History Main / InstantDeathRadius

* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime'': MC [=Zom-Bs=] in the Neon Mixtape Tour. When their [[ThemeMusicPowerUp Rap Jam plays]], they gain the ability to spin their microphone around them, taking most non-defensive (and even some defensive) plants out instantly in a 3x3 radius. Even Wall-Nuts are not much of a help, being killed within two attacks. Thankfully, MC is a GlassCannon that goes down fast... except for the fact that the Breakdancer Zombie also gains an ability during the Rap Jam. Said ability helps him push zombies forward into your defences, including MC Zom-B [[OhCrap who then proceeds to wipe out your plants with his mic]].

* [[WorldsStrongestMan Thorkell "The Tall"]] from ''Manga/VinlandSaga'' is presented as all but having this. Thorkell is at an ''absolute minimum'' over seven feet (2.1+ meters) tall and [[DualWielding dual-wields]] [[OneHandedZweihander pole axes]] in battle, complete with [[LightningBruiser all the speed, skill and coordination]] you ''wouldn't'' expect from someone as big and old as he is (although [[OlderThanTheyLook he certainly doesn't look like it]], Thorkell is about 50 years old when main character Thorfinn first encounters him), especially considering those that for anyone else those axes are awkwardly large, slow, and heavy weapons. Fights involving Thorkell and any opponent without PlotArmor usually start and end with Thorkell swinging those axes of his with blinding speed, and thanks to both Thorkell's enormous reach and the length of the axes, [[https://i.imgur.com/lSBFidR.mp4 his opponents start losing limbs or getting cut in half]] long before they get close enough to reach him with their own weapons.

-->-- '''Leo''' of ''Webcomic/VGCats'' 184 (see picture)

!!Gaming examples

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'' made melee with certain monsters--most notably, any monster that was ''larger than you''--problematic at best and suicide at worst through an unholy combination of the rules for Attacks of Opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given PlayerCharacter style stats. This frequently led to situations where melee characters could not get close enough to actually do damage to such monsters at all without eating horrible damage due to the monsters' longer melee reach, the fact that they threatened every square within that reach, and the fact that they often had very high Strength (and thus a very high attack bonus ''and'' damage). The worst monsters about this were Hydras, which had a 10-foot reach and could strike with all of their valid heads (anywhere from five heads to ''twelve'') upon a single attack of opportunity.

** This trope is exactly what happens when you get too close to a really good Zangief player (or a [[PerfectPlayAI really effective computer-controlled Zangief]]). He can't ''instantly'' KO you, but there's a psychological intimidation factor involved: You're basically fighting an ImplacableMan who will punish every little mistake with a Spinning Pile Driver or its much more brutal version, the Final Atomic Buster. Even at a distance you're still not safe as he can close the gap with his running powerbomb or his Siberian Express from ''V'' . Jumping's not safe either as he'll catch you with the Aerial Russian Slam from ''Alpha 2&3'', the more powerful Siberian Blizzard from ''SSFIV'', and the less powerful but still painful Borscht Dynamite from ''V''.

** Barragan had two such abilities: his Time Dilation Field, which [[http://www.mangapanda.com/94-810-14/bleach/chapter-356.html slows anything that comes near him]] to a crawl, and [[http://www.mangapanda.com/94-811-10/bleach/chapter-357.html Respira]], which spreads rapidly upon touching any area of the victim's body and kills them -- unless they quickly [[http://www.mangapanda.com/94-811-14/bleach/chapter-357.html amputate the affected body part.]] Both of these abilities made it impossible for [[{{Ninja}} Sui-Feng]] [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption to even land an attack]], since she couldn't risk getting anywhere near him, without getting slowed down or having it affecting any part of her body.
** Shortly after Barragan's InstantDeathRadius is dealt with, [[BigBad Sōsuke Aizen]] evolves into a form that's so awash with spiritual pressure that anyone without spiritual awareness just flat out ''disintegrates'' if he gets too close to them, in addition to being a OneManArmy beyond that. This presents a serious problem for [[ActionSurvivor Ichigo's spiritually aware but non-powered friends]], who are forced to either RunOrDie from him and Gin until Rangiku and later Ichigo arrive to deal with them.

* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' deliberately gives this capability to its upper-tier {{Eldritch Abomination}}s to discourage {{Munchkin}}s from fighting them. The titular Cthulhu has an unblockable, undodgeable OneHitPolykill at close range, and the power levels actually go ''[[SerialEscalation up]]'' from there. The actual Instant Death Radius for any of the big nasties in this setting is best defined as "You can see it." Most characters will take such a big hit on the SanityMeter that if they make their Sanity Check, they still have a good chance to go temporarily insane. The remainder will probably blow the roll so badly that they bow down and begin worshiping their new dark gods.

* ''VideoGame/BountyOfOne'': The Onion item can make the ''player'' into one of these. By itself, it deals 1/4 of a player's damage to all enemies in a small radius around them every half-second. However, the cooldown can be reduced further making it deal damage much more often, the area size can be increased, ''and'' it can score {{Critical Hit}}s meaning that with sufficient Critical Chance and Critical Damage, many enemies that enter your radius will die in ''seconds'', if not immediately.

* Both [[BigBad Lord]] [[FinalBoss Dredmor]] and [[BonusBoss Vlad Digula]] have one in the four squares you can melee them on, in ''VideoGame/DungeonsOfDredmor''. Sure, when they're only close and visible, while you can pelt them with spells, so can they, and Fulminaric Bolts hurt like hell, but getting up close and personal without massive evasion rates is asking for it. In Dredmor's case, his staff strikes are survivable, but they ''will'' corrupt your equipment horribly, no matter what. Digula himself just [[MascotMook nose-drills]] your guts out with ''four elements at once'' , and each element's damage ''alone'' would make for a formidable blow. Taking a nuke to the face (yes, this game has (magic) nukes, and yes, he can dole them out like candy) is the better option.

* In ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'', several of the MightyGlacier fighters have this going on, especially if you take their [[LimitBreak Super Arts]] into account. Going into melee with Honda Tadakatsu, Tachibana Muneshige or Shimazu Yoshihiro (and especially getting caught in their Super Arts) can cost you a significant amount of your health bar in an instant. [[BonusBoss Oda Nobunaga]] takes this to extremes in the third game, however: When channeling his gigantic demonic SuperMode, he cannot be flinched, his attacks have ''titanic'' reach, deal horrible damage, and juggles you to boot. The only way to deal with him if you don't have a good ranged attack (preferably with knockback) is to simply run away until he stops channelling it.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' features Spike attacks. There are proximity spikes, where being near the enemy deals damage, counter spikes, where attacking deals damage, and topple spikes, where toppling the enemy and then attacking deals damage. There is no way to tell what spike an enemy has, and some spikes come in StatusEffects flavor. For example, TheDragon has a paralysis counter spike, and the BonusBoss has an Instant Death counter spike.

Done well, this kind of enemy can force a player into using a very clear kind of strategy -- [[HitAndRunTactics keep as far away from it as possible and use ranged attacks]], wait for an opening when it can't attack, strike quickly and get away before it can retaliate; or throw enough CannonFodder units at it that it can't wipe all of them out at once. But other times this kind of enemy can be [[GoddamnedBats incredibly]] [[DemonicSpiders aggravating]] when there's major character customization involved. Sure, you may want to play a melee-focused class such as a warrior, a rogue or a paladin, but guess what -- the monster's attack radius is much larger than yours, and its attacks are [[UnblockableAttack substantially]] [[AlwaysAccurateAttack stronger.]] Level up as you might, trying to go ''mano a mano'' with this thing is going to result in your death no matter how many {{Critical Hit}}s you land (generally zero -- one if you're lucky).

