History Main / VillainForgotToLevelGrind

** In the case of the Borg, it's not so much that the villain ''forgot'' to level grind as that the villain is ''incapable'' of level-grinding the conventional manner. ''Voyager'' establishes that the Borg are completely incapable of invention or innovation. The only way they can grow is through assimilation...and most of the technology in the Delta Quadrant that was worth assimilating already had been. The rest was in the hands of those smart and/or powerful enough to avoid assimilation. Essentially, we have an entire villain faction that had already hit its level {{cap}}, while the heroes haven't and thus can keep on grinding. This is the main reason the Borg have trouble with Species 8472 (STO calls them the Undine), whose extremely aggressive immune system prohibits assimilation, which also applies to their extremely capable OrganicTechnology.

See Also: SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat. Compare StrongAsTheyNeedToBe for an aversion, when the heroes are artificially weakened below the villain. Also compare TheWorfEffect. Contrast VillainDecay, where a villain becomes less threatening for potentially less well-defined reasons, MonsterThreatExpiration, and VillainsLearnFaster. Might overlap with DegradedBoss, whether on purpose or not. Inversely Contrast SnowballingThreat for when the villain actually level grinds ''faster'' than the heroes.

* ''Manga/GushingOverMagicalGirls'' has HeroAntagonist example, and also {{downplayed|trope}}, with Tres Magia. By the end of the Enormeeta civil war, Baiser and Leopolt have both achieved or revealed massive power-ups and almost doubled their team roster. Tres Magia spent that time training off-screen to get Azul to put a handle on her fetishes, unlocking her La Verita form as an accidental bonus. When the bad girls turn their attention back to fighting the good girls, the balance of power is almost entirely in the villains' favor for several chapters, with Azul clutching a win only once before Baiser figures that the best way to counter an AggressiveSubmissive AttackReflector is to ignore her and run down her teammates. [[spoiler:The newfound helplessness eventually drives Magenta to insecurity and Sulfur to unlock her own La Verita form out of sheer anger against Baiser.]]

** To a lesser extent, Mala Mala Jong. In his first appearance, he takes out all the experienced monks at the temple and is considered a real threat, possibly the end of the world. [[NearVillainVictory He almost defeats the main characters,]] and only loses because Omi managed to retrieve the Golden Tiger Claws and steal his power source - The Heart of Jong. In his second appearance, he's split into The Fearsome Four via the Ring of the Nine Dragon. While he does defeat the warriors the first time, it's only because [[{{Flanderization}} Omi's cockiness was taken to an extreme]] ([[CompressedVice for a single episode, in fact]]), [[WorfHadTheFlu and the other warriors weren't aware of how their strength could be used to their advantage]]. In the next fight, the warriors easily take down the Fearsome Four, barely even using their wagered Shen Gong Wu, and not even going after the Heart of Jong or the Ring of the Nine Dragons. When they fought him as a single entity, the warriors hadn't really mastered their elemental powers at all. Now, thanks to this and learning how to use them, four Mala Mala Jongs are no match for them.

*** During Zuko's first encounter with Zhao, Zhao lost mainly due to bad luck, his overconfidence, and because Zuko immediately pressed his advantage to the fullest the moment it presented itself. In their final confrontation Zuko defeats Zhao by utilizing the skills & techniques acquired while training under his uncle's tutelage -- and he managed to win with greater ease than in their first encounter despite being exhausted and wounded before the fight.
*** When Azula was first introduced to the series, she represented an existential threat to the entire Gaang -- Zuko couldn't even ''touch her'', and Aang was at an obvious disadvantage every time they fought each other. In "The Chase", backing Azula into a corner required the efforts of Aang, Katara, Toph, and just a bit of EnemyMine with Zuko and Iroh helping them. By the end of the second season, although she was still the most dangerous adversary who had shown up to that point, Aang and Katara had a significant advantage against her by working together, and Katara was getting the better of Azula one-on-one before their fight was interrupted. In the third season Zuko fought her evenly on several occasions and by the time of the series finale, Zuko is on the edge of defeating her in a duel and Katara eventually does defeat Azula on her own. Granted, the SanitySlippage Azula had undergone just prior to the finale [[WorfHadTheFlu was working against her]] in those last two fights.

