Earth Bending Guide

One of the four elemental bending arts, is the geokinetic ability to manipulate earth and rock in all their various forms. It is utilized by people of the [[Earth Kingdom]] and the [[United Republic of Nations|United Republic.


The key to earthbending is utilizing neutral [[jing]], which involves waiting and listening for the right moment to strike and, when that moment comes, acting decisively. In other words, earthbenders generally endure their enemies' attacks until the right opportunity to counterattack reveals itself.


Earth and stone levitation''': The most common attack involves levitating nearby pieces of earth and stone of numerous sizes (more powerful benders can move larger masses) and propelling them at foes with punching or kicking motions.

'''Earth block''': Earthbenders can bring up blocks of earth and launch them at their enemies. The Dai Li used this technique against Team Avatar during the Day of Black Sun.

'''Earth column''': A more powerful version of rock projectiles, involving forcing columns of rock out of the ground. Using a similar principle, an earthbender can shoot a stream of small ruts and protrusions from underground at their opponent. This can also be used to enhance the benders' jumps. It is, however, limited to the ground and does not have the same range as a rock projectile.


'''Earth compression''': It is possible for earthbenders to compress large chunks of rock into smaller, denser chunks, or to compress several smaller chunks into one big piece of rock. Haru and his father, Tyro, used this technique, compressing several small pieces of coal into one big coal boulder. The fact that two earthbenders were required to perform it suggests that this technique is quite difficult.

'''Earth hand/mannequin''': An earthbender with a decent grasp of sculpting can craft replicas of human appendages or bodies from any rock source and move them from place to place. While playing King of the Hill, Toph made a large hand to grab and toss Aang to the side. When Toph was pretending to be Fire Lord Ozai as part of a training exercise, she used this technique to simulate the Fire Lord's bodyguards.



'''Earth gauntlet''': A much less advanced version of earth armor that can be used to throw back opponents with hard solid force. Aang used this technique when fighting against Azula on the drill. The technique is useful in that it grants some level of the protection of earth armor but allows the rest of the body to remain flexible.

'''Earth launch''': While earthbenders like being rooted to the ground, with some like Toph being unable to see in the air, they can quickly move rock beneath them and launch them several tens of feet into the air, whether to catch airborne opponents or to travel faster. Toph and Bumi did this during the battle at Wulong Forest and the liberation of Ba Sing Se, respectively.

'''Earth line''': As an offensive attack, earthbenders can create a line of twisted columns and propel it forward.

'''Earth material manipulation''': Earthbending is not limited to rock or soil alone. An earthbender can also manipulate coal, gems, crystals, and other earth-based materials, like meteorites and jennamite.

'''Earth shelter''': This can be used by earthbenders to create a shelter or dome which can provide an instant shelter in the wilderness. Toph often created shelters like these to sleep in while the Team Avatar was traveling and used it to create a safe place where a pregnant woman could give birth. It can also be used to trap enemies, but this application would not work against an earthbending opponent, who would be able to cancel out the technique.


'''Earth sinking''': More advanced earthbenders, such as The Boulder, Master Yu, and General Fong, can forcibly sink their opponents into the ground, imprisoning them or even suffocating them in earth. This technique was used by General Fong to subdue Katara.

'''Earth smash''': Earthbenders can easily destroy rocks and boulders with punches and kicks, even if they have a very small amount of muscle mass. This technique is useful when facing other earthbenders, as it allows the earthbender to destroy any earthen projectiles sent at them and break out of imprisoning techniques. However, it does not seem to affect objects not made of earth.

'''Earth wall''': Earthbenders can create walls of earth, which can be used for both defense and offense, as well as for practical things, like construction.

'''Earthquakes/fissures''': Striking the ground with feet, fists, or hammers, as shown by Gow, creates localized earthquakes or fissures to throw opponents off-balance. This same process can be used to sculpt a landmass or to slice large chunks of rock clean off a surface to create avalanches or rockfalls. More advanced earthbenders can make very narrow fissures for precise attacks.

'''Quicksand''': Earthbenders turn certain surfaces to quicksand to immobilize an enemy, or to create a soft landing for themselves should they fall from a height. Sandbenders can also do the reverse of this, compacting sand together to create harder projectiles or a firmer grip on the ground.

'''Rock hanging''': If an earthbender is attached to, or wearing a piece of rock, he or she can attach to other stone surfaces and remain off the ground for long periods of time. The Dai Li are the only ones that have demonstrated this ability through the use of their earth gloves, giving them the ability to cling onto a rocky surface.

