Glass Cannon: Difference between revisions

 

 

 

In short: He can dish it out, but he can't take it. Similar to (but distinct from) the [[Fragile Speedster]], the Glass Cannon is characterized by insane attack power coupled with pathetic defensive ability.

Prevalent in [[RPG|RPGs]] and [[Fighting Game|fighting games]], as the cast needs to be big enough that "takes hits like a chump" becomes a viable character trait. In [[RPG|RPGs]], the Glass Cannon tends to be a [[Squishy Wizard]]. Artillery units in [[Real Time Strategy]] and [[Turn Based Strategy]] games also tend to have this trait, as they're meant to be far away from combat, or at least in the back of the formation.

 

 

Contrast [[Stone Wall]] who takes it but can't dish it out, as well as [[Mighty Glacier]], who can dish out and still take it like a man but at the expense of speed, and finally [[Lightning Bruiser]], who can do the same without sacrificing anything. See also: [[Competitive Balance]] and [[PVP Balanced]].

 

 

Also, hit-points vs [[You Require More Vespene Gas|resources spent]] is not factored into this trope; if the combatant deals fearsome damage, and still has a decent amount of [[Hit Points]], but is costly to balance it out, then this is more a [[Mighty Glacier]] than a [[Glass Cannon]]. The character must have relatively sub par health AND fearsome destructive capability, excluding cost factor.

 

[[I Thought It Meant|Not to be confused with]] [[Abnormal Ammo|cannons that launch glass projectiles.]]

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** Lutecia Alpine is an S-rank summoner who, in ''StrikerS'', was capable of summoning insects that rivaled Caro's powers, but had hardly any moves with which to protect herself. However, as of ''ViVid'', she appears to have developed the magical capabilities to fight alone well enough to enter the tournament alongside Vivio and her friends.

* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima (Manga)|Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' traditional style mages tend to be like this, which is why they have partners to guard them from their opponents while they prepare their big spells. The mark of the highest-level mages is that they grow tough enough to move past this and are powerful enough not to need the protection.

** Cologne has some elements of this as well. Given that she's one of the two most prominent [[Miniature Senior Citizens]] and a ''very'' [[Old Master]] (three hundred years in the anime), this might be somewhat explainable.

** Akane Tendo as well. Though she can dish out punches with the best of them, she has nowhere near the healing speed or toughness of any of the other characters; while she is too skilled to be [[The Load]] in an actual fight, she is still regarded by some as a [[Damsel Scrappy]] because she insists on getting into a fight, but somebody (mainly Ranma) usually has to keep an eye on her because she can't take the hits they can.

*** Even seen in [[Mobile Suit Gundam MSIGLOO]] during the gravity front. Zaku's are portrayed as having tremendous and devastating firepower...but one direct hit from a tiny tank or missile team can still one shot them. Fortunately it seems that even non new type mook Zeke's can [[Dodge the Bullet]].

**** [[The Empire|Fortun]][[Big Bad|ately?]]

**** I would....But anyway the Turn A gundam is supposed to be a [[Lightning Bruiser]] but it gets put through the ringer enough in its own series by mechs that are less advanced then and the cockpit is on the belt, as in hanging in the front waist of the machine, exposed, BUT it can still teleport itself and nukes into its storage via [[Nanomachines]] somehow that it still has the firepower.

* Tongpu from ''[[Cowboy Bebop (Anime)|Cowboy Bebop]]''. The guy can destroy buildings, cause explosions and throw people across rooms, but if ONE little dagger penetrates his leg...

* Lillidan Crauser of ''[[The Prince of Tennis (Manga)|The Prince of Tennis]]''. He is extremely powerful, able to curb-stomp a bloodshot Kirihara using even greater violent play than him. However, he lacks stamina and defense. Once Kirihara brought out his devil mode...

* In ''[[Hajime no Ippo (Manga)|Hajime no Ippo]]'', minor character Eleki Battery who fought Kimura is definitely one. He is able to keep up with Kimura's speed and has enough power to knock Kimura down in one blow, however, all Kimura needed to do was land one hit to his body to knock him down.

