Status Infliction Attack

The typical way to get Status Effects on enemies is by attacking them with something designed to apply it. Or at least has a chance to.

That's what this trope is.

This is usually done to increase move variety by having more variables to play with beyond things like accuracy, damage, and cost.

Attacks from Elemental Powers are a common way to justify and connect Status Effects and attacks together, such as fire attacks burning enemies.

Launcher Move is a Sub-Trope because the status that inflicts, is "thrown into the air". Grapple Move is similar, along with You Will Not Evade Me. Lastly, there's the clear Sub-Trope, Non-Damaging Status Infliction Attack.

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Examples:

• The BioShock series has its powers do this so they're special, instead of just being basically a magic gun using different ammo:
  • The first game, BioShock: Every attack plasmid other than Telekinesis, which deals physical damage by hitting enemies with objects, and there's some Gene Tonics that affect other attacks as well:
    • "Electro-Bolt" can stun enemies.
    • "Incinerate" can set enemies on fire, dealing Damage Over Time.
    • "Winter Blast" can freeze enemies in place.
    • The "Frozen Field" series of Gene Tonics imbues the Wrench with cold damage and a chance to freeze enemies with its attacks.
    • "Insect Swarm" acts as a cross between Electrobolt (stuns enemies for a while) and Incinerate" (damage over time).
• Bounty of One: A few items are capable of inflicting statuses on the enemies
  • "Warning Shots" makes your attacks grant a hefty 70% slowdown that lasts for 1 second, but can be reapplied.
  • "Fanged Arrows" poisons enemies, dealing 10% of your damage every 0.3 seconds at base. When a poisoned enemy dies, they explode, poisoning all enemies in range.
• Chantelise: The Icicle Edge spell both damages and freezes enemies on hit.
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: The Desolator's regular attack is a chemical spray that one-shots infantry and garrisoned buildings (but can't hit buildings or structures), while its alternate attack deals less damage but greatly reduces the target's speed and armor in addition to making it vulnerable to its regular attack.
• Demon Hunter: The Return of the Wings: There are many attacks that inflict various status ailments like Weak, Poisoned or Slow, the latter of which makes very hard to dodge attacks, including another Slow.
• Many attacks in Dicey Dungeons do damage and inflict Status Effects at a certain value (usually 6) such as Whip for Burn^note which burns your dice, which hurt you if you pick them up, Hammer for Shock^note which disables random equipment, and they need dice in order to be unshocked, Toxic Ooze for Poison^note which causes Damage Over Time, Shovel for Weaken^note which downgrades random equipment, etc.
• The Disgaea series of games:
  • Disgaea 2 has both the Thief and Kunoichi able to inflict ailments with their unique specials. The Kunoichi can do it at range and inflict multiple characters at once, though the Thief's single-target variations have a much higher success rate.
  • Disgaea 3 onward introduced the Sorceror, who specializes in using ailment spells. The remakes gave them the "Curse Storm" skill that can inflict all ailments on enemy targets.
• Divinity: Original Sin II: A core element of combat is that most attacks inflict both Hit Point damage and status effects, either directly or via Geo Effects, which can stack into more serious forms or be resisted via Anti-Debuffs. Elemental Powers usually inflict themed statuses (like Shocked or Suffocating for Aerotheurge spells), but many weapon skills also carry effects like knockdown or Bleed.
• Dragon Quest: This is common - however these are usually tied to the weapons moreso than the attacks. For example, Dragon Quest XI: Erik and Sylvando share the Knife skillset, which is built around attacks that inflict status ailments, and attacks that inflict massive damage on targets with those specific status ailments.
• Fate/Grand Order: There's a TON of Noble Phantasms, it could even be said that the majority of Noble Phantasms, if they don't just damage the enemy or help the party, do this. For example:
  • Cu Chulainn Caster's 10-turn Burn status and 3-turn special, debuff.
  • Saint Georgios' application of the dragon trait.
  • Euryale's Charm and defense debuff.
  • Some Command Codes and Craft Essences (which can be attached to Servants at will) allow for their regular attacks to become this, such as inflicting poison.
• Final Fantasy X: Wakka's side of the Sphere Grid contain various special skills that deals an attack with a Status Effect added to them. Auron has the quickest access to Break-type attack skills, which debuff enemy stats.
