History Main / WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE20GirlsNightOut Girl's Night Out]]", Supergirl and Batgirl team up to take down Livewire, [[Characters/BatmanPoisonIvy Poison Ivy]] and Harley Quinn. Harley's response every time the three villainesses find a locked door is to repeatedly (and futilely) hit the door with a large prop hammer. After Harley's second attempt, Ivy just looks at Livewire and says, "She tries so hard." Then Harley sneaks up and tries her hammer on [[NighInvulnerability Supergirl]]. It backfires hilariously.

** Hitler and his generals became so wedded to the blitzkrieg strategy that it precipitated two key defeats. In Stalingrad, an army trained for a fast and overwhelming victory in the open became bogged down in urban warfare it was not meant for. At Kursk, the Germans sought to stake everything on one final blitzkrieg to open the road to Moscow, only to realise [[SuicidalOverconfidence you can't blitz a prepared defence-in-depth]]. These two battles so weakened the German army that Russian victory became inevitable.

* In ''Series/TheSopranos'', every problem, goal, opportunity, inconvenience, etc. is addressed using intense violence, when the threat of violence, or even simple negotiation, would probably suffice.

Not related to [[DropTheHammer characters who use hammers as their (primary) weapon]] unless they use nothing but this hammer at every opportunity.

* ''{{ComicBook/Valhalla}}'': Thor is a subversion. Thor's comfort zone when it comes to problem-solving is "Hit it with [[DropTheHammer Mjolnir]] until it stops resisting", and Mjolnir's power and Thor's strength make this a valid solution to pretty much any problem. This leads a lot of beings to believe that Thor is helpless without the hammer, but this is repeatedly proven to not be the case. Thor is the strongest of the Aesir even without magical help, and quite capable in a fight, even unarmed and unarmored. Thor also possesses a strength-enhancing belt, a pair of armored gauntlets, and a magical mail hauberk, which are all powerful magical items in their own right (though not as powerful as Mjolnir). Finally, Thor is HotBlooded and impulsive, but he is far from stupid and has inherited some, though not all, of his father Odin's talent for strategy and intrigue.

* Myth/NorseMythology: Tales of Thór sport an [[OlderThanPrint early example]] of this trope, as his repertoire was so limited that he was always content to solve any problem [[DropTheHammer with a literal hammer]], no matter the odds. This was lampshaded, as Thór once lost the hammer to theft and was then screwed to the point of begging Loki's help to get it back. Averted once when Alvíss, the all-knowing king of the dwarfs, wanted to marry Thór's daughter Thrúd. Thór kept Alvíss busy and distracted with questions until sunrise, knowing that sunlight would turn the dwarf into stone.

** In multiplayer, the Krogan Warlord embraces this trope [[DropTheHammer in a very literal way.]] His melee attack? Smash it with a hammer. His active power? Smash it with a biotic hammer. His other active power? Smash it with an electrified hammer. His passive powers? Become better at smashing it with a hammer.

** Reinhardt can quote this trope upon getting a kill. ("When all you have is a hammer, everyone else is a nail.") Fittingly enough, his weapon is a [[DropTheHammer giant rocket-powered hammer]], and if he lands his ultimate ability (Earthshatter), he's got ''three seconds'' to use said hammer on his opponents without them being able to fight back. And since his hammer hits everything in front of him when he swings, it pretty much guarantees all non-tanks are ''boned.''

Sometimes, this is a little more elaborate, and the hero has to do something totally different first, like "cast 'dispel invulnerability' on the other guy." ''Then'' they get to fall back on their usual strategy to "punch them really hard in the face."

** Parodied with the show-within-a-show "Knight Boat" from "And Maggie Makes Three". A ''Series/KnightRider''-esque sapient crime-solving boat is never stymied when the crooks go on land, because, as Bart and Lisa say in this exchange, [[ContrivedCoincidence "There's always a canal." "Or an inlet." "Or a fjord."]].
** Played for laughts in "Brother's Little Helper". The only thing the doctors that diagnosed Bart can think of after the Focusyn seemingly drives him nuts is to give him more drugs (which is standard procedure for weaning someone off), but Marge still calls them out on this for good reason. In response, and to calm her down, they inject her with Valium (Homer was supposed to get injected too, but the automated syringe was full of air).

* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' in the show-within-a-show "Knight Boat" from "And Maggie Makes Three". A ''Series/KnightRider''-esque sapient crime-solving boat is never stymied when the crooks go on land, because, as Bart and Lisa say in this exchange, [[ContrivedCoincidence "There's always a canal." "Or an inlet." "Or a fjord."]].

* The Characters/{{Incredible Hulk|BruceBanner}} primarily deals with his problems by smashing them. He frequently violates the "clever trick" aspect of this by simply beating things harder and harder until they break anyway, regardless of how cleverly designed or how skilled they are at absorbing or avoiding damage. Hulk is thus the ultimate "hammer" and disabuser of the notion of rock/paper/scissors story design. Justified in that the Hulk gets stronger as he gets angrier, so the longer he fights, the stronger he gets, and the more capable he becomes of solving the problem by just plain smashing it.

* One of the older ''[[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]]'' annuals in his Creator/MarvelComics series involved [[Characters/MarvelComicsLoki Loki]] stealing his hammer (see Mythology below) in order to escape from his mystical prison. Thor fights through much of Asgard in order to get it back, solving various problems by making hammers out of nearby materials.

* ''Literature/KonoSuba'': Megumin is obsessed with her powerful Explosion spell and believes it is the answer to any situation. [[CripplingOverspecialization She absolutely refuses to learn any other spells and devotes all her resources to improving Explosion]].

* In ''LetsPlay/{{Boatmurdered}}'' once Operation Fuck The World (which when activated floods everything on the map outside the fortress with lava) was complete, it became their response to everything. Initially designed to provide a permanent [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill solution]] to the elephant problem, it was eventually used against goblin invaders, [[TheJuggernaut a bronze colossus]], an inoffensive merchant caravan come to trade with them, and a ''flood.'' The last of these was disastrous, creating an enormous cloud of steam that enveloped the fortress and scalded many dwarves to death.

** As Glynda Goodwitch notes, General Ironwood's go-to solution for problems is to throw as much military force at them. When worried about the safety of the Vytal Festival, he brings a massive fleet to Vale, and after the Fall of Beacon, closes the borders of Atlas and turns it into a police state, with soldiers and robots patrolling the streets. While Ironwood feels the displays of power will comfort the people while intimidating their enemies, these acts only raise tensions, making it perfect for Salem's DivideAndConquer methods.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hammerfight}}'': you swing a [[JustForPun hammer]] around your craft by moving it and letting the attached free-swinging hammer or sword get tugged around. That's it for attacking, defending, and everything.

