History Main / SituationalDamageAttack

** In ''[=MechWarrior=] Living Legends'', Heavy Gauss Rifles deal more damage at close range, and flamers generate [[OverHeating more heat]] in hot environments. Improved Heavy Gauss removes the damage degradation at the cost of spare ammo capacity. ** In ''Online'', this is the LBX, Machine Guns, and Flamers hats. Flamer and Machine Gun hits do very weak damage on enemy mechs that still have armor. Hits on exposed Internal Structure however, give them a damage boost. Additionally, for both of those, and the LBX, they have a higher base Critical Hit Chance % than other weapons, which while by it self doesn't mean the enemy takes more damage, but it does mean their vital weapons, heatsinks, or worse, unused slots of ammo, are more likely to be hit, putting them out of commission/exploding.

** The games feature the LBX autocannon, for which damage increases at closer range; either through damage degradation or through shotgun spread. ''Mechwarrior 4'' also has the Bombast Laser, a ChargedAttack weapon. In ''[=MechWarrior=] Living Legends'', (standard) Heavy Gauss Rifles deal more damage at close range, and flamers generate [[OverHeating more heat]] in hot environments.
** In ''Online'', this is the LBX, Machine Guns, and Flamers hats. Flamer and Machine Gun hits do very weak damage on enemy mechs that still have armor. Hits on exposed Internal Structure however, give them a damage boost. Additionally, for both of those, and the LBX, they have a higher base Critical Hit Chance % than other weapons, which while by it self doesn't mean the enemy takes more damage, but it does mean their vital weapons, heatsinks, or worse, unused slots of ammo, are more likely to be hit, putting them out of commission/exploding.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi 3'', while most attacks are either fixed or charged, the damage of Babidi's [[LimitBreak Ultimate Blast]] depends on [[LiquidAssets the amount of successful grabs beforehand]], and Devilman's depends on the CharacterAlignment of the opponent -- if they're more evil, they take more damage.

* Some games have a "damage scaling" mechanic that is an inversion of this: The more hits there are in a combo, the less damage the individual hits do.

* Some games have a "damage scaling" mechanic that is an inversion of this: The more hits there are are in a combo, the less damage the individual hits do.

This trope is about attacks whose damage changes according to non-random variables that don't apply to "normal" attacks within the same system. Common variables that may affect a Situational Damage Attack are [[NoRangeLikePointBlankRange range]], [[DesperationAttack the attacker's health]], [[ChargedAttack time spent charging up]], [[WouldntHitAGirl the gender of the target]], [[HomefieldAdvantage the type of terrain the attacker is on]], or even truly esoteric things like how many steps the party has taken or the last digit of their gold total.

* ''{{Awesomenauts}}'': One of Leon's upgrades makes his sword deal extra damage when striking foes from behind.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' games have many attacks that fall to this, such as Acrobatics (damage increases if the user is NOT holding an item) or Revenge (user attacks last), Flail and Reversal (deals more damage if the user's health is low).

* The various Jacks in ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' have a move called Gigaton Punch, where the Jack ''du jour'' will begin winding up his arm as the announcer starts counting, similar to the aforementioned Balrog. It's fairly weak if used immediately, but once fully charged (the announcer will exclaim "5!"), the attack deals monstrous damage ''and'' becomes {{unblockable|Attack}}. Good luck actually ''hitting'' someone with it [[DeathOrGloryAttack by that point]], though.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' games have many attacks that fall to this, such as Knock Off (damage increases if the target is holding an item), Acrobatics (damage increases if the user is NOT holding an item) or Pursuit (damage increases if the target tries to switch out).

* The ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' games have many attacks that fall to this, such as Knock Off (damage increases if the target is holding an item), Acrobatics (damage increases if the user is NOT holding an item) or Pursuit (damage increases if the target tries to switch out). The Dark type is particularly prone to these attacks, with them amounting to about half of all Dark-type attacks.

