History CombatPragmatist / VideoGames

* In essentially any multiplayer combat game, if you want to win, you want to use as many advantages as possible that are allowed within the confines of the game's intended rule set. Why risk having a "fair" firefight with an enemy who can see you when you can shoot them in the back instead? That being said, trying to go beyond what is allowed, such as using exploits or hacking will likely get you reported and banned in any game with an active moderation system sooner or later. Even with local multiplayer, [[ThatOnePlayer showing off too much how good you are]] can result in your friends simply [[RageQuit refusing to play with you]] unless you ease up.
* In games that are played competitively or offer environment for competitive play, playing dirty and using mechanics that are considered overpowered by a large number of players is usually the norm. The game usually has a way of dealing with it or they are just things harder to counter than to employ, so they are 'overpowered' in lower levels of skill.
* In many {{RTS}} games, it is pretty much expected that players will fight dirty, and [[DevelopersForesight such games are designed accordingly.]]
** ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft II}}'' is a prime case. Throughout a match's early- to mid-game, players typically target their opponent's workers or key structures with hit-and-run tactics, trying to gain an upper hand.
*** While all three races have some ability to do this, the Terran seem largely geared specifically for it, as is fitting for the CrapSackWorld they live in. They have several units designed specifically for early game harassment and are easily able to deploy large armies in fast-flying dropships, all of which can do immeasurable damage and retreat before you've had a chance to fight back.
*** One of the most basic strategies for the Zerg race is the titular ZergRush, which isn't employed at high-level play but is a common staple of Zerg armies in bronze and silver league matches. It's common to see videos of salty comments by players outraged that their opponent threw seemingly endless quick units at them and hoovered up their resources and time, but there's nothing stopping them from doing so if the opponent lets them pull it off and win with it.
* The BattleRoyale genre is also very good at getting players into the mindset of playing unfairly. [[HomefieldAdvantage Attacking enemies from a favorable and/or easily defensible position]], [[MeleeATrois ambushing enemies who haven't recovered from their most recent fight]], and winning not with skill but by simply [[PowerEqualsRarity having the better equipment]] are all common strategies that overlap between a lot of Battle Royale games.

** The Reapers themselves don't have as much need for this trope because of their technological superiority, but they still use it if an opportunity arises. In a typical cycle, they initiate their invasion at the heart of galactic government, both decapitating the enemy immediately and gaining pretty much all the intelligence they'll possibly need. Once this is done, they lock down the mass relays so only Reapers can use them, preventing any sort of organized resistance against them, let alone real warfare. They destroy fuel stations, further limiting the movement organic species can make. They turn the dead of other species into their own ground troops, reducing both their numbers and morale, and at the same time, ensures that the Reapers will never run out of ground troops. The atypical cycle we see in the games has them making quick work of Khar'shan, the batarian homeworld, which is close to their arrival point, and then rushing towards Palaven and Earth to immediately start beating down the races they expect to be the biggest problems.

** The Reapers themselves don't have as much need for this trope because of their technological superiority, but they still use it if an opportunity arises. In a typical cycle, they initiate their invasion at the heart of galactic government, both decapitating the enemy immediately and gaining pretty much all the intelligence they'll possibly need. Once this is done, they lock down the mass relays so only Reapers can use them, preventing any sort of organized resistance against them, let alone real warfare. They destroy fuel stations, further limiting the movement organic species can make. They turn the dead of other species into their own ground troops, reducing both their numbers and morale; and by contrast, ensures that the Reapers will never run out of ground troops. The atypical cycle we see in the games has them making quick work of the batarian homeworld which is close to their arrival point and then rushing towards Palaven and Earth to immediately start beating down the races they expect to be the biggest problems.
** The lore makes it clear the fleet defending Illium was decidedly pragmatic when the Reapers invaded. Aware that their weapons would not be enough to destroy the Reaper [[NighInvulnerable capital ships]], they just blew up the Reaper's troop transports. Since the Reaper's goal is the ''harvesting'' of life rather than the annihilation of it, this effectively ground the invasion of Illium to a halt until more troops could be produced.