** Single player version: Jun Misugi. Excellent strategist, very dedicated, great at teamwork, marvelous scorer... and with pathetic stamina due to being an ex-[[Ill Boy]]. Hence why he's seen more often than not in manager positions and doesn't play until it's mandatory.

* Similarly, Hisashi Mitsui from ''[[Slam Dunk (Manga)|Slam Dunk]]'' is one of the best 3-point scorers in Japanese HS basketball. But around 3/4 of an intense game, he's almost completely knocked out and unable to merely ''walk'' outside the basketball fields.

* May of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' has quite a few different ranged attacks with her alkahestry, but is one of the least durable characters, partly the result of being a young girl.

* Alyssa of ''[[Mai-HiME (Anime)|Mai-HiME]]'' has the ability to cause devastation on a large scale with her Child, Artemis, but unlike other Himes, does not have an Element to protect herself, instead relying on Miyu's assistance.

** One time Batman shoved Kyle, telling him to back off; when Kyle put up his hand to use his ring, he discovered Batman had lifted it during the shove.

*** And Bats pulls the same trick on Hal in 2011's first issue of the "New 52" ''[[Justice League of America]]''.

** [[The Beatles (Music)|Goo goo ga joob.]]

* [[Zatanna]] of [[The DCU]] can kill people with a (backwards) word (not that she ever has IIRC, she is a DCU hero). She could turn them into pudding snacks with a (backwards) sentence. Only the stronger magical, divine, or cosmic beings in the DC universe can resist her powers. However, she isn't any more durable than most humans and can be taken down with a single well-placed punch. Overlaps with [[Squishy Wizard]]. In ''[[Identity Crisis]]'' it is even explicitly mentioned in the narration-bubble: She is the most powerful member of the team, ''if she can get the words out.'' Slade Wilson (Deathstroke the Terminator, who is possibly the ''only'' person for whom that name is '''not''' overkill) pokes her the stomach, so lightly that it does not even hurt that much, but once she begins to vomit from the damage to her liver she is out of the fight.

== Fan Works ==

* In ''[[An Entry With a Bang (Fanfic)|An Entry With a Bang]]!'', the marauding pirates with their ''[[Battle Tech]]''... uh, tech... are somewhat confused by the fact that while Clancy-Earth has highly effective BVR capability, their warmachines can't take hits worth a damn.

* The ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'' fanfic ''[[Forward (Fanfic)|Forward]]'' puts an emphasis on River being one of these; she's portrayed as [[Fragile Speedster|fast and powerful]] but one good hit puts her down - which happens several times in the story.

 

** Special mention to HMS ''Wayfarer'' and her sisters: converted freighters, sluggish and armored for crap, but carrying super-dreadnought-class main guns capable of carving up a battlecruiser like a roast turkey, [[The Battlestar|a complement of light-attack craft]] capable of laying down significant hurt in their own right, and, oh yeah, the first roll-out of the [[Macross Missile Massacre|Manitcoran Missile Massacre]].

* Not surprisingly the [[Lensmen]] universe plays with this one, but the vulnerable sluggers are always accompanied by copious numbers of their exact opposite - ships that are all shield and nothing else (sometimes not even a human crew). There are, however, usually large numbers of balanced ships in the same fleet.

* Coinshots in ''[[Mistborn]]'' are a kind of [[Master of One Magic|Misting]] who have only one power- the ability to telekinetically shoot metal away from their bodies. This makes them able to dish out a ''ton'' of damage, since a Coinshot with a pouch of money is basically a human machine gun, but they have no greater ability to resist damage than anyone else. Have a half-dozen Coinshots protected by about the same number of Thugs (Mistings who can increase their strength, speed, and durability to superhuman levels) though, and you've got yourself a small but very effective army.

