History Main / SplashDamage

* High-Explosive shells in ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'' do splash damage, though most tanks use ammunition with a very short radius of effect and relatively low damage. [=SPGs=] (Self-Propelled Guns aka artillery), however, can do significant damage with a near miss and even knock out crew members or damage tank modules. Being splashed by an [=SPG=] will also cause a stun effect to the tank's crew, reducing their effectiveness for a few seconds. Some regular tanks and tank destroyers also have large-caliber guns with powerful HE shells, which can have similarly large splash damage radius (such guns are popularly known as "Derp Guns" by players), but the stun effect is exclusive to artillery.

* ''VideoGame/{{Age Of Empires|I}}'' has catapults and juggernauts, while [[VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII the sequel]] introduces mangonels, onagers, bombard cannons and cannon galleons. However, said SplashDamage is very dangerous as it can damage your own soldiers en masse.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'': All of [[HandicappedBadass Ibaraki-dōji]]'s skills are this. That, and coupled with the fact that he's abnormally strong compared to other attainable ''shikigami'', he can easily become a GameBreaker for players fortunate enough to summon him.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' features various units in both one and two, not including the powerful AOE spells.
** Terran: [[TankGoodness Siege Tanks]] (only when in siege mode), [[KillItWithFire Firebats]], [[SquishyWizard Raven's]] [[AttackDrone Hunter Seeker Missile]], and [[NukeEm nukes]].
** [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas Protoss]]: [[EnergyBeing Archons]], Reavers, and Corsairs.
** [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Zerg]]: Ultralisks and Lurkers.
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' has units and heroes that can do splash damage. The Orb of Fire also grants any hero using it splash damage.
** Humans: Mountain King, Mortar Team, Gryphon Rider
** Orcs: Tauren Chieftain, Tauren, Catapult/Demolisher
** Undead: [[KillItWithIce Lich]], Meat Wagon, Frost Wyrm, Destroyer
** Night Elf: Warden, Chimera Ballista/Glaive Thrower

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': the fire specialization Mage has the aptly named Living Bomb ability, which spreads fire from one enemy to more enemies upon exploding. The fire damage on the secondary enemies is less than the damage to the initial enemy: but the fire debuff lingers on them for a while. Other fire spells for the mage also have splash damage. Shadow specialization Priests also have splash damage on many of their spells, and one baseline Priest spell called Penance also does splash damage OR healing ([=WoW=] is strictly FriendlyFireProof, but it has a small number of spells that either do damage or heal depending on the target).

* ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'': Grenades deal splash damage, which makes them one of the only weapons that can easily hit more than one target. Their main use, however, is taking out sandbags so you can get [[BoomHeadShot headshots on the exposed troops]].
* TowerDefense Games: this is one of the common anti-swarming-{{mook}} towers.
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'': alongside the various [[StuffBlowingUp explosives]] there are some attacks that have hitboxes that extend farther than what you'd expect, and are capable of hitting multiple opponents. [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} King Dedede's]] and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Yoshi's]] ground-pound moves, for example, deal damage to people standing close enough to the point of impact, not just the ones that you land directly on top of.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'': A handful of moves were introduced that, in double and triple battles, deal normal damage to their target, as well as a smaller amount of damage to opponents next to the target.

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'': The rocket launcher has this effect when the projectiles explode. Interestingly, splash damage in the ''Doom'' engine is an infinitely-tall cube rather than a sphere.
* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' series: rocket launcher, flak cannon, bio-rifle, [[SphereOfDestruction shock combo]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal Tournament 2004}}'': the Paladin's weapon normally fires an explosive shell but if fired while the Paladin's shield is up, the tank will release a fairly powerful shockwave that deals damage to and knocks back anyone nearby.
* The ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series has everything from small grenade launchers like the Concussion Rifle and Brute Shot, to the master of all splash damage, ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}''[='s=] version of the Incineration Cannon, which has a blast radius that's larger than the effective range of the game's [[ShortRangeShotgun shotgun]]. Many vehicles also pack powerful explosive weapons with wide splash damage too, making splash damage a very prominent component of the series's gameplay.
* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' has the Melon-pult.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'', to defeat Dr. Wily you have to use Drill Bombs. However, the bombs themselves bounce off his ship. To win you must detonate the bomb before it hits so that the Splash Damage of the [[SplashDamageAbuse explosion hits his weak spot]].
* ''VideoGame/WingCommander'':
** ''Wing Commander II'' and ''Wing Commander IV'' have the Mace, a tactical nuclear missile that can be used to take out groups of sufficiently close targets, detonated either by shooting the missile ([=WC2=]) or on command ([=WC4=]).
** ''Wing Commander IV'' also has the Starburst and Coneburst missiles, which effectively act like player-controlled grenades. As the names suggest, the Starburst's shrapnel field is omnidirectional, while the Coneburst's damage is aimed forward in a conical pattern. Unlike with the Mace, though, the damage is constant within the damage area.
* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the Soldier's Black Box and standard rocket launcher both deal impressive splash damage - the Direct Hit, however, is geared so as to eliminate it almost completely (except in relation to the Soldier himself for the purposes of [[RocketJump Rocket Jumping]]). Splash damage is also the Demoman's bread and butter depending on his setup; stickies from the standard sticky launcher or Scottish Resistance and grenades from the grenade launcher or Loch'n'Load have impressive blast radii.
* ''VideoGame/WaterWarfare''[='s=] buckets and water bombs--along with its bazookas and launchers--provide a [[WaterGunsAndBalloons very literal example.]]
* Explosive weapons in ''VideoGame/{{XCOM}}'' games work this way, though damage from the most powerful bombs just cut off at a certain (quite large) distance rather than continuing to fade. Aside from hitting friendly units, a misplaced grenade may also destroy valuable loot or stunned prisoners or trigger ExplodingBarrels.
* A necessity in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' where, short of the most powerful ground vehicle in the game, you are your most reliable source of splash damage once the game starts throwing AT YOU waves of {{mooks}}, EliteMooks, as well as the [[BossInMookClothing beyond-elite mooks]] that will make you call out the SpitefulAI!
* ''VideoGame/{{Age Of Empires|I}}'' has catapults and juggernauts, while [[VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII the sequel]] introduces mangonels, onagers, bombard cannons and cannon galleons. However, said SplashDamage is very dangerous as it can damage your own soldiers en masse.
* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'' employs splash damage with its siege weapons, as well as bomber planes (especially [[NukeEm atomic bombers]]) and one [[HumongousMecha the Pandora, an anti-infantry cyber]]. The sequel gives splash damage to nukes, ships, artillery and light infantry (although light artillery only gets it once it evolves into cannon and infantry into grenadiers).
* The ''VideoGame/{{Tribes}}'' series, being a game where players are zipping across the map on {{Jet Pack}}s at 400kph, relies primarily on explosive weapons to deal damage. The famous Spinfusor - a weapon that shoots what are essentially [[AbnormalAmmo exploding blue frisbees]], is the staple bread-and-butter weapon that almost all players carry with them. Regular 'ol projectile-based guns are sidelined and used mostly just for killing flying players.
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' has the GrenadeLauncher do this. Direct impacts will heavily damage zombies and anyone else caught in the radius will be damaged as well. This is amplified with incendiary ammo where the splash damage will set anything on fire as long as they get hit.
** Explosive ammo makes your gun have splash damage capabilities. allowing you to shred common infected as long as the splash damage area hits them. Shotguns are extremely powerful with this ammo since a clustered group of zombies can be killed in a single shot. However, explosive ammo can harm you as well if you are too close and if you get too close to your explosive shots with a shotgun, you will stumble backwards.
* High-Explosive shells in ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'' do splash damage, though most tanks use ammunition with a very short radius of effect and relatively low damage. [=SPGs=] (Self-Propelled Guns aka artillery), however, can do significant damage with a near miss and even knock out crew members or damage tank modules. Being splashed by an [=SPG=] will also cause a stun effect to the tank's crew, reducing their effectiveness for a few seconds. Some regular tanks and tank destroyers also have large-caliber guns with powerful HE shells, which can have similarly large splash damage radius (such guns are popularly known as "Derp Guns" by players), but the stun effect is exclusive to artillery.

* If a ''VideoGame/{{jubeat}}'' cabinet is malfunctioning, hitting one panel may cause adjacent panels to set off as well. This is a [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools bad thing]] because this can result in nearby notes being hit too early, resulting in potential misses.
* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' does this with the basic fire rune, dealing fire damage to both the selected target and any adjacent targets on the same row.
* ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', using Etrian Odyssey IV's engine, uses this for Zen's Fire Spray skill and the enemy-exclusive Fire Dance.
* ''VideoGame/FreeCiv'' has [[NukeEm Nuclear (missile) units]]. It may be [[InfinityPlusOneSword very expensive and require much research on the]] {{Tech Tree}} but its attack destroys all units within a 3x3 radius. It is most often used to clear out cities containing large numbers of defending units but becomes even more legendary when they can nuke up to 4 cities with one blast, provided you detonate the nuke between the 4 cities and those cities are all located within a 3x3 area. To discourage [[NukeEm liberal use of nukes]], [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment nuclear winter will start if enough of the world has been hit by nukes]]. Its only weakness is that if your enemies have SDI defense buildings or [[CoolBoat AEGIS cruisers]] near your intended detonation sites, in which case your nuclear unit is shot down and disappears into thin air.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series has the standard splash damage on explosives/grenades, but in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', the effects of this splash damage are greatly magnified in a GoodBadBug interacting with its [[SubsystemDamage Limb Damage system]]: The game registers a separate attack for every limb hit by the explosion, so a shot that hits all six body parts will do 6x normal damage.
* ''VideoGame/ForTheKing'': Splash attacks do full damage to the target and half damage to adjacent enemies, in contrast to AreaOfEffect damage that affects everyone equally. Since a battle has at most three enemies standing side by side, they can damage all three by targeting the central one. "Splash" is usually a trait of specific attacks, but the Woodcutter's passive ability has a chance to apply it to any two-handed melee weapon attack.
* ''{{VideoGame/Sipho}}'': The starting weapon of the Vagorian breed, the Burstopod, launches a slow moving projectile that explode and causes splash damage after a short while.

** ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' alters the Rainmaker, the PurposelyOverpowered weapon featured in the eponymous Rainmaker mode, into one of these. Where it's ChargedAttack would previously unleash a large vertical column of ink, here it fires a single arcing shot that sticks to surfaces and explodes after a short delay. Anyone hit by the projectile or caught within the ensuing explosion will be [[OneHitKill splatted instantly]].
** ''Splatoon 2'' also introduced the Explosher, an unorthodox addition to the Slosher weapon class that shoots arcing, explosive projectiles that explode immediately on contact with a solid surface. Unlike Blaster shots, these projectiles will pass through enemies until they hit a surface, meaning it's possible to hit someone directly ''and'' deal additional splash damage.

* ''VideoGame/WaterWarfare''[='s=] buckets and water bombs--along with its bazookas and launchers--provide a [[WaterBalloonsAndSquirtGuns very literal example.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'': rocket launcher, same as ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''.
** Interestingly, splash damage in the doom engine is an infinitely-tall cube rather than a sphere.

** ''VideoGame/{{Unreal Tournament 2004}}'': the Paladin's weapon normally fires an explosive shell but if fired while the Paladin's shield is up, the tank will release a fairly powerful shockwave that deals damage to and knocks back anyone nearby.

* ''VideoGame/WingCommander II'' and ''Wing Commander IV'' have the Mace, a tactical nuclear missile that can be used to take out groups of sufficiently close targets, detonated either by shooting the missile ([=WC2=]) or on command ([=WC4=]).

** The Demoman actually has as MELEE WEAPON that deals splash damage (a [=WW2=] stick grenade he is using as a club), that can kill most of the classes in a single hit and does damage to himself.

This quality usually makes a unit very valuable in RTS games, where even [[DeathOfAThousandCuts very weak attacks]] can be highly effective in the right circumstances or in sufficient numbers, because a particular unit or tactic involves tightly bunching up a cluster of units, meaning that even a weak attack does that damage to ''every single unit in the cluster'', making it a rather powerful attack. Examples of such weapons usually have an ArbitraryMinimumRange, so that you don't hit yourself or your own men. A limiting factor of Splash Damage is the fact that the commonly explosive nature of this trope normally causes friendly fire if allies are within the area thus mandating strategic positioning and planning if one hopes to prevent loss or injuries of friendly units. As such it this trope is rarely combined with FriendlyFireproof, although it is usually a tremendous boon when the two do meet.

** ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', using Etrian Odyssey IV's engine, also uses this for Zen's Fire Spray skill and the enemy-exclusive Fire Dance.

Related tropes include: ClusterBomb, AreaOfEffect, SpreadShot, HitBoxDissonance, SplashDamageAbuse. Frequently an effect of the {{BFG}} and WaveMotionGun. Sometimes allows players to RocketJump. Often used for a HerdHittingAttack. Contrast ConvectionSchmonvection, one example where damage that should have a splash effect does not.

* ''VideoGame/FreeCiv'' has [[NukeEm Nuclear (missile) units]]. It may be [[InfinityPlusOneSword very expensive and require much research on the]] {{Tech Tree}} but its attack destroys all units within a 3x3 radius. It is most often used to clear out cities containing large numbers of defending units but becomes even more legendary when they can nuke up to 4 cities with one blast, provided you detonate the nuke between the 4 cities and those cities are all located within a 3x3 area. To discourage [[ILoveNuclearPower liberal use of nukes]], [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment nuclear winter will start if enough of the world has been hit by nukes]]. Its only weakness is that if your enemies have SDI defense buildings or [[CoolBoat AEGIS cruisers]] near your intended detonation sites, in which case your nuclear unit is shot down and disappears into thin air.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' features Blasters, a weapon class based heavily around the use of splash damage. These weapons fire explosive ink rounds that will briefly travel through the air before they explode like fireworks, dealing splash damage to anyone caught within their range. Rather unusually, hitting an enemy directly with one of these shots will actually cancel out the splash damage -- not that it matters much, as a direct hit from most Blasters deals enough damage for a OneHitKill.
** ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' alters the Rainmaker, the PurposelyOverpowered weapon featured in the eponymous Rainmaker mode, into one of these. Where it's ChargedAttack would previously unleash a large vertical column of ink, it now fires a single arcing shot that sticks to surfaces and explodes after a short delay. Anyone hit by the projectile or caught within the ensuing explosion will be [[OneHitKill splatted instantly]].
** ''Splatoon 2'' also introduced the Explosher, an unorthodox addition to the Slosher weapon class. It also shoots arcing, explosive projectiles that explode immediately on contact with a solid surface. Unlike Blaster shots, these projectiles will pass through enemies until they hit a surface, meaning it's possible to hit someone directly ''and'' deal additional splash damage.

** Interestingly, splash damage in the doom engine is an infinitely-tall cylinder rather than a sphere.