History Main / DepletedPhlebotinumShells

[[AC:{{Western Animation}}]]
* ''TheBatmanVsDracula'': Batman prepares everything he can for his fights with Dracula. For example, he soaks his bat blades in liquid garlic. Later on he gets a test subject and applies fancier science. "Fancier science" being an ultraviolet cannon reminiscent of the Ultraviolet Light examples below.
[[/folder]]

Iron, often cold iron or [[ThunderboltIron meteoric iron]], is a traditional ward and weapon against magic, especially TheFairFolk. The term "cold iron" comes down to us from folklore, but nobody ever explained exactly what the stuff ''is'', so the definitions very wildly from "unprocessed" to "obsessively pure" (in real life it's just a poetic expression).

* {{Batman}} soaks his Batarangs in crushed garlic for dealing with vampires.

* In the anime ''ChronoCrusade'', the Magdalene Order uses scripture-inscribed bullets laced with holy water as standard ammunition against demons. They also have a small number of bullets which use the power of one demon to blow up another, with near-nuclear effects.

* In ''{{Hellsing}}'', Alucard's bullets, like his gun(s), are made to order - each is made from the metal of a Lancaster cross that was specially melted down for the purpose. The fact that the rounds are also ''explosive-tipped'' helps as well.

* In the ''AstroCity'' "Confession" story arc, a squad of alien invaders is armed with holographic crucifixes, restraining cables soaked in holy water, and a two-handed stake-launching revolver. They are thus armed because [[spoiler:they know that the nocturnal super-hero Confessor is actually a vampire.]]

* ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'', as mentioned in the opening quotation. In the comics, the shells also contain garlic and cold iron shavings, and in all depictions are fired from a gun crafted out of a church bell.
* In ''{{Dogma}}'', SilentBob kills the demon Azrael with a golf club he stole from a cardinal. As it turns out, the previous owner blessed it to improve his score.

* The Knights of the Cross in ''TheDresdenFiles'' each carry one of three swords (a broadsword that may or may not be Excalibur, a katana and a saber). Each sword has one of the nails used in Christ's crucifixion worked in the hilt. While Harry used to believe that the sword had little powers on their own, acting more as a symbol [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve being powered by their wielder's faith]], the swords have shown that they are more than mere pieces of steel.

* In ''JohnDiesAtTheEnd'', Dave and John use a Bible duct-taped to a baseball bat to fight supernatural monsters. Oh, and breath mints with the Lord's Prayer printed on them.

* Many weapons for dealing with the [[TheLegionsOfHell daemons]] of ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' who, while not ImmuneToBullets, are [[ImplacableMan damn hard to kill]]. The most obvious are the psycannon shells used by the Ordo Malleus. Depending on the source, these are either filled with various blessed materials or have anti-daemon runes and prayers carved onto them.

* One quest in ''[=~The Adventures of Dr. McNinja~=]'' featured...

* In the 2006 animated ''{{Batman}}'' movie, Batman prepares everything he can for his fights with Dracula. For example, he soaks his bat blades in liquid garlic. Later on he gets a test subject and applies fancier science. "Fancier science" being an ultraviolet cannon reminiscent of the Ultraviolet Light examples below.

* This comes into play in the DC {{Elseworlds}} story ''Superboy's Legion'', where Ferro Lad proves completely invulnerable to the Emerald Empress' magic.

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'', any iron can be harmful to TheFairFolk, but some places are protected by a powerful magnetic field to keep any iron from entering. Nanny Ogg uses one of [[AC:Binky]]'s horseshoes, which can go anywhere (like [[AC:[[TheGrimReaper Binky's Owner]]]]).

* Mercedes Lackey's ''Born to Run'' features humans fighting TheFairFolk with, among other things, shotgun shells loaded with "Cold Iron, holy herbs, and blessed rock-salt." One character also has a seltzer bottle that's been filled with iron filings and given a "pagan blessing." When he sprays the blessed and iron-laced water directly into a banshee's mouth, its head melts.
* In RobinHobb's ''Soldier Son'' trilogy, iron beats any kind of magic and mages are "allergic" to iron. At the beginning of the series, the protagonist's country Gernia has subdued most of the magic-using peoples around them by switching from lead to iron bullets.
* In the ''[[WarlockOfGramaraye Warlock In Spite Of Himself]]'' series, iron in any metallic form is potentially deadly to the LittlePeople. A handful of nails thrown into the bushes by a villain in one book is answered with cries of pain. And hanging scrap iron around your house also prevents the Wee Folk from entering. (The first book's claim that "witchcraft" (PsychicPowers) can't affect iron is {{RetCon}}ned away very early on).
* In ''The Spiderwick Chronicles'' book four, Jared confronts a faerie by pulling out a steel knife. His reasoning was that faeries don't like iron, and steel is at least part iron. It worked.
* In ''TheDresdenFiles'', anything with a high-enough iron content is potentially lethal to faeries; Mab, Queen of Winter and one of the most powerful magical beings on earth, recoils from a steel nail in fright the second before it touches her skin. Harry explains in one book that iron is to faeries what nuclear waste is to humans -- horribly wracking, and to be avoided at all costs. He even manages to take down [[spoiler: Aurora, the Summer Maiden and a powerful foe in her own right]] with nothing more than [[spoiler: a fleet of pixies armed with box cutters]].

* From ''TheBible'', [[http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/iron_chariots/jg01_19a.html iron chariots]] are just better. Just ask the men of Judah, or, God himself. It means this trope is OlderThanFeudalism.
* In ''TheNameOfTheWind'', cold iron is known to be super effective vs "demons".

* Cold iron does aggravated damage to changelings in ''[[WorldOfDarkness Changeling: the Dreaming]]''. In the successor game, ''Changeling: the Lost'', "cold" iron (material that's 95% iron at least) pierces fae defenses and hand-wrought iron does aggravated damage to [[TheFairFolk the True Fae]]. One of the explanations for the latter game is that the True Fae made a deal with Iron to gain mystical benefits from it as long as they made sure no human hand could change its essence. Once humans discovered smelting, however, the deal was broken and Iron decided it wanted to do some interesting things to the kneecaps of the True Fae...

* In full effect in ''{{Exalted}}''. Fair Folk take extra damage from pure iron weapons (not steel or other alloys), and are resistant to non-iron. Woe betide the Exalt who's stocked up on magical artifacts with no iron weapons.

* In ''PrincessMaker 2'' adventure section of the game, there is an {{NPC}} Elf that can change your daughter's statistics. However, he will run away if your daughter is equipped with iron weapon or armor. It's surprising how the developers [[ShownTheirWork thought of this]], especially when the game came from Japan.

* ''TalesOfTheQuestor'' has an interesting theory on "cold iron"; somebody [[BlindIdiotTranslation mistranslated]] [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00474.html "north-pointing" as "cold"]], meaning [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00480.html "cold iron" is ''lodestone'' -- '''North Pointing Iron'''.]]

* In the WhateleyUniverse, "cold iron" is cold-forged iron or wrought iron, according to WordOfGod, even if some fans are ''still'' arguing about it.
* ''TheSalvationWar'' gives us iron-tipped artillery in the form of High-Explosive Anti-Demon rounds. Not that conventional (military-grade) firearms were any less effective against demons, overpenetration aside.
** To expand on that, normal High-Explosive-Anti-Tank (HEAT) rounds have a shaped charge with a copper liner so when they detonate they burn through the enemy armour with a jet of molten copper. HEAD rounds replace the copper liner with iron so instead of just burning through the demon like a HEAT round they burned through it with something that was poisonous to the demon and prevented its flesh from [[HealingFactor regenerating]].

* ''CowboyBebop'' once featured a CreepyChild that was really a boy that stopped aging and gained immortality from a weird cosmic event. A stone made during the incident was the only thing that could kill him and Jet and Spike carved it into a bullet to use it.
* In ''ErgoProxy'' the only way to kill a Proxy is with shells that emit UV radiation, because the Proxies [[spoiler: were designed to terraform the world back to normal and then disintegrate when the sunlight came back]].
* ''TearsToTiara'' has both the [[TheEmpire Holy Empire]] and [[spoiler:the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]]]] use weapons made of Electrum, a holy metal, against NobleDemon protagonist Arawn. ([[spoiler:The latter made it the ammunition of a biological "[[TankGoodness divine tank]]", which was used killed him [[DeathIsCheap the first time]]]]). In-game, any equipment made of Electrum given to non-human characters (elves, dragons, demons, etc.) is only as good as whatever they were wearing earlier. It doesn't lower their stats, but it doesn't boost them either.
* In ''OnePiece'', Devil's Fruit users are all weak to submersion in water (which is a pretty WeaksauceWeakness for pirates in largely oceanic world). Sea-Prism Stone is a rock that causes people touched by it to suffer the same [[PowerNullifier power-nullifying]] and strength-draining effect as being submerged. Usually, it's used in handcuffs, restraints, and cages, but the marine Smoker walks around with a weapon made of the stuff despite being a Devil's Fruit user himself.

* [[KryptoniteFactor Kryptonite]] is {{Superman}}'s one true weakness (usually), so it's hardly surprising that it's been weaponized against him. The most spectacular being the occasionally mentioned K-Bomb, a Kryptonite tipped [[NukeEm nuclear bomb]].

* In ''FanFic/AeonEntelechyEvangelion'' there are warheads enhanced with ''[[HPLovecraft The Colour out of Space]]''.

* In ''[[Film/XMen X-Men: Origins]]'', Stryker manages to bypass both Wolverine's adamantium bones and healing factor by shooting him in the head with adamantium bullets. The bullets pierce his skull, and while Logan's brain can heal, his memories can't.