 

** One of the newest 'Mechs in 3067, the LDT-1 ''Brigand'', used primarily by the pirates, is ''designed'' like this. Armor up front is comparable to a regular light 'Mech, the back has a total of 1/2 ton of armor.

** There are a few vehicles like this, such as the ''Hetzer'' Wheeled Assault Gun (effectively) a BFG mounted inside an armored box on a heavy truck chassis) and the tiny 5-ton ''Savannah Master'' - the fact that it was designed to take on an opponent ''four times'' its tonnage has to count for ''something.''

*** This is true even in the regular game. Most of the low-tech ''Riflemen'' have at most two tons of armor across their entire back. One of the upgrades for it in the 3050 Tech Manual was to triple the armor on the back at a bit of cost to the legs.

** The Hellbringer ([[Reporting Name|Loki]]) Omni is another fine example of a machine that will slaughter most enemies in its weight class and down if they get too close, but will crumple and burn if anything with a decent gun looks at it funny. Its configurations focus on massed long range hitting power, with things like particle cannons, Gauss rifles, and autocannons coming into play. The primary variant is a highly accurate killing machine with enough firepower on it to literally slag four tons of armor in a single salvo and even includes various equipment upgrades like ECM or anti missile defenses. At 65 tons and with only 8 tons of armor, though, it'll have an extremely bad day if a sufficiently armed 'Mech draws a bead on it. It's so light on armor that it actually can't even absorb an AC/20 shot dead center--something that more than a few 15-tons-lighter 'Mechs ''can'' do.

* There are various ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (Tabletop Game)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' cards like: Goblin Attack Force, Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei, Spear Dragon, and Mad Archfiend that have incredibly high ATK, but zero DEF and move into defense position when it is time for your opponent to strike.

* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]]'' has a few. Night Goblin Fanatics follow it the best -- they deal the same damage as a ''stone thrower'' (read, giant catapult) but are even easier to kill then a normal goblin and have a chance of killing themselves. There are, however, many others.

* ''[[Star Fleet Battles (Tabletop Game)|Star Fleet Battles]]'' has the mauler ships, which both avert this trope and play it straight at different times. Before firing, maulers are very difficult to destroy (due to how shield reinforcement works), and are as fast (if not FASTER) than other ships of similar size. After firing, they become much more fragile and sluggish as they struggle to recharge their huge battery banks for another shot.

 

 

== Video Games ==

** Subverted by the player's ship in ''[[Tyrian (Video Game)|Tyrian]]'' and ''[[Raptor Call of the Shadows]]'', though. The former has regenerating [[Deflector Shields]], while the latter is just plain [[Made of Iron]].

* Yukiko and Teddie from ''[[Persona 4]]''. Both are magic/healing specialists with a focus on respectively fire and ice. They have huge MP pools and get access to high-level fire/ice spells and Boost/Amp skills much faster than anyone (barring the main character). Both have low HP, fairly low Endurance stats, and their personas never get rid of their elemental weaknesses unlike with all the other party members. Naoto also has aspects of this, gaining the insta-kill Hama/Mudo skills, almighty spells and the attack-doubling Mind Charge spell, but is barely better than the above two in HP. Naoto is also dependent on physical skills for high damage on single targets, and physical skills are [[Cast From Hit Points]].

* The Dracosage class of ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'' has abilities that can take out entire groups from many spaces away as well as ridiculously strong magic, but has extremely low HP and defense and dies very quickly.

* The Myrmidon character class from the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series; very powerful, but dies if a heavy-duty attacker so much as looks at it funny.

** And in ''Left 4 Dead 2'', the Spitter has the second-lowest health of the Special Infected after the Boomer, but if someone's stupid/experimental enough to stand in a puddle of the goo from start to finish, will be almost downed on Normal difficulty, and being spat at during a horde is NO FUN AT ALL.

* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' mages tend to suffer from this trope, with characters like [[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Vivi Ornitier]], [[Final Fantasy X (Video Game)|Lulu]] and [[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Rydia]] all having powerful magic but suffering from low HP and weak defenses. Occasional subversions occur when the characters are much more resistant to magic attacks than they are physical hits.

