History Main / UnblockableAttack

** [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Michelangelo]] pays homage to Ryuko Ranbu with his own rendition of it in the {{UsefulNotes/SNES}} version of [[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTournamentFighters TMNT: Tournament Fighters]]. As is the case in ''Art of Fighting'', Mikey's "rage guage" must be full, resulting in a full screen dash and an unblockable beatdown.

* The Long Gun from ''WebComic/SchlockMercenary'', which is a city-sized plasma cannon that generate their own wormhole that they fire into, with the shot traveling through to emerge wherever the wormhole opens up again, usually ''inside'' the target. It is so feared because it can fire from pretty much anywhere in the galaxy to hit any coordinate in the galaxy the user wishes with pinpoint accuracy, ignoring armouring, DeflectorShields, teraport denials and every other known form of defence. The only way to defend against a Long Gun attack is, simply, to not be near its target when it fires, which requires either blinding the foe or moving completely at random so the shot emerges slightly off-kilter. [[spoiler:The final arcs of the comic reveal that the invention and proliferation of Long Guns amongst galactic powers is a surefire sign of the end of a cycle of RecursivePrecursors due to MutuallyAssuredDestruction becoming Assured Mutual Destruction.]]

* The Long Gun from ''WebComic/SchlockMercenary'', which are city-sized plasma cannons that generate their own wormhole that they fire into, with the shot traveling through to emerge wherever the wormhole opens up again, usually ''inside'' the target. It is so feared because it can fire from pretty much anywhere in the galaxy to hit anywhere else in the galaxy the user can see, ignoring armouring, DeflectorShields, teraport denials and every other known form of defence. The only way to defend against a Long Gun attack is, simply, to not be near its target when it fires, which requires either blinding the foe or moving completely at random so the shot emerges slightly off-kilter.

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'', Gaki's "''[[BigEater Gei'inbashoku]]''" skill, which may or may not allow her to swallow an enemy whole but still deals damage nonetheless, cannot be blocked even by Seimei's DeflectorShield.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', One of Fiamma of the Right's powers via the Holy Right is to annihilate anything it hits without any destructive force, resulting in this. And there's no known drawbacks to using it aside from the general weakness that each usage of the Holy Right slowly decays it. The only things that can counter it are Touma's AntiMagic right hand [[spoiler:and the EldritchAbomination [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan sealed in his body thanks to it]]]].

* ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'':

** ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': One of the buffs your Servants or your enemies can gain lets them ignore the opponent's Invincibility buffs, damaging them normally whereas any other attack (even [[LimitBreak a Noble Phantasm]]) would do nothing for as long as the buff is up. Curiously, the Pierce Invincibility buff also allows a unit to attack an enemy with Evasion, though this might have to do with the fact that Invincibility is treated as a strictly better version of Evasion in terms of gameplay. (There's also a [[AlwaysAccurateAttack Sure-Hit]] buff that ignores Evasion, but not Invincibility, which is consequently a step down from its Pierce Invincibility counterpart.)

[[caption-width-right:350:Protip: if your opponent has dark energy radiating from their body, don't block; ''run.''[[note*]]Or make a really cheap jab![[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Protip: if your opponent has dark energy radiating from their body, don't block; ''run.'' [[labelnote:*]]Or make a really cheap jab![[/labelnote]]]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Fan Fiction ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Protip: if your opponent has dark energy radiating from their body, don't block; ''run.'' [[labelnote:*]](Or make a really cheap jab!)[[/labelnote]]]]

-->-- '''[[https://magiccards.info/ddk/en/32.html Death Grasp]],''' ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''

* ''[[VideoGame/ArtOfFighting Art of Fighting's]]'' Ryuko Ranbu couldn't be blocked and was so devastating that only Ryo, Robert, and the game's secret boss [[spoiler: Mr. Karate]] had access to it. It was toned down in ''VideoGame/{{The King of Fighters}}'', particularly the later installments where it was made blockable and did considerably less damage. At least, until ''2002'', where Robert gained an HDM version that has short range (as opposed to the usual fullscreen dash animation), but is again unblockable and drains just over half the opponent's energy.

** This falls into RealityWarper territory as it even overrides NoSell defensive abilities like "automatically undo my death with time travel". This allows her to [[spoiler: kill Gray Boy and Scion. It's revealed the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that the settings powers come from use this power as their primary weapon against each other.]]

