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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"Direct hit! ...[[Oh Crap|No effect]]."''|'''[[Trope Namer|Worf]]''', every second episode of ''[[Star Trek:
Much like [[The Worf Effect]], '''The Worf Barrage''' is that attack that's supposedly all-powerful, ultra-destructive, and super-awesome, but in reality only serves as the "that" in [[No One Could Survive That]], because they just ''did''.
This is the thing that proves how [[Made of Iron|resilient]] or [[Badass]] the [[Big Bad]] or [[Monster of the Week]] is. Almost always produces [[Smoke Shield|large amounts of smoke or debris]], allowing the hero to think the enemy was killed, before his [[Beehive Barrier|shielded silhouette]] starts to show through. [[Out of the Inferno|At least you]] ''[[Out of the Inferno|hope]]'' [[Out of the Inferno|it's shielded...]]
Might prompt a [[What the Hell Are You?]] moment. Compare with [[It Only Works Once]], [[So Last Season]], [[Punch
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Digimon]]'' just ''loves'' this trope. Go ahead, go and count how many times a fight against a notable bad guy includes a scene where the good Digimon launch insanely powerful attacks at them, the good guys cheer when the baddie seems to be taken down - and then the dust settles and the villain hasn't got a scratch on themselves. Que general villanous mockery and ass-kickery. This happens ''at least'' once per season, once per ''story arc'' at best.
* ''[[Naruto]]'' offers several examples, most glaringly the Primary Lotus and Eight Chakra Gates. The only time Rock Lee successfully taps into the chakra gates is when he needs to show how totally awesome Gaara is. He uses the Primary Lotus twice and tries to use it two more times (He pulled it off against Gaara, and one of the Sound Ninja who knocks him around, and attempts it on Sasuke and Kimimaro, but is stopped before he can finish it both times).
** Although it should be noted that on the rare occasions Might Guy uses these powers, he wins. Apparently the [[You Suck|problem is with Lee]], not the techniques.
** Despite the [[Superpower Lottery|Sharingan's]] literally [[Story
*** Done to a hilarious degree in the {{spoiler|Sasuke vs. Raikage}} fight, when {{spoiler|Sasuke uses Amaterasu and Susanoo, two techniques which though used by Itachi to deadly effect, ''at the same time''}}, it's overcome in ''six pages''.
**** Actually Sasuke lacked experience in using those techniques at that point of time, and still managed to force a draw with the Raikage, who is basically the strongest of the present generation of kages. In fact, the Raikage lost an arm in the fight.
**** Another case would be the one time Sasuke used Tsukuyomi, which was in his fight against Killer Bee, which didn't work on him {{spoiler|because the 8-tailed beast broke the genjustu}}.
*** [[Memetic Badass|Did you REALLY expect such child's play to stand against him?]]
** Really, [[Convection, Schmonvection|just about any Katon jutsu]]. In theory they are some of the strongest techniques around. In practice, any time they are used on anyone the person just shrugs it off without so much as a singed hair.
*** Amaterasu is a subversion of this trope despite being a fire technique. {{spoiler|Till date it has been used to burn a hole through a powerful fire resitant barrier, kill off some of the snakes that form Orochimaru's body, one shotted Nagato's unkillable dog, caused a freaking Bijuu to scream out in pain and caused Ai to lose his arm.}}
** Though Sage Mode is Jiraiya's ultimate Super Mode, and gives his ninjutsu massive power boosts, all of them were renderd useless against Nagato even when he was barely using half of his full power.
** Sasuke has consistently failed to kill ''anyone'' outright with the Chidori, a move that is said to be a one hit kill assassination technique. Seeing as Kakashi doesn't suffer from this, it's most likely the case that Sasuke's aim sucks.
*** Sasuke's aim was dead on in his fight against the {{spoiler|Raikage}}, except he lacked the power to get through the latter's [[Incredibly Lame Pun|GAR]][[Memetic Badass|mour]].
** Similarly, but on a smaller scale, nearly every time Naruto attempted the Rasengan against Kabuto, he both failed to actually deal significant injury ''and'' nearly had his heart fail due to an attack received at the same time. {{spoiler|Worse is, the second time [[Body Double|it wasn't even actually Kabuto]].}}
** {{spoiler|And the Third Raikage proved how ridiculously tough he was by [[
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'' gives us the Wind Scar. It has no trouble defeating lesser demons, but if you want to show how awesome the [[Monster of the Week]] is, that's the attack of choice to have it shrug off. It especially fulfilled this trope once it [[So Last Season|got a stronger counterpart]].