** The Black Belt/Monk character from ''[[Final Fantasy I (Video Game)|Final Fantasy I]]'' has staggering attack power and speed and won't last if an enemy pokes him. The class's physical defense value is equal to their level, which means they can have the highest defense in the game. The trade-off is the fact that their magic defense is pitifully low. There's a head armor item, the Ribbon, which drastically decreases magic damage, but only has a defense value of 1. Considering the other armor the class can equip is almost equally weak in terms of preventing physical damage, and you either have him glass against physical attacks, or glass against magic.

*** Black Mages, while practically invaluable for a good portion of the game, can't equip the best armor and have pretty low HP. Summoners are sometimes in this boat as well.

*** Lightning is also an example. She has the second best Strength and ties for second best magic, and she excels in both the Ravager and Commando roles, making her an excellent damage dealer in any situation. However, she also has the second worst HP, and when you eventually unlock her Sentinel role, you'll find that she has no Guard abilities (though she does have a great evasion-based setup, thus playing into the [[Fragile Speedster]] style).

** In [[Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII-2]], the [[Randomly Drops|rare drops]] of Lightning and Amodar (Coliseum DLC) can turn Serah and Noel into one. The accessories boost Strength/Magic by 66%, but halves their HP and gives them a constant poison effect.

* May from ''[[Guilty Gear (Video Game)|Guilty Gear]]''. Although her defense is on par with most of the characters, she can dish more damage than most of the others.

** The true glass cannons are Chipp and Millia as most characters can dish insane amount of damage anyway.

** Hyper Venom in ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom]]''.

*** To an INSANE degree of glass skin. He may be a [[Lightning Bruiser]] but one good combo and almost any super combo in the game could knock this puss out of his boots.

** Zero. If he even lands a ''single'' hit on you, prepared to be trapped in a long and damaging combo, ending with a super move. On the other hand, he has one of the lowest health in the game and can be taken out with a few hard hits or combos.

** [[Magneto]] is capable of some of the best offense in the series with insane speed and mix-ups, has an incredibly useful projectile, and can deal massive damage even if you aren't willing to use any parts of your hyper meter. He barely has more bulk than Zero or Akuma, meaning that he himself can be taken out very quickly if one of his more unsafe options is countered.

* [[Pokémon|Jigglypuff]] in the ''[[Super Smash Bros (Video Game)|Super Smash Bros]].'' series, particularly with regard to her lethal Rest attack. Mr. Game & Watch from the same series is almost as light (he's a two-dimensional character resembling an old LCD display) but has some powerful hits. In ''Brawl'', Zelda has become updated to where she has downright deadly kicks and a powerful long-range attack, but is still easily tossed around.

** To add to Jigglypuff's Glass Cannon status, having her shield broken sends her flying off the top of the screen at incredible speed, resulting in an instant KO.

*** Rampardos is the trope personified. It has a massive Attack stat, one of highest in the games, but despite his good HP, his defenses are both completely terrible. It's also notable that its [[One Game for The Price of Two|version counterpart]], Bastiodon is a [[Stone Wall]].

*** Archeops has AMAZING attack, along with above-average speed and special attack. Its defenses ''seem'' decent, until you realize that once its HP dips below half, its Attack and Special Attack halve - effectively making it useless.

*** Fire-types have similar advantages and similar problems. Not as extreme as Ice, but it still doesn't take much to snuff 'em out. Ironically, the fire type has after Steel, the second most resistances of any type.

** [[The Missingno|Missingno.]] has the highest attack in ''Red and Blue'', but all of its other stats are pathetic (including having literally no Defense).

** Assassin is also very much a glass cannon. His fighting style, unlike most other servants, is entirely dependent on not being hit at all. His toughness score is an 'E', the lowest possible. On the offensive side, his signature attack breaks the laws of physics by hitting an opponent with three sword strikes from different directions at the same time.

