3 Boosted Gear

Hello again, back to you with another rant, this time, about our all time favourite plot device A.K.A. The Welsh Dragon Gauntlet.

Now, let us first talk a little about it, just in case, you know, anyone somehow doesn't actually know about what the hell is it.

1-Base Form:

> "If it's just like the legend is told, then the ability of the [Boosted Gear] can double the power of the possessor every 10 seconds. Even if his power starts from 1, it doubles his power every 10 seconds, and it can reach the power of the leader-class Fallen Angels and High-class Devils. And by mastering it, he could even kill God."

--Volume 1, Life 4, Part 5.

So, this is basically it. The Boosted Gear, housing the soul of The Welsh Dragon, the Red Dragon Emperor, Y Draig Goch. It is "said" to allow you to "double" your power every 10 seconds.

Besides that, it have other mundane abilities that I will just briefly mention:

--Storage and Assimilation: It allows the weilder a pseudo-like space inventory that can store things like swords. Now, if the weilders wants to, they can also fuse the sword with the sacred gear: Case in point, Ascalon with Issei.

But funnily enough, this isn't the only time Issei did this:

> "Kiba! You can make those light-devouring Demonic Swords, right?"

> "Eh? Yes, I see!"

> Kiba quickly understood my question. How impressive, Kiba! Under Kiba's feet appeared several of those swords of darkness he used against Freed in the battle against Raynare, and he tossed them at his Devil teammates!

> "These swords only have a hilt in their normal state! You have to channel demonic power into them to form the blade of darkness!"

> I held Kiba's sword.

> "Hey, Ddraig. Let's apply this sword's power to the gauntlet."

> [Reckless actions like that could endanger your life... But in this case, it should be fine for a short while. Don't overdo it.]

> "That's good enough. I'll plug it into the gauntlet where Ascalon was extracted from!"

> I placed the light-devouring sword of darkness into Ascalon's socket! Immediately, something like a dark shadowy shield appeared over the left gauntlet. It worked! This should provide a fair degree of defence.-- Volume 9, Life 3, Part 4.

So yeah, it can be used like that, and people say Issei isn't creative in his usage of his sacred gear. It's just them who put all of kind of fanon abilities on the Sacred Gear.

--Transfer: This is an ability that allows Issei to transfer the accumulated power into another individual. Mind you, it doesn't Boost said individual, it just transfers the power of Issei Boosted several times. So if Issei boosts 5 times and transfers to Rias, what you get isn't 5 times Boosted Rias, but Rias + 5 times Boost Issei.

Also, the Boost isn't prefect, by which I mean, it doesn't transfer all the power perfectly:

> "So it's possible to increase both of us at the same time then! Please transfer the power to Akeno and I!

> Ddraig. It was all of a sudden that time, but is it possible?

> [Yeah. If it's just two at the same time then it's possible. Except that I can only transfer 70 to 80 percent of the boosted power.]--Volume 3, Life 4, Part 2.

--Power Level sensing: This one is a function that is often forgotten about, probably because it didn't make it to the anime? I don't know, but here we are:

> My gauntlet started to flash. It hadn't even reached the limit. But what was this phenomenon? I was feeling doubtful when Ddraig talked to me,

> [It's telling you that it has reached the stage where the Cerberus can be defeated if you transfer it to Rias Gremory or Himejima Akeno.]

> Are you serious? Since when did it get such a convenient system?

> [It means that both you and the Sacred Gear are evolving day by day. It has made possible what you desired. As you can't tell the power difference between you and the opponent, you didn't know how many boosts you needed. It has started to tell you now.]

> I certainly thought about that, but it actually responded to my weak point? So it means it can respond to the power difference between me and my opponent now.--Volume 3, Life 4, Part 2.

As you can see, it can basically measure the opponent's power and tell Issei how many Boosts arr necessary to reach that level, or if he reached it already.

--Organ Sacrifice: This one is kind if weird, it isn't a Sacred gear function actually, it is an ability of Draig himself. We all know the gist of it, so need for much explanation.

2-Balance Breaker:

For the Balance Breaker, it manifestes in the form of a red armor, decorated in green jewels, and allows the boosts to keep coming instantaneously, instead of every 10 seconds.

Nothing much to add here, other than the fact it offers a fairly moderate defensive ability, and offers Issei Draconian wings, which are kinda useless as he have Devil wings already, but it's pretty useful for a human user.

Now, let us talk about the crux of the issue here: How in Hades' skeleton ass is Issei this weak of he had something that multiplies his power every time? The answer is simple as it is obvious: He just doesn't get his power doubled everytime.

See, a thing I noticed about almost all Boosted Gears fanfics, is that they follow this Logic:

--MC power is Y

--MC Boosts(1st)= MC power is 2Y

--Boost again(2nd)= 4Y

--Boost again(3nd)= 8Y

--Boost again(4th)= 16Y

--Boost again(5tg)= 32Y

--Boost again(6th)= 64Y

--Boost again(7th)= 128Y

--Boost again(8th)= 256Y

--Boost again(9th)= 512Y

--Boost again(10th)=1024Y

So, by the 10th Boost, the MC is 1000 time stronger than the beginning. This is how they believe the Boosted Gear work. That the multiplication stacks upon each other.

