History GameBreaker / Roleplaying

* Legolas in the GBA version of ''Return of the King'' is this. He is the only character who can use long range attacks without any Spirit cost in a game where no enemy is faster than him. This also makes him the only character who has any remote chance on taking on the [[BossInMookClothing Nazgul]] without being extremely high leveled.

** To name a few specific spells, the level 3 Fire Spell, Life Force, doubles your max HP capacity. This is very good on its own, but the use of its Supreme version, Above and Beyond, is practically cheating, as it ''also'' heals your character by the same amount of health increased. Casting this status on your party at the beginning of a battle greatly reduces the difficulty of bosses. This is even better with a Fire Raystone present, as you'll now only have to use one character to cast Above and Beyond. Other very good spells include the level 3 Ice and Dark spells, which, respectively, grant temporary immunity to physical attacks and magic attacks. The former is arguably the better one, as ALL Excel Acts count as physical, allowing you to survive devastating wide-area attacks that every endgame boss has. The level 4 Fire Spell is the single strongest hitting spell in the game, the level 4 Wind and Dark spells will hit the entire field, the level 4 Light spell is a full revive, and the level 2 Dark Spell is indispensable for its ability to cancel positive effects on the enemy; something that will '''save your sanity''' when some bosses cast [[HealingFactor Regen]] on themselves (them being Bosses, they'll have a LOT more HP than you, and therefore, heal a LOT of health each turn).

* An older example: in the first ''VideoGame/EyeOfTheBeholder'' game, the spell ''stoneskin'' is pretty much a game breaker. Once a scroll with this spell is found and a magic-user is of high level enough to cast it, the whole party can be basically made invulnerable to physical attacks. Only monsters that can do magical attacks still stand a chance. This is because the spell has no set duration, but would only fade once a character has suffered a certain number of blows. Hence the magic-user can cast the spell, then the whole party can rest so the ''stoneskin'' is memorized again, and so on until every member is protected. The protection can be quickly soaked up in a fight for the front-rank Meat Shields, but it can just be cast again as soon as dispelled... and for the SquishyWizard or TheMedic behind their lines, one casting may last very long since they are rarely hit. Not surprisingly, the ''stoneskin'' disappeared altogether from the spellbooks in the game's sequel, ''The Legend of Darkmoon'', even with a party saved from the first game.
** Note that this spell was largely considered a GameBreaker in the second edition of [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons AD&D]] itself (of which ''Eye of the Beholder'' is based) for the same reasons. It even spawned a lengthy discussion in ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' magazine about how to circumvent this problem. Of course, in RPG the GameMaster can always arbitrate and decide to change the spell description or prevent its use altogether. Video games don't have this luxury.
*** One might know a particular vindictive GM having goblins carry around bags of 12 stones, because of the way ''stoneskin'' was worded in AD&D: they would throw the 12 stones at the person affected by ''stoneskin'' before attacking, the 12 stones making the effect of the spell wear off.
*** This was a common tactic in tournaments, especially in ''Living City''. Players would often toss handfuls of coins or rocks to instantly trigger all the 'ticks' of Stoneskin. A few rare weapons given out during precious few modules had the limited ability to pierce through Stoneskin.

* ''GameBreaker/DivinityOriginalSin2''

* ''VideoGame/AethrasChronicles'' has several, which are suspected to be GoodBadBugs:

* In ''VideoGame/The7thSaga'', Valsu's Elixir spell restores all HP and MP. More to the point, it deducts the MP for casting it ''before it restores MP''. This effectively makes you invulnerable to anything that can't one-shot you. You only get it late in the game, though. Conversely, this can make the game UnintentionallyUnwinnable if you're not playing as Valsu (or allied with him) and he gets one of the PlotCoupons, because all of the protagonists level up alongside your chosen character.

** Rubbles are creatures only found in one place in the game, Mt. Woe. They disable items and techs when fighting them, and they run away after a short while, but they're worth 1000 EXP and 100 TP (which level up Techs) if they're defeated. Once fought, Rubbles don't ever respawn...except one, which happens to be located close to a save point mid-level. Fighting just that one Rubble over and over, it's incredibly easy to obtain all characters' Techs within an hour or two, with some added EXP leveling to boot.

