Deadliest Warrior

""WHO...IS...DEADLIEST?!"

- Narrator

Gladiators versus Apaches. Pirates versus Knights. Ninjas versus Spartans. Samurai versus Vikings. Zombies versus Spacem... Uh... Never mind.

Being that Humans Are Warriors, there are thousands of different cultures, each with their own philosophy of combat, and each with their own ideal weapons. They are legendary. They are powerful. And they leave only one question to be answered:

Who would win in a fight?

This is the most basic argument to rock message boards all across the internet, and rarely will you see an Off-Topic section on a website without this somewhere. Someone had the bright idea that this would make a good documentary -- and it turns out they were right.

Much like the Myth Busters (except drenched in gallons of blood), these guys approach age-old curiosities from the standpoint of the scientific method. Fighting styles are brought in, demonstrated, and boiled down into data. Weapons are examined by experts in very tightly-controlled tests. Descendants and masters argue their case about their strengths and decrying the others' weaknesses.

All of the data is then combined into one-thousand simulated fights (5,000 as of Season 3), and from there a single result is determined and recreated in a dramatic re-enacting. All of this can be seen Wednesdays at 10 PM EST on Spike TV, or on the internet at their official site under Full Episodes, should you live in Canada and the USA.

Had a successful run, becoming the number 1 show on Spike after three seasons, though due to budget and production cost reasons a fourth season was not greenlit.

A video game has now been released, where players will be able to make their own fights between most of the Season 1 ancient warriors and a couple of Season 2's. A sequel has followed as well, with the various historical domain characters from the show being the playable warriors.

Plans for a movie based on the series have been announced.

"EDGE, DEADPAN SNARKER!!"
 * Action Girl:
 * Two of them, in a season 2 episode, when the KGB took on the CIA.
 * Joan of Arc was the first female warrior featured on the show and took on William the Conqueror.
 * The female vampire from Vampire VS Zombies.
 * And That's Terrible: When groups such as the Waffen-SS and Iraqi Republican Guard are featured, the narrator and the hosts frequently mention how despicable they are to get the point across that they're not endorsing their ideology or methods in any way.
 * Annoying Arrows: Though the actual tests constantly subvert this, these are usually played straight in the final showdowns.
 * In Gladiators versus Apaches, an arrow fully impales the gladiator. He rips it out and continues on like nothing.  It happens again in Viking versus Samurai, Pirate versus Knight, Aztec Jaguar versus Zande Warrior, twice in Vlad the Impaler versus Sun Tzu, Ming Warrior versus Musketeer, and Comanche versus Mongol.
 * Justified in the Aztec Jaguar vs. Zande Warrior's case, as However, in the simulation.
 * Also, all bows are not created equal. The impact of an arrow launched from a shortbow made of non-ideal lumber would naturally have much less of an impact than an arrow from a yew longbow. The arrows probably wouldn't even be the same SIZE.
 * coincidentally, the cotton armor was made to stop arrows, knights also used cotton to stop arrow penetration as well.
 * Played straight in Persian Immortal vs. Celt, when the Persian bow and arrow is tested, one of the Celtic warrior experts declares that the Celtic warrior will simply pull the arrow out and keep fighting.
 * Played straight with Sun Tzu's Fire Arrows:
 * And on the other end, where Sun Tzu's . But it was a repeating crossbow that admittedly did not fire with a lot of force, in order to allow for a higher rate of fire.
 * Same episode, Sun Tzu's opponent Vlad the Impaler brought a heavy duty crossbow. Tzu's armor didn't stand up so well.
 * Also straight in the game, where any arrow hit causes little damage unless it's right on the head. Since this applies to all projectile weapons as well, you can end with scenes as unlikely as a ninja doing elaborate acrobatics while two javelins protrude from his body, both ways.
 * In Comanche vs. Mongol,
 * Anti-Cavalry: According to Mongol historian Munkhtur Luvsanjambaa, the Mongol's glaive was meant to be used as a tool to kill the enemy's horse and its rider.
 * Ivan the Terrible's bardiche and Hernán Cortés' alabarda (Spanish halberd) are portrayed as this.
 * The Archer: Bows are used by lots of warriors before the invention of gunpowder. Interestingly, archery was a skill both sides brought to the table in the "Alexander the Great vs. Attila the Hun" battle; Attila and company used traditional bows and arrows, although it was the powerful composite recurve bow, while Alexander and his men used the more esoteric gastraphetes (the belly bow) and, if you want to stretch it a little, the ballista. Although historically speaking, the gastraphetes was rarely used and never produced in any significant quantity. The gastraphetes was a bulky and poorly designed crossbow, so Alexander preferred to use archers with normal bows as well.
 * Historically, Alexander also used horse-archers, but to a much lesser degree and was quite rare. Most of Alexander's army were phalangites, basically soldiers carrying a giant 18 foot pike - that would have been utterly useless in single combat. Geoff Desmoulin says they brought in the ballista because "how can you NOT test that weapon"?. The Roman Scorpion also operates by the same logic, being a gigantic torsion catapult. Both, however, were originally siege weapons--and several say that the idea of bringing in siege weapons for one-on-one combat is...questionable.
 * When the Zande experts show off their bow, Max Geiger isn't impressed. "We've seen a lot of bows and arrows." And, indeed, the Zande are the only archers yet to not be all that impressive.
 * Armor Is Useless: Averted, armor can make or break a fight.
 * Most warriors in chainmail however have this trope enforced by the testing of butted chain as though it were riveted.
 * Depending heavily on the type of weapon used. Chain mail does, of course, provide little defense against stabbing weapons (even riveted mail, if the incoming weapon has a tip thin enough to slip through the rings). William Wallace vs Shaka Zulu showed that, Shaka's ONLY effective weapon was the short thrusting spear. However, the Viking chain mail held up to a strike from a katana without hardly a scratch, due to the katana being a slashing weapon.
 * In Pirate versus Knight,
 * In Alexander vs. Attila,
 * In Shaka Zulu versus William Wallace, the Iklwa goes right through Wallace-era mail armor. Then again, as a stabbing weapon, it's to be expected.
 * Excessive emphasis is put on how unbreakable the Spartan's shield is against its opponents.
 * In Azande vs Aztec the.
 * In Centurion vs Rajput,
 * In Ming Warrior versus Musketeer,
 * In the "Back for Blood" special,.
 * Strangely though,
 * In Comanche vs Mongol,
 * In Joan of Arc vs. William the Conqueror,
 * In Genghis Khan vs. Hannibal,
 * In Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés,
 * In season 3, this is averted in a general sense; one of the 100+ X-Factors the computer takes into account is Armor Metallurgy.
 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Usually representatives will forget this is a "What If" entertainment show and act like it's an actual life-or-death contests. See Serious Business below.
 * Both sides in the Viking/Samurai had some light teasing, the Samurai expert is a notable subversion of this. It's not entirely clear because the guy never cracks a smile when he makes a joke, so it's difficult to tell whether or not he was serious, or just a very good Deadpan Snarker.
 * He was smirking a few times and works as a comedian outside the show, so I'm gonna have to give the edge to Deadpan Snarker.

"Zero Kazama, Yakuza expert: "This? (referring to nun-chaku) This is just to distract you while I break you with my foot!""
 * The SWAT vs GSG9 seems to subvert this. Both sides engage in good-natured trash-talk, but nothing serious--likely because both are essentially on the same side. As one of the GSG9 experts said, as long as the threat is neutralized and any innocents involved are safe, he doesn't care if it's SWAT or GSG9 getting the job done.
 * Pretty much the same deal with US Navy SEALs vs. Israeli Commandos. One of the Israeli experts states that there is a lot of respect between the two sides, especially since in the real world, they are allies and they fight the same enemies. Furthermore, the show even shows the two sides' experts shaking hands to hammer home the point. It's further reinforced in the Aftermath episode, where both experts repeatedly emphasize the great respect and camaraderie between the SEALS and Israeli special forces.
 * One of the more unfriendly instances of banter was the Jesse James vs. Al Capone. At the end of the pistol whip demonstration one of the Capone guys is actually cursing about "how stupid" a pistol whip is... and then starts swearing up a storm in the Aftermath.
 * Especially notable since the Aftermath specials usually have the experts act far more respectful towards their opponents, and even coming to their defense against viewer questions and complaints. The Al Capone expert is one of the few(if not the only) expert to remain just as belligerent in the Aftermath as he was in the episode itself.
 * Spetsnaz vs. Green Berets. As one of the Green Berets points out "They were my enemy, I was trained to kill them.". They throw around a lot of insults, even Flipping the Bird at each other. And in once instance, one of the Green Berets even admits "Those Russian guys... I'm pretty scared of them." Banter back and forth who is better is normal in the show, but in this episode, it stood out remarkably.
 * Except it was later revealed in the "Aftermath" following that the footage of the two teams was deliberately edited to make them appear more hostile than they were.
 * Ascended Extra: Kieron Elliott, a member of episode 8's William Wallace team, becomes the host of the show's "Aftermath" (an on-line tie-on which answers questions asked by the show's fans).
 * Ascended Meme: People who dislike the show's tendency to focus only on the weapons and ignore other possible factors like training and movement, give it the nickname of "Deadliest Arsenal". This is now the name of one of the achievements in the game for unlocking all weapons.
 * Asskicking Pose: Several, but among the more notable are the ones used by the Shaolin Monk and Maori Warrior with (respectively) staff and taiaha, and the somewhat amusing poses assumed by Napoleon and George Washington just before they cross swords.
 * Ass Shove: Where Vlad the Impaler's impaling spike starts - as if being impaled in and of itself wasn't bad enough.
 * A-Team Firing: The Ming Warrior's Nest of Bees fires 32 arrows at once, essentially making it an entire squadron in one weapon. Fitting with the trope of an entire squadron, its accuracy is abysmal.
 * That said, like a few other weapons dubiously brought into the show, it was designed for battles between legions (as opposed to five-on-five squad combat used by the show), to be fired en mas into ranked infantry; blasting a whole lot into a whole lot of people, not carefully aimed at one.
 * Attack Its Weak Point: When testing weapons, the experts will often target weak points or areas unprotected by armor. This often involves an Eye Scream, as seen below.
 * The Samurai perhaps did this most impressively with the Yumi bow from something like 20+ yards, planting an arrow in each eye on the Ballistics dummy. Even while it was wearing a helmet. Double points for Calling Your Attacks. Would have been nice, though, if they'd shown the arrows would be likely to pierce chain mail as well, the Yumi being a longbow and all.
 * In Ming Warrior vs. Musketeer,.
 * Revealed to be the premise of Vampire vs. Zombies at comicon.
 * Audible Sharpness: Very often.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Al Capone vs. Jesse James, Shaka Zulu vs. William Wallace, Sun Tzu vs. Vlad the Impaler, and Attila the Hun vs. Alexander the Great. All eight incredibly authoritative. All eight incredible asskickers.
 * Season 3 is practically overloaded with authoritative asskickers. Genghis Khan vs. Hannibal Barca, Joan of Arc vs. William the Conquerer, George Washington vs. Napoleon Bonaparte, Crazy Horse vs. Pancho Villa, Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés, Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot, and Theodore Roosevelt vs. Lawrence of Arabia.
 * Automatic Crossbows: Sun Tzu's Repeating Crossbow
 * Awesome but Impractical: Occasionally invoked. Some flashier weapons lose to simpler weapons due to their impracticality.
 * The Sicilian Mafia reps have this opinion of the Yakuza's nunchaku. Their preferred wooden instrument of destruction is the all-American baseball bat.
 * Awesome but Impractical: Occasionally invoked. Some flashier weapons lose to simpler weapons due to their impracticality.
 * The Sicilian Mafia reps have this opinion of the Yakuza's nunchaku. Their preferred wooden instrument of destruction is the all-American baseball bat.

