Affinities (mechanic)

Elements or Attributes, their Affinities , or Weaknesses for short, are properties for each individual character in battle. 
==Overview==
Each character can have a weakness (read on the affinity chart as "Wk" ) or resistance ("Rs" ) to any element. Their affinity to that determines the damage they'll take from offensive skills of the same element. For example, if the target is weak against Fire, the damage of attacks from that element will be increased, and if the target is resistant, the damage will be lowered. Outside of a select few instances, Skills can only be of one element.
Additionally, the user can have a different type of resistance against attacks from certain elements:
* If the target blocks or nulls that affinity, they will receive zero damage. On the affinity chart, it is read as "Nu" .
* If the target repels that affinity, the attack will not just be blocked, but also be sent back to the attacker. The attack sent back has the same element and power as the original attack and cannot be evaded. It calculates the damage according to both the attacker's own related attack and defense stats, and buffs, such as Tarukaja and Charge, are put into consideration. Secondary debuffs and ailments that come from these attacks are also reflected back at the attacker. However, the repelled attack cannot miss and can never land Critical hits. On the affinity chart, it is read as "Rp" . 
** If both the attacker and the intended target reflect the element, there are different results depending on the game. In most games the attacker will block the reflected attack. However in Shin Megami Tensei II and Shin Megami Tensei V repelled attacks ignore the attacker's resistances, piercing through them.
* If the target drains that affinity, the attack's damage will be converted into HP recovery. On the affinity chart, it is read as "Dr" .
** If the drained attack is an instant death attack (e.g. Hama and Mudo), the attack will not heal but still be blocked.
** In Persona 5, if the attack is a repelled attack, it will be blocked instead of draining. 
Physical attacks can have similar affinities as well, and can also be resisted. Additionally, they can be categorized into multiple sub-types, just like how Magic skills are split into multiple elements.
Shields, such as Tetrakarn or Makarakarn, are generally considered to be affinity modifiers, granting the user a repelling resistance to all Physical or Magic elements respectively, although only against one attack and lasts one turn. 
In the Shin Megami Tensei series, demons also have affinities towards specific ailments, and the success rates of these ailments depends on their affinities.
Almighty is a special element, as it is not an elemental affinity, but only a skill type. Hence, skills of that type will always hit, although they cannot exploit weaknesses. Though some bosses can resist it, but it is a rare occurence.
There are also Passive skills that cater to supporting the user based on a specific element: some increase the damage dealt from attacks of the respective element, with others directly or indirectly affecting the user's affinities: for instance, Resist Phys, Null Phys, Repel Phys and Drain Phys tweak the user's affinities against Physical accordingly. There are also evasion-based Passive skills, such as Dodge Phys and Evade Phys, that do not affect their weaknesses, but increase their chances of not getting struck by certain attacks.
===Standard elements from the Shin Megami Tensei series===
The icons here come from Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2, but otherwise apply to most other mainline Shin Megami Tensei games or its spinoffs.
Phys 	Phys
Fire 	Ice
Elec 	Force
Light 	Dark
Almighty	Almighty
==Game specific changes==
===Shin Megami Tensei===
Shin Megami Tensei features only one type of physical skills for humans, though demons have access to special skills, some of which are physical.
Physical	Physical	Charge	Dex 	Needle	 	
Magic 	Fire 	Ice 	Electricity	Force 	Healing	Almighty
Abnormal	Expel 	Curse 	Mind 	Nerve 	Support	
===Shin Megami Tensei II / Shin Megami Tensei if...===
Shin Megami Tensei II features an evolution of the gameplay from the first Shin Megami Tensei, which would be the basis for the rest of the franchise. With this evolution comes different types of affinities and elements.
Physical	Sword	Gun 	Rush 	Tech 	 	
Magic 	Fire 	Ice 	Electricity	Force 	Healing/Recovery	Almighty
Abnormal	Expel	Curse	Ailment 	Support	Other 	
"Other" skills regroup spells like Estoma, Trafui and Necroma.
Shin Megami Tensei if... has the exact same affinities and elements as Shin Megami Tensei II.
===Shin Megami Tensei NINE===
Elemental affinities are displayed as Resistance Levels. A positive Resistance Level (+1 to +9) represents a resistance, while a negative Resistance Level (-1 to -8) represents a weakness. It isn't possible to Null an element, since even with a +9 resistance level, an attack will deal at least 1 damage. 
