Weak but Skilled: Difference between revisions
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If the Weak But Skilled character is the protagonist, they will usually be an expert at [[Deadly Dodging]], a fast thinker, and generally [[Guile Hero|win through cleverness and strategy]] that [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty|uses their opponent's weaknesses]] and [[Geo Effects|the environment]] to win. If they aren't the protagonist, then they're very like a [[Mentors]], [[The Rival]], or [[The Lancer]], they'll usually start out much stronger than the hero overall but [[Can't Catch Up|won't keep up]] once the hero starts gaining skill himself in the use of his powers. They'll occasionally bail out the protagonist but force them to finish their battles, and urge them to actually train their power to stop the bad guy, whom this character can't take out because the bad guy is both strong ''and'' skilled.
[[Old Master|A character who grows old and weak]] will often become this, having decades of experience to compensate for their lack of youth. Then again, see [[Stronger with Age]]. This is a very common justification for how [[Badass Normal
Compare with [[David Versus Goliath]], [[Combat Pragmatist]], [[Difficult but Awesome]] and, metafictionally, [[Cherry Tapping]]. Contrast [[Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training]]. [[Willfully Weak]] may be invoked to bring this about. One explanation behind the power of a [[Badass Bystander]]. Despite their skill, may fall prey to [[I Don't Know Mortal Kombat]]. The rare villainous examples may fall into [[Villainous Valor]], depending on their presentation.
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**** Amuro had significantly more experience in ''Char's Counterattack'' than Char had in the original series. Char was only 20 when he faced off against Amuro for the first time. Amuro was 29 in CCA.
* A similar situation occurs in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', early in the series there are a few veterans that can completely outmatch the Gundam pilots as far as skill is concerned, and best the Gundams in one on one combat. But the Gundams are so strong they can just shrug off the attacks.
* ''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple]]'' [[Creepy Child]] Chikage Kushinada (and her teacher, Mikumo) adheres to this trope. She's a grade school girl but is shown to be at least on par with the teenage characters because she has enough skill to fight and defeat normal adults. She is noted as being a fighter of 100% skill, 0% power, rather than split between the two. What is actually meant by this is that Chikage applies no force of her own during a fight, but uses the enemy's force against them, a tactic used in multiple martial arts. While most fighters are a combination of strength and skill (strength being striking power, skill being throwing power or technique-related ability) Chikage is all
** Also Miu, as pointed out to Kenichi at the beginning of his training.
* Kenta Kobashi from ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]''. Compared to Ippo, he's a weakling, and he's got no badass knockout techniques. In fact, he's never scored a knockout in his career... and yet, Kobashi gives Ippo a run for his money by playing mind-games, making frequent use of clinches, and using a stance that allows him to easily reach with point-getting jabs, while sacrificing his ability to score heavy blows. Definitely ''not badass'', and the audience hates him, but by playing with the rules, Kobashi manages to win most of his matches. He would've beaten Ippo too, if he hadn't tried to finish him with a knockout.
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* Chrono of ''[[Lyrical Nanoha]]'', who's explicitly mentioned in the first season to be weaker in [[Power Level]] compared to Nanoha and Fate, a comparison he scoffs at, stating there's more to magic than that. He then proceeds to prove his point during the penultimate episode of the first season where he pulls a [[One-Man Army]] in [[Big Bad|Precia's]] [[Storming the Castle|Garden of Time]] while everyone else needed to charge in as a team, and again [[Comic Book Adaptation|in the manga volume set immediately before the second season]] where he effortlessly defeated an improved Fate in record time when she had to battle him for her Mage Exam.
** An even better example is Nanoha and Fate's [[Old Master]], the original Head Trainer of the [[The Federation|Time-Space Administration Bureau]]. Despite being a lowly [[Random Power Ranking|AA-ranked]] mage using standard bureau equipment, [[Comic Book Adaptation|the third season manga]] revealed that she managed to beat the [[Rank Inflation|AAA-ranked]], [[Bigger Stick]]-equipped Nanoha and Fate at the same time when they entered the TSAB training school.
