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Armor Is Useless: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.ArmorIsUseless 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.ArmorIsUseless, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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See also [[The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort]]. The logical extreme of this trope is the [[Full Frontal Assault]]. For non-armor objects that make for bizarrely non-useless armor, see [[Pocket Protector]].
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
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** Note that in the [[Starship Troopers (Literature)|book]] and [[Starship Troopers (Franchise)|strategy board game]], armor worked extremely well. Indeed, the book is the [[Powered Armor]] [[Trope Codifier]] for Western culture. Of course, [[Starship Troopers (Film)|the film]] was intentionally designed as the polar opposite of the book in terms of message, characterization, and theme.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'':
** Many people make fun of the Stormtroopers' full body armor, which does not seem to protect them hits by lasers or light sabers. However, no Stormtroopers are ever shown to go down when a laser blast hits a wall near them, while some unarmored rebels do. Thus, it might be shown that Stormtrooper armor does protect against shrapnel, [[Truth in Television|which is one of the main functions of real body armor in today's ballistic age]]. Stormtrooper armor also seems to resist penetration from arrows and absorb the impact of rocks on Endor [[Rock Beats Laser|(though the wearers]] ''[[Rock Beats Laser|still]]'' [[Rock Beats Laser|went down anyway]]). [[All There in the Manual|Other sources]] state the armour should still absorb most of the impact from a bolt if it fails to avoid penetration, [[Fan Wank|so clearly the reason the armour was so ineffective in the movies]] was [[Short
** The most common fan interpretation of the armor failing on Endor is that while armor can protect one from rocks and sticks, that won't matter for long when the enemy is throwing hundreds of them onto you.
** Darth Vader deflects laser shots with his armored hand, though it's never explained in the film whether this is a function of his gauntlets, Force powers, or both. The novelization states it's the gloves, but Force Deflection is a power that allows a Force-user to block blaster bolts with their bare hands.
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* [[Star Wars]] d20 had armor that really was useless, unless you were already almost dead. It provided damage reduction only when you were out of vitality points or against a critical hit, when damage went to wound points. So for most of a battle, all most armor did was provide a situation bonus to one ability and an armor check penalty to certain skills. ...yay? It also denied you your class-based AC and limited your max Dex Bonus. This could be designed to reflect the stormtrooper armor's uselessness.
** In ''[[Star Wars]]: Saga Edition'', characters gain bonuses to their Reflex Defense (the defense that keeps blaster bolts hitting you) from armor or a [[Statistically Speaking|level-based bonus]], and they don't stack. At higher levels, it's better to go into a fight naked, rather than wearing the heaviest protection you can find. However, it isn't played completely straight as the bonuses to Fortitude Defense from armor do stack and with the right talents, you can get them to stack with the Reflex Defense as well.
* One of the most notable examples in the ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' background is the standard issue flak armour of the Imperial Guard - a bulletproof, heat and shrapnel resistant uniform with potentially extra armoured-areas by our standards... that is generally useless against most of the weaponry of the other species within ''[[Warhammer 40000]]''. The [[Power Armor]] worn by the [[Space Marine]] Mascots, on the other hand, is generally an aversion. Most weapons have a better than even chance of bouncing off harmlessly, and the even more powerful Terminator Armor is protection against anything short of Heavy Anti-tank weaponry or plasma weapons, and for dealing with such weapons, [[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me|Storm Shields]] and [[Energy Shields|The built in energy shield]] of terminator armor still provide reasonable protection.
** Admitedly, the weaponry used by other species includes, but is not limited to, [[BFG|armor-piercing rocket-propelled grenades]], [[Absurdly Sharp Blade|mono-edged high-speed shurikens]], [[Abnormal Ammo|armored flesh-eating acidic worms]] or [[Energy Weapon|droplets of superheated plasma]]. And thats just what the line infantry uses. Especialists and other elites can, and often do, pack much deadlier weaponry. On the other hand, flak armor provides quite decent protection against lasbolts, bullets (even high-caliber ones) and most conventional melee weapons and its one of the best armors available to starting characters in the [[Dark Heresy|RPG]].
** Dark Eldar wyches play this trope to a tee, with a superhuman athleticism that means the less armour they wear, the more they've practised to avoid needing it (and wearing less armour allows you to be more agile). A wych who goes into battle [[Full Frontal Assault|wearing nothing]] will mess your heavily-armoured troops up badly.
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** In 4th Edition [[GURPS]]: Spaceships the rules have led to the comparison "eggshells armed with hammers".
* ''[[FATAL]]'' has such things as stabbing attacks (which hurt rather a lot even through armour) and magical armour that actively ''reduces'' your Current Armour stat. And that's not going into the armour that kills you and raises you as a zombie serial killer, armour that simply kills you, or armour that fills your crap with kitten seeds.