** The Pacifistas. Nigh-indestructible cyborgs that shoot lasers. The Straw Hats were lucky to take down one of them. Cue the [[spoiler: Timeskip. Luffy one-shots one, and Zoro & Sanji double-team another, though one hit from either of them would have been enough. However, Sentomaru does mention that he shouldn't have brought outdated Pacifista models from two years ago, hinting at the fact that the current Pacifistas are actually stronger -- cue the Egghead arc, where Pacifistas Mk. III appear, which specs and weapons not present in the first models--. Predating those however, after the Warlord system is abolished and the Marines go to capture Boa Hancock (and Blackbeard eventually butts in for her fruit), the secret project Vegapunk was working on is finally unveiled: the Seraphims, Pacifistas modeled after the Warlords AND Lunarians, able to hold down both the Blackbeard Pirates and the Kuja, effectively rendering those first models even more SoLastSeason.]]

** Downplayed with Rob Lucci. During their battle during the Enies Lobby Arc, Luffy had to go out and pushed himself to his physical limit to just barely endure Lucci's onslaught and defeat him. During their reencounter during the Egghead Arc, Lucci tells Luffy he's not the only one who's gotten stronger since then, and he's awakened his Devil Fruit powers. However, as the fight begins, it becomes quickly clear that Luffy is still a league above in terms of improvement, treating the duel like a joke, literally ''falling asleep'' easily dodging Lucci's hits, and knocking the wind out of Lucci in just one punch. He at least manages to clash evenly with Zoro twice.

* In ''Manga/FrierenBeyondJourneysEnd'', eighty years ago the demon Qual was so powerful he could only be [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away]] rather than killed due to his creation of Zoltraak, a spell capable of piercing through all magical defenses. When Frieren returns as his seal is about to give out she deliberately lets it so she can use him as a training exercise for her apprentice. Qual is largely a victim of his own success, as Zoltraak was so effective it was thoroughly analyzed and adopted as the standard offensive spell, while more mana-intensive shields able to block it likewise because the default defense, and being sealed away while his invention revolutionized battle magic left him hopeless outdated.

* Larson in ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' isn't particularly difficult and neither are the other enemies you've encountered to that point (excluding the T-Rex). As Lara progresses in her adventure, enemies become stronger and have more health. Larson shows up again near the last quarter of the game, but his health and damage output hasn't changed one iota and Lara has stronger guns at this point, thus Larson goes down ''really'' quickly.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' this is averted hard with Trueman, the StarterVillain of the fourth season. Being made up of tainted cards who grows stronger with each defeated victim via taking their cards and strategies, when Jaden first duels him he's using a pretty mismatched deck that can pull off a semi-decent beatdown strategy, but nothing that Jaden really struggles with. As he returns with more cards he's able to pull off more effective strategies, culminating in the third duel against Jaden where he manages to summon 'two' Five-headed Dragons, considered to be among the strongest cards in the game, at once while disabling much of Jaden's own strategies. He further evolves to defeat and wipe out practically the entire cast of 'GX' other than Jaden, Banner and Pharaoh, Jessie, and Atticus, if not the entire human race, by himself via his MesACrowd abilities before being banished for good by Jaden defeating his creator.

** When [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Korra]] and Kuvira first duel in SequelSeries, Korra has been out of commission for three years after being mercury poisoned and nearly crippled at the end of the previous season. She’s just not her normal self physically or mentally and Kuvira handily beats her until Korra goes into [[SuperMode the Avatar State]]. However, by their final showdown, Korra is back on her feet and Kuvira underestimates what she can do when she’s healthy. The two fight on relatively even terms for awhile in the control room of colossus, but Korra has the edge in the fight before it's interrupted by the explosion that destroys the colossus.

* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'': A problem in the DirectorsCut UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube version: The boss villains from the original game don't level with the players. The optional bosses do level, though.

** Downplayed with Rob Lucci. During their battle during the Enies Lobby Arc, Luffy had to go out and pushed himself to his physical limit to just barely endure Lucci's onslaught and defeat him. During their reencounter during the Egghead Arc, Lucci tells Luffy he's not the only one who's gotten stronger since then, and he's awakened his Devil Fruit powers. However, as the fight begins, it becomes quickly clear that Luffy is still a league above in terms of improvement, treating the duel like a joke, literally ''falling asleep'' easily dodging Lucci's hits, and knocking the wind out of Lucci in just one punch.
** Like his peer Lucci, Kaku gave Zoro one hell of a fight, and while he ultimately lost, it was a close one. During his rematch with Zoro, Kaku casually used a [[RazorWind Rankyaku]] attack in human form that had previously been his ultimate attack, had required him to be in giraffe form, and required extensive prep time, but Zoro barely even noticed and blocked it with zero effort, and was more irritated at being woken up than anything. Even after going into his Awakened form, Kaku still couldn't scratch Zoro or make him treat him with anything other than flippant disregard, though [[spoiler:Stussy knocked him out before he could do anything else, though it's still unlikely that he could have done anything to make Zoro even take the fight seriously, let alone turn it around]].