** Yuuno Scrya is quite possibly the
** Shamal is in the same position as Yuuno, only she does have a powerful Device backing her up. She debateably has the most impressive record in the series at standoff combat, nearly paralyzing Nanoha from at least a half-mile away, and in every battle she's had a part in her opponents did not know she was there until attacked. Her skills with barrier, portal, and teleportation magic have endless tactical application that the series never explores, from making people run into instant magical walls at several times the speed of sound to portaling them off somewhere unpleasant. Yuuno would be capable of the same tricks if he had a copy of her Device.
*** There is the part in the final battle of ''A's'' where she locates the defense program's core and, with the help of Yuuno and Arf, teleports it to outer space, where the Arc-En-Ciel can be fired at it without destroying much of Uminari city; scrying, binding and teleportation magic succeeds where [[Wave Motion Gun
** Teana in ''StrikerS'' often worries about her own worth as a mage, noting that she has no unique skills and not that much magical power compared to the other members of Section 6. However, she eventually learns how to put her illusion magic to good use in conjunction with her sharpshooting skills, and {{spoiler|defeats three of the Numbers Cyborgs by use of perfectly timed attacks and some help from Vice}}.
*** Not to mention that she is apparently Nanoha's best student, as she is the only canon character whom Nanoha taught her signature [[Wave Motion Gun|Starlight Breaker]] spell (well, Reinforce and Subaru also used it but they merely [[Power Copying|copied Nanoha]]). There is a subtle meaning to this fact: Starlight Breaker's quirk is that it isn't powered by the caster's mana but rather, the [[Sucking-In Lines|magical energy dispersed in the environment]]. In other words, it is the ultimate achievement for a
** Veyron from ''[[Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force]]''. In the mostly [[Unskilled but Strong]] Huckebein family, he's the only one who cannot [[Super Mode|React]]. Nevertheless he can hold his own against Riot Force 6's operators and actually defeats a Reacted enemy Eclipse infectee in direct combat.
** Also in the ''Force'' manga, {{spoiler|Signum is forced to become this after her defeat by Cypha of Huckebein. Ordinarily, she's the most skilled ''and'' the second-strongest character in Riot Force 6, but all of that power doesn't mean a thing against the Eclipse powers of the Huckebein family. She's left with nothing to use against them but her mastery of the sword, which she still possesses in full measure.}}
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* ''[[Ookiku Furikabutte]]'' - [[Playing with a Trope|Invoked]] - Momome points out that although Tajima is supernaturally quick, he just doesn't have the build to be a power hitter in baseball.
* Clare from ''[[Claymore]]'', despite being in theory the weakest of all the warriors, has learned every trick and tactic there is to kill Awakened Ones. Normally, she's [[Crippling Overspecialization|cripplingly overspecialized]], but as the series progresses, Awakened Beings start coming out of the woodwork. {{spoiler|And then subverted horribly when she finally meets up with Priscilla after years of searching. Priscilla is by far the strongest character currently in the series and all the skill in the world can't put a scratch on her}}.
* Until he [[Took a Level In Badass]], Yuki of ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'' usually just let his [[:Category:Yandere|Yandere
** Said Girlfriend is the polar opposite of Yukki, but still manages to fit this trope. She is very strong and skilled, but her Diary is the weakest, only being able to predict one persons actions and her own Dead End.
* ''[[Initial D]]'' gives us Takumi and his AE86 Trueno. Although his Trueno pales in comparison to more powerful cars like the RX-7s and Skylines, his skill with the Trueno is what allows him to, to the shock of those who haven't seen him in action yet, hold his own against such more powerful cars.
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** [[Rule of Funny]] is also a factor.
** This trope probably applies to the entire [[Great Lakes Avengers]] team. They get no respect from the other superheroes, and their powers are...weird. Yet they still save the day now and then.
* Averted in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]''. Calvin once attempted to use this on Moe the school
* This is Karate Kid's (''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'') entire schtick: although he technically doesn't possess any super-powers, he can still hold his own against Superman thanks to his knowledge of every martial art in existence.
* Cassie from ''[[Hack Slash]]'' is a [[Badass Normal]] always fighting against undead monsters many times stronger than her.
