Hey everyone, I've been thinking for a while to make a guide about this topic, so I searched if any have been made here before but they only explained the basics of Elemental Mastery, so here I'll go deep into everything about the Elements. Some of these things are already known by most people, but for some it could be a learning experience.
Before starting, I will be use some acronyms to make things shorter:
DMG = Damage.
RES = Resistance.
EM = Elemental Mastery.
ES = Elemental Status.
ER = Elemental Reaction.
(Elemental Resonance won't have one since ER is already taken and could cause confusion).
Note: This is a LOOONG post.
First things first: What are the elements?
The elements are the "magic" of this game, they are a very strong point in Teyvat and the characters that are capable of using them are those that were blessed with a Vision by the Archons. From them, they can draw the power to control the respective element their Vision is infused with to do multiple activities, but the one that matters the most for us, is for fighting.
How many elements are there?
There are 7 Elements in total, and they are: Pyro (Fire), Cryo (Ice), Hydro (Water), Electro (Electricity), Anemo (Wind), Geo (Rock) and Dendro (Nature). But only the first 6 elements are usable at the moment by characters (in future updates we might get Dendro users).
What can Elements do when exploring/fighting?
For exploration and battles, depending on the elements the characters in your team can use, they will give your entire party additional buffs which are called Elemental Resonance. When fighting, the elements are used to increase your DMG potential via the usage of Elemental Skills and Elemental Bursts, and some of these elements also apply an Elemental Status on enemies which can then be taken advantage of to provoke Elemental Reactions that deal extra DMG.
What is Elemental Resonance?
It's an additional set of buffs your entire party receives depending on the elements your characters can use. Most of them require you to have 2 characters who use the same element in your team, and 1 of them requires you to have 1 character of each element in the party. This a list of all these buffs and the required elements:
What are the Elemental Statuses (ES)?
As the name says, they are status effects applied on enemies (or on you) based on the element they've been hit with, but not all the elements can apply a status. The elements that can do so are Pyro, Hydro, Cryo, Electro and Dendro.
What can they do?
They are there so you (or enemies) can cause an Elemental Reaction if a different element than the one applied is used, for example:
If an enemy affected by Pyro status receive Electro dmg, it will cause a reaction (Overload) which will cause an explosion and deal extra DMG to that enemy and any other's closeby.
But that's not everything an ES does, some of them also apply a specific debuff on the affected character/enemy depending on if it's just an elemental attack or it's an external effect (like Leyline disorders from domains). Here's a list of them:
- If hit by an Elemental Attack:
Pyro: Applies Pyro status.
Hydro: Applies Wet status.
Electro: Applies Electro status.
Cryo: Applies Cryo status and reduces the target's movement and attack speed (barely noticeable on enemies, but quite noticeable on our characters).
Dendro: Applies Dendro status.
- If hit by external effects (on characters):
Pyro: Smoldering Flames effect - Applies Pyro status and causes DMG over time.
Hydro: Slowing Water effect - Applies hydro status and increases your skills Cooldown (about 80% longer).
Electro: Engulfing Storm effect - Applies Electro status and continuously drains your energy.
Cryo: Condensed Ice effect - Applies Cryo status and increases your stamina consumption.
- If hit by external effects (on enemies):
Apparently all elements do the same on this case (If I'm wrong then please correct me): Depending on the element, they receive an elemental status and an elemental aura. This aura increases their resistance to that particular element, increases their movement/attack speed, DMG and makes them inmune to stuns (can be removed by causing an ER on their aura).
Note: Zhongli's Elemental Burst can cause a new type of status debuff that's called Petrification, which inmobilizes enemies.
What are Elemental Reactions (ER)?
They are the result from using an element of one type into another of a different type. These combinations cause a reaction which deal additional DMG, and some also apply debuffs to their target.
The first element used is the one that applies an ES, and the second element used causes the reaction. This second element is the one considered as the "Triggering Element".
This chart shows all the possible reactions currently in the game (credits to the person from this reddit post who created this chart: https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/comments/ismsnh/elemental_reactions_elemental_debuffs_visual_guide/ ):
There's also some more details to mention about these reactions:
1. Some ER can be considered "DMG Amplifiers" and others are "Extra Attacks". The DMG amplifier ones are Melt and Vaporize, while all the others are of the extra attack type.