"Armand: "Uh...this guy's dead! I really don't need to be here!""
 * The best example the show has to offer is probably the Rajput's aara, a thin, flexible, whip-like sword and one of the more esoteric weapons ever featured on the show.  The Roman Centurion countered with his own cool looking but ultimately kind of stupid weapon in the Scorpion bolt-thrower, which was described as "machine gun like" by the Centurion experts but actually has a rate of fire of roughly one bolt per minute.
 * It was "machine gun like" in how it was used by the Roman Legion, not in how the weapon actually functioned. The Scorpions were set up in emplacements along the line to fire on oncoming infantry. It wasn't a weapon for hitting individual soldiers, it was more of a suppression weapon to ward off infantry advances, like machine gun emplacements.
 * Awesome McCoolname: Experts Snake Blocker and Zero Kazama.
 * Also host and computer expert Max Geiger. Anyone with a name like that is clearly either a scientist or a robot.
 * Geoffrey Desmoulin's middle name is "Thor." Additional points for having the initials GTD
 * There's more from Season 2. One of the Rajput experts is named Gugun Deep Singh. One of the Medellín Cartel's experts is named Michael Corleone Blanco.
 * In Season 3, one of the Crazy Horse experts is named Moses Brings Plenty.
 * His other expert goes by the name of Delano "Blu" Eagle.
 * One of the WEAPONS actually gets one of these. The Ming Warrior's landmine has a proper Chinese name that translates as "Underground Sky-Soaring Thunder".
 * For an English speaker, Vlad the Impaler's sword gets a nod. It was called the Kilij, pronounced pretty much phonetically (read: kill-age), and, well, let's just say it lived up to its name.
 * Ax Crazy: Vlad the Impaler....just, Vlad the Impaler.
 * Both Ivan the Terrible and Hernán Cortés are portrayed this way; Cortés was obsessed to no end with gold, while Ivan was just batshit insane.
 * An Axe to Grind: One of the most common weapon archetypes seen on the show. Some examples include the Apache's tomahawk, Viking's great axe, the Knight, Vlad the Impaler's, and Cortez's halberds, Attila's scythian axe, the Immortal's sagaris, and Ivan the Terrible's bardiche.
 * Back Stab: Happens on two different occasions in the sims.
 * In Genghis Khan vs. Hannibal,.
 * In Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot,.
 * This is also Hernán Cortés' finishing move in the second video game; he knocks the enemy down with his close range sword, offers a hand to help them back up, then stabs them with his dagger as he pulls them.
 * Badass: The guest experts vouching for each team seem to be chosen based on how badass they are them self. You've got people that are Spetsnaz, SWAT members, practitioners of all kinds of martial arts and more showing up weekly... and that's not even going into the individual Warriors themselves.
 * Badass Adorable: Claire Dodin. She's just so chipper and cute, even when stating matter of factly that she could put a sword through your chainmail and kill you instantly.
 * Badass Boast: Part of the testing process involves each expert making a Badass Boast for each weapon they demonstrate in order to convince the judges of its lethality.
 * Zero Kazama takes it to the next level in the Japanese Yakuza vs. Sicilian New York Mafia episode. The Mafia rep has just demonstrated the bone-crushing power available from the common American baseball bat. Kazama holds up his nunchaku: "We can do the same thing without a weapon. These? These are just to distract you while I break you with my FOOT!"
 * "Lay off the sake, brother!"
 * Every warrior gets one of these at the beginning of their respective episode. For example, the Persian Immortal's boast was being "the precision killer in a massive war machine who forged the largest empire the Middle East has ever seen."
 * Badass Grandpa: Several of the older experts qualify, given that they've usually spent several decades in their field. One notable example: Thomas freaking Bonnano. He has family ties to one of the cornerstone families of the Sicilian Mafia, and knows his way around a Tommy gun. Even though he appears to be about sixty years old or so, he's not a guy you want to mess with.
 * Badass Israeli: The Israeli Commandos.
 * Badass Longcoat: The Jesse James gang.
 * Badass Mustache: Vlad the Impaler sports one. Also seems to be a requirement for a french musketeer. The Celt also sports quite the badass 'stache.
 * One Musketeer was baby-faced.
 * Theodore Roosevelt's is downright amazing.
 * Badass Native: The Comanche and Apache.
 * Badass Spaniard: Hernán Cortés, one of the Conquistadors' most remembered commanders, is one of the warriors appearing in season 3, being pitted against Ivan the Terrible.
 * Bad Boss: In the simulation for Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés,
 * Bald of Awesome: Barry Jacobsen's pate is downright Picard-esque.
 * Richard "Mack" Machowicz has one too.
 * Bang Bang BANG: Gun sound effects are usually beefed up.
 * Banned In Britain: Rather understandably, the IRA vs. Taliban episode did not air in the UK. Nor did the "Back for Blood" special which included the IRA a second time.
 * It seems that Bravo cut out the Stiletto test from Jesse James gang vs Al Capone gang and in KGB vs CIA they cut the use of the exploding cigar at the start of the sim.
 * Batter Up: The mafia receive a baseball bat as one of their weapons.
 * Beard of Barbarism: The Celts and their wicked mustaches.
 * The Vikings have 'em, too.
 * Beast of Battle: Hannibal's war elephants.
 * BFS: William Wallace's Claymore. The Celtic Longsword wasn't too small either.
 * Big Damn Heroes: The ending of the Jesse James vs. Al Capone sim.
 * Bilingual Bonus: A small one for Ming Warrior vs. French Musketeer, Geoff did a couple of countdowns in Chinese and French. In the showdown, the Musketeers also speak in French.
 * In Nazi Waffen-SS vs. Viet Cong, the Waffen-SS experts are heard communicating in German during the testing for the Viet Cong's Tokarev pistol. At the start of the episode's simulation, a Viet Cong soldier interrogates his Waffen-SS hostage in Vietnamese, and later threatens him in Vietnamese again.
 * Before testing the Rajput's aara, Sukhwinder Singh, the guest expert for the aara communicates to the Rajput experts in Hindi.
 * In Green Beret vs. Spetsnaz,
 * Saddam Hussein uses a few Arabic phrases in his battle against Pol Pot.
 * In Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés, Hernán Cortés says a few of his lines in Spanish, including.
 * Black Dude Dies First:
 * Averted in the Green Beret vs. Spetsnaz sim.
 * Also averted during French Foreign Legion vs. Gurkhas.
 * Blade on a Stick: Almost too many to list, the list carrying the following weapons: the Samurai naginata, the Spartan dory spear, three types of halberds (used by the Knight, Vlad the Impaler, and Hernán Cortés), the xyston of Alexander the Great, the Zande makrigga, the Centurion's pilum javelin, a Persian spear that didn't have a name attached to it, the Celtic lancea, the Comanche war lance, a Mongol glaive, Genghis Khan's jida lance, Hannibal's soliferrum javelin, and Ivan the Terrible's bardiche poleaxe. Nearly all of them proved extremely effective.
 * Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Jesse James does this to Al Capone during the simulation.
 * Also done in Green Beret vs. Spetsnaz; the former uses a Beretta Pistol to shoot an AK 74 out of the hands of the last Spetsnaz agent.
 * Blood From the Mouth: A sure sign that a warrior's dead in any given sim.
 * Bloodier and Gorier: Season 2 so far surpasses Season 1 in red goop. A few examples include a head exploding in both the Back For Blood special and the SWAT vs. GSG-9 simulation, and filling a pig carcass with blood to test the Bowie Knife in Jesse James vs Al Capone.
 * They used to just leave the pigs as they were. In Season 2, they FILL the pig with fake blood. Just for fun.
 * The friggin' BOWIE KNIFE. Geoffrey was friggin' SPEECHLESS.
 * The whole "tear the dummy's heart out" thing is probably the winner here, though. Because they tore the dummy's heart out.
 * Katars. "Everything that was inside, is now outside."
 * In Somali Pirate vs. Medellín Cartel, the targets for the long range firearms were rigged with tannarite canisters that would explode in a spectacular fashion if they were hit. Scientifically speaking here was no reason for the dummies to explode into a gory heap other than it looking bloody awesome.
 * Testing what exactly happened when Vlad the Impaler lived up to the nickname with a ballistic gel dummy and a lubed spike.
 * Bloody Handprint: Used by the show as a logo to represent the Mafia.
 * In the "KGB vs. CIA" dramatized battle,.
 * Bond One-Liner: Mafia vs. Yakuza. After gunning down a restaurant full of dummies with the Tommy Gun, Thomas Bonanno takes a flower prop from a vase, puts it in a dummy's shirt pocket, and says "Have a nice day."
 * Boobs of Steel: The female KGB agent in the KGB vs. CIA episode.
 * Joan of Arc in the Deadliest Warrior Legends game, growing at least 4 cup sizes. She also has literal Boobs of Steel with rather form-fitting chestplate armor.
 * Boom! Headshot!:
 * Also how
 * And again
 * Quite literally what happens to the dummies in Somali Pirate vs. Medellín Cartel during the long range testing, since they had explosives tied to their necks that would go off after a headshot.
 * SWAT vs GSG9. Both sides are police forces equipped with sniping specialists. During testing, two target dummies take rounds right through the eyes. More target dummies take head-splattering hits during the kill-house demonstrations of the assault rifles and the shotgun demonstrations.
 * In Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot,.
 * In the video game it's possible to get an instant victory with projectile weapons this way.
 * Brains and Brawn: This is the primary setup for the experts of season 3's warriors: one expert handles the weapons, while the other provides insight on the people using them.
 * Break Out the Museum Piece: In the showdown between the Jesse James Gang and the Al Capone Gang, Jesse and his comrades arm themselves with Civil War-era guns this way, after apparently winding up in a historical museum... somehow.
 * Broken Streak:
 * The Cameo: In Deadliest Warrior: Legends, the arcade mode has Richard "Mack" Mackowitz act as your opponent in the two 'challenge' matches that you complete to unlock your secondary short and mid-range weapons.
 * Camera Abuse: The re-enactment scenes get a fair bit of CG blood on the lens.
 * Cape Snag: In Theodore Roosevelt vs. Lawrence of Arabia,.
 * Captain Obvious: Armand, frequently lampshaded.