* The salarians in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' always start their wars with no warning, either hitting an enemy pre-emptively or assaulting their targets out of the blue. The Codex entry for their military doctrine even explicitly states that they view the concept of warning your enemy you're about to attack by declaring war is insane and stupid.
** The same codex entry states explicitly that Salarians believe that a war should be won before it begins.

** And now, in the sequel, there are optional Quick Time interrupts in which Shepard can cut people off by shooting them, punching them in the face, [[DestinationDefenestration throwing them out skyscraper windows]], etc. This has the bonus of making certain scenes ''a lot shorter'', not to mention easier. In one case, doing this will take out a half dozen opponents, leaving you to face only one. And all without taking damage, thanks to the [[CutscenePowerToTheMax magic of cutscenes]].

*** Infiltrators in particular have no moral objections to becoming completely invisible, using their omni-tools to set enemies on fire, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs setting enemies on fire while cloaked]], shooting people clean through walls with heavy sniper rifles, hacking turrets to go after the engineers deploying them, and even - with the correct DLC for ''3'' -- mind-controlling enemies into beating the snot out of each other.
** Humans in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' have an equally pragmatic doctrine -- they go after enemy supply lines and the like, leaving their forces to "wither on the vine". Unfortunately, this means humans have the same problem the salarians do in that their doctrine is ineffective against the Reapers, who do not have supply lines or any reliance on infrastructure.
** Humans are also said to be fond of DisproportionateRetribution. They don't have the manpower to guard each of their colonies, so they have a centralized rapid reaction force that can bring swift and terrible retaliation upon the attackers. Word travels around, so the human colonies are usually left alone...
** Humanity's tactic of keeping fleets of warships in arms reach of their colonies is said to have caught the Turians off-guard during the First Contact War. They thought that the vessels in orbit around Shanxi represented the bulk of Human military strength, only to have a collective OhCrap when they noticed an entire Fleet of angry Human Warships pouring through the Relay. There are two "Battles of Shanxi" for a reason.
** Inverted with the Geth (minus the Heretics), at least when fighting other geth. Due to their nature, they tell each other everything, even plans for attack. Legion finding out that the Heretics have been spying on the other geth horrifies them.

-->'''Joker:''' You gotta love the turians. After they beat you down and sterilize you, they strap a big old bomb to your planet. Y'know, just in case you get uppity again someday.
** Cerberus Daily News reports on the [[PrivateMilitaryContractors corporate invasion of Garvug]] shows ''humans'' being pragmatic to [[TheChessmaster chessmaster levels]]. When three human-run companies raise an army and use it to prop up a puppet government on Garvug, a Krogan warlord starts an insurgency. Rather than stick around and grind it out in a long, bloody, and costly counterinsurgency campaign, the companies "manufacture" a rift between them, one company pulls out outright, another one announces via a public shareholders meeting that they are pulling out, and even let their stock price tank. Once they pull out and the insurgents recapture Garvug's seat of government, the corporate forces deploy a cruiser fleet out of nowhere, and devastate Garvug's capital, inflicting massive casualties on the insurgency including its leader, and obliterating it. The withdrawal was an elaborate ruse to draw the insurgents out of hiding, concentrate them in one location, then finish them off.

*** The Renegade interrupt has Shepard respond in kind, kill [[HeroKiller Kai-Leng]] by breaking his sword (his only weapon), unfurl their [[KarmicDeath own omniblade]] and [[KickTheSonOfABitch stab him in the gut.]]

** Just like in ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'', Mordred uses an unrefined fighting style that involves punching, kicking, hurling her sword, and improvised weapons.

