Elemental Damage
Combine elements for devastating effects.
In Warframe, damage is never just "damage." Different factions have different armor, shield, and health types that respond radically differently to various damage elements. Learning the elemental system is the difference between struggling and slicing through enemies.
Physical (IPS) Damage
All physical weapons deal some combination of Impact, Puncture, and Slash damage — called IPS. The mix depends on the weapon type. Swords deal mostly Slash. Heavy hammers deal mostly Impact. Sniper rifles deal mostly Puncture.
Staggers and knocks back enemies. Status proc reduces enemy accuracy. Generally a weak status effect — most weapons deal some Impact naturally.
Status proc reduces enemy damage output by up to 80% and increases the critical hit chance of attacks against that enemy by up to 25% (effectively 1.5× damage to Corpus and Orokin). Excellent against armored targets.
Causes a Bleed status proc: the DoT tick bypasses armor entirely, dealing pure health damage over time. Note: the initial Slash hit on impact is still reduced by armor — only the status tick ignores it. Does NOT bypass shields.
The Four Base Elemental Damage Types
You add elemental damage to weapons through mods. Heat Mods, Cold Mods, Electric Mods, and Toxin Mods each add a percentage of your weapon's base damage as that element.
| Heat | Burns enemies over time (Heat proc). Removes Infested armor. | Best vs Infested, some Grineer |
| Cold | Slows enemy movement and attack speed (Frost proc). | Best vs Corpus Shields |
| Electric | Chains to nearby enemies (Shocking proc). Disrupts Corpus robots. | Best vs Corpus Robotics, tech |
| Toxin | Bypasses shields entirely — damages health directly (Poison proc). | Excellent vs Corpus (ignores their shields) |
Combined Elements: The Core of Advanced Builds
Here's where it gets powerful: when two elemental mods are slotted adjacent to each other in your weapon's mod configuration, they combine into a new element. Combined elements have drastically amplified effects against specific targets.
The order matters — mods combine from top-left to bottom-right in your mod grid. IPS damage (the weapon's natural physical type) does not combine with elemental mods. Only the four base elemental types (Heat, Cold, Electric, Toxin) combine.
Interactive Elemental Combiner
Experiment with elemental combinations below to see what each pair creates and what it excels against:
Elemental Combiner
Select two base elements to see what they combine into
Slot 1
Burns enemies over time. Strips Infested armor.
Slot 2
Slows enemies. Increases chance to freeze.
Heat+
Cold→
BlastStaggers and knocks down enemies in an area with a small AoE explosion. Has niche crowd control uses but is generally outclassed for DPS.
Best vs: Grineer (medium armor), niche CC
All Combined Elements
Staggers and knocks down enemies in an area with a small AoE explosion. Has niche crowd control uses but is generally outclassed for DPS.
▸ Grineer (medium armor), niche CC
Causes enemies to attack each other. Strips Alloy Armor.
▸ Grineer (Alloy Armor), Corrupted
Creates a toxic cloud dealing area Toxin damage. One of the weaker statuses in most content — best in niche situations with grouped enemies.
▸ Infested (grouped), niche
Drains and disrupts enemy shields completely.
▸ Corpus (Shields, Robotics)
Halves enemy max health — multiplicative damage boost.
▸ All factions (especially on health-heavy enemies)
Permanently strips up to 80% of enemy armor per stack.
▸ Grineer (Heavy Armor), Corrupted
Faction Weakness Reference
Use this as a quick reference when building weapons for specific missions: