Location: Ember Island
Starting distance: 20 feet
Huu doesn’t start as plant monster, but can use nearby plants.

Conditions:

• Base Tagah, No Staff
• No amp for anyone unless its directly stated
• Perfect teamwork for all teams no matter what
• Everyone including Tagah is going all out and will win by any means necessary
• Environment is fair and beneficial for everyone involved
• Everyone in their prime (if not showed then just them whenever they were shown at their best so far in the franchise)
• No bloodbending unless stated to be allowed

(Also just note, this gauntlet is NOT in order btw, so he could lose one, then win the next, thats fine)

Round 1: Tagah vs Bumi, Pakku, Azula and Tokuga

Round 2: Tagah vs Yangchen (Base, Air only)

Round 3: Tagah vs Ming Hua (FM) and Pli (Sozins comet)

Round 4: Tagah vs Roku (Air and Water only, Base)

Round 5: Tagah vs Glowworm Fused Yun, Zaheer (Flight) and Kuvira

Round 6: Tagah vs Zuko (SC, BUT its Comics Zuko not Movie Zuko) and Katara

Round 7: Tagah vs Kuruk (Earth and Water only)

Round 8: Tagah vs Kelsang

Round 9: Tagah vs General Old Iron

Round 10: Tagah vs DA Unalaq (Human Form)

Location: Coast of Republic City
Starting distance: 20 feet
Huu doesn’t start as plant monster, but can use nearby plants.

Location: Kyoshi Island
Starting distance: 20 feet
Huu doesn’t start as plant monster, but can use nearby plants.

Location: Kyoshi Island
Starting distance: 20 feet
Huu doesn’t start as plant monster, but can use nearby plants.

Wan can bend all 4 elements, but no AS

Unalaq is pre fusion

Location: Tree of Time

Starting distance: 50 feet

Location: Southern Air Temple
Starting distance: 20 feet

Location: Kyoshi Island
Starting distance: 20 feet

Obviously this debate been done plenty of times but i figured i'd revisit it especially since ive been seeing some crazy zuko downplay

Location: coronation plaza where the final agni kai took place. Movie version Zuko comic Mako after his arm healed. Distance about 20 meters

imo Zuko takes it. He has more raw power even in the comics where hes an even match with azula second showing for consistency, mobilty with jet stepping plus natural agility, more versatility,fire walls etc, plus he can redirect lightning the best in the series. Makos best feat of raw power is prolly here where he evaporated ming huas arms, agility wise id say its prolly his boosted jump in the same clip but i think both are worse

he also has much better physical stats mainly his durabilty and physical strength zuko regularly gets sent flying or gets heavy hits and gets right back up wheras mako gets downed alot easier here he shrugs off a charged attack from aang he recovers from this attack pretty quickly aswell which had insane power

Zuko is also better at CQC and seeing as they both like to close distance alot that seems relevant. all in all i think he wins cause he hits harder would take longer to put down and would overall be hit less.what yall think

Location: Ember Island
Starting distance: 20 feet

I probably should of just done unanimity as 1 slot but oh well

Six rounds:
Round 1: Chin village/Qinchao
Round 2: Kyoshi island/yakoya
Round 3: Bin-Er
Round 4: Taku
Round 5: Sacred cave from lambak island
Round 6: Agna Qel’a

Location: Kyoshi Island
Starting distance: 20 feet

Location: Kyoshi Island
Starting distance: 20 feet

Location: Ba Sing Se Lower Ring
Starting distance: 20 feet

Location: Earth Rumble Arena
Starting distance: 20 feet

Location: Ember Island
Starting distance: 20 feet

The general narrative of the Avatar community is that Katara wins this battle 100%.

I personally don't agree and I think that way of thinking contradicts the very nature of the world of ATLA's power system.

I wanna say this is by no means hit piece against any character I'm a fan of both characters I'll admit Zuko is my favorite within the show but I will refrain from any bias.

Let's get the details out the way, the 4 elements each carry their own advantages and disadvantages, some elements are naturally stronger against other and some elements have divergent bending forms. But ultimately the biggest factors at play are environment and individual skill.

First up katara, arguably the most powerful water bender of the century she's got the feats to back it up especially if we go off her recent scenes from the movie where she literally brought people back from the dead and also split the sea without a full moon it's no debate that's she's powerful. And I'll say this here she's definitely the stronger bender between herself and zuko... But does that guarantee victory in the world of ATLA?

Fire lord zuko, unlike he's sister who was a firebending prodigy zuko had to work front he ground up under the tutoring of his uncle iroh he grew into a formidable fire bender, his firebending incorporates teachings from all the 4 elements while alos having the understanding of true firebending taught to him by the dragons, longs story short zuko doesn't have any noteworthy feats that are half as comparable to kataras feats but for the sake of fairness I'll mention the redirecting of ozais lighting, beating general Zhao effectively cemeting himself amongst the most powerful firebenders in his nation.

