History Main / OneHitKill

* Counterattacks in ''AssassinsCreed'' tend to result in some ''extremely'' brutal one-hit kills, i.e. slapping a guard in the face to spin him around and then stabbing your sword into his hip and ''[[{{Squick}} out his crotch.]]''

* {{Yugioh}} has "Winged Dragon of Ra" which has an ability that is literally referred to in the Japanese version as [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "One Turn Kill"]]

** Her Bankai on the other hand is [[Spoiler:A fucking BAZOOKA]]

*** Not true. It always reduces Sora's HP to 1 and MP to 0, regardless of whether or not you have the mentioned ability. It is, in fact, impossible to get killed by that move. Sephiroth's ''follow-up'', on the other hand...

** '''Imprisonment''' -- 9th level arcane spell of the PhantomZone type; permanently locks its target in a small bubble beneath the earth. Victims don't die there, but instead have time stopped for them and are placed in untouchable suspended animation, so they can't even attempt to break the spell, because their mind has stopped. And unlike being dead, it takes another 9th level spell to undo.

** The best Choose Your Own Adventures were better-known for their creatively gory endings to your life than for their successful endings.

** The Rules Cyclopedia's Sleep spell could send you to sleep without a save for 4-16 turns if you had 4+ 1 Hit Dice or less, and during that time, anyone can use a bladed weapon to kill you instantly regardless of hit points. If you wielded a sword with the Slicing talent and scored a natural twenty, the target of the attack had to save vs. death ray or be {{One Hit Kill}}ed, suffering triple normal damage even upon a successful save. A missile with the Slaying talent that hits the target for which it is keyed also forces a save vs. death ray upon its victim to avoid instant death.

* [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_shoujo_lyrical_nanoha_strikers_the_comics/c008/14.html This]] used to be [[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Subaru and Teana's]] SOP [[AllThereInTheManual before they joined RF6]]. [[Badass Na]][[WaveMotionGun no]][[PersonOfMassDestruction ha]], of all people, had to teach them restraint.

* [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_shoujo_lyrical_nanoha_strikers_the_comics/c008/14.html This]] used to be [[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Subaru and Teana's]] SOP [[AllThereInTheManual before they joined RF6]]. [[BadassAdorable Na]][[WaveMotionGun no]][[PersonOfMassDestruction ha]], of all people, had to teach them restraint.

* Jon Irenicus had a spell in BaldursGate II: Shadows of Amn called Rapture of the Fathers, which instantly killed six people (conveniently the maximum size of your party) of his choice with no save. Why he didn't use this in the final fight, I have no idea.

** The only thing worse is a massive radiation dose (over 4000 rads). On a {{critical failure}} you die in agony, on a failure you die in agony , on a sucess you die in agony, on a critical success [[OverlyLongGag you die in agony]].

Usually, the One Hit Kill comes at a price. Sometimes it's a DangerousForbiddenTechnique, other times it's just really hard to pull off, or leaves you wide open for a counterattack. In [=RPGs=], it's frequently a UselessUsefulSpell because of low hit rates, [[ContractualBossImmunity won't affect bosses]], or prohibitively expensive to use. In martial arts, it frequently takes the form of the TouchOfDeath. If it only works at the start of a fight, it's a BackStab. If it only works at the end of a fight, it's a FinishingMove. If EVERY enemy attack is a one hit kill, the protagonist is a OneHitPointWonder.

* This is what makes Tohno Shiki from ''{{Tsukihime}}'' described as "the greatest wild card" (not the [[WildCard trope]]): since his [[EvilEye Mystic Eyes]] perceive the concept of Death as lines and dots over ''everything'', all he needs is one chance to [[DeaderThanDead kill]] his opponent. Given his natural [[SuperPoweredEvilSide killing abilities]] and [[InTheBlood inborn assassins' skills]], all of his fights begin/end with this. In some scenarios, he has been able to kill hallways, a vampire infection (before it takes over his body), and the poison inside someone else's body; although this requires it to be CastFromHitPoints.

-->Both ways. Fire the laser at a target, the target dies. Single shot to the thermal exhaust port, the Death Star dies.
* [[{{Snatch}} "One Punch Mickey"]], Gypsy bareknuckle boxing champion. Bonus points for doing it when he shouldn't.

