Elemental Damage is a gameplay mechanic in Arknights.
Overview[]
Certain enemies are capable of inflicting Elemental Damage "build-up" to friendlies through various methods. Should a friendly unit's Elemental Damage build-up reaches 1000, it will "proc" and causes the victim to suffer from negative effects depending on the Elemental Damage inflicted; see the table below for more information. After Elemental Damage procs, its build-up will deplete itself over 10 seconds afterward, during which the unit is immune to any further Elemental Damage build-up.
From Expeditioner's Joklumarkar, Elemental Damage can be inflicted on enemies and follows a similar mechanic as on friendlies with the following differences:
- Bosses need 2000 build-up for the Elemental Damage to proc, while normal and elite enemies need 1000.
- The damage dealt is treated as Elemental, which is distinct from Physical, Arts, and True damages.
- The effect duration is the same as the recovery duration.
- Enemies now have a new attribute called Elemental Resistance which reduces the Elemental Damage build-up they took similar to RES with Arts damage.
| Elemental Damage | Information |
|---|---|
 Nervous Impairment
|
Introduced in Under Tides, Nervous Impairment causes the victim to receive heavy True damage and are temporarily Stunned when it procs. |
 Corrosion Damage
|
Introduced in Dossoles Holiday, Corrosion Damage causes the victim to receive heavy Physical damage and have their DEF permanently reduced (which can stack indefinitely) when it procs. |
 Burn Damage
|
Introduced in Episode 09, Burn Damage causes the victim to receive heavy Arts damage and have their RES temporarily reduced when it procs. |
 Necrosis Damage
|
Introduced in Episode 10. |
Recovery[]
Wandering Medics remove Elemental Damage build-up as they heal friendly units, which they will do even on those with full HP. Since most enemies introduced from Under Tides are capable of inflicting Elemental Damages, it is advised to have at least one Wandering Medic and build them to Elite 2 to counteract it.
| Operator | Skill/talent | Range/target | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sustenance from the Reaper | Attack per enemy hit (capped to block count) |
|
Trivia[]
- The way Elemental Damages work is similar to status effects in "Soulslike" games (Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring) as well as God of War (2018) and God of War: Ragnarök.
- There exists in the current Chinese version an as of yet unused "flag" — a trait that can be applied to a unit in code – giving the recipient immunity to Elemental Damage, making them unable to receive any. The flag is called "ELEMENT_FREE_ALL" in the code.