History Main / DoNotDropYourWeapon

[[folder:RPGs]]

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', one of the biggest incentives to kill an enemy can be for their weapon, which can be picked up and equipped as if it were one of your own, if the class you're playing as can equip that weapon.
** The Spy's alternate cloak watch, the Dead Ringer, will spawn an extra weapon to make the illusion seem real, but picking it up restores no ammo (which is a telltale sign of the Dead Ringer any competent player should watch for).

* ''VideoGame/UndercoverCops'' featured enemy grunts who wielded [[GrievousBottleyHarm broken bottles]], [[KnifeNut knives]], [[AnAxeToGrind short handled battle axes]], [[TorchesAndPitchforks torches]], and [[BatterUp baseball bats]]. Upon killing them, they do not drop their weapons.

* Played straight and averted in the first ''VideoGame/FinalFight'', depending on the enemy. [[KnifeNut Hollywoods and El Gados]] will drop their knives upon knockdown (and happily pull out another one when they get up), and Sodom will drop one of his two katanas at a time (or both of them after a full grab combo), to pick them up later. On the other hand, Edi E., Rolento and Belger never drop their weapons.

* Starting from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', it became possible to disarm enemies, forcing them to switch to their sidearm or knife. This is particular notable in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', where you can finally take their weapons upon knocking them out.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' and onward: Shooting an enemy's hand will cause him to drop his weapon. As long as he's not a boss. Or you.
* In at least ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', when you tranquilize an enemy with a rifle, they drop it when they pass out. If you then take it from him, he'll pull out a pistol when he wakes up. If you repeat the process, he'll just get up and continue to run his designated patrol ''completely unarmed''.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' has something similar, but with enemy soldiers having a backup melee weapon as well. Snake can also use CQC to disarm them and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard use it against them]].

This is a common trope in video games with enemies that use weapons, especially in gun-based {{FPS}} games. Of course, it also applies to the player character, where this is almost always the case. This is generally an [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Acceptable Break From Reality]] (especially in the case of the player, where dropping your weapon could be very irritating), yet some games take it to a truly ludicrous degree: Enemies have a variety of long-winded pain animations that appear to be leading to death (even falling over), yet the true way to tell that they are [[FinalDeath really dead]] is when their weapon finally leaves their hands. This applies even if the enemy is rendered [[StandardStatusEffects unconscious]] in anyway other than NonLethalKO, they won't let go!

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' averts this. You can disarm enemies, and your opponents can disarm you, too. And averted a second time in that dead enemies may keep a firm grip on their weapon even after being killed. Skeletons can even be ''blasted apart'' and their severed hand will still be tightly gripping their weapon! You can still take it from them by looting their corpse, however.
* Also averted in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''. The Disarm perk in the Block skill tree allows you to bash weapons out of an enemy's hands. The "Disarm" Dragon Shout does the same thing -- which is bad news for you when you face higher-level Draugr that can use that Shout. After being killed, enemies usually lose their grip on their weapons. You can still loot the corpses to get the weapons, but you can also just pick up the weapon itself.
** Less logical is that an enemy will drop his or her weapon even if you killed them before they could draw it, like when killing them from stealth. It's as if the magnet holding their bow/greatsword/warhammer to their back died with them.

** Much like in ''The Wind Waker'', enemies in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' can drop their weapons without being killed, leading them to find a new one or throw rocks (or fellow monsters in the case of the Moblins). Played straight with the [[DemonicSpiders Lynels]], who absolutely will not drop their weapons until they are killed.

* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'' and ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' subvert this; the weapons can fall out of sight when they die, but you can find ammo for that weapon on their bodies. This trope is also averted in ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'', where you can use (temporary plasmids?) nostrums to kick your enemy's ass [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with his own gun]]. On the other hand, if you see a body still holding onto their gun they're just PlayingPossum.

* ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' - [[{{Ronin}} Hatsu]] claims to have never dropped his sword, that he held it ever since it was a little boy. The moment he does let go of his sword is to use his hand to pin down an extremely strong enemy in an attempted HeroicSacrifice.

* Used in the ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' series in various ways. Most commonly, weapons will disappear completely, replaced by a pack that corresponds to that player's chosen class. (''VideoGame/Battlefield2142'' waits a few seconds before dropping kits to prevent ragdolls from straying too far away, resulting in players that can't be revived.) Items can't be mix-and-matched between kits.
* The ''VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany 2'' entry changed it up so that you have to pick up weapons the kit. Arguably, the kit was much easier to get since they would always be easily spotted and didn't fall around when it was dropped.

* Played straight and Averted in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series: Held in the original ''Call of Duty'', with an interesting addition: a helmet coming off also signified death. Deliberately subverted in ''Call of Duty 2'', where the same animations could occur despite the enemy not yet being completely dead. In the case of dropped weapons, the enemy in question will pull out a pistol for a last salvo, or crawl toward his fallen weapon. ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' and ''Call of Duty: World at War'' would have dying enemies pull a pistol or or ready a grenade. The latter is harder to tell since they will look dead until you hear a "tink" sound and the grenade indicator appears. Every multiplayer since ''Call of Duty 4'' has the "Last Stand" perk which would allow "killed" players to draw a pistol and fight until they are hit again or bleed out. Oddly enough they don't drop their main gun when they enter "Last stand". And finally (for now) ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'' has the deathstreak "Final Stand" that allows you full access to your weapons and should you survive long enough you get up with full health.

