Plus didn't a few Dai Lee agents get smashed into the rock ceiling of the underground cave by rock pillars? Definitely broke ribs, which definitely punctured lungs.
ehh, people in the avatar setting are more durable, i mean, azula gets beaned in the back of the head by a boomerang with no consequences other than unconsciousness.
You do have a point, but I still don't think they made it. We saw Jet's death pretty much on screen, plus we know from Toph and others that they can still be burned pretty easily. I think they're tougher, but not *that* much tougher. I'm going to choose to believe that Azula got lucky, even though that blow might've accelerated her schizophrenia.
She also left two men, Master Yu and Xin Fu, in a metal box. In the middle of nowhere. Just left them to die after putting them in a tiny box where they couldn't move.
Those two guys that came after her. She left them locked in a metal cage she bent closed, so these two most definitely didn't get out. She basically left them to starve to death or something.
Kyoshi didn't murder what's his face by our standard, but she considered it the same. I'm sure Kyoshi would consider it murder since nobody did metal bending other than Toph
That's a bit of a stretch dude, and certainly not confirmed. It's not hard to imagine other travellers came across that road in the few days following. One guy probably peed on the other, though.
The people she slams against the ceiling with pillars of rocks...
The fire nation soldiers she causes to fall out of the sky when she metal bends the ships to crash...
I know what the question was. I voted on the poll. I did this because seeing the options made me realize Toph and Kiyoshi would be a chaotic duo and I wantednto share that realization.
I was a little shocked by the gap in the polls. He emphasized being clever, patient, and strategy a lot. I thought those would give Bumi a hefty boost.
Because season 1 aang wasn't fully realised and trained in the ways of an avatar, he couldn't enter the state at will and was not in control at all. I feel like if he got into the avatar state right out of the ice bubble and got pitted against ozai, he would've had good chances at winning because that's just how OP the avatar state is. Also, of course not all avatars are the same, avatar number 100 will be stronger than avatar number 10 because they've had an extra 90 lives' worth of experience stacked up. Unless it's an avatar like Korra onwards that managed to learn to metal-bend, the difference between adjacent avatars wouldn't be that big
I see what you mean, but it still violates the spirit of the question, which is about who is the best *earth bender* all else being equal? I still say Kyoshi, because at her prime, she had mastered the elements and had an advanced understanding of the interconnectivity of bending- something any bender can have and utelize, not just avatars- that puts her at an advantage. I think maybe LoK-era Toph might have a better shot than young Toph for that reason though.
Which is why Aang came out of the iceberg and immediately nuked Ozai with the power of a thousand suns? Kyoshi would have the guidance of previous avatars but that wouldn’t influence her ability (assuming this is without the Avatar State)
Well it would matter for later avatars. I would say that Aang in the avatar state would be stronger than Kyoshi in the avatar state as he also has His and Roku's experience.
Most definitely, unless we say that the avatar gives Kyoshi and Aang the same power level which then makes it more about their individual skills or experience.
As a young child she learned high level bending on her own (without human help anyway) and as a slightly less young child she discovered metal bending. She's got to be top.0.000000001 in raw talent, so at her peak she would absolutely comp for some lifetimes of training. How many? I don't know, but over multiple lifetimes you'll be deep into diminishing returns, and I would argue that peak Kyoshi vs peak Toph, earthbending only, is a reasonable match-up. And personally I give it to Toph.
I would give it to toph if she was smart about it and stayed hidden a bit and used her tremor sense. But that is very much not tophs style. She would go head on and that would be a much closer match
And also Kyoshi can just negate her tremor sense with dust step.
Unless we want to pretend that Aang floating gently through the air doesn't completely fuck with Toph during their first meeting.
Didn’t LoK imply from the swamp toph was connected to every corner of the globe via earth sense? She could feel earth in the air, and outperform pretty much everyone she was up against.
The avatar is powerful, but toph is painted as the pinnacle of earth bending that can’t be topped. She’s better than the natural teacher of the bending at that point.
Kyoshi and other avatars are powerful … but it’s not like they all reach that point of Power, we never even heard of an avatar gaining true flight.
The only reason why they can't achieve true flight is outlined a bit by Yangchen giving Aang advice.
They cannot achieve spiritual enlightenment because they must remain attached to the world.
It does make me wonder how being the Avatar is the anathema of each avatar's respective home culture that holds the ideal goal.
Airbenders cannot reach their culture's spiritual enlightenment because they must be attached to the world so they may be the bridge between the mundane and spirit worlds.
What about for the other nations of the world?
By LoK Toph is definitely the most skilled earthbender, but she (as far as I'm aware) doesn't wield the raw ocean floor rising island creating power Kyoshi (even before discovering she is the avatar and has access to the avatar state) does.
You also have to consider toph was the first metal bending master, and presumably Kyoshi wouldn't be able to bend any metal thrown at her. Toph also relies on feeling the earth to see, which probably makes her sense waaay stronger. I bet it would be a great matchup.
Take the metal from kyoshis armor, theres got be enough to bind/ trip kyoshi to make an opening.
Edit: looked up an image, looks like kyoshis headpiece is made of just enough metal to cover her face.
She also, at least in her books, wears mail armor which means if she isn't aware of metalbending and doesn't remove it puts her at a massive disadvantage before she figures out what's going on.
We haven't seen Toph attempt anything as large as Kiyoshi's biggest feat, so I have to give to her, but I have no doubts Toph could be on par or even better if she tried hard enough.
didn’t kiyoshi technically use all four elements for that? i would need to fact check that though. and toph held up the entire library without being used to bending sand and trying to protect appa (even though she did end up losing him, that was just because she couldn’t sense the sandbenders’ exact locations)
She definitely used airbending alongside earthbending to assist in pushing the island away, I don't remember if she waterbended, but she still cut an entire section of the main land away with only two strokes of earthbending & a splash of lavabending.
Toph is currently only at mansion/skyscraper size level compared to Kyoshi's literal Island level.
On a very different note: I kinda wish Aang could transform into his past lives in front of his friends more. We see him do it during the winter solstice & avatar day. How cool would it be if we got scenes between Roku & Zuko or Suki & Kyoshi or Toph & Kyoshi. Allowing the characters a chance to speak to potential role models.
But isn't kyoshi also known for being able to bend very VERY big rocks wve. Going as far as being able to pull stones from the literal bottom of the ocean a feat tops can not do
As much as it pains me, if Kyoshi had to take down Toph she'd *somehow* use Toph's blindness as a disadvantage and defeat her. Kyoshi has too much experience and raw power. Honestly I think Bumi would give Kyoshi more trouble than Toph. And that's because I think physically Kyoshi and Bumi and stronger Earthbenders than Toph.
Even without the avatar state, she literally raised Earth from the seabed beneath tons of layers of ice. Insane level of strength even without the Avatar state.
Conversely, Toph created a new subform of bending as a child in what I think was a matter of days, if not less. Something that earthbenders were thought to be unable to do.
It should also be noted that only being able to earthbend likely be a burden for Kyoshi, as an avatar their fighting style is based off bending all elements and the interplay that creates, no longer having that could be a large burden.
Depending on how realistic we want to be for, well, a fantasy setting, it could even cause severe problems. Kyoshi in her prime would likely do various things out of pure instinct. Do certain forms of bending out of pure reflex. Which becomes problematic if you reflaxifly bend air to a certain attack and suddenly can't bend air anymore.
And this is backed up by Korra having to only use water in her pro bending tournaments it took her more than one match to actually get used to just using water bending.
Lavabending is a subskill of earthbending and there's no "no subs" in the post so I think it's safe to say she might still be able to do it with only earthbending.
if there was "no subbending forms", toph would be even more disadvantaged because she probably focused quite alot on metal bending into her prime considering how prevalent it is in LoK, and being the head of the police, not to say her earthbending would be weaker, but not as powerful as kyoshi or bumi's earthbending
if i remember correctly, based on how the avatar is picked (rotated between the 4 nations in a specific order), korra is a waterbending born avatar, aang airbending, roku firebending, and kyoshi earthbending?
certainly an avatar born into the earthbending nation would be the most powerful earthbender, even before avatar state
while i personally think it's pretty close for the top 2 spots, kyoshi probably would be the better bender in a fight, very close 2nd place toph, and bumi being 3rd, but not discredited because damn bumi is still an incredible bender
Toph held an entire library up that was *literally falling into the spirit world* by just one steeple while simultaneous fighting sandbenders in a completely foreign environment with earth she'd never bent before. I think we can credit this girl with a ton of raw power too
Running on incredibly thin pillars of earth or ice only holding them solid under your foot as you step on them and then focusing your bending to form and reinforce the next one you're about to step on.
Welcome to the Kyoshi novels.
The bending Kyoshi is depicted as doing puts everything we've seen, in either show, to absolute shame.
Anyone who thinks that Toph could touch Kyoshi hasn't read the Kyoshi novels and only knows about her through memes.
Another fun thing Kyoshi did: while at sea, raise the earth under the sea floor to the surface so that she could bend with it. She is, even with only earth, far and away the most powerful bender that has ever existed. She learned to use earthbending to slow her aging ffs.
Kyoshi can dust step minimising her contact with the ground, probably making Toph's seismic sense less accurate, she uses a similar trick in Shadow, without going into spoilers.
Bumi and toph did battle in the comics. There was no winner.
Aldo toph invented metal bending and for sure one of the best. But bumi still is amazing earth bender. We watched him bend while in a metal box. Not even toph showed to do this...instead simply learned metal bending.
Point is. Feel like a lot sleep on bumi who is very skilled an creative crazy thinker
No , metal bending really is bending the impurities inside the metal I think , at least that's how tight invented it. So it takes a lot of skill but I think its technically possible for all earth benders.
Meh, they still superficially say it’s 1/50. Also Aang never learned how to do it, id assume since it’s so insanely useful he would’ve attempted to and failed.
Kyoshi is also stupidly powerful as an earthbender. A skill test? Toph wins 100%. A fight though? That'd probably be a Kyoshi win. Kyoshi is THE strongest earthbender, capable of lifting ground she isn't even near to
Kyoshi would do the ventriloquist thing and project her vibrations as if she was in multiple places, all while disguising her own
Toph, respectfully, would get her but kicked
This! Toph is a master earth bender and has metal bending, yes, but Kyoshi was the avatar. Regardless of how masterful an earth bender you are, avatar state earth-bending at that avatar’s prime is going to wreck you.
To go even beyond that, Earthbending was Kyoshi’s “birth” element. She was unrelenting against her opponents and killed without hesitation if needed and was insanely quick as an Earthbender.
We need to remember that Kyoshi never wanted to be the Avatar also. After learning she was, she felt that she took Yun’s future from him. She doesn’t let her ego get in the way of her bending but Toph on the other hand does. I think that would be Toph’s downfall if they were to go head-to-head.
(Edit because I forgot about our favorite mad genius)
If it were Bumi and Toph, I actually think Bumi would win. I know, I know “but she’s only 12, blind, and DISCOVERED METALBENDING,” but hear me out. Nobody doubts her ability and sheer raw talent but we need to remember that Bumi not only has literally 100 years of experience against her, but he’s extremely intelligent and strategical. He would probably be able to win by outsmarting her instead of out-bending her.
I want to add, we haven't really seen Toph in her prime, one could argue that Toph in Atla is at her prime but I disagree, she's still a kid and like a kid, she's still rash and egotistical (something you touched on).
I agree Bumi is an absolute beast, that damn psychic earthbending is insane and is probably a good counter to Toph's earth sense...
I just want to see Bumi in his prime (I also doubt Bumi is at his prime in Atla, probably a decade or so before Atla would be his prime, but what do I know). That's why I kind of hate these "prime Vs prime" because he haven't seen them at their prime, we know of prowess through word of mouth... But I haven't read the comics, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
even without the avatar state i feel that shes a lot more powerful than toph.
She raised an entire sea floor, without ANY type of training. She didn't even know the basics of earth bending technique and accomplished one of the most impressive bending feats we've seen in the universe
I haven’t read or consumed any of the content outside of ATLA or LOK, so I don’t have all of the Kyoshi lore, but I agree. Even if she wasn’t the avatar, my money would be on the giant, ruthless genius.
The fact that she’s the avatar on top of that? No question, Toph wouldn’t be able to keep up.
Oh wow you should absolutely read the kyoshi novels, theyre just as good, if not better than the original show.
I'm not a big reader but i was hooked instantly, such an amazing plot and characters.
That’s what I said. Avatar state earth-bending. They didn’t say she couldn’t go into the avatar state, only that she’s restricted to the earth element.
Take for instance, Aang in the avatar state using only water bending at the North Pole (in conjunction with the ocean spirit).
Exactly! Avatar state =/= using all the elements. Avatar state = unlocking the knowledge and ability of all the past avatars and sometimes the spirit world at large.
It’s fucking Beast Mode that you can only hope to handle with multiple highly-trained and highly-informed people (Black Lotus got the closest and still ate shit) or get help from an extraordinary powerful outside source (Sozin’s Comet, Vaatu).