* These are a staple of the ''VideoGame/{{Soul|Series}}'' series, with virtually every character having at least one unblockable move. They are typically slow, [[KillItWithFire highly telegraphed]], and can be easily ducked or dodged by an alert opponent. Should it land, however, the resulting damage is often quite high. It's also possible to cancel out of them mid-animation, meaning they're likely to get more use as a feint to trip up human opponents and open them to another attack ([[TheAllSeeingAI in either case, they're not especially useful against the CPU]]).
** The Soul Charge ability also present in the games makes some more common attacks unblockable as well.
*** Some special weapons make their characters unable to block ''any'' attack, most notably Misturugi and the Damascus Blade. It makes up for it with greatly increased damage.
** This is also the case for ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}'', another Namco fighting series that preceded ''Soul Edge'' and ''VideoGame/{{Soulcalibur}}''.

** This is also the case for ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', another Namco fighting series that preceded ''Soul Edge'' and ''VideoGame/{{Soulcalibur}}''.

* ''LightNovel/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'': The eponymous "Spellblades" are a set of (initially) six offensive techniques [[MagicKnight merging magic and sword arts]], described in an {{epigraph}} to volume 1 as ''"A strike that can be neither dodged nor blocked, thereby guaranteeing death. Fulfill these conditions within the one-step, one-spell distance, and you have what is called a 'spellblade.'"'' So far, three have been identified in the series.

** Flourishes are {{Charged Attack}}s that break through an enemy's Block, deal extra damage, and can cause {{Knockback}}. In ''VideoGame/FableI''' and ''[[VideoGame/FableIII III]]'', they can always be performed, while in ''VideoGame/FableII'', the ability needs to be purchased through the [[SkillScoresAndPerks skill tree]].

* ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'' has the No Normal Defense advantage, that makes an attack ignore all points of defense or armor. (Any attack bought with this has to be NoSell against one exception, eg a gas attack that won't work against the Life Support - Doesn't Breathe power.)
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' and the 8th Edition of ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' have mortal wounds, a game mechanic that represent extremely powerful and/or inevitable damage that a model or unit suffers. Such wounds hit and wound automatically and ignore all regular saves, some special rules allow the chance to save or recover such wounds however.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': One of the buffs your Servants or your enemies can gain lets them ignore the opponent's Invincibility buffs, damaging them normally whereas any other attack (even [[LimitBreak a Noble Phantasm]]) would do nothing for as long as the buff is up. Curiously, the Pierce Invincibility buff also allows a unit to attack an enemy with Evasion, though this might have to do with the fact that Invincibility is treated as a strictly better version of Evasion in terms of gameplay. (There's also a [[AlwaysAccurateAttack Sure-Hit]] buff that ignores Evasion, but not Invincibility, which is consequently a step down from its Pierce Invincibility counterpart.)

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' gives us Gae Bolg, Lancer's spear which has an [[AlwaysAccurateAttack Always Accurate]] OneHitKill attack. When its ability activates the spear pierces the target's heart and [[RealityWarper reality is then rewritten]] to match that outcome. If you have a high enough LuckStat or Divinity, it's possible to avoid having your heart pierced and 'only' take an almost-unhealable hit elsewhere on your body.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', One of Fiamma of the Right's powers via the Holy Right is to annihilate anything it hits without any destructive force, resulting in this. And there's no known drawbacks to using it aside from the general weakness that each usage of the Holy Right slowly decays it. The only things that can counter it are Touma's AntiMagic right hand [[spoiler:and the EldritchAbomination [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan sealed in his body thanks to it]]]].

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' gives us Gae Bolg, Lancer's spear which has an [[AlwaysAccurateAttack Always Accurate]] OneHitKill attack. When its ability activates the spear pierces the target's heart and [[RealityWarper reality is then rewritten]] to match that outcome. If you have a high enough LuckStat or Divinity, it's possible to avoid having your heart pierced and 'only' take an almost-unhealable hit elsewhere on your body.

* ''Manga/Overlord2012'':
** While he was still a gamer, Ainz' build focused on instant-death attacks, few of which really worked [[ContractualBossImmunity for obvious balance reasons]]. In the New World, he discovered that these limitations are gone, which greatly increases his power. However, he does have an ability that removes any resistance to instant death (so rare he only really discovered it by accident) at the price of delaying the effect... for twelve seconds.
** Succulent ''appears'' to have these, as Climb discovers that no matter how well he blocks, he gets slashed anyway. He quickly figures out that Succulent is actually using illusion magic to make a fake sword arm and make his real sword arm invisible.

