The animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: Legend of Korra, featured a fantasy-oriented world with intriguing bending techniques that involved the control of certain elements. The foremost bending styles — water, air, fire, and earth — were the major highlights of the series. However, at critical moments the story revealed other deviant styles, fundamentally different from the four iconic bending techniques.

Before one can use these specialized techniques, they must fully master the bending art the technique originates from. For instance, lightning generation users must fully learn firebending, and metalbenders must master the earthbending style. There are various impressive bending subtypes in the Avatar world, ranging from the deadly bloodbending art to the Toph-inspired metal bending. Here's a ranking of these specialized techniques, from least to most powerful

10 Waterbending: Healing

Healing is a special waterbending sub-style used by only a few gifted Waterbenders. As the name suggests, it allows users to heal their injuries and the wounds of others with water. This category of Waterbenders can draw out the healing properties in water, allowing it to heal and soothe their patients' source of discomfort.

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Although the bending art is powerful, it has certain limitations. One such limitation is the inability to restore benders' chi paths. Also, in most situations, the technique cannot heal internal injuries or birth defects, such as Toph Beifong's blindness. However, despite its weaknesses, it is a treasured art that saved Aang after he was struck down by Azula’s lightning.

9 Airbending: Spiritual Projection

Spiritual projection is a complex sub-art that was shown in Avatar: Legend of Korra. It is a technique that requires utmost concentration and skill. To use spiritual projection, one needs a high sense of spirituality and profound meditation skill. During spiritual projection, the user’s spirit detaches itself from their body, allowing them to move freely in a corporeal form. Users that enter this state can move through walls, buildings, and any physical object.

Spiritual projection practitioners can also use this technique to find individuals they have a solid connection with. Jinora, Tenzin’s daughter, was the only known user of this technique during the Harmonic Convergence. Although Spiritual Projection has no offensive power, it is a useful scouting skill.

8 Airbending: Flight

Avatar: The Last Airbender portrayed the Airbenders flying through the use of special contraptions, while their abilities allowed them to manipulate the wind and glide through the air. However, Avatar: Legend of Korra revealed another dimension to the Air Bending Art: flight without any contraptions.

Flight is a unique skill even among the gifted Airbenders. The only known users are Guru Laghima and Zaheer. To be able to harness flight, an Airbender must let go of their earthly attachment to sync with the wind and become one with it. Masters of this technique can fly and hover easily. In combat, this ability gives the users an edge over their opponents, since they can direct long-range attacks with ease.

7 Waterbending: Spiritbending

Spiritbending is a waterbending technique created to manipulate the energies present in spirits. The inventor of this technique was Unalaq, one of the major antagonists of Avatar: Legend of Korra. Unalaq also taught this technique to his niece, Korra, making the two of them the only practitioners.

Spiritbending is aimed at restoring balance to a spirit with distorted spiritual energy. Generally, it changes the negative energy in a spirit to a positive one, restoring balance to the spirit’s energy. The technique involves the manipulation of streams of water surrounding the spirit. While this technique is good for spirits, it is harmful when used against humans.

6 Earthbending: Lavabending

Lavabending is a powerful earthbending sub-style. In the Avatar franchise, the first lavabender was none other than Avatar Szeto, the Avatar preceding Yangchen. In a vision Aang shared with this Avatar, he was seen controlling the magma residing in four different volcanoes. In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar Roku used this technique to destroy the Fire Temple, showing how deadly the art is.

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The technique allows its users to manipulate molten rock or change the nature of earth to molten rock. All known users of this technique are extremely skilled Earthbenders and Avatars. Bolin, one of the main protagonists in Legend of Korra, was also shown using this technique in the show’s final seasons.

5 Earthbending: Metalbending

Metalbending is a powerful skill pioneered by Toph Beifong, the blind Earthbender. Metal bending allows Earthbenders to manipulate metallic substances. Since metal is obtained from the earth, it is still a part of earth, so it makes the element bendable by the Earthbenders.

In The Last Airbender, Toph was the only metalbender; however, in Legend of Korra, the police force of Republic City were capable Metalbenders. The reason behind this was Toph's creation of the metalbending academy where she taught other Earthbenders this unique technique. Toph’s daughters, Lin and Suyin Beifong, were also expert Metalbenders.

4 Earth Bending: Seismic Sense

Seismic sense is a high-level earthbending sub-art patterned after the original Earthbenders, the Badgermoles, who used the technique to maneuver their way underground without any light source. The ability allows the Earthbenders to sense their environments using vibrations that travel through the ground.

Toph was the first known user of seismic sense, and it allowed her to perceive her opponent’s movements, even though she was blind. This technique can also be combined with metal, allowing users to perceive their environments even through metal. In Legend of Korra, Lin Beifong demonstrated this technique on several occasions.

3 Firebending: Combustion Bending

Combustion Bending is a rare and powerful firebending sub-style. The only known users of the technique are Combustion Man and P’Li. The technique involves the channeling of chi through a specially-marked forehead. The emanation of this chi causes air in the surrounding area to explode in a devastating manner.

The beams created by combustion benders are capable of wide-range destruction. On one occasion, it vaporized an entire lake. Due to the technique’s powerful nature, it requires high-level concentration and stability. If the user’s concentration flickers, the skill can backfire, causing self-explosion.

2 Firebending: Lightning Manipulation

Lighting manipulation is a deadly one-hit firebending sub-style. The technique allows the user to manipulate lightning by subtly controlling it with their fingertips. According to General Iroh, to manipulate lightning, peace of mind is necessary, because it allows the skill’s practitioners to control yin and yang energies.

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Compared to firebending, which is instant, lightning manipulation requires a start-up time, as demonstrated by Azula on several occasions. However, there are exceptional lightning users that can bending lighting instantly, such as Firelord Ozai and Mako.

Lightning redirection

Lightning redirection is a sub-skill of lightning manipulation/generation. The technique was created by General Iroh, and it allows the users to take lightning attacks head-on and redirect them to any location they desire. To redirect lightning, the users must perfect a stance that allows them to channel the lightning through their stomach, carefully avoiding the heart and delicate organs. In addition to General Iroh, Zuko & Aang were also lightning redirection practitioners.

1 Waterbending: Bloodbending

Bloodbending is arguably the deadliest bending sub-style in the series. The technique was created by Hama, a Fire Nation prisoner from the Water Tribe, who perfected this technique by practicing on rats. Through bloodbending, Waterbenders can control the fluids inherent in living organisms granting them control over their targets' bodies.

In Avatar: The Last Airbender, the full moon was a requirement for bloodbending, because during that timeframe, the Waterbenders' abilities reach their peak. But in Avatar: Legend of Korra, Yakone, Amon, and Tarrlok could bloodbend without the full moon, because they trained specially in the art.

Psychic Bloodbending

Psychic bloodbending is a powerful specialized technique. It allows Bloodbenders to control their targets telepathically, with minimal or no movement, making the users undetectable. Yakone was the first known user of this ability; he used it to control Aang and other courtroom members before Aang removed his bending. Amon was the most powerful psychic bloodbender. He could take away bendings with the technique, leaving his targets in a state of misery.

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