In Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: The Legend of Korra, characters implement a wide variety of fighting styles in combat. While the strongest characters are all either Airbenders, Waterbenders, Earthbenders, or Firebenders, other heroes and villains get by using martial arts, swords, and other weapons.

The Avatar franchise is known for having some of the best action in any Western animated series. This is owed to both the care taken to base Bending styles off of real-world martial arts, and the spectacular animation that allows the characters to look unbelievably cool. Team Avatar members are among the best Benders and fighters in the world, with each having their own specialty, but some are more impressive than others.

10 Asami's Fighting Style isn't as Fabulous as Everything Else About Her

Asami is one of Avatar Korra's most valuable allies thanks to her incredible intelligence, endless wealth, and her undying devotion to her girlfriend. However, as a fighter, her contributions to Korra's battles against evil are limited. While Asami is a talented martial artist, and handy with an electric glove, those are the full extent of her combat abilities, and they're only shown off on a few occasions.

Throughout Legend of Korra's four seasons, Asami never fights anyone besides nameless Equalists and bandits. However, even in these brief instances, Asami displays great skill and speed, and her continued use of an electric glove, after receiving one during Book One, adds a bit of flare to her battles.

9 Sokka is a Genius with a Wide Arsenal of Tricks

While Sokka begins Avatar: The Last Airbender as just an oaf playing at being a soldier, he grows into a proper warrior throughout the series' three-season run. He never becomes the strongest character, but he does become a skilled swordsman, increasingly handy with his boomerang, and he never fully abandons his Water Tribe club. As a brilliant inventor, he can also develop new weapons to utilize on the fly.

Sokka's best fight in the series is easily against his master, Piandao. The choreography in this sword duel is superb, and highlights both his ingenuity, and the dedication he's shown to improving. Sokka also proves to be unexpectedly dangerous on several occasions, such as when a well-placed shot with his trusty boomerang results in the death of one of Team Avatar's strongest enemies, Combustion Man.

To this day, fans debate whether Suki counts as a member of Team Avatar, but there's no debate that she's among the best fighters in the franchise. The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, Suki is skilled enough in fan combat to hold her own against the likes of Azula, and her acrobatic feats border on superhuman. Of all the non-Bending members of Team Avatar and The New Team Avatar, she's easily the most fun to watch in action.

Suki's fighting abilities shine most during the "Boiling Rock" two-parter. The climax of these episodes sees her running across the heads of other Fire Nation prisoners, effortlessly scaling walls and disabling Firebenders, and briefly going toe-to-toe with Ty Lee. The only things missing from this sequence are her fan and shield, which she looks exceptionally cool with during her earlier appearances.

7 Mako is an Excellent Firebender

Mako may be divisive as a character, but his proficiency in Firebending speaks for itself. Introduced as a Pro-Bender, and the leader of the Fire Ferrets, Mako takes what he's learned from the sport, and fights far more cautiously and intelligently than most Firebenders. His arsenal also includes Lightning generation, which he utilizes in his best moment in the series.

Many of Mako's best moments in action come during Pro-Bending matches, but he more than holds his own in real combat. Easily his best fight comes during Book Three, when he takes on Ming-Hua, the Waterbender of the White Lotus. This battle is among the most thrilling in the series, and ends with Mako becoming the only Team Avatar member to directly kill an opponent, using a lightning strike to end Ming-Hua's life. Other notable Mako fights are him and Bolin's two-on-two against Eska and Desna, and the brothers' first encounter with Ming-Hua and Ghazan.

6 Zuko Grows in Talent Throughout the Series

Aang's Firebending Teacher

Although he comes up short compared to the rest of his family, Zuko is an extremely powerful Firebender, and one who only grows more impressive on his path to becoming Fire Lord. Trained initially by Uncle Iroh, and later by the original Firebenders, the dragons, Zuko goes from fighting recklessly and reliant on raw power to demonstrating a balance of offense and defense. He never learns Lightning generation, but he does study Waterbending to learn how to redirect lightning.

Zuko participates in multiple Agni Kai, and even more battles against Aang, but, despite the heavy competition, his final fight with Azula is easily his best. This all-out, Firebending brawl between siblings is arguably the best fight in the entire series, and the utterly gorgeous animation makes Zuko look cooler than ever. Outside of his Firebending, Zuko is also a skilled swordsman, which he showcases against foes like Earth Kingdom soldiers, Jet and, as the Blue Spirit, other Firebenders.