* The Ivory Knife in P.C. Hodgell's ''ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'', a mere scratch from which will kill; it is described as "the very tooth of Death". As one might imagine, this can be somewhat dangerous for the wielder as well. Heroine Jame carries it in her boot sheath for a long while, at first because she doesn't realize what it is, then after she knows, because she doesn't have anywhere safe she can leave it.
* Balefire in ''{{The Wheel of Time}}'' instantly erases from existence anyone it hits retroactively. And it kills in such a way that even the Dark One (who has power over death and can reincarnate people) can't save them.

* "Morganti" weapons in ''{{Dragaera}}'' are all one-hit killers. They also destroy the soul of the victim, making revivification impossible, and also making it impossible for the victim to travel the Paths of The Dead to the afterworld.

** not to mention the pit

** Another note: the Zats often don't work on an opponent just to prove how badass said opponent is. And yet, somehow, SG-1 is always surprised and act like this is the first time that's ever happened.

* It's pretty common in North America for a pro wrestler's FinishingMove to be used as a OneHitKill. There are many, many matches where one participant spends the whole match getting the snot beaten out of him, then seizes an opportunity to hit his finisher and win the match. Note that this is less common in Mexico, Japan, and Europe.
** The OneHitKill effect is essentially what made "Diamond" Dallas Page so dangerous in {{WCW}}. You could beat him up all day, but all he had to do was hit the Diamond Cutter and he'd come out on top -- and he could hit the Diamond Cutter at a moment's notice, from 52 different positions.

** Also witness this {{WWF}} [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGoQWNElahg title match between Bob Backlund and Diesel]]. Kick, Jackknife Powerbomb, match over.

** The Rules Cyclopedia's Sleep spell could send you to sleep without a save for 4-16 turns if you had 4+ 1 Hit Dice or less, and during that time, anyone can use a bladed weapon to kill you instantly regardless of hit points. If you wielded a sword with the Slicing talent and scored a natural twenty, the target of the attack had to save vs. death ray or be {{One Hit Kill}}ed, suffering triple normal damage even upon a successful save. A missile with the Slaying talent that hits the target for which it is keyed also forces a save vs. death ray upon its victim to avoid instant death.

*** For all the American tropers out there, remember that Games Workshop is British, so it is a slightly more {{Squick}} meaning of "Pants"...

* ''MagicTheGathering'' has [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=106427 Phage the Untouchable]]: if Phage manages to deal combat damage to a player, that player loses the game. [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=73559 Door to Nothingness]] has a similar effect.

*** It's actually even worse. The "number of ultra-rare cards" you needed for this first turn kill was ONE: Black Lotus (or a Mox Ruby/Jet in a slightly different variant). The rest of the cards involved were dirt-cheap commons and uncommons.

* ''{{Exalted}}'' has the Celestial circle spell Blood of Boiling Oil. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Three guesses how it kills the victim.]] There's also a Resplendency any Sidereal using a resplendent destiny of the Sword has access to that works like this, though only against mortals.
** There's a few other Charms and spells that are one-hit-kills, though many of them are limited in WHAT they can kill instantly (mostly just [[PunyEarthlings mortal human beings]] or REALLY low-Essence magical entities). Also, due to the way the game's [[{{Mooks}} "extras"]] rule works, any attack against one that succeeds by enough becomes a OHKO as well.

* ''{{FATAL}}'': the namesake spell causes ''[[KillEmAll every living thing in the game universe]]'' to die. In one hit. Of course, it's ''FATAL'', [[MercyKilling so.]]

** The [[NintendoHard original NES]] {{Final Fantasy}} probably featured the largest variety of one-hit kill spells as standard black magic, several of which actually were very effective against specific monster types (even more as the party leveled up). There was also one enemy called 'Sorcerer' (named 'Mind Flayer' in the remakes) whose physical attacks inflicted only {{Scratch Damage}} but with a side effect of instant KO -- pray they don't get to strike first when you encounter a group of 5...

