History Main / DifficultButAwesome

** Luigi is this in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', this time strictly for his jumps. They're difficult to control but if you can master it you can get more air than even Princess Peach and her floating and skip entire portions of levels.
*** Toad, even moreso. He may have the worst jump in a platform game, but he also has the best ground speed and pulling abilities, making him the king of the SpeedRun.

* ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]]'' has the Succubus soul. It has a ''very'' specific range it works at; half a pixel off, and Soma will just swipe at empty air, and most likely get hit by whatever he was trying to grab. If you can get the range down, however, you have an extremely powerful attack that also heals Soma greatly.

** Planets introduced in later games [[SequelDifficultySpike tend to have an oddly high learning curve]] as well but are absolutely ''fierce'' in capable hands. Two of particular note are Gelyer and Hanihula: [[GratuitousNinja Gelyer]] has [[HeavyWorlder intense gravity]], meaning any ignitions created through matching blocks are weak and fall back down quickly. However, every third ignition in a combo will clear any associated blocks. This requires precision planning if one wants to clear the whole screen, which nets a fat point bonus (crucial if you want to win by score). In addition, Gelyer's Planet Impact meter builds the fastest of any planet with the "Armageddon" Planet Impact. Skillful use of Gelyer will result in frequent and repeated Armageddon attacks which will eventually crowd out the opponent's screen and hinder them greatly. [[BeeAfraid Hanihula]], on the other hand, has normal gravity but extremely weak ignitions. An inexperienced player would have problems getting Hanihula to do, well, anything. A great Hanihula player, by contrast, will use said weak ignitions to create huge score multipliers (as they increase each time the same cluster ignites). Hanihula is the single highest-scoring planet in the series, at least within the three-minute time frame of ''Meteos Wars'', where it debuted.[[note]]A perfectly played Wuud can defeat Hanihula, but this is so excruciatingly difficult, even for veteran players, that Hanihula is more likely to win anyway.[[/note]]

** On the other hand, the Gunner does not need to put itself in mortal status to achieve its damage potential, and can even be fairly sturdy if it runs the Hunter class as subclass. The problem comes in a considerable amount of its power coming from three different skills that in summary rely on Gunner not taking hits or staying above certain HP thresholds. Since Gunner is actually a ''close-combat class'', it's damage output will severely lower if it tries to fight at range like it's counterpart class Ranger, so Gunners must put themselves in harms way and dodge ''everything'' in order to stay at max power. Their WeaponOfChoice [[GunsAkimbo Twin Machineguns]] gives them access to a very useful ability known as [[UnnecessaryCombatRoll Stylish Roll]], which lets them spend a fair amount of time safe, but a single mistake can make a Gunner into TheLoad until they power up again.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has the Empty Gun, a late-game weapon that can be purchased in Bratty and Catty's shop by the Resort. Its base AT is second only to the [[InfinityMinusOneSword Worn Dagger]] and [[spoiler:Its [[KillEmAll Genocide]] equivalent, the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Real Knife]]]], but it has the hardest [[ActionCommand timing minigame]] of all the game's weaponry. However, a perfectly-timed hit with it, whilst hard to pull off, deals [[GameBreaker INSANE]] amounts of damage, meaning those who can pull those off with anything even resembling consistency will be able to blast through most encounters with ease.

* The ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' franchise could be said to be this in itself, being focused entirely around fighting giant monster many times stronger than the player could ever become. That said there are several weapon classes that stand out by themselves:

** Adept style in ''Monster Hunter Generations'' focuses on dodging or blocking attacks at the last possible moment. This is inherently risky and demands a good read of a monster's possible attacks, but a successful Adept Guard or Adept Evade completely nullifies the attack and opens up special CounterAttack options.
** ''Generations Ultimate'' doubles down with the Valor style. The mechanics are [[GuideDangIt a nightmare to get your head around]], a new attack button is added to the [[SomeDexterityRequired already-demanding controls]] (and it still pulls double duty with sheathing your weapon, which leads to [[DamnYouMuscleMemory all sorts of other issues]]), and it adds a level of resource management on top of whatever else your weapon uses. When properly understood and mastered, however, it has more attack options than any other style, and several defensive moves no other has, more than making up for the investment.
* ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' has what are considered "build-defining" items; unique items whose abilities are so oddball or whose NecessaryDrawback is so great that you have to plan your character build around them in order to use them effectively. For example, ''[[http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Trypanon Trypanon]]'' has the property "All Attacks with this Weapon are Critical Strikes", but a horribly slow attack speed and mediocre base damage. By itself Trypanon is pathetic, but with a build focusing on critical strike multiplier and supplemental damage from auras and other items, it can clear the screen in one blow.