* {{Deconstructed}} in ''Manga/ArmedGirlsMachiavellism'' with the Five Supreme Swords, because as good as they are with their kenjutsu styles they can also be preventable and outmanouvered by opponents without the same limit.
** {{Subverted}} with Mary, the one member of the Five Swords that doesn't practice Kenjutsu but UsefulNotes/HistoricalEuropeanMartialArts with a RoyalRapier, and also played straight with almost everyone who has to fight her: [[OutsideContextProblem being the one swordfighter who uses an European style, everyone constantly takes the wrong counters]] (and her choice of weapon even means she's mistaken for a fencer until much later).

* Very common for most ComicBook/XMen, especially more minor characters, to fall under the trope and be reliant solely on their mutant powers. This is not completely universal for every mutant though. For example, [[Characters/MarvelComicsGambit Gambit]] very notably has many non-mutant skills and can manipulate his powers in a lot of different ways. Generally, his well-known DeathDealer approach is most emphasized when he plays a minor role in a comic. Another example is their reliance on the FastballSpecial, especially during Creator/JossWhedon's run on ''Astonishing''. Lampshaded by Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}} when she once told [[Characters/XMen70sMembers Colossus]], "You can't just throw people at all your problems, dear." {{Justified|Trope}} in part; a usual aspect of mutants was that they had only one power (usually), and many of them have a highly specialized power. Still, they were able to use it creatively: [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]]' optic blast serves as an attack, can be used to slow his falling, [[MemeticMutation allows him to fly...]]

* The page quote comes back often in ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' novel ''Liberty's Crusade'', seeing how Mengsk's primary strategy to solve every problem is to plant a PSI Emitter near it and let the Zerg take care of the rest (followed by the entire planet being incinerated by the Protoss).

* How many times did ''Series/StarTrekTOriginalSeries'''s Captain Kirk [[TalkToTheFist punch an offending alien in the face]]? Or order his crew to [[BeamSpam fire phasers?]] Handheld phasers border between EveryDeviceIsASwissArmyKnife and this trope -- on the one hand they can be used in a fair number of non-weapon ways (plus, they can serve as improvised explosives), but on the other hand a lot of problems were solved by firing at someone/something until it fell down/exploded/disintegrated.

* Everything you do aside from moving and jumping in ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' involves applying ink to things, usually with a lot of force. In the single-player modes, applying ink is how your player character defeats enemies and bosses, navigates terrain, solves puzzles, stay hidden, search for things, deflect missiles, and save the world. It's rather convenient, then, that the [[spoiler:weapon designed to annihilate all life on Earth at the end of ''VideoGame/Splatoon2: Octo Expansion'' is solar-powered, as covering it in ink will render it inoperable.]]

--->'''Lambert:''' You can't fight fire with fire!\\

* ''Webcomic/{{Starslip}}'''s Memnon Vanderbeam apparently thinks all the universe's problems can be solved through art theory. And tries to prove it. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity usually ensues.]]

* {{Duct tape|ForEverything}}. If it can't be fixed with duct tape, you're clearly just not using enough. There's even a saying that puts it quite nicely: "If it shouldn't move but does -- Duct Tape. If it should but doesn't -- [=WD40=]."

Occasionally it happens because of complacency; the character does have other abilities/methods to do the job, but they have used "the hammer" so much to be really effective with it, and thus those other methods are largely redundant for them (save for special occasions). Especially true for a given character's SignatureMove and especially FinishingMove, or worse, [[SeriousBusiness it's part of the work's premise.]] See ComplacentGamingSyndrome for cases of video game players about this.

This generally happens due to the InverseLawOfUtilityAndLethality; the more a character specializes in combat, the smaller the characters' repertoire. If the character is so attached to his 'hammer' that he cannot adapt to, say, a screwdriver, see CripplingOverspecialization.

TheAllSolvingHammer is when this becomes a RunningGag. Can sometimes be related to WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway (and HeartIsAnAwesomePower if used creatively) and DeathOfAThousandCuts. See also PlotTailoredToTheParty, SmashMook. YourAnswerToEverything may be said about this, and it might be a NewAbilityAddiction if it's because they just got it. Contrast EveryDeviceIsASwissArmyKnife, SwissArmyWeapon and SwissArmySuperpower when something does have enough functions to tackle a (plausibly) wide range of problems. Can overlap with QualityOverQuantity in the sense that skill with one tool beats skills with other tools.

This can often be the calling card of an InvincibleHero, since the lack of challenges which force them to change or upgrade their approach in much any way can eventually make them repetitive in action.

* {{Deconstructed}} in ''Manga/ArmedGirlsMachiavellism'' with the Five Supreme Swords, because as good as they are with their kenjutsu styles they can also be prevedible and outmanouvered by opponents without the same limit.

* In ''Manga/{{Blame}}'', Killy's solution to everything is "shoot it with the [[WeaponOfMassDestruction Gravitational]] [[WaveMotionGun Beam Emitter]]". Granted, when you have a pistol that can leave a 70km long hole in absolutely everything, that's one hell of a hammer to just swing around.

** Kenpachi Zaraki has no interest in the sort of tactics, strategy, or sophisticated moves used by other {{shinigami}}; he relies on his [[SuperStrength brute strength]] and insane durability to win. And even at that he wears an [[EyepatchOfPower eyepatch]] that [[PowerLimiter seals his energy]], wields his sword [[IAmNotLeftHanded one-handed to weaken his blows]], and purposely lets his opponents hit him.

** Yasutara Sado's El Directo was his hammer for a very long time, until he got his second hammer, La Muerte.

* Contractors in ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' get only one ticket in the SuperpowerLottery. Some adopt the "hit it with a hammer" approach and act like walking guns with a single type of ammo, but smarter or badass ones are more than just their powers. Hei and Wei, as martial artists, use sound tactics and combine powers with normal moves. In addition, some contractors are ''very'' versatile and find a MundaneUtility or dozen if possible. [[RazorFloss Force whip]] cuts bottle necks, people or incoming projectiles just as well. [[AnIcePerson Ice]] may immobilize, stab, or shield. [[ShockAndAwe Electrical discharges]] allow to attack via various conductors, repair a TV, [[spoiler:crack electrical locks, defibrillate hearts, tweak particle beams, alter substances]]...

