And when your entire population are benders and a lot of them highly skilled in a bending that’s hard to fight against even in an era where they’re plentiful. If the fire nation didn’t haven’t the comet they probably would’ve lost
"Selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, to protect the world"
"I guess I don't have a choice Momo. I have to kill the Firelord"
i call bs about aang needing the deus ex machina with the energy bending.
Aang had Ozai shackled to the ground, he just needed to bend him into a rock and wait for toph to arrive to fashion some shackles with metal bending that encase his entire hands and cover his mouth
Think about it like when Katara used the whip. Sometimes she doesn’t do the full movement for it, she just uses it like a regular whip. Like when she used it on Pakku before their fight. And in LoK we learn that technically bending itself isn’t martial arts. Bending is energy that the people of Atla can control, and martial arts is just how they choose to use it. We see this in the episode with Avatar Wan when he learned the dancing dragon. The other “firebenders” were just throwing fireballs and not really firebending yk what I mean? Even the people from Wan’s time were saying “I’ve never seen anyone use fire like that” or “ its like its an extension of his body” or something along the lines of that. So the action of pulling back the string and firing the arrow, would take place of the airbending movements, and shooting the arrow would be the airbending. Idk if this makes sense, its late 💀
I don’t think that it addressing the issue of Aang not being able to do 2 things at once, those fire Benders of wan’s time were not using weapons with fire bending
I didn’t say they were. I was giving examples of what they said to explain that they don’t need all these extra movements to bend . Water benders can bend with their mind for example. Airbenders can blow air with their mouths. I’m sure they can control the air around an arrow that they shoot. From simply just watching the show, and seeing all the different ways bending is used, I think we can all agree that anything is possible in the ATLA universe
That‘a a lot more complicated
And again only 2 could do any psychic shit and that was for blood bending
Bending is a martial art, you can’t do martial arts by standing still and looking at something
I think based on what we saw with Avatar Wan, bending and martial arts are not 100% linked. The ancient benders that borrowed bending from the lion turtles just threw fireballs Willy nilly, they didn’t use proper martial arts, which is why the previous commenter added that specific quote. Adding martial arts to the mix helps the benders treat bending as an extension of their body. It seems like martial arts is a tool to channel the energy more efficiently rather than a requirement to do so. That said, airbenders could probably manipulate the air around an arrow just fine with this logic. Aang used air bending to make his bison whistle louder so I really don’t think the spinny movement is required. But that’s all just theory and my opinion.
Edit: there is definitely a degree of inherited prowess with bending, so maybe not *all* benders could effectively wield their element without the aid of martial arts to channel chi. Aang could probably do the arrow thing because he’s a powerful bender inherently, but that doesn’t necessarily mean all airbenders could pull it off.
How can you do such a complex move if you are not bending? Aang was a master.
Throwing wind gusts Willy nilly won’t work, so you need something more than that, and something more than that means you’re going to be shooting that bow a lot less, and the entire point of bowmen is to shoot so many times a shot manages to get into the armor, since armor would be strong enough to take most hits, to the point where accuracy was less valuable than amount of shots at a certain point.
To make a bow and arrow effective enough to a scale worthy of precise dedication would require considerable skill in both the disciple of air bending, and archery, meaning that it would be rare, and that would mean it would be even less effective at mass projectiles.
Man I think you’re thinking about this a little too hard. The question is about whether or not people who can magically push air around could do so while using a bow. I’m just saying I think it’s possible based on what we’ve seen in the show. I never claimed it would be common, easy, or even the most effective use of air bending or archery.
Aang *was* a master, yes. Which is why I think he could do the archery air bending if he tried and practiced it. Considering how Kyoshi and Zuko are able to use their weapons to channel their bending, I would imagine a bow could do something similar. Maybe like a charge up attack the same way lightning bending works? But again this is a magic system with no clearly defined limitations.
Have you ever shot a bow into the wind?
You would just be doing that, unless you had such precise control that you did not mess up the trajectory of the arrow, which requires so much accuracy I’m willing to be it is functionally impossible due to the time window.
You would have
Shoot the arrow
Drop your bow
Identify where the arrow is and is going to be when you do the move
Do the move
And have the wind reach it
Before the arrow reaches the ground
And precise enough that you did not just have it go someone you didn’t want it to because you’re hitting an arrow with wind, I don’t recall any air bender showing such precision on any basis to even show it as possible
I highly doubt anyone can do that on a consistency of keeping a bow arrow and maintaining it as well as training in archery
The only useful thing an air bender could do for archery is to have it so the wind wasn’t blowing into your face, so not useless for archers, would be useless for being a better archer
If you watch the show, sometimes you can see them doing the different moves that do the same thing or vice versa. There is some psychic factors in bending. Sometimes they’ll move their arms forward or something but the element will launch behind them, or they’d push down but the element will go up. You get the point. The martial arts is to add power and guide the element, controling the elements themselves depends on the energy and mind of the bender.