* Believe it or not, [[Spider-Man]] in relation to the rest of the [[Marvel Universe]]. Sure his powers are pretty impressive to a normal person, but he's a lightweight compared to the some of the guys he normally hangs out with. However, by using his brains, all his powers, and [[Determinator|absolute refusal to give up]] he can, and often does, take down even literal [[Physical God
** Doesn't hurt that his [[Unstoppable Rage
** Most of his rogues' gallery is stronger than him, and many of them can break his webbing, so Spider-man has to outthink all of his opponents. One of his favorite tricks is to hit an enemy with a strand of web, even though said villain is physically stronger and heavier so Spider-man cannot throw him. When the enemy tries to yank Spider-man towards them, he uses the momentum to deliver a nasty kick or punch.
* Jesse Custer from ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'' is this compared to [[Unskilled but Strong|Cassidy]], and has notably kicked his ass. As Jesse puts it, "Fella taught me to fight was the same piece of shit shot my daddy dead in fronta my eyes. That'll tend to focus your concentration".
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* Karrin Murphy of ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. While not exactly physically weak, she's a [[Pint-Sized Powerhouse|tiny]] [[Badass Normal]] up against a lot of supernatural creatures who could in theory mop the floor with her. She's just an expert martial artist and marksman, [[Crazy Prepared|makes sure to remember and implement any weaknesses she learns]], and is willing and able to improvise - at one point she takes down a chlorofiend (read: plant monster) with a ''[[Chainsaw Good|chainsaw]]''.
** Anastasia Luccio, the Captain of the Wardens, is this by necessity, due to a [[Grand Theft Me|body swapping incident]] with a necromancer. Her new body just doesn't have the same magical talent her old one did, forcing her to constantly conserve her energy with her spells. That being said she can use the same fire spells as Harry as needle-thin beams of exteremely precise and intense heat and cast mass-concealing veils to hide people. Harry says that even with the decrease in power he wouldn't want to fight her.
** In ''Ghost Story'' Harry's apprentice Molly has gotten in on the
* In ''[[Ender's Game]]'', Ender Wiggin killed several larger opponents in hand-to-hand combat.
* ''[[Discworld]]'' has Cohen the Barbarian (and the rest of the Silver Horde). It says a lot about his skills that Cohen is in his eighties, has been a barbarian hero his entire life, ''and is still alive''.
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* David from [[The Bible]] ([[David Versus Goliath|in his fight against Goliath]]) is the [[Trope Codifier|quintessential]] weak but skilled character.
* [[Elric]], until he acquires Stormbringer
* Subverted in the Detective's Story in [[Dan Simmons]]' [[Hyperion]], where the protagonist notes that while
* Hrathen from ''[[Elantris]]'' is hardly ''weak'', being a [[Badass Preacher]] ''par excellence'', but he's nowhere near as physically powerful as a magically-enhanced Dakhor Monk. He's still able to hold his own against them because he's an incredibly skilled swordsman, while their power has made them arrogant and sloppy.
* In ''[[Dark Rendezvous]]'', Scout is a Jedi Padawan. The Force is weak with her; she makes up for it with determination, quick thinking, and endless training. She's got [[Heroic Resolve]] in spades and bloody-minded determination, and in a book full of concern about almost every other character maybe one day turning to the Dark Side, no one believes Scout will, not even herself, because she fights so hard to be the best Jedi she can be. Just to drive home the point of how good she was: she survived [[The Purge]] that killed most of the full Knights and Masters of the Jedi order. In her non-Dark Rendezvous appearance the author had other Jedi look down on her for having weak powers, but it only takes one line to see that that author was just not doing the research.
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* Ben Linus from [[Lost]] hardly looks dangerous, but he is fully capable of taking you down. He managed to destroy two Middle Eastern guys on horseback and armed with machine guns using only a telescoping baton and the element of surprise as weapons. There there's the fact that he's also a [[Chessmaster]] and a [[Magnificent Bastard]] and can play [[Gambit Roulette]] like few others...
* The [[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]] is a 50 year old bucket which was being turned into a museum when the Cylons hit, having been rendered obsolete by newer battlestars. Yet, thanks to its Commander, (eventually) hardened pilots and a [[True Companions]] mentality, they were able to survive the holocaust and the four years of ordeal. There is a reason why many fans believed ''Galactica'' could take out ''Pegasus'' despite the former being heavily outgunned by the latter.