** [[spoiler: One of the things that makes Vanitas an effective antagonist in this series is that he ''loves'' to play dirty. At the climax of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth By Sleep]]'', during the fight at the Keyblade Graveyard, he surprises Aqua with a harsh diving slash, knocking her unconscious before preparing to finish her off. If Ventus hadn't managed to free himself in time, Aqua would've been ''dead.'' He carries on this style of fighting in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII KH3.]]'' In that game, when he confronts Sora in Monstropolis, he surprises him with a scream-energy canister to get in close to him. When he fights a restored Aqua in the restored Land of Departure, realizing he can't beat her head-on, he resorts to attacking the sleeping Ventus, luring Aqua into TakingTheBullet before going in for a killing blow, Aqua only being saved once more by Ventus awakening.]]

** [[spoiler: One of the things that makes Vanitas an effective antagonist in this series is that he ''loves'' to play dirty. At the climax of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth By Sleep]]'', durng the fight at the Keyblade Graveyard, he surprises Aqua with a harsh diving slash, knocking her unconscious before preparing to finish her off. If Ventus hadn't managed to free himself in time, Aqua would've been ''dead.'' He carries on this style of fighting in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII KH3]]''. In that game, when he confronts Sora in Monstropolis, he surprises him with a scream-energy canister to get in close to him. When he fights a restored Aqua in the restored Land of Departure, realizing he can't beat her head-on, he resorts to attacking the sleeping Ventus, luring Aqua into TakingTheBullet before going in for a killing blow, Aqua only being saved once more by Ventus awakening.]]

** [[spoiler: One of the things that makes Vanitas an effective antagonist in this series is that he ''loves'' to play dirty. At the climax of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth By Sleep]]'', durng the fight at the Keyblade Graveyard, he surprises Aqua with a harsh diving slash, knocking her unconscious before preparing to finish her off. If Ventus hadn't managed to free himself in time, Aqua would've been ''dead.'']]

** [[spoiler: At the end of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 358/2 Days]]'', Riku finds he can't beat Roxas in a straight fight, so he releases Ansem's Guardian to strangle him from behind.]]

** [[spoiler: At the end of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358/2Days'' Riku finds he can't beat Roxas in a straight fight, so he releases Ansem's Guardian to strangle him from behind.]]

** [[spoiler: At the end of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358/2Days Days]]'' Riku finds he can't beat Roxas in a straight fight, so he releases Ansem's Guardian to strangle him from behind.]]

** Also, [[spoiler: Riku]] knows he can't beat [[spoiler: Roxas]] in a straight fight, so he simply gets his Guardian to strangle him from behind.

* The bosses in ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II'' will always call reinforcements when you fight them. Particularly nasty is the [[BonusBoss Avatar of Khaine]], which likes to call in lots of tanks.

** The Pokémon Croagunk and Toxicroak are like this, and learn a lot of Dark-type attacks despite not being Dark-type themselves. However, it's for survival, and some of those species are said to be laid back and perhaps good. That may come from being Fighting-type though, most of them are honourable.

'''Protagonist:''' No. [''[[NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight shoots him in the chest]]''] I'm gonna cheat.

** The Reapers themselves don't have as much need for this trope because of their technological superiority, but they still use it if an opportunity arises. In a typical cycle, they initiate their invasion at the heart of galactic government, both decapitating the enemy immediately and gaining pretty much all the intelligence they'll possibly need. Once this is done, they lock down the mass relays so only Reapers can use them, preventing any sort of organized resistance against them, let alone real warfare. They turn the dead of other species into their own ground troops, reducing both their numbers and morale. The atypical cycle we see in the games has them making quick work of the batarian homeworld which is close to their arrival point and then rushing towards Palaven and Earth to immediately start beating down the races they expect to be the biggest problems.

** This is the main theme of the Dark-type (or "Evil-type" in Japanese). While a few Dark-type moves [[CastingAShadow utilize actual darkness]], the majority are made up of underhanded tactics and actions, like [[WoundedGazelleGambit Fake Tears]], Bite, [[IShallTauntYou Torment]], Feint Attack, and [[ISurrenderSuckers False Surrender]].

** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'': A big part of Altair's fighting style is his willingness to be a ''brutal'' combatant. Included in his ''many'' nasty killing animations is punching a mook in the face to spin him around and then stabbing him in the lower back, through the hip, and ''[[GronAttack out his crotch]]''. Another involves breaking an opponent's leg by kicking out a knee, and another has him kick them in the crotch, and as they drop to their knees, stabbing them in the top of their head with his short blade. Let's not forget his gruesome hidden blade counterattacks, which are so [[{{Pun}} underhanded]] many ''players'' don't even realize they exist.

* The protagonists of the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series tend to be brutally efficient combatants
** A big part of Altair's fighting style in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'' is his willingness to be a ''brutal'' combatant. Included in his ''many'' nasty killing animations is punching a mook in the face to spin him around and then stabbing him in the lower back, through the hip, and ''[[{{Squick}} out his crotch]]''. Another involves breaking an opponent's leg by kicking out a knee, and another has him kick them in the crotch, and as they drop to their knees, stabbing them in the top of their head with his short blade.
*** Let's not forget his gruesome hidden blade counterattacks, which are so [[{{Pun}} underhanded]] many ''players'' don't even realize they exist.

*** Unfortunately for him, by ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood Brotherhood]]'' the polearm-wielding Seeker guards (and possibly other guards) will sometimes throw sand at Ezio's eyes or at your allies, while any guard is capable of grabbing Ezio -- leaving him unable to block or counter any enemy attack unless he escapes first -- and armored Regular guards will sometimes mount horses so as to charge and swing at Ezio, the only melee attack in the game that Ezio can not [[CounterAttack Counter]] with the Hidden Blade. Papal Guards will sometimes use a pistol, which like other projectile attacks can not be blocked or countered.
*** Although the guards get pragmatic-er, Ezio still wins the fighting dirty award for ''calling in henchmen to shank people''.
** [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII Connor]] is carrying on the legacy, adding a [[AnAxeToGrind tomahawk]] and a [[TheStraightAndArrowPath bow]] to his already long [[MultiMeleeMaster list of weapons.]] Not to mention the things he can do with a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pUhraVG7Ow musket...]]

* Lord Brevon from ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' deserves his spot as the game's FinalBoss, as he's lightning-fast and wields a [[KnifeNut knife]] that can slaughter the heroes in a couple of hits. But before he fights the heroes hand to hand, he'll try to run them over in a jet fighter and attempt to stomp them in a MiniMecha first. It's pretty clear from his behavior by the time the heroes engage him in a direct fight that he did ''NOT'' want it to come to that.

* [[Franchise/TheWitcher Geralt of Rivia]], whose day job requires him to have encyclopedic knowledge of every mutated/magical beast, curse, and herb in the known world; a huge part of the [[VideoGame/TheWitcher first]] and [[VideoGame/TheWitcher2AssassinsOfKings second]] games is making the right potions, bombs, and traps for the task at hand. [[VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt The third game]] exaggerated this as alchemy is [[AvertedTrope no longer]] [[TooAwesomeToUse permanently consumed]]; giving the player no reason not to chuck twenty grenades and swing poisoned swords during each encounter. Oh, and he [[MagicKnight knows basic cantrips.]]

** [[UpToEleven Launchers can call in a Quantum Bomb. Or digitally summon a cannon that fires charged ''interdimensional energy orbs.'']] That drag opponents with each shot.

* [[Franchise/TheWitcher Geralt of Rivia]], whose day job requires him to have encyclopedic knowledge of every mutated/magical beast, curse, and herb in the known world; a huge part of the [[VideoGame/TheWitcher first]] and [[VideoGame/TheWitcher2AssassinsOfKings second]] games is making the right potions, bombs, and traps for the task at hand. [[VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt The third game]] takes it UpToEleven as alchemy is [[AvertedTrope no longer]] [[TooAwesomeToUse permanently consumed]]; giving the player no reason not to chuck twenty grenades and swing poisoned swords during each encounter. Oh, and he [[MagicKnight knows basic cantrips.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheGodfather 2'', Dominic can use vicious moves such as neck punches and arm breaks.*