History Main / DeathOfAThousandCuts

A SubTrope of QuantityVsQuality. Compare TheLastStraw, where the target is weakened by (possibly strong) attacks until a weak attack finishes them. See also CherryTapping, for defeating someone with a deliberately weak attack in general (whether it was used a thousand times, or only once), and UntouchableUntilTagged, when a single hit, even a weak one, allows more hits to land until the target is overwhelmed. Can be delivered quickly through a SpamAttack or by the members of a ZergRush. Expect this to be part of any WeakButSkilled arsenal. Depending on how heavily protected the target is, MoreDakka may be involved. If it succeeds, the victim may suffer a RasputinianDeath. In general, this is the only way to defeat a DamageSpongeBoss, especially if it's a MarathonBoss.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': In ''Literature/FireAndBlood'', the law in Westeros used to be that a man could hit his wife for cheating with a rod no thicker than a thumb. When one man beat his wife to death using a rod that thick (her brothers said he had hit her a hundred times), Queen Rhaenys changed the law so a man could only hit his wife six times, for each of the seven gods except the Stranger. Under that law, the first six blows had been lawful, but the remaining ninety-four had not. The woman's brothers took her husband out back and gave him ninety-four blows.

** So does Rangiku Matsumoto, whose sword can turn into a cloud of razor-sharp ash, though it's not very effective.

* Manga/{{Naruto}}'s [[spoiler:Rasenshuriken]] attack does this also quite literally, cutting and killing [[spoiler:Kakuzu]] with so many cuts that Kakashi's Sharingan couldn't count them all (it counts really fast). If [[spoiler:Kakuzu]] wasn't [[MadeOfDiamond highly durable]], [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill nothing would have been left]] of him (like it's later shown with another foe). You could define [[spoiler:Rasenshuriken]] as "death of a thousand cuts ''all at once''".
** To clarify just how many tiny cuts we're talking here, the attack sliced up ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill every cell in the target's body individually.]]''

** And let's not forget the actual card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74202 Death of A Thousand Stings]], which drains away just the tiniest bit of life but can potentially be reused infinitely.

** There is a card called "Solar Flare Dragon" that inflicts 500 damage to your opponent every turn. With even 1 out, you can often, if protected, chip away at their Life Points. Plus, if there are two, they protect each other. And the damage stacks. Unless your opponent pulls some Monster Removal within eight turns, they lose.
*** There are other cards works similarly, for example, the normal Spell card "Magical Blast". It inflicts 200 damage to your opponent for each face-up Spellcaster-Type monster you control, and the scary part is, unlike most normal Spell cards, it is reusable - it can add itself back to your hand each turn. There's also the continuous Trap card "Skull Invitation" - each time one or more card(s) is sent to the Graveyard, the owner of those card(s) takes 300 damage. The real issue here is that the damage is inflicted ''for each card sent''. In a deck focusing on milling opponent's deck away, it is easy to make this into a serious thing.
** The Yata-Lock works like this. Your opponent has no cards in his hand or on the field, attack with Yata-Garasu, deal 200 damage and your opponent can't draw, meaning they can't do anything, repeat. This continues for about 10 turns or until your opponent surrenders. [[GameBreaker It's very effective]], to the point that the card was banned solely for this.
*** Similar to this is the soon-to-be-banned card "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis". On its own, it wasn't so bad (just 800 damage when it is destroyed, then revives itself by banishing another Plant-Type monster in the Graveyard), but once you have a ton of Plants in your Graveyard, and when combined with "Topologic Bomber Dragon", whose mandatory effect destroys everything its Link Marker points to, a loop is created where "Amaryllis" would keep reviving and destroying itself (and thus keeps inflicting 800 damage), turning it into a One-Turn Kill or even a ''FIRST''-Turn Kill machine, depending on your deck and cards in your hand.

* Also invoked by Hopper in ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife''. As he explains, the reason they keep the ants in check despite having already enough food isn't simply because they need them to collect the food, but also becuase, if they end up realizing they're numerically superior and let them rebel, their way of life would be over. He also illustrates this by hitting some of his henchmen with grain [[BadBoss and eventually burying them with it]].

* In Creator/MichaelMoorcock's ''Literature/TheElricSaga'', the hero is confronted with an unkillable Big Bad. The sentient [[EvilWeapon dark sword Stormbringer]] recognises his need and summons the help of a ''million'' multiversal manifestations of itself. All the alternate selves of Stormbringer lay into the Big Bad and subject it to this death.
** Elsewhere, Elric finally catches up with his nemesis Yyrkoon, who grovels and begs for a quick clean death. Elric grins and then lets Stormbringer take his soul - over a protracted period, a tiny little bit at a time...

-->'''Garibaldi:''' These PPG's don't do much more than sting it. Prowls around hurt for a while and comes back stronger.\\

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has a feature called hardness, where if something does not defeat hardness it doesn't affect the character (hardness is normally abysmally low, but it prevents things like rocks). On the other hand, if an attack overcomes hardness, it does at least your Essence rating in damage, even if the enemy's soak would otherwise negate it.
** Nerfed in the 2.5 errata down to just one die of ping damage, two or three if wielding an Overwhelming weapon, as part of the lethality revision. Given how quickly wound penalties set in and start causing a downward spiral, nibbling foes to death one to three damage dice at a time is still fairly viable post-2.5th edition errata. It's not much fond of regeneration and martial artists caring deeply about their enemies[[labelnote:Huh?]]the form/stance charm of Victorious Concession Style, AKA Compassion Style since of the four virtue styles it's the one focused on Compassion, reduces ping damage (among other effects) and is notably the only ping damage reducer that can actually allow for a total NoSell of this trope by way of not having the usual "minimum one" clause of most ping damage reduction options[[/labelnote]], though.

*** The Orks also possess a cannon fodder unit, the Gretchin (also called a "Grot"). The weakest unit in the entire game by far, they die extremely quickly and deal very little damage. However, they're also the cheapest unit in the game, and despite their overwhelming inferiority, they can often be used as efficient meatshields, or even in huge numbers to overwhelm infantry.

A SubTrope of QuantityVsQuality. Compare TheLastStraw, where the target is weakened by (possibly strong) attacks until a weak attack finishes them. See also CherryTapping, for defeating someone with a deliberately weak attack in general (whether it was used a thousand times, or only once). Can be delivered quickly through a SpamAttack or by the members of a ZergRush. Expect this to be part of any WeakButSkilled arsenal. Depending on how heavily protected the target is, MoreDakka may be involved. If it succeeds, the victim may suffer a RasputinianDeath. In general, this is the only way to defeat a DamageSpongeBoss, especially if it's a MarathonBoss.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' often uses these tactics when up against stronger, slower opponents. His first fight against the Rhino back in the '60s was probably the earliest example.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': This is Xellos' favorite combat tactic. Dodge his enemy's big attacks with his inherent agility and TeleportSpam while delivering a withering barrage of tiny spikes, over and over and over.

** Byakuya Kuchiki's attacks use this quite literally. So does Rangiku Matsumoto, whose sword can turn into a cloud of razor-sharp ash, though it's not very effective.

* This is how [[spoiler:the fleet of ''California''-class ships defeat the USS ''Aledo'']] in the season 3 finale of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks''. By themselves, [[spoiler:the ''California''-class is no match for the much more advanced ''Aledo'']]. ''31'' of them altogether? [[spoiler:The ''Aledo'' melts under phaser fire]].