History Main / OneHitPolykill

* All sniper rifles in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' can overpenetrate targets. The lighter models require headshots to do so, which is difficult to do in most situations, but the [[{{BFG}} Heavy Sniper]] can pull it off no matter where the initial target was hit.

* Angela from ''Series/{{Obliterated}}'' kills two Russian bad guys in the first episode with a double headshot, blowing through one guy's head to get the guy behind him.

* Angela from ''Series/{{Obliterated}}'' kills two Russian bad guys in the first episode with a double headshot.

* Gruesomely illustrated by Revolutionary War era cannon (firing a 6 lb solid chunk of pig iron) in Mel Gibson's ''Film/ThePatriot''. Wherein a cannonball pulverized its first target, then proceeded to roll on the ground-crushing feet as it went, while coated with the entrails of its first target. It is arguable which soldier had the worse death: the one instantly reduced to chunky salsa, or the one that got to view the rest of the battle while screaming and trying not to bleed out from the stump where his ankle was, just to die from gangrene days later from the infected wound.

* [[GameBreaker Kiai Scrolls]] in ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' penetrate everything and can [[OneHitKill 1-shot]] all but strongest foes. Boomerangs can also do this on weak enemies.

* In ''Manga/{{Gamaran}}'' there's Zenmaru's Gurensen (Crimson Lotus Slash) coupled with the [[{{BFS}} Sadanaga Kutaragi]], which is used to kill something like 6 or 7 mooks in a single strike. Iori has also used a similar technique to slay two powerful enemies in [[CurbStompBattle one blow before they could actually whip out their techniques]]. An unseen example is given by Shingo Midou, who used his [[BladeOnAStick giant spear]] to skewer several mooks in apparently one thrust.

* The hunting rifle in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead''.
** All of the stronger weapons in ''Left 4 Dead'' can overpenetrate, with varying amounts of effectiveness, from the "goes through anything, including walls" hunting rifle to the "as many zombies are within 50 meters" shotguns. Makes fighting those 30+ hordes of zombies easier than you'd think.

* Fully charged arrows from the Bow of Light in any ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' game where they're featured.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' it's not uncommon for Link to take out multiple enemies [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfYxssXyOyk&list=PLSQLREUw9vwlh8bzgvZCt_WS8615trN5H&index=4&t=8s with a single sword swing or bomb arrow]]
%%%** It helps that your soldiers can still hear targets they can't see. The game displays a red outline where the enemy is supposed to be with an "ear" bubble. However, the outline is always standing even if the {{Mook}} isn't.
%% This sub-point has been displaced by entries for other games. Please determine to what game it belongs and relocate it appropriately.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' it's possible to do this with the Javelin, Widow, and Black Widow sniper rifle models by default. Add the Rifle Piercing mod and suddenly every sniper rifle becomes at least capable of doing this, the probability increasing with the higher damaging rifles like the Valiant or the Mantis.

** Mods that add or improve penetration exist for all weapons (in the core game for pistols, assault rifles, and shotguns, and added via DLC for submachine guns. Most guns that aren't sniper rifles lack the per-shot damage potential to score a one hit kill, but most shotguns and a few pistols and assault rifles do. Catching a group of enemies at close range with the Claymore heavy shotgun is always entertaining, with the Shredder or Heavy Barrel mods this will almost certainly result in most of the group being obliterated. With the right weapons and a little luck, it's even possible to outdo Garrus and get three (or more) kills with one bullet.
*** This can even happen ''through walls''. The Javelin, for example, has a native penetration of 100cm. Stacking all the penetration mods, AP ammo, etc., the penetration can max out at 6.25 ''metres'', enough to pass through the thickest walls in the game. Provided they can see the targets, player can put rounds through metre-thick concrete and still score triple headshots.

* ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter2'': The Bridge level requires you to perform a double kill with the sniper rifle to save a pair of hostages.

