History CombatPragmatist / FanWorks

[[AC: ''Literature/TheFamiliarOfZero'']]
* In ''Fanfic/TheSteepPathAhead'', Louise follows this as a way of life, [[ISurrenderSuckers pretending to surrender]] only to use ForcedSleep spell and then steal all your stuff before leaving you out in the woods naked and alone.

* ''Fanfic/AIsA: Several teams, primarily [[Series/StargateSG1 SG-1]], [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade Dead Six]], and [[VideoGame/RainbowSixSiege Team Rainbow]], all prefer to use the simplest means available to end a threat. Which often flies in the face of more idealistic teams such as [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls the CHS Seven]], [[Anime/SailorMoon the Sailor Senshi]], and [[Anime/PumpkinScissors Section III.]]

* In ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3382798/1/Spy-Game Spy Game]]'' Xander fights this way and encourages others to. After he questions Kennedy's teaching she decides to have him fight a Slayer in an effort to humiliate him. Before Kennedy shouts begin, Xander whips out a collapsible baton and hits the Slayer on the head, followed by a kick to the knee, a powerful blow to the head knocking her to floor, and ending it with a kick to the stomach.

* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'', Professor Quirrell explains this in the very first class of "Battle Magic", formerly known as "Defense Against the Dark Arts", that the methods that their textbooks show are useless in a real situation.
--> '''Quirrell''': Your useless excuse for a third-year defense textbook will suggest to you that you expose the mountain troll to sunlight, which will freeze it in place. This, my young apprentices, is the sort of useless knowledge that you will never find on one of my exams. You do not encounter mountain trolls in open daylight! The idea that you should use sunlight to stop them is the result of foolish textbook authors trying to show off their mastery of minutia at the expense of practicality.
** He later states that one should use only one of two things, if you can: either the Killing Curse or teleport away. Bear in mind that telling a bunch of kids to use Avada Kedavra (that even if a very practical offensive spell because it's a near-constant OneHitKill, it's an "Unforgivable" (that is "instant ticket to Azkaban" levels of illegal) spell) as their "hammer" brings an awful lot of {{Foreshadowing}} to the front in retrospective.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2889350/1/Bungle-in-the-Jungle-A-Harry-Potter-Adventure Bungle In the Jungle: A Harry Potter Adventure]]'', Harry goes to Collins and Qwan with the expectation they'll teach him how to duel. They laugh and say neither of them knows anything about dueling beyond it being two idiots standing in place and trading spells. They're going to teach him how to ''fight''. Their instructions later show through when Harry, Qwan, and Bill fight a demon by first siccing a horde of inferi on it.
* Dumbledore lectures Harry in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11613187/1/What-Was-Your-Plan What Was Your Plan]]'' for going to a duelist to learn how to fight, noting that dueling is useful only for dueling where there's rules on what you can or cannot do, likening it to a glorified play. He even notes that Harry's mistake was to draw a wand on him, believing him to be an enemy, and not immediately casting as many borderline illegal spells as he could think of. If Harry had gone to someone like Snape or Moody, they would have drilled such an "unforgivably stupid action" out of him.

* ''Fanfic/OnceMoreWithFeeling'': When Shinji and Asuka sortie to fight Israfel, Asuka complains "two against one is not a fair fight". Right away Misato tells her the last thing she wants to give the Angels is a fair fight.

--> '''Naruto:''' "In the fights we've had that were pure taijutsu, who won?"
--> '''Sasuke:''' "Me."
--> '''Naruto:''' "In fights where ninjutsu is allowed who wins?"
--> '''Sasuke:''' "You... because you cheat."
--> '''Naruto:''' "Since you've gotten your Sharingan, has that changed?"
--> '''Sasuke:''' "No."

* Discussed in "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/40945617/ Spider-Man: Finding Home]]", when Spider-Man finds himself meeting up with Kate Bishop while she's patrolling New York after he assists her and Clint in the final confrontation with the Kingpin's forces. While Kate initially tried to go straight to hand-to-hand combat when dealing with any crimes she found, Spider-Man advises her that there's nothing wrong with relying on her arrows to deal with most opponents, considering that she lacks his superhuman strength or Clint's hand-to-hand experience and so would be at more of a disadvantage in a straight fight.

* In an omake for ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13701065/2/Metagaming Metagaming?]]'', Harry Potter gifts LightNovel/GoblinSlayer with a sword made specifically for goblins and infused with their mutual hatred of goblins. After Goblin Slayer learns that any goblin who takes up the blade will become possessed by said hatred and kill every goblin they can find, he takes to throwing the sword into goblin nests and letting them butcher each other.

[[AC: ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'']]

** Suffice to say, this trope applies to the army of Eostia, especially [[MenOfSherwood Kyril's company]]. BoringButPractical, their dismissal of HollywoodTactics, as well as the consideration for long-term strategy, is ultimately what makes them superior to TheHorde, mostly [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] and {{mutants}} that are defined by their UnskilledButStrong ZergRush, with little concern for strategy or tactics. Of course, the hunters' [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority asskicking]] provides invaluable morale that serves to boost the army's effectiveness.

[[AC: ''Franchise/MassEffect'']

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Harry express this attitude in the first book to [[HonourBeforeReason Uhtred]] [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Ullrson]], remarking that very rarely does someone who actually wants to kill you fight fair. He also takes several levels in this at the end of the book after being reminded why an inexperienced GlassCannon should keep their distance when fighting someone like ComicBook/{{Daken}}. [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice Take three guesses, and the first two don't count]]. As a result, their rematch a couple of chapters later has Daken roasted, flattened, and pinned to a wall. In the sequel, he takes this up several notches, favouring quiet efficiency (unless playing the LargeHam or deploying ConfusionFu is to his advantage), ruthlessly attacking weaknesses both physical and psychological, and under Bucky's tutelage, takes it to a strategic level as well. As noted, "when fighting creatures like these, Harry left his scruples at the door."