"Mack: He has a beautiful vision once he gets into power: "I want to eradicate the past and create a past of my own liking." This is his plan: "I'm going to kill off anyone who knows anything about the past. 'Hey, you read a book? You're dead. You're an intellectual? You're dead. You wear glasses, you're dead.'" That's this guy in a nutshell."
 * Car Bomb: One of the Medellín Cartel's weapons.
 * The Cartel: The Medellín Cartel.
 * Catapult to Glory: William the Conqueror's torsion catapult, designed to launch rocks and diseased corpses over castle walls.
 * Cavemen vs. Astronauts Debate: See Arrogant Kung Fu Guy above and Serious Business below. You are going to need the MST3K Mantra.
 * Celebrity Resemblance: Season 2 Somali Pirate rep Abdi Ali. Take away the rocket launcher and the accent, and you've got a near-dead ringer for Kanye West.
 * Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Thoroughly averted, as every French warrior that appears on the show is described and depicted as extremely badass.
 * In the Musketeer vs Ming Warrior,
 * Season three has Joan of Arc, Napoleon Bonaparte, William the Conquerer (Yes, he was king of England, but he was from Normandy) and the French Foreign Legion.
 * The French Foreign Legion were a sort of Double Subversion. They were depicted as extremely badass, but it was also explained that they weren't necessarily made up of Frenchmen, including the former member they brought on as an weapons expert, who was Australian.
 * Chekhov's Gun: In the beginning of Theodore Roosevelt vs. Lawrence of Arabia, Armand and Mach bring up how Lawrence could run a mile in under 5 minutes.
 * This occurs as well in Genghis Khan vs. Hannibal; during Dorian's traditional "tale of the tape" at the beginning of each episode, he brings up Genghis' protein-oriented diet and Hannibal's diet, mainly focused on carbohydrates..
 * With Season 3's X-Factors, this trope occurs a lot; another example being in Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot, when Mack's usual warrior analysis after Armand's gives us this tidbit about the latter.

""Like mushrooms on a skewer.""
 * In the X-Factor analysis,.
 * Chunky Salsa Rule: Demonstrated in KGB v.s. CIA with the Dead Drop Spike, which was tested in a simulation of a bathroom stall.
 * Cluster F-Bomb: The Aztec specialist swears a LOT. As does the Capone specialist...especially in the uncensored Aftermath.
 * The Coats Are Off: Al Capone, before going hand-to-hand with Jesse James.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: Although not aired, the hosts tested Pol Pot and Saddam Hussein's preferred torture methods, which were Electric Torture and acid baths, respectively. Ivan the Terrible and Hernán Cortés also have there torture methods addressed, and in the simulation,
 * Cold Sniper: "Maxim", the Spetznaz representative.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Alexander the Great trained in Pankration, a fighting style that allows for everything from low blows to eye gouging.
 * The Israeli Commandos trained in Krav Maga, a hand-to-hand combat system that emphasizes aggression and doing whatever it takes to win, including attacks to the eyes, throat, and groin.
 * The experts for the Ninja and Pirate outright stated that this is their warrior's preferred fighting style.
 * Combat Stilettos: Joan of Arc, in the game.
 * Common Tongue: Adverted. Every warrior speaks the language they are native to, if they talk at all in the episode to begin with. This makes it almost impossible for the warriors to talk to each other in battle, but then again they are too busy killing each other and don't want to attract attention.
 * Competitive Balance: Armored and shielded Mighty Glaciers who fight with brute force tend to go up against unarmored Fragile Speedsters who rely on agility and occasionally hit-and-run tactics. Examples include Apache vs. Gladiator, Ninja vs. Spartan, and Pirate vs. Knight. Arguably, Mighty Glacier Viking vs. Lightning Bruiser Samurai fits the mold, as does the form vs. power matchup of Shaolin Monk vs. Maori Warrior (and later, Persian Immortal vs. Celt)
 * In the game, also. You have Guerillas (e.g. Ninja and Apache) who can't get into a direct fight and have to use their agility to survive, Beserkers (e.g. Pirate and Viking) who have a deadly offense, but less in the way of defense and Champions (e.g. Knight and Spartan) who can dish out a lot of damage and take it, but won't move very quickly.
 * The Conqueror: The show has a few of them.
 * Cool Old Guy: Many of them, including Barry Jacobsen, David Kono, and Anthony de Longis.
 * Cool Sword: Various cool swords are brought out through the show, including the Scottish claymore, the European longsword, the katana, and the cutlass.
 * Attila the Hun's "Sword of Mars" -- it's a sword forged out of the iron from a meteorite!
 * Not to mention the Shaolin's hook swords.
 * Cool Versus Awesome: The entire point of the show.
 * Costume Porn
 * Creepy Monotone: The Vlad the Impaler specialists. Both of them.
 * Crippling Overspecialization: Played straight and averted with some groups. The Spartan and the Shaolin Monk both . Alexander the Great and the Aztec both.
 * Cultural Posturing: By the bucketload, and source of some of the show's more hilarious quotes.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Sometimes one Warrior just dominates the other., , , and.
 * In the "Back For Blood" special,.
 * So far averted in Season 3, with  being the widest margin of victory.
 * This trope is likely to become much less common in Season 3 overall, since the sample size for the simulations has been increased from 1000 battles to 5000 battles.
 * Dan Browned / Did Not Do the Research / Critical Research Failure: See here. There's controversy about the scientific and statistical validity of the tests and whether the experts know what they're talking about. Some people have legitimate complaints about the capabilities of individual warriors portrayed in situations. Others are just nerd raging.
 * As a note, the combat scene follows Rule of Cool and is not really intended to be well researched or informative.
 * Danger Takes a Backseat: In "KGB vs. CIA"
 * Death by Materialism: In the "Somali Pirate vs. Medellín Cartel" simulation,
 * In the "KGB vs. CIA" dramatization,.
 * In "Ming Warrior vs. Musketeer,
 * Death Glare: In the "Apache vs. Gladiator" episode, expert Snake Blocker is shown glaring angrily whenever the gladiator experts disparage Apache weapons.
 * In "George Washington vs. Napoleon Bonaparte", Napoleon expert Matthew Cape sports a hilariously angry look when the Washington team's rifles prove more accurate than Napoleon's muskets.
 * Deceptively Simple Demonstration: Many of the weapon demonstrations and tests are designed to be visually dynamic. Weapons are often tested against targets that are braced for impact to transfer all of the weapon's force into the target, creating a more impressive effect. Fragile materials such as ceramic are often used for targets of lighter weapons so that they can have something to break or shatter. Experts of the opposite side will occasionally gripe that the opponents' test makes the weapon look better than it is.
 * Designated Girl Fight: Happens in the "KGB vs. CIA" dramatized battle between the sole female agents of both sides.
 * Averted with Joan of Arc vs. William the Conquerer.
 * Diagonal Cut: And horizontal cuts and vertical cuts, usually to pig carcasses.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Zande's Kpinga knife has an obvious twig and berries shape above the handle. Max comments on it and the Coley Mustafa Speaks, Zande descendant says it shows masculinity.
 * Do Not Do This Cool Thing: The show has a disclaimer at the beginning of each show saying they don't endorse the warriors actions or beliefs, but inevitably whenever they test a warrior's weapons, it comes off as extremely cool--even when the combatants are scumbags such as the Nazi SS, Somali Pirates or Medellín Cartel.
 * Double Weapon: As their special weapon, the ninja receive a kusarigama, which has a sickle on one end and an ensnaring chain-link on the other.
 * Drop the Hammer: William Wallace brought a warhammer of impressive size and clout.
 * Drunken Master: In the game, the pirate is heavily implied to be completely smashed, explaining why his guns can be dodged with relative ease. He even passes out after performing his finisher! If the Pirate wins with a normal move it's confirmed that he's drunk. He pulls out a flask/canteen and says "Do you want some?" in a very slurred voice.
 * Dual-Wielding: Several examples, including the Shaolin monks and their hook swords, the Yakuza sais, William Wallace's dirk and targe (a shield with a large spike on the end), the Spartan's shield and xiphos/spear/javelin, the Viking experts throwing two full-length spears with each hand, Jesse James' outlaws, and the Musketeer's rapier and main gauche.
 * At one point in the "Persian Immortal vs. Celt" simulation, the Celt warrior uses both his sword and burda club at the same time.
 * And in the finale of the "Shaolin Monk vs. Maori Warrior" simulation, the latter wields both the Mere and the Shark Tooth Club.
 * In the "William Wallace vs. Shaka Zulu" simulation, Shaka Zulu grapples with William Wallace while wielding both the Zulu Axe and Iklwa spear.
 * Due to the Dead: Something to think about: the Ming Warrior would remove the ears of the military personnel that they defeated.  It's coincidental, most likely, but it certainly makes for an interesting contrast...
 * Celts collect the heads of enemies they killed as trophies, and Comanches do the same with their enemies' scalps.
 * Dwindling Party: This usually happens in most squad battles until only one member of the winning side is left standing.
 * Eaten Alive: In Vampires vs. Zombies,
 * Eats Babies: After the test of the Persian Immortal's bow and arrow, William Spencer Dinnean, one of the Celt experts, comments on how the Celt would simply use the arrows as toothpicks after he finishes eating Persian babies. Needless to say, the Persian experts weren't amused. Considering the Celts didn't actually eat babies, neither were some of the fans. Others considered it a Badass Boast.
 * The show claims that Vlad the Impaler did this and forced the parents of said baby to do the same.
 * Edutainment Show: Whether or not you agree that the data and research are accurate, they still do a LOT in presenting the cultures, ideals, and weapons throughout history. You'll also learn a lot by reading the discussions made about the show.
 * Eigen Plot: the battle videos always play out this way. If one group brings along a rifle, a pistol, a knife and a bomb, expect each of these weapons to make exactly one kill. So if a crossbow-wielding enemy is up against someone with a sword, you'll know the swordsman will win if there's already been a recorded crossbow kill for that side.
 * Elevator Action Sequence: Occurs early in the final showdown of Yakuza vs. Mafia.
 * Elites Are More Glamorous: Green Beret vs. Spetsnaz, Nazi Waffen-SS vs. Viet Cong, Roman Centurion vs. Rajput, Ming Warrior vs. Musketeer, Navy SEALs vs. Israeli Commandos, U.S. Army Rangers vs. North Korean Special Operations Forces, and French Foreign Legion vs. Gurkhas.
 * The End - or Is It?:
 * Epic Flail: The knights receive a military flail ("morningstar") for their special weapon. Its spikes make very short work of the demonstration mannequins. William Wallace receives a ball and chain, which is used as a throwing weapon. The ninja has a kusarigama, which is a flail attached to a sickle.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: In "Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot", there's a brief re-enactment of Saddam ordering a chemical attack on a Kurdish villiage, and the Republican Guard soldier he's talking to seems utterly shocked.
 * Hernán Cortés looks positively disgusted when he sees Ivan and his men torturing a random peasent.
 * Every Car Is a Pinto: The IRA vs Taliban final showdown takes place in a car-loaded junkyard. The respective sides have a nail bomb and a RPG-7. Do the math.
 * The Medellín Cartel's explosive weapon is a car bomb.
 * In the Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot battle, Saddam's crashed car explodes after it is shot at by one of Pol Pot's soldiers.
 * Not a straight example; the car only expoldes because Pol Pot's man hit the barrel of petrol next to it.
 * Everything's Worse with Bees: In Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot, after the dummies are shot in a testing range, they're swarmed with bees. The hosts end up judging the damage from a safe distance.
 * They also changed their fake blood formula to prevent future incidents
 * Evil Laugh: Vlad the Impaler bellows one upon engaging Sun Tzu.
 * Ivan the Terrible lets out a particularly mainiacal laugh in several re-enactments.
 * Evil Versus Evil: A selling point/set up of some of the shows. Mafia versus Yakuza, IRA versus Taliban, Nazi Waffen-SS versus Viet Cong (the promo of which says outright they're villains), Jesse James' outlaws versus Al Capone gangsters, Somali Pirate versus Medellín Cartel, Saddam Hussein versus Pol Pot, and Hernán Cortés vs. Ivan the Terrible.
 * Explosive Cigar: The CIA get this as their explosive weapon.
 * Eye Scream: Various experts go for the eyes:
 * In Viking versus Samurai, Tetsuro Shigematsu, a samurai expert puts arrows through the test dummy's eyes. This is then shown again in slow motion. Made worse by the fact that the doctor said that you would still be feeling it, still remember it, and would hemorrhage to death in so much agony.
 * In Spartan versus Ninja, the ninja demonstrate Black Eggs, which would put crushed glass into the eye.
 * In Green Beret versus Spetsnaz, the Spetsnaz sniper "misses" the nose he's aiming for and puts a round right through the dummy's eye.
 * In Shaolin Monk versus Maori Warrior, the Shaolin representative goes right for the eyes with the Emei Daggers.
 * In Green Beret versus Spetsnaz, the Spetsnaz sniper "misses" the nose he's aiming for and puts a round right through the dummy's eye.
 * In Shaolin Monk versus Maori Warrior, the Shaolin representative goes right for the eyes with the Emei Daggers.

