'''Basic Trope''': A weapon or move in a video game instantly kills another character in one shot.
* '''Straight''': The PlayerCharacter has a fire spell that spews instant death.
* '''Exaggerated''':
** The same fire spell [[OneHitPolykill can continue through its original target]], hitting {{Mook}} after {{Mook}}. If it's cast by the enemy or boss instead, then it leads to a TotalPartyKill.
** The fireball causes CessationOfExistence. [[note]]Obviously, this only counts as an Exaggeration in a setting with an afterlife.[[/note]]
** OneHitPointWonder (''any'' enemy, and likely the player too, can be instantly killed in one hit, probably including the FinalBoss and {{Superboss}}, thus averting ContractualBossImmunity).
** The player is in a game with multiple lives, but there exists an attack that instantly sets that counter to zero.
* '''Downplayed''':
** The spell can do a NonlethalKO in a game where it's possible to pernamently kill.
** The spell doesn't actually kill in one shot, but it hits so hard that it might as well be a one-shot if the target isn't significantly durable.
** The spell will instantly kill anything that can't [[SmashingSurvival mash the buttons fast enough to escape]].
** The spell is survivable if the target has enough health, only to die from the second hit.
* '''Justified''':
** The fire spell actually conjures a ludicrously large ball of fire that would indeed reduce any organic matter to ashes.
** The fireball is super-concentrated enough to pierce through the head, no matter the armor. [[note]][[ChunkySalsaRule doesn't matter how much HP a character has, with the brain that gone...?]][[/note]]
* '''Inverted''': The fire spell is used on a fire-type enemy... [[FeedItWithFire Who is healed fully by it]].
* '''Subverted''':
** The fire spell causes instant death to minor {{Mooks}}, but [[ContractualBossImmunity not the]] BigBad.
** The fire spell [[HPToOne always depletes the opponent's energy to just one point]].
* '''Double Subverted''':
** ...Unless you [[AttackItsWeakPoint hit him in just right the right place]] [[BarrierChangeBoss or at just the right time]].
** After the HPToOne fire spell, the opponent is hit by any next attack.
** The HPToOne spell also inflicts the Burn status, which deals residual damage
* '''Parodied''': The PC summons up a ludicrously ''small'' fireball (e.g. ''strikes a match'') which nonetheless reduces the Mooks to ashes in spectacular fashion.
* '''Zig Zagged''': The fireball kills some {{Mooks}} in one cast and not others.
* '''Averted''': None of the spells in the game are OneHitKill.
* '''Enforced''': The spell in question is a key piece of the plot.
* '''Lampshaded''': "Taste instant death!"
* '''Invoked''':
** A PlayerCharacter must train their fire spell for hours before making its effectiveness reach the level of OneHitKill.
** The game features a spell designing mechanic which includes Instant Death as a possible modifier.
* '''Exploited''': Higher-level enemies can [[AttackReflector reflect the fireball]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard to instantly kill the player]].
* '''Defied''':
** No matter how much the PlayerCharacter trains, the fire spell will never perform a OneHitKill.
** The enemy actively ''dodges'' your OneHitKill attacks.
* '''Discussed''': "Dude, I just got the highest rank on my fireball spell!"
* '''Conversed''': "Wow, how did you just kill a 100-foot giant with a basketball-sized fireball?"
* '''Deconstructed''':
** Using a fire spell of this magnitude costs the PlayerCharacter dearly in either stamina or mana and they must rest for quite a while before using it again.
** The fire spell is so [[GameBreaker broken]] that the game isn't fun.
* '''Reconstructed''':
** ...But with training, they can almost negate the drawbacks entirely.
** Alternatively, the AwesomeButImpractical nature of the spell encourages players to use it on the resident DemonicSpiders to avoid chewing through stamina or mana too quickly and use other spells more often.
** The fun of the game ''is'' in being a [[GameBreaker broken]] OneManArmy who mows down mooks like a harvester through a wheat field.
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Back to OneHitKill
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%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
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%%* '''Implied''': ???
%%* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': ???
%%* '''Played For Laughs''': ???
%%* '''Played For Drama''': ???