History Main / GlassCannon

* The Hellbringer ([[ReportingName Loki]]) Omni is another fine example of a machine that will slaughter most enemies in its weight class and down if they get too close, but will crumple and burn if anything with a decent gun looks at it funny. Its configurations focus on massed long range hitting power, with things like particle cannons, Gauss rifles, and autocannons coming into play. The primary variant is a highly accurate killing machine with enough firepower on it to literally slag four tons of armor in a single salvo and even includes various equipment upgrades like ECM or anti missile defenses. At 65 tons and with only 8 tons of armor, though, it'll have an extremely bad day if a sufficiently armed 'Mech draws a bead on it. It's so light on armor that it actually can't even absorb an AC/20 shot dead center--something that more than a few 15-tons-lighter 'Mechs ''can'' do.
* The Adder/Puma is another high grade glass cannon. Its primary configuration carries dual ER-PPC weapons and includes a targeting computer to make them highly accurate. Any 'Mech who takes a BoomHeadshot from one of those guns is down for the count, no matter the size of it. The Adder, however, is all of 35 tons, has about 6 tons of armor, and generally isn't going to stick around very long once an enemy sniffs it out.

[[BattleForWesnoth http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ulfserker_crop_1197.png]]
[[caption-width:325:Armor? Armor, ye say? I got one big [[AnAxeToGrind axe]], and that be [[TheBerserker all I need...]]]]

**** The new bird fossil Archaeos is looking to be a GlassCannon too, and it actually has excellent speed to back up its massive attack stats (on both sides)!

* Naoto and Teddie from ''{{Persona 4}}'' fit this trope fairly well. Naoto is overall fairly balanced, having instant-kill Light and Dark moves, Almighty spells, good physical moves and Mind Charge, however. She have fairly low HP, and all her physical attacks take good chunks off her HP every time she uses them, her instant-kill moves does not have a very high chance of hitting overall, and having Almighty magic leaves her with with being incapable of doing a lot of damage when compared to the characters who get the Boost and Amp moves of their spells, and Almighty takes almost double the SP per attack then normal elemental attacks. Teddie is even more balanced towards magic, with good Ice spells and healing magic. But he can't get rid of his elemental weakness, and his Endurance is fairly low, so he can't take that many hits overall, which is not good for one of your main healers.

*** ''Uprising'' added the [[BigDamnGunship Harbinger gunship]] and [[TransformingMecha Giga-Fortress]] as exceptions. The Habringer was more durable then the Kirov, but faster then it and most heavy ground units, though compared to most aircraft it's still pretty slow compared to other aircraft (the thing is already considered a Gamebreaker when it isn't a Lighting Bruiser). The Giga Fortress is [[MightyGlacier as slow as Kirov]], but its firepower causes people also consider a Gamebreaker, even though it costs an arm and a leg.

-->-- '''Black Mage''', ''[[EightBitTheater 8-bit Theater]]''

* The BigBad of the final arc of ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' has powers bordering on a PersonOfMassDestruction and he can tank ''KiAttacks'', but a rather pampered life has lead him to be rather weak against ''physical'' attacks. Of course this is just compared to the completely MadeOfIron fighters in most of the series (he was called a wuss for being ''moderately injured'' by a boulder... being thrown by tornado winds that were drilling into the ground and altering the course of an underground river).

*** Akane Tendo as well. Though she can dish out punches with the best of them, she has nowhere near the healing speed or toughness of any of the other characters; while she is too skilled to be TheLoad in an actual fight, she is still regarded by some as a DamselScrappy because she insists on getting into a fight, but somebody (mainly Ranma) usually has to keep an eye on her because she can't take the hits they can.
* Pikachu fits this trope well in ''{{Pokemon}}''. Massively powerful attacks? Check. Tendency to go down quickly in a fight? Oh yeah.

*** Lampshaded in ''Evolution'': He tells Scott that no matter the challenge they can be overcome. Cut to him at the top of a flight of stairs. "Of course some challenges are easier to overcome than others."

* In his first few appearances as GreenLantern, Kyle Rayner would often be subdued by a single blow to the back of the head. And he's not the only one; Hal Jordan also fell victim to this more than a couple times. But if you couldn't get behind him stealthily like that, he will ''[[GreenLanternRing fuck you up]]''.