* In the LRonHubbard novel ''BattlefieldEarth'', the Psychlos are very resistant to damage due to their inhuman physiology, but anything radioactive would react explosively to the 'breathe-gas' that they used for respiration. In this case, the humans defeat all the Psychlos by simply [[spoiler: detonating a nuclear bomb on their homeworld, and the destruction spread through their teleporter network.]] Though really, an ounce of plutonium in a lead box would have worked equally well. Of course, [[FridgeLogic this raises the question of whether the Psychlo homeworld contains any natural radioactives at all, or is subjected to cosmic background radiation the way Earth is, and if so how they occupied Earth, whether they use cathode ray tubes that emit X-rays, etc.]]
** An example of DidNotDoTheResearch. Psychlo (the planet) should have exploded a long time ago from cosmic radiation or radioactive meteorites igniting the atmosphere.
*** Dude, it's [[ChurchOfHappyology Hubbard]]. More like Allergic To Research.
** To be fair, the Psychlo empire was [[TheMultiverse trans-dimensional]], and the Psychlo's home universe did not operate by the same rules of physics. Their home universe uses a different periodic table, and their "breathe gas" is not a substance naturally found in our universe, just as radioactives are not naturally found in theirs. So it's more of HandWave than DidNotDoTheResearch (for once).

* This was part of the mission statement in ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', as the U.S. intended to exploit alien technology or hybridize it with conventional weaponry to defend the Earth.

* The New German Republic in ''{{Rifts}}'' has discovered that hot uranium rounds prevent supernatural beings from [[HealingFactor regenerating]] or even healing damage.

* In ''CommandAndConquer'', both Nod and GDI use specialized munitions. In Nod's case, they have a love for filling missiles with various breeds of [[GreenRocks Tiberium]]-based explosives or gases, while GDI has developed sonic-based and EMP artillery shells and grenades.
* In the ''MonkeyIsland'' series of computer games, root beer is an extremely effective ectocide. It should be noted, however, that it ''only'' works on ghosts-- when Guybrush tries this on the resurrected Zombie Pirate [=LeChuck=], he shakes it off and chastises Guybrush for trying to off a zombie with a mere soft drink.
* Though not particularly used against live targets, Haken's Night Fowl in ''[[SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier]]'' requires special bullets to destroy the Mild Keil crystals causing BrokenBridge antics and other chaos in-game. To ensure they're strong enough for the job, they're made from (or based on the composition of) fragments of the crystal type they're made to break.
* Super Science version in ''HunterTheVigil''. Task Force: VALKYRIE uses bullets treated with the power of SCIENCE! to turn them into super-high-energy rounds that can strike and harm incorporeal targets like ghosts.
* Most explosives and machines in ''ValkyriaChronicles'' run off of "ragnite," which burns blue. Hence we have blue grenades, blue mortar fire, blue radiators on the back of tanks, and even blue healing capsules.

* A recent ''NobodyScores'' webcomic had one of the characters acquire Kryptonite bullets and go hunting for Superman. Superman, of course, took them out from long range with a traditional sniper rifle of their own [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption before they even spotted him]].

* Emiya Kiritsugu's custom "Origin Bullets" in ''FateZero'' were filled with his own powdered bones, which contains Kiritsugu's dual Origins (base 'orientations' of an individual) of 'Binding' and 'Severing'. A magus uses magecraft to defend against the bullet? The Origins are forced directly onto his [[FunctionalMagic Magic Circuits]], overloading them and ripping them apart.
* In ''MahouSenseiNegima'', Tatsumiya creates her own spell-imbued bullets for [[DemonSlaying exorcisms]] and the like. [[spoiler:Later, she gains a special ''time-displacement rounds'' use within one day, which work as an effective OneHitKill for the ultimate in battlefield removal]].

* In the "Razing Hell" ''{{Hellraiser}}'' comic mini-series, written by the [[RetroactiveRecognition Wachowski Brothers]], the protagonists manage to make bullets out of some of their own bones (starting with a fallen comrade who tells them how to do it with his dying breath, and later, in one desperate situation, a character uses his own pinky finger to make more ammo), since one of the only things that can hurt the LegionsOfHell is Leviathan's own power (which has tainted them too, since they were its prisoners). They use this knowledge to begin a grim but very effective LaResistance campaign against the cenobites and the puzzle-box guardians.
* SilverAge [[SuperMan Kryptonians]] could only be harmed by three things: other Kryptonians, kryptonite, and magic. So if you don't have any green rocks handy...

* The Others of ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' are creatures born of winter and hate everything warm. Though they fear fire, their speed and combat skill makes them difficult to set alight. Fortunately, in this world [[LostTechnology Valyrian steel]] and obsidian ([[CallARabbitASmeerp also called dragonglass]]) are associated with dragon fire and can slay them. A flimsy obsidian dagger wielded by [[TheSoCalledCoward the obese and combat-aversive Samwell Tarly]] pierces an Others' ice of armor like butter and actually ''melts its hands when it tries to pull the knife out''.
* In ''{{Tortall}}'', griffin-fletched arrows always hit their targets, and Stormwing-fletched arrows go through magic shielding.
* In Sergey Lukyanenko's ''NightWatch'' novels, it's very difficult for an Other to be killed with human weapons, as their instinct is to jump into the magical dimension of the Gloom at the first sign of danger, where physical objects cannot reach. Only enchanted bullets have a real chance of killing an Other. A human working for an Other is given enchanted bullets for his submachinegun. These bullets end up killing a werewolf. Besides that, only a nuke can definitively kill an Other, because nuclear explosions somehow reach even the deepest levels of Gloom.

* An unusually literal version is used in ''{{GURPS}} Technomancer''. The magical metal Necronium, is used primarily as a power source (and can sometimes poison those exposed to it and bring them back as the [[ZombieApocalypse living dead]]), whilst depleted Necronium is toxic to all magical creatures. Depleted Necronium is also completely unaffected by magic, allowing it to penetrate nearly all protective spells.
* The old ''{{World of Darkness}}'' has Primium for the Technocracy, which is essentially a kills-supernaturals-dead weapon. Using it in a laser makes its wounds as agonizing to vampires as sunlight, Primium bullets hurt werewolves like silver does, and if you're afraid of magic users, plating yourself with Primium stops magic dead (some of the time at least.)
** In ''{{Mage The Awakening}}'' (the new World of Darkness' version of the above game) we are given Thaumium. It stores magical energy, it's resistant to magic, and it can [[AbsurdlySharpBlade cut through just about anything]]. Just for added punch, it's made from silver, gold, ''and'' mercury, all of which have to be mystically purified to produce the essential platonic essence of their being. Yes. Thaumium is made from a mixture of ''depleted'' precious metals.
*** Sounds more like ''enriched'' precious metals, TBH.
* Once again, ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' is on here. Thousand Sons chaos marines use inferno bolts, bolt rounds infused with chaos power which can pierce power armour with ease.
* Any creature under ''DungeonsAndDragons'' rules with DR x/Magic (Damage Resistance of x points negated by Magic) will have a certain number of damage points deducted from any incoming non-magical attack. In extreme cases, an entire RedshirtArmy's worth of mundane arrows will be unable to harm a monster. On the other hand, one PlayerCharacter using a magical bow to negate the resistance can defeat the same monster using the same arrows.
* In ''{{Eternal Darkness}}'', any weapon can be enhanced with magick. Imbued projectile weapons, including crossbows, rifles and shotguns, launch/fire imbued projectiles. It's not necessary to killing monsters, but sure helps.

* In ''TwoKinds'', the most efficient way to take down one of the series [[EvilTowerOfOminousness Evil Towers of Ominousness]] is to shoot the tower's core with a magic-imbued arrow.

* When first introduced in the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf_by_Night Werewolf by Night]]'' series, the armor and weaponry of Marvel Comics' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Knight Moon Knight]] was specifically tailored for werewolf fighting, laced with silver throughout.
* An early ''{{Batman}}'' story ("written by Bob Kane" early) pits Batman against a vampire, whom he kills (he did that back in the day) by melting down some silver candlesticks, forging bullets out of them, and shooting the vampire.
* The main character of ''FiendsOfTheEasternFront'' melts down silverware and forges them into bullets for his machine gun to fight Constanta's vampire troops.

* In ''{{Underworld}}'', the vampires fight with bullets filled with quicksilver.
** Quicksilver is mercury. Selene described the rounds in the movie as containing "silver nitrate" (better known for its real world use in the eyes of newborn babies to prevent infection right after birth, and in photography). Considering how thick and silvery it is, one assumes it is a VERY saturated solution (silver nitrate is usually thin and black).
* ''{{Blade}}'', at least the film and TV adaptations, uses silver-coated steel in his melee weapons (spikes and swords).

* ''TheDresdenFiles'' tightens the qualifications by having a cursed werewolf that can only be killed by ''inherited'' silver.
* In the ''{{Bartimaues}}'' trilogy, Silver is used as a weapon against spirits, since Silver actually causes damage to their essence, and can destroy them if given enough time. Iron also works to a lesser degree.

* In an episode of ''BloodTies'', Detective Mike Sellucci is given silver bullets made for his police-issue Glock 9mm to kill a wendigo. He pumps it full of silver before the creature explodes.

* In ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'', werewolves use silver knives on each other.
** ''Werewolf: the Forsaken'' has a similar effect; if silver touches a werewolf's blood, it burns them for aggravated damage and has a rare chance of fucking up their HealingFactor. Unlike in ''Apocalypse'', however, using silver on another werewolf is a ''major'' sin on the KarmaMeter. It's also implied that the Pure get fucked up ''worse'' than the Forsaken because they never sought forgiveness from Luna for the death of Father Wolf.
** Naturally, the hunters of ''HunterTheVigil'', even the lower-tech groups, are known to use silver bullets in their guns, though they don't always use them against the right enemies (i.e. werewolves).
* In ''DungeonsAndDragons'', there are rules for coating any weapon with "alchemical" silver. This applies a penalty to using the weapon so many players will carry a silver coated sidearm. Magical weapons typically don't need coating.

** Actually this was how they killed a werewolf in one episode of ''Friday the 13th, The Series''.

* In ''[[WallaceAndGromit The Curse of the Were-Rabbit]]'' the bullets needed are gold. ''Twenty-four [[IncrediblyLamePun carat]] gold.''

* ''{{Blade}}'' has flashbangs and UV flashlights.