""It's not exactly anatomically correct, but...his junk has been PUSHED IN." (an understatement, as the mannequin was also cut completely in half at the waist)"
 * In IRA versus Taliban, the IRA representative slingshots a lead pellet into a skull's eyesocket. Imagine that smashing into a real, squishy eye.
 * In SWAT versus GSG-9, both sniper rifles put rounds through a test dummy's eyes, similar to the Spetsnaz example above.
 * In Ming Warrior versus Musketeer, the Musketeer expert pierces both of the gel-torso's eyes with both the rapier and main gauche.
 * The Zulu has blinding powder spat into the target's face, which does not impress the judges much.
 * In Joan of Arc vs. William the Conqueror,
 * In Crazy Horse vs. Pancho Villa,
 * Fan Service Pack: Joan of Arc in the game inexplicably grows at least four cup sizes, gets incredibly form-fitting armor, and runs around in highheels.
 * A Fate Worse Than Death/Cruel Mercy: In Sun Tzu vs. Vlad the Impaler,
 * The Film of the Series: Yes, a movie has been announced. The plot is still unknown.
 * Final Girl: Averted in the "CIA vs. KGB" simulation, where the female members of both sides are killed in the middle of the fight.
 * Also averted during Vampires VS Zombies.
 * The last surviving member of the GSG 9 is female, however.
 * Fisticuffs Boss: Due to Combat Breakdown, often times the combat will be determined by the combatants' most close-ranged weapons, right down to knives, brass knuckles and such. Not always, however.
 * For the Evulz: Seems to be Vlad the Impaler's motivation at times in the Sim for his episode, like when
 * Freudian Excuse: In Crazy Horse vs. Pancho Villa, the motives of both warriors amount to this; Crazy Horse waging war against the U.S. military after witnessing the Blue Water Massacre, and Pancho Villa loathing the upper class after a hacienda owner assaulted his sister.
 * Freudian Trio:
 * Geoff: The Brawniest of the three, most emotionally involved in the carnage, and even personally participated in a few tests (Id)
 * Armand: Cerebral Doctor (Superego)
 * Max: Brainy enough to program the computer, but enjoys a good gusher (Ego)
 * A new version of Freudian Trio has emerged with Mack now the Ego.
 * Gatling Good: Theodore Roosevelt uses a Gatling gun in Theodore Roosevelt vs Lawrence of Arabia.
 * Genre Savvy: It's usually pretty easy to figure out who will win the final battle based on what they do during the fight. If one side is happily torturing innocents or attempting to shoot unarmed prisoners, it's a safe bet that side will lose. Also note how the side that is acting in self-defense will nearly always come out victorious.
 * A God Am I:
 * Alexander the Great was a self-proclaimed god. When testing their weapons and getting a kill strike, one of the Attila experts quipped, "I think I just proved him mortal!"
 * According to Ivan the Terrible's reading of the Bible, he saw himself as the Archangel Michael and believed it was his duty to slaughter the enemies of God.
 * Gold Fever: In Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés, Cortés's lust for gold was described as causing him to be psychopathic in his quest for it. In the simulation,
 * Good Old Fisticuffs: Played with in the "Yakuza vs. Mafia" episode.
 * Even though it wasn't mentioned in the episode, Theodore Roosevelt was a champion boxer and black belt martial artist,
 * Gorn: While the final showdowns always keep bodies intact, the blood vessels are much less fortunate. The testings also usually result in buckets of mock blood spurting everywhere. There are exceptions to this trend, though, but when they go for the gorn...
 * If you know your Zombies and seen the preview, a really painful looking test is done in this fashion for testing the zombies.
 * The "Back For Blood" special when an  member's head gets splattered by a.
 * The "Somali Pirate vs. Medellín Cartel" episode when a.
 * In "KGB vs. CIA":, and some unlucky fellow meets a similar fate in the weapon's dramatization.
 * In "Vlad the Impaler vs. Sun Tzu", when.
 * In "Comanche vs. Mongol", where.
 * The "U.S. Army Rangers vs. North Korean Special Ops episode has
 * In "Genghis Khan vs. Hannibal":
 * In "Hernán Cortés vs. Ivan the Terrible":
 * Gory Discretion Shot: The next-to-last shot in "Vlad the Impaler vs. Sun Tzu" is one of these,
 * Another example in "Comanche vs. Mongol", where
 * Subverted in the "Ming Warrior vs. Musketeer" episode, when they show an attempted Ming deserter getting his feet cut off.
 * Played straight in Genghis Khan vs. Hannibal's simulation, where.
 * Gosh Hornet: Assessing the ranged weapons for Pol Pot and Saddam Hussein ran into difficulties when a swarm of bees flew in and covered the backs of the final targets. The reason for this, as explained in the episode's Aftermath, is that the artificial blood they've been using was syrup-based, and the bees were attracted to the sweetness. They've since altered the formula to be soap-based instead to avoid another such incident.
 * Groin Attack: During the AK-74 test, the Spetsnaz rep lies on the ground and puts a bullet straight through the dummy's batch. In the Yakuza VS Mafia final showdown,
 * Not the typical use of the trope, but one of the Zande's weapons has a penis shaped blade, and another is essentially a curved steel penis.
 * The Nazi Waffen-SS' Schrapnellmine a.k.a. the Bouncing Betty mine, was shown to be capable of using its metal ball bearings to tear through human groins.