* Inverted with ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' who seems to pull out a new equipment every episode to achieve similar goals. For example, he has a "One Inch Master", a cap that can shrink its wearer to one-inch height, despite this being redundant to the "Small Light". He also has multiple tools, all of which functions to duplicate objects: the duplicating mirror, the egg light (this can only be used for animal-shaped egg-laying objects), the bye-bye inn, etc.

* ''Manga/{{Kekkaishi}}'' has a good deal of this. As a [[BarrierWarrior Kekkaishi]] killing monsters typically comes down to 1) Form Barrier. 2) Explode what's in barrier. It starts to get interesting when characters realize that there's a hell of a lot you can do with just a box shaped barrier. Thin, long ones are like spikes, many small ones act like restraints, a barrier inside another barrier explodes exponentially harder. They have other powers, but they typically don't need them.

* This is arguably the entire point of the series ''Manga/TheLawOfUeki'' in which Junior High students are given a single power (usually transforming something into something else) in order to compete for the next candidate for God. The titular character Ueki is granted the ability to [[GreenThumb turn trash into trees]], and for the first half of the series he must find creative ways to do so. Played with as the series progresses, characters are given a "level 2" version of their power when they get stronger which gives them access to a whole other range of abilities. Also [[spoiler: Ueki is a heavenly being, which gives him access to a whole other arsenal of attacks that only people of his kind have. He starts relying on those ''a lot'']].
** The manga only sequel Law of Ueki Plus has Ueki going on an adventure with new friends and his new power is [[BlessedwithSuck literally controlling a mop]], but not just any mop [[spoiler: a ''special'' mop]].

** Generally speaking, a lot of the time [[CastSpeciation everyone sticks to what they're good at]]. However, the trade-off is that most of these abilities overlap. For example, Naruto's favorite technique is Shadow Clone Jutsu. While he is by far the most proficient user of the technique, [[http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Special:BrowseData/Jutsu?Jutsu_classification=Bunshinjutsu there are a ton of abilities that do a similar effect.]][[note]]Though the Shadow Clone Jutsu ''is'' the most versatile of this type; other jutsu to produce physical (rather than illusory) clones require actually having whatever substance the clones are made from on hand, while Shadow Clones are made entirely out of chakra. For somebody like Naruto who has a ridiculously large chakra capacity, that means he always produce as many clones as he needs for a given scenario, and can always make more when they're destroyed.[[/note]] The same is true of other types of techniques, and most of the best ninja tend to find ways to copy abilities from others using their unique skill set. For example, if there's an ability too difficult for Naruto to pull off, he usually uses a shadow clone to assist and comes with his own unique variant.

* ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'': The S-class heroes in general, at least the physical fighters, seem to find themselves in this category often, having a bit of trouble with regenerators because all they know how to do is, for example, smash things with a bat. However, with some good aim, proper knowledge of the enemy (in this case knowing the source of the regeneration) and skill, it can be overcome. Saitama himself, however, falls into this ''hard''. Enormous monster starts killing people and carving a swath through several cities? Punch it, monster's dead, problem over. Enormous meteor is a minute away from crashing into Earth and wiping out several cities? Jump out there, punch it, scatter it into smaller pieces that will just wreck one city, problem over. Smear campaign by jealous heroes? Punch them in front of everyone, embed them into the nearest wall, problem over. TheLancer wants a spar and won't stop until Saitama finally decides to go on the offensive? ''Almost'' punch him, let the windshear wreck the entire mountain range behind him, leave him gawking, problem over. Ultra-powerful alien with [[GoodThingYouCanHeal regeneration]] that renders the attacks useless? Punch him a whole lot until his HealingFactor is taxed and overcome, problem over. Same ultra-powerful alien tries to [[Anime/DragonBallZ pull a Frieza]] and destroy Earth with a giant KamehameHadoken? Punch the beam harder, split the fucking atmosphere, kill villain with that single punch, problem over. Saitama has displayed clever use of his available tools on several occasions (such as when he killed his first monster before he started his training), but by the time of the story he is so ridiculously overpowered that even when holding back as much as possible, he still [[OneHitKill kills everything in one punch]], so he really doesn't need to bother with anything else.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': The Team Rocket trio up to no good? Use a Pokémon to shock them or pop their balloon. A giant serpent gone mad, destroying the countryside? Why tranquilize it when you can defeat it with a couple of two-foot tall monsters? All of time and space in the process of being destroyed? Good thing we've got just the {{Mon}} for the job. Every once in a great while, a GuestStarPartyMember would throw a tranq dart at it, or calm it down with ThePowerOfFriendship, but 99% of the episodes have been solved by "battling it with a Pokémon until you can throw a Poké Ball at it." This is especially painfully obvious in the episode where Ash fights Brock for the Boulder Badge. What does he do when his Pikachu can't beat Brock in a straight fight? He charges his Pikachu up with MORE ELECTRICITY!. Misty offers to loan him a water Pokémon, which would have solved the problem and is the obvious solution. Ash goes with the lightning because he's stubborn and still a bit of an IdiotHero.

* Parodied in one episode of ''Anime/SamuraiPizzaCats'', where the MonsterOfTheWeek is fully defeated by a clever stratagem... but then Speedy performs his standard StockFootage finishing move anyway, because it's in his contract that he gets to do it OncePerEpisode.

** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': Kaiser was the epitome of this trope, before he had a FreakOut and got new cards. His entire strategy consisted of summoning Cyber End Dragon ''over and over again''. In fact, in the dub of ''The Graduation Duel, Part 2'' after Zane summons his Cyber End Dragon yet again, Jaden outright says "Ya know, I'm getting really tired of seeing this guy!

