Do hero specials have the elemental strengths and weaknesses?

The reason Jackal - Joon is good is that specials are affected by elemental defense buffs/debuffs. Even though they are not affected by elemental weakness/strenght.

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For proof that color does not matter for specials I did this:




That’s Horghal hitting GM for the same amount as Sartana and the others. Damage to GM should be considerably less if the color did affect. (hopefully the pictures load properly)

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The increased damage to the weak element could come from the special itself (see “Deals extra damage against element.” as in HOTMs skills) and from elemental defense debuff.

If a elemental defense debuff isn’t apllied and the special doesn’t include the extra damage then the special will deal the same damage to different targets with the same defense regardless of their element.

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Strong/Weak color only applies to tiles

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All Said. There is NO weak/strong color with special. If there is more damage to a specific color, it is written in hero description.

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VAnd… @FraVit93 gets the A+

General rule:

  • tiles always use the strong/weak/neutral from the color chart
  • special attacks are neutral unless:
  1. The card says the special is strong against an element OR
  2. An elemental defense debuff is active, which increases damage from that color’s tiles AND all direct damage from specials from heroes of that color OR
  3. An elemental defense buff is active, which decreases damage from that color’s tiles AND all direct damage from specials from heroes of that color. (Added, thanks @BarryWuzHere)

Condition 1 is met by Natalya, Zeline, Athena, and Gravemaker.

Condition 2 is created by Panther, Jackal, Arthur, Evelyn and Falcon.

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As Kerridoc said, but …

Condition 1 specials like Gravemaker are strong/neutral. They have NO weak condition. (unlike tile damage)

Condition 2 (elemental defense) will impact special skills both up and down.
i.e. Sartana will hit stronger after Panther’s purple defense debuff … AND she will hit weaker after Guin’s purple defense buff.

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Edited my post to add buffs, thank.

Worthwhile to note that damage over time is NOT affected by buffs or debuffs. Sartana’s poison is just as potent against a shielded Guin as an unshielded Guin, for example.

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Yes, DOT bypasses those as well as a high defense, reflected or shared damage. That’s a really nice thing about heroes like Gravemaker or Marjana.

And probably the second best thing about Natalya. (Right after the way she’s falling out of her wardrobe :rofl:)

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But why with elemental debuff if not without? It shows the system is registering the attack as elemental-based damage for that to happen

I think the point is the specials are “half elemental”: they are elemental in terms of being affected by elemental buffs/debuffs, e.g. jackal decreases defense against yellow and then joon special hits for more damage; they are not elemental in terms of color strength/weakness, e.g. joon special hits with the same strength any color, no double damage on purple, no half damage on yellow

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There is no bonus unless specifically stated in the special skill description

Jackal gets no love…

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Oops, fixed. Thanks.

I had this same question. Specials are neutral unless it mentions a color. Like if you hit with falcon and then follow up with Scarlett, the elemental debuff gives Scarlett’s special a color.

I wonder if it is coded in such a way that it checks the color that initiated the damage. For instance, if Boril is debuffed by Falcon with fire elemental defense debuff. Then you use Kelile’s special on Boril:

The code notes that Boril is receiving damage from a source that has the elemental attribute fire. Therefore, it applies the defense reduction when calculating the damage done by Kelile’s special.

It does, I’ve tested it. That’s why people say jackal and joon is a killer combo because the defender will get hit by joon much harder than normal after jackal debuffs.

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Wow thank you everyone! This is great info. I really appreciate it!

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Agreed. I actually use Falcon and Kelile all the time. I was simply guessing as to how it is implemented in the code.

Thank you @Kerridoc and @BarryWuzHere
For correcting my information.