History Main / OutsideTheBoxTactic

** In the same vein, the android AMAZO mimics both the principal characters' superpowers and weaknesses. After he obtains Superman's strength, he also obtains his weakness to kryptonite. He [[SubvertedTrope quickly evolves past this weakness though]]. Then the trope is invoked a ''second'' time as the Martian Manhunter ''deliberately'' lets AMAZO copy his powers... which include telepathy, which it uses to read Lex Luthor's mind and discover how he tricked it into fighting the League in the first place.

** In the same vein, the android AMAZO mimics both the principal characters' superpowers and weaknesses. After he obtains Superman's strength, he also obtains his weakness to kryptonite. He [[SubvertedTrope quickly evolves past this weakness though]].

*** In fact, nearly every boss in the game has a critical weakness or an unconventional strategy that can be used to beat it easily, which has been used to beat the game using extreme low-level runs.

* In an issue of [[JusticeLeaguOfAmerica JLA]], the League fight an Amazo who has the powers of the whole League...on a conceptual level. Every time they bring in more reinforcements, Amazo gets more powerful. The Atom works out how to beat him; he tells {{Superman}} to officially disband the League. Amazo loses all his powers and shuts down.

* In ''Moria'' and some versions of ''VideoGame/{{Angband}}'', the spell "Turn Stone to Mud", normally used for digging new passages, can also be used to devastating effect against stone-based monsters such as golems. Nethack, a distant cousin, lacks a similar direct equivalent of the Dungeons & Dragons ''stone to earth'' spell, it ''does'' have "stone to flesh", which makes stone golems much easier to kill -- and also, when used on rocks or boulders, produces prodigious amounts of perfectly edible meat, which non-vegetarian characters can use to stave off starvation. (Vegetarian and vegan characters too, but only at the cost of angering their gods, which has all sorts of undesirable effects -- that said, the gods can ''usually'' be mollified, while death is almost never survivable.)

* [=AT-AT's=] in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' series have thick armor impervious to the blasters on rebel fighters. However, due to their being very top-heavy, a simple harpoon and tow cable can bring them down with ease. They're also much less heavily armored, and therefore more vulnerable, in the ventral aspect, though a competent commander will deploy them in such fashion as to obviate any potential risk thus caused, usually by having them flatten everything which might shoot up from below during the long advance to contact. (Shot-down stray Jedi, of course, notwithstanding -- but it'd take a whole lot of them, even at a rate of one Jedi and one thermal detonator per AT-AT, to make a real difference in any kind of serious battle.)

* [=AT-AT's=] in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' series have thick armor impervious to the blasters on rebel fighters. However, due to their being very top-heavy, a simple harpoon and tow cable can bring them down with ease.

* In ''Moria'' and some versions of ''VideoGame/{{Angband}}'', the spell "Turn Stone to Mud", normally used for digging new passages, can also be used to devastating effect against stone-based monsters such as golems.

* In the ending chapter of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]'', the [[ImplacableMan Black Knight]] can be easily beaten by forgoing use of the InfinityPlusOneSword in favor of using a common [[DropTheHammer Hammer]].

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', there is the spell "Invisible". It temporarily causes all physical attacks to miss, but guarantees the next magical attack to hit. [[spoiler:Use it on an enemy, the cast [[OneHitKO Death]]. Works every time. [[GameBreaker Even on the]] FinalBoss.]]

* The [[FinalBoss Final Bosses]] in the {{Mother}} series can't be defeated by typical RPG methods.
** MOTHER: You defeat [[spoiler: Giegue by singing the lullaby his adoptive mother sang to him as a baby]].
** MOTHER 2 / Earthbound: Giygas is defeated by [[spoiler: using Paula's almost useless "Pray" command to make everybody you've helped in the game stop and hope that you're safe.]]
** MOTHER 3: [[spoiler: The Masked Man remembers that he used to be Claus when his dead mother's ghost begs him and Lucas to stop fighting. He sends a lightning attack at Lucas. [[DrivenToSuicide Lucas has an item that reflects lightning.]]]]

* Several enemies in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime 3'' can be killed in a single strike of the Nova Blaster augmented by the X-Ray Goggles, due to the limitations of their Phazite armor.

* ''VideoGame/MegaMan2:''

* In ''Moria'' and some versions of ''VideoGame/{{Angband}}'', the spell "Turn Stone to Mud", normally used for digging new passages, can also be used to devastating effect against stone-based monsters such as golems.
* It's a running gag that the final boss, Dhaos, of ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'' is susceptible to the ''Indignation'' spell. In cameo appearances in later games, he dies to one use of the spell.
* Gespent, a sub-boss in ''VideoGame/WildArms3'', can be killed with a single use of the ''Requiem'' spell.
* Get the hit just right, and it's possible to OneHitKill the final form of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening's'' final boss with the boomerang.
* Several enemies in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime 3'' can be killed in a single strike of the Nova Blaster augmented by the X-Ray Goggles, due to the limitations of their Phazite armor.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games, Holy Water is supposed to be used to help avoid RandomEncounters. It can also sometimes be used in battle, but its only effect is to deal a pathetic amount of damage. However, it works just as effectively against [[MetalSlime Metal Slimes]] as any other enemy, and their low HP makes using Holy Water against them a good strategy.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', casting ''Remove Blindness/Deafness'' on an Eye of Gruumsh (a one-eyed, mad orc fighter) restores its other eye and negates its magical abilities as well.
** Encounted a badass villain wearing [[ElementalCrafting dragon scale armor?]] Cast Resurrection ([[ContinuingIsPainful True or otherwise]]) on the armor, and let him [[OutsideContextVillain deal with the angry dragon]] while you slip past.

* In the ending chapter of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]'', the [[ImplacableMan Black Knight]] can be easily beaten by forgoing use of the InfinityPlusOneSword in favor of using a common [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer Hammer]].

* In the ending chapter of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]'', the Black Knight can be easily beaten by forgoing use of the InfinityPlusOneSword in favor of using a common Hammer.

* In ''[[RogueLike Moria]]'' and some versions of ''{{Angband}}'', the spell "Turn Stone to Mud", normally used for digging new passages, can also be used to devastating effect against stone-based monsters such as golems.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' episode "Hawk and Dove", the Annihilator defeats much of the League by feeding off aggression and hostility. When [[ActualPacifist Dove]] faces the machine and neither attacks it nor fights back in self defense, the machine shuts down.

* Mecha Joe walkers in ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'' are very vulnerable to air shooter and several HumongousMecha are vulnerable to boomerangs.

** The ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series continues the trend of its predecessor series. While many bosses have {{Logical Weakness}}es, the Launch Octopus and Flame Mammoth both have one of these - the boomerang attack can cut off Octopus' tentacles and prevent him from using his homing and tornado attacks, as well as being able to cut off Mammoth's trunk so he can't throw around globs of oil he can set on fire and turn them into pillars of fire. You can also [[CycleOfHurting stunlock]] Spark Mandrill and Sting Chameleon.

* [=ATAT's=] in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' series have thick armor impervious to the blasters on rebel fighters. However, due to their being very top-heavy, a simple harpoon and tow cable can bring them down with ease.