• Final Fantasy XIV: A near-universal mechanic in boss fights is that player(s) hit by any non-Tankbuster ability, certain hazards, and most other onscreen threats, will be struck with a vulnerability debuff, which can stack for as many times as they are hit. Depending on the boss, the attack, and other factors, multiple stacks will almost certainly result in the player(s) dying to the next attack they fail to avoid, and sometimes, even a single stack is enough.
• For the King: Various physical and magical weapons grant special attacks that inflict specific status effects on a perfect attack roll. Some of those attacks also deal Hit Point damage, like a mace's Stun Attack or a Magic Staff's fire blast; others are pure debuffs, like the lose-a-turn effect of a Fire Wall or a Disarm.
• Hades: Each god (except Hermes and Chaos) has boons which add a status effect associated to them to Zagreus' Attack, Special, or Cast (and sometimes Calls or Dash). The Privileged Status passive skill grants bonus damage to enemies with at least two status effects applied to them, making these more worth seeking out.
  • Zeus: Jolted causes enemies to take damage the next time they attack
  • Athena: Exposed causes enemies to take more damage from the back
  • Ares: Doom deals a chunk of damage after a delay
  • Poseidon: Rupture deals damage over time to enemies while they're moving
  • Aphrodite: Weak, which reduces damage dealt, and Charm, which causes enemies to temporarily fight for you
  • Artemis: Marked grants increased critical chance to attacks dealt to them
  • Dionysus: Hangover deals damage over time, which can be stacked up to 5 times
  • Demeter: Chill slows down enemies, and can stack up to 10 times
  • Certain Infernal Arms have status effects built into them. The Spear with Aspect of Hades makes the Spin Attack apply a debuff which makes enemies take more damage from the weapon, and the Twin Fists with Aspect of Gilgamesh makes the Dash-Special apply Maim, making the enemy take more damage but deal more damage to you and deals a chunk of damage when it expires.
• Hero & Daughter: One of Liv's final Self-Skills is a defense-piercing Stun, but the Flavor Text follows her along with her thief theme, it's described as stealing time.
• In Ikenfell, Petronella gets the Poison ability early on, and later they learn Poison Cloud (which is basically the same, but can target multiple enemies). Either way, the abilities poison the target(s) as long as the player doesn't mess up the Action Command.
• Ittle Dew: The Ice Wand applies Harmless Freezing to those the attack hits.
• Jurassic World Alive: As a staple of Rock–Paper–Scissors type of gameplay, there are several abilities that inflict status debuffs as well as normal damage they deal out - 1x the attack stat for Strike abilities, 1.5x for Impact type, and 2x for the Rampage versions.
  • Cunning and Distraction heavily reduce the opponent's Attack stat, and the Cunning version has the additional advantage of reducing the opponent's Critical Hit chance, while the Distraction variation afflicts the opponent's creature for two turns instead of one.
  • Decelerating abilities reduce the opponent's Speed stat.
  • Resilient moves now inflict Vulnerability on the opponent, meaning the next attack will do slightly more damage to the opponent.
  • Wounding-type abilities, such as Wounding Strike and Lethal Wound, inflict Bleed (Damage Over Time) on the opponent, which deals out additional Percent-Based Values damage over the course of a few turns.
• Mass Effect 3: Many powers in the game inflict a status effect in addition to damage, which not only causes a secondary effect to the target, it also primes them for a Power Combo, which can be set off by hitting them with a different power. For example, Overload and Disruptor Ammo both shock targets, which can stun them for a brief time and set them up for a Tech Burst. Incendiary Ammo, Incinerate, and Carnage all set the target on fire, causing additional damage for a short time and setting up a Fire Explosion. Cryo Ammo weakens the target's armor, makes them more vulnerable to damage, and slows or freezes them (targets that have armor, shields, or barriers are slowed, targets without are frozen) and sets them up for a Cryo Explosion. And Warp weakens the target's armor and makes them more vulnerable to further damage while also setting them up for a Biotic Explosion.
• Mighty No. 9: Cyrosphere's ReXelection and Variation Code for Beck and RAY respectively freezes enemies to slow their movement, slows down their Xel destabilization rate, and inflicts damage over time while frozen.
• Minecraft: A number of mob enemies can inflict various negative status effects on top of normal damage on higher difficulty levels.
  • The cave spiders (a smaller, blue, mineshaft-dwelling variant of the normal Giant Spider) and bees can inflict poison, which will rapidly deplete your health over several seconds, but cannot kill you directly, leaving you as a One-Hit-Point Wonder at worst. Pufferfish will also inflict poison if touched when puffed up, but the effect is much more short-lived.