* ''{{ComicBook/Valhalla}}'': Thor is a subversion. Thor's comfort zone when it comes to problem-solving is "Hit it with [[DropTheHammer Mjolnir]] until it stops resisting", and Mjolnir's power and Thor's strength make this a valid solution to pretty much any problem. This leads a lot of beings to believe that Thor is helpless without the hammer, but this is repeatedly proven to not be the case. Thor is the strongest of the Aesir even without magical help, and quite capable in a fight, even unarmed and unarmored. Thor also possesses a strength-enhancing belt, a pair of armored gauntlets and a magical mail hauberk, which are all powerful magical items in their own right (though not as powerful as Mjolnir). Finally, Thor is HotBlooded and impulsive, but he is far from stupid, and has inherited some, though not all, of his father Odin's talent for strategy and intrigue.
* Very common for most Comicbook/XMen, especially more minor characters, to fall under the trope and be reliant solely on their mutant powers. This is not completely universal for every mutant though. For example, [[Characters/MarvelComicsGambit Gambit]] very notably has many non-mutant skills and can manipulate his powers in a lot of different ways. Generally, his well known DeathDealer approach is most emphasized when he plays a minor role in a comic. Another example is their reliance on the FastballSpecial, especially during Creator/JossWhedon's run on ''Astonishing''. Lampshaded by Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}} when she once told [[Characters/XMen70sMembers Colossus]], "You can't just throw people at all your problems, dear." {{Justified|Trope}} in part; a usual aspect of mutants was that they had only one power (usually), and many of them have a highly specialized power. Still, they were able to use it creatively: [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]]' optic blast serves as an attack, can be used to slow his falling, [[MemeticMutation allows him to fly...]]
* In [[Characters/IronManHeroes War Machine]]'s case, it's "When all you have is an electric minigun, a missile box and a crapload of other guns."

* Shirou in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11905736/10/Fate-Gamer-Night-Shota-Edition Fate Gamer Night]]'' currently only has swordsmanship for fighting. When he fights a BlobMonster, he's forced to cut it faster than it can regenerate until he finds it's core and destroys it. Afterwards, he's asked if he realized the monster is weak against fire.

** It's later revealed that this can potentially apply to [[spoiler:everyone to some degree, as people who take on specific roles or methods will gain skills designed to better aide them and will eventually be locked into those roles should they progress far enough. Thus unless one deliberately focuses on versatility from the beginning, they'll eventually only be able to use specific methods for the rest of their lives]].

* In ''Smash Kingdom'', King Dedede, a king with a nation of weapons and variance of abilities, is a bit too dependent on his hammer.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10264509/495/Tales-of-Fairies Dr Happy the Lurve Guru]]'', [[TheMatchmaker Mira]] enlists Happy to give romantic advices to their guildmates after he finally gets together with Carla. Though while Happy does give sage advice, they always involve fish in one form or another.

** EVE's problem solving tree is something like "Blast it with my arm cannon. Does it still need to be blasted more? Repeat as necessary."
** M-O, the obsessive cleaning bot, lives in a very black and white [Clean/[[MemeticMutation Foreign Contaminant]]] world. Even in battle, he rushes towards the enemies just to... deliver a maintenance job.

* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'': Nevermind your complicated bypassing of the security system, Breaker. Snake-Eyes can just do what he does best and stab it with a sword.

* ''Film/PoliceAcademy'': Tackleberry's solution to any problem is to shoot at it. This includes putting out a cigar, getting a boy out of a car to force him to go to school and ''rescuing a cat out of a tree.''
* ''Film/ShootEmUp'': The hero uses his gun to do just about everything, including cut the umbilical cord from a newborn.

* An electrician, a chemist, and an IT technician get on a car, but the engine doesn't start. "There must be a problem with the spark plugs", says the electrician. "No, it's the gasoline that has the wrong octane rating", replies the chemist. "[[HaveYouTriedRebooting What if we got off the car and on again?]]", says the IT tech. Extra points for this being a joke that came true. In the 1990's the idea of a car working like this was both ridiculous and funny, today most warning lights really are caused by errors that go away from restarting. Rudimentary computer knowledge has become a pretty useful hammer.

* Gilderoy Lockhart in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', who could do only one spell with any degree of competence: [[spoiler:[[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory erasure]]]]. On a general note, if it's a good guy, they will use Stupefy (stun) and Expelliarmus (disarm). If it's a bad guy, they will use Cruciatus (torture) and Avada Kedavra (kill). At first. Later when the Second War starts, there are plenty of good guys willing to use lethal or at the very least brute force on Dark Wizards, so much that Lupin calls Harry's having Expelliarmus as his trademark spell as childish.

* This became a problem for Luke Skywalker in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse. Granted, the Force isn't so much a hammer as it is a complete garage full of the best power tools money can't even begin to buy, but even the Jedi of the old order, flawed though they were, knew that Jedi had to have tools and training beyond lightsabers and the Force. It was "fixed", temporarily, by [[Creator/TimothyZahn one author]], who noted that Yoda, Obi-Wan, and so on didn't use the Force except when forced to make a point, and that excessive Force use -- coming to see the Force as a [[Series/DoctorWho sonic screwdriver]] -- was the equivalent of making a whole lot of noise all the time, making you unable to hear even important whispers. When he established the Academy, Luke initially doesn't see the use for any weapon but lightsabers. Corran Horn points out that lightsabers have no stun setting, and convinces Luke to have the trainees study basic unarmed combat, too[[note]]Corran would know, being a former street cop[[/note]].
* ''Literature/ThereIsNoEpicLootHereOnlyPuns'': The town of Durence has a single person, Seath, in charge of both common pests and lethal dangers. This is only fitting, since his solution to ''all'' problems involves [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill infernal fire from the 67th level of the Abyss]].
* ''Literature/VillainsDontDateHeroes'': [[spoiler:Rex has a minor mind-control power. Night Terror soon realizes that the reason he's a smarmy asshole is because he's never had to learn ''actual'' charisma. When facing two people immune to his power, he tries to talk them over to his side because that's always worked before, but has no success. When Night Terror confirms that he has no more tricks (and he's admitted to a long list of horrible things in front of Fialux), Night Terror casually disintegrates him]].

** Ten references this in one of his audiobooks as the reason he never carries a weapon. "If all you have is a gun, then all you see are things to destroy, and that's not who I am." It's not that he doesn't think there are situations that call for violence, he just doesn't want to risk it becoming his first resort. When all you have is an amazing intellect, and tools to get you access to all the most relevant data on what's going on, things are much less likely to end in a tragic misunderstanding.

** The Daleks were very clearly designed with one purpose in mind: Exterminate. They were given two appendages, neither of which even functions as a hand: a gun, and a plunger like device that can interface with technology (and even that can be used to kill). While early episodes showed that they ''can'' stun someone, it rarely comes up as an option; their general tactics are kill, kill, and kill some more. Even when performing tasks like interrogating someone who would have willingly shared intel with them, they make it lethal because it's what they do.

* Across assorted TV and live shows, Australian comedy troupe the Music/DougAnthonyAllStars had a running gag involving moral dilemmas, each of which would describe a particular quandary in varying amounts of detail, including situations involving alcoholism, losing a job and so on. The last line of each dilemma was inevitably "You have... a hammer." Except for unwanted pregnancies where it ends with "You have... '''a coathanger.'''"