** The Wind Scar really started to look weak when Inuyasha actually got the ability to use it whenever he wanted. Since this would make things too easy, it proves useless against Naraku. Later, he gains an extra strong cutting attack, which works for a while but then Naraku and a flunky of his can block along with this rarely used move called the Backlash Wave (which was stronger then Wind Scar, but didn't get nearly as much use because involved throwing a villain's energy attack back at them). Later he gets the ability fire out diamonds, which proves useless against Moryumaru, along with everybody else' attacks. The only move he got that never got useless was the dragon scaled Tessiaga.
* [[Code Geass]] has a terrorist cell try to shoot down the [[Airborne Aircraft Carrier|Avalon]] with SAMs. At first, this trope appears to have been averted, when the Avalon re-appears on the radar thanks to its Blaze Luminous energy shields.
* ''[[Hellsing]]'': This is Alucard's primary battle strategy in reverse. He goads the enemy into unleashing [[More Dakka]], then complains about how none of his enemies ever seem to survive the same. He begs them to survive his attacks.
* ''[[
** A better example from DBZ was the [[Beam Spam]] employed at least once per battle. Naturally, this never did anything more than create a lot of dust. Also, everything done in battle by literally ''everyone'' that isn't Goku qualifies, the exception being Gohan's [[Day in The Limelight|showdown with Cell.]] Krillin's [[Diagonal Cut|Destructo Disk]], Vegeta's [[Wave Motion Gun|Final Flash]], Piccolo's [[Beam Spam|Hellzone Grenade]] and Tien's [[Cast
*** The trope is actually subverted by the Destructo Disk. It's the only attack in the series that is completely unblockable. Nappa assumes that it's going to be a Worf Barrage (just like all the other attacks that had been tried on him up till then - Nappa was the king of this trope) and doesn't even try to dodge. It turns out that if it had hit him, he probably would have been sliced in half. Krillin also managed to chop off part of Frieza's tail with it, which up until then was the only damage anyone had ever managed.
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' was initially shocked that her Moon Tiara Action didn't work against Jadeite. This was plausible. However, when the ''Mystical Silver Crystal'' keeps deciding that it's not going to be all-powerful today for the next four seasons, one would think that she would have another back-up plan ready. Then again, she is [[The Ditz]].
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** The Ra Tilt spell seems to fall into this same problem. The Ra Tilt is the most powerful spell in Shamanistic magic and is supposed to be comparable to the Dragon Slave but on a single-target basis. However, especially during ''[[Slayers]] NEXT'', any number of powerful monsters and villains shrug off Ra Tilts like they're nothing, to the point where the viewer starts to question if the Ra Tilt is really all that powerful.
*** This suspicion is essentially confirmed in ''[[Slayers]] REVOLUTION'' where the Ra Tilt seems to have been reduced in difficulty of casting and potency to the level of the many other perpetually ineffective spells the cast tossed around before Lina decides to get serious {{spoiler|and then fail anyway}}.
* Inverted in ''[[
** Her power is fire. Fire. Phoenix. Do we really have to spell it out? Look closely at the scene; Mai gets reconstituted from a floating disc of flame, after apparently recreating Kagutsuchi in an upgraded form.
* In ''[[Saint Seiya]]'', the signature moves of the saints usually won't prove effective against the powerful monster of the week.
{{quote|"How could he resist my Pegasus Ryuusei Ken?"|Seiya, against every opponent he fights with.}}
* In ''[[Mai-Otome Zwei]]'', neither Mai's ultra-cool attack capable of destroying hundreds of Slaves at once (prominently shown in the opening credits since episode 16 of the original show) nor Arika's "Bolt from the Blue" work on the very first monster that threatens
** In the last episode, Arika and {{spoiler|Nina}} have to combine their attacks to take down the main villain within the window in which its [[Healing Factor]] is disabled.
* The entire heroic cast of ''[[Bleach]]'' suffer from this in spades. Chad, as [[The Big Guy]], has it happen regularly, but that's not even the worst of it. Ichigo, the ''main character'', has a tendency to have his new big power fail spectacularly on its first usage; his continued success and survival hinges on [[Heroic Resolve]] (and being [[Left for Dead]]). Even Ichigo's [[Super
** Uryu's special moves often fail, like when Mayuri escapes from his [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]] by stabbing himself and turning himself into a liquid (although he still won because Mayuri couldn't attack him anymore), when Szyael and a filler member of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] survive Sprenger, and when he uses a seemingly very powerful rain of arrows called "Lichtregen" on Ulquiorra, to no effect.