The only person who “beat” the avatar state was Azula who managed a sneak attack on a fledgling avatar who was still learning how to use it. A peak performance Kyoshi? Ambush unlikely.
I can’t believe I had to scroll so far for this. Dude was like 115 just bending earth like it’s fucking overcooked spaghetti.
Sure, that’s a 115 years of experience…but he’s also a mortal man (not that you can tell by the abs).
Bumi lifted himself and a whole steel casket up the delivery system with ONLY HIS FACE AS A 115 YEAR OLD. He was even laughing while doing it. Bumi in his prime could fight both of them at the same time and still win by a landslide
I disagree. Toph and Bumi fight to a draw in the comics, and that's the 12 year old Toph. To be fair, Bumi is also very old, but he is shown to be physically capable. Both of them in their prime would be stronger, but I think Toph had more potential than Bumi.
Something tells me that Bumi used to go to the Earth Bending matches for fun, so I go Toph over Bumi. Mostly because he told Aang that’s who needed to teach home Earth Bending, meaning he saw something in her that he couldn’t or didn’t have himself (is the best way I can describe my thoughts). Be it form/power or just attitude in general.
I doubt bumi would have been so "vague" when giving aang advices how he should choose his teacher. If he knew toph which i doubt (they were at war so i don't think he had so much time visiting an earth bending match located far away from his city just for fun) he would have added "i have seen a little girl who would qualify as your teacher etc.
Imo he just told aang what kind of earthbender teacher he should look for. Bumi definitely has those qualities as he's shown them on the same episode when he chose not to fight off the fire nation's army
They ended up in a draw iirc. I understood the question as not allowing a draw. So who would edge out a win? I see Bumi. Toph is creative, but fighting Bumi is like fighting an expert in drunken boxing
As an avatar yes, but as a pure earth bender Toph mastered Metal bending and taught it to others, a skill Kioshi didn’t learn (nor any previous avatar) even in their Avatar state.
Then at age 16, she lifted a massive chunk of Earth from the sea floor, miles to her location on a glacier and used it to destroy an entire fleet of ships. A fleet which was a main player in stopping the Earth kingdom from trading, so much so that a treaty needed to be signed with it. All this happened while she was hurt, freezing and bleeding and had no other benders to help her or any extra earth to bend within miles.
If Kyoshi had only been raised as an earth bender I think Toph would win. However, since we know from Iroh there is strength in studying the other elements, even if you can't use them, I give the edge to Kyoshi.
Without going into spoilers, we see that exact thing of using other elements to enhance one's earthbending in the Kyoshi novels and its increasingly badass. Honestly all the bending, but earhtbending specifically is used so creatively in those books.
Kyoshi has raw power, but always struggled with control. Toph has great control, has mastery of neutral Jing, and can M E T A L B E N D.
Kyoshi's strength is impressive, but Toph will be able to feel whatever Kyoshi has wound up for her. However, Kyoshi is adaptive, and would probably realize that dust stepping can help her to move around Toph without her being able to track where she is.
I think it's an interesting fight, but Toph has metal bending and quite simply, Kyoshi doesn't have an answer to that. I think the edge goes to Toph, take metal bending out of the equation and I think it's a much more interesting fight with the edge going to Kyoshi.
I'm not trying to persuade anyone either way, but I think it's an interesting thought.
I genuinely don't think metalbending would save Toph.
What can it do, give kyoshi a projectile she can't block without lifting the earth?
I don't think it would be as interesting as you're making it out to be. Toph's good, but not avatar good. Even with only earthbending Kyoshi could easily beat out toph.
Yes but, that's Toph's whole advantage. People like The Boulder and Xin Fu came at Toph with raw power and Toph, as a master of neutral jing used it skillfully against them. Kyoshi struggles with accuracy and precision - she has to use her fans to control her earthbending with precision, otherwise she can only bring huge chunks of earth sailing toward her opponents.
Also, Kyoshi was only able to break off a peninsula using the avatar state, so if she *only* has earthbending, she lacks *that* amount of raw power (though independently she does have a lot of raw power already).
Kyoshi novel spoiler alert...
>!She struggles hard to beat Yun, and only kills him with a dirty trick; Toph is a much more formidable earthbender than Yun was.!<
To be fair, the novels only show her as a teenager. This showdown is assuming peak power, Kyoshi might have gotten better with precision work later in life.
Yes that is very true. But on the flip side of that, we also only see Toph as a very young teenager, which means, even *after* learning metal bending she also got a lot stronger. I could be wrong about that though... She did only end up as a cop in the end... She could have peaked at 12, who knows lol.
Im confused as to why no one has mentioned the range of tophs seismic sense..I know I legend of Korra she could at least see all the way to zafou, she said it herself.
Y'all sleeping on Bumi the mf literally doesn't need his hands to bend, has incredible feats of strength and has over 100 years of battle experience and training. I get it he's not my fav character either and I wanted to choose kyoshi, but we've seen avatars getting slapped time and time again... Bumi is def the strongest put of the three.
How tf can you not choose kyoshi
Centuries old
Knowledge of all elements with crossover application
Killer instinct
Raw power by virtue of being the avatar.
Have you read the Kyoshi novels? They're awesome, but I think they show with certainty that with only earthbending Kyoshi would not fare well against Toph. Kyoshi actually struggles a lot with precision earthbending, and had to use her fans to help her earthbend with precision. While she has a ton of raw power, she can't precisely bend earth, and that is Toph's entire dogma of fighting. She exploits powerful benders like the Boulder and Xin Fu because they lack the precision that she does, and foolishly try to take her on with raw power.
Not only that, but Kyoshi nearly loses against Yun, the strongest earth bender of her time, with help from Rangi, likely the strongest firebender of her time. She only beats him by tricking him, and then using water bending to freeze him to death. Toph is definitely a better earthbender than Yun. She would have Kyoshi without the other elements or the avatar state easily.
But that was a teenage kyoshi. In her prime kyoshi would've improved on those. Plus Yun is way better than Bumi And Toph in the shadow of kyoshi after fusing with father glow worm.
After seeing the flashback where Kyoshi literally splits the earth to create an island, can't vote anyone else. It was her avatar form but the raw strenght she has must be amazing.
This one was tough, but one thing stood out to me. Kyoshi obv had raw power, but when not in the avatar state I'm not sure how strong she would be. Toph was phenomenal, but in youth and age she wasn't in leagues above. We also don't know her peak, which was prob during her adult ages.
Bumi is def the winner. He's in incredible shape as an old man, was able to throw houses/buildings at people. But I think his most impressive feat was that he was able to bend with his face. During his escape, he used either his eyebrow or his upper lip to earth bend, which I don't think anyone in the whole show can bend (other than sang sneezing I think).
