History Main / DrawAggro

* In ''Film/SlaveGirlsFromBeyondInfinity'', Shala [[HeroicScarifice sacrifices herself]] to save Tisa from Zed; deliberately making herself a target and drawing Zed's fire so Tisa can escape.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': In "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlanteersS1E3BeastOfTheTemple Beast of the Temple]]", Wheeler and Linka encounter the dragon devastating the countryside and Linka gets her foot stuck in some tree roots. While attacking the dragon with fire doesn't work, it does focus on Wheeler after he does so. He takes advantage of this to lead it away from Linka so she can free her caught foot.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'', the Red Amanojaku has a skill that allows it to "taunt" one member of the opposing team, causing that enemy to lose control and automatically fire their basic attack at it on their turn. Heiyō takes it one step further with a skill which allows him to taunt ''all'' members on the opposite team while strengthening himself so he can take all the attacks fired at him. [[NoSell Neither skills work]] [[WeaksauceWeakness when the opposite team is protected by Seimei's]] DeflectorShield.

* ''Literature/TheWayOfKings'' (first book of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): After Kaladin's first attempt to protect [[TheBait the bridgemen]] from Parshendi arrows fails horrifically, he comes up with another one. Instead of trying to protect his crew at the expense of others, he makes armor out of Parshendi bones and tries to draw their attention. [[spoiler:Since the Parshendi have a race-wide BerserkButton about [[DesecratingTheDead even moving the dead]], the '''entire''' army focuses on him, even as they are being cut down by the army Kaladin belongs to]].

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki'' has Van's Coin Bullet that makes enemies go attack him.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': This is basically the strategy employed by the Republic Navy when it has its rematch with the Imperial Navy at the Second Battle of Axum. The Republic fleet brings a trio of ''Mandator-II''-class dreadnoughts, which are [[StoneWall heavily shielded and comparable to Imperial Battleships in size]], that they use to draw fire from the Imperial battlefleet and soak up all the damage while swarms of smaller ''Victory'' and ''Venator''-class Star Destroyers slowly whittle down the Imperial warships one-by-one.

* In ''VideoGame/SaveTheLight'', Garnet's Taunt makes her redirect enemy attacks towards her.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'': Doc runs into the terrorists' view and tries to shoot at them in order to get their attention off Marty. In the original timeline, [[HeroicSacrifice it costs him his life.]]

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1447593329015826600
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/JurassicPark1993 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_jurassicpark02.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:This takes "chase the red dot" a bit too far.]]

%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900

* ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader'': One version of Batman's fate has Superman warning him that his enemies have made a pact to put aside their differences and focus on killing him. Batman responds that while they're trying to kill him they'll be too busy to hurt anyone else, and insists on returning to Gotham City to protect it one last time.

''[Cue ominous purple glow underneath Silica's feet as [[LeeroyJenkins she runs forward, causing offscreen panic.]]]''\\

* In ''Fanfic/TheProgenitorChronicles'', the MC shoots an arrow into a Tyrant and yells insults at him to get his attention away from Rebecca.
* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': This is basically the strategy employed by the Republic Navy when it has its rematch with the Imperial Navy at the Second Battle of Axum. The Republic fleet brings a trio of ''Mandator-II''-class dreadnoughts, which are [[StoneWall heavily shielded and comparable to Imperial Battleships in size]], that they use to draw fire from the Imperial battlefleet and soak up all the damage while swarms of smaller ''Victory'' and ''Venator''-class Star Destroyers slowly whittle down the Imperial warships one-by-one.

* ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'': During the first sequel, ''Diplomat at Large'', on the advice of Discord, Princess Luna orders an assault on the Storm King's base of operations for the sake of providing a distraction and drawing out his forces while a smaller team (Twilight Sparkle and a now reformed Tempest Shadow, though Luna wasn't aware that they ''were'' the entire team until after the fact) enters the fortress and steals his principal weapon, the Staff of Sacanas.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', one of the mice have to distract the cat Lucifer while the others go to the yard for breakfast. Jacques gets the job this time, which he does by hiding in a hole and sticking out his hat for Lucifer to swat.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeIXJourneyToBigWater'': When the kids are cornered by the sharptooth, Mo leads it away from them by letting it chase him.

* In ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers1978'', when hopelessly outnumbered by the body snatchers at the pier, Jack draws their attention long enough for Matthew and Elizabeth to escape. [[spoiler:This ends up being a HeroicSacrifice for Jack.]]

--> '''Isaac:''' You want to draw the attention, and lightning, of the Ka'armodo onto your head?\\

* ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'': Alan lures a giant alligator away by riding his hover bike nearby, to lure the alligator away from the house it is attacking.
%%* Fitting its overall video game theme, ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' has power-up items appear on the battlefield whenever a Rider transforms; one of the items is "Provoke", which fulfills this function to the letter.

