Borderlands 4: Elemental Damage Guide

Explore the different Elemental damage skills in Borderlands 4, their methods of application, weaknesses, and countermeasures.

Elemental Damage Overview in Borderlands 4 (Image via 2K Games)
Elemental Damage Overview in Borderlands 4 (Image via 2K Games)

Elemental damage is a type of skill that either comes with the vault hunter or the weapons in use. These are capable of inflicting status effects on the enemies, draining their health with damage over time. Also, depending on the difficulty you are playing at, the value of the damage done by elemental skills is significantly higher, making them a must-use during tougher fights or boss battles.

In this article, we will explore Elemental damage in Borderlands 4 and all the types you can acquire.

Elemental Damage Overview in Borderlands 4

Incendiary elemental damage using weapons (Image via 2K Games)
Incendiary elemental damage using weapons (Image via 2K Games)

What makes Elemental damage special is the fact that it deals damage over time. Moreover, they affect enemies in a nearby radius, causing some serious collateral damage. Depending upon the stats of the weapon, you will get a better idea of whom the effect will apply to, as well as whether the extra targets will be affected by the (DOT).

Elemental damages are only as effective as the type of enemies they are used on. Each skill has its own set of strengths and weaknesses against either the Flesh, Shield, or Armor enemies they inflict damage on. There are five different types of elemental damage skills, each having its own unique effects and properties. Let us look at the list of all Elemental damages and their weakness counterparts.

Elemental Damage List

Using Elemental Damage as per the opponents weaknesses (Image via 2K Games)
Using Elemental Damage as per the opponent’s weaknesses (Image via 2K Games)
ElementColorFlesh EnemiesArmor EnemiesShield Enemies
IncendiaryRedVery StrongVery WeakVery Weak
ShockBlueWeakWeakVery Strong
CryoLight BlueNormalStrongVery Weak
RadiationYellowNormalWeakStrong
CorrosiveGreenVery WeakVery StrongVery Weak

Dealing Elemental Damage

Destroy explosive barrels to inflict damage on nearby enemies (Image via 2K Games)
Destroy explosive barrels to inflict damage on nearby enemies (Image via 2K Games)

Elemental damage can be dealt via multiple sources, including guns and throwables. When equipping a gun, you can check to see which elemental effect it comes with. You can inspect this by viewing the gun in the menu. Apart from guns, you will also find various explosive barrels which, if shot at, will explode, dealing elemental damage in the nearby area. Each elemental barrel will have its own color to help you identify it. You can refer to the ‘Elemental Damage List’ Table above to better understand the color codes.

Apart from that, each Vault Hunter comes with their own set of Elemental Damage Skills. Fulfilling certain conditions will trigger these to take effect. You can refer to the table below to check which Vault Hunter comes with which Elemental skill.

Vault Hunter Elemental Damage Skills

Vault Hunter Elemental Skills (Image via 2K Games)
Elemental Skills for Vault Hunters (Image via 2K Games)
Vault HunterNumber of Incendiary SkillsNumber of Shock SkillsNumber of Cryo SkillsNumber of Radiation SkillsNumber of Corrosive Skills
Vexx3x4x3x3x2
Rafax7x11x12
Amonx18x17x27
Harlowex1x19x19

Defending Against Elemental Damage

Last but not least, certain enemies are capable of dishing out elemental damage at you, too. To counter this, you will want to equip ‘Elemental Resistance’ in the form of shields to add a layer of protection. When equipping shields, you will be able to see which elemental effects the shield is capable of defending against.

Also read: Borderlands 4: Best Weapons in the Game

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