Done well, this kind of enemy can force a player into using a very clear kind of strategy -- [[HitAndRunTactics keep as far away from it as possible and use ranged attacks]], wait for an opening when it can't attack and strike quickly, or throw enough CannonFodder units at it that it can't wipe all of them out at once. But other times this kind of enemy can be [[GoddamnedBats incredibly]] [[DemonicSpiders aggravating]] when there's major character customization involved. Sure, you may want to play a melee-focused class such as a warrior, a rogue or a paladin, but guess what -- the monster's attack radius is much larger than yours, and its attacks are [[UnblockableAttack substantially]] [[AlwaysAccurateAttack stronger.]] Level up as you might, trying to go ''mano a mano'' with this thing is going to result in your death no matter how many {{Critical Hit}}s you land (generally zero -- one if you're lucky).

Done well, this kind of enemy can force a player into using a very clear kind of strategy -- [[HitAndRunTactics keep as far away from it as possible and use ranged attacks]], wait for an opening when it can't attack and strike quickly, or throw enough CannonFodder units at it that it can't wipe all of them out at once. But other times this kind of enemy can be [[GoddamnedBats incredibly]] [[DemonicSpiders aggravating]] when there's major character customization involved. Sure, you may want to play a melee-focused class such as a warrior, a rogue or a paladin, but guess what -- the monster's attack radius is much larger than yours, and their attacks are [[UnblockableAttack substantially]] [[AlwaysAccurateAttack stronger.]] Level up as you might, trying to go ''mano a mano'' with this thing is going to result in your death no matter how many {{Critical Hit}}s you land (generally zero -- one if you're lucky).

Done well, this kind of enemy can force a player into using a very clear kind of strategy -- [[HitAndRunTactics keep as far away from it as possible and use ranged attacks]], wait for an opening when it can't attack and strike quickly, or throw enough CannonFodder units at it that it can't wipe all of them out at once. But other times this kind of enemy can be [[GoddamnedBats incredibly]] [[DemonicSpiders aggravating]] when there's major character customization involved. Sure, you want to play a melee-focused class such as a warrior, a rogue or a paladin, but guess what -- the monster's attack radius is much larger than yours, and their attacks are [[UnblockableAttack substantially]] [[AlwaysAccurateAttack stronger.]] Level up as you might, trying to go ''mano a mano'' with this thing is going to result in your death no matter how many {{Critical Hit}}s you land (generally zero -- one if you're lucky).

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'' made melee with certain monsters--most notably, any monster that was ''larger than you''--problematic at best and suicide at worst through an unholy combination of the rules for Attacks of Opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given Player Character style stats. This frequently led to situations where melee characters could not get close enough to actually do damage to such monsters at all without eating horrible damage due to the monsters' longer melee reach, the fact that they threatened every square within that reach, and the fact that they often had very high Strength (and thus a very high attack bonus ''and'' damage). The worst monsters about this were Hydras, which had a 10-foot reach and could strike with all of their valid heads (anywhere from five heads to ''twelve'') upon a single attack of opportunity.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'', through an unholy combination of the rules for Attacks of Opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given {{Player Character}} style stats, made monsters with a higher melee reach than you (such as ''any monster that was larger than you'') absolutely painful to approach due to the Attacks of Opportunity provoked from trying to get close enough to melee them, which would usually hit for heinous amounts of damage due to their high Strength. The absolute worst examples of this were Hydras, which had a ten-foot reach and could strike with every one of their valid heads (anywhere from five to up to ''twelve'') upon a single attack of opportunity.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'', through an unholy combination of the rules for Attacks of Opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given {{Player Character}} style stats, made monsters that had a higher melee reach than you (such as ''any monster that was larger than you'') absolutely painful to approach due the Attacks of Opportunity provoked from trying to get close enough to melee them, which would usually hit for heinous amounts of damage due to their high Strength. The absolute worst examples of this were Hydras, which had a ten-foot reach and could strike with every one of their valid heads (anywhere from five to up to ''twelve'') upon a single attack of opportunity.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'', through an unholy combination of the rules for Attacks of Opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given {{Player Character}} style stats, made certain monsters (such as ''any monster that was larger than you'') absolutely painful to approach via their long melee reach and the Attacks of Opportunity provoked from trying to get close enough to melee them, which would usually hit for heinous amounts of damage due to their high Strength. The absolute worst examples of this were Hydras, which could strike with ''every one of their valid heads'' upon a single attack of opportunity.

Done well, this kind of enemy can force a player into using a very clear kind of strategy -- [[HitAndRunTactics keep as far away from it as possible and use ranged attacks]], wait for an opening when it can't attack and strike quickly, or throw enough CannonFodder units at it that it can't wipe all of them out at once. But other times this kind of enemy can be [[GoddamnedBats incredibly]] [[DemonicSpiders aggravating]] when there's major character customization involved. Sure, you want to play a melee-focused class such as a warrior, but guess what -- the monster's attack radius is much larger than yours, and their attacks are [[UnblockableAttack substantially]] [[AlwaysAccurateAttack stronger.]] Level up as you might, trying to go ''mano a mano'' with this thing is going to result in your death no matter how many {{Critical Hit}}s you land (generally zero -- one if you're lucky).

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'', through an unholy combination of the rules for Attacks of Opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given {{Player Character}} style stats, made certain monsters (such as ''any monster that was larger than you'') absolutely painful to approach via their long melee reach and the Attacks of Opportunity provoked from trying to get close enough to melee them, which would usually hit for heinous amounts of damage due to their high Strength. The absolute worst examples in this category were Hydras, which could strike with every one of their valid heads upon a single attack of opportunity.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'', through an unholy combination of the rules for Attacks of Opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given {{Player Character}} style stats, ''any monster that was larger than you'' was absolutely painful to approach via their long melee reach and the Attacks of Opportunity provoked from trying to get close enough to melee them, which would usually hit for heinous amounts of damage due to their high Strength. The absolute worst examples in this category were Hydras, which could strike with every one of their valid heads upon a single attack of opportunity.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd Edition made melee with large monsters problematic at best and suicide at worst through an unholy combination of the rules for attacks of opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given {{Player Character}} style stats, which often led to situations where melee characters fighting large monsters could not get close enough to actually do damage without eating horrible damage in turn because the monsters' melee attack radius was larger than theirs, they could threaten every square within that radius, and they had higher accuracy and damage due to their high Strength than many melee [=PCs=] could even hope to match up to.

