History Main / SituationalDamageAttack

** The Dark type is particularly prone to these attacks, with them amounting to about half of all Dark-type attacks. Under the right conditions, [[YouWillNotEvadeMe Pursuit]], [[note]]target switches out[[/note]] Payback,[[note]]user attacks last[[/note]] [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown Assurance]],[[note]]Target took damage that turn prior to the attack[[/note]] Punishment,[[note]]amount of stat boosts the target has[[/note]] Knock Off[[note]]target has a removable item[[/note]] and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Foul Play]] [[note]]depends on target's attack stat[[/note]] will deal extra damage.

* TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}} has the [[WeaponOfXSlaying Sword Of Slaying Everything Except Squid]], which is a highly effective weapon...[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin except when fighting a squid]], such as Squidzilla.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series:
** The Number Ball chip deals damage based on the last two digits of your HP, times 5.
** The Custom Sword chip deals damage based on how much the Custom Gauge is filled (the gauge refers to the cooldown time between every access to the chip selection screen). If it's filled to full, however, it deals minimal damage, so precision plays a big part here.
** The Muramasa chip deals damage based on how much HP you've lost (with the cap of 999), making it a good DesperationAttack.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'': The Blue Magic Spell "Goblin Punch" is normally not impressive, but its damage is multiplied by 8 if the user and target are the same level.
* Step Mine, a BlueMagic attack in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', does damage according to how many steps the party has taken. It is devastating when used against the party, but because of HealthDamageAsymmetry, is less effective when used against monsters.
* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyX2'', all of the Gun Mage's "Fiend Hunter" abilities deal quadruple damage to specific classes of enemies such as Elementals, Lizards, Canines and so on.

* The Dark Knight's Minus Strike skill in ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' does damage equal to the difference between the user's total and current HP. The Monk's Phoenix Flight deals damage equal to the amount of HP the user currently has and brings their HPToOne. Ringabel notes that using these abilities in conjunction with each other makes for a devastating combo, particularly if there is a potent healer nearby.
* In ''VideoGame/WildArms3'', the ability Dark Luceid, granted when equipping the Guardian Luceid, is a highly situational move: it only deals significant damage directly proportional to the amount of elemental resistances the enemy has. Most of the time, it deals extremely little damage because most enemies do not have any elemental resistances whatsoever and most even have a weakness or two to balance any resistances it has. However, some bosses (in particular, Power Trask and the Final Boss) are resistant or even immune to every element at once. It's so effective at what it does it actually [[NotCompletelyUseless justifies it being useless for 95% of the game]].
* ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' has a lot of these. Some basic examples include the Hypothermia support gem which adds extra damage against chilled enemies, Herald of Thunder zaps nearby enemies for a few seconds after killing a shocked enemy, and a multitude of effects that activate when some requirement was fulfilled within the past 4 seconds. Some more unusual ones include Ahn's Might, which grants bonus critical damage multiplier at no frenzy charges and bonus accuracy at maximum frenzy charges[[note]]If you can lower your maximum number of charges to 0, you can be at no charges ''and'' max charges at the same time.[[/note]], and even some negative ones like a unique glove that prevents your hits from killing anything that ''isn't'' frozen.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'', a fair few attacks benefit from Marks: the Bounty Hunter's "Collect Bounty", Arbalest's "Sniper Shot", Shieldbreaker's "Captivate", Highwayman's "Pistol Shot", Houndmaster's "Hound's Rush" and Grave Robber's "Thrown Dagger" all gain a percentile damage bonus when directed at a marked enemy, particularly since the Bounty Hunter and Houndmaster have mark skills that also reduce the enemy's damage reduction (the Arbalest and Occultist have mark skills that reduce dodge, which isn't quite as useful). The Bounty Hunter also gets damage bonuses against stunned enemies with "Finish Him", and can gain additional damage bonuses with all attacks against enemies with stuns and/or bleeds on them with his Crimson Court trinket set. On top of that, certain attacks are more damaging against specific enemy types: the Houndmaster excels at killing Beasts, the Bounty Hunter takes down Humans quickly and violently, Eldritch enemies fear the Occultist, and undead don't like dealing with the Crusader or the Vestal much.

* ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel'' has two children who has their own flavor of this trope:
** [[TheLeader Malt Marzipan]]'s Brave Shot skill has its damage output tied to the amount of health the Taranis has left. The lower HP it has, the stronger the attack. However, below 50%, the children will start becoming susceptible to status effects like Fear and Depression, so if you're really unlucky, Malt could be rendered gimped and unable to use any of his skills effectively regardless of turn setup.
** [[ThePrankster Hack Montblanc]] has the Burning Trigger skill, [[MagikarpPower which damage stacks the more you use it in a single encounter]].