5 Katara is Among the Greatest Waterbenders to Ever Live

Aang's Waterbending Teacher

Katara is a Waterbending prodigy and, as soon as she receives proper training towards the end of Book One, she becomes a consistent joy to watch in combat. Like the water she manipulates, Katara moves freely and gracefully in battle, always wearing a water skin to ensure she's never without her element. Katara is also among the few known Bloodbenders, capable of puppeteering other people's bodies during a full moon, using the water in their blood.

Katara's best fights in the series are against her Waterbending and Bloodbending masters, Pakku and Hama, respectively, and the Fire Nation Princess, Azula. The latter duel especially displays how far Katara has come, as she displays complete mastery over her element to defeat one of the strongest villains in the series. Even without direct access to water or ice, Katara can still fight by manipulating the water particles in the air, or by bending her own sweat.

4 Bolin's Lavabending Sets Him Apart

Like Metalbending, Lavabending is a secondary form of Earthbending only capable of being learned by those who've achieved mastery of the craft. Bolin is unable to learn the former, but his development of the latter ability during Book Three elevates him from a mediocre fighter to one of Korra's strongest allies. Bolin, fitting for his lighthearted and comical personality, is also significantly more graceful and light on his feet than the vast majority of Earthbenders.

Bolin's Earthbending skills are highlighted during Pro-Bending matches, and he and Mako's battle with Eska and Desna, during the climax of Book Two. His greatest fight, and best showcase for his Lavabending, is his last battle with the master of the style, Ghazan of the White Lotus. Bolin gives Ghazan such a good brawl that he enjoys himself as much as the audience, and decides the only way he can beat him is to kill them both.

3 Toph Fights Like No One Else Can

Aang's Earthbending Teacher

Toph Beifong has one of the coolest and most unique fighting styles of any fictional character. The young, blind, Earthbending master was taught to see, and to fight, by the original Earthbenders, the badgermoles, using a seismic sense, giving her the ability to detect the slightest movements of her opponents, and react accordingly. Toph is also notable for inventing Metalbending, and for being the only Metalbender in Avatar: The Last Airbender, with her making great use of the skill in Book Three.

One of Toph's best fights comes during her first appearance, "The Blind Bandit," with her completely destroying several of the best Earthbenders in the world. Toph's battle against the Dai Li, and Team Avatar's siege of the Earth King's palace, are mindblowing, and make clear there's nothing she can't do with Earth. After her failure to Sandbend in Book Two results in Appa's kidnapping, she quickly masters the craft to ensure nothing like this happens again.

As the plot of Avatar: The Last Airbender focuses on Aang's journey to master all four elements in time to stop Fire Lord Ozai before Sozin's Comet arrives, his fighting style changes significantly as he learns new styles and techniques. Aang begins as merely an Airbending master and, by the end of the series, he hasn't mastered Waterbending, Earthbending, or Firebending, but he's become skilled enough in them to hold his own against anyone, with him also learning Energybending. Aang also has access to the Avatar State, which raises his power tenfold, and enables the flashiest attacks in the series.

Throughout the series, Aang learns from many masters, but those he fights the most like are Monk Gyatso, Katara, Toph, and Zuko. Ultimately, however, he's an Airbender through and through, and adapts the lessons he learns from his Waterbending, Earthbending, and Firebending teachers through that lens, always favoring defense and evasion. As the series' protagonist, Aang fights more often than any other character, with his best battles being against Azula, the Fire Nation fleet at the North Pole and, of course, Fire Lord Ozai.

1 Korra Bends All Four Elements with Fierce Aggression

Korra is, by design, different from Aang in nearly every way, and this is reflected in how she fights. While Aang doesn't have time to fully master any elements beyond air in Avatar: The Last Airbender, and continues to fight like an Airbender as a result, Korra masters Waterbending, Earthbending, and Firebending as a child, with her more violent personality leading to her fighting most like a Firebender. While by the start of Book Two, Korra can freely use all four elements, and she later learns Metalbending and Spiritbending, granting her a wider took-kit than Aang's, fire remains the preferred element of the Water Tribe teen across all four seasons of Legend of Korra.

Korra is the most powerful Bender in the franchise, and this is demonstrated through her many incredible victories. She defeats devastatingly strong opponents like Amon and Kuvira, in fantastic season climaxes — and her battle against Unalaq, the Dark Avatar, at the end of Book Two is the biggest, highest-stakes, and most flashy in the franchise. Korra is several years older than Aang is during Avatar: The Last Airbender, and possesses greater skill than he did during his series with every element besides air, making her fighting style more versatile, and her battles more engaging.

• Avatar: The Last Airbender

  In a war-torn world of elemental magic, a young boy reawakens to undertake a dangerous mystic quest to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar, and bring peace to the world.