** The Nurse has a short-range teleportation ability that lets her bypass entire buildings and obstacles [[JumpScare to get the drop on]] [[HopeSpot any survivor who thinks they're safe]]. But using it properly requires skill: her vision is heavily warped during the blink making it hard to judge distances correctly, and upon landing she'll stumble and be briefly stunned unless she can chain additional blinks or land a hit on her enemies; but she can also teleport ''past'' her target due to the impressive range of the blink. It's generally agreed that she's a top tier killer but Nurse players rarely get accusations of TierInducedScrappy because it's also generally accepted that even an expert Nurse will make ''some'' mistakes during the play.

These characters tend to avoid becoming the TierInducedScrappy, due to an unspoken respect for the amount of effort it takes to play one of these characters well, though they can still earn this status if they are particularly frustrating to play against and/or boring to watch; [[StoneWall turtlers]], [[DamageOverTime attrition fighters]], and [[LongRangeFighter heavy zoners]] are the most likely to earn Scrappy status, as are touch-of-death rushdown characters who are known for extremely lengthy combos. CounterAttack-centric characters lend themselves easily to this definition because of the need to master the precise timing of their counters, as do {{Mighty Glacier}}s in games that favor the relentless pressure of {{Fragile Speedster}}s or [[JackOfAllStats Jacks-of-All-Stats]].

** ''Brilliant Pagoda or Haze Castle'' has the New Emperor Team, consisting of [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent Fumikado]], [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Iyozane]], and [[GrumpyBear Tsugumi]]. Given how their shots, bombs, flashbombs, and skill trees are of varying degrees of usefulness, it would be hard to figure out any strong impact a combination of their playstyles would make within the Trinity System[[note]]The positions of all three characters in a team means one character (Main) uses their shottype, another (Sub) uses their bomb and flash bomb, and the other (Support) uses any skills of theirs where applicable[[/note]]; enter Fumikado's flashbomb, better known as Armor Mode. Barring Suzumi's, Fumikado's flashbomb is the only one that actually does not require the entirety of it's gauge to be filled to activate it. Activating their flashbomb renders you '''completely invulnerable''' for a period of time, at the cost of forcing your character to stop shooting; this can be rectified with one of Fumikado's skills, which ''reflects back bullets shot by enemies and damage them in turn''. Tsugumi and, preferably, Iyozane players will be able to get a lot of mileage with Fumikado's upgraded flashbomb, allowing them to HoldTheLine for as long as they need.

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'':
** Aiming for the Domination or Conquest victory fits into this bill in many of the games. Invading other people's cities and annexing them (or RapePillageAndBurn or, in ''V'', making puppet states out of them) fits the bill. It's fun to conquer every single city, but it requires a lot of micromanagement and strategy with your units. You're also going to have to deal with a lot of unhappiness due to overpopulation, angry citizens from occupied cities and city-states, and having diplomatic relations completely cut off and every civilization declare war on you for your war-mongering attitude. This is why "military based civilizations" (i.e. Mongols, Aztecs, Huns, and the Japanese) are considered to be high-risk/high-reward type of civilization.
** The entire point of Wonders is they are expensive to produce, other people may beat you to building one (meaning you wasted all your effort) and time spent building one could have been better spent making lots of conventional forces. But if you finish it, you get something pretty awesome that changes how you play the game.
** In ''V'', Venice [[LandOfOneCity has a unique playstyle]] where they cannot build any other cities and is very reliant on their capital city. Do bad and Venice can easily get conquered as early as Ancient Era. Do good however and you will get massive amounts of gold, food population, and units that can easily defend Venice while going for a cultural victory.
** Getting a Cultural Victory via Tourism in ''Brave New World'' requires a lot of planning, both to get the right Great Works at the right time and getting the aforementioned Wonders, but do it right and you can get the rest of the world to concede the superiority of your culture without firing a shot.

