History GlassCannon / FanWorks

* In ''Fanfic/{{The Games We Play|TheGamerRWBY}}'', the White Tiger style offers massive boosts to offence and mobility, but no buffs to defence. It left practitioners capable of dealing lots of damage, but being no tougher than an ordinary human. This was only slightly mitigated by the later development of the White Tiger's Hide, and is exacerbated by the CastFromHitPoints nature of the style's two strongest skills. As a result, while a master of the style is [[Creator/WilliamBlake a tiger, tiger burning bright,]] he will not last the night. Jaune gets around this problem by picking up other defensive skills.

* Callista in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27736435 Zero Context: Taking Out the Trash]]'' has reality warping, speed, obscene cutting power and versatile weaponry that give her a tremendous leg up on her opposition, but anyone capable of matching her speed can easily demolish her in 2-4 hits.

[[AC:''Franchise/TeenTitans'']]

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K]]'': During the Second Battle of Axum, the Republic Navy deploys a trio of ''Mandator II''-class star dreadnaughts from Kuat Drive Yards. At [[MileLongShip eight kilometers long]], the Mandators are one of the few warships the Republic Navy has which can match the Imperium's [[UnnecessarilyLargeVessel gigantic capital ships]] in size and power. However, the Mandators are severely undergunned due to heavy armament restrictions placed on the ship's designers by the [[FictionalGenevaConventions Ruusan Reformations]]. However, the designers compensated for this by focusing on drastically improving the energy output of the Mandator's shield generators. As a result, the Mandator has extremely powerful DeflectorShields capable of withstanding a prolonged barrage from Imperial warships (every other Republic ship normally goes down after taking a [[OneHitKill single hit]] from their Imperial counterparts). At one point during the SpaceBattle, the Imperial flagship [[RammingAlwaysWorks rams]] the lead Mandator at full acceleration and fails to break through its shields.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K]]'': During the Second Battle of Axum, the Republic Navy deploys a trio of ''Mandator II''-class star dreadnaughts from Kuat Drive Yards. At [[MileLongShip eight kilometers long]], the Mandators are one of the few warships the Republic Navy has which can match the Imperium's [[UnnecessarilyLargeVessel gigantic capital ships]] in size and power. However, the Mandators are severely undergunned due to the restrictions placed on the ship designers by the [[FictionalGenevaConventions Ruusan Reformations]], which heavily limited the amount of weapons that each Mandator could have. However, the Mandator's designers compensated for this by instead focusing on drastically improving the energy output of its shield generators. As a result, the Mandator has extremely powerful DeflectorShields capable of withstanding a prolonged barrage from Imperial warships (every other Republic ship up until that point normally got destroyed after taking only a [[OneHitKill single hit]] from their Imperial counterparts). At one point during the SpaceBattle, the Imperial flagship [[RammingAlwaysWorks rams]] the lead Mandator at full acceleration and fails to break through its shields.

* Kyril's four apprentices from ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'' {{deconstruct|edTrope}} this trope [[LighterAndSofter in a nice way]]. ''On paper'', Sanakan, Hugh, Lily and Soren are [[EmpoweredBadassNormal empowered]] [[HunterOfMonsters hunters]] with both [[SuperStrength strength]] and [[SuperReflexes reflexes]] above the average sentient being. The four are more than capable of severing body parts, even killing most enemies in [[OneHitKill one hit]] thanks to their [[MixAndMatchWeapon trick weaponry]] and firearms. However, they lack armour and shields, so they are in risk of incapacitation or even death should they take damage directly. In fact, the former case does happen to three out of the four apprentices once. ''In practice'', the inability to tank hits is compensated by the emphasis of mobility (aka. dodging), with the occasional usage of stealth and support healing (aka. HP recovery). Adding to how the four are rigorously trained in the way of a typical ''VideoGame/BloodBorne'' [[PlayerCharacter player hunter]], the result is that these four hunters turn out to be ''[[OneManArmy absolute powerhouses]]'' in battle, their defence be damned, simply because they are NOT going to get hit in the first place. In other words, ''The Night Unfurls'' takes apart the negative aspect of the GlassCannon trope (the "poor defence" part), showing how this aspect, hence the trope, is not as bad as one would think.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Fractured}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]], some starships rely on their {{BFG}} destroying all opposition before it can shoot back, having only light armor. In the sequel, ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', Jack and Brick start off this way with their [[BadassTeacher teaching style]], only to realize later on how problematic the technique could be.

* ''Fanfic/MesozoicEffect'' introduces a whole class of ships that follow this rule, known as battlecruisers. Like their historical counterparts, they mount the firepower of a dreadnought on the frame of a cruiser, but stuffing in such a [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon huge spinal gun]] leaves almost no room for armor. Mass production of these ships is apparently one of the things the Treaty of Farixen was designed to prevent. The [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Pangea Alliance's]] frigates also fall into this category, as they forgo armor for [[FragileSpeedster superior engines]] and [[MacrossMissileMassacre racks upon racks]] of [[NukeEm fusion missiles.]]

