User blog:Legionaire22/Why Angron was so powerful

With the book "Betrayer" by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, we have firm proof that Angron is, if not the most, then certainly second most powerful Primarch when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, seen when he defeated Leman Russ in single combat (Russ being quite known for being hard to defeat in battle, seeing as Magnus could barely put a scratch on him with his psychic powers, Horus could only fight him into a loosing stalemate and the Lion could only knock him out by Russ dropping his guard. Not to mention being punched by the Emperors Power Fist) which would put him as possibly only being able to be bested by Sanguinius or the Emperor himself (Possibly Horus, though he himself have stated the unlikeliness of such an act)

So, trying to find some way to discredit his victory over my favorite Primarch, which I failed at, I have instead found the major reasons why Angron was so great a warrior.

The Butchers Nails
Now, the first and most obvious reason for it is because of his Butchers Nails. These Nails ensure that his body reacted positively to violence and battle, which gave him a further drive for this and, in turn, causing him to become a lot better at it. Practice makes perfect, and Angron had the most practice of all.

Now, Imposter had an interresting comment yesterday meant to goad me into rage (Damn you Blink Dagger!) about how "Russ was beaten by a cripple", refering to the degenerating effects of the Butchers Nails.

However, this is not really the case. Indeed, the Nails caused tremendous damage to Angrons brain, but thats about where the damage stopped. It did not give him any major inhibitions during battle. In fact, it is part of why Angron was so deadly. Now, Imposter saw it as an insult due to how humans react when in pain, only taking to stressing our bodies against it through willpower and desperation. However, Angron reacted more like, say, a dog would. Most animals, especially carnivores, become overly aggresive and, in some cases, immune to pain, their bodies distributing more and more adrenaline, making reaction time faster, turning a bite that can crack a bone into a thing that can shear right through a leg (Has been done by a German Shepard in pain) and, as mentioned above, dulling pain.

In other words, the injuries of Angron made him even more dangerous, not less.

(And Russ was totally just kidding around...totally...*sob*)

Lack of survival drive
A quote that Angron is credited with is his lesson to Khârn: "There is nothing more dangerous then a warrior who does not care if he dies. And Kharn, all warriors want to live."

This is fact: All living sentient beings, and most animals, have a drive that just cannot be fought, that causes their body to work differently in certain situations in order to best keep it alive. This could be causing the effects of fear or simply rerouting brain-activity to ensure that the body can keep functioning, even if it means giving up something in return.

Not so for Angron. His Nails had removed the "program" in his brain that ensured this, and he considered himself dead when the Emperor had kidnapped him. As such, he could force his body to pump adrenaline and blood into his arms and legs, even if he had a large gaping wound that the blood needed to clot around. This is why Angron had the absolute most scars of any primarch, he could simply stop his body from repairing damage and put all effort into fighting and dealing damage.

No tactical thinking
Now here's what I realized was what made Angron the most dangerous of all Primarchs.

The Primarchs are all tactical geniuses, some more than others, and they all led their legions. Except for Angron

And this is quite a distracting thing to do, the other Primarchs would have to constantly focus on moving their forces around, even in the middle of battle, something Angron would not have to do. He was 100% focused on his enemy, he had no awareness of the battle or even the enviroment around him, which put him above most other Primarchs when it came to battle.

And so I have deemed that his battle with Russ doesn't count. My word is law!

Just kidding, Russ lost and got his ass kicked. Or well, his throat but still.