Talk:Gaara VS Toph/@comment-26363797-20151014213818/@comment-27347152-20191002234132

@Mysticrican86

Toph overrode an ancient spirit's control over his own element (Old Iron, The Rift part 3) to strip him of his armor. She'd have no trouble controlling Gaara's sand and breaking out of ANY attempt to catch, and crush, her.

Thanks to Aang vs Ed, we now have a number to put to Aang's Lightning Redirect speed: 53,000+ mps, and that's when he ISN'T in Avatar State. Toph has bested non-AS Aang in fights before making her capable of those speeds. Gaara, however, hasn't shown he's capable of those speeds, especially since he keeps getting outsped by slower opponents: Kimimaro, Deidara, Lee, Sasuke, etc.

Toph is the better tactician. Why spend all that time and energy trying to overwhelm your opponent when you can just exploit their weaknesses? That is what Toph is about: working smarter, not harder. She doesn't need to bend huge quantities of Earth when she can use less to hit a weak spot for massive damage. Gaara, however, has to use large amounts of chakra to do even basic things, like coat his body in a thin layer of sand.

So with the better Earth control, speed, tactics, etc., Toph wins