Well if you look at Aang, Korra, Roku, etc, when they do the air spout or water spout thing that they stand on, they’re not even moving. They just stick their arms out. Technically all bending is psychic considering its a form of telekenisis. And what u/zombprince said just enhances my point.
To be fair, the airbenders had to be pacifists because nonpacifist airbenders can end any fight by sucking the air out of their opponents lungs. They had to nerf themselves for the balance of the world
Could do a staff with fans on the end. Have wind go through the fans so you can make the staff fly around seemingly unpredictably.
Can you imagine some bald kid hurling a funny looming stick at you you go to block it and suddenly it does a flip in the air moves around you're block and walks you in the side of the head
Don't know if OP has also watched the YT channel Overanalyzing Avatar, but it turns out that Aang loses his staff *a lot* during fights throughout the show.
Because I was making a joke, and Redditors hate it when someone misses a joke.
As Juan Two Three said, Aang kept losing his staff. Almost whenever he got into a fight he lost his staff.
They "miss" with the actual weapon but hit someone with a gust of air XD
And also spinning them in general to create small whirlwinds or tornados would be interesting for sure!
And it's a blunt weapon, so it's still very much in line for the pacifist Air Nomads. Aang has been trained to use the staff in self defense, even if it gets knocked away most of the time.
I was working on a fan fiction years ago that had this. My main earthbender was actually a sandbender with a crippled leg and used a staff made of compressed sand to get around. It worked for his mobility, as a weapon, and a means for him to take sand with him everywhere.
Oh, maybe a spiritually aware firebender can astral project during meditation, like when Aang has left his body before. They can then practice on extending their spirit even while not meditating, and eventually connect their mind to the meteor hammer (it would probably take a lot of practice, and specific focus on binding to that one object). From that point onward, the hammer can be used as the origin from which to fire their combustion.
There's an earthbender with a meteor hammer in the comics. They have 2 stones with spiked metal bands wrapped around them that were connected by a chain.
Does non-bending and staffs count? I feel like it'd be really cool to see more non-benders use staffs. There's lots of cool moves they could do without worrying about blood or stuff like with swords or bladed weapons. They also give off a more spiritual vibe than other weapons too. The idea of a non-bender who became spiritually enlightened and mastered the art of the staff in order to go toe to toe with benders is really cool to me. I wished we saw air acolytes do something like that.
This would be amazing! I'd love to see that, especially since it's proven that certain people can definitely go toe to toe with a bender even if they can't bend
I want this now-
Thanks for that dose of fanfic writing inspiration. I'd like to see earthbending with tonfa and kamas, and airbending with nunchaku and 3-section staff.
Went down the rabbit hole of researching martial arts thanks to the post and I'm so excited. I'm going to incorporate the martial art of Capoeira in chapter 3. Nunchaku, 3 section staff, and escrima will be featured in chapter 10 & 11 with airbending.
Here's the link to my fanfic-
[Book 4: Air, the Missing Element](https://archiveofourown.org/works/55222942/chapters/140068033#workskin). It is still early in writing but development has been crazy these last 2 months.
See this would be how the movie could have reasonably used needing a “source” for firebending. Needing to carry around giant campfires basically makes them so weak. This would have been actually cool. Not sure if theyd get sued by fma people but could still do something similar. Have little flint mechanisms in their hands. Works well with the higher tech of the fire nation
That'd be cool and also kind of funny, like just imagine someone causally pulling a brick from a wall and hurling it (or not even pulling it directly and just bending it)
Air ending with robes.
Earthbending with a knight shield,
water benders with a whips (I am Katara Belmont, from the Southern Water Tribe. And dying does not scare me)
Lightning benders if they started using grenades:
https://preview.redd.it/41j741eb8o5d1.jpeg?width=1926&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52cb6895d4d8c1150bc6e3f11fb0bc3cc829ee70
Is there a reason it wouldn't work without it? Like an airbender with a staff vs. an earthbender wouldn't work? I'm not saying your point is invalid but I'm just interested in the reasoning XD
There’s just better visual cohesion when both sides have weapons and vice versa.
It’s kinda weird when one side uses magic but the other uses a weapon.
Also, bending often requires complex movements that weapons tend to restrict
Oh ok that makes a lot more sense! I can see how that lopsided feel can make a battle seem off. I also agree that sometimes weapons can restrict the more advanced movements but certain weapons like fans and the like wouldn't restrict much if at all
And Earthbender with a Kanabo (think Shugoki from for honor), and waterbenders with an ax. The ax has a compartment hidden in the center for water, allowing for surprise attacks. They also use said water to coat the ax in ice and use it as a projectile.