** Soi Fon's bankai is well on it's way to becoming this. Despite billed as a one hit insta-kill, it has (so far) failed everytime to eliminate the target.
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*** Best nothing, it's [[When All You Have Is a Hammer|his only attack]].
*** And his Bankai, which was supposedly "compacted" to give him supreme speed and a more penetrating sword, instead of a huge effect, was easily outpaced by Grimmjow in their ''first fight together''. Grimmjow even tells Ichigo that he's disappointed that his bankai only gives him a "meager increase in speed".
** After extended training with Urahara to increase his power, Chad takes out countless mooks before meeting Kyoraku, who effortlessly knocks away his attacks. Chad then has an episode-long flashback, an internal monologue detailing his motives, [[Theme Music Power
** In ''[[Bleach]]'', most of the more powerful Hollows are capable using an attack called Cero, which is basically an energy beam [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|of doom]]. Although characters always treat it like the most powerful attack that can possibly be used, only the absolute strongest, such as the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Espada]] can do more than property damage with it, and only one character has ever actually been killed by one.
*** Though (in the anime at least) the Cero usually fails either because the target dodges or manages to counter it with some equally powerful attack (often another Cero). Those hit full on by a Cero from someone who isn't a mook tend to come out of it badly (though, this being Bleach, [[Dead to Begin With|no one ever dies]]).
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** See also pretty much every time Asuka attacks an Angel without immediate support, especially in "Both of You, Dance Like You Want To Win".
* The super-awesome fleet-destroying gravity-based [[Wave Motion Gun]] in ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' pretty much stops working on anything worthwhile around episode 6, apparently just to increase dramatic tension. They eventually get a new one, but ethical considerations (and an instance of sabotage) prevent them from using it on anything more than swarms of robots. If the enemies send out manned vehicles, it's time to send out the [[Humongous Mecha]]
* Also see the various [[Beam Spam
** Point-blank is his specialty. He actually managed to finish off {{spoiler|Adiane}} that way.
*** Point-blank is still his specialty when "point-blank" is measured in thousands of lightyears. Never mind, though; they eventually resort to using probability manipulation so his missing becomes literally impossible.
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* Inverted in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', where Nanoha effortlessly shrugs off one of her enemies huge attacks at least once per season, with accompanying [[Smoke Shield]] or [[Out of the Inferno]] effect. Two straight usages can be found in the second season though, where a [[Mysterious Protector]] and an [[Implacable Man]] each take one of Nanoha's newly introduced [[Wave Motion Gun|Busters]] and appear out of the [[Smoke Shield]] without any visible damage.
** Dieci's cannon shots are another example, as they're supposedly S-rank in power, but Nanoha blocks one while protecting the helicopter and shoots through another to defeat Dieci. It's also implied that {{spoiler|Vivio}} could survive a hit without any effort at all.
* A textbook example occurs in the second last episode of ''[[Zoids: New Century Zero]]''. The Berserk Fury [[Smoke Shield|survives]] a Worf Barrage from not just one but three [[Wave Motion Gun|charged particle cannons]] ''simultaneously'' with its [[Beehive Barrier|E-shield]], and then proceeds to effortlessly blow away the three [[So Last Season|Geno Saurers]] responsibe with a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|charged particle beam of its own]].
* In episode 42 of ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'', Autozam's battleship ''NSX'' attempts to drive off [[Wutai|Fahren's]] [[Attack of the 50
* ''[[The Big O
* In ''[[Ranma
** But Ranma uses a variation of the move to eventually defeat Herb, and in later arcs he still can use it to some
* Setsuna's Artifact in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. To sum things up for those not in the know, Artifacts in ''Negima'' are items of great power given to a mage's partner, and seeing one get pulled out is always a cause of alarm for everyone. Now, let's analyze the times Setsuna's artifact, [[Flechette Storm|a set of flying knives]], was used in battle. She attempted to use it to trap the Mahora Festival [[Story Arc]] [[Big Bad]]... and failed since the [[Big Bad]] could teleport. She used them to block the attacks of a senior Shinmeiryuu Swordswoman... whereupon they shattered. She used them to attack Fate... and failed to do any damage. {{spoiler|[[All Your Powers Combined|Negi]]}} used them to threaten Jack Rakan... who simply grabbed them with his teeth and spat them away to the side. Hopefully, she'll have better luck {{spoiler|with the new artifact she got from her second Pactio Partner, Konoka}} in Chapter 252.
