History GlassCannon / VideoGames

** There's also the Spy, who relies on cloak and disguise to get past the enemy, and can be killed by stray bullets. Successfully getting behind an opponent, however, [[{{Backstab}} yields instant death]]. Speed, distance and stealth, all accounted for. The Ambassador make him a literal glass cannon, able to deal serious damage in head-shots, just don't expect to be a tank with it.

** There's also the Spy, who relies on cloak and disguise to get past the enemy, and can be killed by stray bullets. Successfully getting behind an opponent, however, [[{{Backstab}} yields instant death]]. Speed, distance and stealth, all accounted for.

* The Commando class from ''BattlefieldHeroes'' combines a knife wielding, invisibility-enabled spy with a sniper. Knife attacks can kill other players more or less instantly while the piercing shot ability makes sniper rifle bullets more damaging that a direct hit from a tank cannon, but they have only 80 health and die extremely quickly.

** [[{{Tsukihime}} Tohno Shiki]] is this. Due to a freak accident that nearly killed him when he was little, he has the ability to see everything and everyone's "lines of death", that, when traced with a sharp object, destroys the owner of said lines. In other words, he can OneHitKill ''anyone'', regardless of how powerful they are. What makes him even more of a threat is [[spoiler:[[LamarckWasRight that his true family, the Nanayas, were assassins that specialized in targeting non-humans]]]]. However, [[IllBoy he is still physically weak from the accident and he suffers from anemia attacks.]] Even worse is that his ability to see everything's inherit death, [[GoMadFromTheRevelation which humans were not meant to be able to perceive]], gives him mind-splitting headaches and would either drive him insane or outright kill him if he weren't given a pair of magic glasses that can hide these lines.

** The Ninja job in most ''Final Fantasy'' games that use the job system (and a couple that don't, such as ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV's'' Edge) are usually glass cannons, as well. Very powerful, since they can use [[DualWielding two weapons]], but they tend to have low HP and can't equip shields or heavy armor.

** [[DeathNote Light Yagami]]: His main attack is to write your name in the Death Note, which [[OneHitKill kills you]]. However, he can only take 3-4 hits before dying.

** A rare Fighting[=/=]Steel Pokemon is Lucario. He can dish out a lot of damage against the opposing Pokemon and have good amount of speed. In terms of defenses, however, is relatively weak and can get KO'ed easily.
*** Lucario's Glass Cannon status is highlighted more in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' where his [[CriticalStatusBuff Aura]] properly forces him to deal a lot of damage at low health while at the same time makes him more vulnerable to being knocked out of the stage easily with very simple attacks. Even at full health, Lucario is still get beaten up around the stage easily.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' introduces the Steel/Ghost {{BFS}} Aegislash. In Shield Forme, it's a StoneWall with great defences but bad attacking stats. In Sword Forme, those defences are swapped with its attack, making it have Attack and Special Attack on par with legendaries... and rather pitiful defences. Its low health will not save it if it takes a hit in Sword Forme, or even a few super-effective hits in Shield Forme.

* Instead of a character class per se, the Glass Cannon archetype is a strategy in both DemonsSouls and DarkSouls. The idea is to stack items and weapons capable of boosting damage (mostly magic, but physical damage is not unheard of). Usually, there are multiple items that boosts attack either at the cost of defense (eg Monk's Head Collar or Crown of Dusk, which increases magic damage at the cost of magic defense) or only activates when your health is low (such as Clever Rat's Ring, Morion Blade, or Red Tearstone Ring). Combining all of them, and you get a character that is very low on health such that he/she ''will'' die in one poke, but deals such absurdly high damage that one good shot is all it usually takes. It works horribly well in both [=PvE=] and [=PvP=] environments. For bonus aesthetics, when the low-HP buff effect takes place, the character glows with a [[TurnsRed characteristic aura]].

