Section 9 of 12◆
Enemy Defenses
Armor, Shields, Overguard, and attenuation.
The damage engine models enemies with four defensive layers:
| Health | Base hit points; all enemies have this. |
| Armor | Reduces incoming damage multiplicatively; scales heavily with level. Grineer specialty. |
| Shields | Must be depleted before health takes damage (usually). Corpus specialty. |
| Overguard | Additional damage layer on Eximus units; must be broken first, is immune to status effects. |
Armor Damage Reduction
Armor follows a non-linear formula:
Damage Reduction = Armor / (Armor + 300)
At 300 armor → 50% reduction. At 1000 armor → 77% reduction. High-level Grineer can have thousands of armor, making armor stripping (Corrosive, Heat, ability-based strip) essential.
Faction Weaknesses
Grineer (Armored)
CorrosiveStrips heavy armor permanently
HeatStrips armor over time
Viral + SlashBypasses armor entirely and multiplies health damage
Corpus (Shielded)
MagneticDrains shields
ToxinBypasses shields, hits health directly
Infested (Health)
HeatBurns organic health
GasAoE damage
CorrosiveEffective against Ancients
Steel Path & Eximus
- ◆Steel Path: Enemies gain +100% health, +100% armor, +100% shields, and increased level.
- ◆Eximus: Overguard layer is added; requires high burst damage to break through.
Damage Attenuation (Boss Mechanic)
The damage engine models damage attenuation — a diminishing returns mechanic used on bosses and certain enemies. Dealing too much damage per hit to bosses gets soft-capped. Consistent moderate damage > one big hit.