Avatar’s bending mythics are the best (and worst) thing Fortnite has ever added

Fortnite’s new Avatar bending mythics are some of the best in the game’s history, but also some of the worst ever depending on which element you end up with.

Fortnite has unleashed four bending abilities from the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender as new mythics to shake up the Battle Royale. With the launch of the Avatar Elements event, all the Greek god abilities were removed and players have already forgotten about them thanks to bending dominating the meta.

Overall, they have instantly impressed. It has given players inventive ways to play along with sleek and smooth animations to boot which perfectly replicate the famous Avatar abilities from the hit series.

Despite Waterbending being introduced first on April 2, it has still proven to be an effective replacement for your AR or any weapon altogether. It boasts unlimited ammo, a cooldown period that is not too long and consistent strength and damage at all distances compared to every other weapon. Not only that, if you are submerged in water, your health will steadily restore up to 100. What’s not to love?

The star of the show though has shown to be Airbending so far. The special power that is synonymous with Avatar Aang himself, has already been hailed as the “best mobility item ever” and, on top of that, is incredibly fun to use. Whether you want to quickly traverse across the Island by air, land, water, or even uniquely scale mountains, Airbending has you covered.

However, the remaining two abilities of Firebending and Earthbending have not started so strong.

Firstly, Earthbending has been riddled with issues, which caused Epic to briefly vault the mythic due to various projectile glitches, before returning it to the Island. Aside from this, it takes far too long to build a wall and is nowhere near effective enough when firing chunks of earth at enemies. It has been stronger in Fortnite’s Zero Build mode, but still fails to pack a punch in comparison.

On the other hand, Firebending has been the worst of them all. The animation and visual flare behind Firebending is top notch, but, as soon as you go to fire slam down on your opponents, it feels clunky and extremely slow. It looks good from a distance, but feels terrible to use and makes you an easy target.

Furthermore, the payoff for hitting an enemy despite Firebending’s downsides aren’t worth it. Don’t fall for the illusion of it being better at close range — even at the range it should excel, this mythic doesn’t do much. You’re better off taking some good old-fashioned firepower and bringing your trusty shotgun with you instead.

Firebending feels a pointless addition from Epic so far, which is a shame considering the Fire Nation is the most fearful in the series. Which only makes the bending type’s complete lack of strength and impact one of Fortnite’s biggest letdowns in recent memory.

Epic still has the potential to make the Avatar: The Last Airbender collab with Fortnite one of the best of all time, as long as they give Earthbending a tweak and Firebending the almighty buff and TLC it deserves.