* This is a probable playstyle (or problem, depending on point of view) for stealth-based characters like assassins or thieves in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''. Stealth-based characters can deal ludicrous amounts of damage: 3x damage with bows, 6x damage with one-handed weapons, and ''15x'' damage with daggers (which can be doubled again with certain equips), so long as the attack is done while undetected. Thus, stealth-based characters are likely to have lower armor skills (because they never or rarely get hit, resulting in very little relevant experience being gained in that skill), and on level-up, are likely to neglect raising health in favor of magicka (for spells) or stamina (for archery zoom time and sprinting to get away from overwhelming force), resulting in characters who regularly one-shot ''bosses'', but will die to a regular mook's OffhandBackhand. Note, though, that this mostly applies to stealth characters whose preferred offense is physical/weapons-based. Magic-oriented stealth characters are more likely to be [[GradualGrinder Gradual Grinders]].

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*** Lucario's Glass Cannon status is highlighted more in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' where his [[CriticalStatusBuff Aura]] properly forces him to deal a lot of damage at low health while at the same time makes him more vulnerable to being knocked out of the stage easily with very simple attacks. Even at full health, Lucario is still get beaten up around the stage easily.

** Psychic-types in general, really. Alakazam, for example, was a GameBreaker in [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Gen I]], due to high Sp. Attack and [[GoodBadBug an immunity to Ghost-type attacks]]; however, their Physical Defense is almost always pitifully low -- one successful Night Slash or Megahorn and they can cry "Uncle!"

** [[{{Tsukihime}} Tohno Shiki]] is this. Due to a freak accident that nearly killed him when he was little, he has the ability to see everything and everyone's "lines of death", that, when traced with a sharp object, destroys the owner of said lines. In other words, he can OneHitKill ''anyone'', regardless of how powerful they are. What makes him even more of a threat is [[spoiler:[[LamarckWasRight that his true family were assassins that specialized in targeting non-humans]]]]. However, he is still physically weak from the accident and he suffers from anemia attacks. Even worse is that his ability to see everything's inherit death, which humans were not meant to be able to perceive, gives him mind-splitting headaches and would either drive him insane or outright kill him if he weren't given a pair of magic glasses that can hide these lines.

** The worst offender, of this trope however, is Shedinja. It has exactly ''one'' point of health, and the only thing that makes it even decently useful is it's ability, Wonder Guard, which nullifies all damage except for Super Effective type attacks.

** The famous "Danger Mario" build in ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' will make you into one of these. By [[MinMaxing exploiting numerous badges that only activate when Mario is at 5 HP or less and then setting Mario's maximum HP to five]], you can become a powerhouse who can also dodge almost anything, but will spontaneously combust if you take so much as a scratch of actual damage.

* [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Jigglypuff]] in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros.'' series, particularly with regard to her lethal Rest attack. Mr. Game & Watch from the same series is almost as light (he's a two-dimensional character resembling an old LCD display) but has a multitude of quick and powerful attacks. In ''Brawl'', Zelda has become updated to where she has downright deadly kicks and a powerful long-range attack, but is still easily tossed around.

** Luigi is another example in the later SuperSmashBros games - He's only slightly below average weight, but his attacks are all very fast and most of them are moderately strong. He can also KO at VERY low percentages, and the move he uses to do it is extremely fast (but hard to aim). He's usually held back by his low traction, which drastically reduces his mobility on the ground.
* In the MascotFighter, VideoGame/CartoonNetworkPunchTimeExplosion, Chowder is this. He's fast, his burping, spinning and Kimchi fart attacks hit hard and have good range, but he's too light and he can get KO at 85% with a really strong.
** And we have the infamous [[WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory Dexter: Boy Genius]]. He hits hard, strikes fast, and has "one of the Awesomest PTE in the game", but he's sort of light.

** Both Sora and Riku are this in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance Kingdom Hearts 3D]]'', thanks to their defensive stats being absolutely pitiful compared to that of their dream eater allies, on top of already taking more damage than them due to the damage formulas (For instance, the dream eaters take 50% more damage on Critical Mode, whereas they take ''three times as much''). Their offensive stats tend to be lower, as well, but the damage formula favors them in that regard, allowing to cause far more damage than their allies.