* In ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'', [[SixthRanger Gou/Kamen Rider Mach]] uses Signal Bikes, which are much more straightforward in application than the gimmick superpowers the main protagonist's Shift Cars grant him. This makes them much easier to use, but also means he's limited to punching with his PowerFist and shooting what are mostly regular bullets with various homing properties.

* A nonviolent variant from ''Series/MythBusters'': No matter what the problem, Grant has the same solution: build a robot. And a "violent" variant from the same: if a myth is even tangentially related to explosions, there ''will'' be an explosion, even if they have to resort to calling in the bomb squad.

* In the early seasons of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', as [[Characters/SupermanTheCharacter Clark]]'s powers are limited to invulnerability, SuperSpeed and SuperStrength, his default attack is "throw the villain hard at something". In Season 2, he gains [[EyeBeams heat vision]], but his default attack is unchanged because it would otherwise be messy. As his SuperSpeed increases, he seems to start using "punching you at Mach 10" more often against tougher opponents. Hey, it worked even on [[Characters/SupermanBrainiacCharacter Brainiac]], Zor-El and Zod! Not to mention he [[spoiler:took down [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] with one of those]]...
* In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', the eponymous city is invaded by aliens in powered armor who have come to steal a device. During their escape, one provides cover by throwing up an energy shield which blocks bullets. Undaunted by this, the heroes unload on this guy for nearly 30 seconds, eventually breaking the shield and killing him.
* How many times did ''Series/StarTrekTOriginalSeries'''s Captain Kirk [[TalkToTheFist punch an offending alien in the face]]? Or order his crew to [[BeamSpam fire phasers?]] Handheld phasers borders between EveryDeviceIsASwissArmyKnife and this trope -- on the one hand they can be used in a fair number of non-weapon ways (plus, they can serve as improvised explosives), but on the other hand a lot of problems were solved by firing at someone/something until it fell down/exploded/disintegrated.

--> '''James:''' Don't hit it with the hammer.\\

* In ''Series/Tyrant2014'', Abuddin's military is trained primarily for brutally suppressing dissent among the people. When faced with the external threat of the Army of the Caliphate, rather than take a proactive stance early on, it institutes a brutal crackdown of possible sympathizers within its own borders... which naturally causes a lot of Abuddinians to flee over the border and join the Caliphate.

* Myth/NorseMythology: Tales of Thór sport an [[OlderThanPrint early example]] of this trope, as his repertoire was so limited that he was always content to solve any problem [[DropTheHammer with a literal hammer]], no matter the odds. This was lampshaded, as Thór once lost the hammer to theft, and was then screwed to the point of begging Loki's help to get it back. Averted once when Alvíss, the all-knowing king of the dwarfs, wanted to marry Thór's daughter Thrúd. Thór kept Alvíss busy and distracted with questions until sunrise, knowing that sunlight would turn the dwarf into stone.

** 5e Warlocks get a lot of nifty tricks at high level, but for much of their career, in combat, with their limited spell slots, the vast majority of problems end up being solved with two simple words: "[[BeamSpam eldritch blast]]".

** The [[DealWithTheDevil Green Sun Princes]] are explicitly told to [[DefiedTrope move away from this paradigm]]. What separates them from their Yozi masters is that they can think outside of the box and mix-and-match their masters' gimmicks to best deal with the situation at hands.

** The only thing the [[RedshirtArmy Imperial Guard]] have going for them? [[FiveRoundsRapid Guns]] [[BeamSpam and]] [[WeHaveReserves manpower]]. When confronted by the enemies of Man, they employ both of these, and if that doesn't work, they just keep throwing bigger guns and more men at it until it breaks. That said, their bigger guns tend to be ''really'' effective.

** The [[MachineWorship Adeptus Mechanicus]] have one main combat tactic. Apply guns. If that doesn't work, use More Gun. With the variety of weaponry, troops and relics available to them, though, that works most of the time if they're allowed to react to a defeat by opening up the remnants of a dozen apocalypses and going full [[LensmanArmsRace E.E]] [[Creator/EEDocSmith Doc Smith]] on the hostiles unlucky enough to piss of the Lords of Mars.

*** Averted in fluff. Tyranid Tyrants and [[ExaggeratedTrope especially]] the Swarmlord tend to be brilliant strategists fully capable to outwit Imperial Guard generals, Space Marines Chapter Masters and Eldar Autarchs. And Orks are not an easy target practice as well. Especially that Ghazghkull guy.

* In pretty much any first person shooter with a physics engine the player will find themselves trying to manipulate objects with guns or bombs rather than with their hands. Clearly the best way to move a can across a room is with a shotgun.

-->'''Mordecai:''' Like I said, instead of punching, I prefer to keep my distance from my target, pick my moment, then kill them with a single, well placed shot.\\

** ''VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance'' features a lot of this, due to the introduction of "Overloads", powerful super moves possessed by some characters, that become their go-to strategy for basically everything. Seraphina's is seduction, and she's generally unable to deal with anyone who is immune to her charms. Red Magnus can grow large, and the closest thing to tactics he possesses is "grow even larger". Majorita can raise fallen enemies as undead, so her one trick is to avoid you and throw armies of zombies in your way. This is even true in a metagaming sense; there are a couple attacks including the Overload "Comet Disaster" and the Sage's ability "Land Decimator" that attack every enemy on the map, so many endgame strategies simply amount to spamming those attacks with as powerful a unit as possible. It's to the degree where it's considered pointless to teach any unit an Overload other than "Comet Disaster" (or use any generic unit other than the Sage), because no other strategy is as effective.

** The New California Republic has gone from a five-city federation to conquering everything from parts of Washington in the north to parts of Baja in the south, and has started to expand eastward into the Mojave Desert. How do they deal with their problems there? They throw people at it. Brotherhood of Steel taking control of the Helios One solar power plant? Throw waves of bodies at it. Caesar's Legion trying to take over Hoover Dam? Throw people at it. As your companion Arcade Gannon states, when the NCR throws enough hands at something "they can make or break anything". Being the sole Old World-styled power this side of the Mississippi, they have the largest industrial base and the farms to support a population of their size, as well as a developed infrastructure and technology that, while not quite on par with the tech-hoarding Brotherhood of Steel, is more than a match for any tribals or raiders that might oppose them.
** Caesar's Legion functions the same way: a ZergRush of poorly-armed and -trained Legionnaires. This let them become a great power in the southwest by overwhelming and conquering their neighboring primitive tribes, but the Legion hit a wall when they encountered the NCR at Hoover Dam and fought an enemy with comparable numbers to their own, as well as decent firearms and combat armor for its basic soldiers. Which put the Legion at a disadvantage, since some of their grunts don't even have guns and are running in with spears or machetes and wearing pre-war football gear as ImprovisedArmour.

