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Elemental damage is a modifier that exists on certain attacks and weapons. Elemental damage is one of the manifestations of Light, and can be used to a player's advantage to make their attacks more effective. It comes into play for both Guardians and enemies.
Elemental Types
There are four types damage types:
- Kinetic Damage - White - The default damage type on most weapons. Will do base damage on any enemy.
- Solar Light - Red - Causes thermal damage
- Arc Light - Blue - Causes shock damage
- Void Light - Purple - Causes void damage[1]
Weapons
Weapons can be infused with elemental damage; by default, most weapons only do kinetic damage, but some may come with modifiers. The modifier is indicated not only on the weapon's stats, but also in the weapon menu on the HUD.[1]
Guardians
Guardian subclasses typically focus on one type of elemental damage. This extends to melee attacks, grenades, and supers.
| Class | Solar | Arc | Void |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter | Gunslinger | Bladedancer | x |
| Titan | x | Striker | Defender |
| Warlock | Sunsinger | x | Voidwalker |
Enemies
Elemental damage do bonus damage against certain types of enemies. The most obvious way to tell if an enemy is weak to a certain damage type is to see what color shield they have; for example, Fallen Captains with blue Absorption shields are weak to Arc attacks.[1]
Enemy weapons and abilities typically have their own elemental damage types as well. Normally this doesn't come into play, unless players are playing a mission with damage modifiers on. For example, a Nightfall mission with a 300% boost to arc damage applies to both Guardians and enemies, so enemies that do arc damage are especially dangerous.