* In an episode of LoisAndClark'', Lex Luthor creates a boxer that he believes can take on Superman. The boxer delivers a flurry of punches that stagger Superman. For a moment it looks like Superman is actually on the ropes, but then he simply flicks the boxer in the forehead and knocks him out.

* The Black Belt/Monk character from ''{{Final Fantasy| I}}'' has staggering attack power and speed and won't last if an enemy pokes him. The class's physical defense value is equal to their level, which means they can have the highest defense in the game. The trade-off is the fact that their magic defense is pitifully low. There's a head armor item, the Ribbon, which drastically decreases magic damage, but only has a defense value of 1. Considering the other armor the class can equip is almost equally weak in terms of preventing physical damage, and you either have him glass against physical attacks, or glass against magic.

* The Parivir job of ''FinalFantasyTactics A2'' is offensively, the strongest hume job available, but has the endurance of wet paper if raised as a Parivir. Compliment its growth with that of a Paladin, however...

* Shin Akuma and God Rugal in ''[[CapcomVsWhatever Capcom vs. SNK]] 2'' have insane attack power, but they also take far more damage than any of the other characters. Naturally, since they're classified as {{SNK Boss}}es, this doesn't seem to be a problem at all for the computer... ''if'' they let you hit them.
** Akuma had this status in ''StreetFighter III'' and ''IV'' as well along with player controlled Seth who bruises like a grape.
** Hyper Venom in ''[[CapcomVsWhatever Marvel vs. Capcom]]''.
** To an INSANE degree of glass skin. He may be a LightningBruiser but one good combo and almost any super combo in the game could knock this puss out of his boots.

* Grimm from ''[[AdvanceWars Advance Wars: Dual Strike]]''. He has 130% attack power to all units, but only 80% defense day-to-day without using forces. One of the upsides to this is that his [[LimitBreak CO gauge]] fills up faster, since he's both doing and taking more damage, but the same could be said of the opponent.

*** And one is available as a DeadlyUpgrade for Serpent Clan swordsmen in ''BattleRealms''.

*** A fully-upgraded Zergling lives and breathes this trope. With upgraded movement and attack speeds, Zerglings can tear opponents to shreds far faster than any other unit in the game. But unless you can draw the enemy's fire with some MightyGlacier Ultralisks or cover their approach with Dark Swarm, those Zerglings will get liquified before they can even land a hit.

8 In ''WorldOfWarcraft'' essentially every damage dealer. Plate wearing damage dealers are slightly more durable due to heavy armor, but most raid bosses are noted for their ability to kill anything except a [[StoneWall tank]] in under two seconds.

* Zero of ''MegaManX'' and ''[[MegaManZero Zero]]'' qualifies, especially compared to his fellow hunter X. He's a devastating close-range fighter, but he takes lots of damage and there's not much you can do to change that. X, on the other hand, gets tons of upgrades every game, and one of them is ''always'' an armor part that cuts the damage he takes in half. Thus Zero starts each game stronger than X but is outclassed heavily by the end. Capcom seems to like it that way, because they've twice provided secret armors for Zero that double the damage he deals ''and'' the damage he takes (Black Zero in X8, Junk Armor in Zero 4).
** In X8, the Black Zero required getting Zero's other upgrades first, including an armor upgrade like X's and the [[spoiler:Sigma Blade which had double the power of his basic sword.]]

** Ironically in Megaman X3, the first game where Zero was playable, he was more of a MightyGlacier. He had a charge shot attack that could allow two charge shots and a charged slash at full power, but was slower than X and couldn't airdash.

** Interestingly enough, when Zero happens to make an appearance in a FightingGame (Namely [[CapcomVsWhatever SNK vs. Capcom: Chaos and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom]]). He still happens to be this among the cast of the respective games. Mind you, there also tends to be worse than him among the {{Glass Cannon}}s in the cast as well.
** In Megaman Zero games, you die in a few hits without upgrades. But the game is designed that way and it's easy to avoid hits. It's badass this way.
** Protoman has become this in the later games in the classic series. His charged shots deal a lot of damage (in Powered Up they kill most stage enemies in one hit), but he also takes a lot of damage; about twice as much as Megaman.
* An extreme example is found in ''{{Castlevania}}: Circle of the Moon''. With the right DSS cards, Nathan can transform into one of the skeleton enemies; the bones he throws have a small chance of being ''giant'' bones that inflict 9999 damage. The catch? Any damage the skeleton takes is worth 9999 too. You'll never have that much HP, so this transformation is very risky.