* Lara's acrobatics in the earlier [=PS1-era=] ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' games. The TankControls combined with very manual and deliberate commands needed to coax precise movements out of Lara feel very clunky and broken at first, and inexperienced players will be forced to take slow and methodically timed jumps, adopt the "walk to a ledge, hop back, run forward holding jump" tactic to clear every pit, and typically engage enemies by retreating to ledges where they can't be reached or wasting their more powerful and limited ammunition. Experienced players who have learned that every ledge is spaced deliberately and specifically and have gotten a grip on the controls will be able to glide Lara through the environments like she's in ''Film/TheMatrix'' and effortlessly dodge high-tier enemies by casually flipping and rolling out of their reach while pumping them full of weak pistol rounds and never once taking a single hit. The average time to beat the first stage is about twenty minutes for an inexperienced player, while a pro can pound it out in about ''three''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' and ''{{VideoGame/Splatoon 2}}'':

** Much like its [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} source material]], the Eldar and Dark Eldar require micro management and specific match ups, and while the Imperial Guard can easily crush all enemies with a properly built army, you can't just build a crap tonne of regular troops and steam roll the map like the Space Marines and Necrons.
** Cyrus in ''Dawn of War II'' is a very micro intensive character, but with proper tactics, wargear and skill allocation can make most boss fights (even [[BonusBoss the Avatar]]) a joke, and can clear ''entire maps'' single-handedly (albeit obviously requiring a lot of time).
** The Tyranids in ''II'', despite being a ZergRush faction in the lore and tabletop. Their ranged weapons work very differently to those of other factions, and the various synapse mechanics are either devastating or useless depending on how its used.

* Viron assault pods from ''VideoGame/GroundControl'' 2. You think dropping five basic soldiers to any place on the map is useful? Wrong! In the campaign, you will use it only at recommended missions and generally as a suicide attack to destroy a single important structure. Then you get to skirmish. Because of the layout of maps, AI players especially like to move their forces into the centre of the map and contest Victory Locations. This means you can drop pods on their unguarded Landing Zones and then finish the game by tearing them apart from both sides.
* The [[BombThrowingAnarchists Spanish Anarchists]] in ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'' are this mixed with MagikarpPower. On one hand, your Stability is (fittingly) ''permanently'' set to 0%; your military is weakest of the four factions in the Spanish CivilWar, being made up of civilian volunteers; and you receive no support from abroad, in fact you effectively stand alone against the entire world as you are playing as an aggressively expansionist political movement that has zero respect for the laws of nations, so the Allies, Axis and Comintern will all try to crush you unless they are all occupied in their own wars. On the other hand, you don't actually suffer any negative effects from being 0% Stability apart from a drop in Political Power (for example no workers' strikes for you, ever); you gain some fairly whopping bonuses to your production and recruitable population; and [[MechanicallyUnusualClass a lot of rules and mechanics dictating how nations function no longer apply to you]] -- the anarchists can topple Portugal and later other countries to form the Global Defence Council, allowing them to effectively ''[[MartialPacifist core and conquer the entire world in self-defence]]''.
* ''VideoGame/Pikmin1'': C Stick Throwing. In the Gamecube version of the game by rotating the C-Stick so the Pikmin all bunch around Olimar and rapidly mashing A, you can throw Pikmin '''a lot''' faster than normal. It is very difficult to learn to the point of being able to use it effectively. But when you do you can collect the ship parts much faster and defeat even the toughest enemies really quickly.
* Many of the micromanagement-requiring units in ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' series (especially spellcasters) fall for this category.

** This leads to an [[UpToEleven extremely powerful but also extremely fragile combo]] known as [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Gunner-Fighter]], or "[=GuFi=]" for short. Although it cannot make use of Limit Break due to skill restrictions[[note]] Limit Break cannot be used if Fighter is not the main class.[[/note]], all that matters is that Fighter allows Gunner access to its [[StanceSystem Stances]], which boast the highest damage multipliers in the game. Combined with Gunner's own power-boosting skills, [=GuFi=], especially if the Gunner is at level 85 and learned the special skill "[[GameBreaker Another S-Roll Mode]]", is capable of dishing out ''very'' high damage, ''very'' quickly, over a ''very'' wide area, at virtually ''no cost'', while having an on-command invincibility move it can spam to spend most of its attack time invincible. Of course, the caveat is that [[GlassCannon GuFi is made of wet tissue paper and will lose a lot of power if it takes even one good hit, if not die outright]], so it also makes it even more vital for the player to dodge everything coming their way.