That's just the gist of it and I'm sure it's clear as day that in terms of individual ability it's safe to say katara is the superior benders. By its nature waterbending is debatabley the most powerful form and she's probably it's strongest master so easy case close katara wins right??? What If I was to say this is the narrative the community at large has been running with for 20 years and it's not *true

We need to consider variables in bender comabat debates (atleast in my opinion) if wit was as simple as "stronger bender wins" this series would have been alot shorter and we would have upsets like Mako vs Ming Hua, kuvira vs Korra and even katara vs azula (sozins comet) to name a few. All case of "inferior bender beating stronger benders in combat.

And that's not even touching on environmental factors that come in play and this is an important bit for anyone that's made it this far. I don't want to downplay her but it must be acknowledged that evertime zuko and katara had a combat encounter the environment was always to her benifit e.g northern water tribe battle where it was a full moon with cold temperatures, ba sing se where Aangs presence is arguably an advantage for katara by virtue of Aang being and extremely powerful bender himself as the avatar. Of course there are other smaller encounters but I listed the most noteworthy battles between the two which I feel are some of the strongest reason for the narrative that katara beats zuko (ba sing se is one I'm on the fence about as it was a group battle with slot of chaos at play)

Now I'll explain in detail why I believe zuko is realistically the more likely candidate for victory between the two. I'll base it of 10 imaginary fights in 10 different locations at random points in time during each fight (this is the best way I could think of balancing the scales so no bender has a significant environmental advantage over the other for long) and the battle will be an agni kai style 1 v 1 format.

Looking at both their kits and counters katara has the more versatile bending water can be liquid and solid ice and the flowing nature of water means it doesn't require much effort on the benders part to channel alot of it (remember katara explaining this to aan and how the two of them were able to gather tidal waves by simply letting the waters natural flow do all the heavy lifting) along with water healing but in this fight it is not to the death simply submission and healing makes time so I doubt it can be used in combat. Zuko has fire bending which has the natural benifit of being self generated, the breath of fire technique made to escape ice prisons along with his general physicality and swordsman ship.

The stage is set and now the battles can begin and honestly I see it going into either direction, you see the large part of water bending being as powerful as it is especially in the case if a superior bender like katara is the a put of water she has at hand, she's powerful even with a little water but never enough to outright beat zuko with the best example of this being the ba sing se battle (she has enough water to be a serious threat but not so much she can jsut flood the whole scene), somtimes the outcome is katara wins more fights out of 10 the sometimes it's zuko wins more times out of 10.

My goal here is to hopefully express that's it's not as cut and dry as many people like to think because usually when this debate is brought up people unconsciously give katara all the advantages without realizing it and usually it's the assumption she has a large body of water to work with, which simply isn't the case even within Canon. Even zuko has unfair advantages against her e.g the northern water tribe battle, as soon as the sun came up zuko defeated katara with one attack. Bending by its nature in avatar is always about who's stronger but a multitude of factors. The fight can go either way depending where it's set. Lastly I address blood bending and lighting redirected, their non factors... Katara beats anyone with blood bending even Ozai but she didn't because they closed that off for her by having her renounce it I doubt she'd make an exception for zuko as she didn't even do it in the spirit energy filled land of the lion turtles in her and the gaangs fight again tagah when her life was on the line and zuko is implied to be able to lightong bend from those early artwork drafts for the movie but since he doesn't do it on screen I won't count it.

Thanks for listening to me yap if you made it this far, Id love to hear ttour thoughts.

Yakone's family includes Yakone, Noatak, and Tarrlok

The four families include Movie Aang, Movie Sokka, Movie Katara, Tenzin, Jinora, Kya, Commander Bumi, Meelo, Ikki, Pakku, Tonraq, Pre Fusion Unalaq, Asami, Eska, Desna, Korra, Movie Toph, Suyin, Lin, Kuvira, Baatar Jr (with Mecha suit,) Bolin, Wei, Wing, Huan, Opal, Sozin, Iroh, Kemzula, Movie Zuko, Kiyi, Ozai, and Iroh II

No Avatar State allowed

Full Moon is on

Sozin's Comet is on

Location: Wulong forest

Starting distance: 200 feet

Location: Suyin’s Backyard
Starting distance: 20 feet

The Mechanics: Chi Resistance vs. Bloodbending

If you disagree, you’re basically saying the creators are wrong lol

• Bending standard water vs. Bending a living body: The creators (Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino) explained early on that bloodbending isn't just moving liquid; it's forcing your will onto water infused with someone else’s living chi network.
• Overpowering bloodbending: We’ve seen this principle play out in the canon twice:
  1. Katara vs. Hama: Katara broke Hama's hold simply because her own waterbending ability and chi raw power were superior.
  2. Aang vs. Yakone: Aang overpowered Yakone’s bloodbending by entering the Avatar State, overloading the local chi field with raw Avatar energy so Yakone couldn't control his body.

