Combustion Man vs P'li

Combustion Man has been hired by Zuko to track down the Red Lotus. However, Zaheer finds out, and P'li goes to intercept him. The two meet outside Ba Sing Se and begin to fight.

Battle to KO or death, morals off

Which combustion bender will win?

Well, they have the same ability. And they both seem to be pretty strong at combustion bending so that part is even. Although, P'Li is more agile and light on her feet. She could dodge his attacks more. But on the other hand, Combustion Man has more physical strength. As we saw in ATLA when Zuko kicked him in the face to make him stop attacking, he didn't move at all. Combustion Mans attacks also seem to be more powerful in the sense that they cause bigger explosions. As we see with P'Li, when she blew up the lights shining on them the explosions weren't very big. When Combustion Man shot at the Gaang for the first time, the explosions were massive. I'm not sure who would win. I'll say Combustion Man with moderate difficulty.

The number of LOK related threads pleases me.

@comicstooge: who do you think wins?

@andrewcartwright: I'd have to agree with you about combustion man's explosions being stronger. One other advantage P'li has is that she can curve her explosive blasts and hit at angles.

@arcus: I might give it to P'li, chiefly due to her greater control. She could take cover and curve her blasts. She tends to take cover more, while Sparky Sparky Boom Man kinda stands out in the open.

Did Combustion Man show firebending outside of just explosions? Because I know P'li has, although not much

Pli

Hmm. P'Li wins, but just. P'Li is more agile. While p'Li's combustion blasts are not as powerful as Combustion Man's, she's far more skilled and precise. p'Li can release her attacks without any signs of physical strain.. Not only that, but she can direct her attacks to her target after she's fired them. This makes things pretty difficult for Combustion Man as the only way to avoid P'Li's attacks is to take cover. If he attempts to dodge her attack, she would just curl it and direct it at him . Lastly, P'Li has been shown to able to use conventional fire bending, which might prove useful in a fight.

On the flip side, Combistion Man's blasts are arguably more powerful and have more destructive capacity. They are attacks designed to netauralse his target in one powerful strike. Additionally, he is stronger and more durable. However, Combustion Man has few weakness. One is control. Unlike P'Li, combustion man lacks the control and finesse P' Li has. His fighting style is similar to earth bender. When he attacks he is rooted to the ground, which leaves an opening. He is also slower.

I forgot to include a starting distance, does anyone think that would make a difference?

P'li without a doubt.

P'li stomps. She can bend her combustion blasts mid air and can actually dodge Combustion Man's blasts due to not having a fake leg. She also one shotted a dragon which is a bit more than Combustion Man's really accomplished (I guess he blew up a statue).

Sparky Boom Boom man, Aang was throwing huge chunks of mountain side at him and he was blowing it up like nothing.

P'li hasn't even come close to that level of destruction nor his durability.

@arcus:

hmm .. i see what u're doing :D

@ssj_god: Just considering options... :)

is anyone there with combustion and lightning both at his/her arsenal??

@ssj_god: Unfortunately, no...as far as we know. That would be awesome

yeah.. so as we see... combustion.. lightning.. decision decision.. too much possibilities to choose from :)

There's so many different, good firebenders...

P'li. She has regular firebending as well.

P'Li low-Mid Difficulty.

She has obviously past Combustion Man in terms of skill.

She looked better with her hair down doe :[

P'li is faster and more agile, while Combustion man is definitely more durable. Guy shook off ice being chucked at him. I say it could go either way. He is more powerful, but she is more skilled. They both know the weakness of the third eye. Will they try to exploit it I don't know. When P'li got hit there, her own explosion knocked her out cold. When Combustion man's attack backfired on him, he got right back up. I'm taking he can take a few combustion blasts before going down whereas she might go down with only one.

@nthshockwave: I'm not sure Combustion Man knows about the third eye weakness, if he did he shouldn't have blown himself up

@arcus: I don't think he did. The the whole hitting him in the 3rd eye to weaken him was unprecedented. He definitely didnt see that comings me neither did Sokka. Although, what bugs me is his lack of comprehension. When he was hot in his 3rd eye the first time around, he tried to combustion bend, but it backfired and blew him a few feet back. You would think that after this, he would have thought twice before trying to unleash anough attack after Sokka hit him with his boomerang,

@gxrevolution96: Yeah that kinda bothers me too, but oh well

Bump

Since we've seen all of Season 3, a bump seems appropriate

Can't P'Li bend her combustion blasts? This is a huge advantage against Combustion Ma's straight line blasts.

@oscars94: she can bend them to a degree. When she fires them she can shoot it along a curved path, but she doesn't seem to be able to will it to go anywhere other than her original target, hence why people have avoided her blasts

@arcus: I see...

@oscars94: who do you think wins?

@arcus: It's too close to call for me.

Too close to call honestly.

The combustion girl is more agile and can bend shots, making them less easy to dodge.

The combustion man's shots are more powerful and he is physically superior.

This could easily go either way.

@oscars94: @pierpat: fair enough

SSBM had larger and more powerful explosions. He was a solo threat, while P'Li was much less aggressive.