Now, you don't need rocket science to know something isn't right here. What am I talking about? Simple, if we are using this Logic, then please tell me, why is it that when Issei boosts like, 20 times in Balance Breaker against an enemy that he was basically matching in the fight, he doesn't eclipse them immediately?

Like seriously, against Sairorg, against Cao Cao, against Loki, against fucking everyone. In each of these fights, we can see Issei basically keeping up with the enemy, and then Boosting some 20 times, and the fight is still going in the same direction, as if nothing has changed!

How do you explain this? The answer, like before, is as simple as it is obvious: You can't, because this isn't how it works.

Let me present to you, how the Boosted Gear actually works, mind you, this is also not 100% confirmed, but it is informed using some "Logic", which is apparently something impossible for most of the Fandom to use:

--MC power is Y

--1st boost: 2 to 4 Y

--2nd boost: 4 to 8 Y

--3rd boost: 6 to 12 Y

--4th boost: 8 to 16 Y

--5th Boost: 10 to 20 Y

--6th Boost: 12 to 24 Y

--7th Boost: 14 to 28 Y

--8th Boost: 16 to 32 Y

--9th boost: 18 to 36 Y

--10th Boost: 20 to 40 Y

For those who didn't understand what this means, I'll put it in simple terms: The Boost is constant.

The Boosted Gear takes your Base power A.K.A. " Y", multiplies it with 2-5 times= 2-5Y, and then adds it to you at each Boost. In other words, The boosts don't stack, it isn't a constant multiplication. It is an addition with diminishing returns.

This is why, the higher the number of Boosts you have, the more insignificant each Boost seem to be.

Say you are at the 20th boost= 40 to 80 Y, each Boost now adds only a messily 2-4 Y, which is now more and more insignificant. Makes way more sense now for Issei to not just crush his enemies after 20 Boost right?

Also, another common misconception. About the Juggernaut Drive, I saw that most think it actually allows you to use the Full Power of the Heavenly Dragon inside for a limited amount of time, at the cost of your life.

Now, is this actually true? No, in fact, it couldn't have been farther from the truth.

Why, you might ask? Simple, let's see:

--In the Loki fight, The Evil God summons Fenrir, and Vali goes Juggernaut Drive against it, but even then, even with the special made Chains that are like, super effective against Fenrir, he still loses. Why is this relevant? Doesn't this just means that Fenrir is stronger than a Heavenly Dragon? Well no, just look at the next point to understand.

--Following the Azazel Cup, in Volume 25, Issei is cornered by 3 beings: Apollo, from Greek, Vidar from Norse, and mother fucking Typhon, The Greek equivalent of Beast of Revelation, one of the Top 10 and allegedly, from Ishibumi himself, is as strong as Fenrir himself.

Now, how did Issei win against these 3? Simple, he summoned Draig, full powered Draig, from the sacred gear. After which, Draig proceeds to Solo both Typhon and Apollo, and defeat them in less than like, 10 minutes or smthg, before his timer run out, as he has limited time outside of the Sacred gear.

You see it now? It would make no sense for Juggernaut Drive to be full power Heavenly Dragon, as that shit stomps on Fenrir.

Seeing this, someone might ask: Well then, how strong is Juggernaut Drive? Well, to answer that, we just have to look at their enemies and feats in that form, shall we?:

--True Queen Issei A.K.A. Controlled Juggernaut Drive, was evenly matched with Balance Breaker Sairorg, who mind you, is around Low to Mid Maou class. And that same Sairorg, who was using Breakdown the Beast A.K.A. Juggernaut Drive of Nemain Lion, was almost evenly matched against Balance Breaker Cao Cao.

So, to put it bluntly: Incomplete Rampage Juggernaut Drive Issei, the first to appear on screen, is around High Ultimate-class to Low Maou-Class, while Controlled Juggernaut Drive is around Low to Mid Maou-class.

Someone might ask, knowing all this, at what form are Issei and Vali on the level of a Heavenly Dragon? Well that is simple, it is the form they needed to defeat Heavenly Dragon-class enemies alone: Apophis and Azi Dahāka. And what was that form?

Well, it's called True DxD form: In which, Vali unlocks Lucifer's bloodline ability: Demonic Light of Absolute Brilliance, and Albion's Ultimate ability: Reduce, a poison that kills even Gods.

For True DxD Issei: He gained the ability to allow his Wyverns to use transfer and penetrate, while also unlocking Draiv's Ultimate ability: Blazing Inferno of Scorching Flames, a flame breath so strong it reduces Gods to ashes, and never goes off as long as the enemy is still alive somehow.

Well, that's that I guess, hope anyone reading this got some useful knowledge about the Plot Device known as Boosted Gear, and also on the power lvls of Issei and Vali at different forms. In fact, let me give you that:

--BxB Issei and Vali: Mid Ultimate class

--Juggernaut Drive Issei and Vali: Low Maou class

--True DxD Issei and Vali: Heavenly Dragon class

Hope you guys enjoyed the rant, and see you next time.