Elements & Resistances
The counter relationships of the eight elements, how much resistance cuts damage, and what changes when you hit a weakness. A wide level gap erases elemental advantage.
Every attack and every defense in this world carries an element.
The eight elements
Physical · Fire · Frost · Nature · Poison · Shadow · Holy · Arcane
Opposites
The elements pair off in fours.
| Pair | |
|---|---|
| Fire ↔ Frost | |
| Holy ↔ Shadow | |
| Nature ↔ Poison | |
| Physical ↔ Arcane |
These pairs are the rule for where a monster's weakness breaks through. Things wreathed in fire buckle to frost; things steeped in darkness buckle to holy light.
Adventurers, on the other hand, have no opposites. A Fire Mage is not especially weak to Frost. What a class is born with is not a weakness but a resistance to its own element.
Hitting a weakness
Strike with an element the enemy is weak to and the damage jumps noticeably. The combat log tags the hit with (Vulnerable N%), so you can see at a glance whether that blow rode the matchup. Strike with an element the enemy resists and you get (Resist N%) and reduced damage instead.
When a hit breaks through unusually deep or is blocked unusually hard, it is highlighted as 💥 Weak spot! · 🛡 Blocked!. These highlights only appear against enemies with very extreme resistances, so during ordinary exploring you will mostly see the bracketed tags.
Check ahead of time
When you meet a monster, its encounter card shows the enemy's element along with its weaknesses. Shallow weaknesses don't get a badge, so no badge doesn't mean no weakness.
Once combat starts, the enemy's element stays at the top of the screen. Check weaknesses through the bracketed tags in the combat log.
Elites and bosses carry thicker resistance to their own element, which makes targeting weaknesses all the more important.
Level gaps erase matchups
When the level gap between you and a monster grows large, both resistances and weaknesses fade. At around a thirty-level difference, matchups stop working entirely. That is why dropping far down into low regions and farming weaknesses doesn't pay off.
On offense — swapping your element
Each skill has a fixed element, but you can change the element of your basic attack.
- Drink an Elemental Coating and your basic attacks use that element for a while. You can brew all eight in Alchemy & Potions.
- Some weapon affixes change the element of your basic attack outright.
When your target's weakness doesn't line up with your weapon, these two are the quickest fix.
On defense
Resistance potions and gear affixes can reduce damage from a specific element.
However, adventurer elemental resistance has a cap. And the resistance your class is born with already fills more than half of that cap. So rather than piling on resistance affixes, you'll get far more out of picking the one element you want to block and matching potions and affixes to it only when you need them.