Fire and air could create a super heated laser or explosion akin to combustion bender. All metal, even platinum, wouldn’t be able to do much of anything
We saw Aang create frozen wind during his fight with Ozai. Creating a blizzard would be incredibly dangerous. You could also flash freeze someone to basically absolute zero
I’d imagine someone skilled enough with earth bending and fire bending could manually create weapons at will, pulling earth up and then forging it as its created. Almost like lava bending but you could just create weapons and cool them down
Water and fire could create boiling water or super heated steam. You could also create super heated water which is worse than just boiling. Evaporating the water from someone’s body instantly would create a mummy
For just one bending type I wonder if a blood bender could heal their own injuries at will by hardening the blood. Maybe they could increase their blood flow to give them a boost to their adrenaline. Or force more blood into their brain to increase their brain power temporarily
I wonder how guns would be with Air/Metal Bending depending on how impure the gun is made. Would Airbenders have the ability to pull a Yondu from Guardians Of The Galaxy and be able to move a bullet like a leaf in the wind or would metalbenders be able to make attachment and such as the fly
There are endless combos honestly
- Earthbending + Horseman’s Flail (Medivial weapon)
- Metal bending + Gauntlets (usually armor for the hand, but imagine it being used like what Vi does in Arcane)
- Sandbending + Khopesh (Egyptian Sword)
- Lava bending + Bagh Nakh (Indian Slashing Knuckles)
- Waterbending + Urumi (Indian Sword made to be flexible like a whip)
- Ice bending + Kusarigama (Japanese Chain Sickles)
- Blood bending + Scythe (Farming Tool, cliche I know, and probably not actually practical LOL)
- Firebending + Katar/Chakram (Indian Push Dagger/Indian Thowing Weapon)
- Lightingbending + Bident (Two Pronged Two Weapon)
- Combustionbending + Sail/Fireworks (Chinese Disarming Sword + literal Fireworks)
- Airbending + Tonfa (Japanese Melee Weapon, known for more blocking than attacking)
All my fan fic bender ideas:
Water bender utilizing liquid silk similar to spider-man or any thread users.
Metal bender using puppets or automata think ancient gear (yu-gi-oh) or karakuri (also yu-gi-oh). They metal bend the clockwork parts.
Plant bender but different from how foggy swamp tribe. Instead they make plants grow quick instead.
Water bender using gasoline or alcohol to start create fire (imagine Gugu fumetsu no anata).
Air bender manipulating animals via scent, they apply a scent to the target then animals will attack it.
Air bender using blowdarts.
Earth bender using mud/clay bending and pigment bending to disguise themself or impersonate anyone. Pigment bending to alter skin/hair color, mud/clay to alter facial features and body features.
Lightning bending with taser gloves -- the bender doesn't have to put as much effort into summoning the lightning, just bend what's already there, and the bender gains the ability to hide their bending somewhat by blaming it on the gloves. Also, an especially clever lightning bender using these has a handy (ha!) defibrillator.
I know the villain's minions in LoK Book 1 were essentially this without lightning bending, but I think it'd be a good concept.
It'd be real awesome to use metalbending with a prosthetic metal arm so that you can shape it into just about anything you want for extreme versatility and flexibility in battle. It's just like the automail in Fullmetal Alchemist.
And I'd like to see more firebending combined with swordsmanship.
The air sword Aang mentioned in the episode 'Sokka's Master'. Unlike all the weapons mentioned by the OP, which are basic weapons/items used in conjunction with bending, this weapon should be specifically designed for airbenders. IIRC Aang described it as a hollow hilt you can airbend through to create an air sword.
Mind Bending/ Will Bending / Reality Bending / Blood Bending on a larger scale ( entire mob or a pod of whales or a murder of crows) /
Lightening Bending becomes Lazer Bending. More fire benders rocketing themselves across the sky like cannonball from Xmen/ new mutants.
Earth Metal benders and descendants of the “Dai li”as secret agents capturing criminals by knocking them unconscious by removing the iron flowing into their brains
Lightening benders who aren’t fire benders born from the union between air benders and water benders who develop their own subcategories
And Zaheer is still alive somewhere and he was right!
Waterbender with a bow shooting ice arrows would be crazy. I don't know why they wouldn't just waterbend normally at that point but it would be cool i guess
I kinda wished the earth benders used more melee attacks in general
Seeing those guantlets looked so badass that I was kinda sad you never see them used often enough
An oar with waterbenders would be interesting, kinda similar to the staff Aang uses but the movements would be alot more rigid like Earth bending and would allow waterbenders to poly more force to their waves
A traveling air bender nomad who left the air temple cause the gurus are too stuffy and uptight, and he loves food. He travels around with a large pot with an extendable handle that he uses like a staff and uses the pot end almost like a spoon to gather and launch blasts of air, and maybe stands on it and rides around on it like a broomstick with air pumping out the pot end which is pointing down that kinda looks like car exhaust lol
The issue is, dual wielding needs weapons that don’t get in each others way, which is why it’s uncommon for dual wielding to use weapons that are the same
Bending is a weapon, and is most effective when you can use your hands, it’s not psychic (except those 2 times it was) so you would have to constant drop and pick up your weapons if you fully commit to it
Aang wasn’t picking his staff up too often, so most would think there’s no point and just stick to hands, Aang’s staff was also a glider after all, if it wasn’t, I doubt any air bender would use them
I keep thinking of air bending or earth bending with the rings from the Shang chi mcu movie. That would actually be really cool. Either airbending the rings or if they’re made of rock then earthbending them to have them work like they do in the movie.
