Summary

• Korra could have been the strongest Avatar ever, but her losing her powers prevented her from reaching that spot.
• Avatar Wan, the first Avatar, lacked guidance from past lives, making him powerful but not the strongest by any means.
• No spoilers here: Aang could be considered the strongest one, having learned all the elements in less than a year.

Every Avatar is powerful in their own right, but they all have varying levels of strength, which is mostly consistent across the comics and the shows of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. There are Avatars going back to the beginning of the universe, and at first glance, it might seem like they are all equally powerful, but some had less of a struggle with certain elements than others.

Whether by naturally-given bending gifts or not, each Avatar we know about had a different learning curve, and struggled along the way. Of the Avatars we know by name, who is the most powerful master of all four?

9 Avatar Wan

The First Avatar

Wan has a distinct disadvantage here, being the first ever Avatar, but he doesn't have the one advantage every other Avatar has: connecting with his past lives. There were no Avatars before Wan, so he had no one to call on to get advice on how to be the Avatar. Not only that, but the pure spirit and raw power that Raava was shown to caused debilitating physical damage to Wan's body.

We only know so much about Wan from his brief mention in Legend of Korra, but fans of the comics will also know that he is one of the strongest Avatars spiritually, connecting with Raava directly. He's powerful, just not as powerful as the others.

8 Avatar Salai And Avatar Gun

The Mystery Avatars

Next to nothing is known about Salai or Gun, so, naturally, they would both tie near the bottom of this list. Aside from fan headcanons about these two, their mentions in the Avatar lore are so minimalistic that we don't canonically know what order they mastered the elements in. What we do know is that Avatar Salai is known as one of history's greatest Avatars, so he has to be more powerful than the average Avatar.

Avatar Gun's life and skill are widely speculated still, but based on the references to him in the Yangchen books in the Chronicles of the Avatar series and The Rise of Kyoshi, we know that he preceded both of them and may have been less powerful than Avatar Salai due to his intense struggle with waterbending, similar to future familiar Avatars' struggles.

7 Avatar Kuruk

Northern Water Tribe Avatar

Avatar Kuruk spent far more time in the Spirit World than in the mortal world, and he spent his time there hunting down dark spirits, letting his other duties as the Avatar go unfulfilled. He was a skilled bender that mixed bending forms to fight, and a skilled hunter. Kuruk was gradually weakened both physically and spiritually the longer he spent in the Spirit World, though, and his abilities suffered as a result.

To make matters worse, Koh the Face-Stealer stole his fiancée's face during his hunting spree, leading him to spend the rest of his life trying to save her. He had little success as the Avatar, and his power was extremely limited.

6 Avatar Szeto

Jafar As An Avatar

Avatar Szeto is one of the lesser-known Avatars, but he does have a full backstory thanks to his appearance in the stories of Kyoshi, Yangchen, Aang, and Korra through visions or direct contact. Avatar Szeto balanced the Fire Nation in a time of intense insecurity, and directly preceded Avatar Yangchen, bringing about the Avatar Cycle we know in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

He was appointed the Grand Advisor to the Fire Lord, and in a vision given to Aang by Avatar Roku, Szeto is seen bending four volcanoes at the same time, the first instance of lavabending. He was a powerful bender, a skilled diplomat, and he stabilized the Fire Nation for their future conquest.

5 Avatar Korra

The Last Avatar

Korra was set up for success, being the last in the Avatar Cycle and directly succeeding Avatar Aang. However, she had the unfortunate disadvantage of being separated from Raava and her past lives, and losing the ability to enter the Avatar State for three years, which weakened her significantly. Korra was also extremely strong without her bending abilities.

Although she wasn't as strong in her connection to the Spirit World or her past lives, she managed it up until her power was taken from her. It's possible she would've been one of the most powerful Avatars if she hadn't been so set back, especially since she mastered metalbending, healing, spiritbending, and energybending.

4 Avatar Yangchen

The Great Yangchen

The airbending Avatar before Aang, Avatar Yangchen was a master of all four elements at a young age, leaving her inexperienced at the beginning of her fully trained Avatar duties. The world in Yangchen's time was split into isolationist nations, and she attempted to bring them together and bring balance like every Avatar before her.

Yangchen was a powerful airbending master, able to remove all air from a room to incapacitate her enemies, yet she was also a pacifist, so no one died at her hands despite her great bending skill. She had the balance and restraint to be a powerhouse of an Avatar, yet never used her power to kill.

3 Avatar Roku

The Last Fire Nation Avatar

Avatar Roku was a guiding light to Avatar Aang throughout his journey, and he had a reputation for being an intellectual and wise Avatar during his lifetime. He was once Fire Lord Sozin's friend, but the two of them fell out when Sozin began his conquest of the other kingdoms. That connection and loss of it eventually led to Roku losing his life, but during it, he was known for his strong will and desire for peace despite the Fire Nation's impending war.

Refusing to help the Fire Nation at their most powerful because it would lead to the destruction of the natural balance is the strongest-willed thing you could do, and he was a fully-realized Avatar at that point. His control over the elements extended to lavabending, but only through the Avatar State.

2 Avatar Kyoshi

Creator Of The Kyoshi Warriors

Kyoshi had a difficult life from the start, facing abandonment as a child and watching her friend Yun be claimed as the Avatar and killed for it. She escaped each hardship, learning to survive in a world that forced her to be increasingly ruthless as the Avatar. She is widely known as one of the Avatars most willing to kill in the name of her cause, and she accomplished so much because of her efficiency.

She was responsible for Kyoshi Island's split from the mainland, and the downfall of several monarchs and conquerors, including Chin the Conqueror. Despite her power and force, she wasn't able to entirely balance the world, especially the Earth Kingdom she came from.

1 Avatar Aang

Twinkle Toes

There's so much that could be said about Aang, since we had an entire series to get to know him, and it goes without saying that he is extremely powerful. Aang learned all four elements in less than a year, although not fully mastering them prior to the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai. He also learned lightning redirection and energybending, an ability to take away someone's bending that was later passed on to Avatar Korra.

He was also the youngest airbending master in history before the Air Nomads were wiped out, and he brought about an era of peace and the end of the war started by the Fire Nation with the help of Team Avatar. He's a wholesome powerhouse even as a child!