Her poison arrows can be upgraded to create a cloud of poison that gradually depletes enemy health. Fire arrows can be upgraded to napalm and Greek fire arrows which intensely increase the heat of the fire and spread it more dangerously along the ground, melting armored foes quickly. Grenade arrows allow for explosive ammunition and can be upgraded to allow for more explosives to be armed upon release of the arrow in the air.

Lara also obtains a bow called the Dream Stinger that allows for a special arrow type called the Witches’ Pollen, which is an hallucinogenic pollen that causes very intense and scary hallucinations.

Explosives

Lara has also used many explosives in the past including bombs and explosives that she crafted from scratch. She has also used a grenade launcher.

Miscellaneous Weapons

Lara has several exploration tools that can be used in combat such as a grappling hook, which can be used for swinging around as well as grappling to high ledges, a climbing axe, which can be used to finish off foes as well as for climbing objects and places (she can also upgrade this weapon with a wire spool) and binoculars for increased visual range. Lara is also skilled with knives and usually keeps a combat knife around for handy situations.

Nathan Drake

AK-47

As a preface to most of what you’ll see, the Uncharted games only allow Nate to carry two guns on his person at all times: a two-handed firearm and a sidearm. While Nate seems to be comfortable using almost any weapon he can get his hands on, promotional materials (not to mention his appearance in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale) give special love to this classic assault rifle. Developed by the Soviet Union after World War II, it’s remained a staple of various armies and militia groups throughout the world. The magazine can hold up to 30 rounds, and Nate has no problem using this, or any other similar weapons, for melee purposes, like using the rifle’s stock as a bat.

However, it is worth noting that he is more than capable of disarming enemies and using their own weapons against them.

Pistols

While there hasn’t been a pistol Nate has much of an affinity for compared to the AK-47, he’s admittedly a crack shot with whatever he brings with him. He’s at least experienced enough to shoot them while hanging off ledges, ropes and on moving vehicles with not that many problems.

Sniper Rifles

While usually Nate likes to go with pistols and shotguns, sometimes he will use a sniper rifle, and surprisingly he’s an extremely good shot with it. In the series he has used a T-bolt sniper rifle, which is extremely powerful and accurate but a bit on the slow side, so usually it is for taking down slow but powerful enemies. He has also used the Dragon Rifle. Show of hands, what do you get when you combine a SVD Dragnov and a Romanian PSL/FPK Sniper Rifle? ...Time’s up, it’s the Dragon Rifle. It has really good range and damage but only has a max ammo count of 10 shots.

Machetes/Swords

In combat, despite relying mostly on guns and fists, Nate is an expert swordsman easily capable of knocking out foes skilled with the sword. For example, in a sword fight against Rafe he managed to defeat him despite being much older and physically weaker than his opponent. He has also used a machete for close range but he’s no Jason Voorhees.

Grenades

Another staple to the series, Nate can carry four on his person and with his pistols. He can toss them from almost any position. He also can also toss back thrown grenades at any would-be attackers.

For improvised explosives, Nate is also trained well enough to toss a small propane tank into the air and shoot it before it hits the ground. However, he has to find those scattered around the local area.

Rocket Launchers

Nathan, though he tends not to use it too often, is certainly capable enough of using an RPG-7, which specializes in taking down armored vehicles.

Grappling Hook

A more recent addition to Nate’s arsenal, although it has been stated that he had been able to use this during his younger years. With it, he can swing across gaps and pull objects closer to him. In terms of combat, it has a rather limited use - he can’t exactly pull people closer to him ala Scorpion or Batman, but he can use it as a melee weapon to bash people with.

Miscellaneous Weapons

While unlikely to appear in the actual battle as it contradicts the realistic setting of Uncharted, Nate has used a variety of other weapons which appeared in his movelist in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. These include a tranquilizer dart gun, a grenade launcher, gatling gun and the ability to spawn a variety of objects from his home series, such as barriers for cover, a rope to swing on while he fires his AK, propane tanks to blow up, a random pillar to topple, and the El Dorado Sarcophagus, the cursed treasure from the first game which transforms his opponents into Descendants that he can kill with a shot from his golden gun.