""Holy fuck, man. What the fuck was that?""
 * One of the KGB experts makes a similar claim with the explosive dead drop spike.
 * More than one recreation of ancient combat includes this as a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment (Wallace throwing the ball and chain at an English knight is probably the funniest).
 * Guns Akimbo: The Jesse James demonstrator with two revolvers.
 * Gun Twirling: The Jesse James gun tester does this quite a bit.
 * Half the Man He Used To Be: There are several weapon demonstrations that end with a pig carcass or test dummy cleaved in half, the U.S. Army Rangers' SR-25 and the Nazi Waffen-SS' Schrapnellmine being to of the first examples that come to mind.
 * In Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés, the sim starts off with Ivan and the Oprichniki torturing a man by tying his arms to a horse's hind legs, his legs to another horse and having them move in opposite directions.
 * Hammerspace: Typically avoided; all the warriors' various weapons can be seen strapped to their person.
 * Played straight in the game. The warriors that use thrown items seem to be able to produce them from thin air, the most blatant examples though are the polearms which just appear in the fighters hands.
 * Hand Cannon: This is the actual name of one of Vlad's weapons. However, it's not actually as impressive a firearm as it sounds (and it's the size of a Tommy Gun).
 * The closest the show has had to an actual Hand Cannon was the Musketeer's Wheel-lock Pistol.
 * A Handful for An Eye: In Pirate versus Knight, the Pirate tries this on the Knight when the battle takes to the beach. In Spartan versus Ninja, the Ninja runs up the Spartan's shield and plants a black egg directly to the face.
 * Hero-Tracking Failure: The Israelis
 * Highly-Visible Ninja: This is one of the points upon which those who say the show Did Not Do the Research frequently lean upon. In response to the controversy, host Max Geiger insisted that the show was based on warriors in combat and not assassins sneaking around.
 * Historical Domain Character: William Wallace versus Shaka Zulu, Attila the Hun versus Alexander the Great, Jesse James' outlaws versus Al Capone's gangsters, Vlad the Impaler versus Sun Tzu. Also, Hannibal Barca vs. Genghis Khan has been confirmed for Season 3, William the Conqueror vs. Joan of Arc as has Crazy Horse vs. Pancho Villa, George Washington vs. Napoleon Bonaparte, Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot, Lawrence of Arabia vs. Theodore Roosevelt and Ivan The Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés.
 * Historical In-Joke: In Theodore Roosevelt vs. Lawrence of Arabia, This happened to the man in real life.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: In the "Teddy Roosevelt vs. Lawrence of Arabia" Aftermath, the Executive Producer of the show briefly talks about as the result as this. He was at first glad for the clear example of Rock Beats Laser to quell accusations that the more modern warrior always wins...
 * Hooks and Crooks: The Somali Pirates use grappling hooks as their close range weapon.
 * Hope Spot: In the Ming Warrior vs. Musketeer simulation,.
 * Horny Vikings: Refreshingly averted in Episode 2. The Vikings there all have realistic peaked-cap helms with noseguards. While the trailer for Season 2 showed the Celts with horned helmets, the actual episode featuring them did not.
 * Horse Archer: The Huns, Comanches, and Mongols (and by extension, Genghis Khan) are this trope. Coincidentally, the Comanche and Mongol fight each other in the same episode.
 * HSQ: Very high within the show itself, since the hosts gape and gasp after just about every weapon demonstration.
 * Shaolin Monk versus Maori Warrior arguably has the biggest moment in the series when the tiny dude takes the Emei piercers to a dummy's head. The smallest person to appear on the show goes to town on the poor piece of ballistics gel, putting over a dozen stabs into the face and skull, including a kick, and finally delivers a hit with enough force to remove most of the head. At one point near the beginning, he stabs into both eyes and pulls them out, leaving the eyes on the other side of the piercers for the rest of the fight. Geiger's reaction?