2. The bonus DMG dealt by the "DMG amplifier" type changes depending on the order the elements were applied. They work like this:
Melt (Pyro + Cryo):
If Pyro is used first and then Cryo, it deals 150% of the DMG of the triggering attack.
If Cryo is used first and then Pyro, it deals 200% of the DMG of the triggering attack.
Vaporize (Hydro + Pyro):
If Hydro is used first and then Pyro, it deals 150% of the DMG of the triggering attack.
If Pyro is used first and then Hydro, it deals 200% of the DMG of the triggering attack.
Note: This bonus DMG can ALSO be amplified by Elemental DMG bonus of the triggering element and with EM, but can also be mitigated by the target's Elemental RES.
3. The DMG dealt by the "Extra Attack" type depend on only 3 factors:
- The Level of the character/enemy who triggers the reaction.
- The EM of the character/enemy who triggers the reaction (Elemental DMG bonuses don't affect these ones).
- The elemental RES of the target.
4. Each reaction causes DMG of a specific element and some apply an extra debuff on their target, which are the following:
DMG Amplifier type reactions:
- Melt: Deals DMG of either Cryo or Pyro (depending on which one was used last).
- Vaporize: Deals DMG of either Hydro or Pyro (depending on which one was used last).
Extra Attack type reactions:
- Swirl: Deals small DMG of the other element, but also spreads it's effects.
- Crystallize: Deals Geo DMG and generates a crystal of the reacted element which grants a shield upon picking it up.
- Burning: Deals (HEAVY) Pyro DMG over time.
- Overload: Deals burst AoE Pyro DMG.
- Superconduct: Deals small AoE Cryo DMG + Reduces Physical Resistance by 40% for 8s.
- Electro-Charged: Deals constant Electro DMG (depending on how many enemies are affected by hydro and were hit by the electro attack).
- Frozen/Shatter: Frozen inmobilizes the target and Shatter breaks them out of the ice and deals an extra Physical DMG hit.
What is Elemental Mastery (EM) and how does it work?
Elemental Mastery is a stat that ONLY INCREASES THE DMG CAUSED BY REACTIONS, it doesn't affect the DMG of elemental attacks or skills at all. The DMG increase for reactions this stat gives is based on percentages, and each type of reaction has a different increase in value. Here's an example of this:
As you can see here, with 105 EM the "DMG Amplifier" type of reactions have a 19,4% DMG increase, while "Extra Attack" type receives a higher bonus of 46,5% DMG increase. The bottom stat is a bonus to the DMG absorption that Elemental Shields obtained through the Crystallize reaction can take.
This stat has 3 ways to be increased (the 3rd one only works on specific characters).
1. Through Weapons that have EM as substat.
2. Artifacts substats (or main stat in the clock piece).
3. Character Ascension's extra stat (Xiangling for example has this).
What are Elemental Shields?
Elemental Shields are visible auras that appear around our characters when they use a skill that generates it (like Noelle or Diona's Elemental Skills), or we pick up a crystal generated throught the Crystallize reaction. The shields generated through skills are normally stronger than the ones generated through crystallize, but these can become stronger the higher the triggering character's EM is. Also, shields are 250% more efficient at resisting attacks of their same element.
What is Elemental DMG bonus and RES?
Elemental DMG bonus is an additional stat our characters can have which increases the DMG dealt for attacks of a specific element, while Elemental RES is another stat which decreases the DMG received by a specific element. These bonuses are applied on the following:
Elemental DMG bonus:
- Bow user's Charged Attacks.
- Catalyst user's Normal and Charged Attacks.
- Everyone's Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst Attacks.
Elemental RES:
- Affects any attack received of that specific element.
What about Physical DMG bonus?
Physical DMG bonus is another stat which increases the DMG of normal attacks for Sword, Claymore, Polearm and Bow users, and the charged attacks for Sword, Claymore and Polearm users. But this bonus is only applied if you are NOT affected by an element, for example:
- If you use Chongyun's Elemental Skill, all your sword, claymore and polearm attacks will be converted to the Cryo element, and when this happens you won't receive any DMG bonus from the "Physical DMG bonus" stat anymore, but from the Cryo DMG bonus stat instead.
That's everything, this took a lot longer to do than expected...
...so I hope it helps you all to understand everything about the elements (so far) in the game and the stuff related to them.
Happy gaming and have fun everyone
