The 15 Strongest Waterbenders In The 'Avatar' Franchise, Ranked

Voting Rules
Vote up who you think are the strongest waterbenders in the world of 'Avatar.'

Let's be real for a second: waterbending is arguably the strongest bending style in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra and nobody is mad about it. With the ability to heal, phase shift the element between a solid, liquid, and a gas, and even control the fluids inside a living creature via bloodbending, waterbending has the potential to be the most dangerous powerset if it's put in the right (or wrong) hands. 

In the years since Aang saved the world from the impending threat of the Fire Nation, many waterbenders have achieved mastery of the art in hyper-specific fields. Are you a fan of Kya's unparalleled healing abilities, or are you more of a traditionalist that just wants to see Master Pakku utterly destroy some Fire Nation soldiers? This is a list of the strongest waterbenders in ATLA and Korra. Vote up who you think are the strongest waterbenders!

Photo: Avatar: The Last Airbender / Nickelodeon

  • 1
    1,038 VOTES
    Katara
    Photo: Avatar: The Last Airbender / Nickelodeon

    Once the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Katara is a master of the discipline and effectively peerless. A student of both Master Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe and regretfully Hama, she has mastered waterbending as a means of attack and defense, healing techniques, and bloodbending, the last of which she advocated for a total ban of the technique due to its inhuman nature. She eventually retired to the Southern Water Tribe after Aang's death where she trained the new Avatar, Korra.

    1,038 votes
  • 2
    784 VOTES

    Amon

    Amon
    Photo: The Legend of Korra / Nickelodeon

    Amon was a highly powerful waterbending prodigy and excelled under the tutelage of his father, the bloodbending crimelord Yakone. Amon was capable of launching himself out of a body of water with a gigantic water spout, propelling himself over the surface at high speeds. Amon became a master bloodbender like his father, so much so that he was able to utilize the technique without a full moon by the age of fourteen, even going as far as his father where he could simply bloodbend with just his mind and force of will. 

    Amon was such a powerful bloodbender that he was able to take peoples bending away by manipulating their biology and blocking their chi at a molecular level. 

    784 votes
  • 3
    677 VOTES

    Hama

    Hama
    Photo: Avatar: The Last Airbender / Nickelodeon

    Hama was a powerful waterbender and, along with Katara, was one of few living waterbenders from the Southern Water Tribe during the Hundred Year War. She was also the only remaining master of the Southern Style until she passed her knowledge on to Katara. Her prowess was of such a standard that she was able to resist Fire Nation captivity during the Southern Water Tribe raids longer than any other of her fellow waterbenders.

    Hama was resourceful enough to manipulate and extract water from grass, flowers, and even trees to fuel her bending in combat or for other purposes. She could even pull water out of the air, making her a formidable opponent. This resourcefulness allowed her to use her waterbending even when deprived of an obvious and significant water source. Having spent years with the single-minded goal of perfecting this art, Hama became highly skilled at bloodbending, a technique that allowed her to manipulate the water in other creatures' bodies during the full moon, effectively giving her control over her target's actions. 

    677 votes
  • 4
    726 VOTES

    Ming-Hua

    Ming-Hua
    Photo: The Legend of Korra / Nickelodeon

    Ming-Hua was an armless waterbending master that was apart of the Red Lotus organization that tried to kidnap Korra when she was a child and overthrow the world's governments for the sake of anarchy. Incredibly deadly, she was imprisoned in a volcano, deprived of any water until her escape in Book 3: Change. She utilizes her bending to extend her body, making up for her lost limbs, often freezing part of her watery tendrils to be utilized as claws, blades, or even as body doubles. 

    Her bending is strong enough that she is able to scale any vertical surface and can hold off multiple opponents at once.  

    726 votes
  • 5
    619 VOTES

    Kya

    Kya
    Photo: The Legend of Korra / Nickelodeon

    Having been trained by her mother, Katara, Kya is a powerful waterbending master and is highly proficient in a number of advanced bending techniques. She is able to hold her own against incredibly powerful benders, such as Zaheer and Ming-Hua, thanks to her agility and resourcefulness, but her specialty lies in her mastery of healing. 

    After training under her mother, she further honed her abilities during her travels around the world, becoming a renowned healer in her own right. Her abilities allowed her to keep Jinora's energy circulating for almost a week despite the absence of her spirit when it was separated from her body and lost in the Spirit World. 

    619 votes
  • 6
    619 VOTES
    Avatar Korra
    Photo: The Legend of Korra / Nickelodeon

    Born in the Southern Water Tribe, Avatar Korra is a proficient waterbender that tends to fall back on her other bending disciplines of fire and earthbending, usually due to a lack of water available. That being said, she is a master waterbender that was trained by Katara and adapted her teachings to the Republic City pro-bending style upon her relocation. She is capable of creating large walls of ice, powerful water whips and waves strong enough to push back and, when frozen, contain an enormous mecha suit standing over twenty-five stories tall. 

    Additonally, Korra is also an accomplished healer due to the tutelage of Katara.

    619 votes