History Main / TellMeHowYouFight

* '''PowersDoTheFighting''': Similar to the AttackReflector example above, this can imply that the character is lazy and/or overreliant on his powers. They will never bother dodging, unless faced with a strong enough attack that can break through their powers. If this happens and they fail avoiding the attack, [[OneHitKill that will likely result in an instant defeat right there]]. Characters that fight like this are usually villains, as bad guys tend to be [[TheLawOfPowerProportionateToEffort allowed to be this powerful with little effort]].

* '''PowersDoTheFighting''': Similar to the AttackReflector example above, this can imply that the character is lazy and/or overreliant on his powers. They will never bother dodging, unless faced with a strong enough attack that can break through their powers. If this happens and he fails avoiding the attack, [[OneHitKill he'll probably be defeated right there]]. Characters that fight like this are usually villains, as bad guys tend to be [[TheLawOfPowerProportionateToEffort allowed to be this powerful with little effort]].
* '''FightsLikeANormal''': The inverse of the above. If a superpowered character prefers good old martial arts, then either he is too [[JustToyingWithThem arrogant]] (villain) or [[AfraidOfTheirOwnStrength afraid]] (hero) to use his powers, or he might simply find "normal" skills more enjoyable (either hero or villain). Alternatively, the character might not have a power suitable for fighting (for example, {{Telepathy}}), in which case he is likely to use it in conjuction with his martial skills (for example, predicting moves from a foe through {{Telepathy}}) to show that HeartIsAnAwesomePower.

* '''PowersDoTheFighting''': Similar to the AttackReflector example above, this can imply that the character is lazy and/or overreliant on his powers. He will never bother dodging, unless faced with a strong enough attack that can break through his powers. If this happens and he fails avoiding the attack, [[OneHitKill he'll probably be defeated right there]]. Characters that fight like this are usually villains, as bad guys tend to be [[TheLawOfPowerProportionateToEffort allowed to be this powerful with little effort]].

* '''Quick, Elegant Strikes:''' Character settles the dispute with one or two sudden, swift punches. This style often shows that a character is refined, often royalty, and usually very arrogant as well. See also FingerPokeOfDoom. A GradualGrinder may finish this way. Also see Can't Touch This below.

* ''Film/{{Hero}}'': Flying Snow is fast and elegant to Fading Moon's suicidal aggression. Long Sky handicaps himself by leaving the head of his spear covered for his entire battle with the Elite Guards.

* Though it's never commented on in-universe, the fighting styles of characters in ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' add another layer to the philosophy of the movie. Explained [[http://plotlessviolence.comicgenesis.com/d/20061112.html here]].

* Knees and elbows from Muay Thai, first made popular by Tony Jaa in ''Film/OngBak'', represent a sort of nuclear option in a hand to hand fight. ''[[Film/TomYumGoong The Protector]]'' took this further. Between the movies, there tends to be a progression as our somewhat pacifistic hero meets bigger and badder enemies: push kicks and palm strikes, to punches and kicks, and finally to knees and elbow. Of course, to use knees and elbows you have to get closer to your opponent, and in some cases jump on their head, but with some acrobatics one can land a flying double knees to the face, or double elbows to the top of the skull. But hey, that's what a guy like Tony Jaa (5'6" 136 lbs) has to do to beat Nathan Jones (6'11" 350 lbs).\\
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The principle is carried over from Real Life Muay Thai as well: Strike with brutality and precision and take out your opponent before he takes you out. Elbows are actually more efficient and less harmful to yourself than striking with a fist while at the same time providing ample knockout power, while using your knees instead of your feet prevents potential harm to your ankles.

** Xialing has a very modern style with a lot of grappling (rare in Chinese martial arts), showing her indendence and lack of ties to the past.

** Shang-Chi himself uses a variant of his Wenwu's fighting style (which makes sense, as the latter put him through TrainingFromHell for seven years), but trades some of the brute force for finesse, which reflects his compassionate nature in contrast to his father's brutality. Later in the film, he studies his mother's style and adopts elements from that for their final battle.

** Katy is, for most of the film, an ActionSurvivor who occasionally makes use of ConfusionFu, which makes sense with her status as a previously-UnwittingMuggleFriend in way over her head. Just before the final battle, she starts training in archery - lacking Shang-Chi and his family's martial arts training, she needs to attack from a distance to avoid getting killed.

** Miyagi-do on the other hand is a form of karate that has been perfected over many generations in Okinawa, and it emphasizes balance and focus over brute strength and intimidation. Much of the moves Miyagi teaches Daniel is taught to him using [[WaxOnWaxOff mundane chores to build up his muscles and teach him defensive moves via muscle-memory]], this a reflection the style's grassroots-origins. It would not be several weeks into his training until Miyagi teaches him how to go on the offensive, and even then most attacks used are either counterattacks or a form of DeadlyDodging (citing the Crane Kick and Drum-Technique), reflecting Miyagi's MartialPacifist philosophy.

For a weapon-specific version, try WeaponOfChoice. When a person's specific identity can be deduced from their fighting style (not just general traits), that's FightingFingerprint.

