Water can be a weakness for some video game characters.
- BioShock Infinite:
- The Motorized Patriot enemies are vulnerable to the water-spewing Undertow vigor, which stuns them and electrocutes other enemies near them.
- Further, Songbird is specifically vulnerable to water pressure.
- In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Alucard takes constant damage while too deep in water until he collects the "Holy Symbol".
- In Dominions 3, vampires and vampire lords cannot go underwater by any means. If they do end up in a water province somehow they are killed, permanently. Which can give a player a nice facepalm-worthy moment if he's playing an aquatic nation and summons some vamps for their immortality, only to find out that vampires killed in battle do respawn... in their underwater capital.
- Fallout:
- In Fallout 3, mirelurks (huge bipedal mutated crabs) in the Jefferson Memorial basin start dying once the purifier is turned on in Broken Steel. Apparently, mirelurks can only survive and nest in irradiated water and die upon prolonged contact with fresh water.
- In the Nuka-World DLC of Fallout 4, Overboss Colter's power armor is hooked up to the power system of a bumper car arena, which somehow makes it completely impervious to damage. However, before the fight his second-in-command leaves you a water gun that will short out his armor, thus temporarily disabling his invincibility.
- Vaas' memorable "Definition of Insanity" speech in Far Cry 3 is evoked because, the last time he killed you, he tried to use fire and it didn't work. So this time, while tying your wrists to a cinder block, he gives his speech about how he's not crazy and won't keep trying the same things over and over hoping they work... before shoving you off a cliff into the water to drown.
- Final Fantasy VIII: the scarce Water magic spells (Water and Leviathan) are weak spots to a handful of enemies. However, fire-based foes are only weak to ice magic (Blizzard, Blizzara, Blizzaga, Shiva). Water is also useful early in the game when it is junctioned to offensive stats (Strength and Magic) as it dramatically boosts those stats compared with other offensive magic.
- In The Firemen your fire hose and water grenades are your only means of defense against enemies, which makes sense as all enemies are fire, robots, or flaming robots.
- In Genshin Impact, there's a rumor that Water from the Primordial Sea causes Fontaine natives to dissolve into water themselves. This is revealed to be true at the end of Chapter 4 Act I, where the mastermind uses it to dispose of a lackey who had outlived his usefulness. Act II reveals that the mastermind, Marcel (real name Vacher), had not only seen his lover dissolve over two decades prior, but subjected at least two dozen young women to the same fate in order to try and find a way to reverse it. The mystery of why Fontaine natives are vulnerable drives much of Chapter 4, leading up to a nation-wide Tomato in the Mirror with the revelation of Fontaine's "sin": The previous Hydro Archon did not obtain permission from the Heavenly Principles before using water from the Primordial Sea to grant her Oceanid followers' wish to become human. As such, these new "humans" were cursed to one day dissolve back into the water that created them, and all natives of Fontaine are descended from these Oceanids. With Focalors' sacrifice, Neuvillette regains his full power and uses it to "forgive" the people of Fontaine, granting them true humanity and ending their vulnerability to the Primordial Sea.
- In the inFAMOUS franchise, Cole dies from overexposure to water because it conducts the electricity within him, causing him to electrocute himself.
- In Kameo: Elements of Power, water is only harmful to fire-based enemies and for some odd reason makes the water-based enemies vulnerable (normally they're intangible).
- All the vampires in Legacy of Kain are hurt or killed by water, except for one clan in Soul Reaver that evolved a resistance to it, and Raziel once he acquires their power.
- Several enemies in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be instantly killed if they enter water too deep to wade in — Bokoblins, Moblins, and all varieties of Stal- enemies can't swim at all (and for the latter, even throwing their skulls into water will suffice). However, this is not universal - Lizalfos are capable swimmers, and Hinoxes are surprisingly agile in water. Fire Keese take this one step further, as merely being caught in the rain is enough to kill them.
- Mass Effect 3: The Javelin is a variation of it: Just replace water with ferrofluids (a highly magnetic liquid) shot at very high velocities and you have a sniper that makes for the single most effective anti-material rifle in the game since it A. has the highest penetration of all guns. and B. Deals more damage than the Widow. All in all, it is a single shot, high pressured water jet.
- Several Mega Man bosses (usually fire- or stone-based) are weak against whatever water-based attack the hero gets from another boss.
- A notable example is the Alien Wily in Mega Man 2 whose only weakness is Bubble Lead, with every other special weapon actually healing the boss. The alien is really a hologram, so the water-based weapon shorts out its hologram projector.
- Played for Laughs in Mega Man 11: Torch Man attempted to control his power by Meditating Under a Waterfall. Obviously, it didn't work out for him.
- Metal Gear
- In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the early Metal Gear RAY units used a high pressure water-jet cutter as its exotic weapon, in addition to the usual machine guns and missiles found on a Metal Gear. Later versions replace the water-jet with a Plasma Cannon.
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has enemies that are susceptible to water. The Man on Fire can be stunned by being doused in water. Meanwhile the Skulls use special parasites to fuel their powers, but those same parasites are highly hydrophilic and, and Skulls will stop what they are doing to absorb the water. This makes the water pistol, usually a useless weapon, an effective tool.
- Milon's Secret Castle: The water-pot, for the flame enemies as well as the fake queens.
- Minecraft:
- Enderman take damage from water, including rain. An easy way to kill an Enderman fast is to use a Water Bucket on it. After the 1.9 update, Endermen have gotten around this weakness with Artificial Brilliance, any Endermen exposed to water or rain will immediately teleport away.