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''' Keyblade can solve any problem you come across because it is [[SwissArmyWeapon more versatile]] than most weapons, functioning as a Sword, Magic Wand, Skeleton Key, and ''Spaceship''. That doesn't change the fact that many of the problem a Keyblade Wielder comes across can be overcome by smacking the offending object with a giant key. Need to open a chest? Smack it! BigBad firing a giant cannon at you? Smack enemies into it! Evil computer program trying to kill you? It's okay, with a bit of help, your keyblade can shoot HACKING LAZERS! [[spoiler:Need a minion? Stab someone in the chest! They won't even die!]]
* Franchise/{{Kirby}}'s main ability is to inhale enemies into him, then either spit it out (towards other enemies and destroyables) or swallow it for a [[PowerCopying copy ability.]] Sure, said copy abilities vary a lot, and those abilities serve for solving different puzzles, but at the end of the day, it's all traced back to the inhale. Subverted for the spinoff games that usually will make him unable to inhale; some games will also hand you some kind of EleventhHourSuperpower when it's clear neither inhaling or copy ability would work against the final boss.

** This goes even more for when you're able to play as [[AntiHero Meta Knight]] (or sometimes [[RankScalesWithAsskicking King Dedede]]) who can't copy abilities like Kirby does (Dedede can inhale, but only when he's the boss; outside of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', the player could never do it). They just smack things around with their sword and hammer respectively.

** In competitive play a set comprising Rest (restore all health, but fall asleep), Sleep Talk (use a random move in your sleep), Calm Mind/Bulk Up (increase both your offense and defense), and a single attacking move is sometime seen. Even if the opponent resists that attack, after some Calm Minds it won't matter.

*** Serperior was the next one, and the first that made a large effect to competitive play. Serperior can have Contrary, an Ability that changes all stat drops into stat gains and vice versa. It also can use Leaf Storm, a very powerful Grass-type move that would normally drop Special Attack by 2 stages -- but with Contrary, it rises by 2 stages instead. This results in an increasingly powerful Leaf Storm that, once enough turns have passed, can wipe out even Pokémon resistant to Grass. It's perfectly valid to bring in a Serperior that knows Leaf Storm and nothing else, because Leaf Storm is all it needed. In ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'', the Battle Agency has Serperior as a possible Pokémon available to rent -- and it has precisely this scheme, with Leaf Storm as its only move.

* ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'', the main character's MiniMecha has only two main functions: grab something and throw it. Red expands the basic combat by either tossing enemies at each other, chaining a throw combo, or throwing an enemy's projectiles back at it. Red later unlocks parts of the robot and a SuperMode which, in most cases, result in him grabbing and throwing things better.

** The titular character of the series has two attacks: "curl into a ball and hurl self into the enemy at high speed"; and "turn into [[SuperMode Super Sonic]] and fly into the target at even higher speed". Over the years, by figuring out exactly when to do so and where to aim himself, he's destroyed armies of Dr. Robotnik's robots with the first attack, and defeated several evil gods with the second. Though the series does mix things up occasionally with {{Puzzle Boss}}es, and the major gimmicks of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' and ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheBlackKnight'' involve hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting, respectively. This comes up even when Sonic shows up in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games, as a good portion of his moves consist of different ways of the former and his Final Smash, across different games, are different applications of the latter.
** VideoGame/{{Shadow|TheHedgehog}} has all the same abilities as Sonic. However his solution to every problem, everywhere, appears to be Chaos Control. Need to cross the street? Chaos Control. Need to put the ARK back into space? Chaos Control. Need to slow time to kick a 14 year old in the head? Chaos Control. Need a beer from the fridge? Chaos Control.

** Also, the hammer is the EmergencyWeapon of the game, and is always used whenever the player breaks all of their equipped weapons (or has none equipped to start with).

** Mario in general is original video game ''king'' of this trope, as the ''Portal'' developers mentioned in an interview once. To get over obstacles, jump over them. To gather coins and upgrades, jump under a "?" block. To kill baddies, jump on them. To lower the flag at the end of the level, jump into it. Everything else is an optional bonus. He manages to be a OneManArmy with nothing but jumping. That sort of takes him to a whole new level of awesome.

** The Engineer is another example. As the Meet the Engineer video says "The answer...use a gun. And if that don't work, use [[MoreDakka more gun]]." A built up sentry gun, or several built up sentry guns can even defeat an Uber.
** This trope is one of the reasons Pyro, Heavy and Demoman are considered good beginner class choices. While all three have their higher-tier gameplay skills to learn, a lot of problems can be solved by dousing everyone in fire, throwing a wall of bullets at it or spamming the area with so many grenades that the massed splash damage will do the trick, respectively.

** All characters solve their squabbles with relatively non-lethal combat magic. The first boss is almost never related to the real incident of the game; nonetheless, delivering beat downs to at least three random ''youkai'' will always point a heroine in the correct direction of the person responsible. Then you deliver a beat down to ''that'' person as well, and come back in a week to deal with their quirky entourage. Getting hit in the face with a bullet is practically a "hello" in Gensokyo.

*** This only really applies in the fandom, however. In the games she also has astromancy, potion-bombs, and numerous other (smaller) energy attacks, from small lasers to cold fire and magic missiles. Many of which are also stolen since Marisa is a '''literal''' {{Kleptomaniac Hero}}. At least the enhancements she makes are entirely her own.
* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'': And then Shiki stabbed the unkillable super death machine vampire. And it died. Next! If you want someone to do a different method of fighting, talk to Arcueid (WolverineClaws, [[RealityWarper Marble Phantasm]], Mystic Eyes, HealingFactor etc) or Ciel (sword fighting, [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks sword chucking]], [[{{BFG}} the Seventh Scripture]], magic) because Shiki is noted even in story as skipping all the complicated parts so long as he gets near his target, to the point that his [[GlassCannon surviving to get near]] is the ''whole tension'' in his fights -- once he can get the stab in, it's done.