** Also, in ''FinalFantasyX'', Kimahri's Doom Overdrive has a 100% success rate (again, barring immunities). Kimahri's Thrust Kick and Auron's Shooting Star Overdrives knock enemies right out of the battle. There's also Anima's Pain ability, which causes Death, and Yojimbo's Zanmato (NOT an Overdrive, despite what many people think) which instantly wins the battle for you and works on ANYTHING, even bosses. You have to pay a redonculous amount of Gil to make him use it in some cases, though. Lastly, many abilities can be customised with Deathstrike or Stonestrike, which pretty much kills ANY enemy that doesn't have an immunity to Death or Petrification with one hit. It also make catching many monsters much easier.

** In ''FinalFantasyTactics'' the twin assassins Celia and Lede have an ability called "Stop Breath", in which they reach out to their target and do just that. It's 100% effective, unblockable (except via rarely-used items), and no, you never get to play with it yourself, because the villains always get the coolest toys.

** The infamous "Slots" spell almost always has an instant victory result, if you can time your button presses correctly (Though in the case of [[FinalFantasyVIII Selphie's "The End" and "Rapture"]], and [[FinalFantasyX2 Lady Luck's CONGRATS!]], you don't actually kill the opponent. They just sort of go away). All Slots techniques bar Selphie's also have the chance to cast the same instant death spell on ''your own party'', often with the result being just one reel off.

** This was even more egregious in the [=PS1=] version; the setup for the instant kill was either punch+ kick or a well-timed block, there was no penalty for missing, and you won the entire match.

* One of the starting weapons in [[http://colourfire.nfshost.com ColourFire]]'s arcade mode is a virus that infects enemies and kills them in one hit, blowing up into even more viruses. The only trouble is its short range, and that it has to wear down their health from the inside before they die.

* In ''VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' A few diciplines (maybe even all, not so sure on that) have a one hit kill that works wonderfully.

** Xemnas has a much better example (although still questionable) of a Certain Death Attack. Halfway through the final round of the final boss fight, Xemnas attempts to grab Sora. You can delay him through various actions in the English versions, and are said to be able to outright stop him in the Final Mix version. Should he grab Sora, he'll attempt to [[NightmareFuel rip out his heart]]. Alone, Sora would be dead, but instead the player takes control of Riku, who can save Sora by getting past a Xemnas Clone and using a [[ActionCommand Reaction Command]].

** The second installment's [[StreetFighter Shoryuken]] kills any boss in one hit, provided you remain in contact with him long. Morph Moth is an exception as he pulls a OneWingedAngel in the middle of the battle. Curiously, so is Zero, by virtue of his ability to frickin' ''block your attacks''.

* In the FPS CombatArms, the headshots were a one hit kill of course, but at one point, getting shot in a, ahem...[[GroinAttack sensitive region for males]] would also score a insta-kill, along with the humorous announcement "Nut Shot!" with a picture of two cracked walnuts. It was later nerfed to only occur when the fatal bullet (or [[{{Squick}} melee attack]]) would nail the unfortunate player in the nads. Female characters could suffer this too, for balance reasons, but lacked the extra effects the males had.

** Sort of with the headshots. Sniper Rifles would always be a one hit kill, and shotguns were a one hit kill in the head at close range(along with any other part of the body) but other small arms would just deal more damage than normal.
** The rocket launchers in 2 and 2142 were one of the few weapons that would result in the victim not able to be revived by a medic, regardless on where they were hit.

** Of course, everything listed here only works if the stage is open enough. If you create a box-like stage in Brawl that has no exits, not even a Dragoon can KO you at 999%.
** The final boss of Subspace Emissary [[spoiler: Tabuu]] also has an attack that can kill you instantly. Fairly difficult to avoid, too.
** The final boss of Subspace Emissary has two such attacks, at least in Boss Battles on Intense, his Golden Brackets type move is also a OneHitKill.

* The ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' FightingGame for the Playstation 2 has the Fatal KO that works similar to the Instant Kill from ''GuiltyGear''. They require a bit of build-up, however, as you must hit your opponent until the constellation under their lifebar is reduced to a single glowing star, which usually takes more than one round. This seems to be to ensure that when you use the Fatal KO, the fight is ''over'' (instead of just winning you the round).