** Note that while for most other characters, their Artifact is their superpower (That is, they're [[Muggles]] without it), Setsuna has [[Implausible Fencing Powers]] and can kick ass without the need of her Artifact. Why she didn't then get a support Artifact like Kaede, who is on the same boat, is the real question here.
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** That's actually incorrect. Hiei had a very obvious advantage over Zeru once he whipped out [[Technicolor Fire|hellfire]]. Zeru was nearly [[Oh Crap|pissing his pants]]when he noticed how outmatched he was. Everyone else Hiei used it on, they were either on his level, or stronger. Hiei intended Bui to send the dragon back at him so he could absorb it's power. And Hiei had no chance against Sensui or Mukuro from the very start of things.
* Are you a goalkeeper in ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]''? And was your name revealed to the audience? You'll suffer this ''constantly'', honey, you're done.
* ''[[
* The Worf Barrage of the ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' universe would have to be Aoshi's ''Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren''. Supposedly the [[Limit Break|Ougi]] of his fighting style, and practically unblockable, it only connects with three things in the series: {{spoiler|Okina, ''a bookshelf, and a tree''. Kenshin counters it, Shishio counters it, ''Wu Heishin's [[Elite Mook]]'', of all people, counters it, and Okina... well, I got nothing.}} Kenshin's own ''Kuzu Ryu Sen'' may count as well, since nearly all his opponents are either fast enough to block it (which is also supposed to be nearly impossible) or tough enough to [[
* ''[[One Piece]]''. Despite being the fandom's favorite attack, Luffy's [[Rapid
** Zoro's Shishi Sonson, a technique supposedly capable of cutting steel that enables him to defeat Mr. 1 in one hit, fails to make any impact on Kuma, {{spoiler|presumably because he is a Cyborg}}. This trope is lampshaded in the battle with Mihawk, as Johnny and Yosaku note that Mihawk is the first one to block Zoro's sword techniques, and with a knife at that.
* In ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', {{spoiler|Homura brings a truly epic level of firepower to bear in the final battle against Walpurgis Night -- [[More Dakka|dozens of AT-4 and RPG-7 rocket launchers, a battery of L-16 mortars, a battery of Type 88 Surface to Ship Missiles, lots and lots of land mines]], [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|an exploding semi-truck, and even a Goddamn BATTLESHIP]]. But in spite of all of Homura's furious effort, nothing in her extensive arsenal is successful in doing a thing to the massively powerful witch, and it turns out that magic is the only thing that will stop her}}.
* Played for laughes in ''[[Outlaw Star]]''. Occasionally Gene would use various increasingly powerful weapons, culminating in Gene whipping out a ''bazooka''. Of course, the blast doesn't work, leaving Gene (and sometimes Jim), with their [[Jaw Drop|jaws dropped]].
* Following [[Captain Tsubasa]], ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' is even moreso at using this trope, especially the third season, where special shots and blocks rarely work past 4-5 times without geting evolved or replaced with another and more destructive skill.
== Comic Books ==
* During the "Death of Superman" storyline, at one point the entire Justice League hits Doomsday with their combined powers ([[
▲* During the "Death of Superman" storyline, at one point the entire Justice League hits Doomsday with their combined powers ([[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]] with his heat vision, [[Booster Gold]] with his hand blasts, Fire and Ice with their flame and ice blasts, etc.), and when they're all finally drained and stop and the smoke clears, we see that the total amount of damage Doomsday endured was distributed entirely throughout his restrictive suit, which was now unrestricting him. He hadn't even been knocked down.
** In a later story, [[Darkseid]] blasted Doomsday with a "full power" Omega beam. It knocked him back and caused a mountain to fall on him. Doomsday simply pushed it off of him, stood up, and KO'd Darkseid with a single punch.
* Blackbolt from [[The Inhumans]] has two [[Finishing Move|special moves]]. The first is [[Make Me Wanna Shout|his voice]] which is normally treated with a great deal of respect which has allowed him take down foes like the [[Hulk]] and even killed an alternate reality version of [[X
* The Saint of Killers from ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'' shrugs off pretty much everything without even flinching, up to and including {{spoiler|a nuclear warhead}}.