Other weapons which don’t appear in All-Stars include a flare gun (which he used to accidentally destroy the city of Ubar with THREE GODDAMN BULLETS), a riot shield to deflect bullets and use as a melee weapon if necessary, and a crossbow (a powerful weapon that can easily kill Shambala’s guardians in one hit).

Artifacts/Mysticals

Lara Croft

Mjolnir - Yep. Lara Croft is strong enough to use both a pair of electrical gauntlets and the hammer which has been described to be strong enough to level mountains. In-game it is at the very least strong enough to collapse stone. As for the electrical gauntlets, they increase Lara’s strength to superhuman levels.

Excalibur - Also capable of destroying stone with ease. She currently has it at the end of Tomb Raider Underworld.

The Dagger of Xian - Transforms you into a dragon when you stab yourself with it.

Ancient Spear - A weapon she uses in Guardian of Light that has been blessed by the gods.

Nathan Drake

The first one of these lovely items is the Shield of Asgard, which reduces damage by 75% and restores Nate’s health to maximum but decreases Nate’s speed by 50%. However, like the Baby Face Blaster from TF2, if you down enemies you can get increased movement speed. Indra’s Eternity slows down enemies within a field of slowed time.

The Spirit of Djinn allows Nate to teleport short distances for a limited amount of time. The Staff of Ayar Manco allows Nate to see enemy positions, and Nate’s most devastating mystical, The Wrath of El Dorado (yes, the same one from the first game), summons a flurry specters that spread out and haunt/kill nearby foes.  

*Note: Nate’s Mysticals are only found within the Uncharted 4 online multiplayer mode, so their inclusion in the episode is slim, though they are worth noting regardless.

Abilities

Lara Croft

Hand-to-Hand

Lara has extensive training in martial arts since she was trained by the very best. While she has learned many different fighting styles over the years, her favorite is kickboxing, which is a kick-based martial art that focuses on speed and disabling your enemy before finishing them off with a quick blow. This complements Lara’s acrobatic style perfectly, as she overwhelms her foes with quick kicks and acrobatic movements - Lara never wastes a move and always plans ahead. She can outmaneuver and disable pretty much any mercenary and soldier she comes across.

Luck

Lara Croft is incredibly lucky though unlike Nathan - she doesn’t rely on it nearly as much. Though she has escape situations through sheer luck - honestly it’s amazing that she hasn’t been killed it. Such as the time she survived a plane crash - in plane crashes the death rate is extremely high and despite that she survived and managed to survive being in a snowy area for 2 weeks despite the freezing conditions with little warmth. She is incredibly lucky.

Intelligence

Lara Croft is extremely intelligent, having learned many languages and is incredibly knowledgeable about ancient history and modern history. In particular, in the reboot Lara displays some of her knowledge of ancient Japanese architecture and history. Lara is also knowledgeable about architecture, and culture, and can spout off facts about any coin, artifact, or ruin she finds. She knows about most of the historic treasures, areas and often keeps note of them just incase she decides to visit them later. Lara has been taught by some of the greatest teachers in the world and is extremely world werely and has knowledge that far surpasses most people her age. She is also exceptionally skilled when it comes to fighting, able to read and predict foes take them down like Batman and Sherlock Holmes. She also appears to have some know-how in the medical department. Lara has also been able to solve ancient tomb puzzles and has extensive problem solving skills.  

Nathan Drake

Hand-to-Hand

Nate has no known formal hand-to-hand or martial arts training. Instead, he seems to be more reliant on brawling than anything else. Aside from throwing wild haymakers and the like, Nate is willing to use background objects like pipes, bottles, the dirt off the ground and even his own gun as melee weapons to get the upper hand. While his skills are serviceable enough to take out various grunts like giant soccer hooligans, mercenaries and pirates, he can be outmatched if he encounters a foe with abilities much more refined than his; such was the case with his encounters against his former ally Rafe Adler, a trained swordsman, and Nadine Ross, a South African mercenary.

Luck

Here’s something that seems to follow Nate around a lot, for better or worse. More often than not, he has a tendency to survive events that would otherwise be his end in spite of what would normally happen to any other individual in his situation. For example, in two separate instances he survived an exploding airplane by narrowly catching a piece of cargo and using its parachute and he’s avoided getting crushed by a tumbling train section headed towards him by making it into a tunnel at the last second. At the same time however, this “luck” gets him into these kinds of situations in the first place. Him surviving them is a sort of balancing of the scales.