* ''SoulCalibur IV'' also has these now, a first for the series. They're called "Critical Finishes" and they work in a similar way to Fatal [=KOs=] in ''FistOfTheNorthStar''. Constantly forcing an enemy to block powerful attacks, or Guard Impacting them around a lot, causes their Soul Gauge to turn from green to a flashing red. Once fully emptied, a single strong hit will send them into a vulnerable state ("Soul Crush"), and the Critical Finish can then be performed.
* PSI Flash in ''{{Earthbound}}'' can do this. It's in the main charater's powerset and actually works on bosses. Should it fail, it typically leaves a status condition.

** The canonical OneHitKill and [[YetAnotherStupidDeath Yet Another Annoying Death]] is [[spoiler:"You fall into a pit! You land on a set of sharp iron spikes! The spikes were poisoned! The poison was deadly..."]]. Being on the wrong end of this is a sure sign that the RandomNumberGod is out to get you, as it requires: [[spoiler:firstly, that a spiked pit be generated; secondly, that you hit the chance that the spikes are poisoned (1 in 7 each time falling into the pit); and thirdly, that the poison is classified as deadly (1 in 20 chance each time you take poison damage)]]. However this can be avoided [[spoiler:through AcquiredPoisonImmunity]].

** Harvey Moisewitch Volodarskii and Bad Girl also have instant-death attacks, the former if you fail to break out of his magic box, and the latter if you fall for her trap. [[spoiler:Henry breaks one out once his health reaches TurnsRed territory; it's the one that looks like the Stinger from ''DevilMayCry'' and '''plants you into the concrete'''.]]

** Sawblade and train...

* Showstopper from ''PaperMario The Thousand Year Door'' and Up and Away from ''PaperMario''. Surprisingly enough, they weren't as useless in battle as one hit kill moves in other games.

* The first two ''{{Fallout}}'' games feature notorious examples of this trope. When scoring a critical hit on the head, eyes, or torso, you will, if lucky, land a hit that destroys the enemy immediately (and [[LudicrousGibs messily]]). This can lead to strange situations thanks to the game's damage mechanics: a character in full power armor might take zero damage from a critical hit, and then die instantly from the pain.

*** Actually you can get souls in the very final battle against Lucifer, but he's immune to your attack, as he's a PuzzleBoss.
* The spell "Armageddon" from ''{{Ultima}} VI'', anyone? It's one hit kill to [[EarthShatteringKaboom everything in the game]].

** The ''Ultima'' series is also famous for its glass swords. One hit kills both the enemy and the sword.

* Several enemies in ''ZombiesAteMyNeighbors'' could be taken out with one shot of the right weapon. Some were damned obvious (use silverware on the werewolves or the footballs on football players), some were pure GuideDangIt (using the Martian Bubble Gun on the giant ants or the tomatoes on the Martians).

* In ''[[{{Ptitle0j7huvhy}} Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game]]'', [[BigBad Shredder]] has a spread beam that turns the PC into a regular turtle, effectively ending that life as far as beating Shredder is concerned. He's also seen similar attacks by Super Shredder in ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles III: The Manhattan Project'' and ''[[{{Ptitlepx5t7yuj}} Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time]]'' (the ''other'' arcade adaptation; very little to do with the third movie).

* The original ''SilentHill'' had a ''puzzle'' that automatically killed you if you did the wrong thing. Given the nature of the "clues" in that game, it was naturally [[TrialAndErrorGameplay impossible to figure that out without dying]]. Fortunately, the sequels featured no such abomination, but in a way that only makes things worse, because it means even the developers realized how mind-blowingly stupid and unfair it was. That's the kind of thing that it would've been really great for them to figure out [[BerserkButton BEFORE RELEASING THE FIRST GODDAMN GAME]]!

** ''Silent Hill 2'''s first encounters with Pyramid Head. Anyone paying the slightest amount of attention knows on sight that if that knife comes down on you, it's over.

** Chelsea, as a boss, has a mode where crosshairs lock onto you. If you stay in one spot too long, you get a headshot done on you, which kills you no matter how much health you have.

* ''Barbarian'' may well have had the first OneHitKill in the history of one-on-one fighting games, and without being a gamebreaker to boot. You could use a decapitation move at any time in a fight (complete with a shower of badly pixelated blood), but the long buildup time made it very easy for the other player to dodge or interrupt.

