Asha'man practice destruction way more, though. Not saying he is definitely more skilled, but the possibility exists.

But they don't know how strong the other party is, in these discussions.

Aviendha was fairly unused to the OP, and we don't know for a fact that in tFoH she could correctly say how much any woman could hold. Till Moiraine saw Lanfear, she had never faced a female Forsaken. Egwene had met Lanfear and Moghedien, but had no real clue how much stronger the men were.

The Companion "doesn't know" Cadsuane's strength? No. Terez, who has read the notes, is pretty clear RJ changed his mind on her strength. But that her angreal took her to ++1 didn't change, so far as we know. All that changed is her own strength, and therefore the strength of the angreal.

When RJ wrote the scene in WH, he may or may not have changed his mind on Cadsuane's potential. But that he saw her as ++1 with her angreal is the assumption that requires us to make the fewest leaps.

That's a load of crap, Sidious. There are certain errors, sure, but the stuff we're talking about are confirmed by Terez. She said she saw Rahvin's strength, IIRC, and also the change in Cadsuane's. And these notes were mostly updated till KoD.

With you on that. But I haven't used any quotes from those books here, I think.

But she had a pretty large circle backing her up, remember? She compelled various Aes Sedai and linked with them.

Yes, but the parts of the Companion verified as from the notes don't become invalidated as a result.

That is a fact, not some logical deduction.

Which scene are you talking about here?

Several things are at issue here, though:

1) Rand had an angreal. We don't know whether or not he used it in this scene. And we don't know its strength.

2) Verin and Alanna were linked, and we don't know exactly how much you lose because of that.

3) More importantly, nothing says someone weaker cannot ever shield someone stronger. Moiraine tried with Merean, which she wouldn't have bothered with if it wasn't possible. We know that even for someone stronger, placing a shield isn't always a hundred percent thing.

4) We don't know what Talent, if any, Rand had with shielding.

All of this, of course, isn't to contradict your point that two random AS probably do fall short of ++1. Remember, Elza says that Cadsuane had to have been using an angreal because she held more than Elza+Merise combined. That means only that Cadsuane's potential of 5(+ was less than Merise+Elza. How much stronger ++1 is than those two we don't know.

First, this would depend on how strong he thinks the average Aes Sedai is, no? He has seen what Moiraine can do, but knows she is the strongest in the Tower. But how accurate his his idea of what strength range most Aes Sedai occupy?

Second, three random linked sisters lose how much? We don't know, for certain. Remember, in KoD Egwene explicitly says that if she could surprise them, she can handle all five of her captors, and none of them are weak. Only when they are all full to the brim with the OP does she say that she would stand no chance. Of course, things like skill come into play here too. Once again, Rand's statement isn't strictly quantitative, like Elza's.

That is highly similar to Egwene's statement that she could not overwhelm a Forsaken linked to Romanda and Lelaine, considering all three of them are weaker than even Moghedien.
Except... we saw 4 channelers, one much much weaker than anyone (Daigian), take down Aran'gar. Forget that, take Verin's circle. Even with her weak angreal, she is likely at best a match for Graendal, and she is definitely not in a stronger circle than Egwene+Romanda+Lelaine.

Smother. Not match, smother. Liandrin knows how skilled Moghedien is, how fast. So she is seeking an overwhelming advantage, and thinks three of them together can do it.

We know Melaine is level 17. And per Terez, the notes place Amys at 16. Even if she was at what frankly seems too low a level for her, I don't think Egwene can hold more of the Power than Melaine and Amys combined. But that doesn't mean she can't win in a fight against them!

That is my point. We always took "able to win in a fight" to mean "equal to or stronger in the Power". I'm saying we can't. Elza's statement is one of the only purely quantitative ones we have. She isn't talking about who would win in a fight. She isn't talking about skill. She is talking simply about the amount of Power being held. Thus, it is the only one we can take to evaluate actual volumes of power various characters can draw.

So, when we take Egwene's statement about not being able to face a male Forsaken, we can't just use that to assume Egwene+Lelaine+Romanda will draw less of the OP than Aran'gar. That is just absurd, even by your lowball numbers of Egwene at 80, Amys and Melaine at 40-50. Egwene's reaction is about her lack of knowledge of male Forsaken strength, and what skills they may possess.

We know Eben didn't die from facing Semirhage, from Jahar's account given to the Rebel Hall. There's no earthly reason for Daigian to hide the fact that another Forsaken killed Eben from his friend.

As for the Cleansing: I am only making one conclusion about raw strength, and that uses the only quote about raw strength we have. I do not use the individual fights to say anything about the volume of power anyone in those circles can take in.