She deals with these rounds ranging from a stomp to mid difficulty. After that there is a big gap in difficulty due to the environment favouring waterbenders.
She should beat Eska and Desna with high-extreme difficulty here and pre-fusion Unalaq could go either way.
Would lean towards void Zaheer beating her, and theres not enough cover in the south pole for her to beat P'li, though this one is distant dependant. Kuvira perfectly counters anything Azula wants to do and she also has a good metal source here- she wins, especially if she has her ROTE feats.
Ming Hua and DA Unalaq is where this becomes much more clear. Azula cannot compete with these players in that environment unless she gets insanely lucky with lightning (so maybe a 1-2/10).
This was not hard to make, however it was fairly hard to decide exactly where I want to give her the minority wins. This list is not based on who is the most pwoerful or who would win over the other, this list is as the OP stated, ranked from the opponenet Azula will have it easiet to the hardest to fight.
Lieutenant - Speaks for itself, he lacks the skills to get close to Azula and honestly can't really keep up with the top of the top benders. The only reason he managed to defeat Bolin and Mako was because they were not ready for him.
Amon - Have not shown to be as proficient at waterbending as the other benders on this list. He is dangerous because of his bloodbending. The best he did was avoid fire and air from Korra and Mako in a water spout. He should technically be the best waterbender besides Korra but he lacks the feats.
Tarrlok - WIthout bloodbending he isn't all that impressive.
Zaheer (no flight) - Zaheer was skilled at Airbending, but he kinda sucks still.
Desna/Eska - While powerful, they are not the biggest threats to the top benders of each element.
Zaheer (flight) - The only reason this is above Desna/Eska is because of flight. They would beat him in a fight, however he will do better against Azula than them which is why they are lower.
Ming Hua - She is fairly placed.
Ghazan - He is overrated and underrated. He is skilled as heck, but he isn't the best bender out there.
P'li - Honestly, the best of the Red Lotus (bar Unalaq) and the best of them to fight Azula. But still not the best of them.
Kuvira - Skilled as heck with her armor and honestly would do really well against Azula with a few lossess.
Pre-Fusion Unalaq - While not on Korra's level, he could keep up with her, which would put him well above the rest.
DA Unalaq - This would honestly be her toughest opponent, and frankly would lose to him, in a 10/10 fashion.
So this will be the place where I tell the wins out tens she score vs the opponenets
9/10 wins for Azula: Opponent 1 to 2
8/10 wins for Azula: Opponent 3 to 5
7/10 wins for Azula: Opponent 6 to 8
6/10 wins for Azula: Opponent 9 to 10
5/10 wins for Azula: Opponent 11
0/10 wins for Azula: Opponent 12
Some who are lower on the list would beat some who are higher, if I didn't make myself clear. This is only a list of enemies I would do if I made a gauntlet for Azula with the characters.
Given that this environment heavily favours waterbenders, most of them are in the upper half of my ranking.
Azula can beat 1-6 without much issue. She has a chance against 7-10 but could lose. I don't see her beating 11-12 in this environment.
Basically this. Lieutenant gets stomped, and Zaheer w/ no flight gets handled easily. Even with flight, I don't think he can do much. Tarrlok could be a smidge higher in this environment. She definitely cannot beat DA Unalaq.
@aystarr: Yes, Ming hua will have to be careful, but as long as she makes sure her water arms are iced up, I don't see lightning being a game changing issue. The environment is too heavily weighted in Mings favour.
She deals with these rounds ranging from a stomp to mid difficulty. After that there is a big gap in difficulty due to the environment favouring waterbenders.
She should beat Eska and Desna with high-extreme difficulty here and pre-fusion Unalaq could go either way.
Would lean towards void Zaheer beating her, and theres not enough cover in the south pole for her to beat P'li, though this one is distant dependant. Kuvira perfectly counters anything Azula wants to do and she also has a good metal source here- she wins, especially if she has her ROTE feats.
Ming Hua and DA Unalaq is where this becomes much more clear. Azula cannot compete with these players in that environment unless she gets insanely lucky with lightning (so maybe a 1-2/10).
This though I honestly don't see her defeating Desna and Eska here when they can absolutely ravage her.
She deals with these rounds ranging from a stomp to mid difficulty. After that there is a big gap in difficulty due to the environment favouring waterbenders.
She should beat Eska and Desna with high-extreme difficulty here and pre-fusion Unalaq could go either way.
Would lean towards void Zaheer beating her, and theres not enough cover in the south pole for her to beat P'li, though this one is distant dependant. Kuvira perfectly counters anything Azula wants to do and she also has a good metal source here- she wins, especially if she has her ROTE feats.
Ming Hua and DA Unalaq is where this becomes much more clear. Azula cannot compete with these players in that environment unless she gets insanely lucky with lightning (so maybe a 1-2/10).
This though I honestly don't see her defeating Desna and Eska here when they can absolutely ravage her.
This attack did nothing except give Ming Hua obstacles to swing from, and then blitz Desna & Eska.
She beats 1-3 easily, 4 with moderate difficulty and 5 in a challenging fight. She loses to Eska and Desna for a majority (location) but she takes a plurality in cases where she can take one of them out immediately. No cover means she loses to P'li outside of a lucky lightning shot, Kuvira beats her consistently because she counters Azula well and lightning isn't great against her. Ming and pre-fusion Unalaq beat her easily because of location and Zaheer beats her easily because he's just better with flight. DA Unalaq stomps her.
Ming Hua and the Dark Avatar Unalaq would defeat her, in this setting. They are extremely powerful master waterbenders in the South Pole. She takes out everyone else with varying amounts of difficulty.
Not an ideal location for a firebender, but she can still win most of these battles. 1-5 she takes without much trouble. The Lieutenant is far outclassed. Amon and Tarrlok in theory with this environment could win, but they heavily lack the feats with just waterbending alone. Ghazan is limited in this location as he wasn't able to bend the earth from under the snow the last time he was there, and he had to bring his own rocks (which does not have here). 6-7 can put up a great fight. Zaheer is fast and agile with flight and the twins have strong aoe as well as flash freezing capabilities. 8-10 will be difficult, but Azula edges out the majority. Metal armor on Kuvria won't be good when lightning strikes. Even if it's not a direct hit, as weaker aoe lightning would still have a strong effect against her. 11-12 is where she would stop. Yes, there is the possibility of lightning, but highly unlikely as they are both quite fast and have several ways of out maneuvering her and flash freezing. The environment is perfect for these talented waterbenders, and Dark Avatar Unalaq is just too powerful.
Amon and Tarrlok in theory with this environment could win, but they heavily lack the feats with just waterbending alone.
Yeah I wanted to mention them too. They should be quite powerful in theory, and the few moments of actual waterbending we saw from them portray a solid level of skill.
She's beating everyone until now without much trouble. Amon and Tarrlok are only in this half because they don't have feats to back them up.
Zaheer (Flight)
Desna and Eska
P'li
These benders give her a lot of trouble, she's eventually winning against them imo, but after some struggle. Zaheer will be a pain to tag, Desna and Eska have an environmental advantage to help them while P'li has higher raw power than Azula.
Kuvira
Azula beats Kuvira with extreme difficulty. Lightning could be a good game changer in this scenario. They both are close as far as bending is concerned, Azula probably edges her out. With a decent supply of metal at her disposal, Kuvira should really give Azula a good run for her money, but I see the princess taking it in the end.
Pre-fusion Unalaq
This is a toss-up for me. Unalaq is a high tier water bender although his pre-fusion self isn't on the level of Azula. But he gets a massive advantage due to the location completely favoring him.
Ming Hua
Dark Avatar Unalaq
As long as Ming ensures that her hands aren't watered and she keeps it in icy form, she's not losing at all. They're already close to equals in bending and with the battle happening in the south pole, the only way Ming could lose it is if she goes into octopus form and give Azula an opening to zap her. Unalaq pretty much pounds and slams her all over in this location.
(USing numbers from my order) Azula stomps 1, beats 2-4 with low difficulty, 5-7 with mid difficulty, and 8-9 with high difficulty. 10-11 can go either way, and she doesn't beat 12.
@aystarr: Yes, Ming hua will have to be careful, but as long as she makes sure her water arms are iced up, I don't see lightning being a game changing issue. The environment is too heavily weighted in Mings favour.
But If mings hands are iced up, won't it not allow mobility or bending at all since her arms (in water form) are what she uses for disjointed/remote bending and is basically the source of her speed and agility which is her Stronghold?, seems like both forms put her at a disadvantage. I can see DA unalaq environmental advantage tho .
(USing numbers from my order) Azula stomps 1, beats 2-4 with low difficulty, 5-7 with mid difficulty, and 8-9 with high difficulty. 10-11 can go either way, and she doesn't beat 12.
@tektonic: She doesn’t need to swing from them. She can jump off of them or firebend them out of her way. Azula is more than agile enough to maneuver around the spikes.
@tektonic: She doesn’t need to swing from them. She can jump off of them or firebend them out of her way. Azula is more than agile enough to maneuver around the spikes.
Jump of them? Without speed her trying to vault from large and sharp spikes would be dangerous, difficult physically and completely visible. Desna and Eska can easily manipulate them as well since she can't propel herself with her legs fast enough.
And firebending them will be hard since they are gigantic and numerous, and can be spammed around her.
@tektonic: She doesn’t need to swing from them. She can jump off of them or firebend them out of her way. Azula is more than agile enough to maneuver around the spikes.
Jump of them? Without speed her trying to vault from large and sharp spikes would be dangerous, difficult physically and completely visible. Desna and Eska can easily manipulate them as well since she can't propel herself with her legs fast enough.
And firebending them will be hard since they are gigantic and numerous, and can be spammed around her.
Her firebending is so much more potent than Desna & Eska's waterbending that she could just do this, or this, or this, or this to the ice spikes. She would have no trouble busting through them with firebending alone.
She's leaping very small distances she's not leaping off giant sharp iceberg spikes that can be manipulated or the distance between the icebergs.
Her firebending is so much more potent than Desna & Eska's waterbending that she could just do this, or this, or this, or this to the ice spikes. She would have no trouble busting through them with firebending alone.
She would have immense trouble breaking through them and you just proved why. The only feat was her evaporating a wave of falling water with a shield that required a stance not an even an attack. And she can only use explosive blasts from afar if she runs into an iceberg and uses that attack it would explode and send her flying as well since she is within range. And starting and stopping jets for dozens of spikes is just a colossal waste of times given how numerous, large and replaceable they are.
And no Eska by herself can slice metal boats in half those bricks are nothing, there combined potency is higher. Potency is irrelevant too because of the sheer scale(which is why Azula uses a large fire shield to evaporate a simple wave of water).
The official character profiles also states they can throw entire icebergs, The sheer force and mass would erase her. This isn't account that they can raise endless amounts all around her, and enhance their speeds to glide on snow, water and ice, she can't even catch them.
(USing numbers from my order) Azula stomps 1, beats 2-4 with low difficulty, 5-7 with mid difficulty, and 8-9 with high difficulty. 10-11 can go either way, and she doesn't beat 12.
You put ghazan over Ming in the north pole??!
Well my thought is that Azula can perform much better against her that Mako did, and she's more agile too. Plus Ming Hua lost to lightning.
I don't understand why Azula would have any issue taking out Eska and Desna, on any environment, esspecially since the arguments consist of them attacking her like they did Ming Hua. Azula might not be quite as mobile as Ming Hua, but her range and firepower is head over shoulders above hers.
Book 2: The Crossroads of Destiny
@geekryan already provided the above showing, and I'd like to add that the technique Aang used is described as particularly great against firebending - sensible, considering he preferred it against Ozai as well. Azula had no issue plowing through it, sending Aang flying a great distance away and smashing into the wall, launching boulders out of it in the process, and knocking him out.
Eska and Desna's attack is big, and the temperature is lower in the polar environment, but this is so much firepower as opposed to what the twins have gone up against that none of it matters in the end. And Azula can simply charge a lightning bolt and end their career right there too:
Book 2: The Chase
This was one of Toph's highest scale, thickest earth defences in the series, and Azula did not just blow a hole in it, she blew a hole and the bolt continued towards the other side. Toph was safe because she was far away on higher ground, but Eska and Desna are standing right in front of their ice barrage, making them even more vulnerable to getting killed. And I don't believe I have to mention how much stronger benders Aang and Toph are than the twins.
I don't understand why Azula would have any issue taking out Eska and Desna, on any environment, esspecially since the arguments consist of them attacking her like they did Ming Hua.
Which is too say she has no counter for.
Azula might not be quite as mobile as Ming Hua,
She absolutely isn't more mobile than Ming Hua at all or the twins in the polar environment who can enhance their speed to completely outstrip hers.
but her range and firepower is head over shoulders above hers.
@geekryan already provided the above showing, and I'd like to add that the technique Aang used is described as particularly great against firebending - sensible, considering he preferred it against Ozai as well. Azula had no issue plowing through it, sending Aang flying a great distance away and smashing into the wall, launching boulders out of it in the process, and knocking him out.
This feat is useless, she needs to slide for a considerable amount of time that reverse it. Unfortunately none of this would happen since they control the very ground she hopes to slide on and can impale her with a iceberg instantly killing her, or with multiple under her, or with a myriad converging on her, off which she has no feats of reacting to and therefore no counter.
Eska and Desna's attack is big, and the temperature is lower in the polar environment, but this is so much firepower as opposed to what the twins have gone up against that none of it matters in the end.
That is literally nothing, it broke a featless crystal armor the size of Aang, that doesn't scale at all in sheer mass or power as dozes of iceberg spikes.
And Azula can simply charge a lightning bolt and end their career right there too:
This was one of Toph's highest scale, thickest earth defences in the series, and Azula did not just blow a hole in it, she blew a hole and the bolt continued towards the other side. Toph was safe because she was far away on higher ground, but Eska and Desna are standing right in front of their ice barrage, making them even more vulnerable to getting killed.
Too bad they can impale her while she charges killing her instantly.
And I don't believe I have to mention how much stronger benders Aang and Toph are than the twins.
You don't because it makes no difference, the moves she counters aren't gentrified in power to other moves they have done, which is why she repeatedly fails to break large amounts of earth or water. And Desna and Eska can throw icebergs so they have some of the absolute highest power in the show.
That is literally nothing, it broke a featless crystal armor the size of Aang, that doesn't scale at all in sheer mass or power as dozes of iceberg spikes.
Yeah. Sure.
Now tell me, why do you keep mentioning that "they control the very ground under her", or that "they can impale her easily while she charges"? You are using their techniques they pulled against Ming Hua as a reference point, yet you are arguing they are going to do things they never did against her, or even tried to.
The ice barrage is an attack with a path, it has the nature of a projectile, it isn't environmental - they did not just try to impale anyone from below. And the actual time it took for the attack to close in on Ming Hua's location was at least as much as it takes for Azula to charge a bolt powerful enough to cause a massive rockslide (destructive output no other unenhanced bender has ever shown, mind you), which is basically two seconds. So, again, I don't see why she won't just kill them.
You don't because it makes no difference, the moves she counters aren't gentrified in power to other moves they have done, which is why she repeatedly fails to break large amounts of earth or water. And Desna and Eska can throw icebergs so they have some of the absolute highest power in the show.
The aren't gentrified in power to other moves? What? I presented two very quantifiable feats of power from them. One designed specifically to defend against firebending, and one being one of Toph - effing - Beifong's most prominent showings. The potency behind their defences is absolutely relevant, and they are much more than what Desna and Eska have demonstrated - and I'll ask you to provide that statement you keep bringing up, if we are to evaluate its validity.
"Shooting entire icebergs" at opponents does not sound like it's much more than what they did against Ming Hua. Even if we interpret it differently, working together, Toph's daughters and Bolin can move entire buildings, but it takes all their time and energy. Solid testament to twins' power, but I don't see how it stacks up to Azula's firepower.
She should beat these three. Lieutenant's just outclassed, Ghazan's in a bad environment. Zaheer would put up a good fight, but I don't think he'd win (assuming Azula's not too heavily impacted by the cold of the south pole)
Tarrlok
Amon
Desna and Eska
These three are tricky. Desna and Eska would normally be below Azula, but in this environment I could see them potentially winning. I don't think they have enough to reliably argue for a majority (and tbh I could also see them being less of a challenge than Zaheer), but it's hard to say. Tarrlok and Amon don't have the feats to argue for a win, but in theory-they're high caliber waterbenders in the South Pole, that's gonna be a very difficult matchup for Azula
Kuvira
Pre-fusion Unalaq
Zaheer (Flight)
P'li
This is where Azula might start to lose more consistently. I'm generally kinda torn regarding Kuvira and Azula, I could go either way on that one. Unalaq, again, master waterbender in the South Pole. His best feats come from his fight with Korra after fusion, but even without those feats I think there's enough to suggest he could pull a win (and I generally argue that most of his feats against Korra were under his own power anyway). A flying Zaheer is gonna be extremely difficult to take down, though he could find it difficult to take Azula down as well. P'li is just generally better than Azula, I'd say. The order of these four could be shifted, Unalaq might be higher
Ming Hua
DA Unalaq
Lightning would be Azula's only real chance against these two, and while she uses instant lightning frequently in the comics, it's really not all that powerful. I don't think it'd be enough against Ming Hua in the south pole, and it definitely wouldn't be enough against Unalaq
Now tell me, why do you keep mentioning that "they control the very ground under her", or that "they can impale her easily while she charges"? You are using their techniques they pulled against Ming Hua as a reference point, yet you are arguing they are going to do things they never did against her, or even tried to.
The ice barrage is an attack with a path, it has the nature of a projectile, it isn't environmental - they did not just try to impale anyone from below. And the actual time it took for the attack to close in on Ming Hua's location was at least as much as it takes for
Because they do control the very ground under her, as the nature of their waterbending at one of the poles would function that way. Even Ming while mid jump had to be careful of the spikes still growing.
The spikes aren't lifting or shaping themselves though nor traveling in a wave rather spawning all over disconnected, that's Desna and Eska's range. Minus the large factors of a few vs dozen's of spikes and the time and energy required to reach Azula is drastically reduced, especially if they lower the scale so it takes even less time.
Even thinking about their range to be able to perform these moves(spikes, icebergs) requires they have control spanning the length of the ice to pull it up or lift it.
Azula to charge a bolt powerful enough to cause a massive rockslide (destructive output no other unenhanced bender has ever shown, mind you), which is basically two seconds. So, again, I don't see why she won't just kill them.
Naturally I disagree given I think several benders potency wise(Aang, Korra, Katara, Combustion Benders off the top of my head) have done better(not factoring scale which I'm assuming you're not including) but it's still a good feat on it's own albeit a bit smaller.
Rocks look larger as they come towards usBut are actually significantly smaller prior when we can clearly scale
The aren't gentrified in power to other moves? What? I presented two very quantifiable feats of power from them. One designed specifically to defend against firebending, and one being one of Toph - effing - Beifong's most prominent showings. The potency behind their defences is absolutely relevant, and they are much more than what Desna and Eska have demonstrated - and I'll ask you to provide that statement you keep bringing up, if we are to evaluate its validity.
They aren't quantifiable at all. Aang's armor has a statement concerning firebending in the sense of heat, as Avatar extra's explained the crystal was very fragile, which is why blunt force firebending easily shattered it. That is irrelevant to even Zuko's level of firebending since he broke the crystal easily twice(whips, blast) before Azula who also broke it easily. So the bar is very low to begin with unless we should scale Zuko who can't break earth consistently at all to Aang.
Toph's wall was impressive for scale, since it was long, but very thin, even than Azula's had to resort to lightning as her firebending couldn't even break such a small section.
And your gif shows the opposite actually, the lightning splinters to the sides and lost it's form as it's power was mostly used to break through the rock. We know this since the smoke comes directly towards the camera and us unlike the lightning which loses a lot of steam proverbially.
So I doubt it can go through that many spikes without halting especially when factoring that a few spikes alone were so durable and strong they absolutely upturned huge portions of the frozen ground around them to billow up.
Also not factoring that converting all that into water makes it easier to conduct it to the ground. And yes Desna and Eska know how to hold off electricity with water disconnected.
They prevented the spirit lightning from pressing forward with tiny streams before it overloaded
And they wren't sitting ducks either as they still tried to fire ice shards at Ming when she exited the field
"Shooting entire icebergs" at opponents does not sound like it's much more than what they did against Ming Hua. Even if we interpret it differently, working together, Toph's daughters and Bolin can move entire buildings, but it takes all their time and energy. Solid testament to twins' power, but I don't see how it stacks up to Azula's firepower.
It sounds just as it's described, shooting an iceberg in the most conventional terms, not lifting or raising spikes.
3>2 people. And Shooting>Essentially Nudging than letting it naturally fall(which is why Bolin bisected it like that in the first place so it could slide down and minimize work). They aren't comparable and her firebending for sure doesn't compare, while the sheer volume outstrips her lightning.
She should beat these three. Lieutenant's just outclassed, Ghazan's in a bad environment. Zaheer would put up a good fight, but I don't think he'd win (assuming Azula's not too heavily impacted by the cold of the south pole)
Tarrlok
Amon
Desna and Eska
These three are tricky. Desna and Eska would normally be below Azula, but in this environment I could see them potentially winning. I don't think they have enough to reliably argue for a majority (and tbh I could also see them being less of a challenge than Zaheer), but it's hard to say. Tarrlok and Amon don't have the feats to argue for a win, but in theory-they're high caliber waterbenders in the South Pole, that's gonna be a very difficult matchup for Azula
Kuvira
Pre-fusion Unalaq
Zaheer (Flight)
P'li
This is where Azula might start to lose more consistently. I'm generally kinda torn regarding Kuvira and Azula, I could go either way on that one. Unalaq, again, master waterbender in the South Pole. His best feats come from his fight with Korra after fusion, but even without those feats I think there's enough to suggest he could pull a win (and I generally argue that most of his feats against Korra were under his own power anyway). A flying Zaheer is gonna be extremely difficult to take down, though he could find it difficult to take Azula down as well. P'li is just generally better than Azula, I'd say. The order of these four could be shifted, Unalaq might be higher
Ming Hua
DA Unalaq
Lightning would be Azula's only real chance against these two, and while she uses instant lightning frequently in the comics, it's really not all that powerful. I don't think it'd be enough against Ming Hua in the south pole, and it definitely wouldn't be enough against Unalaq
How is P'i just generally better than Azula, Azula is a much better firebender, much more versatile and much more agile? P'Li is just a combustionbender which Azula isn't, but P'Li is also no lightningbender. Unalaq i agree, Kuvira should lose with comic feats taken into account, flying Zaheer shoud still lose after a good while of avoiding Azula due to being a generally far worse bender and like you said much difficulties to affect Azula enough, at least without giving up a good position of staying away in the air.
DA Unalaq wins no question asked, but even Mako's lightning was enough for Ming Hua, so that's still a 55/45 in favour of Azula i'd say because Ming Hua is such a huge target with her whole water set-up.
@tektonic: She doesn’t need to swing from them. She can jump off of them or firebend them out of her way. Azula is more than agile enough to maneuver around the spikes.
Jump of them? Without speed her trying to vault from large and sharp spikes would be dangerous, difficult physically and completely visible. Desna and Eska can easily manipulate them as well since she can't propel herself with her legs fast enough.
And firebending them will be hard since they are gigantic and numerous, and can be spammed around her.
Her firebending is so much more potent than Desna & Eska's waterbending that she could just do this, or this, or this, or this to the ice spikes. She would have no trouble busting through them with firebending alone.
I always hated this scene, avatar is pretty brilliant but this is undisputably one of the worst moments of pis in the entire franchise. AANG couldn't can't Azula? When we've seen the insane speed and agility he has with the air scooter? him not using it is egregious.
I mean in episode 2 in an extremely cramped space we see him manuvering on the walls and all around the room with ease. Dude is just running after her in slo mo, it makes no sense.
The comic version of Azula beat Zuko in a rematch. I heard that she gets to Iroh level of skill and power. Don't quote me I haven't read the comic fully to be able to say. But I agree with @cocacolaman based off my current knowledge of the character.
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