History Main / DeathOfAThousandCuts

* During the Battle of Guandu, [[UsefulNotes/ThreeKingdomsShuWeiWu Cao Cao]] dispatched some of his best generals to launch multiple hit-and-run raids against Yuan's forces, specifically targeting their supply depots and convoys. These raids were so successful Yuan was forced to bring up more supplies and gather them at a central location at a place called Wuchao for distribution. After Cao personally led a raid on Wuchao that destroyed it, Yuan's forces imploded.

** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' has the Gold Koopeleons, which also have the highest defense in the game. They only have 10 HP, and every attack, again, only does 1 damage, with the exception of counters and First Strikes, which can do considerably more, for some reason (even killing them instantly at high enough levels). These enemies have a high speed rating, so they usually move first at normal levels when you first reach them, and they have a high chance of running from battle. However, they drop the most coins of any enemy in the game (80 in most versions and 100 in the American version), which can be doubled, or even TRIPLED with a certain badge. They usually appear in groups of two or three, and if only two appear it is possible to run from the battle and re-engage them, and three might be present! A multi-hitting Bros. Item such as a Red Shell can defeat all three of them in one turn (in the hands of a skilled player); hence it is highly recommended to come back and defeat these creatures once the player's speed rating is high enough to always move first - the rewards are very worthwhile. Using the aforementioned coin-tripling badge, this is easily the fastest way of earning money in the game.

** In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', there is one room near the end of each Pit of 100 Trials that is filled with Goombas. This appears to be a breather, except that these are Headbonk Goombas, meaning that they'll jump and headbutt Mario as soon as they spot him. The Goombas are very weak, but their endless attack can KO Mario in seconds. In the Flipside Pit, they can be picked out by their irregular color, but in the Flopside Pit, they look the same as any other Goomba.

*** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_strategy The Fabian Strategy]], named after [[{{Cincinattus}} Roman dictator Fabius]], was the UrExample of this trope. As UsefulNotes/HannibalBarca's forces were too mighty to face in open warfare, Fabius opted for hit-and-run tactics where Roman forces were never exposed for reprisal while whittling away at Hannibal's forces.

** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair'', it's possible to kill [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Menace]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmZsXlqy9Oc with paper airplanes]].

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' [[DiscussedTrope references this trope]] when Negi's inferiority complex causes him to imagine various gaps between himself and, in this case, a small cat. Because a single cat has a mere 0.5 in power to his 500, he reasons that at least [[http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7037/1001catsrk2.png 1001 cats working together would easily overpower him.]]
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''

* ''[[Tabletopgame/YuGiOh Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''

* In ''Comicbook/StrangersInParadise'', the mob boss Veronica captures a journalist investigating the links between her organization, government and big business, ties him up, and kills him by cutting off "one finger at a time, one limb at a time", then leaving him to bleed. For this atrocity (and for trying to kill her sister Katchoo), Tambi [[PayEvilUntoEvil pays Veronica back in kind]].

* In the ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries'' Patamon manages to destroy a wild Clyclonemon by using a barrage of hundreds and hundreds of ''Wing Slaps''
* In the TabletopGame/BattleTech fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4639786/1/Fragmentation Fragmentation]]'', this was a doctrine Executive Outcomes was pushing for Periphery states. One 'Mech can be expensive. One Pike battletank, carrying three long ranged but very weak autocannons is cheap. A 'Mech's price worth of Pikes, on the other hand, could very quickly devour you at ranges your expensive 'Mech couldn't retaliate at. [[ZergRush A half company of Pikes for]] [[OhCrap every 'Mech you bring on the field...]]

* In ''FanFic/WishCarefully'', Harry's defeat of the Death Eaters plays out like this on a long-term and society-wide scale. The Death Eaters and Voldemort wanted to rule Wizarding England without having to deal with any muggles, squibs, muggleborns or blood traitors ever again, so Harry and his allies surrender control of the country to them while the Light Supporters [[StartMyOwn create their own seperate society]]. The Death Eaters then realize over time that [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor getting exactly what they wanted]] has [[PyrrhicVillainy utterly screwed them over]]. First off, [[FascistButInefficient their economy is completely ruined]] because most of the middle and working classes (aka, the people who ran businesses, produced complex goods, and provided skilled services that kept society's wheels running smoothly) were primarily made up of muggleborns and Light Supporters who left in the Light's exile. Trying to bring muggle money into Wizarding England won't work either, as the contract Harry and his allies created has a stipulation that forbids any contact between the Death Eaters and the muggles and the punishment for breaking the rule [[BroughtDownToNormal is the witch or wizard losing their magic]]. Meanwhile, years of pureblood inbreeding has caused future generations to become magically and intellectually weaker and the population is slowly dying off, and no one wants to immigrate to England (even {{mail order bride}}s won't be given to them), further exacerbating these aforementioned problems. Not to mention they are trapped under [[TheCaligula Voldemort's]] rule, who himself has only become even more unhinged and crueler, with no way to leave. Lucius Malfoy even calls Harry's plan [[GuileHero "Slytherin-like"]] and believes Dumbledore would've been horrified by this.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''