** The games feature the LBX autocannon, for which damage increases at closer range. ''Mechwarrior 4'' also has the Bombast Laser, a ChargedAttack weapon. In ''[=MechWarrior=] Living Legends'', (standard) Heavy Gauss Rifles deal more damage at close range, and flamers generate [[OverHeating more heat]] in hot environments.

* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'': Robo-Ky has an "{{overheat|ing}}" system which is indicated by a gauge; every attacks will fill the gauge. He also has a normal move [[WeaponizedExhaust where he vents out all the heat]] and depletes the gauge; the closer to full the gauge is, the bigger damage the venting out deals.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Mechwarrior}}'' games feature the LBX autocannon, for which damage increases at closer range. ''Mechwarrior 4'' also has the Bombast Laser, a ChargedAttack weapon. In ''[=MechWarrior=] Living Legends'', (standard) Heavy Gauss Rifles deal more damage at close range, and flamers generate [[OverHeating more heat]] in hot environments.

!Non Video Game Examples

* Some games (fighting games in particular) have a "damage scaling" mechanic that is an inversion of this: The more hits there are are in a combo, the less damage the individual hits do.
* From ''Videogame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series:

** Most [[LimitBreak Hyper combos]] in general lets you strengthen some by ButtonMashing; the more it is mashed, the more hits and damage it does.
** [[TurnsRed X-Factor]] in the third game has shades of this; it can be triggered anytime, but depending on how much of your teammates you've lost, the effects and duration of the mode will be increased dramatically.

** MODOK's Hyper Psionic Blaster's damage depends on how much "levels of understanding" (via successful Analyze Cube attacks) he has stacked; it can do from minor damage to massive damage, even rivaling some Lv 3 hypers.
** Nova's Gravimetric Pulse and Gravimetric Blaster will deal more damage depending on [[CastFromHp the amount of the red health he has left.]]
** Akuma's Messatsu Gohado Agyo is a rapidfire spread of fireballs that deals more damage and hits the closer the enemy is to him.
* ''Videogame/GuiltyGear'': Robo Ky has an "overheat" system which is indicated by a gauge; every attacks will fill the gauge. He also has a normal move where he vents out all the heat and depletes the gauge; the closer to full the gauge is, the bigger damage the venting out deals.
* ''Videogame/StreetFighterEX'': Cracker Jack's Final Punch is a ChargedAttack using three punch/kick buttons; depending on how long you charged it, it can deal low to massive damage (more than half a life bar, even).
* ''Videogame/KingOfFighters XIII'': Akin to Jack above, Raiden has a move Super Drop Kick, also a ChargedAttack that gets stronger every 4 seconds you charge it.

** Lucario's Aura attack gets stronger the more damage he takes, [[http://www.awkwardzombie.com/index.php?page=0&comic=042808 as illustrated here.]]
** Marth and Roy's attacks do more damage depending on what part of their swords hit their target (the tip and the base respectively).

* In ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3]]'', while most attacks are either fixed or charged, the damage of Babidi's [[LimitBreak Ultimate Blast]] depends on [[LiquidAssets the amount of successful grabs beforehand]], and Devilman's depends on the CharacterAlignment of the opponent -- if they're more evil, they take more damage.

* All the way through the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' series, Johnny Cage can use his notorious [[GroinAttack Nut Punch]]. Until [[Videogame/MortalKombat9 MK9]], this attack had no effect on female fighters, [[JustifiedTrope for obvious reasons]].

* ''Videogame/{{Elsword}}'':

* ''Videogame/StarcraftII'': The Void Ray is a Protoss ship that does more damage the longer it keeps firing its ConvergingStreamWeapon, which stays even when switching targets.