* A curious example of this pops up in the form of [[Robot Girl|Cameron]] in ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]''. While she's [[Cute Bruiser|far from the weakest member]] of the main cast, she's still much physically weaker than other machines, being very small and lightweight. In a straight slugging match, she tends to lose. However, Cameron is intelligent and adaptable, making use of her surroundings, [[Improvised Weapon
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* The player deliberately invokes this in any [[Low-Level Run]].
* In the first ''[[Half Life]]'' game, the player character Gordon Freeman is a scientist who theoretically isn't cut out for the kind of mayhem caused by the resonance cascade. He has to make do without any firearms at first, and, given a skilled player controlling him, could be said to either take a quick, practical [[Took a Level In Badass|level in badass]] or just discover that he's naturally skilled as a fighter.
* Metafictionally speaking, in games with [[Character Level|leveling systems]], early-to-middling bosses (particularly [[Wake Up Call Boss|difficult]] [[Early Bird Boss|ones]]) are
** Also metafictionally speaking, in many games that allow you to create your own character class (like [[The Elder Scrolls]] or [[Fallout]]), you can choose to sacrifice actual strength and endurance for having, amongst other things, high agility or intelligence, creating a character who [[Glass Cannon|could easily be killed if the enemy can get to him, but the enemy never lives long enough to try.]] Especially if the game has a [[One Stat to Rule Them All]] that isn't strength or endurance.
* You, in ''[[Mabinogi (video game)|Mabinogi]]'': A good player with half-decent skill ranks can annihilate mighty bosses while taking only [[Scratch Damage]], while an incompetent player with mighty stats will be [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb-stomped]] in short order.
* The vast majority of [[Boss Battle
* Pretty much any top down/[[Bullet Hell]] [[Shoot'Em Up]] such as ''[[Ikaruga]]'' or ''[[Beat Hazard]]'' requires that the player be this.
* You, in ''[[Nethack]].'' Your only hope of survival is good tactics, but with proper preparation you can survive the wrath of a GOD.
** [[Roguelike
* You, in ''[[Deus Ex]]''. Even when you get the laser sword, super speed and inhuman damage soaking. You'll still get taken down by most enemies if you don't think carefully.
* In ''[[Okami]]'', Waka fights Amaterasu twice, and though he loses he urges her to get stronger. It's clear that he's far stronger than Ammy through most of the game's beginning and middle because he {{spoiler|shows up to help in the very final fight, and manages to block a full strength blast from Yami long enough to deliver a [[Final Speech]]. It helps he's been awake and active for 100 years while Amaterasu was weakened [[Sealed Good in a Can]], but he's still just a mortal and survives fighting gods.}}
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* Increased efficiency is sort of the point of martial arts.
* The Gracie family used this principle to win several of the early UFC and other NHB tournaments despite being generally smaller, lighter and weaker than many of their muscular powerhouse opponents through proper application of techniques with which the other fighters were unfamiliar, and in fact Royce Gracie was chosen to represent the family in the early UFC for this reason (as opposed to a larger relative). When the rest of the world became familiar with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu the advantage disappeared.
** Roger Gracie both subverts and plays this trope straight; while he is renowned for his skill and technique, some observers and opponents believe that his physical
* The martial arts are full of stories of elderly, weak or physically slight people defeating larger, stronger opponents. Though they are often exaggerated many of these stories are substantively true.
* Just don't go around thinking those people can knock out bulls while they are too weak to tip over a glass of water. They don't have to be stronger than their opponent in order to defeat them, but certainly strong enough. Also if you ever get your hands on a tai-chi stone ball, a ten-foot pole or a bagua saber, you'll understand that those people are certainly NOT weak in the arm.
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* Also applies to 'hard' martial arts like boxing, karate and so on, despite what one might think. Timing, endurance and footwork are arguably more important than sheer physical strength in these arts, and a strike to the jaw is generally a knockout even without exceptional force behind it.
** Boxer Paulie Malignaggi has excellent handspeed, good skills, and a decent chin, but can't crack an egg with his punches and suffers from hand problems. He has 27 professional wins, but only five of them have been by knockout.