* ''Series/BabylonFive''

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': This is the standard tactic of the Imperial Guard to bring down something big when tanks aren't around: point many, many lasguns at the target, and it will eventually go down. Largely due to the fact that 1/6 of 120 still means roughly 20 hits, whereas usually you only need one to kill.

* ''Videogame/StarRuler'': With enough guns and ships, you can take out planets and stars. Yes, swarms of very small ships with railguns can blow up a star. It will take a long time, but it's possible.
* ''Videogame/BattleForWesnoth'' suffers from this at times to time. For example the Undead faction has a unit called Walking corpse, which the main purpose is this trope.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy:''

*** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', Cactaur appears as a [[DownloadableContent DLC]] Summon with '1,000 Needles!' as it's only summon ability and '10,000 Needles?' as it's [[LimitBreak ultimate]] [[LastDitchMove attack]].

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''

** This is in general the case with the pistol weapons in the entire series, with the possible exception of [[Videogame/RatchetAndClank2002 the Blaster]], due to how damage system worked in that game. They all have ammo capacity in hundreds of shots, but single shot rarely kills anything than the weakest anklebiters (if even that). This rarely changes even when Mega-upgrades become available.

* Blue Eco weapons in ''Videogame/JakAndDaxter'' series. They have lower damage than Yellow Eco weapons per shot but their rate of fire allows them to defeat enemies quickly. This is especially true for Needle Laser in ''Videogame/Jak3Wastelander'', where one tiny laser doesn't do much, but an entire barrage of them is another matter. Too bad it eats ammo like there's no tomorrow.

* {{Implied}} in ''Videogame/DeadlyRoomsOfDeath'' in which the Stalwart Captain nearly sentences Beethro to "die the death of a thousand stabs." This is superfluous of course, since almost everything in the game is a OneHitPointWonder.

* This is evident even in fighting games such as ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2'', where certain characters can '''spam''' multiple-hitting special attacks repeatedly. Even if the attacks are blocked, they still inflict minor damage. After enough attacks, you may find yourself in a position to be [[CherryTapping cherry tapped]]. Most likely you will lose from '''cheese''' (death from block damage in ''StreetFighter'' is evidenced by a cheese-wedge icon), as your opponent revs up a [[LimitBreak Super Combo]], because ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill.

* The early UsefulNotes/PlayStation game ''LoneSoldier'' has the eponymous beefslab soldier being able to destroy tanks, walls, armoured bunkers and the like with the default infinite ammo-laden Uzi. By spending several minutes firing at anything destructible in the game (and making it flash to make the player aware of it's status of being hurt) a torrent of 9mm bullets could make buildings not only be destroyed, but destroyed ''in a giant plume of flame''.

*** A literal example can be performed with Zero in the fourth, fifth, and sixth games in the series. The first hit of his basic [[LaserBlade Z-Saber]] combo, while weak, doesn't cause MercyInvincibility against most of the bosses and can be canceled with a dash then immediately performed again. The amount of hits you can land in the span of a second is practically limited only by how quickly you can alternate the attack and dash buttons (A fact that predictably gets abused to a hilarious degree in tool-assisted [[{{Speedrun}} speedruns]]).

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: VideoGame/DawnOfWar'', the armour types system means that most basic infantry are not supposed to scratch the toughest armour types. In practice, however, ScratchDamage still occurs. Nevertheless, fans have made mods that indeed make buildings impervious to small arms.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}} [[VideoGame/{{Fallout1}} 1]]'', ''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout2}} 2]]'' and ''Tactics'', final attack damage is calculated first by subtracting any Damage Threshold offered by a character's armor from the attacker's rolled damage, then subtracting from any leftover damage the character's Damage Resistance, a percentile: for example, PoweredArmor in the first game had 12/40 protection against normal damage, making the sniper rifle the only weapon guaranteed to cause damage outside of critical hits. Bethesda's ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' eliminates DT and only uses DR for armor, meaning that even the toughest hombre wearing heavy-duty powered armor can still be stabbed to death with a kitchen knife.

