History Main / WeakButskilled

* ''Manga/Toriko'' has Shuu, who uses a [[RazorSharpHand knife]] skill similar to the main character's. However, while Shuu's "Petty Knife" lacks the raw, destructive power of Toriko's, he more than makes up for it with ludicrous precision, capable of using it to slice an individual's blood vessels open in the blink of an eye.

* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': Undine Wells, the [[MakingASplash water-wielding]] member of [[FourElementEnsemble Team Alchemical]], doesn't have as much raw power as her teammates, and her own non-combative nature means her powers lack the "oomph" factor of some other girls. However, her precision and control of her element are apparently well above the standard of most other magical girls. Plus, when it comes to elements, Water is one that is much better used skillfully than powerfully, something that training with Heartful Punch helps her realize.

** Rukia Kuchiki of Squad 13. She’s lacking in strength, but when it comes to being a warrior, she’s a lot more level-headed than her usual demeanor would suggest. Her zanpakuto, Sode no Shirayuki, enables her to control ice through graceful, dance-like techniques. Additionally, like her elder brother Byakuya, Rukia is shown having high proficiency in Kido, and is shown using several varied spells to aid in her battle. [[spoiler:She's the ''only'' non-Captain character to kill an Espada, defeating Aaroniero, the 9th Espada, ''by herself.'']]
** [[spoiler: During the Fullbring Arc, Ichigo, in comparison to most of the Xcution members, becomes this. During his training with them to master Fullbring powers, he slowly starts regaining the use of spirit energy, making him much weaker than he was before. However, unlike the Xcution members, save Ginjo and Tsukishima, Ichigo has [[TaughtByExperience spent several months in actual battles for survival.]] As such, his fighting experience allows him to keep up with them despite having much weaker powers.]]

*** [[spoiler: During the Tournament of Power, thanks to the intensity of the battles, Goku ends up greatly weakened more than once, and thus, has to rely more on his fighting skills and experience to survive.]]

** In the original ''Manga/DragonBall'', there's a bit where Goku goes back in time and meets Master Roshi's old teacher, Mutaitou. By this point Goku is far stronger than the OldMaster, including having killed the monster that wiped out both the master and all of his dojo except Roshi and his EvilCounterpart [[TheRival rival]], Tsuru. However, when they spar, Goku's moves are so reckless and sloppy that Mutaitou manages to counter all his attacks with ease.
** This was also how his first meeting with Mr. Popo went.
** Compared to the Saiyans at the beginning of Z Goku was this. Since he was raised on Earth, which had weak fighters compared to the rest of the universe, Goku lacked real strength when Raditz came looking for him. However, Goku was able to sense energy, hide his power, and had great control of his ki, something that surprised Raditz when Goku bent his Kamehameha and powered up at various points.

** Rukia Kuchiki of Squad 13. She’s lacking in strength, but when it comes to being a warrior, she’s a lot more level-headed than her usual demeanor would suggest. Her zanpakuto, Sode no Shirayuki, enables her to control ice through graceful, dance-like techniques. Additionally, like her elder brother Byakuya, Rukia is shown having high proficiency in Kido, and is shown using several varied spells to aid in her battle. She's the ''only'' non-Captain character to kill an Espada, defearting Aaroniero, the 9th Espada, ''by herself.''

** Speaking of Uryu, he, as well as Orihime, fit this trope among Ichigo’s circle of close friends. Uryu is a Quincy, with the power to absorb and manipulate spirit energy. He’s capable of harnessing it several creative ways, including creating energy weapons, energy cages, and even ''puppeteering his own body’s limbs'' after Mayuri rendered them immobile in their battle. For Orihime, she controls the Shun Shun Rikka, a series of spirits with unique abilities, allowing her to do things such as heal injuries and create energy shields. [[spoiler: The Fullbring Arc reveals that she’s been improving in the versatility of her abilities, demonstrating powers she hadn’t had before. In the Blood War arc, she actually teams up with Ichigo to take on the Big Bad Yhwach.]]
** Szayelaporro Granz, Mayuri’s direct counterpart in the Espadas. Granz is the 8th Espada, meaning, in terms of spirit energy, he’s the second-weakest of the team, the only one beneath him being Aaroniero. However, being a counterpart to Mayuri, Szayelaporro is a MadScientist who has a whole arsenal of deadly devices and traps at his disposal. His unique abilities and tools include creating minions that he can ''eat'' to heal his own wounds, creating voodoo dolls to torture and break his enemies’ vitals, taking direct control of other living beings, and even a method of ‘’self-resurrection’’ via stealing an opponent’s life force. Even Mayuri, who became disgusted by the Espada’s claims of being perfect, admitted that he ''was'' impressed by his abilities.