* ''Series/CobraKai'': The main characters all train Cobra Kai-style karate under Johnny Lawrence, but use the style in wildly different ways, which mesh with their personalities.
** Miguel is Johnny's first and star pupil, and he has internalized Cobra Kai's CombatPragmatist values the most. He disdains big, showy attacks for a SimpleYetAwesome series of basic kicks and punches, but delivered with pinpoint precision and overwhelming power. He is also the best at skirting the edge of what is acceptable in any given fight without ever actually going outside.
** Aisha takes her attitude to the verbal bullying she endured in school into the dojo, preferring to simply [[StoneWall play defense and use her size and bulk to soak hits]] until her opponent makes a mistake, which she then pounces on and exploits. She rarely hits anyone more than once, but never really has to.
** Hawk, on the other hand, is a complete [[TheBerserker berserker]], who will take the path that hurts his opponent the most, no matter what. Interestingly, Hawk is still the same insecure dork he always was, but took to the "power without restraint" part of the Cobra Kai ethos like a duck to water and is now inflicting the pain he suffered at his bullies' hands on the world. And ''enjoying'' it.

** Being a scrappy underdog with a love for the Videogame/DragonQuest series, Ichiban Kasuga is [[WeakButSkilled comparatively weaker and more reliant on allies than other protagonists]] with a wild imagination that has him envision himself as the hero of a grand RPG adventure (which to be fair, he is).

** Lightsaber combat has many different styles that emphasize different things. Makashi is the style of precision and pragmatism, and is also used extensively by Count Dooku, who is WickedCultured, and sees the "hops and wheels" of CombatParkour to be "for the rabble." Soresu emphasizes constant motion, always keeping the lightsaber moving so it's on its way to deflecting the next incoming attack even if it's not incoming yet. As one would expect, Obi-Wan, who doesn't put effort into hurting people, is the acknowledged master of this style in the ''Literature/RevengeOfTheSith'' novelization. "Not ''a'' master. ''The'' master." When the man who invented his own school of lightsaber combat, and is Creator/SamuelLJackson, says "''the'' master", you listen. Anakin, Obi-wan's much more HotBlooded and aggressive apprentice, uses Djem So, a power-based and more aggressive derivative of Soresu that emphasized heavy power blows.

** Being a scrappy underdog with a love for the Videogame/DragonQuest series, Ichiban Kasuga is [[WeakButSkilled comparatively weaker and more reliant on allies than other protagonists]] but is also better at working in a team.

* ''TabletopGame/FadingSuns'' allows the player character to specialise in martial arts. There are several kinds of 'em, and all of them are quite {{Troperrific}}: "quick, elegant strikes" (nobility favourite), two CombatPragmatist styles (one for gritty mercenaries and the other for [[OurElvesAreBetter dark elf-like]] [[RecycledInSpace aliens]]), a fancy-schmancy flamboyant style (popular among most mystic and philosophical of noble houses), and so on. In fact, there's at least one for each of the patterns described above.

* ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'': Zak Gramarye engages his potential defense attorneys in a game of poker for this reason. [[spoiler:Kristoph Gavin misinterpreted this as StrengthEqualsWorthiness, as Phoenix had actually ''won'' his poker game against Zak; Zak, however, was not paying attention to the ''outcome'' so much as the ''play style''...and in his game against Gavin, he (correctly) saw a ruthless streak that he deemed dangerous.]]

** [[{{Sadist}} Terumi]] fights with multihit weak attacks to cause DeathOfAThousandCuts, Mostly because he enjoys causing others pain.

** The rare times she tried to fight hand-to-hand [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness at the start of the series]], Sailor Moon went for the Unnecessary Movements-alluding to the fact she had no idea what she was doing aside for trying (and failing) to imitate her idol, Sailor V. She almost completely stop fighting in a meelee once she gains experience and gets some training (from Sailor V herself, no less), resorting to it only when caught too close and needs to run or is facing some normal criminals.

* '''VictoryByEndurance:''' Simply outlasting the opponent, sometimes by way of psychological warfare (annoying them to the point where they reveal their ace in the hole prematurely) or being a StoneWall. The default methodology of a WeakButSkilled fighter; always loses to an IncreasinglyLethalEnemy.

** Speaking of Jackson's character, Mace Windu, the "own school" he created is Vapaad, a variant of a style called Juyo in which the user feels and channels all the emotions and passions of battle, in near-defiance of the Jedi Order's stoicism and potentially skirting close to the Dark Side--which is all rather telling about Windu, isn't it? ''Literature/{{Shatterpoint}}'' explains his use of the style--Windu is a BloodKnight who truly ''enjoys'' fighting, and channels his inner rage through the iron will of his style so that it does not take control of him.

* In real life can be hit or miss. Sparring against a person can often tell you quite a lot about their general personality, such things as self-confidence, affability, anger issues, overconfidence, brutality and a number of other points will all be visible in their fighting style. On the other hand, anyone who has done wrestling or sparring with friends knows there is always that person who is a kind and gentle person in real life but a beast on the mat.

* '''CloseRangeCombatant''': The inverse of the above, with the implications also being inversed. The character in this case is strong, confident and/or reckless, shining on hand-to-hand combat and often overlapping with the suicidal tactics described above, but with an emphasis on this character's lack of reach being a potentially [[CripplingOverspecialization crippling weakness]].

* '''LongRangeFighter''': Shines from a distance, fails horribly at close combat. The implication here is that the character is too physically frail, smart and/or cowardly to attempt getting close and personal, so they will rely on magic, PsychicPowers, KiAttacks, [[RubberMan extendable limbs]] or whatever gives them the reach advantage to take down the opponent. Alternately, it means that the fighter is [[GuysSmashGirlsShoot a woman]], for whom this is somewhat expected, especially a ProperLady.

->'''Eliot:''' The tall one, the way he used the knife--ex-marine, probably force recon.\\