"Kieron: I'm Kieron Elliott, and thank you for... ah, fuck it."
 * This was even brought up in the aftermath, with several comments essentially going "What the fuck, man? Seriously. What the FUCK?" He explains that, after one of the Maori experts declared the weapons little more than knitting needles, he decided to go all-out to give a full demonstration of what the Emei piercers could do.
 * Rob Roy, the Navy SEALs representative, puts the Shaolin Monk representative to shame with his own moment: going absolutely insane with his tactical knife on a gel dummy. He stabs it in the gut and neck Over Nine Thousand times, ends up cutting the head and arm off, and then sticks his knife where the head used to be. He also slashed and stabbed the face apart. There's a good reason Max is left standing stunned, mouth agape in shock at Rob's brutality. He was trying to outdo the similar antics of the Ka-Bar wielding Israeli commando, who had started with a lethal neck strike then continued on for disemboweling.
 * Humans Are Warriors: The documentary is all about it.
 * Human Shield: In the Yakuza versus Mafia showdown, a.
 * In Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés,
 * Hypocritical Humor: After the testing of the Comanche's scalping knife, one of the Mongol experts calls the cuts and stabs "nothing more than flesh wounds." The clip that plays afterwards? The pig it was tested on being sliced open, spilling fake blood.
 * In "Persian Immortal vs. Celt", the Persian experts decry the Celt expert's demonstration of an impressive sword strike from a chariot by claiming that they can easily avoid it. The Persian's next two weapons are chariot-based, which the expert plays up by claiming that they can't be avoided because opposing forces will have to put too much focus into getting out of the way of both the chariot and the horses pulling them.
 * I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Gun safety rules will occasionally be broken in the lab, especially when the experts are filmed showing off firearms. They do seem to pay extra attention on the firing range when testing, though.
 * In all likeliehood the in-lab weapons are not loaded.
 * The number one rule in gun safety is to treat all firearms as loaded at all times even if you just unloaded it yourself.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: The Maori warriors ate the bodies of their dead enemies in an attempt to absorb their power; they taunted their opponents by showing their tongues and making this intention very clear. Vlad the Impaler is also stated to consume human flesh. Subverted with the Azande, who only pretended to be cannibalistic in order to intimidate their foes.
 * The Zombies from Vampires vs Zombies, obviously.
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In the simulations, this is how
 * Also how the Viet Cong use the punji sticks in their booby traps.
 * Also a preferred method of execution with Vlad the Impaler.
 * Implausible Fencing Powers: Generally averted in the final showdowns, but sometimes occurs in the re-enactment spots that are shown during the weapon demonstrations.
 * Happened during the Centurion vs. Rajput match, though;
 * Impossibly Cool Weapon: The Spetsnaz ballistic knife has plenty of reliability issues. It's still a knife that shoots itself.
 * Improbable Weapon User: The IRA use a slingshot, the Mafia use an ice pick, the Green Berets have a shovel, Attila the Hun had a lasso, the Somali Pirates have grappling hooks, and the Khmer Rouge had a cane knife. The majority of the weapons prove to be surprisingly effective, but entrenching tools actually have a long history of use as a hand-to-hand weapon--many WWI soldiers preferred them over bayonets because they did not stick into the enemy.
 * Entrenching tools have been used quite a bit in combat, often in desparation. They have their shape for many reasons, smacking skulls being one of them. It's not so much improbable as desperate.
 * When testing scattershot, the alternate ammo Washington would have used for his cannon, his experts explain that it consisted of nails, chains, and other small metal objects.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: After slicing through Roman chain mail with a katar, one of the Rajput experts quips, "I guess that makes me the katar hero."
 * Another example in Somali Pirate vs. Medellín Cartel; during the testing of the Pirate's rocket launcher, Geoff gave the signal with "3, 2, 1, ROCK IT!"
 * Informed Ability / Informed Flaw: Many of the dramatizations tend to conflict with the episode's findings; in many cases, weapons found to perform exceedingly well play only bit parts in the fight, and final blows are dealt by weapons that tests had deemed ineffective.
 * Season 3 seems to be better about this, though, with test results and other findings directly playing into the dramatizations:
 * In Joan of Arc vs. William the Conqueror,
 * In Theodore Roosevelt vs. Alexander of Arabia,
 * Inherently Funny Words: Admit it, you laughed every time they said "Flammenwerfer" (pronouced "Flammenverfer").
 * "Blunderbuss"?
 * Insistent Terminology: Joan of Arc's inexplicable ability to know exactly what to do in situations she had zero training or experience in is always referred to her "intuition". The hosts explicitly neither support nor dismiss the possibility that she was taking orders from God.
 * Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: At the start of the "Nazi Waffen-SS vs. Viet Cong" battle, a member of the Waffen-SS finds himself on the receiving end of this at the hands of the Viet Cong, who have beaten him up and pointed a gun at his head. He is rescued soon after by his comrades, and.
 * Jittercam: Used in almost every single simulation in every single episode.
 * Joke Item: In Deadliest Warrior: Legends, the second video game based off the series, all the playable warriors have one as an unlockable weapon (Genghis Khan gets a koi fish, Sun Tzu gets a paper fan, William Wallace gets a shovel, etc.).
 * Katanas Are Just Better: Averted. The katana is not granted any more special powers than it demonstrates during testing, and many western swords are shown to be just as lethal. Testing suggested that the katana could cut straight through more than one unarmored body in a single swing, but it had absolutely no effect on chainmail.
 * Interestingly, this didn't actually stop it from being a highly effective weapon in the sim itself--
 * It was shut down pretty hard in Spartan vs. Samurai, though.
 * Knife Nut: Apaches are portrayed as such. One Gladiator expert remarks upon seeing a knife throw that now the knife can't be used again. Apache expert Snake Blocker insists that Apache warriors would each carry as many knives as would fit on their person; he then proceeds to withdraw several knives from his waistband and various sheaths about his person, including one that was apparently hidden IN HIS HAIR.
 * Navy SEAL Rob Roy fits this when he uses a three-inch knife to completely destroy a gel torso by disemboweling it, cutting off one of its arms, cutting its head off and ultimately leave the knife sticking straight up out of the neck.
 * Knife-Throwing Act: In the "Apache vs. Gladiator" episode, Apache expert and US Army instructor Snake Blocker does a variation of this, throwing three knives and hitting three human-sized targets with center-mass killshots within three seconds before finishing the sequence with a backhanded stab to a dummy.
 * Mentioned to be a viable tactic with the bowie knife, and demonstrated against the pig carcass.
 * Kung Foley: See Bang Bang BANG and Audible Sharpness above.
 * La Résistance: Several revolutionary groups have been mentioned over the course of the show, such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, George Washington and the Continental Army, and T.E. Lawrence's bedouin tribesmen.
 * Leeroy Jenkins: In Crazy Horse vs. Pancho Villa,.
 * Let's You and Him Fight: A few dramatizations would try and give some justification as to why the two sides are fighting, but many don't bother.
 * Licking the Blade:
 * Vlad the Impaler does this in the commercial for his match against Sun Tzu.
 * Lighter and Softer: Season 3 (when compared to season 2), seems to be more about showing off all their research, without all the cool testing of the previous seasons.
 * Lightning Bruiser: The Samurai in Episode 2. Agile and precise, but armored just as well as his opponent.
 * Similarly, the Vampires in Season 3 are portrayed like this. Superhumanly fast, strong, and quite durable.
 * Machete Mayhem: The close range weapon of the Medellín Cartel; also, the cane knife used by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge was said to be inspired by the machete.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: The Ming Warriors Nest of Bees test.
 * Mad Bomber: During the simulations, the IRA members can be heard chuckling before detonating a nail bomb.
 * The Mafia / Yakuza: Episode 5.
 * Also episode 12, the Jesse James Gang vs. Al Capone's Gang.
 * The Magnificent: Several of the historical domain characters, ranging from such as Alexander the Great, Ivan the Terrible, and Vlad the Impaler.
 * Manipulative Editing: In the Spetsnaz vs. Green Beret episode, both sides said during the Aftermath that the episode was edited to make the two teams look more confrontational against each other.
 * Man On Fire: In IRA VS the Taliban, the IRA bring a flamethrower to add a little gas to things. According to the doctor, it would be a nightmarishly horrible way to die--even after you get out of the flames, your bones would still be cooking you from the inside.
 * The Nazi Waffen-SS used a significantly more powerful flamethrower, which utilized tar fuel that stuck to the skin while it burned.
 * Sun Tzu's huo chien, or flaming arrows, were used in association with flammable ingredients such as lard and linseed oil, to light large areas, and soldiers, on fire.
 * Martial Pacifist: Shaolin Monks are said to have taken no pride in killing, and fought only out of necessity.
 * Mob War: Yakuza vs. Mafia. Jesse James vs. Al Capone, sort of. Somali Pirates vs. Medellín Cartel may sort of fit as well.
 * Molotov Cocktail: Used by the Mafia.
 * Moment of Silence: Though the background music still plays, the Musketeers do this for one of their comrades who.
 * Mood Whiplash: In the simulation, the Medellín Cartel was surely not expecting to be ambushed by Somali Pirates as they were relaxing to some Columbian music.
 * Mooks: Besides the final showdown at the end of each episode, there are also reenactments throughout the running time that show each of the two featured combatants killing enemies that they were historically against in their time period. For instance, Vlad the Impaler is shown fighting Ottomans,the Medellín Cartel is depicted as slaughtering Columbian police officers, and William Wallace is taking down English soldiers.
 * More Dakka: Several of the automatic firearms weapons, especially the Tommy gun.
 * One of the Al Capone experts even derides the Colt Revolver's performance with something alone these lines. "Not enough firepower! You can still show him in the casket."
 * Motion Blur: Used in the Vampires vs. Zombies simulation to illustrate the vampires' superhuman speed.
 * The Musketeer: Not just a musketeer, but a French one to boot, one who definitively averts that unfortunate, cultural trope.
 * Mythology Gag: The Game has an achievement called "Who's Deadliest Now?", which you get by beating Arcade Mode with the Knight, the Viking, and the Ninja on the Deadliest difficulty. Fans of the show will notice that
 * Also, the pirate faces the ninja at the end of his arcade mode.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Vlad the Impaler. Seriously, the last dude you'd want to hear is on the battlefield opposite your side just based on name alone.
 * The Napoleon: Davide Lavera, one of the Aztec's experts, was about 5 feet tall (dwarfed even by Max!) and was probably one of the most arrogant experts they've ever had.
 * Averted surprisingly with the REAL Napoleon with Dr. Dorian stating he wasn't that short at a 5'7". He did, however, have a significant size disadvantage against the 6'4" George Washington.
 * New Rules as the Plot Demands: A Mafia gangster pulls out a switchblade to fight his opponent, the Shaolin Monk brings out a meteor hammer during his showdown with the Maori, an IRA operative uses his own knife to kill a member of the Taliban, and two of Crazy Horse's Lakota warriors are seen with self bows, but none of these weapons were actually tested. Their roles seem to be to make the simulation more interesting.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Averted in the 3rd Season Finale Aftermath, in which the question of what a zombie-vampire hybrid would be like comes up. The zombie expert, vampire expert, and Dr. Dorian all agree that such a creature would just shamble into the sun and die. However, Geoff puts forth the possibility that a virus mutation might cause a different, unexpected, and considerably more interesting result.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: During the simulation, one of the Medellín Cartel members bears a strong resemblance to Pablo Escobar.
 * North Koreans With Nodongs: The North Korean Special Operations Force, who appear in Season 3, fighting the US Army Rangers.
 * Off with His Head: The Scottish claymore is notable for this, chopping off 3 heads at once in its test.
 * The Celtic Longsword was also meant to take heads.
 * Geoffrey yells this trope when testing the Zande Warrior's makrakka. It does.
 * The Aztec Jaguar's macuahuitl is shown to execute this, being capable of decapitating a stallion in 3 hits. And there's also the Celt's longsword, which sliced a gel torso's head in half. Finally, we have the CIA's garrote, which consists of nothing more than just 2 small sticks and some piano wire. Even that is enough to slice open a torso's throat and decapitate it.
 * Now we have Navy SEALs' Rob Roy and his recon knife, a 3-inch blade that he uses to decapitate a ballistic gel torso.
 * In a sneak peek at the first episode of Season 3, a dummy is decapitated by Napoleon's cannon. The ball that did it had already taken out another dummy in front.
 * Attila the Hun's finisher in the game Deadliest Warrior: Legends involves him ripping off his opponent's head...with his bare hands.
 * In Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot, Calvin Bondley, an expert for the former dictator, uses the RPK machine gun to shoot the head of a test dummy in a simulated ambush.
 * In Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés, Vladimir Orlov, Russian special forces trainer and one of Ivan's experts, utilized the tsar's sablia (Russian saber) on horseback to decapitate a gel dummy wearing Hernán's steel armor.
 * Oh Crap: Two such reactions in the IRA vs. Taliban fight. One coming from, and the other coming from.
 * Another one in the Back For Blood special.
 * In the Nazi Waffen-SS vs. Viet Cong fight, this is seen on the face of a Waffen-SS soldier.
 * From the VC experts themselves after they witnessed the Flammenwerfer test.
 * In the Somali Pirate vs. Medellín Cartel fight, this appears on the face of.
 * In the Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot battle, has this expression
 * In Theodore Roosevelt vs. Lawrence of Arabia,.
 * Omniglot: According to British firearms specialist Richard Reid, Lawrence of Arabia was fluent in 7 languages.
 * Once A Season: A few weapons are repeated each season. Some examples include the halberd (used by the Knight & Vlad the Impaler), the RPG-7 and AK-47 (both used by the Taliban and Somali Pirates), the Tommy Gun (used by the Mafia and Al Capone Gang), and, if you want to stretch it a little, the sling (used by the Gladiator, Aztec Jaguar, and Celt).
 * The place of origin for some of the warriors fit too; one Russian-based warrior has appeared per season (Spetznaz, the KGB, and Ivan the Terrible), as well as the U.S. military following this trend (the Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and Army Rangers). Native Americans have been following this trend too (season 1's Apache, season 2's Comanche, and season 3's Crazy Horse).
 * One-Hit Polykill: Both Cortés' and Ivan's guns take out two targets with one shot.
 * The vampires also frequently slash through several zombies with one swing of their claws.
 * This also applies in the sims as well:
 * In Navy SEALs vs. Israeli Commandos,.
 * In Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot,.
 * One-Liner: Doc Dorian in FFL vs. Gurkhas "Stick to history, you don't understand medicine" but also common in the Trash Talk between warriors.
 * One of Us: The three hosts are clearly as psyched by their jobs as we are.
 * Only in It For the Money: Hernán Cortés' primary reason to lead the Spaniards' expedition into Mexico was because of rumors of vast sums of gold hidden in the New World.
 * Our Vampires Are Different / Our Zombies Are Different: The Vampires vs. Zombies match-up in Season 3.
 * Outrun the Fireball:
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Sukhwinder Singh, a specialist brought in by the Rajput's experts, stood about 4 feet tall, yet looked just as tough as anyone when swinging the aara.
 * Many of the actual historical warriors, were in fact, much smaller dudes. To say the least of Joan of Arc.
 * Pistol-Whipping: Interestingly, the technique itself is tested as one of Jesse James' weapons in the "Jesse James vs. Al Capone" episode.
 * Reality Ensues: It's shown to fracture a skull.
 * Poisoned Weapons: The ninja's blowgun is poisoned. In the Apache episode, expert Snake Blocker asked for a poisonous animal to show that Apaches would poison their weapons. The episode did not address poisoned weapons, but did show a brief shot of Snake Blocker holding a scorpion.
 * The Zande's botto and pima are shown to have been poisoned with a toxin described as similar to strychnine.
 * The Viet Cong's punji sticks were smeared with human feces for similar effect. If the impalement didn't kill you, a septic wound might.
 * The arrows on Sun Tzu's repeating crossbow were also coated with wolfsbane.
 * Let's not forget Shaka Zulu's spit of poison.
 * Powerful Pick: the Centurion's Dolabra
 * In a less literal instance, the Mafia actually used an ice pick as a stealth weapon. Scarily enough it went through a skull.
 * Precision F-Strike: Kieron Elliott at the end of Navy SEAL vs. Isreali Commando's Aftermath.