Water bending with [retarius gladiator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retiarius?wprov=sfti1) gear (the ones with nets and tridents). Just wash your opponent right into your net.
In a new season, after Kora, set in a more modern time (maybe like 1980s or 90s feel), fire benders with guns powered by firebending would be interesting, but maybe a bit OP 🤔
Air bending with arrows would kinda ruin the whole “pacifist” thing, but dang that would be sick
Any avatar would be free to do that though! Even air nomads avatars because seems like most of them give up the pacifism anyway
It seems air nomad Avatars understood that being the Avatar has certain responsibilities and that's my guess as to why
I'd even argue that the reason why the nomads were able to remain pacifist is because the Avatar basically handles the violence for them.
It IS generally easier when most of your problems can be solved by being extremely isolated from everyone else or having someone else take care of it.
And when your entire population are benders and a lot of them highly skilled in a bending that’s hard to fight against even in an era where they’re plentiful. If the fire nation didn’t haven’t the comet they probably would’ve lost
tbf pacifism didn't work out well for them.
"Selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, to protect the world" "I guess I don't have a choice Momo. I have to kill the Firelord"
i call bs about aang needing the deus ex machina with the energy bending. Aang had Ozai shackled to the ground, he just needed to bend him into a rock and wait for toph to arrive to fashion some shackles with metal bending that encase his entire hands and cover his mouth
WHAT DID YOU SAY? YANGCHEN YELLED AT ME YESTERDAY SO I CANT HEAR ANYTHING ANYMORE
Air nomads could also link you to the wall with enough precision. They wouldn't have to be lethal
That'd be interesting! Maybe blunt ends instead of the sharp tips?
I had this idea where an airbending archer could use their bow like a traditional airbender would use their staff if it wasn't strung.
Like Atreus from God of War's melee attacks lol
What about blowguns? Would look similar to Aang with the bison pipe.
Very Yondu Udonta
It would be strange because there's no way they can make the air ending movements (spinning) while aiming
Think about it like when Katara used the whip. Sometimes she doesn’t do the full movement for it, she just uses it like a regular whip. Like when she used it on Pakku before their fight. And in LoK we learn that technically bending itself isn’t martial arts. Bending is energy that the people of Atla can control, and martial arts is just how they choose to use it. We see this in the episode with Avatar Wan when he learned the dancing dragon. The other “firebenders” were just throwing fireballs and not really firebending yk what I mean? Even the people from Wan’s time were saying “I’ve never seen anyone use fire like that” or “ its like its an extension of his body” or something along the lines of that. So the action of pulling back the string and firing the arrow, would take place of the airbending movements, and shooting the arrow would be the airbending. Idk if this makes sense, its late 💀
I don’t think that it addressing the issue of Aang not being able to do 2 things at once, those fire Benders of wan’s time were not using weapons with fire bending
I didn’t say they were. I was giving examples of what they said to explain that they don’t need all these extra movements to bend . Water benders can bend with their mind for example. Airbenders can blow air with their mouths. I’m sure they can control the air around an arrow that they shoot. From simply just watching the show, and seeing all the different ways bending is used, I think we can all agree that anything is possible in the ATLA universe
That‘a a lot more complicated And again only 2 could do any psychic shit and that was for blood bending Bending is a martial art, you can’t do martial arts by standing still and looking at something
I think based on what we saw with Avatar Wan, bending and martial arts are not 100% linked. The ancient benders that borrowed bending from the lion turtles just threw fireballs Willy nilly, they didn’t use proper martial arts, which is why the previous commenter added that specific quote. Adding martial arts to the mix helps the benders treat bending as an extension of their body. It seems like martial arts is a tool to channel the energy more efficiently rather than a requirement to do so. That said, airbenders could probably manipulate the air around an arrow just fine with this logic. Aang used air bending to make his bison whistle louder so I really don’t think the spinny movement is required. But that’s all just theory and my opinion. Edit: there is definitely a degree of inherited prowess with bending, so maybe not *all* benders could effectively wield their element without the aid of martial arts to channel chi. Aang could probably do the arrow thing because he’s a powerful bender inherently, but that doesn’t necessarily mean all airbenders could pull it off.
