Emotional stakes is the reason I think the Ashoka/Vader duel is the tops. It's the first time they've seen each other alive. As an audience, we only JUST learned of Ashoka's survival of Order 66, and while you think she knew Vader was Anakin, it's never really been explicitly stated until now. There is a genuine moment where you think they might have made a connection that will save him (even though you know from knowing the future, that its impossible). The emotion displayed in Anakin's single, 3-D animated, cartoon eyeball between "I won't leave you. Not this time." and "Then you will die." is superior to anything piece of acting seen in any of the contemporary films. Add on that you get left not sure if Ashoka survives this encounter or not. And in fact, as audience, you're pretty much supposed to understand that she dies here. How could she not? Vader obviously lives, so...
And for those that like the clunker, grittier battles of the OT over the stylized choreography of the PT, this is such a great mixture of the grit of an actual sword fight combined with the super human abilities of top-tier Jedi. I mean, she actually gets a solid hit on Vader, and we get a reminder that he's still a young man underneath the armour.
This moment is worth sitting through every single bad (or good) episode of Clone Wars and Rebels.
It's been posted many times, but it's worth it again.
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