* ''VanHelsing'' had a full spectrum sunlight grenade. He didn't know what it could be used for, but he thought it would come in handy.
* As pictured above, the Lycans in ''{{Underworld}}'' go armed with bullets filled with a liquid that emits ultraviolet radiation. It works very well.
* Although unintentional, the cops' use of ordinary ammunition to punch holes in the walls of the room where the ''NearDark'' vampires hid, thus exposing them to [[DidNotDoTheResearch criss-crossing beams]] of sunlight, at least brushes the boundaries of this trope.

* In the easily forgettable 1989 TV-movie ''Nightlife'', a hematologist creates a "prison cell" for a vampire by strategically positioning ultraviolet lamps.

* The ''Dark Conspiracy'' TabletopRPG had ultraviolet lasers for use against vampires.

* ''[[{{Boktai}} Taiyohhhhhhhhhhhh!]]''
* In the SoBadItsHorrible game ''VampireRain'', the protagonists fight the titular vampires with UV knives (which can [[BreakableWeapons only be]] [[TooAwesomeToUse used once]]) in addition to their arsenal of conventional firearms.

* In his original comic book appearances, {{Blade}} used wooden throwing spikes against Dracula and pals.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* ''VanHelsing'' used a gas-powered fully-auto crossbow.

* In NorseMythology, only mistletoe could harm Balder; everything else in the Nine Worlds had promised not to hurt him, because Balder was [[{{Bishonen}} just so damn pretty]]. (The mistletoe probably would have promised too, but Frigga forgot to ask it.) MagnificentBastard Loki, of course, simply could not resist the opportunity this presented...

* Wooden bullets were used by Sherlock Holmes to threaten the Count in ''The Holmes-Dracula File''.

* ''{{Buffy}}'' and ''{{Angel}}'' both use crossbows, and Angel has two devices that extend stakes hidden in his sleeves.
** Connor also used an automatic-staker in his first appearance as a teenager.

* ''{{Rifts}}'' has wood-firing railguns ([[JustifiedTrope with embedded metal cores for the magnets to work on]]) on occasion for dealing with vampires. It also has actual depleted uranium shells (Not ''quite'' depleted, as these were described as still being more radioactive than normal DU rounds), which for reasons unknown retard magical abilities to heal. These are great for those pesky critters that fight you down to their last MD point and then teleport off and return an hour later fully healed, giving you the time to hunt them down and finish the job. There are also shells made of non-depleted uranium that actively interfere with magic use by anything they embed in. Both can be cured by physically removing the round, however digging into your side with your own claws is generally A Bad Idea.

* Wooden swords are the weapon of choice for most people the world of ''SaGa Frontier II'', since magic cannot be channeled through steel weapons. [[TheChessmaster one character]] uses this limitation to his advantage, however.
* In ''HunterTheVigil Task Force'': VALKYRIE sometimes uses specially treated wood bullets against vampires-the bullets can come in all sizes, and can be used to effectively "stake" a vampire at range.

* Riff in SluggyFreelance comes up with [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/981004 this baby]]. Too bad it only holds one second's worth of ammo and takes two days to reload.

* The ''AstroCity'' "Confession" story arc (see above) featured Mordecai Chalk, a cyborg monster-hunter. He had a shotgun that fired shells with wolfsbane and holy water, mechanical parts etched with holy symbols and crafted in iron and silver, and an on-board computer that references thousands of occult tomes. [[spoiler:It doesn't do him any good.]]

* In a similar vein: ''{{Discworld}}'': In the undead bar of Ankh-Morpork, the bartender, Igor, has a weapon as follows:

* Just before the recent "Destiny" trilogy killed off the Borg, the StarTrekTheNextGeneration novel "Greater Than the Sum" introduced a "multivector weapon" designed to use everything against the Borg that had ever been somewhat effective. Then the Borg got ahold of it before it could be used against them--and did what they always do--they adapted.
* All spirits from the weakest mite to the greatest marid in ''TheBartimaeusTrilogy'' can be severely hurt by silver, iron, and certain types of herbs and spices, such as rosemary. Magicians, commoners, and even other spirits exploit this to no end. It gets to the point where powerful spirits are taken down by improvised use of everyday metals more often than they are by the devastatingly destructive spells these entities can employ.
* In ''Reserved For The Cat'' (one of the ElementalMasters series by MercedesLackey), the heroine carries a revolver loaded with two Cold Iron bullets, two Silver bullets, and two Blessed Lead bullets, plus extra ammo of all three types. It's anyone's guess which type offed the mystical BigBad at the end of the novel.

* On ''{{Supernatural}}'', the hunters have to improvise a variety of weapons to kill a variety of creatures. The hunter's arsenal makes use of most of the above, ''except'' [[OurVampiresAreDifferent garlic]]. The most frequent example is their use of shotgun shells loaded with rock salt against ghosts. Ghosts cannot act on iron, and are killed when their remains are salted and burned. Bobby's saferoom is walled with Iron treated with rock salt. Holy weapons can be found with holy water, which cannot be crossed by demons, or holy ''oil'', which cannot be crossed by ''angels''. This has even been weaponized into a [[{{Funny/Supernatural}} molotov cocktail]]. Angels also can be killed by And when all else fails, there's a magical gun and knife that kill ''everything''. [[spoiler: Except when they don't.]]

* Considering the vast range of foes you fight in ''CityOfHeroes'', this may be the only explanation for heroes with assault rifles being able to take anything down at all. Unfortunately this works the other way, too, as mooks and bosses of a high enough level can worry heroes protected by magical forces, power armour, and the like with ordinary guns.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' includes a plethora of monsters with varying types of damage reduction, such as werecreatures, demons, fey and others, which often results in adventurers carrying around extensive collections of weapons ("No, we need a ''silver'' magical weapon that does piercing damage, not a cold iron one!"). Both melee weapons and ammunition for projectiles are often made from these special materials.

* Many enemies in ''TheElderScrolls'' are immune to typical weaponry. Spirits in particular can only be harmed by silver, daedric, or magical weaponry. Oddly enough, [[NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight beating the bejeebus out of ghosts with your bare hands]] is more effective than some of the most powerful types of swords and axes in the game.

* Fall and other Nightmare hunters from ''ParallelDementia'' use blessed weapons (to combat demons), obsidian (for angels), garlic (for undead), iron (for fey), amethyst (for spawn), and silver (for therians) to combat the various types of Nightmares.

* When traditional firearms [[ImmuneToBullets prove useless against the diclonii]], the antagonists of ''ElfenLied'' resort to [[{{BFG}} anti-tank rifles]] loaded with purpose-made tungsten slugs.

* Magneto, Master of Magnetism in the ''{{X-Men}}'' comics and films is often faced with plastic or composite weapons, and was locked in a "plastic prison" on more than one occasion.

* Gabriel Cole of ''TheMighty'' was given some special bullets. It turns out that it's [[spoiler: Special condensed nitrogen bullets to use against the invulnerable Alpha One since he needs to breathe more oxygen than most people.]]

* The "6000-degree magnesium burn" of "high-heat 105mm sabot rounds" fired from an AC-130 gunship allowed the US military to hurt the marauding Decepticons in the ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' live-action movie (it's not much, but it worked rather better than normal bullets). Discarding-sabot rounds being neither hot, magnesium-laden or used by AC-130s, this has little to do with military practice or actual physics, though it is implied that weapons technology in the movie-verse is different due to the fact that many human technological advancements came from studying Megatron's body.

* In David Drake's Hammerverse, there's all sorts of strange weapons and ammo. One example is the "osmium penetrator" used by some of the other merc companies. These weapons take a rod of osmium, put behind it roughly a liter of propellant, and force it down a diamond-coated barrel to flechette thickness. It emerges as a osmium needle well capable of getting through tank armor, though it has little effect on personnel (the needle just blasts through people as if they weren't there, and since it doesn't splash, it just makes a very small hole). Not to mention powerguns, that fire ''bolts of energy'' from polyurethane wafers as ammo.
* Again, in ''TheDresdenFiles'', Kincaid at one point uses Dragonsbreath shotgun rounds to turn his disposable shotguns into flamethrowers. This inspires Harry to read up on ''other'' unusual shotgun rounds, including flares.

* In UNIT's final appearance in the old version of ''DoctorWho'', following an absence of some years, it was shown that they had got tired of facing ImmuneToBullets menaces and developed special bullets to even the playing field. These included teflon-coated armour-piercing rounds for robots and Daleks ("A non-stick bullet?" the Doctor muses), high-explosive rounds for Yetis, [[WeaksauceWeakness gold-tipped bullets for Cybermen]], and {{silver bullet}}s just in case. [[spoiler:The silver bullets turn out to be very useful.]]

* ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has several examples, like Hellfire rounds, shells filled with a mutagenic acid that causes a near-instant and very painful death to anybody unfortunate enough to get hit by one, Dragonfire shells, which explode in a burst of superheated gas and Kraken bolts, which contain cores made of ThunderboltIron.

*** Fans normally like to say the [[MachineCult Tech-Priests]] are really lying about what's the bolt is made of
*** That's what GM is saying now.
* In the roleplaying game ''{{GURPS}} Ogre,'' the standard anti-personnel round is "ap-fizz dizzy-doo" (APFSDSDU): armor-piercing, fin-stabilized, discarding sabot, depleted uranium.

* ''ResidentEvil 3'', in addition to normal grenade rounds, also has acid, fire, and [[KillItWithIce ice]] grenades. ''Code: Veronica'' also features anti-BOW gas rounds.