Intelligence

Befitting his occupation as a fortune hunter, Nate is a well-educated individual. As a child, his upbringing in a Catholic orphanage gave him insight into religious matters which he would apply to his treasure hunting escapades, such as recalling the story of the Penitent Thief during his hunt for Captain Avery’s treasure. While it is not known if he did receive a formal education as he grew up, Nate has amassed a large amount of knowledge on various parts of history, learning more about locations and treasures as part of his job.

Much of what he has researched goes into his journal, where he keeps tabs on his adventures and friends, as well as making notes for the various puzzles he has to solve. The flipside is that Nate is not just an ordinary bookworm; he is more than willing to get his hands dirty and is a pragmatic fighter on the field, although (as something of a shout-out to a certain other famous archeologist who inspired him) much of his plans and strategies tend to be made up on the fly to match the situation.

Feats

Lara Croft

Overall

• Survived shipwrecking on Yamatai, and went on to become a tomb raiding archaeologist.
• Took on small armies of the Brotherhood
• Took down multiple mercs
• Defeated the immortal Deathless Ones
• Took down mythical beings such as the Oni
• Defeated an Yeti
• Rejected immortally because she didn’t need it
• Has survived many things that would very easily kill a normal person
• Survived the sinking of the Endurance in the Dragon's Triangle
• Was able to defeat the Solarii brotherhood
• Defeated Himiko
• Defeated Solarii's leader, Mathias
• Has become one of the most skilled archer, gunfighter and melee combatant of her time.
• Found the lost city of Kitezh and prevented Trinity from abusing the Divine Source by destroying it
• Took down a bear

Strength

• Strong enough to bend metal
• Strong enough to hold metal gate
• In puzzles she is strong enough to easily push large amounts of stone blocks
• Pull down Pillars with relative ease
• Can kill ancient beings such as the Magdalena and the Deathless one

Speed

• Bullet timer
• Can easily run away from bears which are extremely fast.
• Easily evades a crashing plane
• Managed to dodge a speeding bullet train
• Can avoid rockets with ease

Durability

• Falls 30 Feet with a Metal Rod in her. She not only manages to survive but she actually manages to walk it off.
• Gets thrown several feet and lands on a rock and just gets up
• Took another hard fall and yet she was fine
• Easily walks off being caught in a bear trap
• Survives a massive explosion
• Falls 40 feet and is fine, despite that usually killing a person
• Managed to survive a helicopter crash
• Survived missile exploding in her house - which is at the very least small building level
• In the comics, she survived her survived her plane crashing and was then forced to survive in the cold for 2 weeks
• Has tanked multiple explosions in the past

Nathan Drake

Overall

• Discovered the lost cities of Shambala (Shangri-La) and Iram of the Pillars and the treasures of El Dorado and the legendary pirate Captain Avery. In the cases of Shambala and Iram, he’s managed to successfully escape them during their destruction.
• Defeated the warlord Zoran Lazarevic after being empowered by the powerful resin of Shambala.
• Defeated Atoq Navarro, who was armed with a shotgun, with nothing but his fists.
• Is an omniglot; can understand and (to certain extents) speak Spanish, Arabic, Tibetian, Indonesian and Latin among others.
• Can solve various puzzles.
• Promoted Subway
• Can operate a tank turret effectively enough to shoot down a helicopter.
• Can climb large distances without any help or climbing aids.
• Has amassed a large body count, including pirates, rival treasure hunters, mercenaries, and supernatural foes such as the Descendants (zombies created by the El Dorado sarcophagus), Yeti (in reality, the costumed guardians of Shambala empowered by its resin) and Djinn (a hallucination - he had in fact slaughtered most of Katherine Marlowe’s men whom he perceived to be Djinn because of a drug) - most of which he’s done by himself, without the aid of others. (A video made by IGN before the release of Uncharted 4 put his body count at 1829, with 68 vehicles destroyed - as this was made before the fourth game and does not factor in spin-offs such as Golden Abyss and related literature, his actual kill count must be higher)

Strength

• Destroyed an armored truck chasing him while on the run with just an AK-47.
• Is able to push large rocks with relative ease
• Can kick giant oil drums around without too much trouble, and push over a small pillar
• Can easily lift wood
• Is strong enough to deal with Guardians of shambhala
• Is strong enough to move statues around.