*** Lucario's Glass Cannon status is highlighted more in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'' where his [[CriticalStatusBuff Aura]] properly forces him to deal a lot of damage at low health while at the same time makes him more vulnerable to being knocked out of the stage easily with very simple attacks. Even at full health, Lucario is still get beaten up around the stage easily.

* ''ShiningForce'': units are either incredibly sturdy or some form of this trope. The most prominent two are any promoted mages (they start out not dishing out much more damage than your other fighters, but when they learn level three spells, they become this) and centaurs, who are the strongest in terms of physical damage along with dwarves and have as much durability as a piece of wet tissue paper, even if you equip them with a lot of defensive accessories.

* Generally, the player's ship in ShootEmUps. While it will often be a OneHitPointWonder (if it has a HP bar, 3 or 4 hits at best), it will have plenty of its [[BeamSpam own]] [[MacrossMissileMassacre powerful]] [[WaveMotionGun weapons]]. The player fighter craft may be able to upgrade its weapon's power to being capable to destroy a [[OneManArmy massive amount of enemies in one sweep]].

** [[SpaceInvaders Space Invader]]: Perhaps the ultimate example- its DisintegratorRay [[OneHitKill kills the enemy]], but the Invader [[OneHitPointWonder dies in one hit]].

** In ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy XIII-2}}'', the [[RandomlyDrops rare drops]] of Lightning and Amodar (Coliseum DLC) can turn Serah and Noel into one. The accessories boost Strength/Magic by 66%, but halves their HP and gives them a constant poison effect.

* Depending on your character build in {{The Secret World}}, a DPS oriented character can have less than 1/5th the resiliency of an equivalently equipped tank while dishing out over 5 times the damage, and of course vice versa, making for a huge range of character statistics. Given the flexibility and lack of classes, playing with either extreme would be an example of voluntary Min-Maxing.

** There are also the various offense-oriented upgrade options for units that were, in themselves, not Glass Cannons, but became so upon leveling up. Such as the [[DemBones Deathblade]], which deals a good 25% more damage and moves 20% faster than it's counterpart, the Revenant, but has lower HP and cannot level up further. Or the Shadow, which gains the ability to skirmish, nightstalk, and BackStab ForMassiveDamage, but loses the defensive edge granted by the life-draining ability of its counterpart, the Wraith. Or the Elvish Marksman, which does very high damage for its level and gets an accuracy-boosting ability, but sacrifices the melee strength, HP, and hiding ability of the Elvish Ranger. The list could go on and on...

* Of the four player characters in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'', Mordecai the Hunter is this trope. He's the only character who doesn't get a skill to boost his health or shields, the only character who doesn't get a skill that regenerates shields, and his health recovery skills require an enemy to take advantage of. On the other hand, his Bloodwing can tear through several high-level enemies when levelled up and he specializes in [[CriticalHit critical hits]], [[SniperRifle sniper rifles]], and [[HandCannon revolvers]].

* Pink Ostrich in ''VideoGame/BattleCircuit''. She has fairly high damaging moves when used right. In fact her power-up gives her higher chances to dish out [[CriticalHit critical hits]], making her moves even more damaging. But she can only take a few hits with a (non)upgraded life bar. This is especially true against bosses.