** Caster also counts, being a [[Squishy Wizard]]. In the route she gets into most of her fights, they tend to end in her disfavour if anyone actually gets past her [[Beam Spam]] and lands a hit.

* On the whole, the Terrans are like this in ''[[Starcraft]]''. Their units can do fearsome single-shot damage, but they don't have nearly as many HP as comparable Protoss units. With the Terrans don't have many units that have more than 150 HP, while the ''very first'' (combat) unit the Protoss builds comes with 160.

** Paradoxically, their individually [[Glass Cannon]] nature makes them a very effective collective [[Stone Wall]]: nothing but ''nothing'' will survive running into a well set-up emplacement of Siege Tanks, Goliaths, and Spider Mines, but if you try to set them up too close to enemy territory they will get torn apart before they can bring their amazing power to bear.

** Charnel's are an even better fit.

* Oswald in ''[[Odin Sphere]]'' is immensely deadly in speed and strength, but has the weakest defense of all the characters. This is meant to reflect his recklessness and disregard of his own cursed life. Funnily enough, this is balanced out by his HP stats being much, ''much'' easier and faster to level than the other four protagonists, compensating easily for how much damage he takes.

* The Ronin class from ''[[Etrian Odyssey (Video Game)|Etrian Odyssey]]'' (and especially its sequel) possess incredibly high attack power, and have exclusive access to one of the strongest classes of weapon, but can equip very little in terms of armor, leaving them quite vulnerable.

** The Gunner class can also be considered a [[Glass Cannon]], except Gunners are supposed to be back-row characters anyway, which mitigates their low defense, to an extent. A more proper example, however, would be a Hexer specialized in using Revenge: so long as its HP is low, they'll be able to deal huge damage (up to 255% the amount of damage they've taken). As long as you can keep them alive, of course.

* ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' likes this one in varying quantities, due to its large cast that hits each and every gaming archetype shamelessly just so the gameplay can support 70+ characters. The worst was Cao Cao in ''Dynasty Warriors 3'', where he could get a sword that killed Mooks in one hit (and damaged stronger enemies significantly) with a death-based elemental attack on a certain special move (which in turn filled up his [[Limit Break|Musou]] gauge nearly instantly), but was extremely weak defensively, to the point where he'd die frequently even though his near constant [[Limit Break|Musou attacks]] made him invincible during their use. In ''Dynasty Warriors 4'', a special item could be applied to allow one's character to turn into the [[Glass Cannon]]: it halved defense while doubling offense.

** Also one of Mori Ranmaru's two special abilities in ''[[Samurai Warriors]] 2'' was to lower defense but raise offense, albeit this was as a command move with limited duration.

* ''[[Air Force Delta]] Strike'' has the unusual example of Jamie, whose prop fighters have slow top speed, crazy agility and are loaded with guns, rockets and unguided bombs that--coupled with score multipliers for unguided weapon kills--allow him to rack up ''insanely'' high scores on just about every mission you can use him.

* Shen Woo from ''[[The King of Fighters (Video Game)|The King of Fighters]]''. Good speed, incredible strength... and it only takes five or six hits to knock him out.

* Carriage Ballista in ''Rome: [[Total War]]'' expansion "Barbarian Invasion". Mobile artillery that can tear apart any [[Mighty Glacier]] unit but will die if an enemy as much as looks at it funny. Also prone to [[Friendly Fire]] problems.

* Zero of ''[[Mega Man X (Video Game)|Mega Man X]]'' and ''[[Mega Man Zero (Video Game)|Zero]]'' qualifies, especially compared to his fellow hunter X. He's a devastating close-range fighter, but he takes lots of damage and there's not much you can do to change that. X, on the other hand, gets tons of upgrades every game, and one of them is ''always'' an armor part that cuts the damage he takes in half. Thus Zero starts each game stronger than X but is outclassed heavily by the end. Capcom seems to like it that way, because they've twice provided secret armors for Zero that double the damage he deals ''and'' the damage he takes (Black Zero in ''X8'', Junk Armor in ''Zero 4'').

