The Mandarin is a superb athlete with tremendous skill in the various martial arts. Through repeated practice, he has toughened all the striking surfaces of his body, especially his hands, which are covered with thick calluses. He can even split Iron Man's magnetic-beam reinforced alloy armor with repeated blows. So great is the Mandarin's martial arts ability, that he can even survive years without food and water, apparently sustaining himself purely via his mastery of chi. The precise degree of The Mandarin's martial art powers has been the subject of multiple implied retcons by Marvel Comics. Initially, Mandarin was portrayed as being such a superhumanly skilled martial artist that he could destroy Iron Man's armor with his bare hands. Later portrayals focused on his use of the rings, and implicitly retconned the Mandarin's skill to being great but no longer superhuman. The most recent continuity has restored Mandarin's martial arts ability to its original superhuman level.
The Mandarin is one of Marvel Earth's greatest scientific geniuses, and highly skilled in various sciences. Not only has he made himself into an expert authority on alien Makluan science, but he has also built upon this knowledge by making further discoveries based upon it.
The principal personal weapons of the Mandarin are the ten rings which he wears on the fingers of each hand. The rings' operations cannot be explained by contemporary Earth science, but it is known that they served as near-limitless power sources for the warp-drive engines of the Makluan starship of Axonn-Karr. The Mandarin learned how to convert the rings to his personal uses and to make them respond to his mental commands.
Over the years through mental discipline achieved through meditation and long practice in use of the rings, the Mandarin has established a strong psionic link with his ten power rings, which was made many times stronger during the period in which his mind/spirit actually inhabited them. One result is that no one who wears the rings other than the Mandarin himself can command them without his permission. The Mandarin can now command the rings even when they are separated from him by vast distances. He can mentally monitor events taking place near a ring that has been separated from him. Continued exposure to the alien rings made his hands green and scaly. He can voluntarily give temporary control over a ring to his servants. If the servant dies or falls unconscious, the rings teleport back to the Mandarin. Conversely, if the Mandarin himself is knocked out, all the rings automatically return to him. On one occasion, this left the Mandarin's servants powerless to stop some of Tony Stark's employees, that the Mandarin had kidnapped, from escaping.
The Mandarin also briefly used a force field generator, but this is not part of his standard weaponry.
He has also used a head band enabling him to transfer his mind into his rings or into another's body, and a teleportation device hidden on his person, both examples of Makluuan technology.
The Mandarin is a brilliant and brutal tactician and a gifted strategist. He also abides by a very strict code of honor. When he attempted to stop Stark Enterprises from establishing itself in Hong Kong, the Mandarin challenged Iron Man to a duel, stating that if he won, he would take control of Stark Enterprises' Hong Kong operations, and that he would cease hindering Stark's activities if he lost. When Iron Man defeated him in fair combat, he lived up to his end of the agreement. On another occasion, he killed one of his minions for attempting to drug him during a practice session, angry that one of his students would use such dishonorable tactics.
