History Main / StrongEnemiesLowRewards

** Caravan Guard Mice in the Fiery Warpath are either resistant to or immune to all trap types, and if you fail to catch them, they can reinforce the mice waves by adding one of each type, prolonging the wave. If you ''do'' manage to catch them, they give a very measly 900 gold and points each compared to the several thousand that every other mouse gives.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'': A {{Mon}} catching variant. You can encounter very high-level Pokémon in the Wild Area, often up to twenty levels higher than what your team is expected to be at the time. However, while it is possible to defeat these Pokémon, and they give a lot of experience if you do, they can't be caught.

* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': Every enemy in the titular [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Darkest Dungeon]] will not drop any loot [[spoiler: except for the Shuffling Horror dropping an [InfinityPlusOneSword Ancestral trinket]] from the Shambler loot pool and the Final Boss returning the trinkets from your sacrificed heroes]]. Considering that almost every enemy in said dungeon are DemonicSpiders that can inflict terrifyingly high amounts of DamageOverTime, [[MoraleMechanic Stress damage]], and potent debuffs with ease, it’s usually a good idea to instead stock up on as much supplies as possible instead of cheating out on supplies.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': The Warden, despite being one of the most powerful enemies in the game, doesn't drop anything besides a meagre amount of experience points and a Sculk Catalyst (which isn't too rare of an item) when killed. It doesn't even count towards the "Monsters Hunted" achievement, which requires killing one of every Hostile Mob type in the game. This is intentional, since [[RunOrDie the point of the Warden is to be avoided, not fought]], and attempting to kill it almost falls under the LordBritishPostulate.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': The Warden, despite being one of the most powerful enemies in the game, doesn't drop anything besides a meagre amount of experience points and a Sculk Catalyst (which isn't too rare of an item) when killed. This is intentional, since [[RunOrDie the point of the Warden is to be avoided, not fought]], and attempting to kill it almost falls under the LordBritishPostulate.

[[folder:Real-Time Strategy]]
* ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'': Getting caught by [[AdvancingWallOfDoom the Rebel Fleet]] will put you in a fight against an elite rebel ship guaranteed to have weapons and defences that can easily counter yours. If you somehow manage to defeat this ship (whether by destroying it or killing its crew), all you will get is a single fuel cell as you don't get much time to scavenge properly with all that fleet of [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized angry rebels]] surrounding you and ''still'' pelting you with powerful projectiles.

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': Immediately after OpeningTheSandbox, the game puts a Tree Sentinel field boss in front of you and expects you to figure out that you should give this mounted, heavily-armored giant of a knight a wide berth and come back ''much'' later. And even if you, through summons, luck, and a ton of patience, manage to wear him down on your first run-in, all you get for your troubles are 3,200 runes (or about 2 levels at that point) and an axe you won't be able to wield for another 10 hours, at least. The purpose of this encounter is actually to teach you that field bosses can be easily avoided -- a concept quite foreign to ''Soulsborne'' veterans, as you just couldn't do that in older games.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': The Warden, despite being one of the most powerful enemies in the game, doesn't drop anything besides a meagre amount of experience points when killed. This is intentional, since [[RunOrDie the point of the Warden is to be avoided, not fought]], and attempting to kill it almost falls under the LordBritishPostulate.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': The Warden, despite being one of the most powerful enemies in the game, doesn't drop anything besides a meagre amount of experience points when killed. This is intentional, since [[HopelessBossFight the point of the Warden is to be avoided, not fought]], and attempting to kill it almost falls under the LordBritishPostulate.

* The Snow Golems in ''VideoGame/KingdomRush: Vengeance''. These enemies can be dealt with in one of two ways -- either by spending 200 gold to deal with them prematurely before they turn active, or by fighting and killing them after they have done so. In the latter case, the player will have to face an strong enemy with more health than any GiantMook in the game, and drops a ''measly'' 25 gold when killed.

[[folder:Real-Time Strategy]]
* ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'': Getting caught by [[AdvancingWallOfDoom the Rebel Fleet]] will put you in a fight against an elite rebel ship guaranteed to have weapons and defences that can easily counter yours. If you somehow manage to defeat this ship (whether by destroying it or killing its crew), all you will get is a single fuel cell as you don't get much time to scavenge properly with all that fleet of [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized angry rebels]] surrounding you and ''still'' pelting you with powerful projectiles.

* ''Videogame/XenobladeChronicles'' series: Zig-zagged. High-level enemies can and will drop their standard drops if the player manages to kill them. However, if the party members are too low a level, the amount of experience earned by killing the monster in question is capped, meaning it would be more worth it to go after enemies closer in level and less difficult.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': Eridan kills all the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]] inhabiting his Sburb planet, despite the fact that they aren't initially aggressive, are {{Demonic Spider}}s in a fight, and don't drop any loot. He complains about this but never realizes that he's supposed to be working with them on his personal quest instead.