** [[Randy Couture]], former UFC Heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, became famous again in a comeback win where he defeated current Heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia, who outweighed him by about
*** His wrestling is a large part of why Couture is still competitive at 47 years old in a sport filled with 20-somethings. His particular striking style (save for in the Sylvia fight) relies on "dirty boxing," using his greco roman wrestling skills to control opponents in the clinch while freeing one arm or the other to strike with. This allows him to stifle the movement of faster, more explosive strikers with his grappling skill, and throw submission artists off their game by throwing power punches in a range of combat where hand strikes are usually less dangerous. Couture makes up for the limitations of speed and chin due to his age by bridging the gap between striking and clinch grappling with his skill in both areas.
** However, not having a strong enough punch can be a serious problem in boxing unless you're supremely skilled and masterful in technique, like a Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather, Pernell Whitaker, or the great Willie Pep. Otherwise, you simply don't have the power to keep guys off of you, who'll otherwise walk through your punches. Against a guy that, stylistically, Malignaggi would have had a distinct advantage over in Ricky Hatton, Malignaggi was dominated.
* This applies in non-fighting sports as well. For example, heavyweight and lightweight rowers on crew teams have fundamentally different rowing styles. The heavyweights rely more on power, while the lightweights focus more on technique and row at a higher rate of strokes per minute. Individual rowers within boats in both classes also fall into this, depending on where they're sitting. Rowers at either end of the boat are responsible for turning and pacing and tend not to be as strong as the rowers in the middle seats, who are the main power.
** A demonstration of this is frequently used for taking strong but inexperienced rowers down a few pegs. Once the 13 stone block of muscle has been beaten in an erg race by a 9 stone guy a foot shorter than him, he soon starts to take technique seriously.
* Two words: Roger Federer. Sure he's not super thin and wiry but he's not OVERLY tall like some in tennis, nor is he massively built like other giants of the game like Nadal. He doesn't rely on massive serves, power volleys or other such tactics to
* This also applies to a lot of female tennis players like Maria Sharapova. However considering that the most successful female tennis players such as the Williams sisters, Stefi Graf, Martina Navratilova etc etc are all built like men, you have to question the validity of this.
* In warfare, it is not enough to have overwhelming power both numerically and technologically. Tactics can and have allowed smaller, weaker forces to wreak havoc on apparently superior ones. In modern war, accuracy and tactics are every bit as important as weaponry and individual strength.
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* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3353107/Mouse-bites-snake-to-death.html Mouse wins epic boss battle] against venomous snake with "barely a scratch on him".
* Wayne Gretzky. To quote the other wiki: "Gretzky's basic athletic abilities were not considered impressive. He was 6 ft (1.83 m) tall, weighing only 160 pounds (73 kg) as an 18-year-old NHL rookie in 1979, and 185 pounds (84 kg) at the end of his career in 1999. At the beginning of Gretzky's NHL career, many critics opined that Gretzky was "too small, too wiry, and too slow to be a force in the NHL". On the other hand, his intelligence and reading of the game were unrivaled, and he could consistently anticipate where the puck was going to be and execute the right move at the right time. It was said that he "seems to have eyes in the back of his head" and had a knack of "rolling with a check".
* In baseball, there are quite a few pitchers who can't throw above 85-86
* Essentially the role of aggressor pilots in the US Navy and in Top Gun, during the Cold War. Flying outdated F-5 Tigers and A-4 Skyhawks, the more experienced aggressors regularly curbstomped pilots in the Navy's newest Cool Planes: The F-14 and F/A-18.
* There's a story that circulates through the martial arts community about Bruce Lee that uses this trope. Apparently, another martial artist saw Lee in either one of his movies or at practice and thought, "I can beat him". He challenged Lee to a fight, and Lee accepted. Although the other fighter was bigger, stronger, and faster than Lee, Lee was able to defeat him handily because of his superior technique. Lee then proceeded to help the other man, showing him how he could improve his technique. This is one of the reasons why martial artists revere Lee.
** Incidentally, in another place this trope can be found in his life - a major turning point in his career came when he realized that the thirty extra pounds (from about 130
*** Not really, Lee never embraced weak but skilled, rather he [[wikipedia:Bruce Lee#Physical fitness and nutrition|built a training regime that made him ridiculously strong, while limiting the development of bulky muscle]]. If anything he was a small, slender [[Lightning Bruiser]].
* A weird example: in porn, some actresses that are not as classically beautiful and/or curvy as the perceived norm still manage to persevere in the industry by [[Refuge in Audacity|daring to do what others]] [[Squick|would not]].
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