** Interestingly, the laser pointer found on the SMG will shut off if the enemy carrying it dies. IIRC the flashlight does the same thing.
*** "Oops, I'm almost dead. Better turn off my flashlight first. can't go wasting batteries, you know."
*** It's pretty common for tactical lights and laser sights to be configurable with pressure switches... Though if that's what's going on here, why the player can't make use of this feature is a bit of a mystery.
* Averted in the ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Dark Forces]]'' series, at least ''Jedi Outcast'' and ''Jedi Academy'': one of the easiest Force tricks you can do is yank your foes' weapons out of their hands with Force Pull. Some enemies, particularly fellow Force users, resist or block this and could even do the same to you with a strike.

** There were a handful of other circumstances under which foes would drop their weapons and rather sensibly just run away.

* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Allied Assault'', it is possible to knock down an enemy and make them drop their rifle. They will go crawling after it, trying to get up.

* Enemies hit by thrown weapons in ''VideoGame/{{Superhot}}'' will twitch and let go of their weapon at the same time, sending it flying through the air. Which means a perfectly viable course of action when confronted with an enemy and an empty magazie is to throw your gun at them, snatch their gun from the air, and shoot them with it (and, thanks to the game's BulletTime mechanics, easier than it sounds).

* In ''Franchise/FireEmblem'', certain enemies will drop their weapons (or other cool prizes) when defeated. However, in the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Tellius games]], if the object is not equipped, you can have a thief walk up to the enemy unit and use the "Steal" option.

* In ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'', you can non-lethally disarm enemies by BlastingItOutOfTheirHands.

* In ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheEmperorsTomb'', knocking an enemy down with punches or a powerful enough gunshot will knock their weapon out of their hands. They can also do the same to you, and you can even lose Indy's [[CoolHat fedora]]. This means that the end every fight can potentially be a CrowningMomentOfAwesome as you stand over the enemy's body and put your hat back on smoothly.

** Also averted in earlier ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' titles, though weapons were only dropped after a CriticalFailure, which is quite rare without the Jinxed trait, which causes a 50/50 chance that there will be critical failures for '''everyone''' including ''you''. While having 10 Luck makes Jinxed effect everyone else, the Pariah Dog drops your Luck down to 1 (giving another reason why people hate the mutt).
* Averted ''and'' played straight in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': depending on the physics involved when you kill an enemy, they may drop their weapon (particularly if BlownAcrossTheRoom), or they may still be clutching it when they die. The latter is pretty rare. However, though you can take advantage of the AI to make an enemy switch weapons, you can't make them drop them.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', where guns can be shot out of enemy hands either manually or by targeting them with VATS. The usual response is to whip out a sidearm and keep fighting; if they don't have one in their inventory, they'll generally instead try to run and pick their weapon back up.
** Arm-crippling seems to be useless other than dropping their weapon for some seconds. It doesn't even affect their accuracy.
** Also averted in earlier ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' titles, though weapons were only dropped after a CriticalFailure, which is quite rare without a specific trait.

* Enforced in SpecOpsTheLine and mentioned in a loading screen tip: "A dying enemy won't drop his weapon until he's dead."

** Averted in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series when it comes to items like beam swords and ray guns. If you hurt a player enough while they hold an item, they will drop it. But played straight for any character who fights with a signature weapon, such as Link, or anybody from FireEmblem.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'', certain enemies will drop their weapons (or other cool prizes) when defeated. However, in the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Tellius games]], if the object is not equipped, you can have a thief walk up to the enemy unit and use the "Steal" option.

** Averted in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series when it comes to items like beam swords and ray guns. If you hurt a player enough while they hold an item, they will drop it. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Naturally, the AI will have the items glued to their hands no matter how hard you smack them.]]

** Played completely straight in ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown''. Units no longer have the option to throw away their weapon, but a dead soldier or alien will drop their weapon. In a show of GenreSavvy, the invaders have set their weapons to self-destruct, to prevent an easy reverse-engineering process.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''. Attacking an enemy enough can sometimes cause them to drop their weapons before death, after which they will scramble for a new one or simply resort to fisticuffs. You could also pick up their dropped weapon.
** Played straight with Phantom Ganon, however.

* In extremely rare cases, human enemies in ''{{VideoGame/Stalker}}'', engaged in very close combat may hit the player in the face with the stock of their own rifles, disarming the player. Some mods turn this ability by default for every NPC, so that any human engaged in CQC will do the logical thing and disarm the player (and sometimes pick up the fallen gun themselves before the player can get it back).

[[folder:Rouguelike]]

* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul :Re'', while putting his squad through TrainingFromHell, Sasaki hammers into their heads to ''never'' drop their weapon in a fight. Since an unarmed [[TheHunter Investigator]] is essentially helpless against a Ghoul, this is sound advice.

* Completely averted in ''ZenoClash''; if you or an enemy has a weapon, taking a few well placed hits will knock it out of their (or your) hands and the enemy AI is effective enough to grab discarded weapons. Most of the combat's based around your bare hands anyway though.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' lets you disarm opponents in more than one way. An appropriately-timed counter while fighting empty-handed lets you steal the attacker's weapon (provided he's not too tough), while the special attack for the Two Handed Weapon superset is a smash attack that knocks the defender's weapon away. The latter can actually be done to the player, and yes, this WILL disarm you of whatever weapon you're carrying (though it isn't LostForever; you can simply pick it back up or, failing that, return to your home and get it out of the weapons room again).

* In ''Franchise/FireEmblem'', certain enemies will drop their weapons (or other cool prizes) when defeated. However, in the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Tellius games]], if the object is not equipped, you can have a thief walk up to the enemy unit and use the "Steal" option.