How damage works, in short

In Warframe every weapon deals physical or elemental damage. Each type has its own effect and works better against certain factions. Combining two base elements creates stronger ones, like Viral or Corrosive. The key is matching your weapon to the enemy in front of you.

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In Warframe every weapon deals damage split into “types”. Each type does two things: a multiplier against certain factions (it hurts more or less depending on who you’re shooting) and a status effect (what happens when it procs). The rule that matters most: pick your elements based on the faction you’re fighting, not on what sounds cool. The three physicals Impact staggers and knocks enemies around, and it’s useful against Grineer and shields. On its own it’s rarely the reason to pick a weapon. Puncture lowers the damage the enemy deals to you and is good against Corpus and Corrupted. It works well on crit weapons. Slash is the king of the physicals: it procs a bleed that ignores armor and shields. Against heavily armored stuff at high levels it still does a huge amount of work. The four base elements Heat burns over time, makes enemies panic and run, and most importantly strips half their armor while they’re burning. Great against Infested. Cold slows enemies and increases the critical damage they take. People underrate it, but on crit builds it’s excellent. Electricity deals area damage that chains to nearby enemies and stuns them. Toxin goes straight through shields and hits health directly. Perfect against Corpus that don’t have heavy armor. Combinations If you put two base elements on the same weapon, they merge. Here are the pairs: Heat + Cold = Blast: builds up stacks and then explodes in an area. A niche element. Heat + Toxin = Gas: creates toxic clouds, good for clearing groups. Heat + Electricity = Radiation: confuses enemies and makes them attack each other. Good against Corrupted/Orokin. Cold + Toxin = Viral: the real star. Each stack increases damage to health, up to more than triple. You’ll see it in almost every serious build. Cold + Electricity = Magnetic: wrecks shields and stops them from regenerating. The right element against Corpus. Electricity + Toxin = Corrosive: eats armor permanently, up to 80%. The classic pick against Grineer. Order matters: elements combine left to right in mod order. So if you want Viral + Heat, you need Cold and Toxin next to each other first, and Heat after. The weapon’s innate element (for example a weapon that already deals Toxin by default) gets added last, and that sometimes messes up your plans. Tau, Void and True You don’t get these from regular mods: they depend on specific weapons, abilities or systems. Void is tied to the Operator and the Amp. It works well against Sentients and Void-related enemies. True isn’t affected by armor or resistances. It usually comes from Slash or from specific abilities. Tau is the newest and most “exotic” one. It shows up on a few weapons or abilities and you don’t build for it like the others. Honestly, its exact status mechanics have changed and I’m less sure about them than the rest. For precise numbers, check the official wiki (wiki.warframe.com), which gets updated patch by patch. What to hit with what (practical version) Against Grineer: Corrosive, then H...