"Kicks the target and interrupts its current action, preventing that ability from being used for the next 4 seconds."
Interrupter Attacks forcibly disrupt opponents' attempted moves before they can resolve, preventing enemy moves. Rather than countering attacks after the fact, this type of attack or move intervenes during execution, cutting it off mid-action.
Sometimes, this kind of move is a Status Infliction Attack whose status is used up by stopping the enemy from acting. This is not the Opposite Trope of Immune to Flinching, despite any Status Infliction Attacks that give "flinched" to an enemy, because the ability to interrupt isn't a feature of every attack, just a feature of certain attacks.
Speaking of in-game terms that don't count, sometimes the effect of interruption is called "parrying", but this trope isn't a Punch Parry, while parries are likely to be "Just Frame" Bonus.
Similarly, due to having a useful additional effect, basically a chance of an Extra Turn, means that Interrupter Attacks are likely weaker than pure damage attacks, as a Necessary Drawback for Competitive Balance.
Concentration-Bound Magic is similar in that any source of distraction, not just violence, may disrupt such magic, and can overlap with this, if an Interrupter Attack somehow exploits this weakness in a way different from other attacks. Lastly, Charged Attack being vulnerable to interruption is a downside of the attack being built up, not this trope, a feature of the attack that's doing any interruption.
A Combo Breaker is similarly not-this-trope because it only allows attacks in its purview, it doesn't have to be an attack, as some examples are actual features of enemies/battle systems that reduce the utility of repeatedly performing attacks, and doesn't need to be some Counter-Attack-like that stops combos.
In cases where there's a Visual Initiative Queue, the interrupted character is probably moved back in the queue, losing their time to move after being interrupted.
In the vein of interruptions, Killed Mid-Sentence is an interruption of a non-combat action, and related to whether Talking Is a Free Action is in play. A Counterspell is related but doesn't overlap since that's only for spells that only stop/undo other spells, whether before, during, or after casting, while Interrupter Attacks can interrupt anything tagged as interruptible, but not specifically designed to interrupt any one category of attack beyond "can be interrupted", so non-spells that stop magic, even if it only stops magic, would go here.
Destructible Projectiles are related as an attack that can be stopped after its effect of "create projectile" has been completed.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime & Manga
- Dragon Ball Z: The Taiouken (Solar Flare in the English dub) emits a blinding light that usually leaves anyone watching, even Androids, unable to see for a few moments. Characters normally use it when an enemy is fast approaching, bringing their attack to a screeching halt. Normally this is used as a way of escaping, as done by Krillin on Namek to second-form Freeza or first-form Cell when he was confronted by the heroes. However, it can also be used for offensive purposes by leaving an enemy open to follow-up attacks, such as when second-form Cell used it to blind Krillin, Android 16, and Android 18, and took advantage of 18's helpless state to absorb her and achieve his Perfect Form.
- Gundam:
- Many Mobile Suits come equipped with head vulcans. It's generally understood that they're only really useful for anti-personnel or anti-missile defense, as they generally aren't strong enough to penetrate a Mobile Suit's armour. The original Gundam's 30mm head vulcans, for example, need to sustain an attack to damage a Zaku-II's armour. However, skilled pilots make use of them in combat to interrupt or distract enemies, as many pilots instinctively try to dodge the head vulcans even if they know the vulcans can't really damage their Mobile Suit.
- Psycommu weapons like Bits and Funnelsnote are Attack Drones directed by the mind of a Newtype pilot (developed after it was discovered that Telepathy isn't subject to the Minovsky interference which disrupts other forms of battlefield communication). A fight between a Newtype and an ordinary human (i.e. Oldtypes) tend to be one-sided once Psycommu get involved, since they allow for attacks from all sides. However, between two Newtype pilots of equal skill and comparable machines, then quite often they get used as distractions or to interrupt movements or attacks. In the final battle of Mobile Suit Gundam, Amuro Ray manages to get clear shots at Char Aznable's Zeong several times but is unable to actually take the shots because he has to dodge attacks from the Zeong's Funnel-like launchable forearms. It's only after he switches tactics and destroys the arms first that he's able to shoot the Zeong in the chest.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Dom and the spaceborne variant the Rick Dom are equipped with a chest-mounted scattering beam gun. Unfortunately, the Dom's reactor isn't powerful enough to make the scattering beam gun a viable weapon, and it mostly emits a bright light that temporarily scrambles an enemy's cameras to blind them. The most famous example of this is during the Black Tristar's fight with the Gundam: as part of the Jetstream Attack Gaia uses the scattering beam gun to distract Amuro so as to leave him open to Mash and Ortega's follow-up attacks.