* The final boss of ''VideoGame/ArcTheLadTwilightOfTheSpirits''. Unless you knew exactly what was coming (and the only way to do so is with a walkthrough) and equipped your melee fighters with all the normally-useless elemental protection you can get, getting in close with him is a deathwish.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd Edition made melee with large monsters problematic at best and suicide at worst through an unholy combination of the rules for attacks of opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given {{Player Character}} style stats, which often led to situations where melee characters fighting large monsters could not get close enough to actually do damage without eating horrible damage in turn because their melee attack radius was larger than theirs, they could threaten every square within that radius, and they had higher accuracy and damage due to their high Strength than many melee [=PCs=] could even hope to match up to.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd Edition made melee with large monsters problematic at best and suicide at worst through an unholy combination of the rules for attacks of opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given {{Player Character}} style stats, which often led to situations where melee characters could not get close enough to actually do damage without eating horrible damage in turn from large monsters whose melee attack radius was larger than theirs, that could threaten every square within that radius, and had higher accuracy and damage due to their high Strength than many melee [=PCs=] could even hope to match up to.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd Edition made melee with large monsters problematic at best and suicide at worst through an unholy combination of the rules for attacks of opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given {{Player Character}} style stats, which often led to situations where melee characters could not get close enough to actually do damage without eating horrible damage in turn from large monsters whose melee attack radius was larger than theirs, that could threaten every square within their attack radius, and had higher accuracy and damage due to their high Strength than many melee [=PCs=] could even hope to match up to.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd Edition made melee with large monsters problematic at best and suicide at worst through an unholy combination of the rules for attacks of opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given {{Player Character}} style stats, which often led to situations where melee characters could not get close enough to actually do damage without eating horrible damage in turn from monsters that could threaten every square within their attack radius and had higher accuracy and damage due to their high Strength than many melee [=PCs=] could even hope to match up to.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd Edition made melee with large monsters problematic at best and suicide at worst through an unholy combination of the rules for attacks of opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given {{Player Character}}-style stats, which often led to situations where melee characters could not get close enough to actually do damage without eating horrible damage in turn from monsters that could threaten every square within their attack radius and had higher accuracy and damage due to their high Strength than many melee [=PCs=] could even hope to match up to.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd Edition made melee with large monsters problematic at best and suicide at worst through an unholy combination of the rules for attacks of opportunity (which gave a player or monster a free attack on anyone getting within melee range) and the fact that monsters in that edition were given stats much like {{Player Character}}s were, which often led to situations where melee characters could not get close enough to actually do damage without eating horrible damage in turn from monsters that could threaten every square within their attack radius and had higher accuracy and damage due to their high Strength than many melee [=PCs=] could even hope to match up to.

Sometimes the best way to make a powerful boss character is to make sure that they have really, really good melee/short-ranged attacks. So good, in fact, that it's just about impossible for a player character to get anywhere near this boss without ending up dead in a matter of seconds. This is because the boss in question is contained in an Instant Death Radius -- an attack range in which they can easily kill you, but in which you are just about incapable of even getting close enough to touch them, let alone denting them.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd Edition was lousy with this, as monsters with reach (such as any monster that was ''larger than you'') could lay serious hurt on you with an Attack of Opportunity if you got within its radius, and unless the monster was using a reach weapon, it could threaten every square within its radius, meaning you could not charge or otherwise get close without sucking up an Attack of Opportunity and taking some heinous damage (because any melee monster worth its salt invariably has very high Strength, and high Strength = high attack bonus = high damage). A caster or archer could just hang back and blast them at range, but if you were a fighter or other class whose primary focus was on melee and wielding the weapons you would normally expect such characters to wield (swords, spears, axes, hammers and other weapons with normal reach), you could pretty much forget about actually doing any damage or contributing to the fight in any way other than being a "meat shield" for the others. Little wonder that the five-foot-step rule, which was called "shifting" in 4th Edition, was clarified in 3.5.
** It got much worse if the enemies were good at tripping or grappling; one Huge monster in the Monster Manual 4 has an anti-magic grab, preferred subterranean environs, and moves with a faster climb speed than many characters of the appropriate level could run. Fortunately (or [[GameBreaker unfortunately for the DM]]) Attack of Opportunity optimized character builds can invert this trope entirely. Many, many, MANY hypothetical character builds on the Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast forums could not be approached without provoking tons of [=AoOs=]; these characters would attack a foe if that foe attacked him, attacked a nearby ally, or moved -- hell, even if ''they did nothing at all''.
** The main thing though isn't the [=AoOs=], but the full attack that follows. You can expect even the half-decent melee enemies to utterly annihilate you later on accordingly or at least beat you to within an inch of your life before you get another turn. Not sometimes, but every single turn. Dragons are infamous for this, as the higher age categories get six or more attacks per round. And the only way to stand up to regular melee enemies in close combat is to either be an Evasion Tank (see LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards) or just be heavily optimized...in effect, stuff that would normally be a GameBreaker is required for basic competency.
** One of third edition's supplements introduced a monster-only feat "LargeAndInCharge" which allowed them to add [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom knockback]] to their attack of opportunity against human-sized attackers.