>>156170451
It starts with the most basic attack.
Most water manipulators don't become combat monsters with a vial worth of water.
Katara is essentially a Dick Grayson level rape machine when up against most mooks and that's just her basic attack.

>>156170451
if they can control blood from other people they could control saliva, sweat and tears too, even freeze their body water from inside, they should dominate the world

>>156170671
>>156170726
You're both onto something here.

>>156170726
It's already canon they can control sweat and phase shift water. Forget earthbenders burying people alive, waterbenders should be able to instagib opponents with internal steam explosions.

>>156170451
I would guess that it's the only one without a redundant material component. Air and fire just need air, which is going to be anywhere a bender is, and Earthbenders are going to have most of the terrain at their disposal. Waterbenders readily have... what, their spit? A jug? Yeah, they can bloodbend, but only a few even know how, and of the few that do, three are able to do it without a full moon.

>>156170726
99.999% of waterbenders can't do that though

>>156171437
>redundant
Ubiquitous but yes.

>>156171437
Air is the most abundant, but it has the least destructive power at lower levels because a weak wind is less effective than a regular punch and also the pacifistic inclinations of airbenders
Fire is the most inherently destructive, even the most barely trained firebender is a deadly weapon
Earth is the most solid element, if you learn to just move Earth then you're already making solid shields with minimal movement and bending a rock projectile at any speed is going to cause more damage than water moving at the same speed

Water is extremely versatile, but you need to get a solid mastery of water before you can really be a threat with it. You need to either learn to throw water extremely fast
or the water needs to be compressed to higher densities/pressure
or you need to master phase shifting water to ice no matter the temperature and get some icicles and ice blades involved
All of which takes a lot of skill and training