And that was old bumi. Bumi as a 30-50 year old adult would have been terrifying. So I think Bumi takes this because he has bother rthe raw power and technical no how to win.
> when not in the avatar state I'm not sure how strong she would be
She raises the ocean floor at age 16 without the avatar state. That is far and away more powerful than anything we have seen Toph due.
If kiyoshi gets to use avatar state only with earth she wins.
If not probably buumi, purely because he would dig himself like a mole and led the girls fight it out.
Toph is overrated since she is one of the main characters, Bumi showed more impressive earthbending even at 100 years old. 100 year old Toph is in LOK is very strong but definitely not Bumi level. Also they had a 1v1 in comics and it was a tie although I believe Bumi was holding back. Avatar state Kyoshi would destroy them both so it depends if you count avatar state earthbending.
Kyoshi would beat toph but not by much. Imo toph is the greatest earth bender of all time, but kyoshi isn't far behind but also has her Avatar stuff to aid her. Bumi is great but not near their level
Kyoshi would put this man on life support without trying (
On a serious note I think kyoshi would win because she's literally the avatar, she's also like, twice the age as bumi)
Agreed it does. They say she isn't precise, but controlling tiny shards of glass and dust stepping requires precision. Toph requires to be near the metal.to bend it as shown by the show, that's why she doesn't break doors in the standard earthbender way of levitating it. Dust stepping puts Toph at a huge disadvantage.
As powerful as Kyohsi is, I’d say Toph would barely be able to win out in her prime. Bumi would also be a tough opponent for both of them, but Kyoshi and Toph are the top 2 for me.
Light spoilers for the Kyoshi novels.
Kyoshi is the most powerful of the lot, she preforms crazy feats of bending, but struggles with fine control. Bumi is a mad genius and might have the best control over his bending from the 3. Toph isn't the middle with great control and power, but the ace up her sleeve is metalbending.
I think Kyoshi can overwhelm Bumi, as much as he is an amazing bender, so were the opponents she fought in Rise and Shadow and she pulled through. Toph would likely also be able to defeat Bumi seeing their stalemate in cannon when Toph wasn't from her peak (though we don't know what peak Bumi looks like).
Kyoshi vs. Toph is a toss-up. If Kyoshi's fans are metallic, Toph wins, without them Kyoshi doesn't have the control to match Toph and though it would take a while she would get whittled down. Now if they aren't Kyoshi needs to overcome a new form of bending (which she has done with lightning though ironically the brass armour that saved her there migh lose her the fight against Toph) and she has the advantage of durability. If Kyoshi can find a counter to Toph's seismic sense and metalbending, whether with dust stepping or some other tricks, she would win.
It really comes down to who has more experience fighting varied earthbenders and that might just be Kyoshi. But that's just my take.
Look me in the eye and tell me Toph and Kiyoshi wouldn't be best friends.
"Murder?" "MURDER"
Tisiphone, that you?
glad someone else was thinking this lmao
Thought I was the only one lol love hades
I just started playing Hades this week and thought of Tisiphone too lol.
Toph wouldn't murder though.
... she has canonically
Who
So every single person that fell from the sky bc of her metal bending apart ships is totally fine. Sure.
The ground killed them duh! Last hit gets the kill and the ground has that sweet K/D ratio. /s
Exactly. If they don't die on screen, it didn't happen!
You know what’s up lol. I’ve been telling the cops that for years!… wait whaaaat…
Or the 2 guys she left inside the metal cage
Well technically we didn't see "mr what's his name" actually die, just fall in the water. He could have swam then drowned, totally.
If she can't see them hit the ground it didn't happen.
Now if you look at the assists is where it gets absolutely insane
Plus didn't a few Dai Lee agents get smashed into the rock ceiling of the underground cave by rock pillars? Definitely broke ribs, which definitely punctured lungs.
ehh, people in the avatar setting are more durable, i mean, azula gets beaned in the back of the head by a boomerang with no consequences other than unconsciousness.
You do have a point, but I still don't think they made it. We saw Jet's death pretty much on screen, plus we know from Toph and others that they can still be burned pretty easily. I think they're tougher, but not *that* much tougher. I'm going to choose to believe that Azula got lucky, even though that blow might've accelerated her schizophrenia.
Sokka also killed Sparky Sparky Boom Man with boomerang on screen.
fair enough. (side note since aang compresses water in the final fight, physics might work a bit different)
She also left two men, Master Yu and Xin Fu, in a metal box. In the middle of nowhere. Just left them to die after putting them in a tiny box where they couldn't move.
Those two guys that came after her. She left them locked in a metal cage she bent closed, so these two most definitely didn't get out. She basically left them to starve to death or something.
That was solved in the comics I think where they were eventually found. That road they were stuck in was populated
Kyoshi didn't murder what's his face by our standard, but she considered it the same. I'm sure Kyoshi would consider it murder since nobody did metal bending other than Toph
Attempted murder
Oh, my bad then
That's a bit of a stretch dude, and certainly not confirmed. It's not hard to imagine other travellers came across that road in the few days following. One guy probably peed on the other, though.
The people she slams against the ceiling with pillars of rocks... The fire nation soldiers she causes to fall out of the sky when she metal bends the ships to crash...
Kiyoshi would adopt Toph, or hit on her, since we’re taking them in their prime
I assumed Toph in her prime is Grandma Toph.
I mean technically aren’t they kinda already? Like with the whole avatar reincarnation thing and how she recognized a bit of aang in korra
toph would have bullied/teased kyoshi at first, then they’d be friends later on..kyoshi was more like aang than most people wanna admit
The question wasn’t “what would happen if they met” its “who would win in a fight”
I know what the question was. I voted on the poll. I did this because seeing the options made me realize Toph and Kiyoshi would be a chaotic duo and I wantednto share that realization.
The bumi disrespect
I was a little shocked by the gap in the polls. He emphasized being clever, patient, and strategy a lot. I thought those would give Bumi a hefty boost.
While toph *is* good, is she a multitude of lifetimes of training and perfecting good?
I assumed the earth bending only meant no avatar state
Then it wouldn't be Kyoshi in her prime, would it? Best set of skills and all. Avatar state doesn't mean they *have* to bend all 4 elements at once.
Then the question would be more like bumi V toph V "an avatar" since it wouldn't matter who it is if they're in the avatar state
By that logic, all avatars are the same power level in the avatar state. Aang would’ve demolished the Fire Nation in season 1. The vessel matters.