'''Rock shield''': A levitated slab of rock can also double as a shield when positioned in front of a bender. This can also be performed with a slab or sheet of bedrock thrust out of the earth's surface. The shield can be hurled at the opponent for quick retaliation.

'''Rock slide''': If an earthbender is near a cliff or mountain, he or she can cause many rocks of a multitude of sizes to rain down on his or her opponent. The canyon guide demonstrated that it would be possible to redirect the path of a rock slide. This was shown when he protected his refugee customers from getting crushed.

'''Sand spout''': Very similar to both the water and the air spout, an earthbender can manipulate the fine sand particulates to form a whirling column. The sandbenders used this technique to propel their sand-sailers through the Si Wong Desert.

'''Slab shackles''': With proper timing, an earthbender can bind an opponent's arms with triangle shaped slabs. This technique is generally used if the opponent is in a vulnerable position, for example on their knees. This technique was first used by Aang against Ozai to keep him in place while Aang took his bending away. It was later used by Aang to detain Yakone while he removed his bending.



'''Dust cloud''': By shaking the ground back and forth, earthbenders can create dust clouds of various size to provide cover, and even manipulate the dust particles as shown by Toph.


'''Earth armor''': Earthbenders can bring rocks, dust, pebbles, or crystals around them and mold them to fit their body and create something similar to armor. They can also hide inside the earth by bending the rock around them as a shell. Later, it is demonstrated by Toph that metal can be used as armor as well. The earth armor was used by Toph in a training exercise with Aang. Aang later uses this technique with crystals against Azula, and again with rocks against Combustion Man and finally Ozai.This earthbending move is great for defense, especially against fire. It is not as effective for offensive moves, since it limits the practitioner's range of motion.

'''Earth bomb''': By sending a rock toward the ground, earthbenders can cause massive damage as well as throw their opponents off their feet. Aang used it against Zuko, almost gaining the upper hand of the battle before the Dai Li intervened.

'''Earth tunneling''': Earthbenders can move through the earth to out-maneuver their foes either by opening tunnels or by pulling the earth past them, literally swimming through the ground.


'''Earth wave''': High level earthbenders can create a wave of earth to ride on and use it as a form of transportation, as Aang and Toph have both done,as well as Roku and Sud while training. The downsides of the wave are that it takes a lot of energy to produce, as well as intense concentration; the slightest distraction could cause the user to lose control of the wave. They can also force a wave of earth outwards and use it as an extremely powerful offensive attack, as Aang was seen doing at General Fong's fortress.

'''Magnetization''': Skilled earthbenders are capable of magnetizing their limbs to any type of stone, making wall-scaling simpler in the appropriate circumstances. The Dai Li agents could perform this move with ease and even stay upside down, such as when Team Avatar broke into the organization's secret headquarters in Lake Laogai.

'''Remote earthbending''': If an earthbender is suspended from the ground, but is aware that there is earth somewhere near, the earthbender can focus his energies and bend that earth out of his physical reach out of sheer concentration. This was shown in a flashback when Bumi told Team Avatar, sans Aang, how he freed himself during the eclipse. Bumi managed to summon some roof tiles and pieces of walls to rip open the front of his metal coffin Aang also uses this technique to summon rocks for his Elemental Sphere while in the Avatar State.


'''Compressed rock bullets''': Used solely by Aang in his fight with Phoenix King Ozai. Aang disintegrated one of his compressed rocks from his Elemental Sphere and shot its shrapnel-like fragments with great speed, in a machine gun-like fashion. Due to the speed and density of these rocks, they did great damage to the landscape. It is similar to the rock gloves technique used by the Dai Li.

'''Greater earth levitation''': With their greater power and stronger connection to the earth, the Avatar can move hill-sized statues at will. Utilizing the power of the Avatar State, Kyoshi moved large statues of badgermoles, and Aang moved various earth pillars in his fight against Ozai, both for offense and defense.

'''Powered compression''': This is a much more powerful version of the earth compression technique, performed only by Aang while in the Avatar State. Instead of bending large chunks of earth into a single projectile, Aang gathered boulder-sized rocks and simultaneously compressed each fragment into smaller, denser and harder rocks, essentially keeping the rocks under pressure for more volatile attacks if needed. Lastly, the rocks are directed to orbit until they are put to use.

'''Tectonics''': The Avatar can earthbend on a scale vast enough to move entire landmasses, as shown by Avatar Kyoshi when she separated Kyoshi Island from the mainland. Aang later performed the same technique to separate the town of Yu Dao from its surrounding land.