Speed

• Dodged an RPG. (Normal RPGs travel at 115 m/s)
• Can outrun a collapsing bridge.
• Briefly outruns an armored truck
• Is difficult for a highly trained sniper to track
• Fast enough to clamber up a wall in the span of severals seconds and dodge falling rocks.
• Able performing death-defying jumps over enormous chasms.
• Is described as moving too fast, and difficult for a trained sniper to track
  Is a bullet timer.
• Dodges a rocket while sliding down a rope.

Durability

• Survived getting shot in the gut, having the train he was in derailed and sent careening off a cliff in the Himalayas, managed to climb out of said train before it fell of the cliff and was conscious enough to fight off a search party with no problems.

• Nate, after getting his face smashed in as well as bashed with numerous bottles and getting smashed through an open window and then falling several feet onto a table, was still fine
• Can survive point blank grenade blasts in Uncharted 4
• While being marooned in the pouring rainstorm on an island he decided to climb a rock wall and then fell several feet and while it did knock him unconscious - Nate still lived
• Got his head smashed into a light and yet is still a-okay
• Caused an explosion which destroyed the plane he was in, and survived falling to his death by latching onto a box of cargo and parachuting to safety.
• Survived the Rub al’Khali desert with no food or water, and was ready enough to battle a small group of soldiers after wandering into a small town.
• Survived a shipwreck.

Weaknesses

Lara Croft

In terms of pre-reboot Lara, she doesn’t really have that many weaknesses. Though at the end of the day she is still human and despite having to deal with some pretty insane stuff she can be killed via normal human means. Also she tends to rely more on long range weaponry and her traditional bullets then CQC, preferring to shoot the enemy rather than punching or kicking them. Post-reboot Lara does have more weaknesses - for example she appears to suffer from PTSD and is not the most mentally stable person, which will sometimes affect her in battle.

Nathan Drake

In spite of all his impressive feats, Nate is still human and is thus vulnerable to the same kind of injuries that regular people face; i.e. he cannot walk away from being shot in the head. While he can hold his own in a fist fight, he can be outmatched by those who are more experienced than he is.

Summary

Lara Croft

Advantages:

• Stronger
• Faster (Nate’s a bullet timer, sure, but Lara is way past that)
• More durable
• Equipment is stronger than Drake’s
• More skilled in martial arts
• More intelligent
• Has more experience
• Has numerous hax weapons that would kill Nate in one shot

Disadvantages:

• Nathan’s unpredictable fighting style could surprise her at points
• Nathan is a better jumper
• Focuses less on hand-to-hand combat and usually tries to be at a distance while in combat

Nathan Drake

Advantages:

• Is a more unpredictable fighter
• Is a bit better jumper
• Relies more on hand-to-hand combat

Disadvantages:

• Has worse strength feats than Lara
• Slower
• Less durable
• While smart, not as smart as Lara
• Arsenal isn’t as good
• Less experince
• Not as skilled of a martial artist and unlike Lara, has no formal training

Verdicts

Malcolm Belmont

Hey look i am back from the dimension of bagpipes and haggis..got that was terrible for this new season..so what’s the first episode of Season 4 “reads Note - Lara Croft vs Nathan Drake”. Oh boy this is going to be a fun on.In this battle of explorers, which on comes out on top, well here’s my opinion on who would win.

Let’s first get into CQC aka close quarters combat. I got to admit this one is rather tough as while Lara is the much more trained fighting - being trained in most martial arts and specializing in kickboxing but Nathan’s biggest advantage is that he is a master of using the environment to his advantage and while his fighting style is very rough around the edges it can be very effective against unskilled foes,slower foes. While Nathan’s fighting style may be effective against mercenaries against a skilled foe like Lara Croft - he is definitely going to have a bad time so if this fight ends up as a close quarters fight then Lara has Nate beat.