** Vengeance Demon Hunters in ''Legion'' take this UpToEleven. Since they rely more on passive stats and self-healing than other tanks, they are very vulnerable to heavy hits and damage spikes. However, with a skilled player and the proper use of Spikes, they can basically keep themselves alive forever.

** Taken UpToEleven with the '''carry Io''' build, which Ana used to great effect in The International 2019, which requires item, skill and talent synergies to generate a massive power spike that leaves enemy teams in the dust.

** Gemini by itself is a fairly average Agility hero, with a cone [=AoE=] nuke/slow, a fixed-distance dash/stun that requires the exact distance to hit at max power, and a scaling passive that gives him a hodgepodge of bonus stats. Gemini's true power is in his ability to split into two forms, Fire and Ice. They're only slightly weaker than Gemini until fully leveled and don't have a proper escape skill, but they each can gain levels like any other hero, teleport to each other's location, and recombine with the ''higher'' percentage of either one's health and mana. This makes Gemini very versatile, letting him split push to farm gold and XP and pile on more burst damage by splitting up. Plus, a Staff of the Master takes it UpToEleven by giving it a ''third'' form, Light. Overall, Gemini is like a more well-rounded Meepo, trading quantity of units for more quality.

* ''VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun'', even when playing as Prussia, the historical forming state of Germany, doing so is not easy. But a ''true'' power-hungry leader strives to form ''[[UpToEleven Greater Germany]]'', which is Historical UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany + Austria (or [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic Austro-Hungary]], depending on circumstances), which is no small picnic either, and arguably even ''more'' difficult, given that both Austria and Prussia start the game as Great Powers, thus one of both must be reduced to [[VestigialEmpire Secondary Powers]] in order to gain rights to their lands. So why bother? Because Germany, and Greater Germany even more so, is a Manpower and Industrial ''beast'', capable of fielding larger armies and producing more materials (thus generating monstrous wealth) than a Westernized China, Japan, ''and even [[TheEmpire Great Britain]].'' (One can also try their hand at this with one of the [[FromNobodyToNightmare German One Province]] [[UsefulNotes/AllTheLittleGermanies Minors]], but there's no bonuses, [[SelfImposedChallenge just]] [[BraggingRightsReward bragging rights]].)

* Throughout ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, playing with the "Atronach" birthsign (or activating the Atronach "Standing Stone" in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''). The Atronach removes (or severely reduces) your ability to regenerate [[{{Mana}} Magicka]] naturally, which includes sleeping. In return, it grants the largest boost to your maximum Magicka of any birthsign and gives you a 50% chance to [[ManaDrain absorb any magic spell]] cast at you. By devising a way to cover the other 50% (via additional absorption, [[AttackReflector reflection,]] or [[AntiMagic resistance]]), you can effectively become ''immune'' to magical attacks. Conjuration neatly sidesteps the inability to regenerate magicka, too: summon a creature that only attacks magically, attack it to turn it hostile, and then bask in its ineffective attacks while your magicka recharges. This goes UpToEleven if you play as an [[MageSpecies Altmer]] ([[OurElvesAreDifferent High Elf]]), who have a natural weakness to magical attacks but have the highest natural starting pool of Magicka of any race (until Skyrim, anyway).

** Taken UpToEleven in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar''. Movement in [=FE4=] matters more than it does in any other Fire Emblem game, meaning your dancer's low movement stat is a big detriment. However, dancers in this game can refresh up to 4 adjacent units, which means that they are essentially 4 times better than dancers in other games, but clever positioning is required to use dancers to their full potential. For this reason, many players give their dancer the Leg Ring (increases movement by 3) and the Knight Ring (lets them move after dancing).

** Playing a Pyromancer in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII''. You have an unpleasant degree of multi-attribute dependency compared to, say, a greatsword melee bruiser, since pyromancy demands both Intelligence and Faith investment plus the attunement and mana needs, meaning that you can't invest as much in traditional combat stats - and the early game has a lot fewer toys for casters than melee builds. The mana expenditure also means you'll probably have fewer heals than a more traditional fighter who doesn't need to worry as much about their FP supply, nor will you be investing in as much armour or a heavy-duty shield. However, because of that Intelligence and Faith demand, you can ''also'' use every spell in the game, since they're restricted by stats rather than class. An experienced pyromancer, who knows the [[AchillesHeel elemental weaknesses]] of every boss, can use this feature for tremendous flexibility, switching to a miracle catalyst with lots of lightning spells to punish dragons, then going back to fire damage to bring down the likes of Aldrich.