* As of the 2.2.0 update in ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon 2}}'', the Bamboozlers can now do this, though it's easier said than done not only because of how [[CrosshairAware opponents can see your aiming laser]], but because the Bamboozlers have rather short range for sniping weapons and cannot perform a one-hit kill. That means to do so with a Bamboozler requires your opponents to be lined up in a specific way and already damaged enough that the next shot will finish them. It does make opponents think twice about [[BulletproofHumanShield using someone else as cover]] though, and this trait is pretty effective against enemies in Salmon Run mode, who [[ZombieGait shamble like zombies]] in [[ZergRush huge numbers]] and don't care if they're in the line of fire.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', crossbows can hold an enchantment called Piercing, which allows bolts shot from the item to pass through creatures that it hits, letting one arrow potentially do the work of up to five. Two [[AchievementSystem advancements]] [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this: "Two Birds, One Arrow", which calls for killing two [[GoddamnedBats phantoms]] with a single shot, and [[spoiler:"Arbalistic", which calls for killing five mobs with a single Piercing IV shot.]]

*** Most notably when Shun Kurosaki went up against the LDS Trio. Only that time his opponents actually had wiped clean his field ''and'' hand ''and'' 3990 of his Life Points. And Kurosaki won as soon as he got his second turn using only the card he drew to Summon his ace monster Raidraptor - Rise Falcon, whose effect brought it up to ''16,400 ATK!''

** In an early episode of ''Anime/YuGiOh'', during Joey's duel with Rex Raptor, when Rex summoned the Red-Eyes Black Dragon[[note]]This was before Joey acquired it[[/note]], the dragon somehow destroyed both Swamp Battle Guard and Lava Battle Guard with one Inferno Fire Blast.
-->'''Joey:''' How could he torch them both with just one shot?!\\
'''Rex:''' Those that defend together are destroyed together!
** An episode of ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' featured main character Yusei in a 4-way Battle Royale duel. The rules of said duel allowed for any player to attack any other, although nobody could attack until a full round has passed. Yusei used his turn to set up a play. His opponents used their turns to hit him with [[LoopholeAbuse burn damage]], each turn stacking up with the previous turn (given they were all playing for the same side, this was intentional). Yusei then beats each one of them on his very next turn. He took 3 players from 4000 life points to zero (12000 total) in the space of a single turn. Marco dubs it "[[GratuitousEnglish One-Turn Three Kill]]".
** Jun Manjoume did this in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' in his 4 against 1 duel against the top 4 duelists of North Academy, who have him pincered at one point with 2 each of Marauding Captain, a monster that prevents a player from attacking another monster, in effect creating an attack lock due to the presence of multiples, and a spell card boosting the attack of each monster based on the total number of Warriors present. That's 8 monsters with 2800 each, before Manjyoume has even had his opening move! In short order, Manjoume summons Gyaku-Gire Panda, a monster that gains 500 for each monster on the opponent's side, up to 4800, and from there, performs a OTK combo via Ring of Destruction and Ring of Defense, the latter shielding his own life points from the effect. Manjoume wins in an impressive flourish without losing a single life point.
** The same thing happened a couple times in ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV''. Most notably when Shun Kurosaki went up against the LDS Trio. Only that time his opponents actually had wiped clean his field ''and'' hand ''and'' 3990 of his Life Points. ''And he won as soon as he got his second turn using only the card he drew to Summon his ace monster, whose effect brought it up to ''16,400 ATK!''
*** Yuri also does in episode 106, only against five people this time. During his second turn, he summons his ace monster, boosts its ATK up to 13,000 ATK and defeats all five opponents, while Yuri himself has taken no damage by the opponent and only lost Life Points by paying a cost of 800 Life Points once.

** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', Yondu's fancy arrow manages to pierce through about two-dozen of Ronan's mooks in one move. It helps that it flies autonomously and can turn on a dime, of course.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'':

* In ''Videogame/Crysis2'' you get an achievement for killing two enemies with one bullet.

