History Main / BreakMeter

* ''VideoGame/WildStar'' was one of the first MMOs to have a mechanic along these lines, with its 'Interrupt armor.' Major enemies could absorb a number of CC effects, meaning they could only be successfully stunned by being overwhelmed with multiple CC effects during a channeled ability. Of course, if you did pull this off, you'd be rewarded with the boss spending a long time [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown disabled and taking bonus damage]].

* Some tough enemies in ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' downplay ContractualBossImmunity against control effects (like Stun or Daze) by having a "defiance bar" instead of being completely immune. Once part of an innate buff, the first expansion reworked it into a full secondary bar. While this provides complete immunity from control effects, such abilities will instead damage the defiance bar based on their relative effectiveness. Once depleted, the enemy will usually suffer one of these effects: their current action being interrupted, a full stun, or being more vulnerable for a short time.

* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', in an attempt to offset both AntiClimaxBoss ''and'' [[UselessUsefulSpell Useless Useful Spells]], the game has a mechanic known as Defiance for tough enemies. Once part of an innate buff, the first expansion reworked it into a full secondary bar, sometimes known as the break bar. Instead of their usual effects, crowd control abilities will damage the break bar based on their relative effectiveness. Once the break bar is depleted, one or more things happen depending on the enemy, usually involving interrupting their current action, fully stunning them, or making them more vulnerable for a short time.

* The Stun Meter appears in some ''VideoGame/{{Atelier}}'' games, including ''VideoGame/ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlRevis'' and [[VideoGame/ManaKhemia2FallOfAlchemy its sequel]], ''VideoGame/AtelierShallie'', the ''Mysterious'' trilogy (''VideoGame/AtelierSophie'', ''VideoGame/AtelierFiris'', and ''VideoGame/AtelierLydieAndSuelle''), and ''VideoGame/AtelierLulua''. Both party members and enemies can be stunned, and effects generally include being forced to skip a turn (or multiple) and taking a guaranteed critical hit (though this may also remove the stun prematurely).

* ''VideoGame/LibraryOfRuina'' has the Stagger Resistance meter. If it drops to zero, the character is left incapable to act for the current turn and the next; also, it will take double damage from all attacks. Stagger Resistance drops when you are attacked or when your own attack is successfully blocked, but it can be recovered by successfully dodging an enemy attack.

** ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'' has a variation on this. The Chain Gauge is no longer an explicit bar, instead being replaced by a Stagger Wave. The extent to which an enemy is close to being Staggered is represented by a wave; the closer it is to being Staggered, the wave will be larger and colored red. There are many different conditions for Stagger, and some enemies can be Staggered further for additional damage. However, some enemies can only be damaged after multiple Staggers, including the BonusBoss. Also, the Chain Gauge-based damage boost mentioned above no longer applies.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'', enemies have a break meter below their health bars that fills up quickly when you attack them bare-handed or with Atreus' arrows. Once it's full, you can hit R3 to deliver a violent instant kill on them. Your weapon attacks fill it up as well but at a much slower rate. It's basically a reinterpretation of the original ''God of War'' series' system where strong enemies and bosses would get stunned and open to a QTE kill once they've lost enough health.

* The ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' trilogy features this as a crucial game mechanic called "Stagger". By stringing together attacks, characters raise an enemy's "Chain Bonus" (damage multiplier) while trying to keep the timer from running out (which will reset the Chain Gauge to 100%). Once the Gauge hits a certain threshold, the enemy becomes "staggered", at which point the Chain Gauge rises by 100% (and it can still be raised). Ravagers have the ability to fill the gauge faster, but Commandos make the gauge drop slower and also boot enemies into the air with "Launch". Certain enemies also lose resistances to certain types of attacks or may effectively be shut down. In addition, the percentage of Break Gauge also influence the damage it takes. Basically, a Chain gauge of 300%, say, will amplify your attacks by 3 times. Certain monsters that are nigh un-Staggerable (having 999% as its Stagger breakpoint) may not even need to be Staggered as long as the Chain gauge is high enough that you're doing almost ten times the damage.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfFinalFantasy'' has topple. You and your [[{{Mon}} Mons]] (as well as most enemies) sit atop each other's heads to create stacks of up to 3. While stacked the stats of all 3 characters are combined and extra combo attacks can be formed if like elements are stacked. Each stack has a stability rating dependent on the choice of stacking, and taking damage can cause a stack to start wobbling - higher stability means more damage needed to wobble. Continue taking damage and the wobbling gets worse until it topples, separating into its constituent weaker parts and briefly stunning them. Any of the component characters can then rebuild the stack with the Stack command. A wobbling stack can be stabilized with items or abilities, and there also exist attacks specifically designed to have a high topple chance - some of which virtually guarantee an enemy topple but also force the player to topple.
* The Stagger meter ("Break" in Japan) in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' is further refined from the ''[=FFXIII=]'' trilogy. The Stagger Gauge is below the Health bar, so when this is filled your enemy is knocked down and helpless, taking at least 160% more damage (this can be raised well beyond 400% with certain abilities). If they take too much damage, get hit by an attack they're weak to, or have a body part broken, a conscious enemy will get the "Pressured" status applied to their Stagger Gauge, where "Pressured" increases the rate that the Stagger Gauge fills.

* ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai 3'' features a fatigue gauge, that, if filled will cause a character to be tired out if knocked down with less than one Ki gauge.

* In the levels of ''VideoGame/DragonBallAdvancedAdventure'' where you battle one opponent in a fighting game engine, both you and your opponent have a Rush Gauge. As long as it's not empty, you won't flinch or take damage from attacks, but each attack that you don't block or parry will deplete it. If you empty the opponent's Rush Gauge through continued attacks or a single counterattack after parrying, you break their guard and knock them back for a significant amount of time, and your attacks will make them flinch until you knock them down to the ground. After getting knocked down, their Rush Gauge will reset. It also refills on its own if you're not being attacked. Scoring a hit with a chi blast will immediately empty their Rush Gauge.

* ''VideoGame/JojosBizarreAdventureHeritageForTheFuture'' has the Stand Meter. If a character takes too many hits to their Stand, they are "Stand Crushed" - the Stand disappears and they are staggered. (For extra ContinuityNod value, the Stone Mask flashes in the background when this happens.)

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ: Supersonic Warriors'' has a single gauge on top of the screen between each character's health bars, with a mark in the center that moves closer towards each health bar as that player blocks attacks from the other. If the mark is not in the center, and one player fails to block a strong attack from the other, either the first player will be stunned until the mark can reset (if it was closer to his health bar), or it will just reset itself immediately (if it was closer to the attacker's health bar).

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000InquisitorMartyr'': The "Suppression" MoraleMechanic is a separate meter applying to both the Inquisitor and Medium and Elite enemies that drops from the "Protected" state to "Suppressed" and then "Overwhelmed" as the character takes incoming fire. This triggers various impacts and penalties.

The Break Meter adds another layer to gameplay and strategy by allowing a new route to defeat other than merely depleting {{Hit Point}}s. It fills as a character is damaged and, when full, the character is "broken" and will be more vulxennerable to attacks, be hit with criticals more often, and/or be unable to act. Occasionally, attacks or skills will behave radically differently against a broken enemy, with popular changes including the skill knocking them into the air and/or smashing them to the ground. Sometimes, breaking a character does just that; the character flees the battle.

The Break Meter adds another layer to gameplay and strategy by allowing a new route to defeat other than merely depleting {{Hit Point}}s. It fills as a character is damaged and, when full, the character is "broken" and will be more vulnerable to attacks, be hit with criticals more often, and/or be unable to act. Occasionally, attacks or skills will behave radically differently against a broken enemy, with popular changes including the skill knocking them into the air and/or smashing them to the ground. Sometimes, breaking a character does just that; the character flees the battle.

* In ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' game ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', depleting an enemy's Weak Point Gauge allows a warrior to deal major damage to that enemy and those surrounding it.

* In the story mode of the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' spinoffs ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'' and ''Hisoutensoku'', enemies using spellcards have break meters. If you deal enough damage to them, they're stunned until it refills.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' uses a similar mechanic, known as "poise". Heavy armour and certain items or spells increase it, and it grants stagger resistance. Taking hits will stagger a target once its poise is broken, often leaving them vulnerable to a [[CriticalHit riposte]]. This applies to enemies as well as the player.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'':

** ''[[VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX X]]'' uses a similar system, but with different names. Break is changed to Stagger and Daze is changed to Stun. The other major differences is Stagger also acts as an interrupt and Topple and Stun can be forced onto the opponent without the previous, but it becomes easier to do so if you follow the chain.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'' has the Break-Topple-Daze chain. Break does nothing outside of putting a debuff on the target, but Topple stops the enemy in it's tracks and attacks done to it have increased critical rates, and Daze can completely shatter [[{{Seers}} Shulk's]] visions of the future. Topple can also be extended by using additional Topple or Daze moves, effectively keeping an enemy from doing anything while you whale on them, although watch out for Topple spikes, where the enemy will do damage to the party while they are Toppled. Also there are moves that can force Topple or Daze (like Melia's Starlight Kick if used after her Spear Break) and Chain attacks can bypass enemy resistances to any portion of the chain. Finally, [[CombatMedic Sharla]] has an Art that can cause [[OneHitKill Instant Death]] to an enemy if they are Dazed.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'', being a SpiritualSuccessor to the VideoGame/Xenosaga series, brings back the BreakMeter, but does it differently because its an ARPG. Here it appears in the form of the Break-Topple-Daze chain. Break does nothing outside of putting a debuff on the target, but Topple stops the enemy in it's tracks and attacks done to it have increased critical rates, and Daze can completely shatter [[{{Seers}} Shulk's]] visions of the future. Topple can also be extended by using additional Topple or Daze moves, effectively keeping an enemy from doing anything while you whale on them, although watch out for Topple spikes, where the enemy will do damage to the party while they are Toppled. Also there are moves that can force Topple or Daze (like Melia's Starlight Kick if used after her Spear Break) and Chain attacks can bypass enemy resistances to any portion of the chain. Finally, [[CombatMedic Sharla]] has an Art that can cause [[OneHitKill Instant Death]] to an enemy if they are Dazed.