History Main / KillItWithWater

* Water turns out to be deadly to the aliens from ''Film/{{Signs}}''. Many consider this plot point to be idiotic: Why the heck were the aliens invading a planet 70% covered in poison, while stark naked no less? ([[WMG/{{Signs}} We have a few theories.]])

* ''Film/AQuietPlacePart2'' reveals that [[spoiler: the aliens can't swim. An alien drowns after being tricked into jumping into the ocean.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'', [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]] can be harmed, even ''killed'' by running water. This apparently means ''any'' water in motion. That means water hoses and squirt guns are effective weapons when vampires attack.

** Sir Crocodile is made of sand that can freely disperse and reform when struck. When wet, however, the sand clumps together so his face can be punched in.

* If you go down too deep, that oxygen tank on your back won't do you any good. Water ''pressure'' will kill you. Water has weight, and enough of that weight can and ''will'' cause injury or death to anything unfortunate enough to be exposed. Except for inanimate objects, and only on the technicality that they're not alive and are thus damaged or destroyed instead.
** The means by which pressure kills you isn't really obvious, though. What kills you is the high amount of oxygen in your bloodstream. Likewise, if you put an unopened bottle of carbonated water at the bottom of the ocean, very little will happen to it, because water, which is the biggest part of any soft drink, is pretty much incompressible. The only thing that will happen is that the air bubble at the top will shrink.

* ''Webcomic/{{Sunbird}}'': Serenthia executes traitors by drowning because a significant part of its population is [[ImmuneToFire fireproof]].

* In the vampire novel ''Literatture/TheyThirst'', it is eventually discovered that seawater has a deadly effect on vampires.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieFairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow'', one of the guardian fairies' apprentices, the fairy Sunburst's powers are weakened by water. When [[BigBad Laverna]] captures her and takes her place, Sunburst is left trapped inside an underwater bubble until Elina rescues her.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The Dipper clones in "[[Recap/GravityFallsS1E7DoubleDipper Double Dipper]]", being made of paper, will droop and turn to (nonliving) sludge if exposed to any kind of liquid. They helpfully point this out to the original Dipper as they are totally subservient to him, though this proves more difficult than he expects because of their quantity. The exception is Dipper No. 2, who lives through it all and decides to have a peaceful soda with the original Dipper, forgetting about his weakness. Dippers 3 and 4 also survive, and the GrandFinale reveals they are out in the wild wearing raincoats to protect themselves.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' has the child-friendly version of the trope in episode "The Littlest Witch": witches do not die from exposure to water but lose their powers for a year, so they never bathe. The evil witch teacher in the episode (who looks a lot like the one in the Wizard of Oz) suffers this at the end.

* In 1942 WartimeCartoon "WesternAnimation/TulipsShallGrow", the Screwballs, obvious Nazi analogues, are defeated when it starts to rain and they all rust solid.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'', Dracula's vampire court spends an entire scene discussing whether running water is harmful. Godbrand, a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot viking vampire]], points out that he's been on boats and taken baths, though Isaac (a human of the court) argues that bathwater hardly counts as "running". Carmilla also describes how Greeks used to bury vampires on islands to prevent them from leaving, but Godbrand thinks he'd know if running water would kill him, which Carmilla finds idiotic, since you don't automatically know that poison will kill you. The conversation is interrupted by [[SurroundedByIdiots Dracula telling them to shut up]], and we never do learn whether running water harms them or not. [[spoiler:The climax of the season shows a vampire army crossing a bridge easily, but they encounter problems when the water is blessed by a priest and [[HolyBurnsEvil they are dumped into it]]]].

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* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': Giruru, who was eventually defeated with [[MundaneSolution cornstarch]].

* ''Manga/BlackClover'': Noelle Silva's magic often veers to this due to the vast amounts of water she can produce. Her Sea Dragon's Roar spell [[spoiler:rips off Vetto's arm and likely would have defeated him if not for his Mythical Beast Magic]], and is the reason for her epithet "Water Goddess".