** In ''VideoGame/{{Diablo III}}'', the Demon Hunter has several abilities that work like this. The Elemental Arrow, regardless of rune, is basically AreaOfEffect damage in a line, and some runes make that line narrow enough to resemble this. Some other shots can be modified by runes to hit multiple enemies in a straight line. However, it's unlikely to be a ''one'' hit polykill unless your character greatly outlevels the content or your targets are a very weak type of enemy. And if you kill enough enemies in one shot, you get a Mighty Blow and some extra XP, along with a badass send-off line by your character.

* In Creator/ArmorGames' ''VideoGame/TheLastStand'' [[WebGames Web Game]] series, bullets from several weapons can go through (and kill) more than one zombie at a time.

* The SniperRifle-type weapons in the ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank'' series are generally capable of this when [[EvolvingWeapon upgraded]].

* ''Videogame/{{Splitgate}}'' joins the ranks of games packing a portable Railgun that can and will instantly kill anything in a line once fired. There's even an achievement for the first time you kill at least two with one shot.

* In ''FanFic/TheGuyWhoCriedGrendel'', two of Grendel's feats involved this:

** In ''VideoGame/{{Diablo III}}'', the Demon Hunter has several abilities that work like this. The Elemental Arrow, regardless of rune, is basically AreaOfEffect damage in a line, and some runes make that line narrow enough to resemble this. Some other shots can be modified by runes to hit multiple enemies in a straight line. However, it's unlikely to be a ''one'' hit polykill unless your character greatly outlevels the content or your targets are a very weak type of enemy.
*** If you kill enough enemies in one shot, you get a Mighty Blow and some extra XP, along with a badass send-off line by your character.

* Like in Call of Duty, ''VideoGame/DirtyBomb'' only permits sniper rifle shots to overpenetrate enemies.
* Shotgun in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' could punch through whole columns of weak or damaged enemies in a single shot, since any dying enemy immediately became a non-entity to the physics engine, transparent to all of shotgun's multiple pellets.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Varric describes himself doing this in one of his UnreliableNarrator moments. Any rogue (besides Isabela, who cannot equip bows) can also do this in-game with the upgraded Archer's Lance talent, which travels through enemies and one-shots all "weaker opponents" it comes in contact with.

** Also in the first game, [[CastFromHitpoints the majority of blood magic seems based around crowd control.]] One of the most dangerous spells is one that does an [[OneHitKill ungodly large]] amount of damage, and ''spreads'' to other targets. Casting said spell on a crowd of {{Mook}}s usually results in a lot of dead mooks, and severely injured [[EliteMook Elite Mooks.]]

** In an early episode of ''Anime/YuGiOhDuelMonsters'', during Joey's duel with Rex Raptor, when Rex summoned the Red-Eyes Black Dragon[[note]]This was before Joey acquired it[[/note]], the dragon somehow destroyed both Swamp Battle Guard and Lava Battle Guard with one Inferno Fire Blast.

** Manjyoume did this in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' in his 4 against 1 duel against the top 4 duelists of North Academy, who have him pincered at one point with 2 each of Marauding Captain, a monster that prevents a player from attacking another monster, in effect creating an attack lock due to the presence of multiples, and a spell card boosting the attack of each monster based on the total number of Warriors present. That's 8 monsters with 2800 each, before Manjyoume has even had his opening move! In short order, Chazz summons Gyaku-Gire Panda, a monster that gains 500 for each monster on the opponent's side, up to 4800, and from there, performs a OTK combo via Ring of Destruction and Ring of Defense, the latter shielding his own life points from the effect. Manjyoume wins in an impressive flourish without losing a single life point.
** The same thing happened a couple times in ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV''. Most notably when Shun Kurosaki went up against the LDS Trio. Only that time his opponents actually had wiped clean his field ''and'' hand ''and'' 3990 of his Life Points. ''And he won as soon as he got his second turn using only the card he drew to Summon his ace monster, who's ability brought it up to ''16,400 ATK!''

** Grendel blows a hole through an Ork [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Warboss]], igniting the ammunition behind him, which proceeded to explode and kill an Unbound Daemonhost.