Elemental and Weapon Damage Stats on Items

[Redmond]

My question is basically what do the elemental percentages or weapon damage type percentages on items like your weapon mean? Does it mean you do 35% more damage with lets say Ice moves, or 35% more defense against Ice moves?

Also I know it's all speculation so far, but has SE ever confirmed what putting points into elements does? I know that it was thought that it might increase your defense against the opposite element and increase your damage with it. I heard some talk about it increasing the type of crystals you get from drops.

[Xatsh]

Every mob is strong or weak against a specific type of dmg. example skellys are strong vs piercing weak vs blunt. so if you are a lancer using a weapon with 100% piercing might be worse then a weapon with 70% piercing 30% blunt even if the weapon with 100% piercing is slightly stronger stat wise.

On Weapons where it says for example Slashing 70% blunt 30%. It means 70% of the dmg that weapon does is slashing and 30% is blunt. Similar with mage weapons and the elemental dmg.

Depending on the mob you are fighting it will make some difference in the dmg delt, it is more noticeable on mage weapon since there are several different elemental weapon types at the same level with the same stats then melee where the next weapon has more att on it.

On armor it is the opposite. 3% fire means you take 3% less fire dmg, 5% slashing means you take 5% less slashing dmg.


As for elements I think they have to do with accuracy and resistance for those items, and alot say they influence shard/crystal drop rates. Like most stats they seem to have little impact atm.

[Redmond]

So would having a Two-Handed Staff with 60% fire on it improve the damage you do with the spell Fire, or does it only apply to the ability Spirit Dart, which does damage based off your weapon, and the like?

BTW thank you for the response!

[VydarrTyr]

Honestly, I'm not sure about the answer to your question. I haven't seen or heard of anyone seriously testing the damage types. But my interpretation is that the % damages types applies to basic attacks (like Phantom Dart). If your weapon does 40% fire, 30% ice, and 30% earth damage, then that's the amount of damage that you'll get from Phantom Dart. However, if you do a fire spell, it will do 100% fire damage.

As for what the elemental attributes do, this is from a Wiki on Zam (link in text):

Elemental Attributes take up a much greater role in XIV than they ever did in XI. A player directly determines their own affinity with the elements as they level up. Some may decide to go entirely into one, while others may want to spread them out more evenly.

* Fire melts ice, but is extinguished by wind.
* Water erodes earth, but is boiled by lightning.
* Lightning boils water, but is grounded by earth.
* Wind extinguishes fire, but is obstructed by ice.
* Earth grounds lightning, but is eroded by water.
* Ice obstructs wind, but is melted by fire.

Disciples of The Land benefit from elemental attributes by extracting more crystals based upon their leading elemental attribute.

Disciples of The Hand benefit from elemental attributes by having a stronger affinity to crystals which match their stronger elements. For example, a Weaver would benefit largely from putting points into Earth and Wind, due to almost all Clothcraft recipes using those two.

A characters elemental resistances go up as they spend more points on the corresponding elements.

A characters proficiency with elemental weaponskills and magic goes up as they raise the respective elemental attribute. For example, a Conjurer that specializes in Fire will cast stronger Fire spells.

* Astral & Umbral are the Light and Dark (respectively) of FFXIV. These attributes, unlike the 6 primary are not able to be adjusted by a player. Astral and Umbral only exist through magical attacks.

I believe some folks disagree with that last statement. I have heard that you can affect your Astral/Umbral by changing specific elemental attributes. Umbral elements are those that you can hold in your hand (earth, ice, water). Astral elements are those that you can't hold in your hand (lightning, wind, fire). If you increase your elemental affinities for earth/ice/water, your Umbral spells will be more potent. If you increase your elemental affinities for lightning/wind/fire, your Astral spells will be more potent.

But I'm a terrible mage, so hopefully someone smarter than me will be able to answer your question.