* In ''VideoGame/The7thSaga'', Valsu's Elixir spell restores all HP and MP. You only get it late in the game, though. Conversely, this can make the game {{Unwinnable}} if you're not playing as Valsu (or allied with him) and he gets one of the PlotCoupons, because all of the protagonists level up alongside your chosen character.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin2'' brings us the Barrelmancer build. Pump your Telekinesis stat, find an indestructible chest, fill it with heavy objects (barrels and reinforced crates, which can also be filled with even more objects), then just throw it at enemies for insane amounts of damage. Paired with a good amount of Wits (for crit chance), Necromancer (for HP regen when you deal Vitality damage) and the Lone Wolf, Living Armor and Executioner talents, you can easily kill 3+ enemies in a single turn while getting back gobs of Vitality and Magic Armor. There's little need for offensive skills, other stats or even other party members when you've done it right.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin2'' brings us the Barrelmancer build. Pump your Telekinesis stat, find an indestructible chest, fill it with heavy objects (barrels and reinforced crates, which can also be filled with even more objects), then just throw it at enemies for insane amounts of damage. Paired with a good amount of Wits (for crit chance), Necromancer (for HP regen when you deal Vitality damage) and the Lone Wolf, Living Armor and Executioner talents, you can easily kill 3+ enemies in a single turn while getting back gobs of HP and Magic Armor. There's little need for offensive skills, other stats or even other party members when you've done it right.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin2'' brings us the Barrelmancer build. Pump your Telekinesis stat, find an indestructible chest, fill it with heavy objects (barrels and reinforced crates, which can also be filled with even more objects), then just throw it at enemies for insane amounts of damage. Paired with a good amount of Wits (for crit chance), Necromancer (for HP regen when you deal Vitality damage) and the Lone Wolf and Executioner talents, you can easily kill 3+ enemies in a single turn while getting back gobs of HP. There's little need for offensive skills, other stats or even other party members when you've done it right.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin2'' brings us the Barrelmancer build. Pump your Telekinesis stat, find an indestructible chest, fill it with heavy objects (barrels and reinforced crates, which can also be filled with even more objects), then just throw it at enemies for insane amounts of damage. Paired with Lone Wolf and Executioner talents, you can easily kill 3+ enemies in a single turn. There's little need for offensive skills or even other party members when you've done it right.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin2'' brings us the Barrelmancer build. Pump your Telekinesis stat, find an indestructible chest, fill it with heavy objects (barrels and reinforced crates, which can also be filled with even more objects), then just throw it at enemies for insane amounts of damage. Paired with Lone Wolf and Executioner talents, you can easily kill 3+ enemies in a single turn. There's little need for other skills or party members when you've done it right.

* The Fireball spell from ''VideoGame/YsIIAncientYsVanishedTheFinalChapter'' also qualifies. It's extremely energy efficient (one MP will get you a good 25 shots) and one fireball will instantly kill almost any minor enemy. The last two bosses are immune to it, though, so you'll still have to fight them the traditional way.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin2' ' brings us the Barrelmancer build. Pump your Telekinesis stat, find an indestructible chest, fill it with heavy objects (barrels and reinforced crates, which can also be filled with even more objects), then just throw it at enemies for insane amounts of damage. Paired with Lone Wolf and Executioner talents, you can easily kill 3+ enemies in a single turn. There's little need for other skills or party members when you've done it right.

* ''VideoGame/Divinityoriginalsin2' ' brings us the Barrelmancer build. Pump your Telekinesis stat, find an indestructible chest, fill it with heavy objects (barrels and reinforced crates, which can also be filled with even more objects), then just throw it at enemies for insane amounts of damage. Paired with Lone Wolf and Executioner talents, you can easily kill 3+ enemies in a single turn. There's little need for other skills or party members when you've done it right.

* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' has a few: Enrique's Justice Shield reduces all physical damage taken by half, making every single boss battle far easier than was intended. Items are inherently broken too, as they can replicate every magic effect in the game but require no Spirit Points, bypass Aika's Delta Shield (which neutralises any and all magical spells cast on your party) and [[MoneyForNothing are easy to acquire]]. In airship combat, magic spells, which are otherwise woefully underpowered after the fourth dungeon or so, become godly; unlike all other weapons save your WaveMotionGun, the magic cannon is [[UnblockableAttack ''guaranteed to hit'']] as long as your target isn't [[WeakSpot directly behind you]] and you aren't silenced. While the actual offensive spells are about as pathetic as they are in normal battles, the [[StandardStatusEffects Silence and Drain shells]] work on ''every single airship opponent'' up to and including the FinalBoss, who literally ''can not attack'' outside of spells and its WaveMotionGun.

** There's also Aika's [[LethalJokeItem Swirlmerang]]. Not only does it hit pretty much everything (even the [[MetalSlime Loopers]]) with its 200 Hit%, it causes [[StandardStatusEffects Confuse/Panic]] in every enemy not immune to it. Which surprisingly few of them were. Even many ''bosses'' could be confused with the Swirlmerang. And the fact that confusion is cured by getting hit can actually become a ''good'' thing in this case, because when an enemy is cured of Confuse, they skip their action for that turn. You can simply throw out the Swirlmerang, hit them with another character, and never have to heal (unless you get very unlucky with counterattacks, and even then you barely have to heal at all). Meanwhile the other two party members are [[AwesomeButImpractical charging up]] [[CombinedEnergyAttack Prophecy]]...

** The Holy Moonlight Greatsword counts through three virtues. It has excellent scaling and damage in both strength and arcane. Secondly, it has a decent moveset, amazing switch attacks, good reach and strong Rally potential. Thirdly and most importantly is it's transformed attack. It's L2 is bad enough; a slow wind up for a massive thrust almost as good as a visceral attack for a pittance in bullets, but the charged L1 is where it shines - A massive windup for an attack that shoots a large sword beam. Seems lack-luster until you account for the fact that the main swing is still present, so with perfect positioning it can hit ''twice'' for absurd amounts of damage. More importantly the attack is an AIBreaker, as most bosses will just slowly walk towards you if you use a Charged Attack with no chance of hitting anything.

** In the same vein, onmyo magic builds are generally quite unimpressive... except for lightning magic builds. Very, very few enemies in the game have any lightning resistance, and lightning damage inflicts a slowing effect on enemies hit by it. Combine with the infamous Slow Talisman (which are almost a GameBreaker alone themselves, and ''absolutely'' were in the first VideoGame/{{Nioh}}) and it means that even the most powerful enemy can be slowed to such an extent that they don't really pose any threat to you anymore - they just swipe at you lethargically swing at you like clumsy drunks while you quickly shave their HP down to zero.