*** In ''Symphony of the Night'' the Ring of Ares is an item that turns Alucard himself into a glass cannon, minimizing his defense while drastically increasing his attack power.
* In ''{{Wild ARMs}} 3'', you get a sand ship, which you can customize at the cost of moderately rare items. You can increase various stats of your ship, but if you just scrape up enough to buy the best cannon and arrange your party properly so you always go first, you can use the "Fire All Ammo" command and one-shot anything you fight in it. At all. Including the boss blocking you form accessing the larger portion of the sand-sea.

* Filo in ''FinalFantasyXII: Revenant Wings''. She has one of the strongest attacks in the the game, but letting her near ranged enemies typically results in her quick death.

** In the second game, Garrus is still a class cannon. However, he is joined by [[ClassyCatBurglar Kasumi Goto]], [[DeadlyDoctor Mordin Solus]], and [[spoiler: Legion]]. [[spoiler: Legion]] has low health and decent shields, but has access to the [[{{BFG}} most powerful sniper rifle]] in the game, powerful enough to one-hit almost ''anything''. Mordin has both hard-hitting offensive tech powers, plus his special power which paralyzes opponents, but has extremely low health and shields. But the crowning glory has be Kasumi Goto, a ''thief'' with fragile health and shields, along with the distinction of having '''one of the only melee abilities in the entire game'''. A very effective ability that she cloaks and uncloaks to use, but still.
*** Don't forget Thane Krios, either, who is essentially Garrus with biotic powers instead of tech. Still very squishy. Also, [[spoiler: Legion]]'s Glass Cannon status goes down considerably after a couple of upgrades push his shields from "decent" to "second only to Shepard. Maybe."
*** And, of course, there's Jack. Her biotic powers may be cranked UpToEleven, but they're all geared exclusively towards ''offense''. She has one of the lowest defensive capabilities of any of the party members (only Mordin and Kasumi have lower values), and is likely to die if left to hold the line at the game's final battle. If you leave her behind and want to keep her alive, you'd better make sure she's loyal.

* The Ninja job in most ''FinalFantasy'' games that use the job system (and a couple that don't, such as [=FF4=]'s Edge) are usually these; Very powerful, since they can use [[DualWielding two weapons]], but they tend to have low HP and can't equip shields or heavy armor.

* The Ghost Sniper from ''[[BubbleTanks Bubble Tanks 2]]'' combines this with FragileSpeedster. It has the least amount of health out of all the final evolution paths, but it is the fastest of them all, can become [[IntangibleMan intangible]] (and hence invulnerable), and has an exploding [[PiercingAttack piercing]] sniper round that is the strongest attack in the game (surpassing even that of the [[MightyGlacier Super Heavy's]] [[{{BFG}} Mega cannon]]).

* FinalFantasyXii has Basch Fon Ronsenburg. He is one of the stronger characters, has loads of HP, but his vitality (defense) is the lowest of all the characters, which means he will go down fast anyway.
* Final Fantasy X-2 has a few. Berserkers are very strong but have pitiful defence; samurai have low HP and alchemists can mix some powerful attacks but have low HP&Def.

* Warhammer fantasy have a few, Nightgoblin Fanatics follow it the best, they deal damage as a stonethrower shot and are easier to kill then a normal goblin (anything has an easy time killing a normal goblin) and has a chance to kill itself. There are however many others.
** Wood Elfs is similar to 40K's Eldar since they are this but also are FragileSpeedster. They have none to little armour but can put up alot of hurt with possibly the best core-units compared to their prices (though they only have 1 real rank and file unit which force the player to pick the unit they charge). And to top it of they have the Forest Walking rule which allows all of their units to walk through woods without any restriction which in other armies was only allowed for scouts. Though this has probably given several players the feeling of TheyChangedItNowItSucks since in the new edition of the rulebook every army can walk through woods (and alot of people thinks that the new rules hurt Wood Elf the most of all the armies).

** Deamons also deserve a mention, as most of them pack a punch, but dies like flies against standard Imperial weaponry.

* Deamons also deserve a mention, as most of them pack a punch, but dies like flies against standard Imperial weaponry.

