More often than not, this is one reason why an animal ends up low on the tier list.
- Tardigrades are extremely resistant to several types of damage in their hibernation state… which regular physical damage like crushing is not one of. Physical damage tends to be used by almost every player in the server, which means this supposedly Nigh-Invulnerable state doesn't help much at all and contributes to them being a Joke Character.
- The Cheetah, despite being very fast, lacks in strength and defence. As such, one wrong move can get them easily injured or even killed by their own prey, and they have extremely high infant mortality rates. They have very low endurance, which isn't unusual for a predator their size, but is a more significant problem than it would be in a build focused on speed than strength or intelligence. Finally, thanks to always having their claws extended at all times to aid in running, they also get blunted over time, making their claws far less efficient as a weapon or climbing tool.
- The Poison Dart Frog is considered low-tier (revised to B-tier in a later video) despite having one of the deadliest toxins, since it specced almost all of its points into poison and coloration while still having the weaknesses of the low-tier amphibians. Poison ability also requires that it actually take a hit from an attacker, and due to its tiny size it would get killed very easily too.
- Most "Specialist" bears like the Panda, Sun, Sloth and Polar bear are lower on the tier list than "Generalist" bears such as the Brown and Black bear precisely for this reason. This makes the former four unable to have good matchups against other threats in their environment, while the latter two can easily adapt to most situations and have generally good matchups overall.
- Subverted by the crocodile. Its only method of attack is by biting, but its bite attack is so powerful that it doesn't really need anything else.
- The Tyrannosaurus rex was considered a B-Tier dinosaur partly because of this. It specced a huge amount into bite damage, allowing it to One-Hit Kill most dinosaurs and giving it the unique ability to crush open bones for marrow. However, this came at a sacrifice to its other offensive abilities, giving it useless tiny arms, and it also was not particularly fast compared to other large therapods. This trope would hit T. Rex even harder if it was brought back from extinction into the current meta, putting it at only C-Tier. Its insanely high attack was important for large, durable prey during the Cretaceous, but in the modern day it would only be useful against a single prey in the elephant as most other present-day builds outran its slow speed.
- Subverted by the porcupine. Its design is entirely oriented around blocking attacks with its quills, at the expense of having low attack power, speed, and stealth, and mediocre intelligence. However, its quills are such a hilariously effective defence that it still manages to rank in S tier.
- Downplayed with the narwhal and beluga whale. They are considered the worst cetacean builds in the current meta because of their inability to survive outside of the Arctic, yet are still above-average among animal builds in general.
- Baleen Whales in general are a subversion. They can only farm krill with their baleen, which is useless against anything bigger. However, this one strategy is so effective against their very abundant prey that they don't need any other strategy to gain experience, and since they're too big to be threatened by anything other than humans, they rank in A tier.
- Specialist insects are mentioned as getting nerfed in the unannounced "Insect-pocalypse" balance patch, particularly the Monarch Butterfly due to its reliance on declining milkweed for access to the Poison perk.
- Downplayed by tortoises. They are considered B-tier due to having incredible defence but at the cost of extremely low mobility and intelligence. This makes them extremely well-protected from predators that rely on power, but intelligence-based builds can easily outplay them.
- Snails are considered bottom-tier due to putting all their points into a defensive shell, at the cost of abysmal mobility and power. Since they can neither flee an attacker nor launch an effective counter-attack, any predator bigger than the snail can just keep attacking with no penalty until they find a way to break through the shell. Cone snails avert this and rank in A-tier due to having an extremely potent venomous sting that allows them to actually fight back.
- Subverted by the electric eel. It put almost all its points into discharging electric shocks, giving up intelligence, mobility, and aesthetics in the process. However, since this discharge is highly effective both on offence and defence and is almost impossible to counter, the eel is still quite an effective build and ranks in high A-tier.
- The ocean sunfish has put most of its points into HP, becoming the largest bony fish build in the entire game. However, since they failed to spec into any actual combat moves or other strong abilities to complement their size, they're one of the worst fish builds in the game and their size mostly just makes them a larger target for predators and parasites.
- King Snakes are very effective against venomous snake builds thanks to venom resistance and their strategy of going for the head. This is all they are good at, however, as their matchups against builds that aren't venomous snakes are rather shaky.
- Anacondas are very durable and powerful constrictor snakes that excel in aquatic environments where their large size doesn't hamper their mobility. However, this large size and weight slows them on terrestrial environments and makes them less viable there, which is why they are only B-Tier.
- Eusocialism allows various hymenopterans to hyper-specialize into roles that they excel at, but are unable to perform other roles effectively. This is not a big issue since members of the colony that hyper-specialized in another role can easily cover for them.
- Dragonflies are considered the best fliers in the insect meta, with the highest top speed combined with the best mobility that makes them nigh impossible for pursuing predators to catch. However, it makes them easy prey for campers or any predator they fly too close to since they are easy to snatch out of the sky, and they are physically incapable of actually walking. It's downplayed in that dragonflies are considered A-tier; they're still very strong, but their weaknesses are glaring enough to keep them from flying with the best.
