History Main / BattleOfWits

* One of the side-quests in the Original Campaign which comes with ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' has you hunting down an InsufferableGenius escaped criminal known as ''The Stirge''. When you find him, he offers to play a game of wits with you for his life. If you follow the example he gives you when you get to play the real game,[[spoiler:you will inevitably lose.]]

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

** Any fight. Raw power is great and all, but the truly dangerous [[FightingSpirit Stand]] [[PsychicPowers users]] are the ones who use [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway weak or peculiar abilities]] to [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower devastating effect.]]
** Most notably, the confrontation against professional gambler and conman Daniel J. D'Arby in Part 3. D'Arby's stand Osiris had no apparent combat abilities at all, but its ability to [[YourSoulIsMine tear out the soul]] of anyone he defeated in a game meant that, after he claimed his first trophy by tricking Polnareff, the heroes' own Stands were almost useless, as the only way they could get Polnareff's soul back was to beat D'Arby at his own completely mundane games. Araki explicitly created D'Arby to give Joseph Joestar, the GuileHero of the previous part and a famous cheater, a run for his money against [[EvilCounterpart an opponent just as cunning as he was]] (and Joseph did in fact lose to D'Arby, requiring Jotaro to outfox him to win).
** Seeing as, in ''Manga/BattleTendency'', aforementioned GuileHero Joseph was often vastly underpowered compared to his opponents, pretty much all of the fights were battles of wits. Victory would always come as a result of [[CrazyPrepared extremely careful planning]], [[IndyPloy clever tricks thought up on the spot]], and occasionally, just plain luck.

* ''Manga/LiarGame'''s whole plot is a battle of wits par excellence.

* One in every two ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fights turn out this way.

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* The final confrontation in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' can be this, depending on your stats.
* The entire focus of the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' courtroom sections.
* One of the side-quests in the Original Campaign which comes with ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' has you hunting down an InsufferableGenius escaped criminal known as ''The Stirge''. When you find him, he offers to play a game of wits with you for his life. If you follow the example he gives you when you get to play the real game,[[spoiler: you will inevitably lose.]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny is the patron saint of this trope. Of course, most of his opponents come ill-equipped for a battle of wits, but are generally well-armed otherwise. Perhaps his worthiest opponent is self-proclaimed "super genius" Wile E. Coyote; in this case, Bugs uses Wile E.'s arrogance to his advantage.

** ''Film/MissionImpossibleDeadReckoningPartOne'' takes this trope to the next level with [[AIIsACrapshoot the Entity]], which as an AI lacks any human vulnerabilities and is capable of accurately predicting of the future based on complex calculations of all the individuals and variables at play in any given scenario, which it uses to manipulate things to ensure its desired outcome. Much the film is the protagonists trying to come up with ways to outthink it, only to realize the Entity ''already foresaw them doing that'' and adjusted its plans accordingly.

[[folder: Literature]]

* Numerous instances in ''Literature/WolfHall'', but there's a notable subversion near the end of ''Bring Up the Bodies''. Thomas Cromwell has prepared himself for a long battle of wits to entrap Mark Smeaton by positioning himself as trying to protect Anne Boleyn from all these enemies she's got. Thirty seconds in and Mark is boasting that Anne is desperately in love with him. Cromwell says after, "Well, there aren't many men alive who can say they took me by surprise."

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* ''Manga/DragonBall'': There are several cases of this, especially when there is [[TournamentArc tournament]] because in that case, it's always about who can outsmart their opponent the quickest that usually is the winner.

** ''Film/MissionImpossibleDeadReckoningPartOne'' takes this trope to the next level with [[AIIsACrapsoot the Entity]], which as an AI lacks any human vulnerabilities and is capable of accurately predicting of the future based on complex calculations of all the individuals and variables at play in any given scenario, which it uses to manipulate things to ensure its desired outcome. Much the film is the protagonists trying to come up with ways to outthink it, only to realize the Entity ''already foresaw them doing that'' and adjusted its plans accordingly.

* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'' is a series about Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty. They aren’t exactly kickboxing with each other on the regular. Pretty much every case after Sherlock is introduced until ''The Final Problem'' is them testing their intelligence against one another.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': While this is a CyberPunk action series, there are a whole cast of characters who specialize in these sorts of confrontation: SupportingLeader [[GuileHero Sheryl]], TheChessmaster [[KnowledgeBroker Viola]], and TheTeamBenefactor Inabe, for the most part, with {{Ojou}} Reina joining the club to show her development from SkilledButNaive into a GuileHero. The MegaCorp CEO Sugadome has some confrontations with his renegade agent Shirou revolving around DoubleMeaning phrases. Both Reina and Sugadome end up mopping the floor with the EntitledBitch Chloe in contests like this, which causes Chloe to FaintInShock because she's a DramaQueen.
* ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'': Due to the sheer variety of Divine Drag-Rides and their Divine Raiments, different kinds of Baptism, and different Ragnarok abilities, victory tends to be achieved through creativity and analyzing the opponents' abilities rather than brute force.

* The initial premise of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' is a competition between the titular female lead Kaguya and male lead Shirogane, both academic geniuses, trying to bait each other into confessing their feelings first. The Japanese title translates to ''Kaguya-sama Wants Him to Confess: The Genius' War of Hearts and Minds''.

* The premise of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' is two teenagers trying to force each other into a LoveConfession, turning everything from getting movie tickets to drinking coffee into elaborate mind games. Many chapters quickly turn into a contest between Shirogane’s IndyPloy and Kaguya’s CrazyPrepared, though just as often the whole thing is derailed by [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Fujiwara]] wandering in and [[SpannerInTheWorks unwittingly ruining both of their plans]].

* Izuku 'Deku' Midoriya from ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' dishes these out in nearly every fight he's been in.

* ''{{Literature/Worm}}'': Skitter is a fan of this. Often putting together [[IndyPloy spur-of-the-moment decision]] to outsmart and beat her opponents. While using creative uses of her power, (which is bug control) to fight dragon men, Psychotic cyborgs, and '''''KAIJU'''''

[[folder: Web Original]]

* ''LetsPlay/{{Dream}}'': His Manhunt videos inevitably turn into this. Often turning into a Cat-and-Mouse game between the hunters and the speed runner (Dream) with gambits galore that could rival some of the best battle of wits.
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* This is quite prevalent throughout ''Anime/CodeGeass'', particularly with large-scale army maneuvers and tactics involving battles with mechs. However, there are many other battles of wits which have nothing to do with mechs, such as [[spoiler: the battle between Lelouch his brother Schneizel during the finale]].

* There are several cases of this in ''Manga/DragonBall'', especially when there is [[TournamentArc tournament]] because in that case, it's always about who can outsmart their opponent the quickest that usually is the winner.

* Any fight in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''. Raw power is great and all, but the truly dangerous [[FightingSpirit Stand]] [[PsychicPowers users]] are the ones who use [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway weak or peculiar abilities]] to [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower devastating effect.]]
** Most notably, the confrontation against professional gambler and conman Daniel J. D'Arby in Part 3 took this form entirely. D'Arby's stand Osiris had no apparent combat abilities at all, but its ability to [[YourSoulIsMine tear out the soul]] of anyone he defeated in a game meant that, after he claimed his first trophy by tricking Polnareff, the heroes' own Stands were almost useless, as the only way they could get Polnareff's soul back was to beat D'Arby at his own completely mundane games. Araki explicitly created D'Arby to give Joseph Joestar, the GuileHero of the previous part and a famous cheater, a run for his money against [[EvilCounterpart an opponent just as cunning as he was]] (and Joseph did in fact lose to D'Arby, requiring Jotaro to outfox him to win).

* Every war in ''{{Manga/Kingdom}}'' is equal parts the physical battle between the armies and the mental battle between the commanders.

* [[ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse Mickey Mouse]] in comics is often protrayed as especially clever and capable of outwitting also-mentally-formidable opponents like the Phantom Blot, so there are several stories where this trope comes into play. There's a certain style of old (Italian?) comics that got quite ambitious and convoluted about pitting him against some EvilGenius criminal. It's also been used in the other direction: one story has him pretend to be a hunted criminal (in what is really a practice exercise for the police) and fooling both the police and the criminals.