* Mal does this on ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' in “The Train Job” when he’s at a bar, picking his annual Unification Day fight.
-->'''Mal''': Say that to my face.
-->'''Lund''': I said, you're a coward, and a pisspot. Now what are you gonna do about it?
--> '''Mal''': Nothin'. I just wanted you to face me so she could get behind ya.
-->[Zoë hits Lund with the butt of her rifle.]
--> '''Mal''': Drunks are so cute.

* ''VideoGame/AnarchyOnline''

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''

* In the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series:

* Taunt abilities in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' force the target(s) to attack the user for a few seconds. Just long enough for the user's allies to get ahead of their attackers, though not necessarily long enough to keep them ahead.

%%* The ''WebVideo/LeeroyJenkinsVideo'' has Leeroy doing this to nearly every mob in the Rookery of the Upper Blackrock Spire as a result of his reckless one-man charge into the Rookery. The rest of the raid are quickly overwhelmed when they try to save him, and things are not helped at all by the idiotic plan that they had concocted to take the instance on.

%%Administrivia/PartialContextExample* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'': Jerry is frequently left doing this to Tom to protect a smaller animal, such as Nibbles or Quacker.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "Super Watermelon Island", the Watermelon Stevens' can't seriously harm [[spoiler: Malachite]], but they can [[EyeScream go for her eyes]] and distract her enough for the Crystal Gems to finish the job.
%%* In ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'''s "I'd Rather Not Talk about It," Jeremie uses this tactic to lead a BrainwashedAndCrazy pig away from his injured gym teacher.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'': Salvador's "Come At Me, Bro!" skill lets him taunt his enemies while he's in Gunzerker mode, drawing fire away from his team-mates while restoring his health and temporarily boosting his damage resistance.
* ''VideoGame/Wizard101'' has the spell "Taunt" which makes enemies more likely to target you than the people you're fighting alongside.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII''
** The Taunt ability forces all nearby enemies to attack the caster, used by the StoneWall Mountain Giants.
** The Shadow Hunter's Big Bad Voodoo turns all other units around invulnerable ''except'' the caster, meaning the enemy has no choice but to attack the SquishyWizard casting the spell.
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' many player parties use knowledge of enemy AI to have the toughest character take the hits while the other players support the tank or go after the enemy. In single player characters can use pets and familiars to draw aggro from enemies.
* In ''VideoGame/XComEnemyUnknown'', the enemy AI usually prioritizes easy-to-hit targets. One tactic is to place units with [[SuperToughness high HP]], DamageReduction skills, and/or a HealingFactor, such as a [[{{Cyborg}} MEC trooper]], in the front of the formation to attract enemy fire. Additionally, if the player knows that an enemy is in Overwatch (which grants a [[CounterAttack reaction shot]] if a target in range moves), they can move an Assault with the Lightning Reflexes skill (which forces the first reaction shot that targets them to miss) or a unit far enough away to be difficult to hit first, triggering the reaction shot so that other units can move into position safely.
* In ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', enemies mostly behave the same way by shooting what's easiest to hit. This makes the ridiculously tough StoneWall-specced [[RobotBuddy SPARK]] combat robot the ideal point man. Seeing how [=SPARKs=] are this game's SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for ''Enemy Within'''s MEC Troopers, this shouldn't come as a surprise. With some clever positioning and a bit of favor from the RandomNumberGod, a single SPARK can focus the majority of enemy fire on itself without taking too much damage while its squishy comrades take care of paying the aliens back in kind.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** Generally, the AI prioritizes units who are unable to strike back above all else -- which means it tends to [[ShootTheMedicFirst go after healers]] (especially before they promote) and archers (with close-combat units, anyways), but you can easily exploit its priorities and use pretty much anyone you want as a meatshield by stripping them of their weapons. If it can't attack a helpless unit, the AI will go after the unit it can deal the most damage to -- even if it has no chance whatsoever of actually landing a hit and/or will get itself completely shredded by your counterattack. Basically, the ''Fire Emblem'' AI [[ArtificialStupidity/FireEmblem is pretty stupid]].
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' have the Provoke skill, available by default on Shinon (in both games) and Skrimir (in ''Radiant Dawn''). This causes enemies to prioritize attacking the character with the skill, and can be moved to tanks for good effect.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'': As a nod to his home game's Provoke skill, Emblem Soren (who is among the Emblems obtained via DownloadableContent) has Assign Decoy, which shifts foes' attack focus onto an ally of his Emblem bearer's choosing.
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'' series in general has several abilities related to drawing aggro and [[ExploitedTrope getting bonuses from how many enemies are aggroed]]. Conversely, there are moves that lower character's aggro, to keep the attacker's aggro from getting too high.
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' Reyn has the most of these, including his Talent Art [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xenoblade_aggro.jpg "Mad Taunt"]], since his high hit points and defense make him the main tank of the party. Dunban also has a couple, including a "lock-on" art, that forces enemies to attack him.
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'' has less of these, but still, Assault Rifles and Shields provide arts that focus the enemy on the user. The game calls this effect "taunt".
** In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' Tora and [[spoiler:Morag]] have aggro-raising arts with their default Blades, and are designed to be tanks. Other "aggro up" arts can be used with Chroma Katanas and Shield Hammers. There's also two NewGamePlus-only Blades [[spoiler:Cressidus and Sever]] and Korvin, a DLC Blade, whose weapons also has arts with "aggro up" effect.
** ''Torna ~ The Golden Country'' expansion for ''2'' has Hugo, whose Talent Art forces enemies to focus on his team (him or one of his Blades).
* ''VideoGame/TheBannerSaga''. Fasolt has this ability, called Malice. Don't worry though, he has the highest armor stat of any playable character and will probably be fine. In the sequel, ''VideoGame/TheBannerSaga2'' all shield bearing Varl can get this ability once they reach level six. Malice is particularly useful for protecting your archers and glass cannons, and all characters that learn it have the passive ability to give as good as they get. Some items in both games also draw aggro to their wielder, but they usually boost armor, damage resistance, or evasion too, and are best given to tanks like Fasolt.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'' features a strange case. Aggro exists in the game as much as any other MMO using a DamagerHealerTank combat system, but only two skills exist to manipulate it: Inner Fire and Puncture. This makes having one of them a must for any tank, as healers will be easily squished if bosses ever attack them.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'', the Red Amanojaku has a skill that allows it to "taunt" one member of the opposing team, causing that enemy to lose control and automatically fire their basic attack at it on their turn. Heiyō takes it one step further with a skill which allows him to taunt ''all'' members on the opposite team while strengthening himself so he can take all the attacks fired at him. [[NoSell Neither skills work]] [[WeaksauceWeakness when the opposite team is protected by Seimei's]] DeflectorShield.
* In ''VideoGame/SaveTheLight'', Garnet's Taunt makes her redirect enemy attacks towards her.
* In ''Videogame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'', [[ButtMonkey Butters]] has the "Born Victim" passive ability that makes enemies more likely to attack him than you. The explanation given is that he is just ''so'' pure and innocent that it's disgusting to every other living thing on the planet, and they just can't help wanting to beat the crap out of him.

