History Main / ArmorPiercingAttack

*** The Piercing Palm perk causes all melee and unarmed attacks to ignore 15 points of DT, which effectively means anything not wearing heavy armor might as well not be wearing armor at all.

* Some weapons in ''VideoGame/GHOSTSquad'' have a penetration property that varies from weapon to weapon. Some of these piercing weapons can only shoot through thin objects, but two weapons are capable of shooting enemies through virtually anything, from crates to solid walls to tree trunks.

* Swords were mostly ineffective against armor and were usually a symbol of authority. Warhammers and polearms were what knights actually used in combat. A warhammer was usually paired with a [[PowerfulPick pick-end]] because it was effective against both plate and chain. The pick would split the rings of chainmail wide open and deliver a lethal stab, but [[StuckWeapon stick fast in plate.]] The hammer would crush plate, muscle, brain, and bone. Failing that, it could fatally jar vital organs like an egg in a pot, killing the enemy with little regard to armor.

[[folder:FanFiction]]
* In ''FanFic/CosmicWarriors'' Jadeite creates a barrier to block an incoming weapon thrown by Experiment-D-U-D (Diarmuid Ua Duibhne), but his red lance flies right through it.
* In ''FanFic/FourDeadlySecrets'' Ruby's scythe style includes several strikes designed to pierce an opponent's armour [[spoiler:and their protective aura]].
* Some of the guns in ''FanFic/TheNextFrontier'' are designed with the express purpose of ''averting'' this trope. It turns out the inability to penetrate anything vital in a target wearing armor is a small price to pay for a round that won't penetrate anything vital in the spacecraft.
* In ''Fanfic/MyHuntsmanAcademia'', Izuku eventually upgrades the buckshot of his shotgun gauntlet-boot set, the Emerald Gust, into armor-piercing slugs because he realized that having specialized long-range ammo is pointless when he's a CloseRangeCombatant. He doesn't actually use them until his final exam in Live Exercises, during which they prove to be powerful enough to [[spoiler:vaporize the armored skull of an Alpha Beowulf in one hit.]]
** He also eventually learns Mantle Smash, an attack that trades the shockwave of most other Smashes for a focused attack that's effective against armored opponents while at the same time not carrying the risk of maiming someone like the AP slugs.
* In ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin'', Tenten combines the basic [[SpellBlade Chakra Flow]] technique with [[spoiler:the Celestial Gates]] to produce this effect during her fight against Gaara in the Chunin Exam finals, throwing an ordinary kunai so hard that it flies straight through both sides of his sand dome and creates a small explosion when it hits the ground.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros.'' feature several attacks that can completely break through the defenses of a shielding opponent.

** Bowser Bomb can also break an enemy's shield.

** A thrown Mr. Saturn can also break shields instantly.

*** In regards to the above, Urshifu takes this trope UpToEleven, as its ability Unseen Fist lets all of its contact moves bypass Protect including its above-mentioned always critical {{Secret Art}}s.

** Critical hits ignore defense boosts, which makes Frost Breath and Storm Throw this by default since they will always land a critical hit. The same is true of the {{SecretArt}}s of Urshifu, Surging Strikes and Wicked Blow, respectively, which always land critical hits.

** There are also a number of moves that bypass Protect and similar protection moves, most of all of them being {{SecretArt}}s. These are Doom Desire, Feint, Future Sight, Hyper Drill, Hyperspace Fury, Hyperspace Hole, Mighty Cleave, Phantom Force and Shadow Force.
*** In regards to the above, Urshifu takes this trope UpToEleven, as its ability Unseen Fist lets all of its contact moves bypass Protect including its above-mentioned always critical {{SecretArt}}s.

** Critical hits ignore defense boosts, which makes Frost Breath and Storm Throw this by default since they will always land a critical hit.

** There are also moves that bypass Protect and similar protection moves, such as Hyperspace Hole and Phantom Force.

** Toxic from ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' onwards, if used by a [[PoisonousPerson poison]]-type Pokemon, will always hit their target, even if the target is behind a substitute.

Firstly, it is possible for a weapon to cause considerable damage without managing to penetrate protection. A BulletProofVest may be able to stop a bullet, but the force of the bullet has to go somewhere, often cracking ribs. This is elementary physics at work: all the kinetic energy that went into propelling the bullet has to end up somewhere, after all. These physics were exploited by the [[DropTheHammer warhammer]] in medieval times, particularly when plate armor was at its heyday: while swords and arrows couldn't penetrate through plate armor, warhammers could do the next best thing and injure the wearer straight through it. This also applies to [[TankGoodness tanks as well]]: if struck hard enough, armour plating can deform, which leads to portions of the inner facing breaking off and turning into dangerous shrapnel (called "spall").

*** Due to the way armour is implemented, players may need to use special weapons, ammunition and methods of attack to penetrate an enemy's armour and cause meaningful damage. AP rounds for guns, overcharged energy cells for energy weapons, melee and unarmed weapons with the "Ignore DT/DR" feature are the most obvious, but using a weapon that deals a large amount of damage per shot/swing (such as the [[{{BFG}} Anti-Material Rifle]] or the [[DropTheHammer Super Sledge]]) will also do the job. And of course, if you're [[CombatPragmatist the sneaky type]], you can also go for a sneak attack critical, which has its damage added to the original attack and thus isn't nearly as affected by DT.