Now let’s talk weaponry. Overall i would say that Nate has more weapons as well as having a greater variety on his side considering for the most part - Lara only relies on a couple of weapons - mostly her guns and her bow. However while Nate has a greater amount of weapons in terms of quality - Lara has Nate Beat. Not only does Lara have two very quick dual pistols which fire bullets at a much faster rate than any of Nate’s weapons but her biggest trump card in this category is her bow which has a shit ton of different arrow types including Poison,Grenade,Fire and even Greek Fire arrows which are easily her strongest arrows to date. If Nate is hit with the Grenade,Greek Fire or the Dream Stinger he is bound screwed so while Nate does have a larger arsenal i would also have to give this point to Lara.

Now let’s talk intelligence/experience - It’s no secret that Nate is an extremely intelligence despite having very little forming training and experience due to being an orphan. Despite having little formal training Nate has amassed a large amount of knowledge on various parts of history, learning more about the locations and treasures as part of his job. Nate is also a genius in combat - easily able to take out much stronger foes through the use of his fighting style as well as his own intelligence. However, Lara has had experience from the very best - she is far more intelligent than the average person and is extremely knowledgeable on treasures and ancient locations. Due to her martial arts training she has refined her fighting style to a tee using her intelligence and fighting style to get the best result. While Nate has faced his shared amount of supernatural foes - Lara has fought Gods,Dinosaurs and extremely powerful mythical beings and yet she has come out on top every single time. For the most part Nate deals with ordinary mercenaries and a couple of supernatural foes. Nathan cannot match Lara’s intelligence and experience so in the category of intelligence/experience - Lara outclasses him.

It should be pretty clear that Lara wins this match, while i do not think that this is a stomp by any means as both are human at the end of the day despite all the insane feats both have pulled off. Lara has more dangerous weapons, is far more intelligent and experienced then Drake and is a more skilled fighter than Drake. How i personally see this fight ending is at first Lara would be surprised at Drake’s skills but she would quickly adapt to them and take him out with relative ease. So in the battle of treasure hunters - Lara is the clear winner here. Sorry Nathan but you are simply outclassed and outmatched.

ramon_zer0

.

Admittedly, this is one of those fights I have long felt that DB had to do in their lifespan, so I have to take this in stride, knowing full well that this ends with one of my favorite video game characters - nay, my favorite Playstation character ever - drowning in a pool of his own blood. While not a flat-out stomp, I view it more as a clear-cut victory: Lara has the tools and skills needed to give her all the edges against Nate, but he still has a fighting chance.

Okay, let me try to clarify: considering that we’re dealing with “regular” humans - well, in comparison with a lot of the previous combatants - I wager that Nate could win if he gets a lucky headshot; key word there being luck. Sure, being lucky is fine, but when the other guy has done almost anything you’ve done but scaled up, has a better arsenal (even if we honestly limited it to just their most iconic weapons like the bow, AK and pistols) and can kick your ass in a fist fight, all roads lead to Lady Croft stealing both whatever treasure they’re fighting over and the fight itself.

In a lot of ways, I see this as a retread of Snake vs. Sam Fisher - two “regular” humans fighting, except that one ends up having a lot more ridiculous stuff in their resume which basically means they should take the fight with relative ease.

Guess I said my piece, now I’m off to read about this meteor which may possibly wipe out all life in the middle of February and think about booking another flight home.

Quick note: If Nate does end up winning, I am going to laugh my ass off at seeing another character I like walk away with a win I (and a lot of people for that matter) feel he does not deserve - aka Dante vs Bayonetta round deux.

Kirby Kid

The reception for this episode has been fairly positive, and I gotta say, this is the most excited I’ve been for a Death Battle fight in a LONG time.

I’ve played both series pretty extensively. Played all the Uncharted’s, played a little of the old Tomb Raider games and played both of the reboot titles. If you haven’t played either of these game series, shame on you.