* In ''Videogame/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole'', certain classes and characters can taunt enemies while also putting up a shield that blocks most forms of damage. Super Craig does this by FlippingTheBird, Call Girl "blocks" enemies on Social Media. For the player character, the Cyborg class can draw aggro by blaring annoying music at the enemies while the Martial Artist class has the "Dragon Swagger" ultimate, which summons a dragon to flip off all enemies on the field.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse'' and [[VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse2 its sequel]], [[FakeUltimateHero Mr. Satan]] has the Ultimate Attack "The Savior Has Come!", which causes the user to perform a victory celebration that forces all enemies in the area to target them for a set period of time. Since it's the only aggro-drawing skill in the game, it can be highly useful.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has the ability "Threaten", which causes enemies to flock around the user.
%%* ''VideoGame/MutantYearZeroRoadToEden'' has the ability "Joker" for this. Its icon is a CymbalBangingMonkey.
* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresCastleSiege'' had Charles Martel able to attract enemy attack onto him with the ability "Taunt". The ability also boosts his defense so said attacks make less damage.
* ''Videogame/RWBYAmityArena'' has Neon Katt, who upon deployment dashes towards the enemy tower while drawing the attention of enemy units who go for her ([[NoSell aside from the ones who are locked onto attacking the tower as well]]).
* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' has Morte's [[IShallTauntYou Litany of Curses]] ability, which causes him to insult an enemy. If they fail the save against the effect, they're not only forced to only attack Morte until it wears off, their attacks are also weakened (on top of Morte's already formidable resistance to physical damage).
* ''VideoGame/EmpireAtWar'' has the Rebellion's A-wing squadron with the special ability to draw fire from enemy fighters.
* ''VideoGame/LibraryOfRuina'' has this as a gameplay mechanic. If your Librarians are fast enough, they can intercept enemy attacks, forcing the enemy to clash with the Librarians in question instead of attacking the original target. The "Eternally Lit Lamp" card allows a Librarian to intercept ''any'' attack regardless of Speed.
** There are also two status effects, "Allured" and "Enchanted", which force affected enemies to target a specific Librarian. Those enemies inflict more damage on the Librarian, but the Librarian gains a bonus when they clash against enemy attacks. If the enemy is "Enchanted", the Librarian is also healed when they win a clash against them.
* ''VideoGame/LastScenario'': The Party Hat increases the wearer's chances of being targeted. This can be used along the Barrier bug[[note]]Barrier is a spell that bolster the target's resistance to magical attacks. In an unintentional way, it also decreases all physical damage by 80%[[/note]] to transform Matilda, the party's resident tank, into an unkillable StoneWall that will effortlessly shrug everything the game throws at her.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki'' has Van's Coin Bullet that makes enemies go attack him.
* In ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', several ranged characters have Elemental Skills that create constructs to take the heat off of them and allies, allowing the creator to attack enemies with impunity. Amber's Explosive Puppet creates an ActionBomb dancing doll that deals Pyro damage when detonated, Mona's Illusory Torrent creates a projection of her doing an EyelidPullTaunt that continuously pulses for Hydro damage, and Ganyu's Trail of the Qilin creates an ice lotus that functions similar to Amber's skill but deals Cryo damage instead.
* ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheThirdPower'':
** Rowan and Gage can inflict the Taunt status on enemies to draw their aggro. Rowan's version of the skill can be upgraded to have a longer duration while Gage's version of the skill also refills his Rage points. However, some enemies can overcome the Taunt mechanic by dispelling all debuffs on themselves or using Orders: Focus to grant Taunt immunity to the enemy party.
** Rashim has the Lure buff, which increases enemy aggro chance on himself by 20% for each stack. This means his aggro mechanic cannot be circumvented by anti-Taunt enemies.
* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy5'' has the Target status effect, which redirects all single-target attacks onto the afflicted player, including attacks that target randomly. Only one player may have Target at a time.
* In ''VideoGame/SymphonyOfWar'', the "Imposing" trait makes enemy units more likely to target the specific unit who has it.
* The Guardians in ''VideoGame/NovaDrift'' can learn Decoy Signal, which lets them draw enemy fire away from the player. Should the player’s ship get too close to enemies, they will then switch their focus to attacking the player instead of the Guardian.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': This is basically the strategy employed by the Republic Navy when it has its rematch with the Imperial Navy at the Second Battle of Axum. The Republic fleet brings a trio of ''Mandator-II''-class dreadnoughts, which are heavily shielded and comparable to Imperial Battleships in size, that they use to draw fire from the Imperial battlefleet and soak up all the damage while swarms of smaller ''Victory'' and ''Venator''-class Star Destroyers slowly whittle down the Imperial warships one-by-one.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/JurassicPark https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_jurassicpark02.png]]]]