- Shinobi Undercover: Prior to Squad No.9's confrontation with Squad No.6, Mimizuku teaches Yodaka the "Whole-Hearted Charge", a powerful, almost One-Hit Kill, counter-attack that specifically relies on an opponent filling their lungs in preparation to unleash an attack of their own. By waiting until just before the opposing attack is released, the Whole-Hearted Charge can literally knock the wind out of its target to interrupt that attack and deal heavy damage, with even other elite ninja like Hayabusa struggling to remain conscious after taking a hit from it.
Comic Books
- Spider-Man:
- One of Spider-Man's go-to attacks is to web an enemy in the face to blind them. He generally does this when an enemy is attacking so as to resist the chances of them blocking or dodging, and inevitably the enemy's attack gets interrupted as they try to get the webbing off their face. This is such a well-known move of his that as time went on, several members of his Rogues Gallery took steps to counter it, such as Doctor Octopus sometimes treating his eyewear with a special chemical that causes the webbing to simply slide off.
- Another of Spider-Man's common uses of his webbing is to interrupt an enemy by webbing them from behind and pulling on them. He's done this to prevent them from harming others or to throw them off-balance to miss the target of their attack. A failed example is during his famous battle with the unstoppable Juggernaut in Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut!: he tried to web the Juggernaut from behind, but the Juggernaut's mystical force-field prevented the webbing from even getting close.
Comic Strips
- Dilbert: The 1992-12-31 strip
shows Dilbert facing off against Techno-Bill, the only employee with more personal gadgets than him. Dilbert tries to dial into Techno-Bill's control module and set off all his systems at once, but has exactly that happen to him before he can finish, with Techno-Bill boasting that he has auto-dialing as he makes all of Dilbert's devices activate at once.
Films — Animation
- How to Train Your Dragon: As Toothless fights over food with a Terrible Terror, the latter tries to escalate the fight by breathing fire on him. Toothless stops it by spitting his own fire in the short time the Terror is producing the gas needed for the action, momentarily stunning it. This later becomes a Chekhov's Gun as Toothless and Hiccup repeat it against the Red Death, igniting its gas while it's still in its mouth before it can ignite it itself and use it to fry them both.
Literature
- Dungeon Of Knowledge features Disruption abilities, which can sabotage an opponent's casting and slap a cooldown on the ability they were trying to use, provided the character using the disruption comprehends what they're trying to break. Aliandra develops a spell disruption ability after being targeted by an assassin-mage who based his entire class on disruption, and Malika later develops an Eye Magic ability that lets her disrupt martial techniques.
- May I Ask for One Final Thing?: Prince Julius wears a ring that enables him to cancel any spell cast by a citizen of Pallistan before it goes off.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons:
- Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition:
- Casting a spell within an enemy's melee range provokes an Attack of Opportunity from that enemy, potentially causing the spell to whiff (taking damage while spellcasting forces you to make a Concentration check or lose the spell). It's possible to avoid this by casting defensively, unless the opponent has the Mage Slayer feat.
- The trip combat maneuver can be performed as an attack of opportunity to interrupt an opponent's movement by knocking them off their feet. Since you normally provoke an AoO for exiting a square within an opponent's reach (except through "safe movement" options like the Withdraw action), this is normally used as an Anti-Escape Mechanism. However, in conjunction with a reach weapon (or feats like Hold the Line, which allows you to make an AoO against a charging opponent) it can also interrupt enemies as they approach to attack. The "Lockdown" build centres around using the Improved Trip feat (make a free attack against an enemy after tripping them) and a spiked chain (a weapon which can strike at both long and short reach, and can be used to trip) in order to control the battlefield around them, typically in combination with abilities which remove the opponent's access to safe movement options.
- The Stand Still feat allows you to make an attack of opportunity which deals no damage, but ends an opponent's movement for the turn. While less effective than tripping, it has a different formula to resist which makes it more reliable, especially against large or multilegged targets who would be difficult to trip.
- Tome of Battle: The Stone Dragon discipline includes a number of maneuvers where on a successful attack, the foe's movement speed is lowered to zero for 1 round. Its dwarf-only specialist Prestige Class, Deepstone Sentinel, gains the ability "Stone Curse" which lets them apply this effect as an immediate action after any successful attack, including an attack of opportunity. This is in addition to sentinels typically having a shifting mound of earth under their feet that extends into adjacent squares, making it difficult to move past them without falling over.
- Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition: One of the benefits of the Sentinel feat is that it interrupts movement, stopping a creature in its tracks if they're hit by an attack of opportunity by a creature with the feat.
- Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition:
- A Game Of Thrones The Board Game: Orders are placed during the planning face, then simultaneously revealed to start the action phase. Raid Orders activate first, which remove one adjacent enemy Support, Raid or Colsolidate Power Order, and the special raid may also destroy defense. They can't prevent attacks, but interfere with the ability to support them, turning the tide of battle.
- Pathfinder: Someone having an enemy spellcaster trying to get off a spell while in melee range can try to launch an Attack of Opportunity, which has a chance to stop the spell if it hits, unless the enemy successfully casts in a defensive way to stop such interruption.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Some cards invoke this effect in different ways.
- Straightforwardly, the trap card "Negate Attack" does exactly what it says it does. The attack is called off and the opponent's Battle Phase ends.
- The effect monster card "Kuriboh," when sent from the player's hand to the Graveyard after a friendly monster is destroyed, prevents any lost Life Points from monster attacks for the rest of the turn. While this doesn't stop enemy monsters from attacking friendly monsters to clear the field, it does make any direct attacks or attempts to reduce Life Points completely pointless.
- Spell and Trap card variants that prevent the execution of a spell or trap card's effects also exist, such as "Magic Jammer" and "Seven Tools of the Bandit."
- Straightforwardly, the trap card "Negate Attack
Video Games
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon: The Boost Kick interrupts enemy actions when it lands. Given how fast-paced combat is, this takes some finesse to pull off, but not only is it satisfying to make a Tetrapod MT lining up its nine grenade launchers flinch by kicking it in the torso, it's also left open for a follow-up attack from your own heavy weapons.
- Bloodborne: Pressing L2 fires the hunter's equipped firearm, if any. Timed correctly during an enemy's attack animation, this causes a parry and stun right before the attack lands, so the enemy attack barely hasn't been attempted yet.
- Darkwood: Your attacks will stagger an enemy and knock them back if they connect, which can be used to counter an incoming attack if you time it just right or allow you to make space between yourself and your opponent. This goes both ways, though—enemies that hit you while you're aiming a gun or winding up a melee swing will cause the attack you're preparing to reset every time you're hit, requiring you to carefully dodge incoming attacks to deal consistent damage.
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: A "Shield Bash" move, whether done with a weapon or an actual shield, will almost always disrupt and stop an enemy's power attack. Some of the perks on the Shielding tree make it more effective, but it usually works even without any Shielding perks at all.
- The Final Fantasy franchise:
- Final Fantasy X: During the (pre-)final battle against Jecht in his Final Aeon form, his Overdrive gauge, needed to use a Limit Break, can be lowered by Tidus talking and trying to pull an "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight. However, it only works twice. He can try a third time, but it fails.
- Final Fantasy XIV has several, via "Interrupt" Status Infliction Attacks. Not all actions are Interruptible. Those that are are marked by a pulsing castbar.
- Tank jobs get the shared action "Interject". Judging by the icon, this works by jabbing the target in the throat.
- Ranged DPS jobs get the shared action "Head Graze".
- The Blue Mage class gets a unique one: Flying Sardine. Based on the Flavor Text, the enemy is shocked beyond words that the Blue Mage spat a fish in their face.
- Grandia II has the Counter move, a special attack that does little damage, but is extremely fast to execute, and has a high chance of resetting the target back to the Waiting phase. In terms of the Combatant Cooldown System implemented by the game, this allows the player to interrupt a boss's long casting windup by queuing the next Player Character to Counter it.
- In Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass, this mechanic is known as "startling", usable through Jimmy's "Annoying Squawk" move. Any enemy who becomes startled will have their turn interrupted, then gain the "alert" status effect, making them immune to startle until it ends. Every additional startle will have a longer alert effect, up to a maximum of five turns.
- John Wick Hex: If an enemy is currently trying to use a melee attack, John Wick can interrupt them with a parry, which consists of a quick, harmless punch.
- Marvel Rivals: Quite a few characters have attacks that can interrupt a target's actions, usually used against devastating attacks like Scarlet Witch's Reality Erasure:
- Spider-Man's Get Over Here! forcibly pulls the target to him, or if he marked the enemy with a Spider-Tracer beforehand, pulls him to the target.
- Peni Parker's Cyber Web-Snare briefly snares a foe, disrupting any action they were taking when struck.
- Doctor Strange's Eye of Agamotto forces the enemy's soul out of their body for a few seconds.
- Emma Frost's Carbon Crush attack has her dash forward and choke slam her opponent.
- Pokémon: Status Infliction Attacks that inflict "flinching", if the status is successfully inflicted before the opponent moves, stop the opponent from acting for that turn.