Supertrope to DesperationAttack, GatheringSteam, FullHealthBonus, and SituationalSword. Compare and contrast TacticalRockPaperScissors and ElementalRockPaperScissors, which typically apply to an entire combat system as opposed to just one attack. Contrast FixedDamageAttack and PercentDamageAttack, which typically ignore variables usually taken into account, and RandomizedDamageAttack, when the damage is completely random. Compare and contrast DamageIncreasingDebuff, InjuredVulnerability, StatusEffectPoweredAbility, and AttackItsWeakPoint when it's a property of the ''defender'' rather than the ''attack'' that affects the amount of damage dealt, and StatusBuff where it's a property of a beneficial spell.

[[folder:Turn-Based Tactics]]

Supertrope to DesperationAttack, GatheringSteam, FullHealthBonus, and SituationalSword. Compare and contrast TacticalRockPaperScissors and ElementalRockPaperScissors, which typically apply to an entire combat system as opposed to just one attack. Contrast FixedDamageAttack and PercentDamageAttack, which typically ignore variables usually taken into account, and RandomizedDamageAttack, when the damage is completely random. Compare and contrast DamageIncreasingDebuff, InjuredVulnerability, and AttackItsWeakPoint when it's a property of the ''defender'' rather than the ''attack'' that affects the amount of damage dealt, and StatusBuff where it's a property of a beneficial spell.

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* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 5th edition:
** The spell ''Blight'' normally deals 8d8 necrotic damage to its target. If you cast the spell on a plant creature or a magical plant, you don't need to roll: the spell just inflicts maximum damage.
** The damage roll for the spell ''Toll the Dead'' is made with d8s if the target is at maximum HitPoints or d12s if it's currently injured.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 5th edition, the ''Blight'' spell normally deals 8d8 necrotic damage to its target. If you cast the spell on a plant creature or a magical plant, you don’t need to roll: the spell just inflicts maximum damage.

This trope is about attacks whose damage changes according to non-random variables that don't apply to "normal" attacks within the same system. Common variables that may affect a Situational Damage Attack are [[NoRangeLikePointBlankRange range]], the attacker's health being [[DesperationAttack low]] or [[FullHealthBonus high]], [[ChargedAttack time spent charging up]], [[WouldntHitAGirl the gender of the target]], [[HomefieldAdvantage the type of terrain the attacker is on]], [[WeaponOfXSlaying the category of opponent the attacker is facing]], or even truly esoteric things like how many steps the party has taken or the last digit of their gold total.

This trope is about attacks whose damage changes according to non-random variables that don't apply to "normal" attacks within the same system. Common variables that may affect a Situational Damage Attack are [[NoRangeLikePointBlankRange range]], [[DesperationAttack the attacker's health]], [[ChargedAttack time spent charging up]], [[WouldntHitAGirl the gender of the target]], [[HomefieldAdvantage the type of terrain the attacker is on]], [[WeaponOfXSlaying the category of opponent the attacker is facing]], or even truly esoteric things like how many steps the party has taken or the last digit of their gold total.

Supertrope to DesperationAttack, GatheringSteam, and SituationalSword. Compare and contrast TacticalRockPaperScissors and ElementalRockPaperScissors, which typically apply to an entire combat system as opposed to just one attack. Contrast FixedDamageAttack and PercentDamageAttack, which typically ignore variables usually taken into account, and RandomizedDamageAttack, when the damage is completely random. Compare and contrast DamageIncreasingDebuff, InjuredVulnerability, and AttackItsWeakPoint when it's a property of the ''defender'' rather than the ''attack'' that affects the amount of damage dealt, and StatusBuff where it's a property of a beneficial spell.

* All of Fiend Hunter abilities of Gun Mage in ''Videogame/FinalFantasyX2'' are these, each of them dealing quadruple damage to specific class of enemies such as Elementals, Lizards, Canines and so on.

** Some moves like Gyro Ball or Electro Ball calculate their base damage on the user's stats relative to the target's. Other moves are more powerful depending on the target's current health[[note]]such as Brine[[/note]] or debuffs[[note]]such as Venoshock[[/note]] or even whether the target has previously used a certain move such as Stomp.[[note]]Stomp's power is boosted if target had used Minimize prior to the attack.[[/note]]