Relative strength of Vampires in Dresden files?

Question

I've read all the books several times (well, listened via Audible). I recall that there have been comparisons of how strong e.g. Thomas is compared to Black Court vampires, but I can't for the life of me recall where it was mentioned or what was said.

UPDATE for clarity: To be clear I'm talking physical strength, not overall capability / toughness / threat level.

Specific question: In Dresden Files books, how does Vampire strength stack up when comparing between the major Courts (Red, White, Black)?

Answer 1

Of the three main vampire courts, Black has the greatest physical strength, and White has the least:

The Whites weren't as physically formidable or aggressively organized as the Red Court, and they didn't have the raw, terrifying power of the Black Court, but they didn't have all the usual vampire weaknesses, either.

Blood Rites (2004), chapter 1

Among the White Court (and presumably the Red Court, who similarly steal life force from humans), physical strength draws from the same power as a vampire's other abilities:

"White Court vamps don't soak up gunshots as well as Red Court vampires do, or ignore them like the Black Court, but they can get over them in a hurry."

“How?”

"They have a kind of reserve of stolen life-energy. They tap into it to be stronger or faster, to recover from injuries, forcibly manipulate the sensations of police lieutenants, that kind of thing. They don't run around being as tough as the Black Court all the time, but they can rev the engine when they need to do it. It's probably safe to assume that Lord Raith has a great big honking tank of reserve energy."

"We'd have to run him out of gas in order to get to him long-term."

"Yep."

Blood Rites (2004), chapter 41

The Courts' strength depends on how much humanity they retain:

The White Court were the most human of the vampires and in some ways the weakest.

Death Masks (2003), chapter 18

Wizard counter-offensives in recent centuries have skewed the results in favour of Black Court members:

...the near-extermination of the Black Court had meant that only the smartest, strongest, and most deadly of its members had survived.

Blood Rites (2004), chapter 18

Answer 2

It doesn't really matter what aspect you're talking about. Whether brute strength, speed, mental domination, or magic, Black Courts beat all others hands down.

I don't have something quoting a direct comparison, but here's a segment from It's My Birthday, Too, one of the side stories.

What is it?” slurred one of them. His voice was ragged but not the horrible parody Drulinda’s was.

Her hand blurred, its movement too fast to see. The newborn vampire reacted with inhuman speed, but not nearly enough of it, and the blow threw him from his feet to land on the floor, shattered teeth scattering out from him like coins from a dropped purse. “You can talk,” Drulinda rasped, “when I say you can talk.

From the same story, comparing his brother Thomas to these things:

My brother could go toe-to-toe with a vampire of the Black Court, if he had to, but the last time he’d done it, the effort had nearly killed both him and the woman he’d had to feed from in order to recover

So a White can ramp up to the power level of a Black, but it's more or less open season for their Hunger at that point. It's also noted later that Thomas can only match the flunky Black Court - when he goes toe to toe with a master Vampire that can raise it's own children, he's completely defensive from second one, and he manages to last less than a minute.

The caveat to this is that as long as you can sucker punch them with one of their weaknesses, they go down pretty easy.

Answer 3

In an arm wrestling or lifting competition Black > Red > White > vanilla mortal assuming they are all the same age with the same training. (Probably)

Lets look at the distance they could throw a baseball. Assuming perfect skill and accuracy and identical throwing angle we can reduce this to a measurement of strength. (Kind of - put more force behind a baseball and it will go farther.) This would measure maximum strength at a single instant. If you compare an average example of each court, you get Black>Red>White>Mortal (probably).

The most significant problem here is trying to figure out where the White Court fit in. The White Court can enhance different physical aspects at will by varying degrees. They could become incredibly strong for an instant, or less so for a longer amount of time. However since we don't know the actual equation for scaling strength (is in linear, quadratic, logarithmic?) we don't know how much a fully fed WC vamp with the strongest recorded Hunger (White Court vampires have a symbiotic relationship with the Hunger that resides in the same physical space as them and they draw power from the Hunger).

A White Court vampire could use 100% of the reserve energy to strengthen the throw of said baseball. That should out perform the ability of a Red, and maybe even a Black.

Trying to reduce a comparison just down to physical strength will end up giving odd results. There are very few instances where measuring strength will not include what is commonly thought of as endurance.

If we don't remove the idea of endurance but instead assume that all parties have an equal amount, and that greater strength --> less endurance 'used' / minute we can posit the question: How long can they hold something twice their body weight above their head. This would lead to Black > Red > White > Vanilla Mortal.

At some point Harry makes a comment (or has a thought) about the difference between "can bench press a truck" and "juggle refrigerators" - but it wasn't with respect to the different vampire courts. It was more along the lines of "that things sufficiently stronger that that how much stronger than I am doesn't matter.

Sources incoming when I can get home and get page numbers.