How can you do such a complex move if you are not bending? Aang was a master. Throwing wind gusts Willy nilly won’t work, so you need something more than that, and something more than that means you’re going to be shooting that bow a lot less, and the entire point of bowmen is to shoot so many times a shot manages to get into the armor, since armor would be strong enough to take most hits, to the point where accuracy was less valuable than amount of shots at a certain point. To make a bow and arrow effective enough to a scale worthy of precise dedication would require considerable skill in both the disciple of air bending, and archery, meaning that it would be rare, and that would mean it would be even less effective at mass projectiles.
Man I think you’re thinking about this a little too hard. The question is about whether or not people who can magically push air around could do so while using a bow. I’m just saying I think it’s possible based on what we’ve seen in the show. I never claimed it would be common, easy, or even the most effective use of air bending or archery. Aang *was* a master, yes. Which is why I think he could do the archery air bending if he tried and practiced it. Considering how Kyoshi and Zuko are able to use their weapons to channel their bending, I would imagine a bow could do something similar. Maybe like a charge up attack the same way lightning bending works? But again this is a magic system with no clearly defined limitations.
Have you ever shot a bow into the wind? You would just be doing that, unless you had such precise control that you did not mess up the trajectory of the arrow, which requires so much accuracy I’m willing to be it is functionally impossible due to the time window. You would have Shoot the arrow Drop your bow Identify where the arrow is and is going to be when you do the move Do the move And have the wind reach it Before the arrow reaches the ground And precise enough that you did not just have it go someone you didn’t want it to because you’re hitting an arrow with wind, I don’t recall any air bender showing such precision on any basis to even show it as possible I highly doubt anyone can do that on a consistency of keeping a bow arrow and maintaining it as well as training in archery The only useful thing an air bender could do for archery is to have it so the wind wasn’t blowing into your face, so not useless for archers, would be useless for being a better archer
If you watch the show, sometimes you can see them doing the different moves that do the same thing or vice versa. There is some psychic factors in bending. Sometimes they’ll move their arms forward or something but the element will launch behind them, or they’d push down but the element will go up. You get the point. The martial arts is to add power and guide the element, controling the elements themselves depends on the energy and mind of the bender.
Well if you look at Aang, Korra, Roku, etc, when they do the air spout or water spout thing that they stand on, they’re not even moving. They just stick their arms out. Technically all bending is psychic considering its a form of telekenisis. And what u/zombprince said just enhances my point.
How would that work since you need both hands to work a bow? A blowdart makes more sense
They could use it like it was used to capture Aang. Just pinning the person in place and not actually harming them
Daāng, that would be sick.
I mean there is an air sword that also sounds pretty offensive as a weapon for air nomads
To be fair, the airbenders had to be pacifists because nonpacifist airbenders can end any fight by sucking the air out of their opponents lungs. They had to nerf themselves for the balance of the world
Same with a whip
Could do a staff with fans on the end. Have wind go through the fans so you can make the staff fly around seemingly unpredictably. Can you imagine some bald kid hurling a funny looming stick at you you go to block it and suddenly it does a flip in the air moves around you're block and walks you in the side of the head
kinda like bro from guardians of the galaxy!!! (i forgot his name)
Just taking a moment to recognize how sick the hammer earth bending was, even though that guy was the worst.
Totally! Too bad he got smoked...literally-
Air being used in conjunction with the staff in combat
No Airbenders are trained to lose their staff mid fight
It makes the choreography better
Not really, bo staff fighting is awesome to watch they just have Aang lose it all the time because it is easier to animate.
That’s the point. The movements become better when Aang doesn’t have to carry something around.
wait, really, how? why?
Don't know if OP has also watched the YT channel Overanalyzing Avatar, but it turns out that Aang loses his staff *a lot* during fights throughout the show.
"oh and there goes the staff!"
Every time I see an OA reference I get a big stupid grin on my face.
I loved watching his credits where he made up bullshit about his patrons
Stumbling upon him when he was on like episode 3 was the best part of getting through 2020. New videos always made my day.
Same dude, i think i caught him on like ep 4 or 5 and instantly binged all off the previous ones
why am I downvoted, it's a genuine question, why would they lose their only defense mechanism mid fight?
Because I was making a joke, and Redditors hate it when someone misses a joke. As Juan Two Three said, Aang kept losing his staff. Almost whenever he got into a fight he lost his staff.
Always loved this combo!
Air benders with Nunchuks
They "miss" with the actual weapon but hit someone with a gust of air XD And also spinning them in general to create small whirlwinds or tornados would be interesting for sure!
And it's a blunt weapon, so it's still very much in line for the pacifist Air Nomads. Aang has been trained to use the staff in self defense, even if it gets knocked away most of the time.