== Film ==
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** Also happens in its cinematic ancestor, the George Pal ''War of the Worlds''. Early on, the USAF drops an atom bomb on the invaders (from a [[Rule of Cool|B-49 Flying Wing]]!), but they turn out to be protected by a [[Force Field]].
* The end of ''[[Cloverfield]]'' (arguably, this happens ''twice'').
** [[Word of God]] subverts this. Eventually it actually ''did'' die from all the bombs.
* The [
** Except for making him angry. In the manga, keeping it from being fired again is a bit of a plot point just because of that, and {{spoiler|eventually it manages to piss him off enough that he goes and knocks it out of the sky...before he goes [[One
* ''[[Mars Attacks!]]!'' has the desperate US military launching a nuclear missile against the Martian ships. Once the nuke detonates, a probe absorbs the mushroom cloud of helium, which is brought back to the Martian leader and inhaled to produce funny helium voices.
* In ''[[The Karate Kid]] Part II'' Daniel's ultimate attack, The Crane Kick, which had been described in the first film as being impossible to defend against, {{spoiler|is quickly and easily reversed about halfway through the film}}, requiring Daniel to learn an entirely new super unbeatable technique. The third film breaks the trend by not even mentioning his new super-move.
** He never had one in <s>the third</s> this movie you speak of. Instead, they built up the use of kata as a strength builder for the basics and focus instead of fancy moves, only to use it as a distraction so the [[The Dragon]] would be taken out in one move, itself facilitated by technical merits.
* Godzilla movies, whenever you see the regular army set up a bunch of tanks, artillery, and lasers, the most they ever do to the giant monster, usually Godzilla, is make it angry. There was one case in where a special armor piercing missile actually appeared to damage Godzilla, but he just instantly healed from it.
** It's a plot point in (some) Godzilla movies that he aggressively moves ''towards'' whatever is attacking him... thus the human weapons are at least good for leading him around.
* Humorously done in ''[[Iron Man (
** The implication isn't "inept" so much as "[[Treacherous Advisor|untrustworthy supplier]] lies his ass off marketing the thing".
* In ''[[The Iron Giant]]'', a squad of jet fighters seemingly {{spoiler|destroyed [[Humongous Mecha|the robot]]}}, only for the U.S. Army to find out that {{spoiler|he's still alive and mourning over the seemingly-dead Hogarth}}. Of course, the paranoid Mansley still orders them to attack, but [[You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry|do you really think that's a good idea?]]
{{quote|
Kent Mansley: "Then SHOOT AT HIM!!"
Oops... }}
* Pepper spray is often treated as a [[Worf Barrage]]. It is used by an otherwise defenceless (usually female) characters, and it invariably fails to make the [[The Dragon
** [[The Dragon]] in ''Under Siege 2'' hilariously takes the pepper spray and uses it as a breath mint.
== Literature ==
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* In the Max Brooks novel [[World War Z]], the American military stages a battle against the massive zombie infestation of Yonkers, New York. With the media watching, the military unleashes an overwhelming barrage of missiles, rockets, and artillery at the approaching zombie horde, only to see the largely unscathed tide of undead slouch through the smoke. {{spoiler|The unprepared ground forces are totally overwhelmed, leading to a catastrophic defeat and the western retreat of the U.S government.}}
* In ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', we are told that Zeus' Master Bolt makes hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers. However, {{spoiler|the only time we see it in action is against [[Eldritch Abomination|Typhon]], who just shrugs it off}}
* Occurs twice ''[[
== Live-Action TV ==
* Speaking of Worf, the deflector dish weapon from ''[[Star Trek:
** Justified: {{spoiler|it would have worked if the Borg hadn't assimilated Captain Picard - by the time the Enterprise caught up with them, they'd had more than enough time to develop a counter.}}
*** There was also a rather good example in the [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|DS9]] episode ''Valiant'': the titular ship finds the weak point of the enormous Jem'hadar battleship and fires at the said weak spot. The battleship blows up spectacularly. And then it turns out that it's still there and in perfectly good shape. Cue [[Curb Stomp Battle]].