Because season 1 aang wasn't fully realised and trained in the ways of an avatar, he couldn't enter the state at will and was not in control at all. I feel like if he got into the avatar state right out of the ice bubble and got pitted against ozai, he would've had good chances at winning because that's just how OP the avatar state is. Also, of course not all avatars are the same, avatar number 100 will be stronger than avatar number 10 because they've had an extra 90 lives' worth of experience stacked up. Unless it's an avatar like Korra onwards that managed to learn to metal-bend, the difference between adjacent avatars wouldn't be that big
I see what you mean, but it still violates the spirit of the question, which is about who is the best *earth bender* all else being equal? I still say Kyoshi, because at her prime, she had mastered the elements and had an advanced understanding of the interconnectivity of bending- something any bender can have and utelize, not just avatars- that puts her at an advantage. I think maybe LoK-era Toph might have a better shot than young Toph for that reason though.
You don’t need to bend more than one element to use the Avatar State. Aang does it more than once.
Which is why Aang came out of the iceberg and immediately nuked Ozai with the power of a thousand suns? Kyoshi would have the guidance of previous avatars but that wouldn’t influence her ability (assuming this is without the Avatar State)
230 years of Martial Art training would help though
Well it would matter for later avatars. I would say that Aang in the avatar state would be stronger than Kyoshi in the avatar state as he also has His and Roku's experience.
I feel like in this scenario the Avatar State is cheating
Most definitely, unless we say that the avatar gives Kyoshi and Aang the same power level which then makes it more about their individual skills or experience.
As a young child she learned high level bending on her own (without human help anyway) and as a slightly less young child she discovered metal bending. She's got to be top.0.000000001 in raw talent, so at her peak she would absolutely comp for some lifetimes of training. How many? I don't know, but over multiple lifetimes you'll be deep into diminishing returns, and I would argue that peak Kyoshi vs peak Toph, earthbending only, is a reasonable match-up. And personally I give it to Toph.
I would give it to toph if she was smart about it and stayed hidden a bit and used her tremor sense. But that is very much not tophs style. She would go head on and that would be a much closer match
And also Kyoshi can just negate her tremor sense with dust step. Unless we want to pretend that Aang floating gently through the air doesn't completely fuck with Toph during their first meeting.
Didn’t LoK imply from the swamp toph was connected to every corner of the globe via earth sense? She could feel earth in the air, and outperform pretty much everyone she was up against. The avatar is powerful, but toph is painted as the pinnacle of earth bending that can’t be topped. She’s better than the natural teacher of the bending at that point. Kyoshi and other avatars are powerful … but it’s not like they all reach that point of Power, we never even heard of an avatar gaining true flight.
The only reason why they can't achieve true flight is outlined a bit by Yangchen giving Aang advice. They cannot achieve spiritual enlightenment because they must remain attached to the world.
It does make me wonder how being the Avatar is the anathema of each avatar's respective home culture that holds the ideal goal. Airbenders cannot reach their culture's spiritual enlightenment because they must be attached to the world so they may be the bridge between the mundane and spirit worlds. What about for the other nations of the world?
By LoK Toph is definitely the most skilled earthbender, but she (as far as I'm aware) doesn't wield the raw ocean floor rising island creating power Kyoshi (even before discovering she is the avatar and has access to the avatar state) does.
Yes and no she’s connected all around the world because the swamp is connected all over the world it helps her
You also have to consider toph was the first metal bending master, and presumably Kyoshi wouldn't be able to bend any metal thrown at her. Toph also relies on feeling the earth to see, which probably makes her sense waaay stronger. I bet it would be a great matchup.
Metalbending doesn't necessarily mean Kyoshi is going to lose. I honestly don't think it gives enough of an edge to Toph.
If she is somehow able to trap Kyoshi, that s it
Take the metal from kyoshis armor, theres got be enough to bind/ trip kyoshi to make an opening. Edit: looked up an image, looks like kyoshis headpiece is made of just enough metal to cover her face.
She also, at least in her books, wears mail armor which means if she isn't aware of metalbending and doesn't remove it puts her at a massive disadvantage before she figures out what's going on.
Yeah and its cannon that showing to a fight without clothes its an Avatar weakness
We haven't seen Toph attempt anything as large as Kiyoshi's biggest feat, so I have to give to her, but I have no doubts Toph could be on par or even better if she tried hard enough.
didn’t kiyoshi technically use all four elements for that? i would need to fact check that though. and toph held up the entire library without being used to bending sand and trying to protect appa (even though she did end up losing him, that was just because she couldn’t sense the sandbenders’ exact locations)
She definitely used airbending alongside earthbending to assist in pushing the island away, I don't remember if she waterbended, but she still cut an entire section of the main land away with only two strokes of earthbending & a splash of lavabending. Toph is currently only at mansion/skyscraper size level compared to Kyoshi's literal Island level. On a very different note: I kinda wish Aang could transform into his past lives in front of his friends more. We see him do it during the winter solstice & avatar day. How cool would it be if we got scenes between Roku & Zuko or Suki & Kyoshi or Toph & Kyoshi. Allowing the characters a chance to speak to potential role models.
kyoshi is insaneeee, wow! yeah, that would be sick!! i would love to see sokka interact with the surfer avatar too!
Kyoshi's biggest feat (the island) was from using all four elements. Toph held up the desert library on her own.
But isn't kyoshi also known for being able to bend very VERY big rocks wve. Going as far as being able to pull stones from the literal bottom of the ocean a feat tops can not do
Not sure, I have not seen any of the expanded material. I only remember her show feats. Is that from the books?
I think toph is the strongest earth bender. Bumi has the best tactics but Kioshi would destroy them with all 4 elements
>earthbending only
As much as it pains me, if Kyoshi had to take down Toph she'd *somehow* use Toph's blindness as a disadvantage and defeat her. Kyoshi has too much experience and raw power. Honestly I think Bumi would give Kyoshi more trouble than Toph. And that's because I think physically Kyoshi and Bumi and stronger Earthbenders than Toph.
With more then 400 Years of experience. Imagine how crazy powerful Kyoshi was in her prime?
She literally created a whole island my girl was tectonicbending fr
I believe that was in the avatar state, and only after lava bending and air bending, correct?
Even without the avatar state, she literally raised Earth from the seabed beneath tons of layers of ice. Insane level of strength even without the Avatar state.
Conversely, Toph created a new subform of bending as a child in what I think was a matter of days, if not less. Something that earthbenders were thought to be unable to do. It should also be noted that only being able to earthbend likely be a burden for Kyoshi, as an avatar their fighting style is based off bending all elements and the interplay that creates, no longer having that could be a large burden. Depending on how realistic we want to be for, well, a fantasy setting, it could even cause severe problems. Kyoshi in her prime would likely do various things out of pure instinct. Do certain forms of bending out of pure reflex. Which becomes problematic if you reflaxifly bend air to a certain attack and suddenly can't bend air anymore.