** Even that's not as terrible as the armor that turns you into [[Dude, Not Funny|grotesquely offensive racial stereotypes]] from countries or ethnicities that supposedly don't even exist in the setting. It ain't called "the worst RPG ever made" for nothin'.
* In '''[[Ammo]]''' almost every player character has some sort of manga-inspired power, but only a few will be even moderately defensive, or last more than a few battle turns. Armors, both passive or [[Powered Armor]], are ''required'', even against the weakest foe. Between normal unprotected humans a round kick is often lethal, and two is overkilling.
* For [[Wild Talents]] this is a [[Zig Zagging Trope]]. Armor is both hugely important and easy to circumvent, much like in real life, and attack powers with Non-Physical can ignore most armor outright. With that said, it's also possible to build armor that normal weapons and even many superpowers can't penetrate, and stacking all three types of armor (light, medium, and heavy) will make you pretty damn hard to stop.
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* Played straight in ''[[Dead or Alive]]'', with the fully power-armored [[Space Marine]] Nicole being just as vulnerable to punches and kicks as the more [[Stripperiffic|Stripperiffically]]-dressed women.
* In ''[[Drakengard]]'', there is no amount of armor you can be wearing, damaged or undamaged, that changes how much damage you take. And in cutscenes, we're shown it works the same way for [[The Evil Army]], although that's possibly because the protagonist is a [[Badass Normal]].
* The ''[[Ghosts N Goblins (Video Game)|Ghosts 'n Goblins]]''/''[[Ghosts N Goblins (Video Game)|Ghouls 'n Ghosts]]'' series has Arthur, who starts in full plate armour: however it just takes [[One
** Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins has a variety of armors, most of which can take more than one hit. The trouble happens when you ''need'' a certain armor that can take only one hit to get past a certain point (especially the Angel Armor), meaning that once you lose the armor, you're hosed. Two ways, in fact.
* In the anime-themed PC game ''[[Shogo Mobile Armor Division (Video Game)|Shogo Mobile Armor Division]]'', the enemies come in many varieties, some sporting basic uniforms, others power armor, and still others ten foot tall mini-mechas. The difference that makes in their durability is negligible: 100, 125 and 150 health points. All forms die to a single shotgun blast or a short burst from an assault rifle.
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** ''[[Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XII]]'': Subverted in the opening sequence. Some poor sap had a gaping hole in his armor, right in front of his throat. Three guesses where he was shot, and the first two don't count.
* In ''[[Black Sigil]]: Blade of the Exiled'', armor isn't entirely useless so much as Defense is. You appear to take the same damage from introductory-area enemies, even after abusing a specific shop's buy/sell mechanics to purchase hundreds of Defense Up potions and using them to max every character's Defense. It's for this very reason that it's best to equip armor based on any offense and status resistances they have, as opposed to Defense. At least ''technically'' the armor itself isn't what's useless...
* Played straight in the ''[[Rainbow Six]]'' games. Even with Level 3 armor (which includes a full-face helmet), enemies can still get off [[One
** It's more like helmets are useless. Heavy armor will completely shrug off shotguns loaded with buckshot at point blank range as well as submachineguns with JHPs at long range, as long as it doesn't hit your head, which doesn't happen very often since enemies almost always [[Boom Headshot|aim for your head]] and are often equipped with assault rifles.
** Lampshaded in the original novel, where it is noted that 7.62 rounds will still go through their armour. Of course, it takes about three missions before [[Curb Stomp Battle|anyone they go up against can even get a shot off.]]
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* In ''[[Gaia Online|zOMG]]'' your character's appearance is fully independent of your stats, to allow for total character customization. However, this also means that no matter how cool that Mythrill Armor(sic) looks on you, or how badass you look with your giant axe, you can still get killed by a flamingo if you don't have rings. The opposite is true as well.
** This is illustrated in the zOMG Manga, where a guard named Baldur is equipped with rare and expensive Mythrill Armor and an [[Katanas Are Just Better|Ancient Katana]], but is still taken out in one hit by a Buzz Saw. Conversely, Dani (Who is wearing Armor, but forgoes the chest plate) and Blaze (who isn't wearing armor at all, save for a small leather jacket) are much more effective fighters.
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed]]'', Assassinations, Hidden Blade [[Counter Attack|Counter Attacks]] and ''Brotherhood'''s new Arrow Storm and Execution moves will one-shot anyone regardless of health. Also, the Captain from ''Brotherhood'' multiplayer is a [[One
** They seem to be improving on that with the enemies, as in Revelations the Janissaries cannot be [[One Hit KO|one-hit killed]] by the hidden blade.
* ''[[Tyrian (Video Game)|Tyrian]]'': Once your ship loses its shields, its own armor is what separates you from a very explosive death. On higher difficulties, even ships with the highest armor ratings will fall apart after about a dozen hits.
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[[Category:Armor Is Useless]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
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