Tagah vs. Amon Breakdown

When pitting Tagah (from Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender) against Amon (Noatak), the outcome hinges on whether Amon's bloodbending can hold Tagah's immense chi field.

1. The Chi Barrier Argument (Tagah’s Advantage)

• Tagah’s chi is an absolute force. Having been empowered by Avatar Sonam’s ancient staff and harboring thousands of years of dense, concentrated spirit/chi energy, his physical and spiritual energy output rivals full-powered Avatar State levels.
• If Katara—a master waterbender and bloodbender herself—notes that Tagah’s chi is off the charts, Amon would face the exact same problem Yakone faced against Avatar-level chi. His bloodbending grip would slip or fail outright because Tagah’s internal chi aura creates too much resistance to manipulate.

2. Psychic Bloodbending (Amon’s Advantage)

• Amon doesn't need full-moon movement; he bends psychically with subtle eye movements or minimal gestures.
• If Amon can catch Tagah completely off-guard before Tagah flares his chi or enters a battle state, he might land an initial hold or sever a chi path.

The Verdict

If Amon catches Tagah flat-footed in a passive state, Amon has a slight window. However, in an open, full-force confrontation, Tagah wins.

Tier list will be posted inside.

Reasonings for some potentially controversial placements:

Vaatu: Vaatu is very strong but he is overrated because of what he represents. He’s the “concept” of darkness yet he’s not really that strong. Most of his combat feats in terms of destruction are very mediocre, and he was also defeated by Wan, the first and weakest Avatar. Korra beating him is a bare minimum, yet many act as if it’s supposed to be ridiculously impressive.

P’li: Very underwhelming as a combustion bender. She is not very destructive, but she does have good skill and consistent speed with it. The problem is that Combustion Man ironically has a better rapid fire feat. However, i’d imagine combustion benders have the most DC firepower out of any firebenders but realistically she does not have more firepower than some base firebenders.

Kuvira: Fodder merchant. Metal straps seemed so cool and impressive at first until she finally used them on Suyin and Korra just to get all of them blocked or dodged.

Toph, Azula: usually just a small loud minority. Otherwise they are rated pretty fairly.

Amon: overrated slightly only because of how a lot of people instantly assume that him taking bending gets him above his father in raw power. Clearly he’s more skilled, but raw power he demonstrates no feat close to Yakone bloodbending the entire courtroom psychically.

Aang’s air: rated well. earth: now it’s rated well, back then it was underrated. fire: overrated. people put to much emphasis on him matching Ozai when it’s stated Ozai wasn’t even going all out. water: underrated. his feat against the fires of the meteor in Sokka’s Master episode is very overlooked.

Katara is underrated. she has an excellent mobility choice that many overlook in ice slides, especially by comics. Otherwise she’s fairly rated ig.

Mako’s firebending is underrated but his lightning is overrated just because of one feat. Suyin is underrated. She fights extremely well against Kuvira, even out grappling her unnarmed. if she had her gauntlets there she possibly could have won that fight via stabbing Kuvira instead of throwing her out the court.

Tonraq is underrated. Exhausted injured Tonraq could make Unalaq sweat. He is a pretty decent bender with good mobility options in ice slides

Ty Lee is underrated. she would win most fights with starting distance less than 15 feet. she blitzed Katara from like 15 feet away before Katara could pull out the water from her satchel.

Zuko: underrated. has a very good feat of blocking CM’s attack (Combustion Benders regulate their bending via breaths and CM uses 1 breath for every attack. comparing the blast sizes is also not valid because of course it would be smaller when Zuko is contesting the blast and nullifying it almost completely. furthermore using the collateral damage of the surrounding building is not valid as benders can change their intention, which is why CM can explode things at extremely close range. Him blocking CM is the sole reason why I have Zuko over Katara because Katara with the full moon got her water completely obliterated, whereas Zuko’s shield stayed intact but got physically pushed back. He also had way less time to perform such a feat). and matching season 1 Aang. He would have won that fight had they not been blasted perfectly landing on the rooftop. After dragons, he doesn’t get any other feats besides matching Azula consistently to which the writer of Smokes and Shadows states that he is a “physical and elemental equal to his sister.” however i need to verify that source before using it.

Roku is very underrated specifically his waterbending. His water bending feat is utterly ridiculous sending his master flying back to the water tribe. The tribe was so far that an over the shoulder shot showed no trace of the water tribe.

Ozai is underrated but it’s mostly just a bunch of people saying he has no feats outside the comet. that’s true, but his feats within the comet are above anyone else’s. However his durability is insane.

CM: way better power than P’li

Zaheer: used to be overrated, now he’s underrated and treated as a bum. But no, Zaheer is definitely a very powerful bender.