*** Of course, Jake Sisko ''did'' tell them it was a bad idea.
* Common in ''[[Super Sentai]]'' (where ''[[Power Rangers]]'' gets its footage from). If the team uses the team finisher early on in fight, the [[Humongous Mecha]] pulls out its weapon or finishing attack early in a fight, chances are that it will have no effect. Works for the heroes as well, usually with their giant robots getting attacked. They'll ignore physical moves, do the [[Barehanded Blade Block]] against melee weapons, and ranged attacks result in explosions around the robot (which, in this series, indicates that the attack didn't work, not [[A
** ''[[Power Rangers]]'' has a major example: ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'' and the Turbine Laser. It never, ever, ever works. Usually the power of a character or weapon is ''inflated'' when it's introduced, but the Turbine Laser actually leaves ''the first [[Monster of the Week]] it was used against'' unharmed.
** In ''[[Power Rangers SPD]],'' there's one attack that binds the monster (with superstrong ''crime scene tape.'') When [[Cloudcuckoolander|Bridge]] believes that a villain is actually innocent, he has them use that instead of normal attacks, and Syd even says "That ''never'' works!" (It works this first time - its first onscreen use - and once more. But it is typically easily broken by the target afterward.)
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** Then there's the naquadriah-enhance gatebusting nuke, the most powerful WMD in earth's arsenal at the time, which didn't do a thing to remove the Ori beachhead.
*** Of course, {{spoiler|the Ori wanted them to nuke the beachhead, because that was the only way it could get enough energy to expand.}} So, justified.
== Newspaper Comics ==
* In [[Calvin and Hobbes]], Calvin's "Spaceman Spiff" daydreams almost always involve finding out the "monster" is invulnerable to his "death ray blaster" or "zorcher" (same actual gun.)
** One particularly memorable sequence had him firing a laundry list of weapons at an attacking fleet, none of which have any effect. The last panel shows him in class giving a bunch of wild guesses to a question he was asked.
== Professional Wrestling ==
* Also applies to the Superstars, when another superstar puts their "unbeatable" finishing move (which always ended the match on ALL prior occasions), on the ''top'' superstar (i.e. The Undertaker, Hulk Hogan or The Ultimate Warrior etc.). The audience is led to expect that the top superstar is
** Although Warrior subverted it somewhat by getting out of the way, rather than taking it. He'd later take the trope to the most extreme example, eating FIVE of Macho Man [[Randy Savage]]'s lethal top rope elbows, then surviving to pummel Savage into retirement.
*** But not before Savage himself would do the same to Warrior, kicking out of Warrior's drop splash finisher. Really, the match itself is a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].
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* The probability that [[Christian]] will so much as ''pull off'' a successful Killswitch during a given match is inversely proportional to the importance and impact of said match.
* [[Randy Orton]]'s [[Five Moves of Doom]] have hit a streak where they'll usually fail or be interrupted after the third or fourth step. Either the fourth step, a hanging DDT will get reversed, or the final step, the RKO, will be escaped. That part is subverted, as when Orton wins, it's almost exclusively from an RKO, so the RKO fails that time, but succeeds later.
== Tabletop Games ==
* In [[Dungeons
** In all editions before fourth and in Pathfinder, spells such as Fireball fell into this trope against powerful enemies. First, the enemies usually had strong saves. Second, many such powerful enemies had magical counters, immunities, and spell or magical resistances. Third, such enemies usually had enough [[Made of Iron|health]] that [[Critical Existence Failure]] did not set in until you ground out a lot of damage. Finally, in prior editions, [[Useless Useful Spell]] was definitely not in effect, and [[Hit Point|HP]] damage was often a terrible way to disable a single enemy. By fourth, most spells and effects (and [[Badass Normal|martial powers]], and so on) fall into this trope. Most powerful enemies can only really be defeated by a long slog of hit point attrition. Fandom is [[Broken Base|completely divided]] about that.
* [[Warhammer 40
** Some cases are simply a matter of the target being too heavily armoured. An anti-tank Krak Missile will reliably paste anything that isn't big enough to logically withstand the hit (giant monsters and such), but throw it at somebody wearing Terminator armour (or equivalent), and they'll walk away unharmed almost 85% of the time.
** Invulnerable saves (personal forcefields, etc) are even worse, since even attacks that plow straight through any and all armour will simply bounce off of them. Anybody with an Iron Halo can take a shot square in the face from weaponry specifically designed to vapourize tanks/city blocks/cities/mountain ranges (yes, 40K has all of those and more...), and have a guaranteed 50/50 chance of survival.