Yeah that's also true! No long-term damage or anything of the sort (hopefully XD)
I feel like water bending fits better with it
I think chain blades like kratos swords would work better for them
Even perfecter
Cigars and fire like irob
Have I ever told you how I got the nickname, "dragon of the west?" (Hits a blunt then breathes fire)
This would be super funny to see 😂
Doobie Iroh
earthbending with a staff. feel like that could be really powerful
I was working on a fan fiction years ago that had this. My main earthbender was actually a sandbender with a crippled leg and used a staff made of compressed sand to get around. It worked for his mobility, as a weapon, and a means for him to take sand with him everywhere.
I hate sand...
It’s corse and rough and it gets in my coochie
I imagine shooting the spear through the ground like a torpedo.
Earthbending with a staff made from the Zao fu metal. You can just remake the weapon into anything.
That'd be amazing! Imagine swiping the staff across the ground and making a riff of earth
How? What would you be doing differently?
Meteor hammer for a fire bender
I wonder if combustion bending is specifically retained to the head, because if not then an explosive hammer would be interesting
https://i.redd.it/036ouavlzq5d1.gif
Oh, maybe a spiritually aware firebender can astral project during meditation, like when Aang has left his body before. They can then practice on extending their spirit even while not meditating, and eventually connect their mind to the meteor hammer (it would probably take a lot of practice, and specific focus on binding to that one object). From that point onward, the hammer can be used as the origin from which to fire their combustion.
That. Is. Awesome. I'd love to see this concept explored somehow! Things like this remind me of why I use Reddit XD
Or, hear me out now, a combustion bender using his groin. And Dethklok's "i ejaculate fire" playing in the background
And be like Thor for lightning bending lol
There's an earthbender with a meteor hammer in the comics. They have 2 stones with spiked metal bands wrapped around them that were connected by a chain.
Lasso with air bending
Does non-bending and staffs count? I feel like it'd be really cool to see more non-benders use staffs. There's lots of cool moves they could do without worrying about blood or stuff like with swords or bladed weapons. They also give off a more spiritual vibe than other weapons too. The idea of a non-bender who became spiritually enlightened and mastered the art of the staff in order to go toe to toe with benders is really cool to me. I wished we saw air acolytes do something like that.
This would be amazing! I'd love to see that, especially since it's proven that certain people can definitely go toe to toe with a bender even if they can't bend I want this now-
How would being really good with a staff make them be able to go toe to toe with Benders? Like what if they just get set on fire
Thanks for that dose of fanfic writing inspiration. I'd like to see earthbending with tonfa and kamas, and airbending with nunchaku and 3-section staff.
That sounds very interesting! (And if you're writing fanfiction I'd love to see XD)
Went down the rabbit hole of researching martial arts thanks to the post and I'm so excited. I'm going to incorporate the martial art of Capoeira in chapter 3. Nunchaku, 3 section staff, and escrima will be featured in chapter 10 & 11 with airbending. Here's the link to my fanfic- [Book 4: Air, the Missing Element](https://archiveofourown.org/works/55222942/chapters/140068033#workskin). It is still early in writing but development has been crazy these last 2 months.
Started reading a bit and I'm going to have to see more of what's up with this later, seems interesting so far!
Oh thanks!
Firebending and white gloves. Wait, I've already seen that somewhere...
See this would be how the movie could have reasonably used needing a “source” for firebending. Needing to carry around giant campfires basically makes them so weak. This would have been actually cool. Not sure if theyd get sued by fma people but could still do something similar. Have little flint mechanisms in their hands. Works well with the higher tech of the fire nation
I always imagined an earthbender bashing someone in the head with, porcelain plates, and bricks they pulled out of the wall
That'd be cool and also kind of funny, like just imagine someone causally pulling a brick from a wall and hurling it (or not even pulling it directly and just bending it)
Air ending with robes. Earthbending with a knight shield, water benders with a whips (I am Katara Belmont, from the Southern Water Tribe. And dying does not scare me)
How would the robes work?
Tie them a knight to make a ring, or keep the edge spinning. As long as the robe is spinning should work
Ooooh ok, makes sense!
I imagine that would be like dr. Strange cape.
Slave Knight Gael boss fight, that cape is lethal
Meelo if he was a firebender:
Lightning generation with a chained hammer. Wait... 
Lightning benders if they started using grenades: https://preview.redd.it/41j741eb8o5d1.jpeg?width=1926&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52cb6895d4d8c1150bc6e3f11fb0bc3cc829ee70
I'll have Varrick cover the damages
The issue is that weapons only really work when both sides have weapons.