* Happens with Jack Spicer in ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown''. In the first season, he's a credible threat, but as the monks gain new powers Jack continues using the same tactics and resources he used in season one.

* ''Film/TheMatrix'': This is a problem for the superhuman Agents after Neo becomes [[PhysicalGod The One]]. Even the upgraded Agents specifically created to fight The One aren't even able to land a hit on him and are quickly dispatched with minimal effort on Neo's part. Agent Smith also has this to a certain extent; by himself, he is no stronger than he was as a normal Agent and is thus far outclassed by Neo. Unfortunately for Neo, Smith now has [[ZergRush hundreds of identical copies]] created by [[GrandTheftMe copying over programs and people in the Matrix]]. Even though Neo tosses them around like ragdolls, the Smith army has collectively greater stamina and Neo is forced to run. Then he wises up and copies over [[spoiler: the Oracle]], granting him power equal to (or even greater than) Neo in a single body. [[spoiler: He didn't think [[MyDeathIsOnlyTheBeginning the finishing blow]] through, though.]]

** Averted by [[spoiler:Sordward and Shielbert]] in ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield''. You encounter them first at the beginning of the post-game storyline, where they battle you and your rival for possession of the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield. You fight them again shortly afterward at the Pokémon Lab, this time with higher level teams. When you fight them again even later, they've leveled up ''again''.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'': Aeolus and Siarnaq intercept Biomatch Model A at the Tower of Verdure with the intent to claim Model W; even though both of them are together, Aeolus decides to let you off the hook, confident that he can "end you at any time". How wrong he is when you fight him proper. The last time you see them before the FinalBoss, however, all four Guardian Biomatches show up in the same room with singular intent to shut you down. It would have gotten messy had Biomatch Model X not shown up to provide a diversion for you.

** When first introduced, the Scythes were KnightsOfCerebus, being the much, much stronger EvilCounterpart[=s=] to the Lances, themselves the strongest mages on Dicathen. Given how the Lances save for Arthur were struggling to beat the much weaker Retainers, it goes without saying that fighting the Scythes is a death sentence. At the end of the war, Arthur is forced to go up against two Scythes at once - Cadell - the strongest among the Scythes and a prolific HeroKiller who killed his ParentalSubstitute, the dragon Sylvia - and Nico - his EvilFormerFriend from his past life and the true identity of Elijah Knight - and barely survived thanks to Sylvie's HeroicSacrifice.
** However, once Arthur CameBackStrong thanks to his endeavors in the Relictombs as an aether-wielding demigod, he was able to turn the tables on the Scythes as they had not become more powerful themselves. In the Victoriad, Arthur effortlessly knocks out Nico in a SingleStrokeBattle followed by him slaying Cadell. In the aftermath, Agrona attempts to alleviate the power disparity by creating more powerful regalias for them to use starting with Nico, but at this point Nico turns out to be a BastardUnderstudy who has turned against Agrona, meaning only he out of the remaining Scythes {{Averted}} this trope. Not only that, when Arthur returns to Alacrya he is still able to subdue Nico and the other Scythes.
** The Scythes were intended to act as Agrona's generals for his invasion of Dicathen as due to the treaty that defines the DivineConflict no Asuras are allowed to directly participate. As the Scythes are only Vritra-blooded Alacryans and not true Asuras they are allowed to participate. For the actual war with Epheotus, Agrona has the Wraiths, dedicated Asura-killers considered by the Alacryans as semi-mythical bogeymen, and the Legacy, a reincarnated PersonOfMassDestruction whose mastery over mana allows her to drain the mana from Asuras which is fatal to them. Agrona intends for the Legacy to be an {{Aversion}} as he wants her to go up against Arthur to not only become stronger herself, but also to reveal the true nature of power in the world.