* Many creatures in ''ComicBook/WhiteSand'' have skin and teeth made of something like sandstone, which is extremely tough, but very susceptible to ''melting'' from exposure to water to the point that there are plants that use storing water as a survival mechanism.
* ''ComicBook/SergeantFuryAndHisHowlingCommandos'': in an early edition, the Howlers, less Nick Fury, are held captive in a German jail. They manage to trick and overcome a guard, and break out of their cell. A call is heard, "Bring up Der Vater-Gun!", and "Reb" Ralston scoffs, saying, "They'll be throwing spitballs at us, next!". But the water CANNON actually proves quite effective in subduing the Howlers, as Ralston himself notes "it's like being kiced by a Missouri mule!" and the Howlers, drenched, are pacified.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Cardboard}}'', the cardboard creatures are susceptible to water.
* A ''ComicBook/LittleGloomy'' strip that ran in Magazine/DisneyAdventures had Simon von Simon's BlobMonster, the Glob, melt when it started to rain.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* The T-Rex breed of Sharptooth from ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' are unable to swim due to their tiny arms. [[spoiler:This allowed the heroes to kill the original Sharptooth, drowning him in a lake.]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Josiah is defeated in ''Film/ChildrenOfTheCornIVTheGathering'' when he gets hit with water that has been laced with mercury (which is his AchillesHeel).

* The villainous monster [[Film/GameraVsBarugon Barugon]] (Not to be confused with [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Baragon]]) is killed when Film/{{Gamera}} throws him into a lake, causing him to drown since water hurts Barugon and he cannot swim.

* Another example of water proving fatal to aliens: the blob-like energy aliens in ''Night of the Big Heat'' can't be harmed with bullets or dynamite, but die at the end because their constantly heating the island up to suit their preferred climate [[NiceJobFixingItVillain causes a torrential downpour which melts them]].

* ''Film/OperationDaybreak'' (1975). The German authorities track down the commandos who assassinated UsefulNotes/ReinhardHeydrich to the crypt of a church. After suffering casualties trying to storm the hideout the Germans use fire hoses to flood the crypt to force those inside to surrender. The commandos [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled commit suicide instead.]]
* During the title character's rampage in ''Film/Carrie1976'', Norma's neck is broken by a firehose hitting her full blast in the face.

* In ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', a point is made about water being the only thing the Wicked Witch fears more than the dark... and yet she specifically has Dorothy (at this point her slave) cleaning her castle with water... This manages to be even dumber than [[Film/TheWizardOfOz the movie]], where a bucket just happens to be lying around.
** In TheMusical of ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', her weakness to water turns out to be merely an urban legend, which she uses to [[FakingTheDead fake her death]].
** In the book version of ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'', she had a bucket sitting around collecting rainwater.
** In the later Oz sequels, this goes from being specifically the Wicked Witch of the West's weakness to a weakness that ALL witches have in that universe. The witch Mombi is eventually executed via this method in ''The Lost King of Oz''.

