I'd say Arthur because what kind of dumbass walks up to a fort in broad daylight and faces down multiple riflemen with a sixgun?!

@Aragorn Skywalker Of House Stark Probably a guy who’s done it before (American Venom). He was probably a bit out of practice after four years. Also, the fact that he survived getting shot in the chest with minimal injury is quite telling of his durability.

You make good points Phoenix :)

Thanks

I don't remember too many times in the first game when John goes full one man army. I think it's that the allied NPCs in the first game were so useless that it made you feel like a one man army. I also think that differences in gunplay need to be taken into account. 1's is more "arcadey" while 2's is more realistic.

We have to define what "skilled fighter" is first.

@Petkoholic Something along the lines of “who’s the better gunfighter”.

I thought we were talking about who was the better brawler. Well if we're talking gunfighters then that would be John.

People say Arthur rarely goes "One-Man army" but he does several times in the game. American Fathers II, A Kind and Benevolent Despot, Fleeting Joy, The Course of True Love V, Archeology For Beginners, and the final mission of the game, Red Dead Redemption. In the first game, John often has someone fighting by his side. However, due to the run-and-gun nature of the first game instead of the shoot-and-hide nature of the second game, it gives the impression that he's fighting all these goons by himself. That and the NPCs that are allied with the player in the first game are brain dead.

If I had to say who's consistently the best gunslinger on this list, it's Arthur, as he has all five levels of Dead Eye. John does become equal to Arthur in 1907. However, by 1911, John's Dead Levels have went down to just being three. He can't even shoot in Dead Eye anymore without marking targets.

I don't know about Red Harlow. It's heavily implied that the events of Revolver are an embellished version of what actually happened, so we don't know his true gunslinging abilities. I'll just talk about Arthur, John, and Jack. If had to rate them:

1899: Arthur. I don't really need to explain.

1907: John and Arthur are approximately equal. He has all five levels of Dead Eye, due to the fact that he still has the fighting spirit from his gang days and doesn't really settle down until after he's killed Micah.

1911: Arthur, if he were still alive and in his prime. Due to John's retirement, he's gotten slower and has to re-learn his Dead Eye ability. Even when he eventually does, it's a watered down version of the ability he used to have.

1914: Arthur, if he was alive and still in his prime. Jack has likely surpassed his father's ability by his 1911 standards, since he learned all three levels of Dead Eye by himself. However, his ability is still inferior to both Arthur and John in their prime.

I think the better question is, who's a better gunslinger: 1899 Arthur or 1907 John?

If I had to say who's the best gunfighter outside this list, it's Micah. There's obviously that scene in Rhodes, but there also something else. Micah is the only character in the series to counter the Dead Eye move, which says a lot about his abilities with a gun.

Micah is extremely good with a gun, there’s no denying that. However, I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s the best in the series, though it’s possible. I don’t think Arthur would be the best out of him, Jack and John by 1914; John gets back to the level he was four years earlier, maybe even surpasses it as he shoots more. By the end of 1911, I’d say that’s the best John’s ever been. Arthur by then would be 48, so past his prime in terms of reactions and so on. In 1914, he’d be 51, which, again, means he’d be on his way down, and probably slower than John, who’s ten years younger.

I’d overall say John, then Arthur and Micah. Arthur uses rifles unlike Micah and is therefore more versatile, but I think Micah would win in a duel, as he shows himself to be extremely fast and accurate.