* A few examples in the ''[[Command and Conquer]]'' series:

** Artillery cannons in general. While they're powerful, have great splash damage, and sometimes possess ridiculously long range, if as so much as a rocket soldier comes near, you can pretty much kiss it goodbye. Well, it's not that bad if you can run over it.

** ''Red Alert 3'' pretty much continues the tradition; artillery units will get hammered even by weak infantry units. Most aerial units are pretty much glass cannons as well; Allied Century bombers can carpet bomb entire bases out of existence, WWII-style, Soviet Twin Blade helicopters pack a lot of firepower, especially in numbers (helps that they're somewhat inexpensive) and Japanese Rocket Angels are one of the few units that can devastate both air and ground/sea targets with equal aplomb, but all three types tend to suck in one-on-one battles against anti-air units. The only real exception to the "aerial unit = glass cannon" rule is the [[Cool Airship|Kirov airship]] which is just a pure and simple bullet-sponge.

*** ''Uprising'' added the Harbinger and [[Transforming Mecha|Giga-Fortress]] as exceptions. The Habringer was more durable then the Kirov, but faster then it and most heavy ground units, though compared to most aircraft it's still pretty slow compared to other aircraft (the thing is already considered a Gamebreaker when it isn't a Lighting Bruiser). The Giga Fortress is [[Mighty Glacier|as slow as Kirov]], but its firepower causes people also consider a Gamebreaker, even though it costs an arm and a leg.

** ''C&C Generals'' has units such as the Chinese Inferno and Nuke Cannons, the GLA Scud Launcher and Bomb Truck and (debatably) the US Humvee, that have tremendously high attack power but are in mortal danger if so much as one or two [[Redshirt Army|basic infantry]] with rifles walk up to them.

*** But as long as you stick at least one Pathfinder (sniper) in the Humvee - which can carry five infantry, with the ability to shoot from inside - enemy infantry is getting nowhere near it. Add 3 Missile Defenders, and the same goes for light vehicles.

* Agility carry heroes from the (in)famous ''[[War Craft]] 3'' map ''[[Defense of the Ancients (Video Game)|Defense of the Ancients]]'' partially fit this archetype. Their primary and damage-determining attribute, Agility, also affects attack speed, thus making them good DPS dealers. The rub comes in the tradeoff on Strength, which affects health maximum and regeneration. However, Agility under the ''WC3'' engine also affects physical damage-reducing armour, thus lessening the "glassiness" slightly.

* Kadie from ''[[Crimson Tears]]''. Highest innate attack stat of the three playable characters, and exclusive access to the two most powerful types of melee weapon. Lowest HP and Defense of the three characters, as well.

* The [http://burnout.wikia.com/wiki/Jansen_Carbon_X12 Jansen Carbon X12] in ''[[Burnout]] Paradise'': Very fast, very agile, can turn very sharply into its enemies; but very light, very weak, and very easy to wreck.

* The 2004 ''[[The Bards Tale (Video Game)|The Bards Tale]]'' game has the Vorpal Rat. Has the highest damaging attack among your summons, but it has only 1 HP.

** Saucerors outgrow this by midpoint in development and become Stone Walls, but Pastamancers' offense becomes ever more powerful without any of the defenses a Sauceror acquires.

* Stranger himself in the later parts of ''[[Oddworld]]: Stranger's Wrath'', where {{spoiler|1=after being revealed as a Steef, any upgrades he's got have been stolen by him, including health/armor. However he later gains much more powerful versions of his ammo, a charge attack to replace his headbutt and because of the fact that Moolah is no longer of use to him, he doesn't have to pull punches and keep enemies alive now.}}

* Maria, the protagonist of ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'', is a variation of this. For context, the only way to regenerate the lost [[Hit Points|vitality]] of your party members is to [[Human Resources|sacrifice the souls]] of other party members, who you get a [[Loads and Loads of Characters|long stream of]]. Since she's necessary for the story, Maria is unique in that she regenerates fully between levels. To keep the player from abusing this, she starts every battle with significantly less vitality than other characters. However, since the main character needs to be special, she can equip every weapon in the game and is ''quite'' effective in their use.