** But even 40K has to play it straight sometimes. The recently introduced "Vortex" weapon class is nothing short of a crackling, seething portal STRAIGHT TO HELL. Its rules expressly state that it doesn't care about your equipment, your special rules, or even the building you're hiding behind. If it touches a model, THAT MODEL DIES. HORRIBLY. END OF STORY. Oh, and it destroys any scenery pieces it touches, too - even the battlefield itself isn't safe!
*** Except when you hit a Garguntan Creature or Super Heavy Vehicle with Vortex Weapons, then, if you're lucky, will only cause ONE point of wound/Structure Point loss. Yes, a weapon which can literally vaporise ANYTHING will still not guarantee a straight kill of, say, Titans.
* Averted (in a way) in [[Exalted]], where everyone and their aunt has access to Perfect Defences, which is exactly what it sounds like. Ultimately, this has the effect of rendering any and all "ultimate attacks" virtually useless, due to the cost efficiency of perfect defences versus decent attack combos. That fifty-mote Titan-killing punch you just delivered? He blocked it with a toothpick for four motes. That storm of ten thousand arrows converging on his soul at the speed of light? He just dodged it for three motes. That mile-wide beam fired from the Titan Directional Fortress, which just incinerated the local mountain range? He shrugged it off for ''two'' motes.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[
** Archer's Broken Caladbolg from the 'Unlimited Blade Works' route as well. Reduces an entire graveyard to a smoking pile of rubble and forces the protagonists to run for cover, but when the smoke clears it is shown that it couldn't even dent [[The Berserker]]. Then again, the fact that [[The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort|Berserker deigned to defend against it at all]] shows that it was not an attack to be trifled with.
* The one battle in which you control General Leo against Kefka in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' also doubles as a [[Worf Barrage]]. Similarly, the battle on the floating island witnessed between the Emperor and Kefka, the Emperor's Esper-powered Merton/Meltdown serves as a [[Worf Barrage]] by having Kefka shrug off the most damaging spell in the game.
** It's not that he shrugs it off, at least not in the English version. Instead, he's standing in a magic null zone. But then, Kefka is significantly less cool in the original Japanese version anyway.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'', Tellah's use of Meteor (the most powerful spell in the game) against Golbez is used both as a Worf Barrage and a [[Senseless Sacrifice]]. If anything, at least it forces Golbez to back off and {{spoiler|temporarily}} breaks his hold on Kain's mind.
** At the start of the final battle, FuSoYa and {{spoiler|Golbez}} use a combined Meteor attack on Zemus to defeat him. Then Zemus comes back as Zeromus and their Meteor attacks prove useless.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', GF Odin appears periodically throughout the game if acquired, instantly killing any opponents in the current fight. {{spoiler|During a showdown with Seifer towards the middle of the game, Odin shows up and tries the instakill attack, only to be himself killed by the latest incarnation of Squall's training rival}}.
* At the start of ''[[Paper Mario (
* Subversion: The [[Arm Cannon|X-buster]] upgrade from the first [[Mega Man X]] game allows X to charge his shots to a higher level, and the attack itself is a triple helix barrage of shots. On bosses, this does no extra damage, although it does allow to hurt the final boss with the buster. Justified since the first part of the blast triggers the [[Mercy Invincibility]] of the boss, letting them soak up the rest of the attack. In the remake of the game, this part returns, but the shot is redesigned to just three spiraling shots. In addition, you can put off getting the normal version for [[Infinity
* The trailer for the new [[Mechwarrior]] game has one of these when the POV character scores a direct hit on an Atlas, sending the massive enemy mech staggering for a moment...
{{quote|
* Eternal Sailor Moon's final attack in ''[[Sailor Moon: Another Story]]'' has this going for it. The attack animation is a good ten seconds long and involves multiple explosions, a death beam, and a screen white-out complete with a collapsing barrier animation... and usually does about one to two damage against the final boss. Even Sailor Mercury, who has more in common with a concrete pillbox than a tank, will average 5 damage plus 10% target accuracy loss with her ''basic attack''.
* The [[Star Trek Online]] mmo mirrors this trope perfectly when encountering certain opponents. A single top rank player in the best ship and most powerful weapons can utterly unleash an initial barrage on a Dominion dreadnought or a Borg cube and barely scratch the shields. It takes a barrage from a small fleet, or sustained barrages over a long period to take such targets down. And those targets hit back a lot harder than the player does.