** Taken UpToEleven in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar''. Movement in FE4 matters more than it does in any other Fire Emblem game, meaning your dancer's low movement stat is a big detriment. However, dancers in this game can refresh up to 4 adjacent units, which means that they are essentially 4 times better than dancers in other games, but clever positioning is required to use dancers to their full potential. For this reason, many players give their dancer the Leg Ring (increases movement by 3) and the Knight Ring (lets them move after dancing).

** In ''3'', ''4'' and ''5'', you can play Dante with the Royal Guard style. To get the most out of this style, you need to time Dante's blocks and releases near-perfectly. If you take the time to master it, however, you can do a lot of damage. A real lot. Plus blocking everything your enemy/ies can throw at Dante and retaliating like the unstoppable badass Dante is meant to be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kitFV4F8hbM looks really awesome.]]
** ''3'' has two types of LagCancel for its big guns Spiral and Kalina Ann. The easier one is switch-cancelling, where you switch to Ebony&Ivory, fire them and switch back. Little finesse is needed and anyone can do it. The harder one is to use Royal Guard to cancel. If you slip up on the rhythm, the cancel will fail and the refire rate will be as slow as if you never tried. If you get the rhythm correct, though, you can fire faster than what switch-cancelling offers.
** Nevan ''3''. Yes, it's slow, its moves need to be far more precise than any other in the game, it's the only melee weapon that mainly involves charging attacks, it kinda sucks against large enemies ''and'' its damage isn't all that great either. However, its range is by far the best in the game and its sickle attacks when using the Swordmaster attacks are obscenely powerful. Once you get skilled enough with Nevan, you can quickly switch between its crowd control attacks, leaving everyone immobilized, and its killer sickle attacks.
** Another element that straddles the border between Difficult, but Awesome and AwesomeButImpractical is the top tier Rebellion Swordmaster skill "Dance Macabre". Yes, it looks extremely awesome when using it, but you need to be very aware of where every enemy is and when they're about to attack.
** Dante himself in ''4'' and ''5'' compared to the other playable characters. To get the most out of him, you have to learn to switch between all of his styles and weapons on the fly, utilize quite a few glitches and exploits, and learn to properly use his moves to chase the opponent. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOf5ITkRTAk That said, if you can learn how to properly use him...]]
** Nero himself has the EX-Act mechanic. Prior to purchasing the EX-Act, the only way to use Nero's revved up attacks are by charging the sword while standing still, which is drawn-out and doesn't allow you to use certain attacks revved (such as at the end of a four-hit string when you are only allotted three Exceed segments). Once purchased, you can then charge the sword every time it's swung to gain an Exceed segment if you have good timing and thus all of Nero's attacks can be revved up. Going even further is the MAX-Act, which has an extremely small timing window (about a frame) but pulling the trigger on that frame will grant you a maxed out Exceed meter, meaning you get three segments for one well-timed rev.
** Jump Canceling is a trick/semi-legitimate exploitation of the "Enemy Step" ability that allows you to cancel any attack by jumping off an enemy. The most common use of this is to cancel an attack into another attack in mid-air. In ''4'', however, advanced usage of Jump Canceling allows you to transfer momentum from one attack to another, and advanced usage of ''that'' trick even allows Dante to zip around in the air with a technique known as "Guard Flying"!

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' has the [[CriticalStatusBuff Red Tearstone Ring,]] which increases all damage ratings of your weapons (including sorcery catalysts, pyromancy flames, and talismans) by 50% while you're below 20% max health.[[note]]Due to enemies having varying defenses against the your damage type(strike, thrust, or slash) or elemental damage (magic, fire, lightning, or dark), the actual damage output can increase by anything between 50% and '''150%.'''[[/note]] It's incredibly useful against most bosses due to the sheer amount of damage you'll be doing. The only problem is that, if you get hit once when you're at that low health, you're pretty much dead. If you get really good at calling and dodging their attacks, though, it absolutely [[IncrediblyLamePun tears]] through them.

* Using manual transmission over automatic transmission in general. While automatic transmission frees you from having to shift gears by yourself and lets you fully focus on driving, in mastered hands manual transmission gives better control of acceleration and deceleration, as well as allows you to use engine braking (i.e. slowing your car by shifting the gear down instead of using the brake), which can be incredibly useful or even crucial on tight corners, especially when it comes to [[ProfessionalGaming competitive gaming]].