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!!Examples

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Coffinshaker from ''Webcomic/WhatsShakin'' is a fairly powerful fire mage, but without his reliance of fire, is mostly vulnerable to all other attacks. He does seem to have some bit of ''[[http://whatsshakincomic.com/2011/02/14/page-24/ acrobatic skills]]'' though.
* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'''s Black Mage [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/04/10/episode-977-moving-as-hell/ described]] himself in these words, a few days after this page was launched. Some might say he's a SquishyWizard instead.
* Ran in ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' uses the Cossack Buster, a weapon of nightmarishly destructive proportions, easily able to cut a scar through a city. Unfortunately, Ran himself will instantly die if he is so much as ''touched''.
** Fortunately, due to being made of cheap Soviet components and a convenient teleporter, he can be brought back fairly quickly. In fact, he's pretty much NighInvulnerable!
* The titular Webcomic/DominicDeegan shares a handful of qualities with Creator/MarvelComics' telepaths, i.e. physically weak while mentally untouchable. He describes himself as his body being "frail and weak, but [his] mind is a fortress you have no hope of conquering."
* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', Torg is capable of killing just about anything when his CoolSword Chaz is powered up and [[PowerGlows starts glowing]]. While his sword is unbreakable and nearly unstoppable, however, Torg himself is as physically vulnerable as your average human being. It doesn't help that the sword's true potential can only be unleashed when it's [[PoweredByAForsakenChild fueled by the blood of the innocent]], a cost Torg is understandably reluctant to pay.
* Vaarsuvius from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' fits this trope. As with Black Mage, (s)he falls pretty squarely in SquishyWizard territory.
* In the webcomic ''Caaats'', [[http://www.caaats.com/wp-content/gallery/strips/caaats19.jpg this scene.]]
* In Webcomic/{{Suppression}}, Charlie is a [[ShockAndAwe electricity-wielder]] who was kidnapped by the villains so that he could [i]power their entire facility[/i]. He can give off enough electricity to blow off [[BigBad Maxwell]]'s arm. He is also skinny as a rail and has neither armor nor the ability to take a hit.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Soundwave, of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', can easily take on multiple Autobots at the same time with ThePowerOfRock, has a massive number of various gadgets, and can control machines, but he's made of Earth machines mashed together, which means that even Sari's little hand-blast can put a hole in his shoulder, and when he is forced into melee combat, he is smashed apart in single blows. This contrasts with normal Decepticons, which are both figuratively and literally MadeOfIron.
* While Aang in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is at his most powerful in the [[SuperMode Avatar State]], he is also at his most vulnerable. If he is killed in the Avatar State, not only does Aang die, but the Avatar reincarnation cycle ends.
** This existential vulnerability does not mean that he's more ''physically'' vulnerable, though. An Avatar has more defensive potential than any other [[ElementalPowers bender]] in the world, and with the extra power of the Avatar State is ''capable'' of shrugging off devastating attacks (see [[spoiler:Aang vs. [[MagicMeteor Comet-enhanced Ozai]]]]). But that does not make the Avatar invincible, so most limit their use of the Avatar State to momentary power-draws.
** Fire Lord Ozai, as well. Arguably the most powerful Firebender of the world, his fighting style reflects this if not his fragility. Unlike his brother and children who like to mix it up in close combat and are generally almost as dangerous without bending as they are with it, Ozai prefers to stay at a distance and blast his enemies with ranged attacks. (He spends most of the series as OrcusOnHisThrone.) In the absence of bending he even seems to consider himself outmatched by Zuko.
** Of course, most benders don't train with arms and he doesn't have any with him even if he could use them, so without bending Ozai's down to 'punch stuff with my highly developed muscles,' while Zuko's a rather accomplished swordsman who's almost certainly much faster than his father, and could presumably carve him up if he were willing to try.
** Also, in spite of his impressive spiritual powers, Aang is just a scrawny little kid. His bending is the only reason he's lasted as long as he has.
* In the SequelSeries, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[TheDragon The Lieutenant]] has this problem as well.
* [[spoiler:Eddy's Brother]] from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy''. [[spoiler:Years of torturing small children will do you no good when you're hit by a flying door.]]
** WordOfGod has even gone on the record as saying [[spoiler:Eddy's Brother had been dishing ''out'' pain all his life, but hadn't had it happen the other way around too often, and thus has a very low pain threshold.]]
* In the classic WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck short "Canvas Back Duck", Donald ends up in a boxing match against [[NonIndicativeName Pee-Wee Pete]], and is only saved from a merciless pummeling when he accidentally discovers Pete has a (literal) glass jaw.
* The assassin Curare from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' seems this way. She's a deadly combatant with a sword, incredibly fast and agily, and very hard to lay a glove on, but when Batman actually manages to do so, it seems to hurt her badly.
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