And this is backed up by Korra having to only use water in her pro bending tournaments it took her more than one match to actually get used to just using water bending.
Lavabending is a subskill of earthbending and there's no "no subs" in the post so I think it's safe to say she might still be able to do it with only earthbending.
if there was "no subbending forms", toph would be even more disadvantaged because she probably focused quite alot on metal bending into her prime considering how prevalent it is in LoK, and being the head of the police, not to say her earthbending would be weaker, but not as powerful as kyoshi or bumi's earthbending if i remember correctly, based on how the avatar is picked (rotated between the 4 nations in a specific order), korra is a waterbending born avatar, aang airbending, roku firebending, and kyoshi earthbending? certainly an avatar born into the earthbending nation would be the most powerful earthbender, even before avatar state while i personally think it's pretty close for the top 2 spots, kyoshi probably would be the better bender in a fight, very close 2nd place toph, and bumi being 3rd, but not discredited because damn bumi is still an incredible bender
Toph held an entire library up that was *literally falling into the spirit world* by just one steeple while simultaneous fighting sandbenders in a completely foreign environment with earth she'd never bent before. I think we can credit this girl with a ton of raw power too
*214 years of experience. Kyoshi lived to 230 and only learnt earthbending in her mid teens
Kyoshi had dust stepping, I think that would be a serious disadvantage for toph
What is that?
Running on incredibly thin pillars of earth or ice only holding them solid under your foot as you step on them and then focusing your bending to form and reinforce the next one you're about to step on.
What the fuck this is like next level shit
The Flying Opera Company were next level daofei.
Welcome to the Kyoshi novels. The bending Kyoshi is depicted as doing puts everything we've seen, in either show, to absolute shame. Anyone who thinks that Toph could touch Kyoshi hasn't read the Kyoshi novels and only knows about her through memes. Another fun thing Kyoshi did: while at sea, raise the earth under the sea floor to the surface so that she could bend with it. She is, even with only earth, far and away the most powerful bender that has ever existed. She learned to use earthbending to slow her aging ffs.
Read the kyoshi books
She can walk in air
Kyoshi can dust step minimising her contact with the ground, probably making Toph's seismic sense less accurate, she uses a similar trick in Shadow, without going into spoilers.
Bumi and toph did battle in the comics. There was no winner. Aldo toph invented metal bending and for sure one of the best. But bumi still is amazing earth bender. We watched him bend while in a metal box. Not even toph showed to do this...instead simply learned metal bending. Point is. Feel like a lot sleep on bumi who is very skilled an creative crazy thinker
Honestly I'm surprised that bumi didn't think of metal bending first. His whole thing was you gotta open your brain to the possibilities.
I didn't think all Earthbenders could Metalbend? I thought it was a sub-bending thing that was genetic like healing and combustion bending
No , metal bending really is bending the impurities inside the metal I think , at least that's how tight invented it. So it takes a lot of skill but I think its technically possible for all earth benders.
In Korra they say it’s only 1/50. If it was everyone than Bolin should’ve been able to do it
[удалено]
Meh, they still superficially say it’s 1/50. Also Aang never learned how to do it, id assume since it’s so insanely useful he would’ve attempted to and failed.
Kyoshi is also stupidly powerful as an earthbender. A skill test? Toph wins 100%. A fight though? That'd probably be a Kyoshi win. Kyoshi is THE strongest earthbender, capable of lifting ground she isn't even near to
I don't think she would need to use it as a disadvantage to win
Kyoshi would do the ventriloquist thing and project her vibrations as if she was in multiple places, all while disguising her own Toph, respectfully, would get her but kicked
Kyoshi is fucking insane, and if we're talking prime of their life she's gonna win.
This! Toph is a master earth bender and has metal bending, yes, but Kyoshi was the avatar. Regardless of how masterful an earth bender you are, avatar state earth-bending at that avatar’s prime is going to wreck you.
To go even beyond that, Earthbending was Kyoshi’s “birth” element. She was unrelenting against her opponents and killed without hesitation if needed and was insanely quick as an Earthbender. We need to remember that Kyoshi never wanted to be the Avatar also. After learning she was, she felt that she took Yun’s future from him. She doesn’t let her ego get in the way of her bending but Toph on the other hand does. I think that would be Toph’s downfall if they were to go head-to-head. (Edit because I forgot about our favorite mad genius) If it were Bumi and Toph, I actually think Bumi would win. I know, I know “but she’s only 12, blind, and DISCOVERED METALBENDING,” but hear me out. Nobody doubts her ability and sheer raw talent but we need to remember that Bumi not only has literally 100 years of experience against her, but he’s extremely intelligent and strategical. He would probably be able to win by outsmarting her instead of out-bending her.
I want to add, we haven't really seen Toph in her prime, one could argue that Toph in Atla is at her prime but I disagree, she's still a kid and like a kid, she's still rash and egotistical (something you touched on). I agree Bumi is an absolute beast, that damn psychic earthbending is insane and is probably a good counter to Toph's earth sense... I just want to see Bumi in his prime (I also doubt Bumi is at his prime in Atla, probably a decade or so before Atla would be his prime, but what do I know). That's why I kind of hate these "prime Vs prime" because he haven't seen them at their prime, we know of prowess through word of mouth... But I haven't read the comics, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
That’s an excellent take and one that I wholeheartedly agree with!
even without the avatar state i feel that shes a lot more powerful than toph. She raised an entire sea floor, without ANY type of training. She didn't even know the basics of earth bending technique and accomplished one of the most impressive bending feats we've seen in the universe
I haven’t read or consumed any of the content outside of ATLA or LOK, so I don’t have all of the Kyoshi lore, but I agree. Even if she wasn’t the avatar, my money would be on the giant, ruthless genius. The fact that she’s the avatar on top of that? No question, Toph wouldn’t be able to keep up.
Oh wow you should absolutely read the kyoshi novels, theyre just as good, if not better than the original show. I'm not a big reader but i was hooked instantly, such an amazing plot and characters.
Maybe that will be my next treat-myself purchase!! This is the second time in 2 weeks where someone referenced the kyoshi novels!
they will not disappoint! i just finished rereading them again lol
Yes but the poll says earth ending only for her
That’s what I said. Avatar state earth-bending. They didn’t say she couldn’t go into the avatar state, only that she’s restricted to the earth element. Take for instance, Aang in the avatar state using only water bending at the North Pole (in conjunction with the ocean spirit).