- The Blaze, as a fire-based mob, is vulnerable to water. However, water instantly evaporates in the Nether, and throwing splash water bottles at them isn't as viable a strategy as you'd think since they only take half a heart of damage from them.
- Another Nether mob, the Strider, is often found in lava lakes. If they're imported into the Overworld, they are harmed by water and rain and will eventually die if exposed for too long.
- Rain from Mortal Kombat weaponizes water to its fullest extent. Originally, he could form it into a cohesive ball used in projectile attacks (which let him move his opponent around the arena, oddly), but in modern games, he’s expanded it to weather manipulation that lets him create storms, encasing the heads or entire bodies of foes in water bubbles, pressurized jets of water that can cut cleanly through opponents, being a full-on Elemental Shapeshifter, opening gates to a realm full of water, generating tidal waves, geysers and whirlpools without a body of water in sight and most recently managing to flood an entire city and leveling it in Mortal Kombat 1.
- Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi: In terms of damage per hit, the Holy Water in the Chalice is the most powerful weapon in the game.
- Pokémon: Water is strong against three types: it extinguishes Fire, erodes Rock, and dampens Ground. The series is fond of pairing Rock and Ground types on a single Pokémon, which makes them take quadruple damage from Water (and Grass) instead of the normal double. Subverted with Primal Groudon: while it's a Ground/Fire type that would normally take quadruple damage from water, its ability, Desolate Land, summons Harsh Sunlight, a weather effect that nullifies all water-type attacks by evaporating the water+. On the other hand, a Pokémon of any of these types, including Primal Groudon, can drink water and benefit from it like any other Pokémon.
- In Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, water is the Dahaka's only weakness. Finding the Water Sword lets the Prince fight the Dahaka and get the good ending.
- Ratchet & Clank: The Ameboids are easily killed by water as seen in the sewers of planet Rilgar.
- Ravenloft: Stone Prophet has Desert Trolls, which are burned by contact on water, and they can't regenerate the damage. A party member desert troll was tortured by his brothers with water.
- The Fire Ghosts in Scooby-Doo: Mystery Mayhem are immune to the Tome of Doom and can't be sucked into it until Scooby and Shaggy have put out the ghosts' flames by luring them near activated sprinklers.
- Shantae and the Seven Sirens: Slimes vanish in a puff of smoke if they jump in water.
- This is the easiest way to get rid of the Tarr in Slime Rancher, either by spraying them with water from your Vacupack or throwing them into the Slime Sea.
- The Inklings and Octolings from Splatoon dissolve if they touch water.
- Stellaris: The Deluge Machine Colossus weapon, which dumps something like an entire moon's worth of water onto a planet in one go. Any non-Aquatic pops on the planet (including robots) instantly drown, all districts are destroyed and all buildings on the planets are broken (but can be repaired), leaving behind a factory-fresh Ocean world for your own Aquatic pops to move in and settle.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- Paper Mario 64: During the second phase of the Lava Piranha boss fight where their bodies are on fire, Sushie's water attacks, such as Squirt or Tidal Wave, will put him and his Lava Buds out of commission for a few turns.
- Super Mario Sunshine: Most of the monsters and bosses in the game are vulnerable to Mario's water sprays. Curiously, Yoshis in this game also seem to hate deep water, despite not displaying any aversion anywhere else in the franchise.
- Luigi's Mansion: Certain ghosts in the game can only be sucked up if you spray them with water first. Or, alternatively, just drench them until they fade away.
- In Luigi's Mansion 3, Gooigi melts if he gets wet.
- In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, the Alien Kudzu planted by the Shroobs is completely eradicated by an absurdly specific type of water: baby's tears. Good thing the Mario Brothers have been spending the whole game adventuring with their infant selves!
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Characters that have a weakness to water will gradually take damage if they enter any bodies of water. The characters in question are Sonic, Charizard, Incineroar, and the Inklings.
- While the Tales Series usually has "water" as a separate element from Ice, Tales of Legendia has a rather unique take on this trope - there is actually no "Light" element in the game's element system. Instead, all light spells like Brilliant Lance, Judgment, and Ray deal water damage - but this actually makes sense in-universe. The sea is worshipped as sacred in the world of Tales of Legendia, thus it makes sense that the spells that act as "Holy" would be using the power of the sea. Then Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you realize that spells like Maelstrom, Spread, Aqua Laser, and Tidal Wave, traditional water aligned spells, are now in the same class as "Holy" spells. Thus, this means that you are literally killing the forces of darkness by splashing them to death - or if you prefer, washing away their evil.
- In the Thief games, Water Arrows kill Fire Elementals and can disable the steam-powered Mechanist robots if aimed at the rear vent. Less obviously, they can temporarily incapacitate zombies. Not very effective in itself, but if you manage to lure zombies to a pool, even a shallow one, they will quickly collapse and stay underwater, thus saving you on the precious holy water that dispatches the undead permanently.
- The Squirt gag track in Toontown Online is essentially this, considering that the Cogs are robots. The squirt gags include a squirting flower, a glass of water, a squirt gun, a seltzer bottle, a water hose, a storm cloud, and a geyser.note
- Touhou Project:
- The Shikigami are mentioned to be weak against water since it causes them to lose the empowering link they have with their masters. Chen gets a double whammy in this weakness since she's also a cat, so she's always weak against water.
- The Scarlet sisters, being vampires, are weak against running water. In fact, the backstory of the Extra Stage in Touhou Koumakyou ~ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil had Patchoulli casting a rain spell to prevent Flandre from leaving the mansion.
- Spraying lava fluros in Vessel with water is an effective way of killing them if they're causing trouble.
