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{{trope}}
Sometimes, [[The Hero|The Heroes]]es are faced with a seemingly insurmountable enemy. Be it a [[Mighty Glacier]] that absorbs damage like a truck or a [[Fragile Speedster]] that dodges attacks with lithe grace, some enemies are hard to defeat with standard tactics. They can generally be defeated through brute force, but it's very difficult. The smarter and much easier way to defeat such a foe is to employ clever strategy and some often unintuitive insight.
 
An [['''Outside the Box Tactic]]''' is a simple or otherwise overlooked tactic that is particularly effective against a certain monster or type of monster. It is a closely related to an [[Achilles' Heel]]; the difference being that this weakness is not the only reliable way to defeat such a foe. A foe susceptible to an Outside The Box Tactic is still vulnerable to other tactics, but is very weak to this particular strategy. It is primarily a [[Role Playing Game]] trope, but may be found in other types of games as well.
 
The most famous and common example involves the use of healing magics or other restorative items to harm the undead. Such examples should be listed under [[Revive Kills Zombie]]. If this particular application of a technique is the only place where it is effective, it may be [[Not Completely Useless]]. May be the result of a bug in the game code. If it's the only way to defeat the foe, it may also be a [[Guide Dang It]]. If it's not the only way to defeat a foe, but it requires [[Forced Level Grinding]] to defeat it otherwise, it may be commonly thought of as [[That One Boss]] or a [[Beef Gate]]. Outside-The-Box Tactics are often necessary to defeat a [[Puzzle Boss]] or the [[Final Exam Boss]]. Contrast [[Logical Weakness]], when it's immediately apparent what needs to be done.
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** Mecha Joe walkers are very vulnerable to air shooter and several [[Humongous Mecha]] are vulnerable to boomerangs.
** During the [[Boss Rush]] portion of the same game, Metal Man dies to one hit of [[Power Copying|his own weapon]].
* The ''[[Mega Man X]]'' series continues the trend of its predecessor series. While many bosses have [[Logical Weakness|Logical Weaknesses]]es, the Launch Octopus and Flame Mammoth both have one of these - the boomerang attack can cut off Octopus' tentacles and prevent him from using his homing and tornado attacks, as well as being able to cut off Mammoth's trunk so he can't throw around globs of oil he can set on fire and turn them into pillars of fire. You can also [[Cycle of Hurting|stunlock]] Spark Mandrill and Sting Chameleon.
* In ''[[Roguelike|Moria]]'' and some versions of ''[[Angband]]'', the spell "Turn Stone to Mud", normally used for digging new passages, can also be used to devastating effect against stone-based monsters such as golems.
* It's a running gag that the final boss, Dhaos, of ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]'' is susceptible to the ''Indignation'' spell. In cameo appearances in later games, he dies to one use of the spell.
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', Sebastian Shaw absorbs any kinetic energy directed at him, even a bullet, so Storm covers him in snow, which actually saps his energy, due to cold being a lack of said energy.
** Ironically, 15ish years later the X-Man Bishop -- whoseBishop—whose powers are similar to Shaw's -- would charge himself up ''by using snowfall''.
* In ''[[Invincible]]'' the main character faces a villain with powers similar to the X-Men character mentioned above; the way the main character wins is {{spoiler|continues punching the badguy until he's been overloaded with so much energy it travels through the floor vaporizing his family and emotionally crippling him}}
 
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* ''[[Exalted]]'' has a [[Functional Magic|Charm]] (Order-Affirming Blow) that undoes Shaping effects. Guess what? [[The Fair Folk]] use shaping effects to create their bodies. [[One-Hit Kill]].
 
== [[Visual Novel|Visual Novels]]s ==
* In ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]'', Saber is representative of {{spoiler|King Arthur Pendragon}}. She is vulnerable to items and spells that harm {{spoiler|dragons}} as a result.
 
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