Difference between revisions of "Elemental"

Latest revision as of 11:16, 14 October 2013

"Elemental" is a term used to refer to non-physical types of damage in games like Diablo 3. In Diablo 3 this term is largely generic, since the different types of damage have no special effect other than graphical. The only exception is cold damage, which can chill and slow, or freeze, targets.

Elemental damage types in Diablo 3 include fire, lightning, poison, cold, and arcane. Other damage types such as Acid and Holy may be classified as "elemental" but that is something of an academic debate over the terminology. These elements can be found on items, with damage types set by the weapon or modified by other gear, or by the type of damage dealt by a character skill.

Though elemental effects in Diablo 3 do not have a major impact on play, they are very noticeable in the graphics with poison leaving behind smoking green corpses, fire blackening enemies, lightning leaving behind charred crisps, and so on. Monster deaths caused by critical hits often trigger special explosions depending on the type of elemental damage, and can be visually spectacular.

Elemental Damage and Secondary Effects[edit | edit source]

During Diablo 3's development the various types of elemental damage had different special effects from their base damage and/or their critical hits. These secondary effects were removed during development as part of an overall simplification of the game, save for cold damage which retained a chilling or freezing effect, which came at the cost of slightly lower damage.

Rotating "needles" from an Arcane Enchanted elite.

The Reaper of Souls expansion is likely to reintroduce secondary elemental damage effects on critical hits, though this may change during further development.

A related issue is monster resistances. Unlike earlier games in the Diablo series, monsters in Diablo 3 do not have varying resistances to different types of elemental damage. No monsters are more or less susceptible to fire or lightning or arcane damage, etc. This may change in Reaper of Souls to give different types of elemental damage more impact on gameplay.

Monster Elemental Damage[edit | edit source]

As with elemental damage from characters, monster damage is basically just divided up into different colors of damage, though these at least impact upon different character resistances. Though some monsters do have different elemental attacks, the main elemental impact comes from Elite Affixes such as Molten or Desecrator (fire), Frozen (cold), Plagued (poison) and others. The most dangerous elemental type from an Elite Affix is generally considered to be Arcane, since the rotating needles can be quite hard to avoid during combat.

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-'''Elemental''', in [[Diablo III]] terms, refers to a damage or resistance type. An '''element''' itself refers to forces of nature (and sometimes supernatural phenomenon), namely ''fire'', ''ice/cold'', and ''lightning''. There are other damage types, such as arcane, but those are not elemental.
+"Elemental" is a term used to refer to non-physical types of damage in games like Diablo 3.  In Diablo 3 this term is largely generic, since the different types of damage have no special effect other than graphical. The only exception is cold damage, which can chill and slow, or freeze, targets.
+Elemental damage types in Diablo 3 include [[fire]], [[lightning]], [[poison]], [[cold]], and [[arcane]]. Other damage types such as Acid and Holy may be classified as "elemental" but that is something of an academic debate over the terminology. These elements can be found on items, with damage types set by the weapon or modified by other gear, or by the type of damage dealt by a character skill.
+Though elemental effects in Diablo 3 do not have a major impact on play, they are very noticeable in the graphics with poison leaving behind smoking green corpses, fire blackening enemies, lightning leaving behind charred crisps, and so on. Monster deaths caused by critical hits often trigger special explosions depending on the type of elemental damage, and can be visually spectacular.
 ==Elemental Damage and Secondary Effects==
+During Diablo 3's development the various types of elemental damage had different special effects from their base damage and/or their [[critical hits]]. These secondary effects were removed during development as part of an overall simplification of the game, save for cold damage which retained a chilling or freezing effect, which came at the cost of slightly lower damage.
-Elemental damage can come from a variety of sources. Some [[class]]es have elemental damage built into their [[skills]] or [[spells]], such as the [[Wizard]] with skills such as [[Meteor]] (fire damage), or [[Electrocute]] (cold damage). Some skills and spells may increase the utility or overall potency of a specific elemental type through [[rune]]s. There are also [[proc]]s or sources of indirect damage that can grant elemental properties, such as the Wizard's [[Storm Armor]] that sends out spikes of electricity to attackers.
+[[File:Arcane-enchanted-lots2.jpg|thumb|400px|Rotating "needles" from an [[Arcane Enchanted]] elite.]]
+The Reaper of Souls expansion is likely to reintroduce secondary elemental damage effects on critical hits, though this may change during further development.
-Every class can gain elemental damage through [[item]]s, most likely through [[weapons]], and also through [[enchanting]] their gear. If an item has a [[socket]], then the player can also socket a weapon with a [[gem]] that may grant or increase a specific elemental type of damage.
+A related issue is monster resistances. Unlike earlier games in the Diablo series, monsters in Diablo 3 do not have varying resistances to different types of elemental damage. No monsters are more or less susceptible to fire or lightning or arcane damage, etc. This may change in Reaper of Souls to give different types of elemental damage more impact on gameplay.
-Finally, there may be [[buff]]s such as [[shrines]] that grant temporary elemental damage to attacks for the player.
 ===Monster Elemental Damage===
+As with elemental damage from characters, monster damage is basically just divided up into different colors of damage, though these at least impact upon different character resistances.  Though some monsters do have different elemental attacks, the main elemental impact comes from [[Elite Affixes]] such as [[Molten]] or [[Desecrator]] (fire), [[Frozen]] (cold), [[Plagued]] (poison) and others. The most dangerous elemental type from an Elite Affix is generally considered to be [[Arcane]], since the rotating needles can be quite hard to avoid during combat.
-The player is not the only one who may use elemental damage. Many monsters can as well, particularly [[Champion]] monsters that are imbued with a [[boss modifier]] that grants and increases the damage done of a certain elemental type. As an example, a champion may be granted the modifier [[Frozen]] which inflicts cold damage, and also slows attackers who are affected.
-Some monsters may even have a specific type of element as their default source of damage, similar to the {{iw|Vampire Vampire}} monster type in [[Diablo II]] that dealt fire damage with a variety of spells.
-===Secondary Effects===
-Intrinsic secondary effects for elemental damage exist in much the same way as in Diablo II where, for instance, a cold attack will also slow movement speed or even freeze an opponent.
-The same holds true in Diablo III with the caveat that elemental damage [[crit]]ical hits also have another effect. When a cold damage crits, as an example, it will also freeze the enemy for a short amount of time, and a lightning crit will stun them.
-It is expected that such secondary effects like [[stun]] will have a reduced duration for the [[arena]] PVP battles.
-==Elemental Resistance==
-Elemental [[resistance]] is a [[stat]] in Diablo III that allows the player to mitigate the damage of a specific element.
-Resistance has changed a bit from what was seen in [[Diablo II]], chiefly the damage from an elemental type will be reduced by a certain amount according to a rating system (like [[Attack Rating]]), instead of dealing in flat percentages.
-Similar to elemental damage, resistances can also be gained through items, but normally through [[armor]] and not weapons, and perhaps some [[gem]]s as well. Also similar to damage, resistance can be gained through [[buff]]s or [[skill]]s such as the [[Monk]]'s [[Resist Aura]].
-===Lowering Enemy Resistance===
-[[Immunity]] played a large role in the end game of Diablo II, and players had to find ways to lower monster resistance in order to damage it with a specific elemental (or physical) type. While immunities are not expected to appear in Diablo III, there will be enemies who have high resistances against certain types of damage.
-In these cases, skills such as the [[Enchantress]] [[follower]]'s skill "Lower Resist" would be invaluable. It is possible as well that some [[traits]] may assist the player in lowering resistance.
-* See more [[reference]]s.
 [[category:reference]]
+[[category:combat]]