Thread:Saris Khan/@comment-24384232-20141211031559/@comment-3403804-20141212011914

Allow me to inform you, that when I mention "different stages of bankai" I'm not going for any releases above Bankai or any super-bankais for that matter. What I'm talking about are alternate manifestations of the Zanpakuto's powers. Each alternate Bankai would probably possess different takes on the core power, with none of them being inherently more powerful, but simply providing different options. Much akin to the different forms of magic utilized by Kido Masters or Hakuda Stances.

You could have a Bankai-Release where the Zanpakuto emphasized raw destructive power, another who emphasized defense and another who made the Shinigami exceptionally capable of fighting toe-to-toe with a single powerful opponent. I should've been more specific, I realize.

Also in regards to this. Saris Khan wrote: All things considered, Zankensoki skills are, wait for it, elements of a whole. Yes. Cool, you've got 10/10 points in Kido and 2s in everything else. This guy over here has 10/10 in Zanjutsu and 7s in the rest. Now let's see how many seconds do you survive...

To present an argument like this, we need to assume that both individuals have roughly the same amount of experience and skill, and have trained for exactly the same time. If that's the case, The Kido Master would last as long as he'd last against any other equal, regardless of how the opponent happens to be more balanced. Because while the Zanjutsu user has been training their other skills, the Kido Master would've focused almost exclusively on his kido ability. Through that, their specialization would be broad enough to cover up for their deficiencies.

Meanwhile, the Kido Specialist has focus, the Zanjutsu user has gotten their talents all over the place. And every time they utilize something other than their assigned specialty, they're to my mind, performing in a sub-optimal manner. They'd be unable to employ their full arsenal at any one time, their skill at Hakuda, especially, would be superfluous whenever they're using a blade. Whereas the Kido Master is consistently at full power because he relies only on that single skill.