* A few ships in ''[[Free Space]]'' fall into this. Ironically, it's most apparent in the ship design of the [[Omnicidal Maniac]] Shivans, who build their ships with all the firepower in front. They have much more effective weapons, but a ship to the sides or behind will tear them apart. This is not always an exploitable weakness; destroyers like the Ravana can jump in and shred their targets in seconds, leaving it up to the reinforcements to exploit its blind spots, assuming it doesn't just leave.

** Helicopter units, which are the only air units able to attack multiple times per turn, epitomize this. Unless the defender has some interceptors or units with anti-air tracking, a few helicopters with decent weapons can rapidly trash a city's garrison and let your ground forces stroll in and take over.

* In ''[[Eternal Darkness (Video Game)|Eternal Darkness]]'', you can control Dr. Edward Roivas, Alex's grandfather and de facto narrator of the story, in one level. He has probably the lowest health in all the game. However, in his level you can acquire the [[BFG|Elephant Gun]], which can be set to fire double-barrels, and often knocks scrawny Edward flat on his ass when he fires it. But you can do massive damage to, if not outright kill a lot of enemies with even one single barrel shot with it.

* Red spirits in ''[[Eien no Aselia (Visual Novel)|Eien no Aselia]]'' fall into this role. They have a lot amount of actions per round and have poor shield skills, but do damage to all opponents at once. Pretty heavy damage, too. Orpha would be the strongest example as the beefier green spirits or Etrangers normally have at least twice the amount of health she does.

* A common ship design choice in ''[[Galactic Civilizations]] 2''. With the first expansion, the Arcean Empire's "Super Warrior" ability (which is available to custom races) allows glass cannons to absolutely maul pretty much anyone, especially other glass cannons, by vaporising them before they can shoot back.

* In ''[[Baldurs Gate]]'' ''2'' [[Big Bad]] Jon Irenicus goes down very quickly if you can remove his protection spells. Just hope you can pull it off before he tears you apart with Time Stop and Power Word spells. Contrast with the [[Made of Iron]] [[Big Bad]] of the previous game who could take plenty of hits and had insane magic resistance but is limited to powerful melee power attacks.

* The Arcane Horrors from ''[[Dragon Age (Video Game)|Dragon Age]]'' are pretty fragile, but hit ''hard'' with their magical attacks.

** Vayne in particular can be summed up nicely with the following statement, "When Vayne engages in a fight, someone is going to die in the next three seconds." Essentially, the only way to survive a fight with a late-game Vayne is to kill her first. This is a generally useful description for any [[Glass Cannon]] that cannot be escaped from, forcing a 'kill or be killed' situation that is going to be decided very quickly, as the cannon either quickly obliterates the opposition, or the glass shatters at the mildest response.

* In the upcoming ''[[South Park (Animation)|South Park]]'' RPG being made by [[Obsidian Entertainment]], this is the playstyle of the game's Jew class. Essentially, you're a [[Paladin]]/Monk character that becomes more powerful the closer to death they are. Basically, they're most powerful when they're only one point away from death.

* ''[[EYE Divine Cybermancy (Video Game)|EYE Divine Cybermancy]]'' combines this with [[Magikarp Power]] due to the several layers of [[Guide Dang It|complication]] with Polyclones. Not-so-direct copies of the Player that die in a few shots and wield lowly pistols with little use later on. They don't become CANNONS unless you develop your PSI-Force stat to higher levels , which gives them access to more decent weaponry (Like Machineguns incapable of Full-Auto), and at a remarkably high amount; will gain access to anti-tank rifles, grenade launchers, and even a Chain Gun. Your PSI-Force will also determine the amount of clones summoned, so imagine that AND the amount of upgrades they get by then. They STILL have inconsistent accuracy until you can issue a shortcut to "Order" them to "Go Hunt!" to where they will begin to become as Competent as the AI; taking cover fire, lobbing grenades, and shooting VERY accurately. And to top it off, they also share the same movement speed as the player character, so wearing lighter armor would turn them into [[Fragile Speedster|Fragile Speedsters]].