  • The wither skeletons and Wither can inflict the "wither" effect, which works the same as poison except it turns your hearts black and can actually kill you.
  • The husks (a desert-dwelling zombie variant) inflict the hunger status effect when they hit you, which causes your hunger meter to deplete more quickly (if the hunger goes below 8/10 your health no longer regenerates on its own).
  • The strays (a snowy-dwelling skeleton variant) inflict the slowness effect when their arrows hit, which, as you might expect, makes you slower.
  • The shulkers (a stationary, turret-like enemy in the End Cities) inflict the levitation effect when their projectiles hit you, which causes you to float up into the air for several seconds, leaving you open to Falling Damage when the effect wears off. This can actually be helpful for navigating the tangled interior of the End City however.
  • You yourself can inflict status effects on other players or mobs using "tipped arrows", which are imbued with a specific potion effect (this can be both a positive effect and a negative effect) that it applies to the target on top of normal damage (with the exception of "harming", which is only additive if the arrows do below six hearts of damage).
• Nobody Saves the World: Some of your skills can inflict various Status Effects, such as Rat's Gnaw that inflicts Poison. There are also passive skills that add Status Effects to all your attacks, like Stun Powder. Possible effects include Poison, Burn, Stun, Infected, Slow, and Fear. All of them (aside from Infected) need several attacks to build up before they can take effect and they dissipate with time.
• The Of Pen and Paper series:
  • Knights of Pen and Paper: The Witch's Nightmare attack deals Forced Sleep:
    Deal 4% magical damage and Sleep your target for 3 turns.
  • Knights of Pen and Paper 2: The Hunter's Prepared Arrow attack:
    Deal 4 damage and randomly inflict Burn 1, Poison 1 or Wound 1.
• Oracle of Askigaga: Hiroji's Disrupt skill:
  Damages an enemy. Reduces DEF, WILL by 25% (1-3 turns). [Uses]/8 to evolve.
• Overwatch:
  • Some abilities such as McCree's Flashbang, Doomfist's Rocket Punch, Junkrat's Steel Trap, and Ana's Sleep Dart both stuns or incapacitates targets and deals a small amount of damage at the same time. (Although Doomfist's punch can be fatal to some opponents if fully charged and near a wall.)
  • Mei's Cryoblaster and Blizzard attacks slow (and eventually freeze) any targets hit by them.
  • Symmetra's Sentry Turrets fire a laser that both damages and greatly reduces the speed of their targets.
  • Widowmaker's Venom Mine and Hanzo's Sonic Arrow both damage an opponent and makes them visible behind walls. The former is Damage Over Time and the latter is functionally the same as Hanzo's normal shots (meaning it can one-hit kill most of the cast).
• Pokémon has way too many moves to be listed here, so here's some general listings:
  • Fire-type moves such as Flamethrower, Fire Blast, and Flare Blitz have a chance to burn.
  • Poison-type moves such as Sludge Bomb, Smog, and Gunk Shot have a chance to poison.
  • Electric-type moves such as Thunderbolt, Thunder, and Volt Tackle have a chance to paralyse.
  • Ice-type moves such as Ice Beam, Blizzard, and Freeze Shock have a chance to freeze.
  • There's also plenty of cases of non-Fire-type moves (like Scald, Scorching Sands and Ice Burn) potentially causing burns, and non-Electric-type moves (like Dragon Breath, Body Slam and Bounce) potentially causing paralysis, and other mismatches of the above types.
  • Special mention goes to Tri Attack, a move that has an equal chance to burn, paralyze, or freeze. It's the only attack that can potentially afflict more than one status condition, though never more than one at once.
• Prayer of the Faithless: Mia's combat style has a high focus on applying Brand, a status only she can inflict, on her enemies, so they'll take more damage with her Status Effect-Powered Ability-s that are powered by Brand.
• Rakenzarn Tales: Many character-specific attacks have a chance of inflicting a negative status effect or canceling a positive one. They generally relate in some way to the nature of the attack, such as fire attacks like Mario Fire or Tri-Flame inflicting Burn or Dark Magician Girl's magic attacks weakening the opponent's magic capabilities. The attack's description is nice enough to give the odds of the ailment being inflicted on the target.
• Ratchet & Clank has some weapons able to do this starting with Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando:
  • Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando had upgrades for some weapons costing with 4 Platinum Bolts apiece that would count as this. There would be Acid Mod (a Damage Over Time effect) and Shock Mod, which is also DoT with added bonus of jumping on nearby enemies and damaging them. These would be inflicted in addition to damage done by attack itself.