** Aligaros thinks that an ax is the solution to every problem. He is amazed when he sees one of his teammates solve a problem with their mind, so he thinks they must have used their "mind-ax". So from that point on, they tell him that he they they are using their mind-axes whenever they need to stop him from pulling out his ax.

** Yang Xiao Long's go-to strategy in a fight is basically "rush up to her enemy and punch them." That fails? She [[TheBerserker gets angry]] and punches them harder. ''That'' fails? She [[PlayingWithFire ignites]] and punches them ''even harder''. '''''That''''' fails? [[CriticalStatusBuff She goes all red-eyed, boosts her power to maximum]], and punches the everliving crap out of them. Not advanced or graceful by any means, but it usually gets the job done. The series starts to deconstruct this as it goes on, though. At the end of Season 2, Yang [[TheWorfEffect suffers a rather embarrassing]] CurbStompBattle at the hands of [[PintSizedPowerhouse Neopolitan]], who is just too nimble for her to land a hit on. Then in Season 3's penultimate episode, [[spoiler:Yang tries her old rush-and-punch tactics against Adam Taurus, who was hurting her friend Blake and unfortunately for Yang is also an IaijutsuPractitioner with a Semblance that allows him to absorb the power of attacks that he blocks with his sword and unleash that power in a single draw, resulting in Yang losing her arm]]. In Season 4, her father Taiyang calls her out on her dependence on her [[CriticalStatusBuff Semblance]] to win her fights and lack of lateral thinking. The lesson sticks, and Yang starts making far better uses of dodges, blocks and clever tricks in her later fights.

* The "hammer" in ''Webcomic/FiftyTeaRecipesFromTheDuchess'' is tea. When a modern, tea-loving lady gets [[TrappedInAnotherWorld isekai'd]] into the body of a timid, withdrawn noblewoman in an 1800's-eqsue FictionalEarth that hates tea, she uses her knowledge and passion for tea to change the world. As Duchess Chloé, the protagonist utilizes a liberal application of tea to solve all the problems that her new world throws at her, up to and including [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosting the frigid Duke]] she's married to, boosting her clout by opening a tea shop and marketing it with 21st century business tactics, "inventing" the cure for scurvy by brewing teas packed with vitamin C, and ensuring that diplomatic relations between her country and "the East" stay on an even footing by catering diplomatic banquets with expertly brewed Eastern teas.

** Fighter thinks very much this way. He's dumb enough to miss important clues to the workings of the world around him, but he's also exceedingly skilled with his swords (not to mention fixated on them). At a certain point he creates "[[InstantChucks swordchucks]]" (a combination of swords and nunchucks, that allows him to wield four swords simultaneously). His spiritual mentor appears to him in the form of a giant sword wearing glasses. Oh, and when conversations don't involve swords, he completely ignores them.

** Thief resolves most problem by stealing stuff, and then stealing some more stuff, be it riches, {{MacGuffin}}s, plot devices, the soul of his enemies and other intangible stuff, to the point of [[spoiler:stealing his class change from himself in the future. This comes back to bite him when, during the battle with Sarda when his past self steals his class change]].

** His associate Rocket Hat is a subversion of this, in that he is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a guy with rockets mounted on his hat]], who uses them in all sort of inventive ways. (Flying, highspeed headbutting, impromptu blowtorch, and so on.)

** Xykon's two main tactics consist of brute magical force and [[WeHaveReserves sacrificing minions]] (sometimes combining the two by using brute force to kill his minions and then turning then into obedient zombies). He has no head for strategy and hates thinking too hard, but as he once put it "there's a level of force against which no tactics can succeed", and takes extra pleasure in killing wizards who accuse him of being dumb and repetitive. But while he hates battle tactics, he's absolutely brilliant at psychological manipulation. Examples include the rubber bouncy ball [[spoiler:engraved with the Symbol of Insanity which causes an entire room of paladins to start killing each other]] and the brutal "[[EvilerThanThou Butch and Bitch]]" speech in ''[[Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickStartOfDarkness Start of Darkness]]'', [[spoiler:where he gets Redcloack to kill his own brother so the guilt will tie him to Xykon forever]].

** O-Chul is very, ''very'' tough, so most of his plans involve him getting hit a lot. In the prequel he [[HoldTheLine holds a bridge by himself]], tanks attacks from hobgoblins while trying to talk to them, and ultimately [[spoiler:exposes a paladin as dangerously unstable by letting the paladin whale on him while he's unarmed]]. In the main comic, he survives weeks of torture, uses the opportunity to talk to a minion and begins to convert him to good, and once he escapes he reveals that he learned most of Xykon's spell list "one saving throw at a time." He claims that surviving is pretty much the only thing he's good at, and if he had another skill that didn't require him getting stabbed, he would gladly use that instead.
* ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'': Two members of the party fall into this. Since he's a rust monster (a [[MooksAteMyEquipment creature that corrodes and devours metal]]), Rusty's answer to everything is always "Eat [metal object]". [[BlobMonster Gelatinous Cube]], for his part, [[EatenAlive eats people instead]]. Most problems that can't be solved with eating either a metal object or a person are handled by Mimic. Best summarized [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/19/ here]]:

* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'': "'''Nobody outpunches the Punchmaster!''' A running joke comic by columnist Seanbaby, made from various unnamed Golden Age comic panels featuring a man whose only solution to anything (from answering a question to submitting a resume) is to punch it. Any discussion, confrontation or remark with '''the Punchmaster''' will result in being punched. [[[RunningGag '''Nobody summarizes the Punchmaster!''']]]
* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': SCP-682 inverts this into "when you really, ''really'', '''really''' need to pound in a nail, everything looks like a hammer." It's a malevolent entity which is virtually impossible to kill due to its HealingFactor and AdaptiveAbility. At some point or another, the proposal to introduce SCP-682 to any other interesting SCP will be made.

