History Main / SplashDamage

* High-Explosive shells in ''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.

* Explosive weapons in ''VideoGame/{{X-COM}}'' 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.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series has everything from small grenade launchers like the Concussion Rifle and Brute Shot, to the master of all splash damage, 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' gameplay.

* Explosive weapons in ''{{X-COM}}'' 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.

** Similarly, ''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]].

* ''SuperSmashBros'': along side 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 [[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/{{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 [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome 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 cruiser4s]] near your intended detonation sites, in which case your nuclear unit is shot down and disappears into thin air.
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* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series: Has everything from small grenade launchers like the Concussion Rifle and Brute Shot, to the master of all splash damage, 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' gameplay.
* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'': has the Melon-pult.
* ''VideoGame/MegaMan 4'': 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]].

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

* ''SuperSmashBros'': along side 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. [[{{Kirby}} King Dedede's]] and [[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.

* ''WarCraft'' has units and heroes that can do splash damage. The Orb of Fire also grants any hero using it splash damage.

In contrast, an AreaOfEffect weapon has constant damage/effects over its footprint.

** Terran: [[TankGoodness Siege Tanks]], [[KillItWithFire Firebats]], [[SquishyWizard Raven's]] [[AttackDrone Hunter Seeker Missile]], and [[NukeEm nukes]].

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' in all its editions, and ''{{Pathfinder}}'' (basically D&D 3.75), both feature "grenade-like weapons" or "splash weapons" depending on the edition. These weapons are usually a case of the [[UselessUsefulSpell useless useful weapon]], as their effects are often available by other means at lower cost and with more impressive effects. Direct hits did more damage. Pathfinder introduces the Alchemist class, which specializes in dealing devastating damage with these weapons. Some spells, such as various editions of Meteor Swarm, had a similar mechanic where a direct hit may disallow a saving throw or do more damage.

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.

* The ''{{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.

* ResidentEvil4 departs from previous games by including splash damage with all explosive-based weapons. The rocket launcher can now wipe out an entire horde of enemies rather than a single target.

* ''{{Unreal}}'' series: rocket launcher, flak cannon, bio-rifle, [[SphereOfDestruction shock combo]].
** ''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.

* ''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]].

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]

[[noreallife]]

* ''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.

* ''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.
** [[IncrediblyLamePun In Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, the attack Splash has the user splash to an adjacent square and if they hit someone, it does five damage to both the user and the victim. Splash averts this in the main series by doing no damage.]]

[[AC:Real Life]]
* When Battleships were used for their guns, even if they didn't score a direct hit, shells that alnded close to an enemy vessel usually took damage, especially if the shell struck underwater. For example, the Iowa Class Battleships shells could travel roughly up to 24 miles, and on impact, create a crater that could envelope a football field.

* High-Explosive shells in ''WorldOfTanks'' do splash damage, though most tanks use ammunition with a very short radius of effect and relatively low damage. [=SPGs=] (Self-Propelled Guns), however, can do significant damage with a near miss and even knock out crew members or damage tank modules.