Source:Instant kill

Instant kills are attacks that automatically set an enemy's health to 0, often in a flashy way. Instant kills are impossible to stack, because enemies can't have any health less than 0. However, it is possible for instant kills to target the same enemy, although the effect would be wasted as only one will actually hit.

Sources[]

Kingdom Rush[]

Arcane Wizards can instantly kill an enemy with their Death Ray, turning them into a pile of black dust with above the previously intact body.
The Musketeer Garrison has a chance to instantly kill a target with its Sniper Shot skill. Enemies instant-killed by this have above their head.
Hacksaw can instantly kill any enemy he is in melee with by using his Tiiiimber! skill. Smaller enemies explode into chunks, while larger ones simply die normally. will appear over an enemy killed this way.
Oni has a 10%/15%/20% instant kill chance with his Death Strike attack. will appear over an enemy affected this way.
Black Hags' Toad's Curse spell turns a soldier into a frog, essentially removing them from play.
Certain Bosses can instantly kill soldiers, Earth Elementals and Heroes alike, namely J.T., Sarelgaz, The Kingpin, and Moloch. On flash, Vez'nan also has a special Soul Burn attack that instantly kills soldiers, though it doesn't work on Earth Elementals and can't be used after he transforms into his demon form, which has a fire breath attack that deals high physical damage.

Kingdom Rush: Frontiers[]

Assassins have a chance to instantly kill any enemy with Sneak Attack, over which will appear.
Genies can transform a ground enemy into a harmless object every 15 seconds.
The Sand Worm swallows ground units it catches whole when it pops its head up.
DWAARP instantly kills any unfortunate victim with its Core Drill, over which will appear.
At level 10, Mirage has a 25% instant kill chance with her Lethal Strike. You know when this is in effect when is shown.
Nivus transforms enemies with up to 480 health or less into confetti.
Grawl has a chance to instant kill enemies with his Shard Punch skill, as long as they have a third of his health or less. This is shown with them exploding in a mass of flesh and blue crystalline shards.
Enemies targeted by Sha'tra's Abduction are pulled to his spaceship, killing them instantly.
Ashbite has a chance to instantly kill an enemy he attacks with Feast, causing them to explode into chunks.
Executioners instantly kill any troops that they attack, excluding Heroes.
Saurian Blazefangs have a 20% chance to instantly disintegrate a soldier with their plasma cannon.
Nazeru can disintegrate soldiers and heroes with a snap of his fingers.
Xyzzy can swallow soldiers whole with his tongue if forced into melee.
Any unit, friendly or enemy, except for Gorillons, Ashbite and Bonehart, caught in the mouth of a Snapvine, is instantly devoured by the hungry plant.

Kingdom Rush: Origins[]

Reg'son has a 3% instant kill chance with his Eldritch Blade strikes. If he continuously attacks a single enemy without interruption, he can deal a total of 10 attacks for a 26.3% chance. He also can instantly slay any non-boss enemy, including Twilight Golems and Shadow Champions, with his hero spell, Vindicator.
Lilith's Reaper's Harvest ability has up to a 30% chance of instantly killing the target.
Vez'nan instantly kills any enemy or a group of enemies totaling 250/500/750 health with Soul Burn.
Bravebark instantly kills any enemy with 400/1,000/any health with Branchball, sending them flying out of the map.
Wild Magus instantly detonates an enemy with Eldritch Doom, dealing magical damage to other nearby enemies.
Golden Longbows with Crimson Sentence have up to 9% chance of slaying any enemy with their regular attacks, in which case their bows and arrows will glow red as they fire and will appear over the enemy's head.
Redcaps have a chance to instant kill soldiers with their scythes, which glow red when they do so and heal them afterwards.
Unlucky Gnoll Reavers and Gnoll Burners have a chance of being instantly killed by a Bloodsydian crystal when it activates.
Gnomes with Total Mischief maxed can instantly kill enemies who explode loudly in the process.
Twilight Heretics can instantly kill up to 3 troops (except heroes) with their Soul Consumption spell.
Bram the Beheader instantly kills soldiers one-by-one (excluding heroes) by literally smacking them out of the map.
The Fat Boy, purchased from the Shop in both Kingdom Rush and its sequel, instantly kills all non-boss enemies on-screen. The Wrath of Elynie in Kingdom Rush: Origins has the same effect, as does Vez'nan's Wrath in Kingdom Rush: Vengeance.

Kingdom Rush: Vengeance:[]

Beresad can blow an enemy up with Obliterate, dealing True Damage to enemies near the blast.
Murglun can cast a magma eruption on an enemy with Geyser, roasting the target to ashes. She can also rain a fiery oblivion upon enemies in an area with her ultimate spell, Eruption.
Isfet can cast a Frog Curse on enemies with less than 510/1200/2000 health, transforming them into a frog that will blow into harmless gibs after a few seconds.
Shadow Archers' Blade of Demise allows them to teleport from the tower to behind an enemy and stab them in the back.
Dark Knights with Brutal Strike have up to a 6% chance to execute any enemy they are in combat with using chainsaws built into their swords, and when that happens, sometimes appears over them.
Blazing Gem's Destructo-Ray blasts any non-(mini)boss enemy it hits into dust, identically to the Death Ray.
Swamp Thing with Smash! may either throw a rock covered with sharp vines or pound enemies with fists wrapped in sharp vines, either of which will shred enemies to pieces, and appears over them.
Sandworm Hollow eats every unit in an area when it's time for Snack Hour. It only aims for enemies, but barracks units and heroes are equally susceptible to the worm's insatiable appetite when they are in combat with the enemies it targets.
High Sorcerers' Polymorph turns a unit into an enemy sheep, essentially removing them from play.
The Toad House in the City of Lozagon will pull and swallow any barracks unit in front of it with its tongue.
Polyx the Wise uses his tongue to pull ground units and swallow them.
Taoist Stove: In the Oriental Plains levels, these can be activated every 60 seconds to absorb every enemy within their range and collect half their bounties.
Velociraptors can slay a unit that is at low health and lay an egg that hatches into another velociraptor, akin to Cloud Stalkers.
The Great-T is able to devour melee units that engage it and recover health after eating them.
Master Assassins have a chance to instantly kill barracks units and heroes in melee combat, akin to their counterparts from Frontiers, with appearing and all.
Sha'tra and his spaceship return to defend Hammerhold and like before, the vessel can abduct any group of barracks units or hero that doesn't get out of the tractor beam's way in time. It can also cast abductions much more frequently than ever.

Similar Attacks[]

The Sorcerer Mage's Polymorph does not set enemies health to zero, but instead to half of their original health and preventing them from attacking, making them almost worthless enemies.
Vez'nan is incapable of instantly killing enemies in his Demon Form, but the damage he deals is so high that no unit can survive it.
However, if timed right, Ingvar Bearclaw in his Bear form can survive Vez'nan's Fire Breath attack.

Immunities[]

Heroes are immune to instant kills from regular enemies, but not bosses or scenery, apart from Bram the Beheader's hand smacking.
Bosses and mini-bosses like Cerberus and Jack'O Lantern cannot be targeted or affected by any type of instant kill.
Flying Enemies cannot be targeted by several instant kills, namely Core Drill, Shard Punch, Feast, Tiiimber!, Death Strike, Sneak Attack and Abduction, but ranged attacks can hit them and fully affect them. Abduction actually can hit flying enemies, but it has to have them in its area-of-effect while abducting a land enemy.
The Twilight Golem and Shadow Champion cannot be instantly killed by any attacks except for Vindicator and Wrath of Elynie.