* Late into ''[[Crysis (
* The beginning of ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'' has Nero delivering this to Dante, which serves as the tutorial. This being [[Made of Diamond|Dante]], he's [[
* Given the extremely high possible levels and cinematic attacks, [[Disgaea]] allows Worf Barrages up to the point of a ten [[Colony Drop]] combo doing [[Scratch Damage]].
* ''[[Bayonetta]]'' has the titular character [[Summon Bigger Fish|summoning demons]] to perform [[No Kill Like Overkill|incredibly brutal]] [[Finishing Move|finishing moves]] on all of the bosses. [[The Dragon]]? {{spoiler|Kills the demons she summons. ''[[Oh Crap|All of them]]''}}.
== Web Comics ==
* In the ''[[
* Played straight, dust and all, in ''[[Kid Radd]]''.
* In ''[[
== Web Original ==
* As a tribute to ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', ''[[Super Mario Bros Z]]'' hasn't shied away from this trope. The Bowser battle featured a full-on [[Kamehame Hadoken]]-worthy Fireball attack from Mario that didn't even make a scratch on Metal Bowser. And during the early stages of the Mecha Sonic battle on Yoshi's Island, Axem Red decides to try out his "secret weapon," a [[BFG]] that unleashes a [[Wave Motion Gun]]-worthy blast that turns out not to have worked on him, just before the [[Big Bad]] lays into him with an Akuma-style Raging Demon and a [[Kamehame Hadoken]] of his own to finish him.
* In ''The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon'', the Ginosaji shrugs off its hapless victim's increasingly outlandish attempts to destroy it, culminating in the detonation of a huge bank of buried TNT.
== Western Animation ==
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*** Until Ratchet decides to unlock their military mode in season 3 (why he didn't do it before is another story) and suddenly Bumblebee's stingers are more powerful then anyone else's weapon, the only weapon of the entire team capable of ''scratching'' Omega Supreme!
* While Ulrich's [[Doppleganger Attack|Triplicata]] isn't specifically the Ultimate attack (after all, who need a ultimate attack in a show where most enemies can be killed in one shot as long as you hit them in the weak point ?), and was actually quite weak in season 1, but in season 2, it had become incredibly powerful, once allowing him to take down a whole army of monster of his own. In season 4, however, he used it only once against [[Sixth Ranger Traitor|William]]. William immediatly finds which Ulrich is the real one and devirtualizes him instantly, ending the move in a few seconds.
== Real Life ==
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** Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson discuss why this happened at great length, and their book "The Somme" is recommended reading.
* The Toyota Hilux that was, in an episode of ''[[Top Gear]]'', placed on top of a 20-something story building, which was then demolished, is arguably a unique example of this trope. Big clouds of dust and debris spring up, slowly clearing to reveal the truck, which is then lifted from its landing on top of the rubble, refueled, and driven away.
** [[Made of Iron|Let's not forget that before the building demolition, that same truck had survived being rammed into other buildings/walls/trees;]] [[Super Not
** Suffice it to say that the truck is [[Made of Iron|Made Of
* The last day of the Battle of Gettysburg was an unfortunate case of this. Despite general basic knowledge, Lee's plan for the infamous "Pickett's Charge" was to level ''all'' Southern artillery on the Union center, blasting apart Union infantry deposits and artillery, in order to essentially destroy the Union center ''before'' the infantry even began their assault. It was a Napoleonic tactic known as a [http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_feu_denfer_mean ''feu d'enfer'']. The cannonade was said to be so thunderous, Lincoln in Washington D.C. could feel the earth shake. The problem: Southern artillery shells were defective, causing them to constantly overshoot their targets. This was unknown to them at the time, so while the Southern artillery wrecked utter hell on the Union supply lines and main base, it all happened ''behind'' the Union center. When the charge itself took place, the advancing Confederates found themselves assaulted by artillery and an ambush, and when close enough to the Union line, constant rifle fire and canister shot. They managed to inflict 1,500 casualties at the cost of over four times their own number (all their senior officers were killed as well), and the fact that they managed to even reach the Union line exceeded at least Longstreet's expectations.
** Adding to the [[Oh Crap]] effect, the Union commander realized what Lee was trying to do, and ordered his guns to gradually stop firing to give the impression that they'd been hit. Then, when the charge started...
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[[Category:Combat Tropes]]
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