 * Armand also gets one in an episode where he's describing a wound to the large intestine. Basically, after detailing how Waste (or, in his words, "poopage") would seep into the abdomen, causing the body to become septic, he finished his explanation with, "It's...well, a real shitty way to die.
 * Pre-Mortem One-Liner: In Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot,
 * Promoted Fanboy: Before he became a host, Richard "Mack" Machowicz revealed that he is a fan of the show in one of the Season 3 preseason Aftermaths.
 * Prongs of Poseidon: The Gladiator's trident net is tested against the Apache's knife. In the final simulation,.
 * Pyrrhic Victory: Very often in the simulations there will be only one person left alive...with the rest of their friends/teammates dead.
 * In the KGB vs. CIA simulation,
 * In Zombies vs. Vampires,
 * Rain of Arrows: In Ming Warrior vs. Musketeer, the Ming Warriors bring a Nest of Bees to the fight: a man-portable arrow launcher that fires 32 rocket-powered arrows at once.
 * Rated "M" for Manly: Oh, where to even begin with this.
 * Seriously, also how the French Musketeer is presented.
 * Once you take a man that personifies Authority Equals Asskicking, such as Theodore Roosevelt and put him in the mix, this show may have moved to Testosterone Poisoning levels.
 * Reality Is Unrealistic: Many fans of the show attempted to use video games and movies as expert testimony to refute the results of the show. In the Aftermath of "IRA versus Taliban," one of the hosts lampshades this, saying, "Always a reliable source for research..."
 * Recycled in Space: It's Animal Face-Off WITH HUMANS!
 * Red Baron: Several of the warriors were given badass aliases in their time; for example, Lawrence of Arabia was known as The Devil of the Desert, while Napoleon was called the God of War (no relation).
 * Red Herring: In "Sun Tzu vs. Vlad the Impaler",  Not only that, but
 * An example that involves having watched previous episodes for the trope to be played straight: in Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot,
 * Reformed Criminal: Kenny Gallo, the Medellín expert who used to work for the cartel. He's an FBI-protected witness and says that he has changed his lifestyle since then.
 * Refuge in Audacity: Must this even be mentioned?
 * Regional Riff: An Asian flute can be heard frequently whenever East Asian warriors and weapons are featured, particularly during stealthy and indirect attacks.
 * Latin-American fighters like the Medellín Cartel or Pancho Villa were accompanied by a couple of notes from a Spanish guitar.
 * Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: This is actually an important part of season 3's testing process; Mach has an expert for each warrior consult what said warrior's ideal tactic is and-or their greatest victory; from Genghis Khan's triumph at the Battle of Kalka River to how William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings.
 * Revolvers Are Just Better: In the Back For Blood special, During the final showdown,
 * In Jesse James vs. Al Capone,
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The William Wallace experts all but discuss this trope verbatim in reference to Wallace's motivation for fighting the English.
 * Rock Beats Laser: Mostly averted throughout the show, as the newest and most advanced weaponry almost always wins (much as it does in Real Life). Exceptions are
 * Due in large part to his shield.
 * Rule of Cool: You probably can't watch this show without saying "Woah that was cool!" at least once.
 * Running Gag: In "Shaka Zulu vs. William Wallace", after every time the Zulu experted tested one of his weapons, he would shout "ZULU!", with Geoff & Max echoing him.
 * As well, in Zande Warrior vs. Aztec Jaguar, prior to every one of their weapons tests, post-test in some of them, and in the final interview, the Zande experts would constantly chant "NOM NOM! NOM NOM!".
 * Ruthless Modern Pirates: Season 2's Somali Pirates, who went up against the Medellín Cartel.
 * Sai Guy: One of the Yakuza's weapons.
 * Samus Is a Girl: It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but William the Conqueror looks completely baffled when he sees that Joan of Arc, the warrior who just fought her way into his castle and is now brandishing a sword in front of him, is a teenage girl. Then Joan attacks him, and he gets over it quick.
 * Sanity Has Advantages: In the battle between Saddam Hussien and Pol Pot,  had an X-factor in his favor by not being as insane as his opponent (though since these two are both Grade-A nutjobs, he still scored below 50; his opponent just scored even lower).
 * The same thing happens in Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés;.
 * Came into play to a lesser extent between Washington vs. Napoleon, when a number of X-Factors put in Washington's favor involved how Napoleon became more egotistical and prone to overreaching in his later years. In the Aftermath, the Napoleon expect even conceded that Washington would have had an advantage against Napoleon as he was later in life, but asserted that he might not have fared as well against the younger, more stable man Napoleon was earlier on in his career.
 * Sawed-Off Shotgun: One of the Mafia's weapons in Mafia versus Yakuza. The realistic kind, not the pistol-shotty kind.
 * Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: The Iklwa weapon of Shaka Zulu is named after the sound effects it causes upon impaling and being removed.
 * Can be Nightmare Fuel if you really think about it.
 * Scary Black Man: Rob Roy, one of the Navy SEALs experts. He's pretty normal most of the time, but if you see him test out the SEALs' knife, you'll feel sorry for the gel torso he tested it out on.
 * The African tribal warriors are said to have been this in real life to everyone else. Particularly the Zande, who filed their teeth into fangs to give enemies the impression that they were cannibals.
 * Scope Snipe: The U.S. Army Rangers representative pulls this off, though unlike more cinematic examples it goes diagonally through the walls of the scope instead of the lenses.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In "Genghis Khan vs. Hannibal",.
 * In "Vampires vs. Zombies", one of the vampires tries to leave the building. Unfortunately for him, it's dawn, forcing him to stay inside with the zombies.
 * Serious Business: Putting aside the fact that the show addresses various hotly debated topics ranging from military history to martial arts, the representatives of both sides of any match-up act as if the battle is actually taking place and has regularly taken place throughout history.
 * Somewhat justified in the case of the Proud Warrior Race guys (Apache, Zulu, Maori, Celt, Aztec, Zande, etc.) who are defending the honor of their heritage (or at least that's the way they see it).
 * Sharp-Dressed Man: Whenever the Mafia show up.
 * Shields Are Useless: Toyed with. While shields can proved to be incredibly useful in a fight, the show's testing process generally concludes that large weapons would cut or break through shields and often damage the arm behind them with a full-force swing. The offensive capacities of shields varied depending on the episode:
 * In Viking versus Samurai,
 * Although a lot of people have criticized the show for it's faulty representation of the Viking's use of his shield.
 * In William Wallace versus Shaka Zulu, William Wallace's Targe shield demonstrates a killer puncturing capability.
 * In Spartan versus Ninja,
 * In the Back For Blood special,
 * It should be noted, however, that  This was ignored in the simulation because it's more awesome that way.
 * In Jaguar vs. Zande, they test the jaguar warrior's throwing spear on the Zande's shield,  Later, during the simulation, not only does the Jaguar's spear pierce the shield, he knocks a huge chunk of it off with his club.
 * Shoe Phone: Most of the weapons in KGB vs. CIA are like this. They include a camera gun, a briefcase gun, a retractable shoe knife, and a booby trapped exploding cigar.
 * The Isreali Commando's explosive weapon, a cell phone rigged with semtex explosives, also qualifies.
 * Shout-Out:
 * In either a shout out or simple rehash of pre-existing choreography, the Spartan uses Achilles' Finishing Move from Troy, running toward the Ninja with very long strides and then jumping up and delivering a downward stabbing attack with his spear.
 * One of the Rajput team members makes a pun on Guitar Hero after demonstrating the katar.
 * A Roman Centurion expert calls one of the Rajput experts a warrior princess when they test the chakram.
 * After the Celtic Longsword, Armand refers to the head as Pac-Man.
 * The Game has two achievements spoofing the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. One is "Black Knight", which you get by slicing off all the Knight's limbs, and the other is "Flesh Wound", which you get by beating an opponent with your arm sliced off.
 * It also makes a reference to 300 with "That Was Sparta!", which you get by killing 300 Spartans over your career.
 * In the second game, Vlad the Impaler in his entrance cut-scene takes a drink from a goblet and then casually tosses it aside.
 * Shovel Strike: Green Beret's entrenching tool.
 * Shown Their Work: Every episode is one gigantic orgasm of research, testing, and displaying work before the final showdown. However, there have been protests against the research, with some people crying Dan Browned. In the show's defense, there is a lot of testing and research done that is not shown because of time constraints.
 * Single-Stroke Battle: Averted. The show's computer simulates 1,000 battles (5,000 as of the 3rd season) so that the winner is not determined by a single "lucky blow." The choreographed battles always feature the combatants trading blows with all of their weapons before one combatant wins. In the squad battles, it usually comes down to one last man on each side.
 * Skyward Scream: In Waffen-SS vs. Viet Cong,.
 * Sophisticated As Hell: Armand observing some carnage: "The technical term for this would be mush."
 * The Spartan Way: Nearly all experts argue that their side has been trained this way, having fought since childhood and/or trained unbelievably hard.
 * Especially the Spartan experts.
 * The Spetznaz representative allowed black belt Geoffrey Desmoulin to PUNCH HIM IN THE CHEST several times to demonstrate the toughness that a Spetznaz developed.
 * Spy-Versus-Spy: KGB vs. CIA.
 * Stab the Sky: If an ancient warrior wins by killing the other one with a sword, expect this.
 * Averted by the winners of Viking vs. Samurai, Maori vs. Shaolin Monk, and George Washington vs. Napoleon Bonaparte:
 * State Sec: Guess which group makes an appearance in season two.
 * Stock Scream: Take a drink every time you hear a low, strained, "UWOOAAH!".
 * The Stoic: Several warriors are portrayed as such:
 * The Yakuza are portrayed as being trained to show no pain and to show no emotion in the face of enemies.