  • These return in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and are now obtained by leveling up weapons instead of by buying. There is also Infector which doesn't do a whole lot of damage but brainwashes targets to attack your enemies.
  • Every weapon can potentially do this in Ratchet: Deadlocked, courtesy of Omega Mods that can be attached to a weapon. Acid Mod and Shock Mod are now joined by Freeze Mod (slows and eventually freezes the enemies) and brainwashing is available as a separate Omega Mod as well.
  • Each game including Ratchet & Clank (2002) has a weapon turning enemies into various animals (or corresponding Omega Mod in Deadlocked).
• Science Girls!: All about making the enemy not take their turn:
  • Nerve Pinch:
    Pinch a sensitive place to damage one enemy and possibly paralyze it for a round.
  • A party member being devoured deals Damage Over Time and removes their turn.
• The Shin Megami Tensei series has too many individual examples to count, but in general:
  • Any Ice attack has a chance of freezing the enemy. And attacking a frozen enemy is an automatic Critical Hit and Extra Turn.
  • Any Electricity attack has a chance to shock.
  • In some games, any Fire attack can inflict burn status.
  • Then there are more specific attacks that can do this as part of the description. For example, the infamous Terror Fortune from Persona 2, on top of its massive damage, can inflict every status effect in the game.
• Team Fortress 2: When equipped with the Sandman bat, the Scout can hit a mildly damaging baseball at enemies as a secondary function. For its first few iterations, the baseball could stun, slow, and disable weaponry for opponents for a brief period, effectively forcing the victim to act as they would when they lose a match. However, if hit from a long enough distance, a Sandman ball could force a victim to stop in place entirely for the duration of the effect. The Jungle Inferno Update changed the Sandman to its present-day state: now, the ball merely slows opponents, with distance only determining how long this single effect lasts.
• Titan Quest: The Lightning Bolt skill deals Lightning damage and stuns enemies at the same time.
• Transistor: Switch() as an upgrade applies Charm Person, usually:
  • Most Attacking Functions that are upgraded with Switch() gain its Charm Person effect, turning enemies to Red's side for a duration. Flood is an exception, turning it into a Non-Damaging Status Infliction Attack.
  • Upgrading Switch() with Switch() turns it from non-damaging, into dealing 100 damage on hit, as well as charming them.
• A Very Long Rope to the Top of the Sky: All status infliction weapons and some skills, deal damage alongside trying to inflict status effects. For example:
  • Weapons:
    Sam's Pickaxe: Confuses the enemy.
  • Skills:
    EMP Generator: Electrocutes and paralyses all enemies.
• Warcraft III:
  • The Firelord's Incinerate passive/autocast (depending on the game version) inflicts the debuff on the target with every attack, which causes the target to take increasing damage over time, and if it dies under the effect, it explodes and deals damage to nearby units.
  • Blue Dragons and Frost Wyrms breathe cold air that slows enemies, as do heroes with an Orb of Frost. Frost Wyrms can be upgraded to have Freezing Breath, which stuns buildings.
  • Troll Batriders can be upgraded to have Liquid Fire, which causes affected buildings to take damage over time, attack slower, and can't be repaired.
  • Units with Envenomed Weapons deal damage over time to the target, though they can't die from it. Slow Poison does the same but also slows the target.
  • The Black Arrow spell and Orb of Darkness inflict a debuff on targets that spawns a skeleton warrior if the target dies under the effect.
  • Cold Arrows slow the target's movement and attack speed.
  • The Orb of Slow sometimes reduces the target's movement and attack speed.
  • In the expansion, every faction can buy an Orb item that gives melee heroes a short-ranged anti-air attack and has a passive effect with every attack:
    • Depending on the game version, the Alliance's Orb of Fire either deals Splash Damage or causes healing spells on the target to lose potency.
    • The Undead's Orb of Corruption reduces the target's armor.
    • The Horde's Orb of Lightning can purge a target of its buffs and debuffs, slow it, and deals extra damage to summons.
    • The Night Elves' Orb of Poison deals damage over time.
• ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal: Most offensive spells can inflict various effects on critical hit: slowing down your movements, slowing down the charging time of your spells, blocking your ability to fly, inflicting Damage Over Time status ailments, or causing Interface Screw for the player.

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