Now with that said, I think we all know who the glaringly obvious winner here is. Despite all of Nate’s charm and wit, he has absolutely nothing on Lara. How is it glaringly obvious? We gave Nate a section on LUCK of all things, that has to be a sign. Lara has done some incredible things, incredible things that simply outclass Nathan’s feats. She’s fought dinosaurs, monsters, undead soldiers, Demigods, Ghosts, a bloody T-rex and an assortment of other supernatural and cryptid creatures. Meanwhile, Nathan’s only really fought zombies and hulking super soldiers, and “Djinn’s” that were just an hallucination to his mind. While for sure intimidating and a great accomplishment, Lara has a lot more experience and expertise when it comes to dealing with a variety of different foes.

While Nathan has a lot of weapons at his disposal, Lara has a reliable assortment of weapons that she regularly keeps on her person. Because of this, her arsenal is way more fleshed out and powerful thanks to this.

Nathan is a survivor, sure. However, Lara is as much if not more so a survivor herself, crafting supplies and weapons from scraps that she FINDS OFF THE FLOOR to use and upgrade her weapons.

Not only is Lara a much more capable survivor and treasure huntress, she is also experienced in martial arts, and just to give you an idea of how Nate does against those types of people, here is Nadine, another british bouncing betty that absolutely wipes the floor with Nathan in hand to hand combat. Not once, but twice. Nate even had help from his brother and it was STILL a stalemate.

I love Nathan, but he is severely outclassed here.

Hate to say it, but anything he can do, she can do better.

(Also shoutout to my boy Electrocole for helping with Nate’s portion of the blog. Really appreciate it man!)

HomestuckLover

So this fight is finally happening.

It should have been Morrigan.

Before I just declare the likely obvious winner, I'd like to point out all the things each of the two can do that the other can't.

Lara:

Has hunter vision, Ezio style for stealth and finding resources, living things, and destinations

Has a bow and certain arrows that are all potential one shots and the poisonous ones have a big AoE

Can carry almost any weapon she picks up on her, rather than Nathan’s small two

Can craft weapons in the middle of a gunfight from simple materials and objects

Can do air flips, which already wins Torrian points

Can be considered lucky without a catch

Nate:

Can pull off inflation art?

Soooo yea. Nate’s kinda fucked here. His best options in a fight (the mysticals) opens the path for Lara using her artifacts which only spells bigger doom for Nate.

This fight is literally the song, Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better, where Lara is the chick always outshining the dude. So in the end, Lara should take this.
and to hand combat. Not once, but twice. Nate even had help from his brother and it was STILL a stalemate.

I love Nathan, but he is severely outclassed here.

ShadowGlyde:

I’m not too much of a big fan for either of these series, but I’ve had a bit more exposure to the Uncharted series than I’ve had with Tomb Raider. I’ve played Uncharted 1, 2, and 3, and the only TR game I’ve played all of the way through was the first reboot one back in 2013. I’ve played a little of 2 and a demo of 3 a long while back, as well as having read one TR novel and a volume of the reboot comics, but that’s it. I feel like I know more about Nate as a character than I do about Lara. However, as someone who’s more familiar with Uncharted than Tomb Raider, even I feel like Lara has the edge over Nate.

For one thing, Lara has fought far more interesting and dangerous opposition than Nate has. She’s fought dinosaurs and actual supernatural beings, whereas the most dangerous opponents Nate has fought were people who have been altered by pseudo-science (or just straight-up hallucinations). Nate’s fought people dressed as Yetis? Well, Lara has fought at least one actual Yeti in the comics. Don’t get me wrong. Nate has fought some interesting villains, but when you’re comparing resumes here, Lara has a more impressive track record of enemies fought.

My second reason for seeing Lara winning this is that she just seems to be the more naturally experienced fighter. Having played the Uncharted games, I was amazed at how much crap Nate gets into and how close he gets to dying in those situations. He survives them, sure, but it always feels like it’s more out of luck than anything else, and more often than not, he gets out of them by the skin of his teeth. With Lara, most of the time she seems to have a grip on the situation even when things get tense. She’s able to analyze a situation and make plans that keep her at least one step ahead of her opponents even under fire. Nate seems more lucky than skilled, and while luck can mean the difference between making or breaking a situation, I’d rather put my money on someone who can actually control the situation.

As I’ve said, I’ve had limited exposure to either series, so I could be missing something here. However, as a casual fan of both series, I’m going to have to give this one to Lara Croft.