Is there a reason it wouldn't work without it? Like an airbender with a staff vs. an earthbender wouldn't work? I'm not saying your point is invalid but I'm just interested in the reasoning XD
There’s just better visual cohesion when both sides have weapons and vice versa. It’s kinda weird when one side uses magic but the other uses a weapon. Also, bending often requires complex movements that weapons tend to restrict
Oh ok that makes a lot more sense! I can see how that lopsided feel can make a battle seem off. I also agree that sometimes weapons can restrict the more advanced movements but certain weapons like fans and the like wouldn't restrict much if at all
I always wondered what would happen if you gave a lightingbender the tasing gloves Asami uses.
That makes me curious - can they redirect that electricity as well?
Waterbending and that indian whipblade
Firebending with a chain like Ghostrider
And Earthbender with a Kanabo (think Shugoki from for honor), and waterbenders with an ax. The ax has a compartment hidden in the center for water, allowing for surprise attacks. They also use said water to coat the ax in ice and use it as a projectile.
Fire and air could create a super heated laser or explosion akin to combustion bender. All metal, even platinum, wouldn’t be able to do much of anything We saw Aang create frozen wind during his fight with Ozai. Creating a blizzard would be incredibly dangerous. You could also flash freeze someone to basically absolute zero I’d imagine someone skilled enough with earth bending and fire bending could manually create weapons at will, pulling earth up and then forging it as its created. Almost like lava bending but you could just create weapons and cool them down Water and fire could create boiling water or super heated steam. You could also create super heated water which is worse than just boiling. Evaporating the water from someone’s body instantly would create a mummy For just one bending type I wonder if a blood bender could heal their own injuries at will by hardening the blood. Maybe they could increase their blood flow to give them a boost to their adrenaline. Or force more blood into their brain to increase their brain power temporarily
Air Dual Sword and Fire Fans bc “Don’t you know fans just make flames stronger”-Queen Azula
Airbending with Umbrella Airbending with blow darts
I wonder how guns would be with Air/Metal Bending depending on how impure the gun is made. Would Airbenders have the ability to pull a Yondu from Guardians Of The Galaxy and be able to move a bullet like a leaf in the wind or would metalbenders be able to make attachment and such as the fly
There are endless combos honestly - Earthbending + Horseman’s Flail (Medivial weapon) - Metal bending + Gauntlets (usually armor for the hand, but imagine it being used like what Vi does in Arcane) - Sandbending + Khopesh (Egyptian Sword) - Lava bending + Bagh Nakh (Indian Slashing Knuckles) - Waterbending + Urumi (Indian Sword made to be flexible like a whip) - Ice bending + Kusarigama (Japanese Chain Sickles) - Blood bending + Scythe (Farming Tool, cliche I know, and probably not actually practical LOL) - Firebending + Katar/Chakram (Indian Push Dagger/Indian Thowing Weapon) - Lightingbending + Bident (Two Pronged Two Weapon) - Combustionbending + Sail/Fireworks (Chinese Disarming Sword + literal Fireworks) - Airbending + Tonfa (Japanese Melee Weapon, known for more blocking than attacking)
Airbending with a boomeraang
Would be interesting to see someone use blades inside of the water in waterbending for extra offense
All my fan fic bender ideas: Water bender utilizing liquid silk similar to spider-man or any thread users. Metal bender using puppets or automata think ancient gear (yu-gi-oh) or karakuri (also yu-gi-oh). They metal bend the clockwork parts. Plant bender but different from how foggy swamp tribe. Instead they make plants grow quick instead. Water bender using gasoline or alcohol to start create fire (imagine Gugu fumetsu no anata). Air bender manipulating animals via scent, they apply a scent to the target then animals will attack it. Air bender using blowdarts. Earth bender using mud/clay bending and pigment bending to disguise themself or impersonate anyone. Pigment bending to alter skin/hair color, mud/clay to alter facial features and body features.
Yasuo's wind katana from league of legends
Metal bender with a chain whip
Water bending with foam pool noodles
Water bending with zuko's dual swords
Lightning bending with taser gloves -- the bender doesn't have to put as much effort into summoning the lightning, just bend what's already there, and the bender gains the ability to hide their bending somewhat by blaming it on the gloves. Also, an especially clever lightning bender using these has a handy (ha!) defibrillator. I know the villain's minions in LoK Book 1 were essentially this without lightning bending, but I think it'd be a good concept.
Earthbending and bullets, automatic gun
Earth bending and a combat staff, eg hit the ground with the staff to raise the rocks then kick them to send them off would be sick
Imagine the amount of combos that could be made from this! Really like this idea
It'd be real awesome to use metalbending with a prosthetic metal arm so that you can shape it into just about anything you want for extreme versatility and flexibility in battle. It's just like the automail in Fullmetal Alchemist. And I'd like to see more firebending combined with swordsmanship.
Indiana Jones and the Whip of Airbending
Combining lighting bending with water bending so then the water can conduct the electricity and be easier to control.
Waterbender/firebender combo strait up molotoving
Nunchucks with any bending tbh
More polearms like a Guandao wielding firebenders would be gnarly.