** Rukia Kuchiki of Squad 13. She’s lacking in strength, but when it comes to being a warrior, she’s a lot more level-headed than her usual demeanor would suggest. Her zanpakuto, Sode no Shirayuki, enables her to control ice through graceful, dance-like techniques. Additionally, like her elder brother Byakuya, Rukia is shown having high proficiency in Kido, and is shown using several varied spells to aid in her battle.

** Szayelaporro Granz, Mayuri’s direct counterpart in the Espadas. Granz is the 8th Espada, meaning, in terms of spirit energy, he’s the second-weakest of the team, the only one beneath him being Aaroniero. However, being a counterpart to Mayuri, Szayelaporro is a MadScientist who has a whole arsenal of deadly devices and traps at his disposal. His unique abilities and tools include creating minions that he can ‘’eat’’ to heal his own wounds, creating voodoo dolls to torture and break his enemies’ vitals, taking direct control of other living beings, and even a method of ‘’self-resurrection’’ via stealing an opponent’s life force. Even Mayuri, who became disgusted by the Espada’s claims of being perfect, admitted that he ‘’was’’ impressed by his abilities.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Mayuri Kurotsuchi is not much of a physical fighter and even admits his zanpakuto works as a motion-sensor to compensate for his poor combat skills. What he ''is'' is a brilliant scientist with CrazyPrepared skills on Batman's level. When he does have to fight himself, he proves himself as dangerous as you'd expect from a Captain by countering the opponents' tricks beforehand, using a variety of nasty poisons, setting traps, and generally doing everything possible to win the fight before it even starts. Uryu only manages to defeat him with a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that left him worse off than Mayuri in the long run (Mayuri's self-experimentation meant that he was able to pull himself back together, while Uryu lost his Quincy powers).

* Having low trion causes low powered weapons and brittle shields in ''Manga/WorldTrigger''. Despite this, Kitora and Yoneya managed to bring their teams to A-rank. To make up for their low attack and defense, Kitora supplements her skillset with traping skill, while Yoneya opts for higher reach by mounting his BladeOnAStick. Series protagonist Osamu also has the problem. And being a rookie at the start of the series, he has to work on that "skilled" part, too.

* A villainous example would be [[FeatheredFiend Lord Shen]] from ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2''. In comparison to Tai Lung (his predecessor villain) and General Kai (his successor), Shen lacks the raw strength and resilience of Tai Lung and the mystical power of Kai, but his gifted intellect, arsenal of tools and weapons[[note]]especially his cannon[[/note]], incredible skill with martial arts, swordsmanship, [[KnifeNut throwing knives and daggers]], his ability to use his own body to disorient and blindside his foes and his [[CombatPragmatist general approach to combat]] make him a deadly opponent even ''Po'' struggles to keep up with.

*** [[spoiler: Towards the climax of the Tournament of Power, with the ranks being whittled down to the strongest fighters left, Androids 17 and 18 become this in comparison to most of the other participants. While they don't match up to them in raw power, as Androids, their [[PerpetualMotionMonster energy and stamina is actually limitless,]] so they can fight without ever becoming tired or fatigued.]]

* ''Franchise/Halo'':
** The Orbital Shock Drop Troopers, or "ODSTs". While they lack the physical upgrades or the PowerArmor that the Spartans possess, they're just as rigorously trained for combat and more than prove their worth. ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' has you, as a mere rookie in the ODSTs, playing as this trope to survive. Alone and stranded in the ruins of New Mombasa, the only weapons available at the start for you are a submachine gun, pistol, and frag grenades. Using these, along with whatever weapons, ammo, and medical supplies you manage to scavenge along the journey, you have to take on literally hundreds of Covenant troops, several of whom are comparable in strength to Spartans, and eventually reunite with the remaining ODSTs.