P'Li stomps. She has his ability, but with far greater control and skill. She can easily bend his attacks and use them against him like she did to Zuko's dragon. Her only disadvantage is the physical durability. Power won't matter, because she can use to her advantage Combustion Man's attacks. She's smarter and more skilled and will use this to defeat him with his own attacks.

It's a draw I think.

If I had to choose I'd go with versatility, agility, and control over raw power and physical strength. So P'Li if i had to choose.

@raimundopedrosa:

You don't know that she can redirect his attacks. She didn't redirect the dragon's attack, she just blocked it.

@lunacyde:

Even Aang had trouble avoiding CM's blasts, and P'li's nowhere near that agile. CM hasn't shown as much versatility because he never needed too, no one could stand against him in a fight

Most of the time it's going to be who shoots first really. There is no way Combustion Man is dodging her blasts either and as durable as he is he won't take a direct hit.

@lunacyde: what if their blasts connected???

P'li. Some had more impressive showings with her abilities.

More impressive how?

@arcus: She used the dragon's attack to give herself ammo.

Also, more impressive with far greater skill, agility, and accuracy. Seriously, she had the whole metalbending squad at bay and even THEN they ALMOST lost. Suyin and Lin weren't even sure that they were going to win.

@lunacyde Yup, you said it perfectly. Agreed.

As much as I love Combustion Man, I really do think P'li wins.

Combustion Man has some immense power with his attacks, but neither of them could reasonably tank one another's shots anyway. P'li has shown pretty solid agility, and we've seen the Gaang remain relatively unharmed when the blasts only missed them by a few feet before, albeit they were usually launched a fair distance. P'li should be able to dodge a few of Combustion Man's shots, where as Combustion Man is terribly slow due to his metal leg and freakishly massive body.

Then you consider that P'li has shown that she can firebend normally as well, which gives her yet another huge defensive bonus. P'li blocked a massive amount of fire from a dragon, which trumps any of Zuko's defensive firebending feats. Yet we saw Zuko block a combustion blast, albeit again blown back a large distance. So there's reason to think she could block his shots as well.

Then you consider that P'li can bend her shots, allowing her to get around cover. That is basically the nail in Combustion Man's coffin. Even the one surefire way to avoid a combustion bender's damage can be worked around by P'li, but Combustion Man's only hope is if whatever P'li is hiding behind can be completely blown away.

So in the end Combustion Man's raw power isn't enough to secure a win. Neither can reasonably tank one another's shot so the potential to kill is basically the same, but P'li has two means of avoiding damage that Combustion Man lacks, and can secure her hits more frequently as she can curve her shots to get around the line of sight problem Combustion Man struggles with.

One thing is for sure though, no matter who wins this is going to be a very, very short fight.

@metaljimmor:

The Gaang was only able to avoid CM's shots when they were running away, and even then Aang had trouble. However, Kai wa able to weave around P'li's blasts, being unharmed when they exploded right next to him, while running towards her

Combustion Man has never been shown to be slow

@arcus:

Check the fight in the town again. There's a few moments where the blasts hit really close to where they were standing but didn't K.O. them. Another time in the Western Air Temple fight where Combustion Man's blast hit right beside Aang and just sent him flying a bit. If a combustion shot doesn't get a direct hit it's not fatal.

Something I've noticed from both Combustion man and P'li though. People seem to get hurt worse if they try to block it with a physical barrier than if they block it with a non-physical barrier like fire or air, or if they simply jump out of the way to avoid a direct hit. Might be the shrapnel from the destroyed barrier.

I don't recall Kai ever running at P'li. I remember him avoiding her blasts while using his glider, something Aang never had against Combustion Man and that dramatically increases an airbender's movement speed. It's also worth mentioning that this is probably her weakest showing, as it was against a young child who is very much protected by the plot. Her shots did quite a number on Tenzin even when they were blocked or avoided, and she's blown through full barriers from two adult benders with enough force to take them down. Her second lowest showing was having her blast go off neat Mako and Bolin, and even THAT launched them a several meters back. A blast going off near Kai without doing more than shaking his glider seems like an inconsistency to me.

Combustion Man is definitely slow. He never dodges. His best agility feats are jumping down from a higher location to a lower location, and the fastest we've ever seen him move is a light jog. P'li may not be the fastest character in the series, but she's been shown to do acrobatic leaps and dodge large earth attacks with minor difficulty. It's a great deal more than Combustion Man has shown.

@metaljimmor:

Not as close as people have been to P'li's blasts. Aang ended up getting near ko'ed when the force a near explosion blasted him into the statue

He dodged Aang's tornado, but he doesn't dodge much because he doesn't need to

@arcus:

To be fair, Aang almost got K.O.ed because he slammed face first into Ozai's hard, chiseled chest. Not because of the force of the blast.

He didn't so much dodge the tornado as jump over it and land on a lower level. There isn't a single character in the series short of fodder that couldn't easily replicate that feat... Except maybe Toph.

@metaljimmor:

Still shows a significant amount of force for a very indirect hit

That counts as dodging. Again, he doesn't dodge much because he just blasts down whatever gets thrown at him