And air bending samurai to get some real air bending slice. Fire bender with a hammer with some holes to make rocket hammer.
Water bending and a bag of metal bbs.
Airbending with Kyoshi warrior fans would make a pretty sick combo
I mean that’s exactly what Kyoshi did, so if she did it then it’s bound to be awesome.
Kali Stick
The air sword Aang mentioned in the episode 'Sokka's Master'. Unlike all the weapons mentioned by the OP, which are basic weapons/items used in conjunction with bending, this weapon should be specifically designed for airbenders. IIRC Aang described it as a hollow hilt you can airbend through to create an air sword.
Water bender with a super soaker.
Aang with his staff
Air bending with a parasol, not a weapon but imagine 😍
John Wick and his Mastery over Weapon Bending.
Waterbending with a bone spear
Mind Bending/ Will Bending / Reality Bending / Blood Bending on a larger scale ( entire mob or a pod of whales or a murder of crows) / Lightening Bending becomes Lazer Bending. More fire benders rocketing themselves across the sky like cannonball from Xmen/ new mutants. Earth Metal benders and descendants of the “Dai li”as secret agents capturing criminals by knocking them unconscious by removing the iron flowing into their brains Lightening benders who aren’t fire benders born from the union between air benders and water benders who develop their own subcategories And Zaheer is still alive somewhere and he was right!
I am still waiting to see the wind sword.
sometimes lava cools on the outside but is still molten on the inside, so lava bombs could be viable.
Waterbender with a bow shooting ice arrows would be crazy. I don't know why they wouldn't just waterbend normally at that point but it would be cool i guess
Waterbending with a sword. Lots of slices and ice attacks would go well with it
Lightning Bending with whips or rope-darts to launch attacks from strange angles.
I kinda wished the earth benders used more melee attacks in general Seeing those guantlets looked so badass that I was kinda sad you never see them used often enough
Non bending with a gun Jokes aside, I think a spear with waterbending would be nice
Lightning bend onto a piece of metal. Makeshift taser
An oar with waterbenders would be interesting, kinda similar to the staff Aang uses but the movements would be alot more rigid like Earth bending and would allow waterbenders to poly more force to their waves
I wouldve loved to see a staff with water or fire
fire bending with nuckchucks
A traveling air bender nomad who left the air temple cause the gurus are too stuffy and uptight, and he loves food. He travels around with a large pot with an extendable handle that he uses like a staff and uses the pot end almost like a spoon to gather and launch blasts of air, and maybe stands on it and rides around on it like a broomstick with air pumping out the pot end which is pointing down that kinda looks like car exhaust lol
Metal bender with a crap ton of swords
https://youtu.be/T5vdPy7nbRQ?si=4m3iipSQw_R4Uhzx Metalbending with a staff.
The issue is, dual wielding needs weapons that don’t get in each others way, which is why it’s uncommon for dual wielding to use weapons that are the same Bending is a weapon, and is most effective when you can use your hands, it’s not psychic (except those 2 times it was) so you would have to constant drop and pick up your weapons if you fully commit to it Aang wasn’t picking his staff up too often, so most would think there’s no point and just stick to hands, Aang’s staff was also a glider after all, if it wasn’t, I doubt any air bender would use them
The water whip but it’s an actual whip with a small tube of water inside it
TNT sticks
I keep thinking of air bending or earth bending with the rings from the Shang chi mcu movie. That would actually be really cool. Either airbending the rings or if they’re made of rock then earthbending them to have them work like they do in the movie.
Earthbending with a sling. Just throwing a rock, but supernaturally hard and accurate.
Air-bending with a glave
Water bending with [retarius gladiator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retiarius?wprov=sfti1) gear (the ones with nets and tridents). Just wash your opponent right into your net.
Wind sword….
Fire bender with a hand cannon
Earth fist just like the guards of ba-sing-se but add the chi blocking technique…
Didn't Aang once mentioned an airsword? Where an airbender uses a sword hilt to create an Blade of Air
earth and sniper rifle
In a new season, after Kora, set in a more modern time (maybe like 1980s or 90s feel), fire benders with guns powered by firebending would be interesting, but maybe a bit OP 🤔
Spear and firebending would probably be cool
Firebender with a bo staff in my head seems really cool
earth benders with aim-bot catapults
Air and nunchaku.
Water bending being left to die at the end of the pool in both OP's pictures and in the comments
Kyoshi does looks like kid aang in the face a bit
I’d like to see fire bending + fire works if that counts
No weapons. Just raw, unyielding power
Fire bending with a spear would be cool
Aang with a gun
Waterbending and Boomerang would be unstoppable. (Honestly I just want to see how it would work)
Something with nunchuks.
I want to see a combination with katanans and water idk why
Katanas with water would be pretty cool. I've actually thought about swords for every element, but probably a different kind of sword for each one
Lead bending with a gun