Typically, this tactic is used by developers to denote a target the players shouldn't be fighting, at least not yet. {{Border Patrol}}s, {{Elite Mook}}s, and important [=NPC=]s are common targets for this treatment, and common rewards to deter include ExperiencePoints, money, crafting materials, [[TwentyBearAsses quest items]], and high-quality {{Random Drop}}s usually reserved for the late-game. It generally works as an alternative to either enemies [[BeefGate that are just too strong for the player to fight]] (while avoiding the pitfall of being [[LordBritishPostulate taken as a challenge]]) or enemies that are just [[InvincibleMinorMinion straight-up invincible]]. In some cases, the effect can be achieved without the developers even foreseeing the enemy being beaten; if it's not programmed to drop loot on death, it won't. In games where monster hunting/capturing is the primary focus ({{Mons}} for example), the deterrent in this case is being unable to slay or capture monsters well above your current level.

** The skeletons in the cemetary by Firelink Shrine serve to indicate to a new player that they're going in the wrong direction; they have a ton of hitpoints and drop a mere fifty souls on death (in contrast, the [[TheGoomba Hollows]] on the "correct" path go down in two hits and drop upwards of sixty apiece). The player is intended to come back when the skeletons and Hollows pose about as much of a threat.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'': In the level "Eternal Stairway", the infinitely spawning Faceless have the Void Curse ability which causes them to give no experience when killed, so that what could easily turn into a rare grinding opportunity remains a tense fight to the exit.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': Eridan kills all the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]] inhabiting his Sburb planet, despite the fact that they aren't initially aggressive, are {{Demonic Spider}}s in a fight, and don't drop any loot. He complains about this, but never realizes that he's supposed to be working with them on his personal quest instead.

* ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'': Getting caught by [[AdvancingWallOfDoom the Rebel Fleet]] will put you in a fight against an elite rebel ship guaranteed to have weapons and defences that can easily counter yours. If you somehow manage to defeat this ship (whether by destroying it or killing its crew), all you will get is a single fuel cell as you don't get much time to scavenge propery with all that fleet of [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized angry rebels]] surrounding you and ''still'' pelting you with powerful projectiles.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': In the first encounter against Ser Cauthrien, she counts as an Elite Boss and is supported by a dozen archers, making this fight very hard and/or tedious, for relatively little reward. This is because the game intends for you to either surrender or [[HopelessBossFight fall and be captured]], in order to trigger the next story quest (where your companions break you out). If you actually ''win'' this battle, that quest and all of its rewards are skipped altogether. This is compounded by the fact that if you avoid fighting Ser Cauthrien the first time, you will encounter a considerably weaker version of her a few quests down the line, with exactly the same XP and loot rewards for defeating her. That said, thanks to a GoodBadBug, if you are able to kill Ser Cauthrien in the first fight, loot her, but then lose the overall fight, you'll get her great sword, called The Summer Sword, while still being able to do the jailbreak quest, and also encounter her later where you can get a second copy of the Summer Sword.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': In the first encounter against Ser Cauthrien, she counts as an Elite Boss and is supported by a dozen archers, making this fight very hard and/or tedious, for relatively little reward. This is because the game intends for you to either surrender or [[HopelessBossFight fall and be captured]], in order to trigger the next story quest (where your companions break you out). If you actually ''win'' this battle, that quest and all of its rewards are skipped altogether. This is compounded by the fact that if you avoid fighting Ser Cauthrien the first time, you will encounter a considerably weaker version of her a few quests down the line, with exactly the same XP and loot rewards for defeating her.

** That said, thanks to a GoodBadBug, if you are able to kill Ser Cauthrien in the first fight, loot her, but then lose the overall fight, you'll get her great sword, called The Summer Sword, while still being able to do the jailbreak quest, and also encounter her later where you can get a second copy of the Summer Sword.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': In the first encounter against Ser Cauthrien, she counts as an Elite Boss and is supported by a dozen archers, making this fight very hard and/or tedious, for relatively little reward. This is because the game intends for you to either surrender or [[HopelessBossFight fall and be captured]], in order to trigger the next story quest (where your companions break you out). If you actually ''win'' this battle, that quest and all of its rewards are skipped altogether. This is compounded by the fact that if you avoid fighting Cauthrien the first time, you will encounter a considerably weaker version of her a few quests down the line, with exactly the same XP and loot rewards for defeating her.

Suggested Indexes: ItemDropMechanic, LevelsAndExperienceTropes, NotTheWayItIsMeantToBePlayed, VideoGameDifficultyTropes, VideoGameRewards, VideoGameTropes

** The skeletons in the cemetary by Firelink Shrine serve to indicate to a new player that they're going in the wrong direction; they have a ton of hitpoints and drop a mere 50 souls on death (in contrast, the [[TheGoomba Hollows]] on the "correct" path go down in two hits and drop upwards of 60 apiece). The player is intended to come back when the skeletons and Hollows pose about as much of a threat.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'': A {{Mon}} catching variant. You can encounter very high-level Pokémon in the Wild Area, often up to 20 levels higher than what your team is expected to be at the time. However, while it is possible to defeat these Pokémon, and they give a lot of experience if you do, they can't be caught.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': Eridan kills all the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]] inhabiting his Sburb planet, despite the fact that they aren't initially aggressive, are {{Demonic Spider}}s in a fight, and don't drop any loot. He complains, but never realizes that he's supposed to be working with them on his personal quest instead.
* Referenced in ''Webcomic/WillSaveWorldForGold'': A pair of nearly-identical rangers come close to fighting, but call it off due to some persuasive arguments from their friend nearby. One of them notes that they have identical gear and thus wouldn't get much loot if they did end up killing each other.
[[/folder]]