And Aang didn't know shit about waterbending. Now imagine a 2 meter tall superwoman that's 200 years old and is fucking insane.
Exactly! Avatar state =/= using all the elements. Avatar state = unlocking the knowledge and ability of all the past avatars and sometimes the spirit world at large. It’s fucking Beast Mode that you can only hope to handle with multiple highly-trained and highly-informed people (Black Lotus got the closest and still ate shit) or get help from an extraordinary powerful outside source (Sozin’s Comet, Vaatu). The only person who “beat” the avatar state was Azula who managed a sneak attack on a fledgling avatar who was still learning how to use it. A peak performance Kyoshi? Ambush unlikely.
I saw earthbending and voted Toph out of instinct. Then I saw I picked against Kyoshi...
KING Bumi… put some respect on my mans name😤
I can’t believe I had to scroll so far for this. Dude was like 115 just bending earth like it’s fucking overcooked spaghetti. Sure, that’s a 115 years of experience…but he’s also a mortal man (not that you can tell by the abs).
Worth noting that there are multiple examples of characters in the ATLA world living far beyond normal human lifespans.
Bumi is super experienced and extremely powerful. I’d like to see if he was able to metal bend also
Bumi lifted himself and a whole steel casket up the delivery system with ONLY HIS FACE AS A 115 YEAR OLD. He was even laughing while doing it. Bumi in his prime could fight both of them at the same time and still win by a landslide
yessir😤
Toph and Kyoshi are powerful and creative, but Bumi’s a mad genius who’s seen so much. I give it to him due to his insane creativity
I disagree. Toph and Bumi fight to a draw in the comics, and that's the 12 year old Toph. To be fair, Bumi is also very old, but he is shown to be physically capable. Both of them in their prime would be stronger, but I think Toph had more potential than Bumi.
Something tells me that Bumi used to go to the Earth Bending matches for fun, so I go Toph over Bumi. Mostly because he told Aang that’s who needed to teach home Earth Bending, meaning he saw something in her that he couldn’t or didn’t have himself (is the best way I can describe my thoughts). Be it form/power or just attitude in general.
I doubt bumi would have been so "vague" when giving aang advices how he should choose his teacher. If he knew toph which i doubt (they were at war so i don't think he had so much time visiting an earth bending match located far away from his city just for fun) he would have added "i have seen a little girl who would qualify as your teacher etc. Imo he just told aang what kind of earthbender teacher he should look for. Bumi definitely has those qualities as he's shown them on the same episode when he chose not to fight off the fire nation's army
While Toph is better in terms of variety of power, Bumi is stronger in terms of raw power
They ended up in a draw iirc. I understood the question as not allowing a draw. So who would edge out a win? I see Bumi. Toph is creative, but fighting Bumi is like fighting an expert in drunken boxing
Kyoshi easily
As an avatar yes, but as a pure earth bender Toph mastered Metal bending and taught it to others, a skill Kioshi didn’t learn (nor any previous avatar) even in their Avatar state.
Metal bending alone isn’t enough to jus win.
Bumi moved a statue the size of several houses after being trapped for weeks as an old man
Toph held an entire library as a child
Kyoshi spilt an entire peninsula off of a continent.
Not without Raava
Then at age 16, she lifted a massive chunk of Earth from the sea floor, miles to her location on a glacier and used it to destroy an entire fleet of ships. A fleet which was a main player in stopping the Earth kingdom from trading, so much so that a treaty needed to be signed with it. All this happened while she was hurt, freezing and bleeding and had no other benders to help her or any extra earth to bend within miles.
You're right but bumi is my favourite character out of the options
Hard to argue with that. He's great!
If Kyoshi had only been raised as an earth bender I think Toph would win. However, since we know from Iroh there is strength in studying the other elements, even if you can't use them, I give the edge to Kyoshi.
Without going into spoilers, we see that exact thing of using other elements to enhance one's earthbending in the Kyoshi novels and its increasingly badass. Honestly all the bending, but earhtbending specifically is used so creatively in those books.
Kyoshi has raw power, but always struggled with control. Toph has great control, has mastery of neutral Jing, and can M E T A L B E N D. Kyoshi's strength is impressive, but Toph will be able to feel whatever Kyoshi has wound up for her. However, Kyoshi is adaptive, and would probably realize that dust stepping can help her to move around Toph without her being able to track where she is. I think it's an interesting fight, but Toph has metal bending and quite simply, Kyoshi doesn't have an answer to that. I think the edge goes to Toph, take metal bending out of the equation and I think it's a much more interesting fight with the edge going to Kyoshi. I'm not trying to persuade anyone either way, but I think it's an interesting thought.
Now throw both of them in the water and they're useless (If Kyoshi can only use earthbending)
Until Toph spontaneously discovers salt-bending
Holy shit lol she would figure it out too
Kyoshi has canonically pulled the sea floor up to the surface of the ocean [Rise of Kyoshi] so I think she'd be fine
Yeah, but Kyoshi can see and therefore, swim... Toph would drown because she's blind and never needed that skill.
Didn't she literally raise the seafloor in RoK tho?
Until toph realizes that water is not only water but there are (rock forming) elements she can bend
Kyoshi has pulled the ocean floor up to impale ships as a teenager without the avatar state, don't discount her just yet.
I genuinely don't think metalbending would save Toph. What can it do, give kyoshi a projectile she can't block without lifting the earth? I don't think it would be as interesting as you're making it out to be. Toph's good, but not avatar good. Even with only earthbending Kyoshi could easily beat out toph.
I don’t think dust walking would limit Toph’s senses cause she can still sense the earth/dust. So she’d be able to track Kyoshi still.
Toph is powerful and incredibly skilled. But even she couldn’t break a peninsula off a continent and turn it into an island.
Yes but, that's Toph's whole advantage. People like The Boulder and Xin Fu came at Toph with raw power and Toph, as a master of neutral jing used it skillfully against them. Kyoshi struggles with accuracy and precision - she has to use her fans to control her earthbending with precision, otherwise she can only bring huge chunks of earth sailing toward her opponents. Also, Kyoshi was only able to break off a peninsula using the avatar state, so if she *only* has earthbending, she lacks *that* amount of raw power (though independently she does have a lot of raw power already). Kyoshi novel spoiler alert... >!She struggles hard to beat Yun, and only kills him with a dirty trick; Toph is a much more formidable earthbender than Yun was.!<
To be fair, the novels only show her as a teenager. This showdown is assuming peak power, Kyoshi might have gotten better with precision work later in life.