* Played with in the free Chex Quest GameMod for ''{{Doom}}''. Originally the flemoids/phlemoids (Whichever you prefer) were immune to conventional weapons. However, the "Zorcher" works by [[ReversePolarity remodulating the dimensional frequencies]] of the creatures, sending them back to whatever realm they came from. Therefore, [[NeverSayDie no killing]] the...green...slimy mucus things that want to eat the main character alive, and Ta-Da! It's kid-friendly!
* ''{{Bioshock}}'' has ammo for weapons ranging from (relatively) realistic things like armour piercing bullets to things like electric shotgun shells, exploding shotgun shells, a flamethrower that also fires liquid nitrogen and electric gel, and a crossbow with fire bolts and bolts that shoot wires. And then there's [[LegoGenetics plasmids]]...
* The ''Stars!'' game has depleted '''neutronium''' ammo -- presumably, dense far beyond the bounds of normal matter. (How you deplete neutronium is unknown to modern science.)
* ''JaggedAlliance 2'' v1.13 introduced AET (Advanced Energy Transfer) ammunition. They pierce armor, but behave like hollow-point rounds when they strike flesh. The developers suggest [[MST3KMantra not thinking too hard]] about how that works.
* Every weapon in ''{{Singularity}}'' is powered up with the time-warping abilities of "Element 99." Some of the weapons have special abilities because of this (like a sniper rifle that slows down time so you can shoot a moving target) but for most, it just makes their bullets hit harder.

* Rex Charger, the "energy" specialist of ''TheCenturions'', had suits of armor that fired missiles that contained... energy-changing stuff. Magnetic shields, light, energy that was absorbed by a gun--the missiles were basically {{Technobabble}} shells. This meant that they were exactly as powerful as the plot demanded: on separate occasions, Rex blew up a SwirlyEnergyThingy and ''killed a black hole.''

* A real-life example of the "Jack of all Trades" bullet is the armor piercing, explosive and incendiary Raufoss Mk 211 .50 caliber projectile.
** The round is even named MP or Multi-Purpose Ammunition, comes with tracer rounds and can take on anything from a light tank and down.
** Due the fact that it explodes, AND set its target on fire. There has been much debate over whether the Mk.211 projectile is legal to use against personnel, or if it is strictly an anti-material ammunition. (The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has sought to have the ammunition banned, due to concern over the incendiary and explosive components and their effect on personnel. Under the St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868 the "military or naval" use of explosive or incendiary projectiles with a weight of under 400 grams is forbidden.)
*** Because you wouldn't want people getting blown up, or set on fire by your ''bullets''. Guess we'll just have to go with our 40'''1''' gram explosive shells, so anyone else around the target can die too.
** "Armor piercing, explosive and incendiary"? So they're [[{{Warhammer40k}} Bolter rounds]]? Awesome. Well, in game terms, we suppose it might give Heavy Stubber units damage capabilities equivalent to a Storm Bolter.
* RealLife example, at least to an extent, various specialist munitions have been used throughout history. Of particular note is the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M829_%28munition%29 M289 APFDS tank round]], a kinetic energy shell using depleted uranium, which was sometimes known as the "Silver Bullet'".
** Which were used to rather ridiculous effect in the XBox Remake of ''NinjaGaiden'', when Ryu used APFSDS cores as ''arrows'', to destroy heavily armored ''tanks and helicopters''. But then, that whole section of the game is an exercise in [[RefugeInAudacity Refuge In Audacity]].
*** That entire ''game'' is built around a BadAss RuleOfCool Super-{{Ninja}} on an ExcusePlot RoaringRampageOfRevenge. What do you expect?

*** [[HollywoodDensity Density]]. Density allows you to make a "heavier" bullet in a smaller package. Since a heavier projectile has more momentum, thus being harder to stop, heavier bullets are a plus, and high density means you can get a smaller bullet with the same mass as one made from a less dense material. This lets you fit more bullets into your clips and increases impact pressure by allowing you to exert more force on a smaller cross-sectional area. Density is the reason lead is used in bullets and why tungsten is becoming popular as well.
*** Abundance. Thanks to the [[ILoveNuclearPower nuclear program]] there is a large stock of only slightly radioactive (but still chemically poisonous so don't touch!) "depleted" uranium (read: crap uranium that's not useful in reactors or bombs). Since there's no other good use for it, it generally gets used in places where density is useful, such as helicopter weights, bullets/shells, armor etc.
*** Self-sharpening. Due to the way the bullets break, they effectively "sharpen" themselves rather than get blunted or shatter like normal bullets that impact something hard. This is fairly unique to depleted uranium, and the closest alternative, tungsten, does not show this property.
*** [[IncendiaryExponent Flamability]]. When depleted uranium bullets start breaking up they splinter into smaller pieces and mix with air to burn quite effectively. To paraphrase JohnRingo, "uranium burns like a motherfucker". Combined with the other effects it leads to a bullet that blow a large messy, burning hole in something and can keep going to impact on more than one target. Fun stuff really.

<<|AppliedPhlebotinum|>>
<<|GunsAndGunplayTropes|>>

[[AC:{{Literature]}]]

* In ''[[Film/X-men X-Men: Origins]]'', Stryker manages to bypass both Wolverine's adamantium bones and healing factor by shooting him in the head with adamantium bullets. The bullets pierce his skull, and while Logan's brain can heal, his memories can't.

* {{Batman}}: soaks his Batarangs in crushed garlic for dealing with vampires.
* {{Blade}}: Blade's opponents are sent into anaphylactic shock by garlic based pepper spary.
* TheDresdenFiles: Try this for a cheap, effective vampire-slaying tool -- paintballs filled with garlic and holy water!
* Film/{{Hellboy}}: HellBoy adds it to his rounds just to be complete.

* ForeverKnight: in the episode "Hunted", a hunter shoots Nick with bullets stuffed with garlic.
* {{Castlevania}}: [[AllThereInTheManual The manual]] for the first game stated that Simon Belmont soaked his signature whip in garlic juice and holy water for seventeen weeks before assaulting Dracula's castle. Of course, this is kind of undone since one of the first powerups the game will give you after every respawn is a ball and chain weapon that replaces the whip.

* One quest in ''[=~The Adventures of Dr. McNinja~=]'' featured...
** Nunchucks made from Mother Teresa's bones,
*** These are, in fact [[IncrediblyLamePun nun]]chucks.
** A Bo staff made from the largest known piece of The True Cross,
** Sai made out of St. Peter's sword,
** And bullets that had been in the Pope's mouth(wash).
* ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'', as mentioned in the opening quotation. In the comics, the shells also contain garlic and cold iron shavings, and in all depictions are fired from a gun crafted out of a church bell.

* The Knights of the Cross in ''TheDresdenFiles'' each carry one of three swords (a broadsword that may or may not be Excalibur, a katana and a saber). Each sword has one of the nails used in Christ's crucifixion worked in the hilt. While Harry used to believe that the sword had little powers on their own, acting more as a symbol [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve being powered by their wielder's faith]], the swords have shown that they are more than mere pieces of steel.
** ''TheDresdenFiles'', mentioned above for its highly picky werewolves, also provides us with an ''awesome'' vampire-slaying tool: a paintball gun loaded with garlic and holy water balls. It's up there with the stake machine-gun in ''SluggyFreelance''.
*** Even though Kincaid said he gave it to Dresden because he didn't want to get shot in the back. Then mentions it probably would just piss a vamp like Mavra off, though it might kill a younger one.
* Many weapons for dealing with the [[TheLegionsOfHell daemons]] of ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' who, while not ImmuneToBullets, are [[ImplacableMan damn hard to kill]]. The most obvious are the psycannon shells used by the Ordo Malleus. Depending on the source, these are either filled with various blessed materials or have anti-daemon runes and prayers carved onto them.
** Combining with KillItWithFire gives flamethrowers loaded with Holy [[ElementsDoNotWorkThatWay Promethium]] (napalm with the mystical properties of Holy Water). The GreyKnights' Incinerator is the best known example.
** The Imperium also has special psych-out grenades that [[PowerNullifier negate]] the PsychicPowers of those who are hit. It is said they are made using a material that is created as waste by the life support system of the Golden Throne and emanates negative psychic energy. Yes, The Emperor's shit kills psykers. He's ''that'' [[{{Badass}} Bad]] [[IncrediblyLamePun Ass]].
** The forces of Chaos sometimes make use of daemon shells, which are bullets or artillery shells with a daemon bound within them. One the shell hits the target, the daemon's energy is released, causing a very large explosion of warp energy.
* In the 2006 animated ''{{Batman}}'' movie, Batman prepares everything he can for his fights with Dracula. For example, he soaks his bat blades in liquid garlic. Later on he gets a test subject and applies fancier science. "Fancier science" being an ultraviolet cannon reminiscent of the Ultraviolet Light examples below.
* In {{Hellsing}}, Alucard's bullets, like his gun(s), are made to order - each is made from the metal of a Lancaster cross that was specially melted down for the purpose. The fact that the rounds are also ''explosive-tipped'' helps as well.

* In ''JohnDiesAtTheEnd'', Dave and John use a Bible duct-taped to a baseball bat to fight supernatural monsters. Oh, and breath mints with the Lord's Prayer printed on them.
* In Swedish folklore, lead bullets are not only "lucky", they are also the only way to hit various supernatural menaces like shapeshifters, witches and their familiars, and animals protected by fairies. But it can't just be any lead; it has to be taken from a church window, which makes the making of the bullets blasphemy.
** As a sub-clause of good luck hunting bullets made from church window lead, writer Gunnar Brusewitz mentions a fish made from silver and hung in a church as a prayer for good catches for fishermen. However, it was stolen by a man who made a ''fishing lure'' out of it, hoping the supernatural power in it would give him fishing luck. When you (presumably) endanger your eternal soul to get bigger pikes, fishing is SeriousBusiness...

* In {{Dogma}}, SilentBob kills the demon Azrael with a golf club he stole from a cardinal. As it turns out, the previous owner blessed it to improve his score.

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Lords and Ladies'', any iron can be harmful to TheFairFolk, but some places are protected by a powerful magnetic field to keep any iron from entering. Nanny Ogg uses one of [[AC:Binky]]'s horseshoes, which can go anywhere (like [[AC:[[TheGrimReaper Binky's Owner]]]]).