* ''Videogame/ChronoTrigger''

* ''Videogame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series:

* ''VideoGame/{{Mechwarrior}}'' games feature LBX autocannon, for which damage increases at closer range. Certain games also have Bombast lasers, a ChargedAttack weapon.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX 8'': X's [[SmartBomb Giga Crush]] and [[SuperMode X-Drive]] special abilities from Icarus and Hermes Armor respectively. Both abilities come with a gauge that refills itself over time whenever X is active (being switched back stops the refilling). Both abilities' effects will vary depending on how much the gauge is filled; the former will cover varying range and do varying damage, while the latter will last with a varying amount of time.

* The ''VideoGames/{{Pokemon}}'' games have many attacks that fall to this, such as Knock Off (damage increases if the target is holding an item), Acrobatics (damage increases if the user is NOT holding an item) or Pursuit (damage increases if the target tries to switch out). The Dark type is particularly prone to these attacks, with them amounting to about half of all Dark-type attacks.

* ''Videogame/GuiltyGear''. Robo Ky has an "overheat" system which is indicated by a gauge; every attacks will fill the gauge. He also has a normal move where he vents out all the heat and depletes the gauge; the closer to full the gauge is, the bigger damage the venting out deals.

* ''SuperSmashBros'':

* ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena''. Junpei Iori has a mechanic called "Clean Hit" where if he hits his opponent with a specific part of his bat, he'll do more hitstun and damage than normal, allowing for combos that aren't otherwise possible.
* All the way through the ''Franchise/MORTALKOMBAT'' series, Johnny Cage can use his notorious [[GroinAttack Nut Punch]]. Until [[Videogame/MortalKombat9 MK9]], this attack had no effect on female fighters, [[JustifiedTrope for obvious reasons]].

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''. The Medic's Crusader's Crossbow does damage based on distance; the further the distance, the more damage done.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX 8''. X's [[SmartBomb Giga Crush]] and [[SuperMode X-Drive]] special abilities from Icarus and Hermes Armor respectively. Both abilities come with a gauge that refills itself over time whenever X is active (being switched back stops the refilling). Both abilities' effects will vary depending on how much the gauge is filled; the former will cover varying range and do varying damage, while the latter will last with a varying amount of time.

* ''Videogame/StarcraftII''. The Void Ray is a Protoss ship that does more damage the longer it keeps firing its ConvergingStreamWeapon, which stays even when switching targets.

* ''Videogame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series

* The Mana Burst spell in ''DragonQuest'' games deals the caster's remaining mana as damage, leaving them unable to cast most spells afterwards.
* The Grudge (sometimes called Karma) attack in ''FinalFantasy'' games deals damage to a character based on how many kills the character has made. So it'll likely kill the fighters and mages, while the healer will take very little damage (if any).

!!Examples

* Lucario's Aura attack in ''SuperSmashBros'' gets stronger the more damage he takes, [[http://www.awkwardzombie.com/index.php?page=0&comic=042808 as illustrated here.]]

* The Mana Burst spell in DragonQuest games deals the caster's remaining mana as damage, leaving them unable to cast most spells afterwards.
* The Grudge (sometimes called Karma) attack in FinalFantasy games deals damage to a character based on how many kills the character has made. So it'll likely kill the fighters and mages, while the healer will take very little damage (if any).

* Some games (fighting games in particular) has the "damage scaling" mechanic that is an inversion of this: The more you do hits, the less damage the individual hits do.

** Magneto's Magnetic Shockwave, Venom's Death Bite, Hulk's Hyper Gamma Wave and Thor's Mighty Thunder dealt more damage depending on far away from the wall the opponent was, and how close you are from said opponent.
** Captain Commando's Captain Sword would do more damage depending on how high and how close the opponent was.

* The signature spell of the title character of the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' series, Starlight Breaker, is powered by residual mana scattered in the environment during battles between powerful mages. It therefore becomes more powerful, the stronger the opponent Nanoha fights is and the longer she has fought them before casting it. Sadly, this is not an actual gameplay mechanic in ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable'' games.

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!Examples