** Both of the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fighters do this as well. Making this even more annoying in the first fighter is the fact that certain moves explicitly cannot kill a blocking opponent even if that block is incorrect and the blocker is guard crushed.

* VideoGame/DwarfFortress gives us the nightmarish player character, MEATGOD. Meatgod was a player who wore adamant armor, and carried a little bronze hammer. Because Meatgod liked to get to know his enemies as he slowly beat his enemies to death with a dinky little hammer, he became legendary for his horrible actions (there's a MEATGOD achievement on the forums, for killing a megabeast with a no quality weapon). He once took on seven giants over a period of several days. The first couple of days, the giants would go at him, and he'd pound them until they collapsed from exhaustion. Then he'd leave and come back the next day. After a couple of days, they started running away at the sight of him. A couple days after that, they couldn't run anymore, due to having broken legs. On the last day, they didn't even try to struggle anymore, either due to exhaustion, blood loss, and painful injuries, or perhaps just that after several days of slow and torturous beatings, they welcomed death with open arms.

* This is one of the core mechanics of ''Franchise/{{MassEffect}}''. Shields, which many, if not most enemies have at least a bit of, reduces each pellet of damage by a set procentage. This makes weapons like Sniper Rifles and Heavy Pistol less efficient against Shields, but fast-shooting weapons generally just ignore this percentage through volume of fire.

* VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss: If you dare to fight the Unicerous on Unknown Mode, your party will have this effect, even the ones who can use the kind of magic that the Unicerous is weak to (Dark). Jade is unquestionably the worst, doing one damage since most of his special attacks are wind-based and the Unicerous is immune to Wind and Light. It's not impossible, and it IS possible to do more damage, provided you're at a much, much higher level.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

* In ''{{VideoGame/Fairune}}'' this seems to be what the protagonist, Hope Girl, does to (most of) her enemies.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Similarly, most people who are DrivenToSuicide are done so by this - it's not a singular large event that pushes them to the brink, but the accumulation of smaller ones that they can't cope with, to the point that it feels as though there's no hope whatsoever. On the flipside, as [[https://www.cracked.com/blog/8-tiny-things-that-stopped-suicides/ this]] ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' article points out, this also means that all it takes to start demolishing that wall is a small act of kindness.

Compare TheLastStraw. See also ZergRush, GradualGrinder, and CherryTapping. 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. A subtrope of QuantityVsQuality.

* In ''FanFic/WishCarefully'', Harry's defeat of the Death Eaters happened on a long-term and society-wide scale. The Death Eaters and Voldemort wanted to rule Wizarding England without dealing with any muggles, squibs, muggleborns or any blood traitors. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor They got what]] [[PyrrhicVillainy they wanted]]. [[FascistButInefficient But their economy is completely ruined]] because most of the middle and working class (producers of complex goods and skilled service workers who kept things running smoothly) left in the Light's exile. Meanwhile, years of pureblood inbreeding has caused future generations to become magically and intellectually weaker and the population is slowly dying off, and no one wants to immigrate to England (even {{mail order bride}}s won't be given to them). Not to mention they are trapped under [[TheCaligula Voldemort's]] rule, who himself has only become even more unhinged and crueler, with no way to leave. Lucius Malfoy even calls Harry's plan [[GuileHero "Slytherin-like"]] and believes Dumbledore would've been horrified by this.

Compare TheLastStraw. See also ZergRush, GradualGrinder, and CherryTapping. Can be delivered quickly through a SpamAttack or by the members of a ZergRush. Someone who is WeakButSkilled may end up relying on this. Depending on how heavily protected the target is, MoreDakka may be involved. If it succeeds, the victim may suffer a RasputinianDeath. A subtrope of QuantityVsQuality.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27736435 Zero Context: Taking Out the Trash]]'': [[BeastMan Callista's]] Quantum Cutters takes this to its logical extreme, systematically slicing through each individual atom of a target in less time than it takes to blink, which is noted to a blatant violation of the laws of time and space. Callista's status as a FragileSpeedster and GlassCannon makes attaining the state of mind needed to use this technique iffy, however.

** GURPS 4th edition has rules for building custom abilities with PointBuildSystem and then apply enhancements/limitations to it which adjust the point costs by positive/negative percentages. This could lead to some ridiculous combinations if a very cheap ability was married to a high stack of enhancements or an expensive ability to a stack of limitations. One possible combo is to take an Innate attack ability, reduce its base damage from d6 to 1(0,25x base cost), then enhance it with Rapid Fire(RoF 300) +300% and Cosmic(always hits) +300%(from Powers book) and Cosmic(Irresistable attack) +300%. The result is basically a Machine gun from Hell which causes automatically 300 single damage hits which always hit and always penetrate armor while costing only a handful of points. An unenhanced innate attack made with same amount of points would only cause 2d6+2 damage(9 average) and still requires a to hit roll to boot.

