In Borderlands 4 you can exploit elements to deal more damage. In the Elemental Chart we will show you what is effective and to what extent.
What elements are there in Borderlands 4? At the release of Borderlands 4, you will find a total of 5 elements in the game that you can use:
- Fire
- Cryo
- Corrosion
- Shock
- Radiation
Additionally, there are also the damage classes “Kinetic”, which is the normal bullet damage, and “Explosion”, which represents explosive damage – such as from rockets.
The elements can randomly appear on various weapons, be triggered by your action skills, or be activated, enhanced, or weakened by other equipment.
They all have different strengths and weaknesses, somewhat like Pokémon effectiveness. We will show you here how you should use them.
Elemental Chart – How effective are the elements in Borderlands 4
The elements face three different types of “defense” or “targets” that they can hit. They are essentially different types of health bars that you want to reduce to 0.
- Flesh – this is the normal state of most enemies in the game
- Shields
- Armor
In the table below, you can see which elements are effective against these different types of defenses.
- Kinetic damage: Has the same effectiveness against all three types of defense
- Fire: Very effective against flesh, weak against shields and armor. Can ignite enemies and cause damage over time.
- Shock: Weak against flesh, very effective against shields, weak against armor.
- Corrosion: Weak against flesh and shields, very effective against armor.
- Cryo: Normal damage against flesh, weak against shields, effective against armor. Important: Can freeze your enemies.
- Radiation: Normal damage against flesh. Effective against shields, weak against armor.
What about explosive damage? Explosions are similar to kinetic damage, equally effective against all forms of defense. Their advantage is mainly the AoE damage: You can hit multiple enemies at once when something explodes, instead of shooting at single targets.
Elements will also be important for your builds. You can develop all of your Vault Hunters in different directions and it is possible that you will particularly incorporate elements. Want a little overview of the characters? Then check out the article about all classes in Borderlands 4.
