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 - White - The default damage type on most weapons. Will do base damage on any enemy.
- Solar - Red - Causes thermal damage, with a chance of igniting enemies
- Arc - Blue - Causes shock damage, with a chance for splash damage
- Void - 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. At the common level, only Fusion Rifles do elemental damage, but at higher levels nearly all special and heavy weapons do elemental damage. Only a handful of primary weapons do elemental damage, and most of those weapons are typically acquired in raids.[1]
Guardians
Each Guardian subclass focuses 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 will 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. Every race has at least one type of enemy shielded by default, but will also have another type of enemy that's shielded whenever the Epic modifier is active (or during certain public events. [1]
| Race | Solar Shield | Arc Shield | Void Shield |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fallen | Noble Shank | Captain | x |
| Hive | Wizard | Anointed Knight | x |
| Vex | x | Harpy Zealot | Minotaur |
| Cabal | Centurion, Psion Flayer | Psion Flayer | Elite Psion, Psion Flayer |
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.
| Race | Solar weapon | Arc weapon | Void weapon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fallen | Shrapnel Launcher, Fallen Walker's main cannon | Shock Pistol, Shock Rifle, Wire Rifle, Shock Grenade, Shock Dagger, Shock Sword, Pike, Skiff, Fallen Walker's secondary armaments | Servitor |
| Hive | x | Boomer, Thrall's melee attack, Cursed Thrall explosion, Wizard's darkness blast | Shredder, Ogre's eye beam attack, Shrieker, Tombship |
| Vex | Slap Rifle, Line Rifle, Hobgoblin's Shield | x | Torch Hammer, Slap Grenade, Goblin's melee attack, Hydra, Cyclops |
| Cabal | Slug Rifle, Projection Rifle, Heavy Slug Thrower, Harvester, Interceptor, Goliath Tank | Psion Psychic attack | x |