 * Or when cutting off their own fingers in the face of their own superiors.
 * The Spetsnaz's reputation for toughness is demonstrated by one of the soldiers, who allows a martial arts black belt to punch him several times in the stomach--to no effect.
 * This is actually a basic part of the average modern day martial art. It involves hardening your abdominal muscles temporarily right before a punch lands.
 * The Shaolin Monk, in the final showdown. Contrasted very nicely with the Maori warrior.
 * Though their experts were almost the complete opposites; one only need to watch the shaolin going completely crazy during the emei piercers demonstration while the maori watched calmly, nodding their heads.
 * Storming the Castle: Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot's first test, which, coincidentally, is the show's first test to use more than one weapon, simulated the urban combat tactics used in taking over a building; Calvin Bondley and Jonathon Khan (each side's respective expert who dealt with the weapons) used their side's grenade to kill the men at the guard post, move towards the building's exterior with light machine guns, and finish by killing the guards inside with pistols.
 * Many of the sims have this scenario, with the simulation of Joan of Arc vs. William the Conqueror being a literal example.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: Anytime there's an explosive weapon. Sometimes the explosion of said weapon is enhanced just because it's cooler like that.
 * But there have been a couple of times where some of the tests on military-grade explosives used less of the explosive than normal because the normal amount of explosive would have been too big of a boom.
 * Stupid Statement Dance Mix: During the season finale live Aftermath, a simple one was played using clips of dialogue from Max Brooks (zombie expert and son of Mel Brooks).
 * Suffer the Slings: Whenever ancient warriors aren't using bows and arrows, they usually have this.
 * This was actually addressed in the Persian Immortals vs. Celts Aftermath, in which one comment flat-out asked why slings kept getting brought onto the show if they never worked well. Amusingly enough, it was the Persian expert who jumped to respond to the complaint, explaining that, since slings are small, lightweight, can be easily stashed on someone's person, and have effectively infinite ammunition, there are really no downsides to having one available in combat. Even if they don't impress in tests, in the right hands and the right situation, they can still potentially turn the tide of a battle.
 * Suspiciously Small Army: Whenever the match-up is between specific strategists known for leading armies of thousands or hundreds of thousands, they give them a half dozen men each and match them up with their personal weapons. Both squads are invariably wiped out leaving it a personal 1-on-1 fight.
 * Swiss Army Weapon: The Shaolin Monk's twin hooks, described as 4 killing tools in one.
 * Sword Fight: Occurs several times over the course of the series, mainly in the final battle scenes at the end of most episodes; amongst said episodes are Viking vs. Samurai, Pirate vs. Knight, Attila the Hun vs. Alexander the Great, Roman Centurion vs. Rajput, Vlad the Impaler vs. Sun Tzu, Ming Warrior vs. Musketeer, George Washington vs. Napoleon Bonaparte, Joan of Arc vs. William the Conqueror, and Genghis Khan vs. Hannibal. Ivan the Terrible and Hernán Cortés take it up a notch and do it on horseback.
 * In the game, the Viking's short range weapon is now his longsword and his great axe is mid range; the roles of the two weapons were switched around in the show, the sword fight was longsword (mid range) vs. katana (short range).
 * Take That: Several times toward Twilight at their 2011 Zombie vs. Vampire Comic Con panel.
 * Taking You with Me: In the dramatized Somali Pirate vs. Medellín Cartel battle,.
 * Another example in U.S. Army Rangers vs. North Korean Special Ops where.
 * Technician Versus Performer: One debate that tends to come up with a lot of older guns (and occasionally something like a cannon or crossbow) tends to boil down to: This weapon performs better (better accuracy, more powerful) but is technically inferior (often it involved a longer reload time or a tendency to misfire.)
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Guaranteed to be demonstrated at LEAST Once an Episode. The line is almost used verbatim in the Spetsnaz vs. Green Berets episode..
 * Averted in Jesse James vs. Al Capone, where However,
 * What can best describe the ending of the sim.
 * Navy SEALs vs. Israeli Commandos. Rob Roy. Knife test. This is probably one of the few times "overkill" is putting it lightly. With a three-inch knife he does to a gel torso what most other people would need a sword to do.
 * Time Travel: While most fights would need to involve time travel in some way, in Jesse James vs. Al Capone, Jesse and his men seem to suddenly spawn in a museum during the Depression and proceed to break out the museum pieces rather than being armed from the start like most fights.
 * Title Drop: Aside from the end of the show's traditional intro, you also have several experts claiming the warrior they represent is the deadliest warrior.
 * Training From Hell: Most of the experts attempt to portray their warrior as undergoing intense training that produces a superior warrior. A notable example would be the Spetsnaz, who actually would not divulge too much info as state secrets.
 * The French Foreign Legion is described in great detail that their training regiment in the desert is complete hell. More Legion recruits actually die in training than any other military group in the world.
 * Two Out of Three Ain't Bad: Averted in the Dragunov vs. HKG3 test during the second half of the Back For Blood special: . The good doctor, in response to Collins' statement, said that two out of three might work in sports, but in warfare, it's a different story.
 * Under Crank: Used in the finale of Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés when the two leaders are charging at each other to land the killing blow on their opponent.
 * Underdogs Never Lose: Reality Ensues for the most part in this show, but there have been some notable instances where a single weapon helped usher an otherwise-doomed warrior to victory. Examples include.
 * Unnecessary Combat Roll: The Spetsnaz experts do it during weapon demonstrations and the Americans mock them for it. The ninja does it during the final showdown. Also done by the female CIA agent in the simulation.
 * Urine Trouble: Richard Reid, an expert for Lawrence of Arabia, explained that the Vickers machine gun was cooled off by pouring water though a tap which flowed through the gun; however, in the Middle East, Lawrence improvised by having soldiers urinate in it..
 * V-Formation Team Shot: The Waffen-SS, Viet Cong, and Navy SEALs get one of these over the course of their episodes.
 * The 4 Rough Riders accompanying Theodore Roosevelt into battle also get one of their own, as do the 4 members of the Jesse James gang. However, neither of these are in a V formation.
 * Violent Glaswegian: Although the guys representing him are nice enough, William Wallace. Among other things, his claymore was so devastating that the BFS page has a link to a video of it giving a triple decapitation.
 * Also the Celt, the Ur Example.
 * Weapon of Choice: Each side is given about four or five different ones, which are graded against each other.
 * We Need a Distraction: In Theodore Roosevelt vs. Lawrence of Arabia,
 * When All You Have Is a Hammer: Equipment is usually graded solely on how much damage it can do, rather than alternate utilities such as parrying, disarming, or disabling opponents. The main complaint among critics also seems to be there's no impartial way compare fighting styles and tactics to each other and that differences in the mindset and tactics of warriors of different cultures and time periods don't seem to be factored in, leaving the battles seeming more like "Deadliest Arsenal" than "Deadliest Warrior". As of Season 3, however, more emphasis is put on X-Factors and weapons strategies.
 * Whip Sword: The Rajputs' aara sword is the most obvious one, and arguably the Shaolin Monk's Whip Chain as well.
 * White and White Morality: Geoffrey clearly thinks the Navy SEALs vs. Israeli Commandos match-up is a fight between good guys, as shown in the Aftermath of Comache vs. Mongol. Whether he's right or not is a matter of...heated debate.
 * Worthy Opponent: Ultimately, most of the experts exhibit this towards the end, especially in the Centurion vs. Rajput episode, where both sides would continually give props to the other's weapons and their capabilities.
 * Often, the winning warrior in the simulation show some sort of honor to their fallen opponent. Though some show this better than others, and, of course, averted by a few warriors who explicitly don't show honor to fallen opponents.
 * Xanatos Gambit: The Viet Cong's explosive and special weapons function like this. For example, the POM-Z2 mine had an F-1 grenade underneath it. If by chance, an enemy soldier discovered the trip wire that activated the mine, they would then trigger the grenade. Similarly, if the spiked punji ball didn't hit a vital organ, it would knock the enemy down, and would break his skull.
 * X Meets Y: Mythbusters meets Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny. The two shows even use many of the same tools for testing, including ballistics gel dummies, animal carcasses, shock patches, and high-speed cameras.
 * Your Head Asplode: Several of the modern firearms do this. Also happens in the pre-title dramatization for SWAT vs GSG9 and to
 * In its test to see how much damage it could do to human skulls, the Celt's special weapon, the Burda Club (just a wooden club with some metal rings) managed to make the skulls explode.
 * The Apache's club did the same thing to an unprotected skull.
 * As can the Mongol's flanged mace.
 * Don't forget the Knight's Morningstar.
 * Or that elephant. Among other things.
 * Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: During the 'IRA vs Taliban' episode, the Irish experts try to portray the IRA like this.
 * To be expected, given as one of them was a nephew of Micheal Collins, who all but started the IRA.
 * Zerg Rush: The modus operandi of the zombies, and the reason why a test was needed to find a suitable ratio of zombies per vampire.
 * The Apache's club did the same thing to an unprotected skull.
 * As can the Mongol's flanged mace.
 * Don't forget the Knight's Morningstar.
 * Or that elephant. Among other things.
 * Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: During the 'IRA vs Taliban' episode, the Irish experts try to portray the IRA like this.
 * To be expected, given as one of them was a nephew of Micheal Collins, who all but started the IRA.
 * Zerg Rush: The modus operandi of the zombies, and the reason why a test was needed to find a suitable ratio of zombies per vampire.