* The various species of [[spoiler:terrestrial mantis shrimp]] found on Henders Island in ''Literature/{{Fragment}}'' are vulnerable to salt-water. Not just vulnerable to it, ''terrified'' of it. However, this could be considered a subversion, as it is not the water itself that kills the creatures, but rather their inability to regulate salt when it is introduced to their bodies. This fact is used heavily in the plot of the story from [[spoiler:explaining why none of these DeathWorld natives haven't gotten off the island and killed us all yet, as well as who sent the emergency signal that brought the boat to the island in the first place and started the whole story]]. One of the characters actually lampshaded this similarity to the Triffids, another group of creatures susceptible to the "kill it with salt water" tactic.
* One of the "easy" ways to kill a ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' golem is to [[KillItWithFire heat it to a significant temperature]], then drop a bunch of water on it (or vice-versa), and let the rapid temperature shift work its magic. This happens to [[spoiler:Anghammarad, in ''Literature/GoingPostal'' during the Post Office Fire]].
** In fact, this is only the second permanent Golem death encountered in the series thus far.
* ''Literature/EnchantedForestChronicles'':
** Wizards, the antagonists of the series, can be (temporarily) melted by splashing them with water, mixed with soap and lemon juice. The discovery was completely by accident, and nobody's completely sure why it works, but it takes all three elements to do the job; in the second book, King Mendanbar forgets the lemon, which just results in wet, soapy wizards, until Cimorene reminds him.
** They also invert the trope near the end of the first book, when [[spoiler:the Stone Prince throws water on the wizard who is holding the witch Morwen hostage. The wizard melts; Morwen, who practices clean living, does not]].
* The tenth book of the ''Literature/BeAnInterplanetarySpy'' Literature/ChooseYourOwnAdventure series put you up against a trio of SpacePirates who were, essentially, lethally allergic to water. The end result was the protagonist forcing the leader of the trio to surrender by ''threatening him with a tiny puddle of water''.
* In the ''Literature/KnownSpace'' series by Creator/LarryNiven, Martians were spectacularly vulnerable to water. In the short story "At the Bottom of a Hole", explorers sent to Mars discovered an ornately constructed water well... and realized that it was used as a crematorium. ''That'' vulnerable.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': The Veleek, a nearly unstoppable swarm of insects all working as one that can shred any solid matter by touch, is killed when the kids trick manipulate it into going out over the ocean, and then Cassie drops onto it as a humpback whale. The whale's weight is far too great for the Veleek to carry, and it gets forced into the ocean. The water either drowns the bugs or separates them and keeps them from working together anymore.
* In the vampire novel ''They Thirst'', it is eventually discovered that seawater has a deadly effect on vampires.
* From ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''
** Warden Carlos Ramirez is a water mage and combat magic specialist. In the Dresdenverse, water is associated with entropy and cleansing, and pretty much all of Ramirez's combat spells involve disintegration to some extent.
** [[TheArchmage Senior Council]] [[MagicalNativeAmerican Joseph "Listens-to-Winds"]] is an older and stronger version of Carlos. He once called a rainstorm, by a rain dance, to pour down heavily on a PhysicalGod's magical attacks. The water purified and distilled the magic, nullifying the attacks. He would also simply be untouched as the magic that wasn't destroyed missed him or blipped out when it was a foot from him and then started up again behind him.
** The Red Court vampire Arianna used water magic to counter Harry's fire magic during their duel in ''Literature/{{Changes}}''. [[spoiler:Which did work until Harry revealed that he, as the Winter Knight, now also could use [[KillItWithIce Ice magic]]. She was quickly [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaled with dozen of icicles]]]].
* ''Literature/MaxAndTheMidknightsTheTempleOfTime'': The water in the Blistering Bay is so broiling hot that touching it results in instant death according to Clayton. [[spoiler:Gastley meets his end when he falls into the water.]]
* It is strongly implied that in ''Literature/SomethingWickedThisWayComes'', the Dust People might have this weakness. They must leave before the autumn storms because "the rain washes away their dust."
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/RainRainGoAway": A {{Feghoot}} about a strange couple that melt in the rain because they're made of sugar.
* The flesh of the cthonians, worm-like CosmicHorrorStory monstrosities introduced to the Franchise/CthulhuMythos by Creator/BrianLumley, disintegrates on contact with water.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', there are many mentions of Tywin Lannister's infamous slaughter of House Reyne, but it was never told how it was done. Then ''Literature/TheWorldOfIceAndFire'' gave us the story and it turned out to be a version of this trope. House Reyne, having already suffered one defeat by the Lannisters, fled to a [[ElaborateUndergroundBase series of mines]], hoping that the Lannisters wouldn't want to suffer the huge casualties that would be needed to storm the place, and that the Reynes could negotiate a way out. Instead, Tywin Lannister simply had all entrances and exits to the mines sealed and diverted a local river so that it flowed into the mines, drowning every single man, woman, and child inside. [[NightmareFuel Not something to think about before going to sleep]].
-->Ser Reynard sent word to Ser Tywin above, offering terms. But Tywin Lannister did not honor Ser Reynard's offer with a reply. Instead, he commanded that the mines be sealed. With pick and axe and torch, his own miners brought down tons of stone and soil, burying the great gates to the mines until there was no way in and no way out. Once that was done, he turned his attention to the small, swift stream that fed the crystalline blue pool beside the castle from which Castamere took its name. It took less than a day to dam the stream and only two to divert it to the nearest mine entrance. The earth and stone that sealed the mine had no gaps large enough to let a squirrel pass, let alone a man... but the water found its way down. Ser Raynard had taken more than three hundred men, women, and children into the mines, it is said. Not a one emerged. A few of the guards assigned to the smallest and most distant of the mine entrances reported hearing faint screams and shouts coming from beneath the earth one night, but by daybreak, the stones had gone silent once again.
* Although it never really becomes a plot point, it's stated in ''Literature/AlienInASmallTown'' that water is poisonous to [[SiliconBasedLife Jan,]] at least if taken internally. When Paul grows a garden of Jannite crops, he has to make sure they're very tough ones that can ''survive'' regular dousings with rain.
* In Vixen 03 by Creator/CliveCussler, the airborne QD/Quick Death bacterium kills any living thing it touches in fifteen minutes or less, can encyst itself in the absence of hosts to survive in the soil for (theoretically) up to three centuries, and is capable of [[NoSell no-selling]] methods of protection up to and including airtight hazmat suits and methods of disinfection up to and including nuclear blasts. For this reason, it's theorized that if released somewhere on the mainland it could render entire continents uninhabitable for hundreds of years. Fortunately, however, it dies instantly when immersed in water.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]] can be killed by completely submerging them in running water for three rounds (about eighteen seconds)... [[OhCrap unless the creature was naturally aquatic before becoming a vampire, granting it immunity to that particular weakness.]]
** The 3.5 Edition supplement book ''Sandstorm'' introduces the dry lich and salt mummy, undead whose desiccated bodies are damaged by contact with regular water as if it were holy water.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' the best way to beat a fire monster is to [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2010-10-08 punt it into a river.]]

* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' is parodied in a ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode: "Who would have thought a small amount of ''liquid'' could ever fall on meeeeee...!" Leela turns herself into a witch a bit later and meets the same fate almost immediately... due to a [[ToiletHumor backed-up toilet]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'' the easiest way to kill a ghost ([[TakesOneToKillOne short of being a ghost yourself]] or finding [[KryptoniteFactor Deepstone]] is to splash water onto their spiritual bodies since water sorta acts like their intangible forms

* In an episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'', young villain Downpour tries this... [[EpicFail on]] [[TooDumbToLive Aquaman]]. Aquaman himself weaponizes this trope in a non-lethal manner to defeat Wonder Woman in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' by dragging her underwater until she ends up passing out.
* In ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', when Zim is hit by water he screams wildly and his skin gives off smoke/steam with a horrible sizzling noise. It is heavily implied that water acts as an acid to him (although creator Jhonen Vasquez has suggested that it's not the water itself, but the pollution in it) and so if Dib ever managed to pour enough water over him, he'd probably melt in a rather horrific fashion. Except that, unlike the aliens from ''Film/{{Signs}}'', Zim quickly discovered a way to waterproof himself once he discovered the weakness, which was to bathe himself in glue.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieFairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow'', one of the guardian fairies' apprentices, the fairy Sunburst's powers are weakened by water. When [[BigBad Laverna]] captures her and takes her place, Sunburst is left trapped inside an underwater bubble until Elina rescues her.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Livewire's one apparent weakness is water despite the fact that she's supposedly a being of pure energy courtesy of a FreakLabAccident.
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' has a minor variation on this trope when Dr. Drakken creates an army of Kim clones. It's eventually discovered that the clones are susceptible to ''carbonated water'', prompting Kim to unleash the awesome power of a soda fountain upon the clones.
* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'':
** [[PsychoElectro Megavolt]] will short-circuit if splashed with water. Large amounts of liquid (such as Liquidator, a pure water being) effectively knock him out.
** Liquidator himself knows several decent methods of killing it with water, ranging from boiling water to ''water hammer'' to a freaking tsunami. And when he collides with Megavolt...
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' features a slime-like alien species called the Limax that survive in hot temperatures and can be easily be killed by water. However, despite their weakness to water, the Limax are still able to eat beings who have water in them. For example, one of them ate a fly. They also planned on devouring an entire neighborhood of senior citizens and there were no plans to dehydrate them in any way.
* [[ElementalRockPaperScissors Waterbenders]] in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' weaponize water (and sometimes [[KillItWithIce ice]]) quite effectively. There even include some fringe tactics like the "Foggy Swamp" style of waterbending that utilizes the water in vines to move them like tentacles and the much darker "[[DangerousForbiddenTechnique bloodbending]]" that allows someone to ''take control of someone else's body'' by moving the water in their blood.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' has the child-friendly version of the trope in episode "The Littlest Witch": witches do not die from exposure to water but lose their powers for a year, so they never bathe. The evil witch teacher in the episode (who looks a lot like the one in the Wizard of Oz) suffers this at the end.

* ''ComicBook/Sergeant Fury and His Howling Commandos'': in an early edition, the Howlers, less Nick Fury, are held captive in a German jail. They manage to trick and overcome a guard, and break out of their cell. A call is heard, "Bring up Der Vater-Gun!", and "Reb" Ralston scoffs, saying, "They'll be throwing spitballs at us, next!". But the water CANNON actually proves quite effective in subduing the Howlers, as Ralston himself notes "it's like being kiced by a Missouri mule!" and the Howlers, drenched, are pacified.

