Fire Bending Techniques:
Fire Bending has massive destructive potential as seen in the Avatar Universe. With its ability to burn and devastate anything in its path, Fire Bending has some of the most potent offensive abilities in the Avatar Universe. But which of the techniques granted by Fire Bending has the most potential for chaos? Let us find out in detail.
10. Heat Control
Fire Benders not just control fire. They can also control heat and temperature. This might sound like a very irrelevant and unnecessary ability to have but in the hands of an adept Fire Bender, it is a force to be reckoned with. Heat Control is how Fire Lord Sozin redirected the heat of an entire volcano and stopped it from erupting. To perform Heat Control, a Fire Bender needs to absorb the heat of the object and then redirect it outwards into the environment. Sozin was powerful enough to absorb the heat of hot lava and dissipate the heat from his other limb into the atmosphere.
9. Fire Blade
Afire Bender can create actual swords of blazing fir using the Fire Blade Method. The Fire Blade is basically an advanced version of the Blazing Arc technique. Fire Blade requires a Fire Bender to have absolute control over the intensity of the flames they manipulate. Fire Blades are basically short blades of fire that can slice through almost anything. When Katara had Azula within the clutches of her water whips, it was Zuko’s Fire Blade that saved her. Fire Blades require concentration to keep themselves intact. It can also be used to cut open walls and stones like Azula did with her blue flame powered fire blade.
8. Energy Reading
We do not know why Energy Reading was not explored in a little more detail in the pages of the Avatar Universe. The element of Fire is generally associated with violence and aggression. Can it be used for healing? Of course, it can be!! That is what the greatest Shamans of Fire Bending managed to unlock. Fire Benders who have mastered Energy Reading can use Fire and sense heat to analyze Chi Paths of an opponent. It has no offensive use but it does have auxiliary healing properties. A shaman once used this technique to detect dark spirit energy within Avatar Korra, accounting for her memory loss.
7. Fire Stepping
Fire Stepping is the natural successor to a well-known fire bending technique known as Jet Propulsion. By shooting streams of fire from their hands, Fire Benders can propel themselves in directions not naturally possible. Azula showed the potency of this technique when she was chasing after Aang and his friends within the Crystal Crypts of Ba Sing Se. She also used it during her Agni Kai with Zuko. Fire Stepping is an accurate form of the rudimentary technique. It is akin to Dust Stepping and Mist Stepping. Using perfectly timed bursts of fire from their limbs, a Fire Bender can walk on walls and scale tall buildings. It was developed by Rangi after observing Dust Stepping of Earth Benders.
6. Fire Missiles
Fire Lord Ozai is the one that should be credited with truly perfecting this ability. During Avatar Aang and Ozai’s battle, Fire Missiles were used extensively. The strength of the attack lies in its ability to get past the enemy’s evasive maneuvers and defenses. The Fire Bender can bend the Fire Missiles after launching them towards a target. Only a Fire Bender Master can use this technique effectively. It also has an added advantage of strength in numbers. A master Fire Bender can launch multiple Fire Missiles and strategically guide them to the point where the opponent has no room left for escape, ending his or her life with a massive explosion of flames.
5. Fire Bomb
Fire Bender’s have a very distinct advantage over Water Benders and Earth Benders. Like Air Benders, Fire Benders can also generate their element with proper training. Water Benders and Earth Benders have to be in the vicinity of their respective elements to bend them. Master Fire Benders can not just create their fire but also more charge into their fire-based attacks. Fire Bombs are short, concentrated balls of fire that pack enough punch to rip through massive boulders. Fire Bombs were used to great effect by Fire Lord Ozai during his final battle with Aang in the finale of the Avatar: The Last Airbender series.
4. Wall of Flames
Fire Bending generally does not give a lot of options for defense. It is all about attacking the enemy with whatever you have got and overwhelming your foe with sheer ferocity. Wall of Flames is one of the few moves within a Fire Bender’s arsenal that allows him or her that can be termed a purely defensive ability. Wall of Flames is either a situated explosion or a regulated raging inferno that can be kept up for several seconds. Or even minutes. All attacks directed towards a Fire Bender are neutralized and dissipated in front of this massive firewall. It can be used to dissipate attacks from all four elements. Jeong Jeong even found an offensive use for this ability. He created a massive Wall of Flames that took down multiple Fire Nation Tanks with one single sweep.
8. Lightning Redirection
Lighting Redirection was developed by General Iroh after studying the Water Benders and how they manipulated and bent water. Iroh developed Lightning Redirection to be an effective counter to Lightning Generation. The technique involves absorbing the lightning directed at the user with one arm, channeling it towards your stomach, and then radiating it outwards with your other arm. One mustn’t channel the lightning that is absorbed through their chest since it might critically damage the electrical signals to the heart and will stop it from functioning. It is how Aang redirected the Lightning attacks of Lord Ozai.
3. Combustion Bending
Combustion Bending is an alternate form of fire bending. Instead of redirecting or generating fire, Combustion Bending involves concentrating a Fire Bender’s Chi into a certain point in space. The air within that point is super-heated and results in an explosion. Combustion Bending was used by Combustion Man and P’Li. Although a great long-range tactic, Combustion Bending has some obvious flaws. The technique leaves a user open to close range strikes – its biggest weakness. Nevertheless, the technique is very powerful and has been used to great effect in the Avatar Universe. It can disintegrate boulders and water bodies. Proficient Combustion Benders can even make their combustion beams curve like a missile.
2. Lightning Generation
Lightning Generation will always remain one of the greatest (and of course, THE coolest) Fire Bending technique ever. Azula wowed everyone by her mastery of the prodigious Blue Flame and Lightning Generation. The lightning generated by this technique is extremely difficult to doge even for people like Aang. The only way to defeat this attack is by either learning Lightning Redirection developed by Iroh, in which case you either have to be the Avatar or a Fire Bender or take the full force of the lightning strike which runs the risk of killing you. It was again used effectively in battle by Mako during The legend of Korra series.
1. Dancing Dragon
Dancing Dragons was a special technique that was learned from the scared statues hidden atop the ancient Sun Warriors Civilization. It employs circular motion, which is unorthodox to fire bending users. The only known fire bending techniques that use circular movements are Lightning Generation and the Fire Circle. Dancing Dragons creates a more fluidic means to generate and manipulate fire. It is a simple and natural technique that is notoriously difficult to master. The technique has the power to augment a Fire Bender’s ability when the Fire Bender integrates it with his style. It also has very powerful defensive abilities, something Fire Bending is not known to possess. When Zuko mastered Dancing Dragon, he could fight evenly with Azula, whom he had never managed to defeat before using conventional fire bending methods.
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