The art of Waterbending is generally evaluated according to four major subcategories, namely: Functional, Combative, Healing and Bloodbending. As the name suggests, Bloodbending is usually left for the morally deficient characters and is not a prerequisite for mastering Waterbending (unless Yakone happens to be the teacher).
10 Yue, Tui & La: The Moon And Ocean Spirits
This is more of an honorable mention than anything else because, at the end of the day, Waterbending would not be possible without the Moon and Ocean Spirits! Some argue that the Moon is the ultimate Waterbender, constantly pushing and pulling the tides of the Ocean and essentially connecting the Southern and Northern Water Tribes.
Princess Yue was also not technically a Bender herself, however, she sacrifices her life to take Tui’s place as the Moon Spirit, subsequently fueling countless Waterbenders in her wake. The persistent Yue continues to do whatever she can to help Team Avatar from the spirit world with her words of wisdom and newfound Lunar powers.
9 Hama: The Original Bloodbender
Hama is an iconic character who stems from the Southern Water Tribe and turns the creep factor to the max when she introduces Avatar fans to the malicious concept of Bloodbending. During the full moon, Hama learned how to become the ultimate puppet master by manipulating the blood within people’s bodies, forcing them to do her bidding.
Hama also has an uncanny ability to locate hard-to-find water sources, finding ways of drawing water straight from the air molecules themselves. Much like Ming Hua, this old crone was forced to use Waterbending to her full potential as a survival tactic, (regardless of how immoral) in an effort to escape imprisonment.
8 Tarrlok: The Bullied Brother
Although Tarrlok did not pick up Bloodbending as well as his father and brother did (much to Yakone’s dismay), this Republic City Councilman is a highly-skilled Waterbender with a level of precision and technique that is almost unmatched. Tarrlok takes Korra on single handedly in an epic battle that displays his full range of combative talents from tapping into his Northern Water Tribe roots.
The power-hungry leader’s skills sufficiently overpowered the Avatar, allowing Tarrlok to kidnap Korra and hold her hostage. He proves capable of Bloodbending large groups simultaneously and is only thwarted once his resistant brother, Amon arrives at the scene.
7 Ming Hua: Putting The Able In Disabled
As arguably the most ingenuitive Waterbender in Avatar, Ming Hua uses her lack of arms to her advantage by creating potent appendages as substitutes. Not only do these watery limbs give Ming Hua greater maneuverability, but she is able to produce a perfect Doctor Octopus rendition, rarely ever without weaponry at her disposal.
Ming Hua’s speed is almost unparalleled, likely fueled by her ability to pressurize the aqueous arms for an added advantage. As a member of the Order of the Red Lotus, Ming Hua is one of the most formidable Waterbending enemies that Korra has had to face.
6 Master Pakku: The Grumpy Gramp-Gramp
Katara and Aang wouldn’t be half the Waterbenders they are today without the assistance of Master Pakku, who was once regarded as the greatest Bender of the Northern Water Tribes, if not the world. His skills are an invaluable addition to the Order of White Lotus, who facilitated the liberation of Ba Sing Se, and he was a key component of the North Pole’s defense against enemy forces.
Master Pakku eventually reunites with his true love in the Southern Water Tribe and is lucky enough officially join Katara and Sokka’s family. This Waterbender’s old age seems to have not impeded his agility in the slightest, and he is still capable enough to take on multiple adversaries simultaneously.
5 Yakone: The Treasonous Teacher
Seeing that Bloodbending is not brutal enough for the crime boss of Republic City, Yakone takes things to the next level by developing the ability to manipulate blood without needing the moon to do so. To make matters worse, his new and improved skills allow Yakone to control entire hoards of people at a time, in broad daylight, without the use of any hand gestures! The first psychic Bloodbender with a thirst for, well, blood…
Thankfully, Aang tracks Yakone down and strips him of all his powers, forcing the ruthless crime boss to go into hiding. After re-establishing himself within the Northern Water Tribe, the Bloodbender ensures to pass on his skills to his sons, Noatok (aka Amon) and Tarrlok, creating powerful adversaries for Avatar Korra in the process.
4 Aang: A Collective Effort
Aang is possible a stronger Avatar than Korra due to his continued connection to the other spirits while in the Avatar State, but when it comes to Waterbending, he seems to be outmatched. The young Aang masters the basics quicker than Katara but struggles to pick up the more advanced techniques, however, once he had mastered the concept, not much could stand in his way.
Aang’s Waterbending journey follows a similar path to Katara’s, as the pair help each other learn about the rarely seen bending style (from a Southerners’ point of view). They often also combine their forces in collaborative bending, in one instance inventing the unique Cloudbending technique in the process, and amazingly, Aang also manages to merge with the Ocean Spirit, La, to form a protective aqueous monstrosity.
3 Korra: The Natural
After receiving training straight from the infamous Katara and Master Pakku, Korra flourishes to become a skilled healer and combatant in her own right. Korra was raised as a Waterbendler after all and shows no struggles in picking up these techniques (unlike Airbending, which proves to be much more troublesome).
Although Korra is a natural Waterbender, she often relies on her Firebending and Earthbending capabilities in combat, and ironically fans don’t get to witness much aquatic action from this Avatar. In the Book 2 finale in Legends of Korra, however, her Waterbending abilities are ultimately her saving grace against the evil Raava-Vaatu combo.
2 Katara: Surpassing Expectations
When fans first meet Katara, she is the only Bender left in the Southern Water Tribe, subsequently forcing her to be self-taught, without much success (to Sokka’s great detriment). She also managed to extend her combative knowledge after stumbling across a Waterbending scroll, but for a while, Katara’s Waterbending capabilities were as temperamental as her emotions.
Master Pakku (reluctantly) gives Katara a Waterbending crash course and, together with Aang, she became a force to be reckoned with. One of Katara’s strongest techniques is her Icebending, which quickly becomes her signature move, but arguable her most valuable and efficient skill is her natural talent for Healing. Many owe Katara a great deal of gratitude for her restorative touch.
1 Amon: The Bloodbending Master
Although Katara is generally considered to be the most skilled Waterbender around, when it comes to brute force, Amon takes the cake. He shows a (un)natural affinity for psychic Bloodbending, picking the skill up much faster than his brother, Tarrlok, and surpassing his father’s capabilities by the age of 14.
Amon’s influence becomes so powerful that he could attack his opponent’s chi directly, permanently crippling their abilities (in a similar fashion to the Avatar), which becomes a prominent element of his anti-bending revolution. The Equalist leader rarely relies on obvious Bending capabilities in battle, and yet still overpowers most of his adversaries with his advanced agility and combative techniques. Thankfully, Amon is eventually entrapped in his own intricate web of lies and subsequently dies at sea, at his own brother’s hand.
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