* ''VideoGame/Halo'':
** The Orbital Shock Drop Troopers, or ODSTs. While they lack the physical upgrades or the PowerArmor that the Spartans possess, they're just as rigorously trained for combat and more than prove their worth. ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' has you, as a mere rookie in the ODSTs, playing as this trope to survive. Alone and stranded in the ruins of New Mombasa, the only weapons available at the start for you are a submachine gun, pistol, and frag grenades. Using these, along with whatever weapons, ammo, and medical supplies you manage to scavenge along the journey, you have to take on literally hundreds of Covenant troops, several of whom are comparable in strength to Spartans, and eventually reunite with the remaining ODSTs.

* A villainous example would be [[FeatheredFiend Lord Shen]] from ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2''. In comparison to Tai Lung (his predecessor villain) and General Kai (his successor), Shen lacks the raw strength and resilience of Tai Lung and the mystical power of Kai, but his gifted intellect, arsenal of tools and weapons, incredible skill with martial arts, swordsmanship, [[KnifeNut throwing knives and daggers]], his ability to use his own body to disorient and blindside his foes and his [[CombatPragmatist general approach to combat]] make him a deadly opponent even ''Po'' struggles to keep up with.

* ''LightNovel/TheGeniusPrincesGuideToRaisingANationOutOfDebtHeyHowAboutTreason'': Wein convinces Earthworld's ambassador to have the empire's troops train Natra's troops. While the training makes Natra's troops able to match and surpass soldiers from other countries on an individual basis, they still have lower numbers and barely any military budget, forcing them to rely on clever tactics to win most battles.

** Usopp and Nami are the crew's LovableCoward and token girl respectively, and have little ability in physical combat. WordOfGod has even stated that Usopp will ''always'' be the weakest fighter of the crew. However, both are highly skilled in their specific fields of sharpshooting and navigation. Usopp, an amateur GadgeteerGenius, has also built various weapons for himself and a WeatherControlMachine for Nami with the specific intent of using their brains over their brawn to win battles. And he has proved that he's no pushover; when he goes all-out, he's capable of giving ''Luffy'' a run for his money while his entire body is injured and bandaged up. And as for Nami... well, ''the weather'' is her weapon.

* ''Fanfic/ChiaroscuroNaruto'':

*** [[spoiler: PlayedWith regarding Dyspo of Universe 11. While his strength is lacking, the threat he poses comes from his speed. Namely, he’s arguably ''the fastest fighter in the Multiverse.'' He’s able to threaten both Ultimate Gohan and Golden Frieza because he’s too fast to keep up with, with Gohan having to resort to TakingYouWithMe to defeat him. However, beyond his speed, when it comes to fighting '' skill'', Dyspo’s moves are noted as being simple, straightforward, and ultimately predictable. Goku and Frieza (at first), after getting used to his speed and reading his moves were able to counter him, and Hit nearly defeated Dyspo ''twice'', only failing to do so because of his teammate Rum’shii.]]

*** In the ''Moro'' Arc, we discover that this is the principle behind the Yardats' Spirit Control. Being a race weak in power, they have learned to become so skilled with their ''ki'' as to make up for it, basically becoming efficient with it. [[spoiler:Vegeta trains with them for a while and besides being able to make much more powerful energy blasts with a lower cost, making more powerful with the implications that Goku did the same. Additionally, he learned some techniques Goku ''hadn't'' learn, mainly Spirit Fission, which allowed Vegeta to restore the ki Moro stole.]] Other tricks include duplication, gigantification and even HealingHands.

*** [[spoiler: PlayedWith regarding Dyspo of Universe 11. While his strength is lacking, the threat he poses comes from his speed. Namely, he’s arguably ''the fastest fighter in the Multiverse.'' He’s able to threaten both Ultimate Gohan and Golden Frieza because he’s too fast to keep up with, with Gohan having to resort to TakingYouWithMe to defeat him. However, beyond his speed, when it comes to fighting ' 'skill'', Dyspo’s moves are noted as being simple, straightforward, and ultimately predictable. Goku and Frieza (at first), after getting used to his speed and reading his moves were able to counter him, and Hit nearly defeated Dyspo ''twice'', only failing to do so because of his teammate Rum’shii.]]

*** [[spoiler: PlayedWith regarding Dyspo of Universe 11. While his strength is lacking, the threat he poses comes from his speed. Namely, he’s arguably the fastest fighter in the Multiverse. However, beyond his speed, when it comes to fighting skill, Dyspo’s moves are noted as being simple, straightforward, and ultimately predictable. Goku and Frieza (at first), after getting used to his speed and reading his moves were able to counter him, and Hit nearly defeated Dyspo twice, only failing to do so because of his teammate Rum’shii.]]