* A popular strategy (albeit a more difficult one to successfully execute) in the ''[[Armored Core (Video Game)|Armored Core]]'' series is to build an ultra-lightweight frame, load the biggest guns that you can fit within the weight limit, and equip high-power boosters to make the fastest mech possible. Defense is outright ignored statistically, but these mechs are usually so fast they can dodge most everything thrown at them. This is especially noticeable in the Armored Core 4 series, where the goal of the game was to go Mach 5 anyways.

== Webcomics ==

* Coffinshaker from ''[[What's Shakin]]'' is a fairly powerful fire mage, but without his reliance of fire, is mostly vulnerable to all other attacks. He does seem to have some bit of ''[http://whatsshakincomic.com/2011/02/14/page-24/ acrobatic skills]'' though.

* Ran in ''[[Bob and George (Webcomic)|Bob and George]]'' uses the Cossack Buster, a weapon of nightmarishly destructive proportions, easily able to cut a scar through a city. Unfortunately, Ran himself will instantly die if he is so much as ''touched''.

** Fortunately, due to being made of cheap Soviet components and a convenient teleporter, he can be brought back fairly quickly. In fact, he's pretty much [[Nigh Invulnerable]]!

* {{spoiler|Eddy's Brother}} from ''[[Ed, Edd n Eddy]]''. {{spoiler|Years of torturing small children will do you no good when you're hit by a flying door.}}

** [[Word of God]] has even gone on the record as saying {{spoiler|Eddy's Brother had been dishing ''out'' pain all his life, but hadn't had it happen the other way around too often, and thus has a very low pain threshold.}}

 

 

**** What happens if they get an airburst, dropping shrapnel on them.

** A slightly related example would be the Soviet IS-2 heavy tank from WWII. Its 122mm gun took ages to reload, but could penetrate a Panther tank - completely. One Panther was observed being hit by an IS-2 shell, with the shell ''coming out the rear of the tank'', going straight through several inches of sloped armour, and several more inches of ablative armour e.g. the crew. However, Panthers themselves, with much lighter (but still, for the era, very powerful) 75mm gun, could also penetrate IS-2 armour right back.

** One example of the light vehicles mentioned in the first paragraph: [http://www.sinodefence.com/army/artillery/type75at_105mm.asp This]. It's basically a Jeep-like vehicle with a recoilless rifle (think "bazooka") mounted on top. Or how about [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespa_150_TAP this]: a recoilless rifle mounted on, of all things, a Vespa scooter, designed for airborne operations.

*** And the more modern versions which have Jeep/Humvee/UAZ mounted anti-tank missiles like the TOW.

** Some of U-17 feminine teams in current world cup, being the match between South Korea and Nigeria (4-4 after 90 minutes, 6-5 for Korea after extra time) the maximum expression of this.

** Indeed, most teams in the 50's and before could be considered like this comparing current teams. The popularization of ''[[Combat Pragmatist|catennacio]]'' made football/soccer putting an emphasis on [[Stone Wall|defense]].

* [[Car Fu|Cars.]] Arguably better at killing people and destroying things than guns, but quickly fall apart if they hit things. Granted the things they're good at destroying and the things that destroy them if hit aren't one and the same, but since you're from Column A, it's still a good idea to look up from your smartphone before you cross the street.

* [[Big Badass Birds of Prey|Birds of prey]]. They have sharp and strong beaks and talons, capable of killing their prey in a split second... but if grounded by a broken wing or leg they are very likely to die of starvation.

[[Category:Competitive Balance]]

[[Category:Glass Cannon]]