* LetsPlay/HatFilms heavily rely on the fact that there is three of them, and tend to do a lot of their game problem solving with this in mind. While this can lead to very effective strategies, such as their use of ZergRush in 'Crown Conquest' and their group coordination in games like ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', this can also sometimes become a case of CripplingOverspecialization, like in the case where the Cobble Generator in their early episodes of Skyblock, an easily one-manned device for the average ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' player, suddenly requires all three of their attentions (one person to pick, one person to dip, and one person on ice duty) to properly maintain.
* ''Series/IAmNotInfected'' has "The usual plan:" Push Charlie at the zombies and run. They only use it twice or so though. And Charlie survives both. They even say it's more like what they use in absence of a plan more than anything. However, on one occasion they used it rather than simply shoot the zombies.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': Fitting for her [[BoxingBattler boxer fighting style]], Vi default approach to problems is finding something or someone to hit and then hitting them hard. [[spoiler:She's disappointed with the Piltover council's passivity even after she and Caitlyn spelled out the situation to them, so she opts for finding Jayce, the only one who sounded proactive at the meeting, convincing him to hit Silco's [[FantasticDrug Shimmer]] supply directly, and going there herself with the [[PowerFist Atlas Gauntlets]] to beat up as many of Silco's goons as possible. Even when Jayce decides to stop, Vi sticks with her idea by barging into the Last Drop to handle Silco personally. But [[DeconstructedTrope this mindset tends to cause even more problems for in the long run]]: Even with the Gauntlets, Vi only defeats [[TheDragon Sevika]] after taking a heavy beating herself, allowing Jinx to knock her out easily. Hell, part of the the reason the sisters' relationship fell apart in the first place is because Vi [[ATragedyOfImpulsiveness hit Powder angrily]] after learning she set off the bomb that killed their surrogate family and walked away out of fear she'd keep hitting her.]]

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', "Bobby Goes Nuts", sees Bobby wanting to learn to defend himself. Lacking the discipline to take up martial arts, he takes a basic women's self-defense course, and thus starts using {{Groin Attack}}s to solve every possible conflict.
* ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR''. Coop is good at smashing things, and Megas, being a walking homage to the Super Robot genre, is ''very very good'' at smashing things. However, when put up against enemies resistant to smashing (such as a nano-mechanical robot capable of integrating any metal into itself to gain new abilities and able to regenerate infinitely, even to the point of replicating itself a thousand fold) he has a few problems.

** [[spoiler:Coop has to think outside the box and in this case learn the they were solar powered so he uses Megas to create a massive smog cloud. Though most of the time the trope is played straight.]]

** This is the FatalFlaw of Starlight Glimmer. Her solution to any problem is "throw enough magic at it to make it go away". Not only has this backfired on her more than once, it's gotten her new allies very annoyed with her. In the Season 5 finale "The Cutie Re-mark," it also potentially doomed the entire world, which [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten no one has let her forget]]. Even after pulling a HeelFaceTurn, she still struggles to learn that not every problem can be solved by casting a spell: "All Bottled Up" had her try and solve of a problem of not using magic by using even more magic and "Every Little Thing She Does" had her decide that {{Mind Rap|e}}ing potential friends into effectively being her servants was a good plan.

* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' in the show-within-a-show "Knight Boat" from "And Maggie Makes Three". A ''Series/KnightRider''-esque sapient crime-solving boat is never stymied when the crooks go on land, because, as Bart and Lisa says in this exchange, [[ContrivedCoincidence "There's always a canal." "Or an inlet." "Or a fjord."]].
* Sandman from ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' and his sand-based powers. In Season 2, he learns how to use them more creatively, becoming a much more dangerous threat. Interestingly this is the last episode we see him in the series, because if he got too good at swinging his hammer, he would become a total GameBreaker.

* Krav Maga is similar except in that case the killing blows usually involve breaking the attacker's jaw, frequently after [[GroinAttack hitting him in the nuts]].

* The Perl programming language relies heavily on regular expressions, a language for super-precise text searching. Unfortunately, it makes Perl programs super-hard to read.

* A sports example: The basketball player Shaquille O'Neal was [[CripplingOverspecialization a pretty bad shooter and had a very limited offensive repertoire]], yet he is #5 on the all-time NBA scoring chart. O'Neal had three moves -- a dunk, a lay-up, and a jump-hook -- but combined with his insane physical gifts (7 feet, 330+ pounds and explosiveness) and footwork he really didn't need any more moves.
* In UsefulNotes/{{baseball}}, most pitchers have multiple pitches they can throw so that batters have to guess what they will throw next. Occasionally, though, pitchers get by with only one -- and in some cases, thrive. The most famous example is Mariano Rivera. He has only one pitch -- a 'cut' fastball, or a fastball that moves away from right handed batters. He has ridden this one pitch to be widely acknowledged as the greatest reliever in major league history.

** Hitler's policy of autarky for Germany proved counter-productive, since as long as they refused to export anything they could not earn foreign currency with which to import food, petrol, rubber, and many other products. Fortunately there was a very large and innovative chemicals industry in Germany, and during the 1910s and 20s German scientists had figured out processes for converting bituminous coal into synthetic fuel and a wonderful array of other synthetic products. During World War II, they synthesized coal into aviation gasoline, petrol, rubber, methanol, ammonia, and nitric acid. At Heydebreck they synthesized food oil, and tested it on concentration camp prisoners. Unfortunately for Germany, synthesis was unsustainably expensive compared to normal petroleum extraction, and while their ally Romania produced a lot of oil it wasn't enough. Their attempt in 1941 to conquer the Soviet Union in just three months -- in the process capturing all the agricultural land and oil fields needed for self-sufficiency -- backfired horribly and turned into a four-year-long, unwinnable struggle. Towards the end, when the oil production facilities of Germany and Romania were being increasingly disabled by the Allies, they resorted to de-motorizing many of their ground units, converting civilian vehicles and training tanks to run on wood gas, and designing an interceptor airplane to be propelled by a ramjet using ''granulated coal'' as fuel!

* In urban planning this could be renamed to "when all you have is cars, all solutions will look like streets". While there has been a major paradigm shift in Europe and some American cities are also slowly moving away from this philosophy, in many cases this is still the main line of thinking. Congestion? Build more freeways! Downtown business in trouble? Nothing that a bit of freeways won't solve! Your city is losing residents? Well, it's probably because they do not have enough freeways! And if the freeways don't fix it, don't forget to add ample parking.
* Solving mathematical equations with higher exponents: When all you have is a function for solving a(X^2)+bX+c=0, just change functions until they fit that formula (the cubic and quartic polynomials can be solved this way). Downplayed in that it can't be done with everything, and there are methods to solve things which can't be rewritten into this.

* Evolution is fond of this, because it's easier to duplicate and adapt one gene to do something else than make an entire new gene specifically tailored for a new purpose. One example of this is that a lot of the genes related to limb formation and growth are also used to produce other, non-limb extremities.
* Knots: Forget everything your scout leader taught you. The "rope through the loop"-knot, or occasionally multiple, can solve almost every rope-related problems.