* TalesOfTheQuestor has an interesting theory on "cold iron"; somebody [[BlindIdiotTranslation mistranslated]] [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00474.html "north-pointing" as "cold"]], meaning [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00480.html "cold iron" is ''lodestone'' -- '''North Pointing Iron'''.]]
* In the WhateleyUniverse, "cold iron" is cold-forged iron or wrought iron, according to WordOfGod, even if some fans are ''still'' arguing about it.
* In at least some versions of the stories, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] are slain with an iron pike rather than a wooden stake, and/or iron filings may be placed under a child's bed to ward off vampires.
* Cold iron does aggravated damage to changelings in ''[[WorldOfDarkness Changeling: the Dreaming]]''. In the successor game, ''Changeling: the Lost'', "cold" iron (material that's 95% iron at least) pierces fae defenses and hand-wrought iron does aggravated damage to [[TheFairFolk the True Fae]]. One of the explanations for the latter game is that the True Fae made a deal with Iron to gain mystical benefits from it as long as they made sure no human hand could change its essence. Once humans discovered smelting, however, the deal was broken and Iron decided it wanted to do some interesting things to the kneecaps of the True Fae...
** In the original game, later supplements explain steel not being so dangerous by the fact that it was invented by a powerful fairy long ago who sacrificed his life to insure it would be harmless.
** ''Hunter: the Vigil'' notes that the high-tech Hunter compacts and conspiracies, like The Cheiron Group and Task Force: VALKYRIE, occasionally use pure iron slugs in their guns when expecting fae activity.
* This comes into play in the DC {{Elseworlds}} story ''Superboy's Legion'', where Ferro Lad proves completely invulnerable to the Emerald Empress' magic.
* In ''TheDresdenFiles'', anything with a high-enough iron content is potentially lethal to faeries; Mab, Queen of Winter and one of the most powerful magical beings on earth, recoils from a steel nail in fright the second before it touches her skin. Harry explains in one book that iron is to faeries what nuclear waste is to humans -- horribly wracking, and to be avoided at all costs. He even manages to take down [[spoiler: Aurora, the Summer Maiden and a powerful foe in her own right]] with nothing more than [[spoiler: a fleet of pixies armed with box cutters]].
** Don't forget Charity and her nail gun!
** As long as they have iron, ordinary bullets do extra damage against the fae as well - even if your opponent is the size of a semi.

* ''TheSalvationWar'' gives us iron-tipped artillery in the form of High-Explosive Anti-Demon rounds. Not that conventional (military-grade) firearms were any less effective against demons, overpenetration aside.
** To expand on that, normal High-Explosive-Anti-Tank (HEAT) rounds have a shaped charge with a copper liner so when they detonate they burn through the enemy armour with a jet of molten copper. HEAD rounds replace the copper liner with iron so instead of just burning through the demon like a HEAT round they burned through it with something that was poisonous to the demon and prevented its flesh from [[HealingFactor regenerating]].
* ''{{Gargoyles}}'': Oberon may be a PhysicalGod but he takes major damage from anything forged from iron. At one point he is brought to his knees by [[BadassNormal Elisa Maza]] ringing an iron ''bell.'' In later episode he's playing with the main cast but finally decides to [[GameFace fight for real]] when someone impales him on a home-made harpoon gun.
** Though the bell was only effective during a period when Oberon had suppressed most of his powers to try impressing his wife Titania.
** It's stated in folklore that ringing of church bells can drive TheFairFolk away; of course, most church bells are bronze, not iron...
* In full effect in ''{{Exalted}}''. Fair Folk take extra damage from pure iron weapons (not steel or other alloys), and are resistant to non-iron. Woe betide the Exalt who's stocked up on magical artifacts with no iron weapons.
** Of course, there's a hearthstone called "Cold Iron Bauble" that can be mounted in said artifacts, which makes them act like iron to Fair Folk.
** And even without that, a sufficiently strong Exalt is quite capable of defeating a Raksha in single combat.
*** And given that this is ''Exalted'' we're talking about, "sufficiently strong" means "a combat capable character at character generation". And a combat ''focused'' character would just wipe the floor with them.
*** Martially-inclined Raksha are a genuine threat to young Exalts--even warriors--of virtually any type, due to being able to have attributes and abilities at superhuman levels right off the bat, whereas Exalts are limited to the human maximum of 5 in either until they hit Essence 6 and (depending on the type of Exalt) may not have access to enough of the Charms that wrench the advantage back over to their side at character creation.

* Video game example, in ''PrincessMaker 2'' adventure section of the game, there is an {{NPC}} Elf that can change your daughter's statistics. However, he will run away if your daughter is equipped with iron weapon or armor. It's surprising how the developers [[ShownTheirWork thought of this]], especially when the game came from Japan.

* In the LRonHubbard novel ''BattlefieldEarth'', the Psychlos are very resistant to damage due to their inhuman physiology, but anything radioactive would react explosively to the 'breathe-gas' that they used for respiration. In this case, the humans defeat all the Psychlos by simply [[spoiler: detonating a nuclear bomb on their homeworld, and the destruction spread through their teleporter network.]] Though really, an ounce of plutonium in a lead box would have worked equally well. Of course, [[FridgeLogic this raises the question of whether the Psychlo homeworld contains any natural radioactives at all, or is subjected to cosmic background radiation the way Earth is, and if so how they occupied Earth, whether they use cathode ray tubes that emit X-rays, etc.]]
** An example of DidNotDoTheResearch. Psychlo (the planet) should have exploded a long time ago from cosmic radiation or radioactive meteorites igniting the atmosphere.
*** Dude, it's [[ChurchOfHappyology Hubbard]]. More like Allergic To Research.
** To be fair, the Psychlo empire was [[TheMultiverse trans-dimensional]], and the Psychlo's home universe did not operate by the same rules of physics. Their home universe uses a different periodic table, and their "breathe gas" is not a substance naturally found in our universe, just as radioactives are not naturally found in theirs. So it's more of HandWave than DidNotDoTheResearch (for once).
* In ''CommandAndConquer'', both Nod and GDI use specialized munitions. In Nod's case, they have a love for filling missiles with various breeds of [[GreenRocks Tiberium]]-based explosives or gases, while GDI has developed sonic-based and EMP artillery shells and grenades.

** Among the occasions are an Alex Ross short where Superman, under mind control, rampages until Batman shoots him with a Kryptonite bullet. It also happened in ''Smallville.'' A variation is ''Superman Returns,'' where [[spoiler: Lex Luthor stabs him with a kryptonite shiv.]]

* A recent ''NobodyScores'' webcomic had one of the characters acquire Kryptonite bullets and go hunting for Superman. Superman, of course, took them out from long range with a traditional sniper rifle of their own [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption before they even spotted him]].
* This was part of the mission statement in ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', as the U.S. intended to exploit alien technology or hybridize it with conventional weaponry to defend the Earth.
-->'''Gen. Vidrine:''' You're telling me that a ''slammer missile'' could take out a Goa'uld mothership?
-->'''Maj. Carter:''' When equipped with shield frequency modulators and naquadah-enhanced warheads... yes sir.
* The New German Republic in ''{{Rifts}}'' has discovered that hot uranium rounds prevent supernatural beings from [[HealingFactor regenerating]] or even healing damage.
* In the ''MonkeyIsland'' series of computer games, root beer is an extremely effective ectocide. It should be noted, however, that it ''only'' works on ghosts-- when Guybrush tries this on the resurrected Zombie Pirate [=LeChuck=], he shakes it off and chastises Guybrush for trying to off a zombie with a mere soft drink.
* In ''ErgoProxy'' the only way to kill a Proxy is with shells that emit UV radiation, because the Proxies [[spoiler: were designed to terraform the world back to normal and then disintegrate when the sunlight came back]].
* Though not particularly used against live targets, Haken's Night Fowl in ''[[SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier]]'' requires special bullets to destroy the Mild Keil crystals causing BrokenBridge antics and other chaos in-game. To ensure they're strong enough for the job, they're made from (or based on the composition of) fragments of the crystal type they're made to break.
* ''TearsToTiara'' has both the [[TheEmpire Holy Empire]] and [[spoiler:the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]]]] use weapons made of Electrum, a holy metal, against NobleDemon protagonist Arawn. ([[spoiler:The latter made it the ammunition of a biological "[[TankGoodness divine tank]]", which was used killed him [[DeathIsCheap the first time]]]]). In-game, any equipment made of Electrum given to non-human characters (elves, dragons, demons, etc.) is only as good as whatever they were wearing earlier. It doesn't lower their stats, but it doesn't boost them either.
* Super Science version in ''HunterTheVigil''. Task Force: VALKYRIE uses bullets treated with the power of SCIENCE! to turn them into super-high-energy rounds that can strike and harm incorporeal targets like ghosts.
* In ''X-Men: Origins'', Stryker manages to bypass both Wolverine's adamantium bones and healing factor by shooting him in the head with adamantium bullets. The bullets pierce his skull, and while Logan's brain can heal, his memories can't.

* In OnePiece, Devil's Fruit users are all weak to submersion in water (which is a pretty WeaksauceWeakness for pirates in largely oceanic world). Sea-Prism Stone is a rock that causes people touched by it to suffer the same [[PowerNullifier power-nullifying]] and strength-draining effect as being submerged. Usually, it's used in handcuffs, restraints, and cages, but the marine Smoker walks around with a weapon made of the stuff despite being a Devil's Fruit user himself.

* The Others of ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' are creatures born of winter and hate everything warm. Though they fear fire, their speed and combat skill makes them difficult to set alight. Fortunately, in this world [[LostTechnology Valyrian steel]] and obsidian ([[CallARabbitASmeerp also called dragonglass]]) are associated with dragon fire and can slay them. A flimsy obsidian dagger wielded by [[TheSoCalledCoward the obese and combat-aversive Samwell Tarly]] pierces an Others' ice of armor like butter and actually ''melts its hands when it tries to pull the knife out''.

* An unusually literal version is used in ''{{GURPS}} Technomancer''. The magical metal Necronium, is used primarily as a power source (and can sometimes poison those exposed to it and bring them back as the [[ZombieApocalypse living dead]]), whilst depleted Necronium is toxic to all magical creatures. Depleted Necronium is also completely unaffected by magic, allowing it to penetrate nearly all protective spells.

