History Main / ConfusionFu

* ''LetsPlay/{{Dream}}'' is one of the best Minecrafters at this strategy:
** In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgdSJdeGF_0 Minecraft Speedrunner VS 3 Hunters FINALE]], the three hunters and Dream are in a cave. Suddenly, they meet and [[spoiler: Dream uses a splash potion of invisibility to make them all invisible. Keep in mind that they are all wearing full iron armor. [[FriendOrFoe They can't tell which one was Dream and started attacking one of their team members]] while Dream started attacking them.]]
** In the same episode, Dream builds a Nether Portal [[spoiler: so that he could trick the hunters into thinking he was back at the Nether. The hunters are confused why he built the portal if he wasn't going to go in in the first place. But the compass gives it away, since it can indirectly tell whether Dream's at the Overworld or the Nether.]]

** UsefulNotes/WorldWarI has an unintentional example of defence of Osowiec and "Attack of the dead men". First -- Russians held the fortress for much longer than even their own generals believed was possible. And finally when the Germans [[WhyWontYouDie grew angry at this]] enough to use DeadlyGas and then charged, believing firmly that NoOneCouldSurviveThat, they did not expect the defenders to be withstand it.

** Greninja can become a master in this thanks to its Hidden Ability, Protean. While Greninja is normally Water/Dark, Protean allows it to change into the type of whatever move it's about to use. Since Greninja can outspeed 97% of the entire Pokedex[[hottip:*:And thirteen of the twenty-three that it can't are either Mega Evolutions of otherwise slower Pokemon or Legendaries]], and its movepool includes everything from Flying to Psychic, this means it can pretty much turn into any type that would screw over its opponent the most, ''especially'' opponents with a type advantage over it.
*** Greninja can also pull a similar trick as Charizard in that it can also transform into [[SuperMode Ash-Greninja]] if it has Battle Bond as an ability instead. This allows for a mind game where the opponent needs to determine if its a Greninja that can change its typing or one that can access a form similar to a Mega.

** Much like Protean Greninja, Libero Cinderace has the ability to change its type based on the move it uses (normally pure Fire), and outspeeds a nice chunk of the Pokemon that can visit Galar. While a tad slower than its predecessor, its physical attacks hit harder, especially its trademark moves Pyro Ball and G-Max Fireball (and the latter ignores abilities, so leave Flash Fire at home). While Water and Dragon are its defensive gaps, that's still a lot of Pokemon it can flatten on its own.

** The Terastalize mechanic of ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'' allows Pokémon to temporarily change its type to its "Tera" type. Normally, this type matches one of the Pokémon's natural types. However, it's entirely possible for a Pokémon's Tera type to be completely different from any of its regular types. While Terastalized, if the Pokémon uses moves that match its Tera type, it gets a power boost as if it matched the Pokémon's actual type. Also, the Terastal Pokémon still gets a boost from moves matching it's original types, even if it doesn't match the Tera type, and if the move matches both the Tera type and an original type, then the move is boosted even further. Finally, the new move Tera Blast, when used by a Terastalized Pokémon, always matches the Tera type of the Pokémon using it and always uses the Pokémon's strongest attack stat. Terastalization has so many different utilities, from removing weaknesss, to providing unexpected type coverage, to boosting up an already powerful move even further, that it's hard to predict how it will be used in any given battle. [[spoiler: The ''Indigo Disk'' DLC adds the "Stellar" Tera Type, which keeps the Pokémon's original typing, but boosts moves of every type once per type.]]

* ''Literature/LightAndDarkTheAwakeningOfTheMageknight'': Alsono's preferred form of combat is being unpredictable. Combined with FragileSpeedster and his opponents have no idea what he's doing at any given moment.

** Speaking of Slaadi, as embodiements of pure Chaos they do ''everything'' this way. This should certainly include fighting. In 2[[superscript:nd]] Edition ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'', Slaadi were discussed as having utterly chaotic personalities, but preferring to fight their enemies one-on-one in slugging matches just so each ''individual'' would prove how tough he was.

** There is also a form of Confusion Fu that can result solely from the combat rules themselves. An attack can always hit on a natural 20 on a d20, however high the Armor Class of the opponent. Thus, when confronted by a foe whose Armor Class surpass even what the best fighter of the group can touch (beyond using magic or other effects that never miss), the only mean to increase your chances of hitting is to increase the number of attacks. This means that some tactics, such as {{Multishot}} or DualWielding without the appropriate feat, usually considered sub-optimal because of the high maluses to hit they accrue, become the way to go. Likewise, most techniques that give additional attacks (such as flurry of blows, the Snap Kick feat, etc.) includes cumulative penalties to all attacks; it's usually a bad idea to use them in conjunction with each other as they reduce drastically the chances of hitting... except if you already need a natural 20 anyway. Likewise, other techniques normally reducing the chance to hit (such as Combat Expertise and Power Attack) can be added to the mix with no consequence, since it doesn't matter any more how much reductions you're accumulating. Thus, the most haphazard and amateurish the fighting, the higher the chances of making a telling blow (though that's still a suicidal prospect either way).