* Impa in ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'' absolutely fills this role. It's one thing that she's the game's [[Ninja kunoichi]] with lightning-fast combos and ninja signs, because then you'd expect her to be fast and impressive; but once you fill all three symbols to generate [[DoppelgangerAttack ''eight'' clones of herself]], she can wipe out entire battlefields just spamming the standard attack combo. You don't even need to focus on breaking the weakness-gauge, enemies just ''melt'' when she's on the field.

* The Chinese "Slow slicing" method as listed in the Real life folder below, is depicted in the end of the ''wuxia'' film ''Film/PortraitInCrystal'', with Shui-jing, the DamselInDistresa, being subjected to being stripped naked and having a net made of wire mesh coating her entire body, which gets progressively tightened by her tormentors.

** In a less emphasized fashion, [[FrickinLaserBeams lasers]]: they are weak, but got long range and shield-piercing, so a ship opens fire earlier and kills gradually by strafes rather than going in for an overwhelming barrage.

** The Zendikar Rising block has added a green card called Scute Swarm, which is a 1/1 creature (unremarkable damage, easy to kill). But whenever you play a land, it will spawn a 1/1 insect. If you have 6 or more lands in play when you play a land, it will instead spawn a 1/1 ''Scute Swarm'', which can then itself spawn ''more Scute Swarms''. Unchecked, the exponential growth will overwhelm any opponent in as few as four turns[[note]]Turn 1: have 1 Scute Swarm, play a land, get 1 Scute Swarm for a total of 2. Turn 2: play a land, get 2 Scute Swarms for a total of 4. Turn 3: play a land, get 4 Scute Swarms for a total of 8. Turn 4: play a land, get 8 Scute Swarms for a total of ''sixteen''[[/note]]. Considering that you only need to pay the cost of the inital Scute Swarm before it can start multiplying, and that you can have up to 4 Scute Swarms in your deck, decks without permanent removal or board wipes will very quickly learn to fear the appearance of a small little 1/1 creature.

** The aptly-named spell card "Thousand Knives" qualifies. By having a "Dark Magician" on the field, you can target one monster your opponent controls and destroy it.
*** [[UpToEleven Taken to the next level]] with the card "Mystic Box". You choose a monster your opponent controls and one you control. You then destroy the opponent's and give them yours.

* In 2008, emerging superstar boxer Manny Pacquiao faced fading but seemingly still serviceable legend Oscar De La Hoya in a DavidVersusGoliath match. Being as De La Hoya was twice Pacquiao's size and possessed a formidable jab and left hook, it was nearly unanimous that De La Hoya would use the jab to control the bout and probably KO Pacquiao with his killer hook. Instead, Pacquiao effortlessly crushed De La Hoya, beating him repeatedly for round after round, but not being able to knock out De La Hoya due to the size difference and De La Hoya's iron jaw. During the fight, commentator Larry Merchant explicitly referenced this trope, saying that De La Hoya was suffering "Death by a thousand left hands".

* ''{{TabletopGame/Pathfinder}}'' bards have access to the spell "Dance of a Thousand Cuts", which grants them a minimum of +5 to hit, damage, armor class, and an extra attack. Given that bards have to be at 16th level to take this spell, it means they can wear their opponent down for at least a minute and a half.

** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' has the Gold Koopeleons, which also have the highest defense in the game. They only have 10 HP, and every attack, again, only does 1 damage, with the exception of counters and First Strikes, which can do considerably more, for some reason (even killing them instantly at high enough levels). These enemies have a high speed rating, so they usually move first at normal levels when you first reach them, and they have a high chance of running from battle. However, they drop the most coins of any enemy in the game (80 in the European version and 100 in the US version), which can be doubled, or even TRIPLED with a certain badge. They usually appear in groups of two or three, and if only two appear it is possible to run from the battle and re-engage them, and three might be present! A multi-hitting Bros. Item such as a Red Shell can defeat all three of them in one turn (in the hands of a skilled player); hence it is highly recommended to come back and defeat these creatures once the player's speed rating is high enough to always move first - the rewards are very worthwhile. Using the aforementioned coin-tripling badge, this is easily the fastest way of earning money in the game.

** The first game's expansion, ''HomeworldCataclysm'', has the drone frigates - ships that have no weapons themselves, but have onboard factories that quickly generate large numbers of drones. Each drone is armed but with one small gun and is practically insignificant by itself, but deadly in large numbers.