* Similar thing for late-game heavy air units such as the Gryphon Rider, Chimaera and Frost Wyrm, who have powerful magic-type attacks, but are expensive, few in number, highly vulnerable to ranged fire or AntiAir abilities, and slow by air unit standards.

See also: CompetitiveBalance and PVPBalanced. Make the Glass Cannon incapable of taking any punishment at all and you've got a OneHitPointWonder. Glass Cannons often overlap with the FragileSpeedster; characters of that type, who put out high damage and dodge most incoming attacks, but go down quickly if they do get hit, are sometimes called "Glass Ninjas." Another type of very common GlassCannon would be an offensively-oriented SquishyWizard nuker, who is basically like a living artillery piece. Character-wise, TheBerserker might also become a GlassCannon, even if he's not inherently frail, but just doesn't bother whatsoever about defending himself tactically. Contrast StoneWall who takes it but can't dish it out, as well as MightyGlacier, who can dish out and still take it like a man but at the expense of speed, and finally LightningBruiser, who can do the same without sacrificing anything.

** In tabletop, Eldar are fast and fragile. Dark Eldar are even faster and more fragile. Dark Eldar is more of Glass Cannon than Eldar, given the amount of firepower that squads of Dark Eldar can pump out for relatively cheap cost.
*** Harlequins are even more of a glass hammer/cannon than other Eldar. Absolutely unparalleled in hand-to-hand combat, they can rip right through a unit of assault terminators like tissue paper; but one good round of shooting from a basic marine squad and they're splattered all over the landscape.

** And Tau Fire Warriors, who are no tougher than Guard Stormtroopers...but have a gun that will punch straight through a flak vest, ''and'' the Guardsman wearing it, without slowing down.
*** Tau are weaker (they suck in close combat); anyway, speaking of Stormtroopers, their hellguns can now punch ''right through space marine armour''. Too bad for the shorter than normal range.
** The Imperial Guard are this wend you don't use them as MightyGlacier, powerful weapons (namely tanks) but weak and small numbers.

** Terminators (both the Loyalist kind, Chaos kind, and especially the Grey Knight kind) borderline this as well. 2+ armor save is pretty good, until you realise you just suffered some 60 wounds due to massive zerg fire. Given the average Terminator squad is only 5 models strong (and by extension only 5 wounds), and the fact that statistically you would suffer one failed armor save for every 6 wounds, that comes down to a total of 10 dead terminators, 5 more than you have in that squad. And this is if you're going by statistics, if you have bad luck, there's no hope. Terminators are also rightly expensive, so a good quarter (or more) of your army could be gone in an instant.
*** The 5+ invulnerable save on them is also nice, until you realise just how crappy a 5+ save is. If your Termies don't have their uberarmor save (such as being hit by concentrated fire from an anti-tank squad), good luck indeed. Doesn't help the fact that there are usually so few Termies in a squad that it's actually a viable option to aim anti-tank weapons at them.
**** They are not Glass Cannons however, their only weakness is costing alot of pts and they are one of the troops that are the hardest to kill AND their offensive capacity is not greater then their defensive. Deamons deserve a mention as most of them are slow, pack a punch and dies like flies against standard imperial weaponry.

* On a similar note, the Night Elves from ''WarcraftIII'' are a largely GlassCannon based faction. Their tier-1 units, the Archer and Huntress, are the most efficient damage-dealers around on their tier, and remain useful throughout the entire game with upgrades, but Archers have pathetic HP and armor, and will begin dying rapidly if a few melee units get close enough, while Huntresses have spellcaster-type armor, which means that they will go down fast against ranged fire. Even the Night Elves' late-game heavy melee unit, the Druid of the Claw, is more cannon-like than it's Human, Orc, or Undead counterparts, with a strong attack and useful spells, but lower HP than its equivalents, and vulnerability to anticasters. Thankfully, though, the faction got access to StoneWall Mountain Giants in the ''Frozen Throne'' expansion to provide some tough meatshielding for the army of Glass Cannons.
** Like any RTS, every faction's artillery unit in ''Warcraft'' acts as a long-ranged GlassCannon, as mentioned above. The Human Mortar Team, Undead Meat Wagon, Orc Demolisher and Night Elf Glaive Thrower all fit the trope. Similar thing for every faction's SquishyWizard spellcasters.