*** Imp Pear. Any zombie that eats it [[ForcefulTransformation becomes an imp]] regardless if it had armor.

*** Any plant with the [[APoisonousPerson poison]] status such as Shadow-shroom and Poison Pea. Their poison damages the zombie directly.

** Brick Break and Psychic Fangs, which break any Reflect and Light Screen shields the opponent has set up before damaging the opponent.

** Attacking Z-Moves overpower invulnerability moves like Protect, Spiky Shield, King's Shield and Baneful Bunker.

** The Fume-shroom can ignore screen doors, newspapers, ladders, and trash cans that some zombies are holding.
** The Laser Bean in [[VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime the sequel]] can pierce through Shield Zombie's DeflectorShields.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''

** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' the Deathclaw Gauntlet ignores armor entirely. The Tri-Beam Laser Rifle in ''Broken Steel'' also has this effect when wielded by Super Mutant Overlords, one of a quartet of DemonicSpiders introduced in this DLC. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard No such luck for the player]]. The Tribals and Swampfolk in ''Point Lookout'' have a similar hax effect with their weapons, the double barreled shotguns being the most deadly, since the armor-piercing damage is applied to each individual pellet (the same reason shotguns in your hands have overpowered sneak attacks), possibly resulting in a OneHitKill if all of them connect with the player. Likewise for the Feral Ghoul Reavers' DeadlyLunge, and their gore grenades, which also instantly cripple body parts on a direct hit.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Most of Trafalgar Law's abilities divide people into pieces without harming them, but this can be countered by armoring your body using Haki. However, Law's Gamma Knife is a short energy sword that can selectively ignore and pass though certain tissues, and grievously wound others; in practice, this means that he can stab your internal organs while completely ignoring your Haki-hardened skin.

** Both ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' and ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'' have two different armor/damage systems in play. In both games, the amount of armor on a unit subtracts from the damage dealt by an attacking unit: if an attacker deals 3 damage and the target has 2 armor, 2 damage will be subtracted from the attack and only 1 damage will actually be dealt. In gameplay terms, this means that weaker attacks will be disproportionately less effective than higher damage attacks against armor, although this could be easily overcome by SpamAttack from [[MoreDakka faster attacks]] or through sheer numbers.
** As for the secondary armor/damage systems, ''Starcraft'' has one in which different attack types may do half, three-quarters, or full damage depending on unit type, with "concussion" type attacks dealing full damage to "light" units, three-quarters damage to "medium" units and half damage to "heavy" units. ''[=StarCraft II=]'' does away with the system, opting instead for one in which some units receive a bonus to attack against certain unit types. A Terran Marauder for example, deals 10 damage to most targets, but receives an extra 10 damage against any "Armored" type ground unit for a total of 20 damage. Like ''Warcraft III'', abilities in both games ignore physical armor but may be affected by unit type, with Irradiate capable of dealing up to 200 damage on biological units but remaining completely ineffective against mechanical ones.

* ''VideoGame/Warcraft3'' has various damage and armor types. Certain damage types may deal more or less damage depending on armor type, while armour amount also influences how much damage is received through percentage reduction. One type of armor (Divine) is practically immune to any damage except one type of damage (Chaos). Spells tend to ignore physical armor when inflicting damage, but may instead be affected by some abilities or fail to work altogether on some unit classifications.

* In Book II of ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'', the future King Arthur stabs through the seven layer of armor in Guyon's shield to impale and kill the villain who stole it.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} 3'' has various damage and armor types. Certain damage types may deal more or less damage depending on armor type, while armour amount also influences how much damage is received through percentage reduction. One type of armor (Divine) is practically immune to any damage except one type of damage (Chaos). Spells tend to ignore physical armor when inflicting damage, but may instead be affected by some abilities or fail to work altogether on some unit classifications.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'':

* Shaped charge munitions were invented during WW2. They consist of a metal cone surrounded by TNT. Upon detonation, the metal cone is instantly turned into a semi-molten jet that burrows through tank armor and disperses into the vehicle's cabin, magazine, or engine compartment. They were field-tested when German tanks were noted to bounce cannon shells off their hulls, thanks to the clever tactic of angling their armor (which adds about a half-inch to the thickness of Homogenous Rolled-Steel Armor.) Shaped-charge munitions simply ignore that extra half-inch. They're so effective that they have yet to truly be replaced, since the counter to shaped charge warheads, explosive reactive armor (literally just a bomb made to shove the penetrating metal jet away before it can burn through the hull), is defeated by using ''two'' shaped charges; one to set off the reactive armor and another to burn through the hull.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cannonballedcuirasst_2.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars The cuirass worn by 19-year-old cuirassier Antoine Fraveau, struck by a cannonball during the Battle of Waterloo, 1815.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The cuirass worn by 19-year-old cuirassier Antoine Fraveau, struck by a cannonball during the Battle of Waterloo, 1815.]]