See also HolyWater, which will often act in this capacity against evil entities.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The Dipper clones in "Double Dipper", being made of paper, will droop and turn to (nonliving) sludge if exposed to any kind of liquid. They helpfully point this out to the original Dipper as they are totally subservient to him, though this proves more difficult than he expects because of their quantity. The exception is Dipper No. 2, who lives through it all and decides to have a peaceful soda with the original Dipper, forgetting about his weakness. Dippers 3 and 4 also survive, and the GrandFinale reveals they are out in the wild wearing raincoats to protect themselves.

* Invoked and PlayedForLaughs with ''WebVideo/{{Phelous}}''' "Old Man" character. If anything gets even slightly wet, Old Man will despondently proclaim "[[{{Catchphrase}} it's completely useless now]]." This is an exaggeration of a scene from [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeastGolden1992 the original movie]], where the Old Man is depressed because his shipments were supposedly waterlogged when the ship hit a storm.

* The seven planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system are not only Earth-sized but also some of them are thought to be ''extremely'' rich in water, much more so than Earth, which translates in some of them being basically [[DeathWorld planetary-sized pressure cookers with surface conditions that make Venus look tame]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', when Zim is hit by water he screams wildly and his skin gives off smoke/steam with a horrible sizzling noise. It is heavily implied that water acts as an acid to him, if it isn't said outright in the show, and so if Dib ever managed to pour enough water over him, he'd probably melt in a rather horrific fashion. Except that, unlike the aliens from ''Film/{{Signs}}'', Zim quickly discovered a way to waterproof himself once he discovered the weakness, which was to bathe himself in glue.

* Happened in ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'' where the party faced an [[GeniusBruiser Ogre]]. Not mere water magic, but [[spoiler:a portal scroll linked to the bottom of the sea, resulting in a water jet so powerful, it cleaved the monstrosity in one shot.]]

