The Uncharted series is based on an action-adventure theme that sees Nathan Drake traverse the globe looking for lost treasure and hidden cities. He always finds trouble along the way that requires him and his allies to fight against the enemies’ forces that vary in terms of the level of threat they pose.
With Tom Holland’s Uncharted feature film arriving, it’s worth looking at the fighting prowess of the characters in the original material. These are based on the heroes and villains who were actually seen fighting, meaning certain characters like Zoran Lazarevic, Atoq Navarro, and Katherine Marlowe don’t qualify since they never got around to fighting Nathan or the other protagonists in hand-to-hand combat.
Elena Fisher
Elena is among the most intelligent Uncharted characters but she’s the one with the least experience or ability when it comes to combat. Elena is surprisingly proficient in the use of firearms despite being a reporter, which is how she survived the events of the series.
When it comes to fighting, Elena was always either captured or outmatched because she went up against mercenaries who were stronger. To her credit, Elena rarely ever got herself in situations where she had to fight since she was so good at stealth and firearm usage.
Rafe Adler
Fans of Uncharted have made many memes at Rafe’s expense for his habit of losing his cool like a teenage brat. He had an entitled mindset where he used his goons to do the fighting for him, being of the hands-off variety of villains who didn’t prefer to get involved.
He showed great skills with a sword in the fourth game’s conclusion, however, where he nearly defeated Nate until the latter outsmarted him. Apart from those skills, though, Rafe was easily among the weakest when it came to fighting and would’ve been overpowered if anyone wanted that.
Charlie Cutter
Charlie was sadly present in only the third game despite being one of the most popular characters. He pretended to be an enemy of the heroes in the story’s opening, where he took his character a bit too far by legitimately fighting Nate a few times.
It was clear that Charlie could be a formidable foe if he really wanted to, even overpowering Nate at one point when he was under the influence of a fear drug. He wasn’t shown in hand-to-hand combat as much for his abilities to be fully gauged but there’s enough to go on to be certain that he was pretty good.
Samuel Drake
Those who came up with fan theories about the Uncharted movie over the possible presence of Sam turned out to be right as it did adapt him from the games. He was also similar in the way Sam preferred to sneak up on people rather than fight them head-on.
Sam wasn’t a bad fighter by any means, as he took on many enemies at once much as Nate did. He was also shown doing pretty well for himself in prison where he survived many fights against the inmates. Sam wasn’t as much of a threat in The Lost Legacy, which brings his skills down a notch.
Victor Sullivan
Sully has always been on the older side during the main chronology of the series and is generally known for his memorable quotes in the Uncharted games. Still, he hung by Nate’s side and survived, even defeating several mercenaries in a bar fight by himself.
The younger Sully would have been far more of a threat as seen in the third entry’s flashback, which makes it a shame that fans didn’t get to see him in his prime. His strategy was basically to throw power moves at his enemies, so there wasn’t as much combative skill as there was brute strength.
Chloe Frazer
Chloe wouldn’t have landed as high up had she not starred in her own game in The Lost Legacy, where she left all notion behind of not being much of a fighter. Chloe evaded combat throughout the first two games, although she was very adept at firearms and survived.
In her own title, Chloe was shown to be capable of taking on multiple goons at the same time, all of whom were aiming to kill. She even held her own against Asav, who was a beast when it came to combat. Chloe’s fighting skills tie into her sly nature as well, as she was known to use the environment to her advantage.
Nathan Drake
Nate never had actual fighting skills and his style was that of a brawler who threw around punches at the bad guys. And yet, this strategy did wonders for him since he beat every kind of mercenary that came his way, to the point where Lazarevic claimed he was a stone-cold killer.
Nate was good at combat because he knew when to rely on power moves and when to use his agility, as stronger opponents tended to be dispatched when Nate combined his fleeing skills with his fighting ability. Of course, he was exposed when he fought someone who could really fight when he took on Nadine and handily lost.
Talbot
Talbot is an interesting case because he’s the most mysterious character in the series. At times, he was shown to be stronger than Nate in every way, only to then flee when he didn’t need to. Moreover, Talbot relied on sleight of hand tricks and had the ability to appear and disappear seemingly at will.
He ended up defeated in the final fight to establish that he wasn’t impossible to beat, but Talbot’s earlier exploits where he nearly almost came out on top do confirm that he was a threat. His skills came from his slippery attitude that still included many fighting styles.
Nadine Ross
Many fans don’t like Nadine for being a relatively poorly written character in the fourth game, where her extreme proficiency didn’t make sense. Still, there’s no arguing against canonical evidence that showed Nadine absolutely mopping the floor with Nate and Sam.
At one point, she took on both at the same time and only lost because Sam pulled a gun on her. Her uneven writing came into play in The Lost Legacy where she wasn’t as strong, but she still her own against several enemies. Chloe also seemed to acknowledge Nadine’s dominating presence so it might be that Nadine was holding back.
Asav
Asav wins easily since he casually defeated Nadine when Chloe was also on Nadine’s side. The fact that Nadine had done the same to the Drake brothers means that Asav is leagues above everyone else. His appearance seemed unassuming until the time came to fight, where the heroes were hopeless against him.
Asav seemed to have superhuman levels of strength that enabled him to break through walls, but he also had superb fighting skills since he outmatched Chloe and Nadine through agility and a blend of fighting styles. Asav was defeated in The Lost Legacy’s climax, but that was when Chloe and Nadine attacked him at the same time on a speeding train.