If a character repels an attack, they'll still take damage, but some of it will be sent back to the attacker.
Physical	Strike	Slash	Tech	Gun 	Thrown 	
Magic 	Fire 	Ice 	Elec	Force	Heal 	Almighty
Abnormal	Expel 	Death	Mind	Nerve	Support	
===Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne / Maniax / Maniax Chronicle / HD Remaster===
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne simplifies combat by only having one type of physical attacks, simply called "physical," though the types of magic are the same as in Shin Megami Tensei NINE. It also uses the same 6 levels of resistance in Shin Megami Tensei games before NINE. Weaknesses increase the damage dealt by x1.5, whereas resistances reduce it by x0.5.
This game is the first to introduce the Press Turn system. Hitting a demon's weakness uses half a turn instead of a full turn, hitting them with an element they block uses two turns instead of one, and hitting them with an element they absorb or repel uses up every turn available. This system works for both the protagonist's party and the enemy party.
Physical	Physical	Physical	Physical 	Physical	Physical	Physical
Magic 	Fire 	Ice 	Electricty	Force 	Almighty	Healing
Abnormal	Expel 	Death 	Mind 	Nerve 	Support 	Support
===Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey / Redux===
This game largely follows the same principle as Nocturne, however, it doesn't use the Press Turn system. Physical attacks are now divided into two: "melee" and "gun." Now if a demon or the protagonist hits a weakness, they do a follow-up attack with every party member of the same alignment.
Physical	Melee	Melee	Melee 	Gun 	Gun 	Gun
Magic 	Fire 	Ice 	Electricty	Wind 	Almighty	Healing
Abnormal	Expel	Death	Mind 	Nerve	Support 	
===Shin Megami Tensei IV===
The different elements and physical categories are exactly the same as in Strange Journey, except that Shin Megami Tensei IV uses the Press Turn system. The game also introduces Smirking: if a demon or a character takes advantage of a weakness, lands a critical hit or blocks/repels/absorbs an attack, they will smirk. Smirking, among other things, removes the user's weakness until the effect wears off. Like the Press Turn, Smirking acts the same for the protagonist's party and the enemy party.
=== Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse ===
Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse has a very similar gameplay to Shin Megami Tensei IV, the same elements and physical types as its predecessor, and uses both the Press Turn system and Smirking. 
Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse also introduces Skill Potential. Also known as Skill Affinity, this mechanic provides bonuses or penalties to use of skills of specific elements based on the demon's degree of affinity to that element. If a demon has a positive affinity towards a certain types of spells, using that line of spells will cost less MP and they will be more efficient (e.g. a healing spell will heal more HP if a demon has an affinity towards Healing). On the other hand, a demon with a bad affinity (or negative affinity) towards a given element will use more MP and deal less damage with skills of that element (e.g. Hama skills will cost more and deal less damage if a demon has bad affinity with Light). Skill Potential is usually (but not always) linked with the resistances and weaknesses of a demon and is represented by a scale of -9 to +9. 
===Shin Megami Tensei V===
In Shin Megami Tensei V, resistances now also prevent characters from being struck with Critical hits, but the effects of Omagatoki: Critical bypass that. Otherwise, the types of physical and magic attacks, as well as Skill Potential, are the same as in Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse. 
===Last Bible series===
The Last Bible are much more standard fantasy RPGs, and that reflects in the variety of elements available to use throughout the series.
Physical 	Physical	Physical	Physical	Physical	Physical 	Physical
Offensive magic	Fire 	Ice 	Elec 	Force 	Holy 	Curse
Defensive magic	Recovery	Recovery	Support 	Support 	Miscellaneous	Miscellaneous
===Ronde===
In Ronde, elemental resistances are displayed as letter grades.
Grade	Description
S 	75% resistance
A 	50% resistance
B 	25% resistance
C 	Normal damage
D 	Damage and effect chance increased by 25%
E 	Damage and effect chance increased by 50%
H 	Damage is absorbed
===Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner===
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner adds a new Physical and a new Magical element.