* Blaze, in ''Film/DelusionsOfGrandeur'', finds himself at one point facing a nobleman who seems to be a much better fencer than him. His solution? Taunt his opponent with erratic sword moves, before literally kicking his butt.

* In ''Manhwa/ShinAngyoOnshi'' this is pulled off in army level. Seeing how the BigBad relied heavily on mind reading, Munsu rolls dice to determine the army's strategy.

* The Quiz, from the appropriately named ''Brotherhood of UsefulNotes/{{Dada}}'', had the superpower of "anything you haven't thought of yet". A particularly nonsensical example was the ability to turn people into toilets with flowers in them. In fact, her ability was so chaotic, it was only defeated by the power of Lists. The ComicBook/DoomPatrol fought her by running away and yelling out powers, so she couldn't use them.

* Patty Fleur in the UsefulNotes/{{P|layStation3}}S3 version of ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia''. Almost all of her attacks have random effects, some of which can actually end up damaging herself or the entire party. The things used for said attacks are just random, including a mini rocket ship she can ride out of the battlefield, presents with harmful "gifts" in them, a frying pan, and mahjong pieces.

** On a strategic level, this is something that the [[Characters/Warhammer40000Eldar Eldar]] are well known for. Their seers are skilled in reading the skein of fate to divine the future and heavily employ CombatClairvoyance, both in personal combat and in planning their warhost's maneuvers. Since [[ForWantOfANail the smallest thing can have unexpectedly powerful effects on the future]], this has the effect of giving the Eldar at war the appearance of being very random and impossible to predict, when in fact it is all part of [[ThePlan a very carefully planned gambit]].

** The Terastalize mechanic of ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'' allows Pokémon to temporarily change its type to its "Tera" type. Normally, this type matches one of the Pokémon's natural types. However, it's entirely possible for a Pokémon's Tera type to be completely different from any of its regular types. While Terastalized, if the Pokémon uses moves that match its Tera type, it gets a power boost as if it matched the Pokémon's actual type. Also, the Terastal Pokémon still gets a boost from moves matching it's original types, even if it doesn't match the Tera type, and if the move matches both the Tera type and an original type, then the move is boosted even further. Finally, the new move Tera Blast, when used by a Terastalized Pokémon, always matches the Tera type of the Pokémon using it and always uses the Pokémon's strongest attack stat. Terastalization has so many different utilities, from removing weaknesss, to providing unexpected type coverage, to boosting up an already powerful move even further, that it's hard to predict how it will be used in any given battle.

** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'': Blackmore's Catch the Rainbow is a full-on SwissArmySuperpower that can do just about anything so long as it's raining (from simply using them as platforms to moving through them and outright patching lethal wounds with rainwater), leaving it very hard to predict what trick he has up his sleeve next. The heroes are left struggling the whole time until the weather finally clears.

** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'': Blackmore can do nearly anything in the rain, leaving it very hard to predict what trick he has up his sleeve next.

* [[http://31.media.tumblr.com/204a37f970f2fd31967aa29088c11a89/tumblr_mhn739RLSE1ql2603o1_250.gif Confusion Fu in a nutshell.]][[note]]With a side order of GroinAttack.[[/note]]

** Wong Fei Hung in ''Legend of Drunken Master''. His drunken boxing style is ''all about'' doing stuff that seems insane or physically impossible to do.

* ''Drunken Master'':
** Wong Fei Hung in ''Film/LegendOfTheDrunkenMaster''. His drunken boxing style is ALL ABOUT doing stuff that seems insane or physically impossible to do.
** In the first ''Film/DrunkenMaster'' movie Fei Hung's master, Su Hua Chi, teaches him the style and how it's based on the 8 Drunken Immortals -- Fei Hung learns 7, but refuses to learn the last since it's based off a woman's style. Fast-forward to the final battle against the assassin, [[BigBad Thunderleg]], where Fei Hung bests Thunderleg's Devil's Kick style. Thunderleg switches to the Devil's Shadowless Hand instead, besting Fei Hung each time he demonstrates another Drunken Immortal's style, until he gets to the 8th -- Miss Ho. He admits to his master he didn't learn the style, so Su Hua Chi tells him to [[spoiler:combine the other 7 styles and improvise, creating a hilarious and nearly unpredictable improvised style which defeats Thunderleg's Shadowless Hand.]]