The six elemental damage types in Marvel's Avengers, cosmic, cryo, gamma, particle, plasma and shock, are modifiers that can be added to your attacksꦇ through gear perks. Over time, each damage type will apply a unique status effect on the enemy. The damage types and status effects are detailed sparingly throughout loading screen tooltips so it can be difficult to figure out what each status is actually doing. Here's our guide for the six damage types: what they do and how their status effect works.
How To Apply Status Effects In Marvel's Avengers
You likely won't start seeing bonuses from elemental damage and status effects until you start finding purple and gold items later in ♊the story. Rares and legendaries have a chance to roll with 1 or more elemental perks that can either add or enhance elemental damage dealt by certain attacks. Here's one example:
Adding a damage type to your attacks does not inherently increase its damage, but combined with other talents and gear perks, elemental damage can be enhanced in all sorts of ways. Additionally, all elemental damage done to an enemy increases their status effect meter (above their health bar). When the status meter fills completely the enemy will suffer the effects of the related status effect. Enemies can suf𝄹f꧟er multiple status effects simultaneously and each status will build individually while they continue to take different types of elemental damage.
Cosmic Damage - Cosmic Ionazation
Doing cosmic (yellow) damage to an enemy will cause them to become Ionized. Ionized enemies receive extra damage from all sources and boost player willpower. This effect is similar to Hulk's Rage intrinsic abil♕ity in that doing damage will heal your character while the damage dealt to the enemy is increased. Ionized will stack with Captain America's support ability Rally Cry, causing enemies to take even more increased damage.
Ionized is effective on single targets but is a lot more valuable to your team if you're able to apply it to bigger groups of enemies. Try to find the effect on gear that corresponds with AOE attacks. For example, cosmic damage on power attacks works will with Iron Man's Whirling Tempest laser skill because it deals damage to everyone around him in a wide area. Building cosmic d൩amage on lots of small enemies should be💞 the priority over one big enemy.
Cryo Damage - Cryo Freeze
Doing cryo (blue) damage to an enemy with Freeze them. Frozen enemies are slower and attack less frequently. Wha𒀰t's more, many defensive abilities are negated by Freeze altogether. It's best to you cryo against fast and/or defensive enemies because it creates more openings for attack. Enemies like the Stiletto Riotbot and Aegis Keepers are prime targets for Cryo because they use large shields and quick attacks that are otherwise difficult to deal with.
Cryo builds are all about pri🔯oritizing your targets. If you decide to focus on freezing enemies your role on the battlefield will be seek✤ing out and neutralizing high threat enemies that pose the biggest threat. Iron Man, Thor, and Black Widow are the best candidates for cryo users because of their enhanced mobility that allows them to move around the battlefield quickly to find targets.
Gamma Damage - Gamma Poisoning
Doing gamma (green) damage to an enemy will make them Poisoned. Poisoned enemies take tick damage over time and spread the poison to other enemies. When a poisoned enemy dies they cause a big gamm♛a explosion, dealing gamma damage to nearby enemies and building up their poison meter.
Like cosmic, gamma damage is best used in AOE and multitarget situations. The more enemies you can apply poison to the more it will spread around the battlefield. The intermittent damage from poison is🍬n't significant when applied to enem♊ies with large health pools, so focus on small enemies and spreading the effect as much as possible. For example, a ranged gamma power attack (like the one seen above) can allow Captain America to apply poison to up to five enemies with a Ricochet Throw.
Particle Damage - Pym Shrink
Doing particle (red) damage to an enemy will cause them to Shrink. Shrunken enemies deal less damage and received increased damage from all sources. Shrink is the best one out of every available status effects for dealing with large, tanky enemies. It's the slowest status to build and requires multiple sustained attacks, but it🦩 can make dealing with a Mega Dreadbot or Elite Exo much more manageable.
With a particle build, focus on the largest enemies on the battlefield with the most health. Hulk is likely the best candidate for a particle build as he is already most often best suited for facing off ag🤪ainst tanks and large mechs. Rather than AOE attacks, particle is best use for high damage, si🐻ngle target combat.
Plasma Damage - Plasma Burn
Doing plasma (orange) damage to an enemy will Burn them. Burning enemies suffer periodic interrupts. Burn can also cause some enemies to stagger. In testing, the stagger seems to apply more often t𒁃o smaller enemies while large enemies will only get interrupted. Burn is one of the more niche status effects that can be difficult to determine when/how it's worki🧸ng.
For burn, target sꦡelection is the priority. Enemies🔯 that attack frequently or repeatedly like Exos and Riotbots should be the priority. Burn can be used in a supportive way by applying it all the enemies your teammates are fighting. For this reason, Iron Man is a great burn candidate because he can target multiple enemies at range quickly.
Shock Damage - Electric Shock
Doing shock (blue) damage to an enemy will cause them to become shocked. Shocked enemies receive increased damage and a higher chance for crits. For shock, it's important to apply the effect as quickly as possible before doing high✨er damage attacks in order to maximize d𓃲amage output.
When building shock, make sure to also choose gear and masteries that increase crit chance/damage. Fast attacks like Black Widow's pistol will increase shock rapidly, allowing you to quickly apply the status effect before unleashing heavy attacks with high crit potential. A shock build will alter your playstyle by rewarding quick combos and fa🧸st status building, but ultimately any enemy with a medium or large health pool is a good target for shock.