* ''LightNovel/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'': The eponymous "Spellblades" are a set of (initially) six offensive techniques [[MagicKnight merging magic and sword arts]], described in an {{epigraph}} to volume 1 as ''"A strike that can be neither dodged nor blocked, thereby guaranteeing death. Fulfill these conditions within the one-step, one-spell distance, and you have what is called a 'spellblade.'"'' So far, three have been identified in the series.
** The Second Spellblade, "Creumbra, the self-racing shadow", which exploits the explosive consequences of a mage's failed experiment in magically duplicating himself to disintegrate the opponent. [[spoiler:Used by Theodore [=McFarlane=] in volume 4 to slay an unidentified man attacking mages with a knife.]]
** The Fourth Spellblade, "Angustavia, the thread that crosses the abyss", which explores [[MultipleChoiceFuture possible futures]] to find and reach one where the wielder succeeds in striking down their opponent. [[spoiler:Previously learned by Chloe Halford, her son, main character Oliver Horn, is [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique able to use it in extremis]] by drawing on his mother's GhostMemory from her soul contained within him. He employs it in a one-cut duel against Darius Grenville in volume 1, and as a FinishingMove against Enrico Forghieri in volume 5.]]
** The currently unnamed Seventh Spellblade, with which the wielder uses sheer force of will to simply cut everything between themselves and their target, [[AbsurdlySharpBlade even the space between them]]. [[spoiler:Invented by [[TheLancer Nanao Hibiya]] in her and Oliver's fight with Vera Miligan, in order to defeat the basilisk eye on Miligan's left hand when she's out of range of a conventional strike. [[AchievementsInIgnorance Nanao herself doesn't know how she did it]] and is so far unable to duplicate it.]]

* The [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star's]] [[WaveMotionGun superlaser]]. Given that it's designed to [[EarthShatteringKaboom one-shot a planet]], it's no surprise that a starship's DeflectorShields would offer no effective protection. (It would be like trying to use medieval chain mail to defend against a 21st-century cruise missile.) As Admiral Ackbar says, "Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude!"

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', the Killing Curse ''Avada Kedavra'' cannot be blocked by shielding spells, and is an unsurvivable OneHitKill under normal circumstances, meriting it the rank of Unforgivable. The only known circumstances that block it are if someone else already made a HeroicSacrifice specifically to protect you, or if you fire a spell at the same time using a MagicWand made from the same core as your would-be killer's wand. (The films imply that any offensive spell fired at the same time from any wand can parry ''Avada Kedavra'', creating a BeamOWar that generates potentially deadly backscatter.) Or you can try to dodge it -- assuming you're fast enough. Or block it with a solid object. Okay, it's ''almost'' unblockable.

->''Plate mail, the skin of the chest, the rib cage, the heart — all useless against the mage who can reach directly for the soul.''

* Pick a ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' game and you'll spot this trope. ''Persona 3'' has the infamous (and aptly named) "Armageddon" attack, which cannot miss, cannot be blocked, and can destroy almost any opponent in a rather spectacular fashion. If it's a [[invoked]]ThatOneBoss, it almost always can inflict Almighty damage, giving the boss the option of wiping out the party immediately or -- in the more sadistic variant -- when the boss gets bored and the player has come to believe victory is possible. [[UpToEleven The bonus bosses break the game's damage limit.]] Aside from Armageddon, however, it is possible to miss and/or dodge an Almighty attack; these attacks simply can't be blocked ''by anything.''

** Flourishes are {{Charged Attack}}s that break through an enemy's Block, deal extra damage, and can cause {{Knockback}}. In ''VideoGame/FableI''' and ''[[VideoGame/FableIII III]]'', they can always be performed, while in ''VideoGame/FableII'', the ability needs to be purchased through the SkillTree.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' is all over the place. Some large projectiles (truck-launched SCUDs and Tomahawk missiles) can be shot down, while the US Paladin tank has a laser that can shoot down unit-launched missiles. Superweapons are unblockable (the building itself needs to be destroyed/depowered), and while the air-launched General powers ([[MoreDakka A-10 strike]], fuel-air / EMP / anthrax bomb) can be shot down with enough guns, only the Chinese artillery barrage is entirely unblockable (you can hear it firing, and with enough map coverage you'll see the incoming shells on the minimap, but the only defense is to keep your units moving and dispersed).

** Note this falls into RealityWarper territory as it even overrides other NoSell powers like "automatically undo my death with time travel". This allows her to [[spoiler: kill Gray Boy and Scion. It's revealed her power was originally a sting super-powered Eldritch Abominations used to kill each other.]]

* ''VideoGame/ThemsFightinHerds'': Paprika's "Kiss" is a GrappleMove which can not be blocked or broken out of, but can be dodged by jumping into the air.