Physical	Rush 	Tech 	Slash 	Spear 	Gun
Magic 	Offensive	Fire 	Ice 	Electric	Force
Magic 	Offensive	Psionic	Holy 	Dark 	Almighty
Magic 	Ailment 	Mind 	Nerve 	Bind 	Magic
Magic 	Other 	Healing	Support	Misc 	
===Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers===
Soul Hackers features largely the same elements as the first Devil Sumonner, but with the removal of Psionic.
Physical	Physical 	Strike 	Slash 	Skill 	Gun 	Almighty	 	
Magic 	Offensive	Fire 	Ice 	Electric 	Force 	Expel 	Death 	Almighty
Magic 	Defensive	Recovery	Recovery	Stat modifiers	Stat modifiers	Shield 	Shield	Misc.
Magic 	Ailments 	Curse 	Curse 	Nerve 	Nerve 	Mind 	Mind 	
===Soul Hackers 2===
Soul Hackers 2 has both melee and gun types of physical damage, and grouped ailment skills under the Ruin category, but doesn't feature either Light or Dark magic.
Physical	Gunfire
Fire 	Ice
Electric	Force
Ruin 	Almighty
===Megami Ibunroku Persona===
In Megami Ibunroku Persona, both physical and magical attributes are split in multiple categories, as each type of weapon and firearm is considered its own element.
Tech, Rush, Special Physical and Anti-Boss all share the same icon, but each is considered a different element. Furthermore, the first three are physical and the latter is magic.
Non-elemental magic is exclusive to bosses. It's possible to hack those skills onto a Persona, but the game will crash if the player attempts to use one of them. Those skills use the same icon as Fire skills.
Physical	Weapon 	1-hand Sword	2-hand Sword	Spear 	Axe
Physical	Weapon 	Whip 	Throw 	Arrow 	Fist
Physical	Firearm	Handgun 	Machinegun 	Shotgun 	Rifle
Physical	Other 	Tech 	Rush 	Special 	
Magic 	Element	Fire 	Ice 	Wind 	Earth
Magic 	Force 	Electric 	Nuclear 	Blast 	Gravity
Magic 	Light 	Expel 	Miracle 	Bless 	Prayer
Magic 	Dark 	Death 	Curse 	Nerve 	Occult
Magic 	Other 	Assist 	Anti-Boss 	Non-elemental	
===Persona 2: Innocent Sin / Eternal Punishment=== 
The Persona 2 duology simplifies gameplay a bit by removing some elements and combining others. For example, all gun attacks are combined into the Ranged element, while Gravity and Force are combined with Almighty.
Physical	Physical	Sword 	Ranged 	Strike 	Thrown	Havoc 	
Magic 	Element 	Fire 	Water 	Wind 	Earth 	Ice 	
Magic 	Force 	Electric	Nuke 	Almighty	Light 	Darkness	Non-elemental
Magic 	Assist 	Recovery	Recovery	Buffs 	Buffs 	Misc 	Misc
Magic 	Ailments	Nerve 	Nerve 	Mind 	Mind 	Almighty	Almighty
===Persona 3 / FES / Portable===
In Persona 3, the Physical attacks are split into 3 types: Strike, Slash and Pierce.
Strike 	Slash 	Pierce
Fire 	Ice 	Elec
Wind 	Light 	Darkness
Almighty	Almighty	Almighty
The melee weapons are assigned to deal one of the three respective Physical damage types:
Weapons 	For 	Affinity
One-Handed Swords	Male protagonistMitsuru Kirijo 	Slash
Naginatas 	Female protagonist 	Slash
Two-Handed Swords	Male protagonist (P3 / F only)Junpei Iori 	Slash
Knives 	Koromaru 	Slash
Fists 	Akihiko Sanada 	Strike
Bludgeons 	Male protagonist (P3 / F only)Shinjiro AragakiMetis	Strike
Spears 	Male protagonist (P3 / F only)Ken Amada 	Pierce
Bows 	Male protagonist (P3 / F only)Yukari Takeba 	Pierce
Guns 	Aigis 	Pierce
In the Persona series starting with Persona 3, hitting a target's weakness is one way to knock an enemy Down and hence grant the user a One More. Guarding generally prevents the user from being Downed.
===Persona 4 / Golden===
Unlike Persona 3, Persona 4 merges all Physical attacks into one element.
Phys 	Phys
Fire 	Ice
Elec 	Wind
Light 	Darkness
Almighty	Almighty
===Persona 5 / Royal===
Persona 5 reintroduces Gun, