There are four different types of bending in the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe: earth, fire, air, and water. People are born with the ability to control a single element, unless they are the Avatar, in which case they'd have the ability to control all elements. However, persons could also be born as non-benders, where they are unable to control any element.
It could be argued that waterbending is the strongest bending featured in ATLA society. This is largely due to its versatile nature. Although, every bending comes with its advantages and disadvantages.
10 Perk: Waterbenders are great healers
Waterbending can not only be used as a fighting style, but also as a support technique in battle. Waterbenders are great healers. Katara is regarded as the best healer in water bending history. When she travels to the Northern Water Tribe, she learns that women are forbidden from using waterbending in battle and are only allowed to use it as a form of healing. It is where she obtained water from the Northern Tribe's Spirit Shrine. She later used it to bring back Aang who suffered a fatal blow from Azula.
Fast-forwarding to Legend of Korra, viewers see how Kya, Katara and Aang's daughter, was her mother's student and also excelled at using waterbending as a healing method.
9 harsh reality: There's a very Small Population of Benders
As a result of the Fire Nation raid, Katara was left as the only waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. When she and her brother, Sokka, encounter Aang and a bison frozen in an iceberg, they later learn that he is the Avatar.
Aang is in need of a master to teach him waterbending, so they must travel to the Northern Water Tribe, where they prevent women from practicing it in combat. The gang meets Pakku, a waterbender master, who only agrees to teach Katara and Aang after learning that she is Kanna's granddaughter by her necklace.
8 Perk: waterbenders have an Ability to Control the Weather
Waterbenders are able to control the weather, particularly precipitation. Waterbending isn't the only type of bending that can manipulate the weather. Firebenders can control temperature and lightning, and airbenders can control wind speeds.
With Aang's help, Katara is able to manipulate clouds. Fans see this in the episode "The Headband," where Katara and Aang use clouds to shroud Appa whilst they are journeying through the Fire Nation. Katara and Aang also use clouds to warn a village that a volcano will erupt and to evacuate in "The Fortuneteller."
7 harsh reality: they have a Dependence on the Moon
Waterbenders heavily rely on the Moon's state, which is regarded as the first waterbender. Waterbenders are most powerful at night during a full moon. The reason is that the Moon controls the tides.
The tides are at their highest when it is a full moon. Due to their reliance on the Moon, waterbenders are less powerful during the day and are completely devoid of their powers during a lunar eclipse. Likewise, a solar eclipse strips away firebenders of their powers.
6 Perk: waterbenders are very Resourceful with Water
It is a common misunderstanding that waterbenders would need an ocean in arms reach in order to bend. Viewers see this theory debunked during the episode "The Runaway." Katara and Toph become imprisoned in a wooden cell by being tricked by Combustion Man.
Katara utilizes her own sweat to cut through the cell and escape. Waterbenders can also use the condensation in clouds, steam, and the water in plants to bend. Viewers meet Huu, a member of the Swamp tribe, in "The Swamp," and quickly notice his impressive ability to control plant life.
5 harsh reality: they have a Dependence on Water Nearby
While waterbenders can utilize their own sweat beads and water vapor in their breath to bend, it takes the most skilled of benders to accomplish such a feat. Waterbenders would need a larger water supply to be able to hold their own in battle. This is why they most often carry water skins to assist them.
Katara is one of the benders that carry a water skin and she utilizes it in battle and for healing purposes. This information is a huge disadvantage to waterbenders since the benders of other elements are able to create their own elements for battle.
4 Perk: waterbenders have the Ability to Create Limbs
Viewers first meet Ming-Hua in the episode "Rebirth" of The Legend of Korra. She is a fugitive for her attempted kidnapping of Avatar Korra and a member of the Red Lotus. She was held in a cell above a volcano, deprived of a water source.
Ming-Hua is a skilled waterbender and was able to create water-like appendages that put her a step above normal waterbenders. She can create eight water whips at once and can even freeze them to make herself a formidable opponent.
3 harsh reality: waterbenders have an overreliance on Arms
Waterbenders, with the exception of Ming-Hua, heavily rely on their arms to bend. This is unlike earthbending, in which the lower body is relied upon. In the episode "The Puppetmaster," Hama informs Katara of the brutal treatment waterbenders were forced to endure from soldiers of the Fire Nation.
This includes depriving them of any source of water and pumping dry air into their cells. The prison guards would also bind their arms if they were given water. During Hama's imprisonment is when she discovered the art of bloodbending by first experimenting on the rats that crawled into her cell.
2 Perk: There are Different Styles of Waterbending
There is much more to waterbending than its normal style. Fans of ATLA and Legend of Korra will come across the various styles while watching. The first is normal style waterbending that people are accustomed to; whether being used as a form of combat or a form of healing. The second is swamp-style waterbending. This style is utilized by residents of the Foggy Swamp near the Earth Kingdom and features the manipulation of plant life.
Another type of waterbending is bloodbending. Katara has used this technique twice: to save her friends from Hama and against the commander who killed her mother. Tarrlok is shown using bloodbending to capture Avatar Korra without the help of a full moon in the episode "Out of the Past."
1 harsh reality: Emotional regulation is especially important when practicing waterbending
Emotional regulation is highly important when bending any of the four elements. ATLA fans see this in how Zuko is unable to generate lightning due to bottled-up emotions. Emotional regulation is especially important when practicing waterbending. Waterbenders must not be tense and their bodies should be extremely fluid in order to control water flow properly.
Waterbending is not about aggression but focuses instead on canceling negative energy. This is prevalent in Legend of Korra in how Unalaq practices spiritbending. This is a technique that ultimately becomes extremely useful when Korra applies it in order to save Jinora.