* In the film of ''Film/JurassicPark'', both Alan and Ian try to get the ''T. rex's'' attention when she's attacking the kids. Alan methodically draws Rexy's attention to a flare that he waves deliberately back and forth before throwing it, while staying still himself; it works, and Rexy chases the moving object while ignoring both the kids and Alan. Ian, taking exactly the wrong lesson from this, frantically waves his arms with a flare of his own and yells at Rexy before running away. The ''rex'', recognizing prey, ignores the flares and attacks Ian directly. This ends up being something of a SenselessSacrifice as while he survives, he's pretty badly injured in return for heroically distracting the Rex.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''

* At the climax of ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', Stoick the Vast plans on doing this to buy time for his fellow Vikings to escape the monstrous dragon.

* The ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' sequels reveal that Po's mother did this as part of her HeroicSacrifice for him when he was a baby: after Lord Shen ordered for the pandas to be wiped out and their village was attacked, Po's mother hid him in the woods, ran back to the main trail, and purposely attracted the attention of the wolves who were pursuing them, getting them to chase her so she could lead them far away from Po.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': This is basically the strategy employed by the Republic Navy when it has its rematch with the Imperial Navy at the Second Battle of Axum. The Republic fleet brings a trio of ''Mandator-II''-class dreadnoughts, which are heavily shielded and comparable to Imperial Battleships in size, that they use to draw fire from the Imperial fleet and soak up all the damage while swarms of smaller ''Victory''-class Star Destroyers slowly whittle down the Imperial ships one-by-one.

** The Battle of the Black Gate also qualifies -- Frodo needs the way clear so he can reach Mount Doom, and if Sauron suspects Aragorn has the Ring and is coming to attack him, he'll shift his focus from guarding his domain to wiping out the prospective new Dark Lord. Aragorn and his friends admit that at this point they have no way whatsoever to even know if Frodo and Sam are still alive, [[MillionToOneChance and stake everything on the astronomically slim chance that they are.]]