Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4519633-20141022032431/@comment-26041252-20160528212815

Just going by what's canon and not speculation and ignoring Wonderland characters:

1. The gods- Hades, Poseidon, Zeus, Ursula (goddess), and Rumple with the power of all DO's-shown by the fact that Rumple was prepared to fight Hades when they first met, and Hades was unwilling to fight him directly during any confrontation

2. Merlin-able to beat Dark One Emma and canonically the most powerful sorcerer.

3. Dark One Emma, Peter Pan (stated that she's more powerful than Rumple and the previous DOs presumably because she already had magic beforehand) and Peter Pan, despite his lack of real accomplishments, he was said to be more powerful than Rumple during S3

4. Rumplestiltskin before 5A and all previous Dark Ones (Nimue, Zoso, Hook, as shown by Emma knocking him out with her magic when they were both DO's)

5. Zelena with pendant- not as powerful as a Dark One, but more powerful than Blue, as shown when the fairies told Grumpy that she was too powerful to beat. She was much stronger than Regina, though. In S3 she had a strange weakness to light magic that disappeared in later seasons, so we can assume this was just plot contrivance to give them a reason to recast the curse. Otherwise, she was stronger than Emma.

6. Blue Fairy- Johanna and Morraine both say she's super powerful, but we haven't seen her do much for plot reasons. She's not as powerful as Rumple was because the hat was able to hold her but couldn't contain the power of the Dark One, and she was unable to break his protection spell in S2. She was however, able to pose a threat to non-pendant Zelena in S5 and had some extreme powers, like making people immortal (Jiminy) and seeing the future (knew that somehow Emma would discover "their story" one day (3x11) and knew that Emma and Hook were time-traveling. Problem is she can't do anything without her wand, which explains the times in S3 and S4 she was easily defeated.

7. Emma, Pendantless Zelena, Ingrid- Emma is the savior and has been established as stronger than Regina in terms of raw power (the mirror magic thing). Zelena was a prodigy and naturally knew how to use magic, and Rumple said she's more powerful. She's subdued Regina several times without her pendant. The fact that Emma was struggling to break her protection spell, although it's implied Emma would've broken it eventually, shows that they're about the same now. Although Zelena "defeated" Emma, Emma said she wasn't trying to hurt Zelena during that fight. And Ingrid was just inexplicably powerful for plot reasons, as Emma was unable to defeat her alone.

8.  The Apprentice, the Dragon -The Dragon is mysterious and powerful, but, like Blue and the Apprentice, he doesn't really use magic to fight. He can use magic to gaze across realms, which Regina couldn't do, and he even tried to open a portal, which Regina couldn't even attempt without the help of a magic item. He didn't attempt to defend himself from Tamara or Regina, though he was powerful enough to survive somehow. The Apprentice is in the same boat; he must be pretty powerful as Merlin's apprentice. He's more powerful than Regina since he could always use his wand, which Regina couldn't at first.

9. Cora- Rumple said she's weaker than Zelena and she was defeated by Emma's light magic at the lake. However, she seems stronger than Regina because she knew more spells (shapeshifting, etc.) Also Regina was afraid of her coming to Storybrooke back in S2 and implied that Cora would defeat her. She almost defeated Rumple at some point, and when she escaped Wonderland Regina "didn't have enough power to push" her back through the mirror.

10. Regina, Glinda, Maleficent- it was established in S1 and through dialogue in S3 that she's much stronger than your average "person with magic," but she's clearly weaker than those higher in the list. Regina and Maleficent are on par with each other, each defeating each other once. Glinda, with her pendant, is also in the same category of "stronger than average but not born with some special power" as she was still weaker than Zelena even before she got her pendant.

11. The Witch (Brave), Elsa- People with "average" strength. The Witch was "outwitched" and blackmailed by a pendantless Zelena, suggesting she's not in the same league as Regina, Zelena, and Cora. She doesn't do as much with her magic, using it more as a business; she's more clever than powerful. Elsa does okay, but her magic is limited to ice magic. She's not too useful in a fight, as we see her being defeated by the magicless Hans and his brothers, as opposed to Regina who would just knock them all out or destroy them with fireballs.

12. Tinkerbell, Nova, Fairy Godmother, the Blind Witch- all seem to be your average magic users. Fairy Godmother was easily blown up by Rumple, and Blue said that Regina is dangerous to ordinary fairies like Tinkerbell. The Blind Witch was said by Regina to be not very good at magic, so I group her in here.

12. Cruella, Lily, the Seer- people with incomplete magic who can really only do one thing.

I didn't include genies because their magic really comes from the lamp, as they're powerless without it. Phew.