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If you want to dominate fights in Arknights Endfield, you need to understand how elements work together. The game has a pretty cool combat system where different elemental attacks combine to create powerful effects. Let me break it down for you in the simplest way possible.
Understanding the Five Elements
Arknights Endfield has five elements, or in Endfield’s term, Arts, that you'll be working with: Physical, Heat, Electric, Cryo, and Nature. Each Operator you use deals damage with one of these elements. The real fun starts when you mix them together in battle.
The basic idea is that when you hit enemies with elemental damage (Heat, Electric, Cryo, or Nature), you'll apply an Arts Infliction. This is basically a debuff that sticks to your enemy and deals bonus damage of that element.
Think of Arts Inflictions as status effects you stack on enemies. When you keep hitting an enemy with the same element, you can stack up to 4 Arts Inflictions. Each time you add a new stack, you trigger an Arts Burst that deals extra elemental damage. This is great if you're running a team that focuses on just one element.
If you apply a different element while an enemy already has an Arts Infliction active, you create an Arts Reaction. These reactions apply debuffs and crowd-control effects.
To put it simply:
- Arts Burst: Elemental reaction triggered with the same element stack for damage.
- Arts Reaction: Elemental reaction triggered with a different element stack to apply debuffs.
| Arts Burst | Arts Reaction |
 + = Heat Burst |    + = Combustion |
| + = Electric Burst | + = Electrification |
| + = Cryo Burst | + = Solidification |
| + = Nature Burst | + = Corrosion |
The Four Main Arts Reactions
Combustion (Heat Trigger)
When you apply Heat to an enemy that already has another elemental debuff, you cause Combustion. This creates an explosion and puts a strong damage-over-time effect on your target. It's perfect for burning down tough enemies slowly.
Operators with Heat Arts:
Corrosion (Nature Trigger)
Apply Nature damage to an enemy with another elemental debuff, and you get Corrosion. This lowers their defense over time, which means they'll take more damage from everything. Super useful against tanky enemies.
Operators with Nature Arts:
Electrification (Electric Trigger)
Hit an enemy with Electric damage when they're already affected by another element, and you trigger Electrification. This makes enemies take more Arts damage from all your attacks. If your team deals mostly elemental damage, this reaction is your best friend.
Operators with Electric Arts:
Solidification (Cryo Trigger)
When you apply Cryo to an enemy with another elemental debuff, you get Solidification. This freezes the enemy completely, stopping them in their tracks. Frozen enemies can be Shattered for massive bonus damage.
Shatter is a special reaction that happens when you hit a frozen (Solidified) enemy with Physical damage. This deals a huge burst of Physical damage and breaks the freeze. It's one of the strongest combos in the game, so always look for chances to freeze enemies and then shatter them.
Operators with Cryo Arts:
How Physical Damage Works
Physical damage doesn't work like the other elements. Instead of Arts Inflictions, Physical attacks apply a status called Vulnerable, which stacks up to four times. Once you've built up Vulnerable stacks, you can trigger one of four Physical status effects:
Crush
This consumes all your Vulnerable stacks to deal massive Physical damage. The more stacks you have, the bigger the hit. Use this when you want to delete an enemy's health bar.
Breach
Like Crush, this consumes all Vulnerable stacks. But instead of dealing damage, it lowers the enemy's Physical defense. The more stacks you use, the weaker their defense becomes. Perfect for setting up your Physical damage dealers.
Lift
This adds another Vulnerable stack, deals extra Stagger damage, and lifts the enemy into the air. Use it to build up stacks and disrupt enemy attacks.
Knock Down
Similar to Lift, this adds a Vulnerable stack and deals Stagger damage, but it knocks enemies down instead. Great for crowd control.
Physical Damage Operators:
Building Your Team Strategy
Now that you know how everything works, think about your team composition. You've got two main approaches:
Mono-element teams focus on one element and spam Arts Bursts for consistent damage. This works well when enemies are weak to a specific element.
Reaction teams mix different elements to trigger powerful Arts Reactions. This usually deals more damage but requires better coordination between your Operators.
For Physical teams, your goal is simple: stack up Vulnerable as much as possible, then use Breach to lower defense before finishing with Crush for maximum damage.
Quick Tips for Combat
Here are some practical tips you can use right away:
- Always check what elemental debuffs are already on an enemy before attacking
- Plan your Operator rotation to trigger the reactions you want
- Against frozen enemies, switch to a Physical damage dealer for the Shatter combo
- Build up 4 Vulnerable stacks before using Breach or Crush for best results
- Use Corrosion early in fights to make enemies take more damage throughout the battle
The elemental system in Arknights Endfield might seem complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, combat becomes way more fun. Experiment with different Operator combinations and see which reactions work best for your playstyle. The more you understand these mechanics, the easier it'll be to take down tough enemies and clear challenging content.