* GoldenSun had several. The psynergy Condemn can instantly kill although rarely. The summon Charon has a chance to instantly kill. The Djinn Serac and Whorl may OHKO enemies and Gale will sometimes blow enemies off the map, but you won't get the experience. Obviously none of them work on most bosses and the chance for some is rather low. That doesn't stop Dullahan from instant killing you with Charon. In addition, certain weapons such as the Assassin Blade and the Crystal Rod had unleashes that had the potential to occasionally OHKO enemies, and they even worked on the bosses in the Suhulla Desert.
* ''{{Touhou}}'' features several superpowers like this. EnfantTerrible Flandre can disintigrate objects at range with no visible weapon by targeting their "weak point", CuteGhostGirl Yuyuko can kill with a thought, Keine and Yukari can RetGone you with their superpowers, you can fight [[DontFearTheReaper the not-so-grim reaper Komachi]], CuteMonsterGirl Yamame, who can inflict every disease ever known on you at once, etc. Isn't it a good thing [[ThouShaltNotKill the Spellcard System prevents]] [[KilledOffForReal "real" deaths]]?

** ''Metroid Prime 3: Corruption'' also has an example in the Nova Beam. By itself, the Nova Beam is just a high-frequency weapon that can damage enemies regardless of special Phazite armor they may be wearing. Use it in conjunction with the previously gained X-Ray Visor though, and you can start targeting some enemies' internal organs for instant kills.

** Unique NPC ability example: [[MemeticBadass Vindicator Kuros]] is a [[http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31008 BAMF.]]
** The Warlock spell "Curse of Doom" isn't specifically a OneHitKill, but designed to have the potential. It does the most single-tick damage of any of the Warlock's spells, but takes a minute before the damage is applied. If the damage kills your opponent, it spawns a Doomguard demon. On lower-level creatures it can be a OneHitKill, (if your [[SquishyWizard squishy warlock]] can avoid being killed for 60 seconds) but once you reach boss-level it just does a whole lot of damage.

** Not so for the hunters, though, which need to be weakened before consumption.

* ''{{Tekken}}''s Paul Phoenix has a move called "Burning Fist" (Back+ both Punch buttons) which will not only take a second to charge up, but will take out the opponent in one hit (and send them flying backwards). Some videos on YouTube show Paul playthroughs comprising of nothing BUT Burning Fists.

* In the [[SuperMarioBros Mario series]], there is an enemy called Boss Bass that eats you in one gulp regardless of how many powerups you have. A very annoying bitch.

-->'''Harbinger''': '''ASSUMING DIRECT CONT'''--* [[BoomHeadshot boom]]*

** In the grand finale, [[spoiler: Aang's use of 'Soul Bending' borders on a peculiar sort of Have-a-Heart instant neutralization. Ty Lee was feared enough for her ability to -temporarily- kill someone's Bending. Not a 'kill', but in a world where children can throw fireballs it leaves you pretty helpless (Various big name mundanes aside) ]]

*** SteveIrwin didn't, obviously.

** If you're too close too the wall during Xaldin's fury attack, it won't stop until you are dead.

*''{{Prototype}}'' has Alex's defining move as it's OHK - [[ImAHumanitarian eating people.]] The simple grab and Consume move will kill any normal military or infected enemy, and heal you in the process!

* Most weapons, on the other hand, can easily kill with a single hit. [[SoYeah That's what they're for.]]

* ''Nuclear weapons''. [[SoYeah If using a nuke on someone isn't a one hit kill, I really don't know what is.]]

In {{anime}}, expect to hear the phrase "ichigeki hissatsu!" (literally, "One Hit [[TemptingFate Certain]] Kill") thrown around when [[CallingYourAttacks invoking this sort of attack]]. With bladed weapons, cinematic representation of this trope often becomes a SingleStrokeBattle. See also ChunkySalsaRule

** Subverted with Usopp, who uses the term "hissatsu" before every single projectile attack. None of them are ever certain kills, and definitely not kills. Then again, this is him being GenreSavvy, because the enemy is supposed to ''think'' they are.