* The old ''{{World of Darkness}}'' has Primium for the Technocracy, which is essentially a kills-supernaturals-dead weapon. Using it in a laser makes its wounds as agonizing to vampires as sunlight, Primium bullets hurt werewolves like silver does, and if you're afraid of magic users, plating yourself with Primium stops magic dead (some of the time at least.)
** In ''{{Mage The Awakening}}'' (the new World of Darkness' version of the above game) we are given Thaumium. It stores magical energy, it's resistant to magic, and it can [[AbsurdlySharpBlade cut through just about anything]]. Just for added punch, it's made from silver, gold, ''and'' mercury, all of which have to be mystically purified to produce the essential platonic essence of their being. Yes. Thaumium is made from a mixture of ''depleted'' precious metals.
*** Sounds more like ''enriched'' precious metals, TBH.
* Once again, ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' is on here. Thousand Sons chaos marines use inferno bolts, bolt rounds infused with chaos power which can pierce power armour with ease.
* In the Survival Horror series ''Project Zero/Fatal Frame'', the character is often an otherwise ordinary person who has the misfortune to "see things other people can't see", which inevitably leads to trouble when they stumble into the haunted house/village/island populated by the restless spirits of the dead. The main weapon used to fight these incorporeal nightmares? A camera. Yes, a camera. One which uses some sort of special crystal or mirror in its makeup so that the user can see ghosts, dispell mystical barriers, and drive off the dead with the snap of a picture.
* Any creature under DungeonsAndDragons rules with DR x/Magic (Damage Resistance of x points negated by Magic) will have a certain number of damage points deducted from any incoming non-magical attack. In extreme cases, an entire RedshirtArmy's worth of mundane arrows will be unable to harm a monster. On the other hand, one PlayerCharacter using a magical bow to negate the resistance can defeat the same monster using the same arrows.
* In TwoKinds, the most efficient way to take down one of the series [[EvilTowerOfOminousness Evil Towers of Ominousness]] is to shoot the tower's core with a magic-imbued arrow.
* In {{Tortall}}, griffin-fletched arrows always hit their targets, and Stormwing-fletched arrows go through magic shielding.

* In Sergey Lukyanenko's ''NightWatch'' novels, it's very difficult for an Other to be killed with human weapons, as their instinct is to jump into the magical dimension of the Gloom at the first sign of danger, where physical objects cannot reach. Only enchanted bullets have a real chance of killing an Other. A human working for an Other is given enchanted bullets for his submachinegun. These bullets end up killing a werewolf. Besides that, only a nuke can definitively kill an Other, because nuclear explosions somehow reach even the deepest levels of Gloom.

* In {{Eternal Darkness}}, any weapon can be enhanced with magick. Imbued projectile weapons, including crossbows, rifles and shotguns, launch/fire imbued projectiles. It's not necessary to killing monsters, but sure helps.

* In ''[[WallaceAndGromit The Curse of the Were-Rabbit]]'' the bullets needed are gold. ''Twenty-four [[IncrediblyLamePun carat]] gold.''
* In ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'', werewolves use silver knives on each other.
** ''Werewolf: the Forsaken'' has a similar effect; if silver touches a werewolf's blood, it burns them for aggravated damage and has a rare chance of fucking up their HealingFactor. Unlike in ''Apocalypse'', however, using silver on another werewolf is a ''major'' sin on the KarmaMeter. It's also implied that the Pure get fucked up ''worse'' than the Forsaken because they never sought forgiveness from Luna for the death of Father Wolf.
** Naturally, the hunters of ''HunterTheVigil'', even the lower-tech groups, are known to use silver bullets in their guns, though they don't always use them against the right enemies (i.e. werewolves).
* ''TheDresdenFiles'' tightens the qualifications by having a cursed werewolf that can only be killed by ''inherited'' silver.
* In DungeonsAndDragons, there are rules for coating any weapon with "alchemical" silver. This applies a penalty to using the weapon so many players will carry a silver coated sidearm. Magical weapons typically don't need coating.

* Though ''[[http://theglen.livejournal.com/131998.html some]]'' variants apparently are over the top:
--> 1117. Can't strangle a werewolf with a roll of Kodak film, no matter what we all know it's made out of.
** Actually this was how they killed a werewolf in one episode of ''Friday the 13th, The Series''.
* {{Blade}}, at least the film and TV adaptations, uses silver-coated steel in his melee weapons (spikes and swords).
* When first introduced in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf_by_Night Werewolf by Night]] series, the armor and weaponry of Marvel Comics' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Knight Moon Knight]] was specifically tailored for werewolf fighting, laced with silver throughout.

* An early Batman story ("written by Bob Kane" early) pits Batman against a vampire, whom he kills (he did that back in the day) by melting down some silver candlesticks, forging bullets out of them, and shooting the vampire.
* The main character of FiendsOfTheEasternFront melts down silverware and forges them into bullets for his machine gun to fight Constanta's vampire troops.
* In the Bartimaues trilogy, Silver is used as a weapon against spirits, since Silver actually causes damage to their essence, and can destroy them if given enough time. Iron also works to a lesser degree.

* The ''Dark Conspiracy'' TabletopRPG had ultraviolet lasers for use against vampires.
* ''VanHelsing'' had a full spectrum sunlight grenade. He didn't know what it could be used for, but he thought it would come in handy.

* ''[[{{Boktai}} Taiyohhhhhhhhhhhh!]]''

* In the SoBadItsHorrible game VampireRain, the protagonists fight the titular vampires with UV knives (which can [[BreakableWeapons only be]] [[TooAwesomeToUse used once]]) in addition to their arsenal of conventional firearms.

* ''{{Rifts}}'' has wood-firing railguns ([[JustifiedTrope with embedded metal cores for the magnets to work on]]) on occasion for dealing with vampires. It also has actual depleted uranium shells (Not ''quite'' depleted, as these were described as still being more radioactive than normal DU rounds), which for reasons unknown retard magical abilities to heal. These are great for those pesky critters that fight you down to their last MD point and then teleport off and return an hour later fully healed, giving you the time to hunt them down and finish the job. There are also shells made of non-depleted uranium that actively interfere with magic use by anything they embed in. Both can be cured by physically removing the round, however digging into your side with your own claws is generally A Bad Idea.

* ''{{Buffy}}'' and ''{{Angel}}'' both use crossbows, and Angel has two devices that extend stakes hidden in his sleeves.
** Connor also used an automatic-staker in his first appearance as a teenager.
* Wooden bullets were used by Sherlock Holmes to threaten the Count in ''The Holmes-Dracula File''.
* In his original comic book appearances, {{Blade}} used wooden throwing spikes against Dracula and pals.

* Wooden swords are the weapon of choice for most people the world of SaGa Frontier II, since magic cannot be channeled through steel weapons. [[TheChessmaster one character]] uses this limitation to his advantage, however.
* In ''HunterTheVigil'', Task Force: VALKYRIE sometimes uses specially treated wood bullets against vampires-the bullets can come in all sizes, and can be used to effectively "stake" a vampire at range.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' includes a plethora of monsters with varying types of damage reduction, such as werecreatures, demons, fey and others, which often results in adventurers carrying around extensive collections of weapons ("No, we need a ''silver'' magical weapon that does piercing damage, not a cold iron one!"). Both melee weapons and ammunition for projectiles are often made from these special materials.
** An insanely genius item introduced in one of the [[{{Ravenloft}} Van Richten's Guides]] was basically a weakness-detecting arrow. Rather than a traditional point, it had needles from over a dozen different substances, like cold iron, gold, silver, wood, and so on. When fired, it does minimal damage to its target, but also does not embed itself. After it is recovered, the wielder can see what substance did the harm based on which other needles are broken or bent, and (depending on the target) which needle has the blood stain.
** This is parodied in ''TheOrderOfTheStick''. When Haley is faced with Sabine (a fiend) she is unsure whether to use silver or cold iron arrows. She compromises by simply firing both at the same time.
*** Which causes damage but then she still doesn't know which arrow did the damage.
** Epic-level monsters (i.e. challenges for level 21+ characters) sometimes require truly bizarre weapons to deal normal damage to them. A time-elemental Phane can only take normal damage from weapons from an alternate history, for example, and a mind-consuming Dream Larva only takes real damage from weapons forged by a ''sleepwalking blacksmith.''
** For this reason, a DM also needs to be careful when importing monsters from other settings. There's nothing more hilarious than releasing some monster from ''{{Eberron}}'' that only takes full damage from byeshk weapons into a world with no byeshk.
** What of the creatures that can only be killed by reducing them to negative hit points, acid bath, burning, and multiple Wish spells? Damn Tarrasque...
** Don't forget the [[HealingFactor Regeneration Ability]] that stops a creature from being killed by attacks that do not overcome it. For example [[AllTrollsAreDifferent trolls]] can only be killed by fire or acid damage.
** There are magical weapon enhancements that can compensate for the "golf bag scabbard" problem. Metalline weapons overcome any damage reduction based on the material composition of the weapon, Transforming weapons can change shape into other types of weapons which deal damage in a different manner (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, or some combination), and Shadowstriking weapons can temporarily attune themselves to a particular creature and overcome whatever damage reduction it happens to have.

* Many enemies in ''TheElderScrolls'' are immune to typical weaponry. Spirits in particular can only be harmed by silver, daedric, or magical weaponry. Oddly enough, [[NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight beating the bejeebus out of ghosts with your bare hands]] is more effective than some of the most powerful types of swords and axes in the game.
* Considering the vast range of foes you fight in CityOfHeroes, this may be the only explanation for heroes with assault rifles being able to take anything down at all. Unfortunately this works the other way, too, as mooks and bosses of a high enough level can worry heroes protected by magical forces, power armour, and the like with ordinary guns.
* Fall and other Nightmare hunters from ParallelDementia use blessed weapons (to combat demons), obsidian (for angels), garlic (for undead), iron (for fey), amethyst (for spawn), and silver (for therians) to combat the various types of Nightmares.
** On at least one occasion, Fall is given specially made ammunition incorporating all of these at once, because she's about to head into an extremely tense situation and standard operating procedure (using a test clip loaded with one of each kind of ammo, in a specific order, so that you can switch to full clips of the appropriate variety when you find the one that works) would be dangerously time-consuming.

* In UNIT's final appearance in the old version of ''DoctorWho'', following an absence of some years, it was shown that they had got tired of facing ImmuneToBullets menaces and developed special bullets to even the playing field. These included teflon-coated armour-piercing rounds for robots and Daleks ("A non-stick bullet?" the Doctor muses), high-explosive rounds for Yetis, [[WeaksauceWeakness gold-tipped bullets for Cybermen]], and {{silver bullet}}s just in case. [[spoiler:The silver bullets turn out to be very useful.]]
** This continues in the new series, where UNIT uses rad-steel coated bullets [[spoiler:to counter the Sontarans' anti-bullet field (that expands the copper casing of normal rounds and stops the guns firing)]].
* The "6000-degree magnesium burn" of "high-heat 105mm sabot rounds" fired from an AC-130 gunship allowed the US military to hurt the marauding Decepticons in the ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' live-action movie (it's not much, but it worked rather better than normal bullets). Discarding-sabot rounds being neither hot, magnesium-laden or used by AC-130s, this has little to do with military practice or actual physics, though it is implied that weapons technology in the movie-verse is different due to the fact that many human technological advancements came from studying Megatron's body.
** By the second movie, the human NEST teams are shown carrying heavily-upgraded, large-caliber assault rifles and machineguns that can actually inflict damage on Decepticons; the NEST units and Marines fighting the Decepticons at the end of the movie prove surprisingly effective against the Decepticons in the all-out battle that results.
* ''ResidentEvil 3'', in addition to normal grenade rounds, also has acid, fire, and [[KillItWithIce ice]] grenades. ''Code: Veronica'' also features anti-BOW gas rounds.
** While we're on the SurvivalHorror note, the [[EleventhHourSuperpower tail end]] of ''ParasiteEve'' features bullets laced with the protagonist's mitochondria. And that's not even touching the fact that the game's main feature is [[EliteTweak elite gun tweaking]] to make bullets that freeze, burn, tranquilize, or poison with acid and cyanide. (Then there's the crazy things the guns themselves can do, barring the already-powerful-enough rocket launchers.)

** In the animated series (the awesome one before Evo) a Sentinel boasts about how its plastic coating stops Magento's powers... Magneto's response is an annoyed "You fools, this whole ''ship'' is my ''weapon!'' and promptly throws the huge generators nearby through the Sentinels.

* Played with in the free Chex Quest GameMod for {{Doom}}. Originally the flemoids/phlemoids (Whichever you prefer) were immune to conventional weapons. However, the "Zorcher" works by [[ReversePolarity remodulating the dimensional frequencies]] of the creatures, sending them back to whatever realm they came from. Therefore, [[NeverSayDie no killing]] the...green...slimy mucus things that want to eat the main character alive, and Ta-Da! It's kid-friendly!
* When traditional firearms [[ImmuneToBullets prove useless against the diclonii]], the antagonists of ''ElfenLied'' resort to [[{{BFG}} anti-tank rifles]] loaded with purpose-made tungsten slugs.
* Rex Charger, the "energy" specialist of ''TheCenturions'', had suits of armor that fired missiles that contained... energy-changing stuff. Magnetic shields, light, energy that was absorbed by a gun--the missiles were basically {{Technobabble}} shells. This meant that they were exactly as powerful as the plot demanded: on separate occasions, Rex blew up a SwirlyEnergyThingy and ''killed a black hole.''
* ''{{Bioshock}}'' has ammo for weapons ranging from (relatively) realistic things like armour piercing bullets to things like electric shotgun shells, exploding shotgun shells, a flamethrower that also fires liquid nitrogen and electric gel, and a crossbow with fire bolts and bolts that shoot wires. And then there's [[LegoGenetics plasmids]]...
* In David Drake's Hammerverse, there's all sorts of strange weapons and ammo. One example is the "osmium penetrator" used by some of the other merc companies. These weapons take a rod of osmium, put behind it roughly a liter of propellant, and force it down a diamond-coated barrel to flechette thickness. It emerges as a osmium needle well capable of getting through tank armor, though it has little effect on personnel (the needle just blasts through people as if they weren't there, and since it doesn't splash, it just makes a very small hole). Not to mention powerguns, that fire ''bolts of energy'' from polyurethane wafers as ammo.
* Again, in ''TheDresdenFiles'', Kincaid at one point uses Dragonsbreath shotgun rounds to turn his disposable shotguns into flamethrowers. This inspires Harry to read up on ''other'' unusual shotgun rounds, including flares.
* The ''Stars!'' game has depleted '''neutronium''' ammo -- presumably, dense far beyond the bounds of normal matter. (How you deplete neutronium is unknown to modern science.)

* Every weapon in {{Singularity}} is powered up with the time-warping abilities of "Element 99." Some of the weapons have special abilities because of this (like a sniper rifle that slows down time so you can shoot a moving target) but for most, it just makes their bullets hit harder.
* Gabriel Cole of TheMighty was given some special bullets. It turns out that it's [[spoiler: Special condensed nitrogen bullets to use against the invulnerable Alpha One since he needs to breathe more oxygen than most people.]]

<<|GunsAndGunplayTropes|>>

** ATGM - Anti-Tank Guided Missile. Some tanks, like the Russian T-90 and Israeli Merkava, can fire missiles from their main gun. These missiles are slower and sometimes carry a smaller warhead than HEAT shells, but have the advantages of longer range and better accuracy, and in some instances cutting-edge HEAT warhead design. While they are not always likely to penetrate the frontal armor of most modern tanks (though some of the more recent Russian designs are rumored to offer extremely impressive performance even against modern tank armor), these small missiles can be used for getting the first strike and eliminating lighter vehicles from a distance, and for striking with greater precision than can be managed by unguided shells.

[[{{Underworld}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/UVRounds.jpg]]
[-[[caption-width:328:From vampire to Extra Crispy in twenty seconds.]]-]

* In OnePiece, Devil's Fruit users are all weak to submersion in water (which is a pretty WeaksauceWeakness for pirates in largely oceanic world). Sea-Prism Stone is a rock that causes people touched by it to suffer the same [[PowerNullifier power-nullifying]] and strength-draining effect as being submerged. Usually, it's used in handcuffs, restraints, and cages, but the marine Smoker walks around with a weapon made of the stuff despite being a Devil's Fruit user himself.

* On ''{{Supernatural}}'', the hunters have to improvise a variety of weapons to kill a variety of creatures. The hunter's arsenal makes use of most of the above, ''except'' [[OurVampiresAreDifferent garlic]]. The most frequent example is their use of shotgun shells loaded with rock salt against ghosts. Ghosts cannot act on iron, and are killed when their remains are salted and burned. Bobby's saferoom is walled with Iron treated with rock salt. Holy weapons can be found with holy water, which cannot be crossed by demons, or holy ''oil'', which cannot be crossed by ''angels''. This has even been weaponized into a [[{{CrowningMomentOfFunny/Supernatural}} molotov cocktail]]. Angels also can be killed by And when all else fails, there's a magical gun and knife that kill ''everything''. [[spoiler: Except when they don't.]]

* On ''{{Supernatural}}'', the hunters have to improvise a variety of weapons to kill a variety of creatures. The hunter's arsenal makes use of most of the above, ''except'' [[OurVampiresAreDifferent garlic]]. The most frequent example is their use of shotgun shells loaded with rock salt against ghosts. Ghosts cannot act on iron, and are killed when their remains are salted and burned. Bobby's saferoom is walled with Iron treated with rock salt. Holy weapons can be found with holy water, which cannot be crossed by demons, or holy ''oil'', which cannot be crossed by ''angels''. This has even been weaponized into a [[CrowningMomentOfFunny/Supernatural molotov cocktail]]. Angels also can be killed by And when all else fails, there's a magical gun and knife that kill ''everything''. [[spoiler: Except when they don't.]]

* On ''{{Supernatural}}'', the heroes have to improvise a variety of weapons to kill a variety of creatures. The most frequent example is their use of shotgun shells loaded with rock salt against ghosts.

** One of the reasons for the Indian Mutiny of 1857 was because the Enfield rifle had shells that had to be greased to fit in its barrel. These shells were encased in paper packages that had to be bitten open -- then rumor spread that said grease was made from either beef and/or pork fat. Cows are holy to Hindus, making this similar to being forced to place human flesh in one's mouth, and pigs are anathema to Muslims, similar to being forced to place human ''waste'' in one's mouth.

A common way to kill vamps, using UV rounds, grenades, lamps, or other tricks. The implication is that a number of supernatural creatures are susceptible to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionizing_radiation]] (by definition, light capable of tanning skin is ionizing), meaning that someone should perhaps attempt to kill vampires with X-ray machines or plain 'ol [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium depleted uranium]].

A common way to kill vamps, using UV rounds, grenades, lamps, or other tricks.

->''"Perfect job for these babies. Made 'em myself. Holy water, clover leaf, silver shavings, white oak... the works."''
--> -- '''Film/{{Hellboy}}'''

*[[{{Series/Ultraviolet}} Ultraviolet]]: Instead of putting it in bullets, they put it in smoke canisters. Minimal effect on troopies, knocks the "leeches" flat on their backs.

* In the anime ''ChronoCrusade'', the Magdalene Order uses scripture-inscribed bullets laced with holy water as standard ammunition against demons. They also have a small number of bullets which use the power of one demon to blow up another, with near-nuclear effects.

** Combining with KillItWithFire gives flamethrowers loaded with Holy [[ElementsDoNotWorkThatWay Promethium]] (napalm with the mystical properties of Holy Water). The GreyKnights' Incinerator is the best known example.

Iron, often cold iron or [[ThunderboltIron meteoric iron]], is a traditional ward and weapon against magic, especially TheFairFolk. The term "cold iron" comes down to us from folklore, but nobody ever explained exactly what the stuff ''is'', so the definitions very wildly from "unprocessed" to "obsessively pure". (In real life it's just a poetic expression.)