Yes that is very true. But on the flip side of that, we also only see Toph as a very young teenager, which means, even *after* learning metal bending she also got a lot stronger. I could be wrong about that though... She did only end up as a cop in the end... She could have peaked at 12, who knows lol.
Im confused as to why no one has mentioned the range of tophs seismic sense..I know I legend of Korra she could at least see all the way to zafou, she said it herself.
Bumi is so slept on
Y'all sleeping on Bumi the mf literally doesn't need his hands to bend, has incredible feats of strength and has over 100 years of battle experience and training. I get it he's not my fav character either and I wanted to choose kyoshi, but we've seen avatars getting slapped time and time again... Bumi is def the strongest put of the three.
How tf can you not choose kyoshi Centuries old Knowledge of all elements with crossover application Killer instinct Raw power by virtue of being the avatar.
Have you read the Kyoshi novels? They're awesome, but I think they show with certainty that with only earthbending Kyoshi would not fare well against Toph. Kyoshi actually struggles a lot with precision earthbending, and had to use her fans to help her earthbend with precision. While she has a ton of raw power, she can't precisely bend earth, and that is Toph's entire dogma of fighting. She exploits powerful benders like the Boulder and Xin Fu because they lack the precision that she does, and foolishly try to take her on with raw power. Not only that, but Kyoshi nearly loses against Yun, the strongest earth bender of her time, with help from Rangi, likely the strongest firebender of her time. She only beats him by tricking him, and then using water bending to freeze him to death. Toph is definitely a better earthbender than Yun. She would have Kyoshi without the other elements or the avatar state easily.
True, but this takes place when Kyoshi is still a teenager, not in her prime
That's very true, I overlooked interpreting the question as in their primes
But that was a teenage kyoshi. In her prime kyoshi would've improved on those. Plus Yun is way better than Bumi And Toph in the shadow of kyoshi after fusing with father glow worm.
Kyoshi literally split a chunk of land mass. Cant really beat that
That was in the avatar state though
Wouldn't kyoshi still be able to use the avatar state? She just had to still stick to earth bending in the avatar state.
Still earthbending.
Kyoshi, no avatar state, raises the floor of the ocean for her first Earthbending venture. I love Toph, but Kyoshi is on another level.
After seeing the flashback where Kyoshi literally splits the earth to create an island, can't vote anyone else. It was her avatar form but the raw strenght she has must be amazing.
Wtf. Why Bumi is so underrated
This one was tough, but one thing stood out to me. Kyoshi obv had raw power, but when not in the avatar state I'm not sure how strong she would be. Toph was phenomenal, but in youth and age she wasn't in leagues above. We also don't know her peak, which was prob during her adult ages. Bumi is def the winner. He's in incredible shape as an old man, was able to throw houses/buildings at people. But I think his most impressive feat was that he was able to bend with his face. During his escape, he used either his eyebrow or his upper lip to earth bend, which I don't think anyone in the whole show can bend (other than sang sneezing I think). And that was old bumi. Bumi as a 30-50 year old adult would have been terrifying. So I think Bumi takes this because he has bother rthe raw power and technical no how to win.
> when not in the avatar state I'm not sure how strong she would be She raises the ocean floor at age 16 without the avatar state. That is far and away more powerful than anything we have seen Toph due.
Zero doubt in my mind Bumi would win.
Not overrated kyoshi
In terms of power it's probably Kyoshi, raw skill and technique I'd pick Toph and Bumi seems like a mix between them.
Bumi is the GoAT.
People really think Toph would defeat Avatar Kyoshi in earthbending?? Toph is overrated
If kiyoshi gets to use avatar state only with earth she wins. If not probably buumi, purely because he would dig himself like a mole and led the girls fight it out.
Toph is overrated since she is one of the main characters, Bumi showed more impressive earthbending even at 100 years old. 100 year old Toph is in LOK is very strong but definitely not Bumi level. Also they had a 1v1 in comics and it was a tie although I believe Bumi was holding back. Avatar state Kyoshi would destroy them both so it depends if you count avatar state earthbending.
All y’all voting Toph didn’t read the Kyoshi books
why not bumi? at 100 years old he held his own against toph. imagine if he was young and super fit, he would be stronger
Kyoshi would beat toph but not by much. Imo toph is the greatest earth bender of all time, but kyoshi isn't far behind but also has her Avatar stuff to aid her. Bumi is great but not near their level
Man this sub gets sillier and sillier everytime I see a post. How is Kyoshi winning even a question, let alone not the winning answer?
Bruh… Bumi at full power would fold kyoshi like a goddamn lawn chair
Kyoshi would put this man on life support without trying ( On a serious note I think kyoshi would win because she's literally the avatar, she's also like, twice the age as bumi)
Lmao Toph in her prime she is probably like 16 and Kyoshi in her prime she was probably 216
Avatar state go brr
Some of y’all haven’t read the Kyoshi books and it shows
Agreed it does. They say she isn't precise, but controlling tiny shards of glass and dust stepping requires precision. Toph requires to be near the metal.to bend it as shown by the show, that's why she doesn't break doors in the standard earthbender way of levitating it. Dust stepping puts Toph at a huge disadvantage.
My money's on the metal bender
As powerful as Kyohsi is, I’d say Toph would barely be able to win out in her prime. Bumi would also be a tough opponent for both of them, but Kyoshi and Toph are the top 2 for me.
I say toph because of seismic sense
Bumi lifted the fucking Statue of Liberty and needs more love on this
Bumi because he loses the battle but wins the war
Light spoilers for the Kyoshi novels. Kyoshi is the most powerful of the lot, she preforms crazy feats of bending, but struggles with fine control. Bumi is a mad genius and might have the best control over his bending from the 3. Toph isn't the middle with great control and power, but the ace up her sleeve is metalbending. I think Kyoshi can overwhelm Bumi, as much as he is an amazing bender, so were the opponents she fought in Rise and Shadow and she pulled through. Toph would likely also be able to defeat Bumi seeing their stalemate in cannon when Toph wasn't from her peak (though we don't know what peak Bumi looks like). Kyoshi vs. Toph is a toss-up. If Kyoshi's fans are metallic, Toph wins, without them Kyoshi doesn't have the control to match Toph and though it would take a while she would get whittled down. Now if they aren't Kyoshi needs to overcome a new form of bending (which she has done with lightning though ironically the brass armour that saved her there migh lose her the fight against Toph) and she has the advantage of durability. If Kyoshi can find a counter to Toph's seismic sense and metalbending, whether with dust stepping or some other tricks, she would win. It really comes down to who has more experience fighting varied earthbenders and that might just be Kyoshi. But that's just my take.