It helps if "battles to the death!" bring even worse consequences, like legal trouble, or greater mutual enemy, or attached to an even scarier BBEG.
Then, when murder doesn't solve all your problems, suddenly non-lethal maneuvers are extremely useful. Yes, it is setting dependent.
That said, Shove Prone is crazy useful. And anything that invokes one of the nastier conditions is great (like Restrained, Blinded, Frightened, etc.). Even Grapple reduces Spd to zero, thus prevents Dodge. Use an Object & improvised action are GM and situation dependent.