-->Silver bullet; hex-scored jacketed hollow-point filled with a gel made of Holy Water, wolfsbane, garlic, fugu toxin and curare, laced with dimethyl sulfoxide to provide tractor-solvent Spreading Factor. Traditionalists can also cut crosses in the bases of the bullets, and have them blessed by a priest. .44 magnum 240-grain load over the standard Elmer Keith hunting load, 24 grains of IMR 2400. (The manual says 21.8 grains is maximum, so don't use the 24-grain load if you have a cheap revolver.) These work reliably on Vampires, Werewolves, the generic Undead, and Evil Human Minions like [[TheRenfield Renfield]], with sublime indifference.

** One of the reasons for the Indian Mutiny of 1857 was because the Enfield rifle had shells that had to be greased to fit in its barrel. These shells were encased in paper packages that had to be bitten open - then rumor spread that said grease was made from either beef and/or pork fat. Cows are holy to Hindi, making this similar to being forced to place human flesh in one's mouth, and pigs are disgusting to Muslims, similar to being forced to place human ''waste'' in one's mouth.

* The "6000-degree magnesium burn" of "high-heat 105mm sabot rounds" fired from an AC-130 gunship allowed the US military to hurt the marauding Decepticons in the ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' live-action movie (it's not much, but it worked rather better than normal bullets). Discarding-sabot rounds being neither hot, magnesium-laden or used by AC-130s, this has little to do with military practice or actual physics.
** Discarding-sabot rounds might not use magnesium, but they ''do'' use depleted uranium, which ''does'' burn (or at least, heat up) when it hits the target.
*** The DU sabot rounds are fired from 105mm L7 52-caliber tank guns while the AC-130 carries a 105mm M102 24-caliber howitzer. The two guns are not the same and, although there are NATO-standard rounds for both, they are not compatible. There is no depleted uranium round for the 105mm howitzer.
*** At any rate, magnesium burns at a mere 2500 degrees, and even thermite only reaches 4500 degrees (Fahrenheit). Several refractory materials can withstand these temperatures (not to mention whatever Phlebotinum armor Decepticons use).

*{{Batman}} soaks his Batarangs in crushed garlic for dealing with vampires.
*{{Blade}}'s opponents are sent into anaphylactic shock by garlic based pepper spary.

*Film/{{Hellboy}} adds it to his rounds just to be complete.

[[folder:General AbnormalAmmo]]
If bullets won't kill it, then obviously the answer is to make better bullets. If they're just really well protected, use a harder material like bronze or tungsten. If somebody's playing tricks with magnets, use compressed plastic. With magnesium, you can KillItWithFire! Or perhaps you can recycle their phlebotinum and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Hoist Them By Their Own Petard]].

* In UNIT's final appearance in the old version of ''DoctorWho'', following an absence of some years, it was shown that they had got tired of facing ImmuneToBullets menaces and developed special bullets to even the playing field. These included teflon-coated armour-piercing rounds for robots and Daleks ("A non-stick bullet?" the Doctor muses), high-explosive rounds for Yetis, [[WeaksauceWeakness gold-tipped bullets for Cybermen]], and {{silver bullet}}s just in case. [[spoiler:The silver bullets turn out to be very useful.]]
** This continues in the new series, where UNIT uses rad-steel coated bullets [[spoiler:to counter the Sontarans' anti-bullet field (that expands the copper casing of normal rounds and stops the guns firing)]].
* The "6000-degree magnesium burn" of "high-heat 105mm sabot rounds" fired from an AC-130 gunship allowed the US military to hurt the marauding Decepticons in the ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' live-action movie (it's not much, but it worked rather better than normal bullets). Discarding-sabot rounds being neither hot, magnesium-laden or used by AC-130s, this has little to do with military practice or actual physics.
** Discarding-sabot rounds might not use magnesium, but they ''do'' use depleted uranium, which ''does'' burn (or at least, heat up) when it hits the target.
*** The DU sabot rounds are fired from 105mm L7 52-caliber tank guns while the AC-130 carries a 105mm M102 24-caliber howitzer. The two guns are not the same and, although there are NATO-standard rounds for both, they are not compatible. There is no depleted uranium round for the 105mm howitzer.
*** At any rate, magnesium burns at a mere 2500 degrees, and even thermite only reaches 4500 degrees (Fahrenheit). Several refractory materials can withstand these temperatures (not to mention whatever Phlebotinum armor Decepticons use).
* On ''{{Supernatural}}'', the heroes have to improvise a variety of weapons to kill a variety of creatures. The most frequent example is their use of shotgun shells loaded with rock salt against ghosts.
* ''ResidentEvil 3'', in addition to normal grenade rounds, also has acid, fire, and [[KillItWithIce ice]] grenades. ''Code: Veronica'' also features anti-BOW gas rounds.
** While we're on the SurvivalHorror note, the [[EleventhHourSuperpower tail end]] of ''ParasiteEve'' features bullets laced with the protagonist's mitochondria. And that's not even touching the fact that the game's main feature is [[EliteTweak elite gun tweaking]] to make bullets that freeze, burn, tranquilize, or poison with acid and cyanide. (Then there's the crazy things the guns themselves can do, barring the already-powerful-enough rocket launchers.)
* Magneto, Master of Magnetism in the ''{{X-Men}}'' comics and films is often faced with plastic or composite weapons, and was locked in a "plastic prison" on more than one occasion.
**In the animated series (the awesome one before Evo) a Sentinel boasts about how its plastic coating stops Magento's powers... Magneto's response is an annoyed "You fools, this whole ''ship'' is my ''weapon!'' and promptly throws the huge generators nearby through the Sentinels.
* ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has several examples, like Hellfire rounds, shells filled with a mutagenic acid that causes a near-instant and very painful death to anybody unfortunate enough to get hit by one, Dragonfire shells, which explode in a burst of superheated gas and Kraken bolts, which contain cores made of ThunderboltIron.
** An attempt at {{technobabble}} in the 3rd edition rulebook provided an unintentional but hilarious subversion of this trope. Bolter shells were described as having "depleted deuterium" heads. Deuterium (which has no "depleted" version, unless you take it to mean hydrogen) is a gas, and the second ''lightest'' element in existence. Games Workshop, who tried to pass it off as a "spelling error", are reportedly ''still'' kicking themselves over this one.
*** Fans normally like to say the [[MachineCult Tech-Priests]] are really lying about what's the bolt is made of
*** That's what GM is saying now.
* Played with in the free Chex Quest GameMod for {{Doom}}. Originally the flemoids/phlemoids (Whichever you prefer) were immune to conventional weapons. However, the "Zorcher" works by [[ReversePolarity remodulating the dimensional frequencies]] of the creatures, sending them back to whatever realm they came from. Therefore, [[NeverSayDie no killing]] the...green...slimy mucus things that want to eat the main character alive, and Ta-Da! It's kid-friendly!
* When traditional firearms [[ImmuneToBullets prove useless against the diclonii]], the antagonists of ''ElfenLied'' resort to [[{{BFG}} anti-tank rifles]] loaded with purpose-made tungsten slugs.
* Rex Charger, the "energy" specialist of ''TheCenturions'', had suits of armor that fired missiles that contained... energy-changing stuff. Magnetic shields, light, energy that was absorbed by a gun--the missiles were basically {{Technobabble}} shells. This meant that they were exactly as powerful as the plot demanded: on separate occasions, Rex blew up a SwirlyEnergyThingy and ''killed a black hole.''
* ''{{Bioshock}}'' has ammo for weapons ranging from (relatively) realistic things like armour piercing bullets to things like electric shotgun shells, exploding shotgun shells, a flamethrower that also fires liquid nitrogen and electric gel, and a crossbow with fire bolts and bolts that shoot wires. And then there's [[LegoGenetics plasmids]]...
* In David Drake's Hammerverse, there's all sorts of strange weapons and ammo. One example is the "osmium penetrator" used by some of the other merc companies. These weapons take a rod of osmium, put behind it roughly a liter of propellant, and force it down a diamond-coated barrel to flechette thickness. It emerges as a osmium needle well capable of getting through tank armor, though it has little effect on personnel (the needle just blasts through people as if they weren't there, and since it doesn't splash, it just makes a very small hole). Not to mention powerguns, that fire ''bolts of energy'' from polyurethane wafers as ammo.
* Again, in ''TheDresdenFiles'', Kincaid at one point uses Dragonsbreath shotgun rounds to turn his disposable shotguns into flamethrowers. This inspires Harry to read up on ''other'' unusual shotgun rounds, including flares.
* The ''Stars!'' game has depleted '''neutronium''' ammo -- presumably, dense far beyond the bounds of normal matter. (How you deplete neutronium is unknown to modern science.)
* In the roleplaying game ''{{GURPS}} Ogre,'' the standard anti-personnel round is "ap-fizz dizzy-doo" (APFSDSDU): armor-piercing, fin-stabilized, discarding sabot, depleted uranium.
* ''JaggedAlliance 2'' v1.13 introduced AET (Advanced Energy Transfer) ammunition. They pierce armor, but behave like hollow-point rounds when they strike flesh. The developers suggest [[MST3KMantra not thinking too hard]] about how that works.
* Every weapon in {{Singularity}} is powered up with the time-warping abilities of "Element 99." Some of the weapons have special abilities because of this (like a sniper rifle that slows down time so you can shoot a moving target) but for most, it just makes their bullets hit harder.

[[/folder]]

*{{Blade}}'s opponents are sent into anaphylactic shock by garlic.

**Based on RealLife. Real world SWAT teams and crowd-control officers are sometimes armed with specially modified paintball guns that shoot paintballs filled with tear gas, pepper spray, and other severe irritants that works ''extremely'' well on unruly people.

* In the ''ForeverKnight'' episode "Hunted", a hunter shoots Nick with bullets stuffed with garlic.
* [[AllThereInTheManual The manual]] for the first ''{{Castlevania}}'' game stated that Simon Belmont soaked his signature whip in garlic juice and holy water for seventeen weeks before assaulting Dracula's castle. Of course, this is kind of undone since one of the first powerups the game will give you after every respawn is a ball and chain weapon that replaces the whip.