* During the title character's rampage in ''Film/{{Carrie}}'', Norma's neck is broken by a firehose hitting her full blast in the face.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'':
** The Motorized Patriot enemies are vulnerable to the water-spewing Undertow vigor, which stuns them and electrocutes other enemies near them.
** Further, Songbird is specifically vulnerable to water ''pressure.''
* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', Alucard takes constant damage while too deep in water [[spoiler:until he collects the "Holy Symbol"]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Dominions}} 3'', vampires and vampire lords cannot go underwater by any means. If they do end up in a water province somehow they are killed, permanently. Which can give a player a nice {{facepalm}}-worthy moment if he's playing an aquatic nation and summons some vamps for their immortality, only to find out that vampires killed in battle do respawn... in their underwater capital.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', mirelurks (huge bipedal mutated crabs) in the Jefferson Memorial basin start dying once the purifier is turned on in ''Broken Steel''. Apparently, mirelurks can only survive and nest in irradiated water and die upon prolonged contact with fresh water.
** In the Nuka-World DLC of ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', Overboss Colter's power armor is hooked up to the power system of a bumper car arena, which somehow makes it completely impervious to damage. However, before the fight his [[TheStarscream second-in-command]] leaves you a water gun that will short out his armor, thus temporarily disabling his invincibility.
* Vaas' memorable "Definition of Insanity" speech in ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' is evoked because, the last time he killed you, he tried to [[KillItWithFire use fire]] and it didn't work. So this time, while tying your wrists to a cinder block, he gives his speech about how he's not crazy and won't keep trying the same things over and over hoping they work... before shoving you off a cliff into the water to drown.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'': the scarce Water magic spells (Water and Leviathan) are weak spots to a handful of enemies. However, fire-based foes are only weak to [[AnIcePerson ice]] magic (Blizzard, Blizzara, Blizzaga, Shiva). Water is also useful early in the game when it is junctioned to offensive stats (Strength and Magic) as it dramatically boosts those stats compared with other offensive magic.
* In ''VideoGame/TheFiremen'' your fire hose and water grenades are your only means of defense against enemies, which makes sense as all enemies are fire, robots, or flaming robots.
* In the ''VideoGame/InFamous'' franchise, Cole dies from overexposure to water because it conducts the electricity within him, causing him to electrocute himself.
* In ''VideoGame/KameoElementsOfPower'', water is only harmful to [[ElementalRockPaperScissors fire-based enemies]] and for some odd reason makes the water-based enemies vulnerable (normally they're intangible).
* All the vampires in ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' are hurt or killed by water, except for one clan in Soul Reaver that evolved a resistance to it, and Raziel once he acquires their power.
* Several enemies in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' will be instantly killed if they enter water too deep to wade in -- Bokoblins, Moblins, and all varieties of Stal- enemies can't swim at all (and for the latter, even throwing their skulls into water will suffice). However, this is not universal - Lizalfos are capable swimmers, and Hinoxes are surprisingly agile in water. Fire Keese take this one step further, as merely being caught in the rain is enough to kill them.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': The Javelin is a variation of it: Just replace water with ferrofluids (a highly magnetic liquid) shot at very high velocities and you have a sniper that makes for the single most effective anti-material rifle in the game since it A. has the highest penetration of all guns. and B. Deals more damage than the Widow. All in all, it is a single shot, high pressured water jet.
* Several ''Franchise/MegaMan'' bosses (usually fire- or stone-based) are weak against whatever water-based attack [[PowerCopying the hero gets from another boss]].
** A notable example is the [[FinalBoss Alien Wily]] in ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'' whose ''only'' weakness is [[NoWaterproofingInTheFuture Bubble Lead]], with every other special weapon actually ''healing'' the boss. The alien is really a hologram, so the ''water''-based weapon shorts out its hologram projector.
** PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/MegaMan11'': Torch Man attempted to control his power by MeditatingUnderAWaterfall. Obviously, it didn't work out for him.
* In the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series, the early Metal Gear RAY units used a high pressure water-jet cutter as its exotic weapon, in addition to the usual machine guns and missiles found on a Metal Gear. Later versions replace the water-jet with a PlasmaCannon.
* ''VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle'': The water-pot, for the flame enemies as well as the fake queens.
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'':
** Enderman take damage from water, including rain. An easy way to kill an Enderman fast is to use a Water Bucket on it. After the 1.9 update, Endermen have gotten around this weakness with ArtificialBrilliance, any Endermen exposed to water or rain will immediately teleport away.
** The Blaze, as a fire-based mob, is vulnerable to water. However, water instantly evaporates in the Nether.
** Another Nether mob, the Strider, is often found in lava lakes. If they're imported into the Overworld, they are harmed by water and rain and will eventually die if exposed for too long.
* Rain from ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' weaponizes water. Originally, he could form it into a cohesive ball used in projectile attacks (which let him move his opponent around the arena, oddly), and then in the reboot, he gains a few additional moves with it, and it factors into both his fatalities.
* ''VideoGame/NosferatuTheWrathOfMalachi'': In terms of damage per hit, the Holy Water in the Chalice is the most powerful weapon in the game.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Water is strong against three types: it extinguishes [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], erodes [[DishingOutDirt Rock]], and dampens Ground. The series is fond of pairing Rock and Ground types on a single Pokémon, which makes them take quadruple damage from Water (and Grass) instead of the normal double. Subverted with Primal Groudon: while it's a Ground/Fire type that would normally take quadruple damage from water, its ability, Desolate Land, summons Harsh Sunlight, a weather effect that nullifies ''all'' water-type attacks by evaporating the water[[labelnote:+]]though if you send out a Mon with weather-cancelling abilities like Golduck, who gets STAB on Water attacks... ouch, poor Groudon[[/labelnote]]. On the other hand, a Pokémon of any of these types, including Primal Groudon, can drink water [[HyperactiveMetabolism and benefit from it]] like any other Pokémon.
