User blog comment:Battlefan237/JJBA minor antagonists showdown: DIO's Agents vs. La Squadra/@comment-3189283-20190311101608

Let’s see shall we

Leader

Risotto wins this match-up fairly easily. Enya has a pretty powerful stand but in order for her to actually do anything meaningful with it she has to cut someone, not an easy task against other Stand users. There aren’t likely to be any graveyards nearby either so she can’t build up an army of undead like she did against the Jotaro and co so she’s pretty much limited to trying to cut an opponent and take control of them. Metallica is an incredibly dangerous stand because of the many ways it can kill a person, from creating sharp metal objects inside their body to making them suffocate due to lack of oxygen flow. The fact it can also be used to make Risotto invisible and act as a makeshift healing ability is just the icing on the cake.

Edge: La Squadra

Stand Suit User

Normally when someone says their stand is “invincible” it’s quickly proven false but in Yellow Temperance’s case it’s actually completely true. Once it gets a hold of you there is nothing you can do to harm it and it will slowly eat away at you. However, the massive drawback to this is that Rubber Sol himself is very vulnerable to attack and while Yellow Temperance does protect him to an extent Jotaro proved it’s not exactly hard to get to the user. His best bet is to disguise as one of La Squadra and sneakily attach Yellow Temperance to them but Rubber Sol is a terrible actor and overconfident asshole so that won’t last very long.

Ghiaccio is just as unapproachable as Rubber Sol albeit for a different reason; anyone who gets remotely close to him can be frozen in place. Unlike Rubber Sol he’s also an actual competent assassin and while he is prone to going ballistic over small details that doesn’t affect this actual combat capability that much. In a straight match-up between the two I’d see Ghiaccio coming out on top because while Yellow Temperance is immune to freezing Rubber Sol very much isn’t and given the close range of his stand, he’ll be getting right in the danger zone. As an asset to their teams they’re roughly even with maybe a slight edge to Ghiaccio for being more professional but Ghiaccio wins out here because he’d win out against Rubber Sol.

Edge: La Squadra

The Shrinker

Alessi gets this one easily. Seth’s ability works incredibly quickly, just one touch shaves off about 15 years off whoever it hits, and a few seconds is enough to turn someone into a foetus. Bearing in mind that none of La Squadra had their stands from a young age once they do get de-aged, they have almost no way to defend themselves, both from Alessi or from the various other stand users. Little Feet can reduce a person to a similarly helpless state, but they would still retain their Stand and it takes much longer to take effect. Formaggio is simply outclassed here even if he is the better assassin.

Edge: DIO’s Agents

Covert Operative

Illusio has one of the most busted non-main villain stands in the whole series because he can essentially separate a Stand user and their Stand, putting them at the mercy of his Man in the Mirror. While granted he does actually have to have a mirror present to be able to do this, I have no doubt there will be plenty of mirrors around the immediate area, either placed by himself or just belonging to regular civilians. High Priestess is actually a very good stand as well as it can disguise itself as the mundane of thing and catch someone by surprise and it’s razor sharp claws and teeth will make short work of any person caught by it. Midler also has the advantage of being able to chill far away from the battle where she can’t be harmed something which many of the other stand users here lack. It’s unfortunate that she’s come up against Illusio here because he has the much better ability both in a single match-up and for the team as a whole.

Edge: La Squadra

Long Range Menace

Baby Face has the potential to be a very powerful stand if used correctly and it’s ability to turn people, body parts and inanimate objects into cubes make it very dangerous. The fact it can be harmed by normal means is a big downside, but the lack of damage reflection means Melone himself is safe from harm. However, the sheer amount of set-up needed to create a homunculus plus the fact that the Stand is independent and might just flat out ignore the advice Melone is giving it makes it a pain in the ass to use. Tower of Grey is a much simpler stand in comparison and it’s incredible speed makes it almost impossible to hit unless you can trap it and none of La Squadra really has the means of doing this. Grey Fly himself is also probably the most unsuspecting person you could imagine and out of everyone will blend in the best with the crowd. While Baby Face could potentially turn the tide in La Squadra’s favour I have to side with Tower of Grey’s more reliable method of attack.

Edge: DIO’s Agents

The Duo

Despite much preferring them as a pair I have to say that Prosciutto and Pesci are outclassed in this battle. Grateful Dead can have potentially devastating effect but using it in it’s AOE form will cause problems for Prosciutto’s allies apart from Ghiaccio who can keep himself cool. The fact that DIO’s agents also have two female warriors also means they won’t be affected as quickly and half of them have remote stands so wouldn’t be in the immediate area anyhow. Pesci’s stand Beach Boy is much more dangerous but is dragged down significantly by the user who is a big Mammoni and will quickly crack under the pressure.

Hol Horse is also a big coward, but this doesn’t usually affect his fighting ability and Emperor is a very powerful Stand as it can fire as many bullets as it wants and control them completely. Hanged Man is also a very good Stand as it cannot be harmed without incredible precision (which none of La Squadra’s stands really have) and it can constantly zip around the battlefield attacking at will while J. Geil sits chilling far away from any danger.

Edge: DIO’s Agents

Final Verdict

While it is a close-run thing, I have to side with DIO’s Agents on this one. This is largely down to their Stands being more simplistic meaning they can better adapt to different situations. La Squadra suffers from what many Stands from part 4 onwards suffer from, overspecification and while some such as Metallica, White Album and Beach Boy are fairly straight forward others such as Baby Face, Grateful Dead, Little Feet and Man in the Mirror are more convoluted in their mechanics. While losing out in individual match-ups I think DIO’s Agents actually have the more powerful stands overall, with Seth and Hanged Man being the two stand outs (pun intentional). If the goal of this was to simply assassinate Pucci then la Squadra would have snatched this because their Stands are obviously better suited for it but in a straight up fight to the death DIO’s agents are carrying the more potent damage dealing Stands.

DIO’s Agents: 2,600

La Squadra: 2,400