* ''Literature/AesirCrossWars'': Crushadion was incredibly powerful, with attack power rivalling [[MightyGlacier Azazel]], but against Uriel, she went down in 2 hits.

%% * In ''Fanfic/QueenOfAllOni'', the old Oni rulers fit this, while the magic snake they conjured to attack Tarakudo was impressive, due to their advanced age and decaying power, he was easily able to stop it and kill them.

* The ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' comic ''Chronicles'' treats Action Masters as this, particularly the main one Banzai-Tron. The process of becoming one shuts down their transformation ability, but it also vastly increases their strength, speed, and agility by infusing them with far greater vitality -- and as Banzai-Tron was already a master of martial arts, he's able to take down a half-dozen Autobots by himself in seconds, including killing the famously doughty Ironhide. However, that increased vitality also means they feel double the level of pain, meaning that Prime is able to stun him simply by using the tires in his chest to give him a severe case of road rash, before ripping off his arm.
* ''Fanfic/TheFlashSentryChronicles'': Toxic the bay pony is a very dangerous enemy due to being a PoisonousPerson and able to damage anyone he touches with poison. But, when Flash fights through the pain of his poison long enough to hold him in place he is taken down with just one hit via a point blank blast from Flash's gear.
* The ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Forward}}'' puts an emphasis on River being one of these; she's portrayed as [[FragileSpeedster fast]] and powerful, but one good hit puts her down, which happens several times in the story.

* Midori is one in ''Fanfic/SevenDaysSurvivor'', as per WordOfGod and comments from the other characters. [[VideoGame/Persona3 Minato]] explicitly includes a dedicated healer (Either himself or Yukari) on the team when Midori is in play simply to keep her up.

* Devastator in ''Fanfic/TheMeasureOfATitan'' is practically the paragon of this. His powers are theoretically capable of splitting a planet in half, and he can use them to fight multiple high-level metahumans at once, but he is as fragile as any normal human, and heals as slowly also.
* The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' story ''Fanfic/MesozoicEffect'' introduces a whole class of ships that follow this rule, known as battlecruisers. Like their historical counterparts, they mount the firepower of a dreadnought on the frame of a cruiser, but stuffing in such a [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon huge spinal gun]] leaves almost no room for armor. Mass production of these ships is apparently one of the things the Treaty of Farixen was designed to prevent. The [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Pangea Alliance's]] frigates also fall into this category, as they forgo armor for [[FragileSpeedster superior engines]] and [[MacrossMissileMassacre racks upon racks]] of [[NukeEm fusion missiles.]]
* Harry and Luna in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13701065/3/Metagaming Metagaming?]]'' have diverse skills and are, respectively, an archmage and a high priestess whose abilities outstrip pretty much everyone who isn't a faction leader. However, they come from a world with so little magic that the two have functionally no magical resistance at all, so a Curse of Agony that would be rather painful for anyone else is more excruciating than the Cruciatus Curse to Harry. Furthermore, their artificial bodies were indestructible on Westeros but now are merely fairly durable, with Onyxia dealing significant damage to Luna's ribs and spine with a single blow.

* Jen in ''Fanfic/PrincessOfTheBlacks'' has functionally infinite magical reserves due to being able to channel the Earth's magic, only limited by how much she can channel at once. However, not having a magical core of her own makes her far more vulnerable to others magic. A spell designed to have someone instantly awake and alert sends her into an adrenaline fueled panic.
* ''Literature/AesirCrossWars'': Crushadion was incredibly powerful, with attack power rivalling [[MightyGlacier Azazel]], but against Uriel, she went down in 2 hits.
* A key issue with Ash's battle style in ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines''; Pokémon such as Squirtle can hit hard, but their unevolved state limits the amount of punishment they can take in return.
* Steve Rogers' eventual fate in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14233119/chapters/32817192 The Hell that was Given]]'' after being shot with tranq darts filled with an antidote for the Hydra SuperSerum. While Steve keeps his strength and speed, he loses the fortitude he gained and goes back to being an asthmatic with a weak heart, so using his abilities causes a near fatal asthmatic episode.
* Both Yoruichi and Tatsuki in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12913821/20/Game-and-Bleach Game and Bleach]]'' hit hard but can't take as much damage, especially Yoruichi. While Tatsuki has far higher health and comparable physical stats (barring dexterity where Yoruichi has over three times as much) each blow Yoruichi lands takes out over a third of her health, despite Yoruichi holding back ''and'' deliberately aiming for Tatsuki's armor. On the other hand, a single blow by Tatsuki takes out all of Yoruichi's health and leaves her unconscious.
** Ichigo's hollow form doesn't have the best defenses but it has a very powerful Cero. As a result, most of his fights start and end by him firing a Cero at his enemy.

* Callista in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27736435 Zero Context: Taking Out the Trash]]'' has reality warping, speed, obscene cutting power and versatile weaponry that give her a tremendous leg up on her opposition, but anyone capable of matching her speed can easily demolish her in 2-4 hits.