* In ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaWarriorWithin'', water is the Dahaka's only weakness. Finding the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Water Sword]] lets the Prince fight the Dahaka and get the good ending.
* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank'': The Ameboids are easily killed by water as seen in the sewers of planet Rilgar.
* ''VideoGame/RavenloftStoneProphet'' has Desert Trolls, which are burned by contact on water, and they can't regenerate the damage. A party member desert troll was tortured by his brothers with water.
* The Fire Ghosts in ''VideoGame/ScoobyDooMysteryMayhem'' are immune to the Tome of Doom and can't be sucked into it until Scooby and Shaggy have put out the ghosts' flames by luring them near activated sprinklers.
* This is the easiest way to get rid of [[GreyGoo the Tarr]] in ''VideoGame/SlimeRancher'', either by spraying them with water from your Vacupack or throwing them into the Slime Sea.
* The Inklings and Octolings from ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' dissolve if they touch water.
* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'': The Deluge Machine Colossus weapon, which dumps something like an entire moon's worth of water onto a planet in one go. Any non-Aquatic pops on the planet (including robots) instantly drown, all districts are destroyed and all buildings on the planets are broken (but can be repaired), leaving behind a factory-fresh Ocean world for your own Aquatic pops to move in and settle.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'': During the second phase of the Lava Piranha boss fight where their bodies are on fire, Sushie's water attacks, such as Squirt or Tidal Wave, will put him and his Lava Buds out of commission for a few turns.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'': Most of the monsters and bosses in the game are vulnerable to Mario's water sprays. Curiously, Yoshis in this game also seem to hate deep water, despite not displaying any aversion anywhere else in the franchise.
** ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion1'': Certain ghosts in the game can only be sucked up if you spray them with water first. Or, alternatively, just drench them until they fade away.
** In ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'', [[BlobMonster Gooigi]] melts if he gets wet.
** In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'', the AlienKudzu planted by the Shroobs is completely eradicated by an absurdly specific type of water: baby's tears. Good thing the Mario Brothers have been spending the whole game adventuring with [[MyFutureSelfAndMe their infant selves]]!
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'': Characters that have a weakness to water will gradualy take damage if they enter any bodies of water.
* While the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' usually has "water" as a separate element from Ice, ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia'' has a rather unique take on this trope - there is actually no "[[LightEmUp Light]]" element in the game's element system. Instead, all light spells like Brilliant Lance, Judgment, and Ray deal water damage - but this actually makes sense in-universe. The sea is worshipped as sacred in the world of Tales of Legendia, thus it makes sense that the spells that act as "Holy" would be using the power of the sea. Then FridgeBrilliance kicks in when you realize that spells like Maelstrom, Spread, Aqua Laser, and Tidal Wave, traditional water aligned spells, are now in the same class as "Holy" spells. Thus, this means that you are literally killing the forces of darkness by splashing them to death - or if you prefer, washing away their evil.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' games, [[TrickArrow Water Arrows]] kill Fire Elementals and can disable the steam-powered Mechanist robots [[AttackItsWeakPoint if aimed at the rear vent]]. Less obviously, they can temporarily incapacitate zombies. Not very effective in itself, but if you manage to lure zombies to a pool, even a shallow one, they will quickly collapse and stay underwater, thus saving you on the precious holy water that dispatches the undead permanently.
* The Squirt gag track in ''VideoGame/ToontownOnline'' is essentially this, considering that the Cogs are robots. The squirt gags include a squirting flower, a glass of water, a squirt gun, a seltzer bottle, a water hose, a storm cloud, and a geyser.[[note]]''Corporate Clash'' also has the Water Balloon.[[/note]]
* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'':
** The Shikigami are mentioned to be weak against water since it causes them to lose the empowering link they have with their masters. Chen gets a double whammy in this weakness since [[CatGirl she's also a cat]], [[CatsHateWater so she's always weak against water]].
** The Scarlet sisters, being vampires, are weak against running water. In fact, the backstory of the Extra Stage in ''VideoGame/TouhouKoumakyouTheEmbodimentOfScarletDevil'' had [[SquishyWizard Patchoulli]] casting a rain spell to prevent [[PersonOfMassDestruction Flandre]] from leaving the mansion.
* Spraying lava fluros in ''VideoGame/{{Vessel}}'' with water is an effective way of killing them if they're causing trouble.
[[/folder]]

** ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'': Certain ghosts in the game can only be sucked up if you spray them with water first. Or, alternatively, just drench them until they fade away.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'', Dracula's vampire court spends an entire scene discussing wether running water is harmful. Godbrand, a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot viking vampire]], points out that he's been on boats and taken baths, though Isaac (a human of the court) argues that bathwater hardly counts as "running". Carmilla also describes how Greeks used to bury vampires on islands to prevent them from leaving, but Godbrand thinks he'd know if running water would kill him, which Carmilla finds idiotic, since you don't automatically know that poison will kill you. The conversation is interrupted by [[SurroundedByIdiots Dracula telling them to shut up]], and we never do learn wether running water harms them or not. [[spoiler:The climax of the season shows a vampire army crossing a bridge easily, but they encounter problems when the water is blessed by a priest and [[HolyBurnsEvil they are dumped into it]]]].