- Star Renegades: Some of the Renegades have moves that stun targets, preventing their move from triggering and allowing any attack to crit them for the rest of the turn. However, all such moves cost Fury to use (with the moves that affect all enemies costing 50 Fury, the maximum you can have), and all stun moves can only be used once per battle. Certain character pairings can get additional stun moves through building up their Relationship Values and unlocking a Combination Attack, but stuns are rare and powerful by design. (There's also a couple bosses that counter stuns: the Abomination goes into a waiting mode instead of being stunned, meaning it no longer takes crits, and while the Chimera can be stunned, it responds by attacking even more often in the following turn.)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic: There are several options for interrupts depending on your character class, which work on any ability with an Exact Progress Bar (some are Charged Attacks, others do Damage Over Time). Due to Contractual Boss Immunity, they don't interrupt most flashpoint or operation bosses (Optional Bosses are hit-or-miss: interrupts are required strategy for some but others are immune), but they work on nearly everything else.
- All classes have a move that interrupts progress bar moves, also causing a cooldown on that move for the user: for example, Sith Inquisitors use "Jolt", a momentary zap of Force lightning, whereas Jedi Knights get the "Force Kick", a Roundhouse Kick inspired by a famous Fight Scene Failure in Return of the Jedi.
- Many classes, as well as mobs, have abilities that stun the target, interrupting any abilities with a progress bar, and many also inflict Damage Over Time. For PCs, these include the Sith Warrior's "Force Choke", which Neck Lifts the target into midair, or the Inquisitor's "Electrocute", which paralyzes the target with lightning. Stuns do not put the interrupted move on cooldown.
- Jedi Shadows on Infiltration spec and Sith Assassins on Deception spec get an ability called "Low Slash", where the character quickly swats at the enemy with their lightsaber, or at longer range, throws it at them. This interrupts progress bar abilities and momentarily stuns the target, but doesn't put them on cooldown.
- Talesworth Arena has one attack with a quick windup time that interrupts and stuns the opponent when they're doing a slower attack. Enemies also have one as well, to likewise disrupt the player's action.
- ULTRAKILL: While parrying projectiles is a more standard Attack Reflector, parrying most melee attacks counts as this instead, as the parry window happens just before the attack is actually launched and usually stops it cold before it can start, while dealing extra damage.
- In World of Warcraft, most spellcasters can magically counter other spellcasters, but some of the physical classes can use this trope to get in on the fun via various moves which involve interrupting the caster with different attacks:
- Magic school blockers: interrupts a spell and stops it (and any spells of the same school) from being recast for a few seconds
- Rogues can learn a move called "Kick". Stops for 5 seconds. The name and flavour text make it clear that it's literally the rogue breaking the spellcaster's concentration with a well-timed kick.
- Warriors get a move called "Pummel", and Druids can learn "Skull Bash". Both stop for 4 seconds, achieved via their self-explanatory names.
- Hunters with the right skill tree can learn a move called "Counter Shot", only for a ranged weapon (and only for 3 seconds).
- Monks get "Spear Hand Strike", which works by punching the caster in the throat to silence them.
- Downplayed by the Death Knight ability "Strangulate", which uses magic, but works via physical means (i.e. using tentacles to throttle the caster so they can't cast any spells).
- Magic school blockers: interrupts a spell and stops it (and any spells of the same school) from being recast for a few seconds
Visual Novels
- Fate/hollow ataraxia: The sword Fragarach can only be used in response to an opponent's "trump card", negating it and striking them first with a powerful Counter-Attack. Barring a well-rounded opponent who doesn't rely on such tricks, it fails only against Lancer's Gae Bolg - a weapon which always pierces the opponent's heart due to placing a short-duration Curse which forces that event to happen no matter how improbable.note When Bazett and Lancer attempt to use their weapons on each other, it results in a unique visual of Gae Bolg's red Sword Lines zigzagging backwards along Fragarach's silver trail, as both combatants strike and kill each other simultaneously.
Webcomics
- The Order of the Stick has the Greenhilt family's Secret Art, the Spellsplinter Maneuver, which allows the user to interrupt spellcasting even if the target is casting defensively. Believed to have been lost to time, Roy learned it from his grandfather in the afterlife — though he still had to spend a feat on it before he could use it for real.
- Unsounded: Interrupting a spellwright mid-cast can cause an explosive backlash for the wright. Quigley takes advantage of this after himself being interrupted by a bunch of floating pymaric advertisements during a fight, by setting the advertisements to mob an opponent as he starts to cast causing the other spellwright to blow himself up when he is interrupted.
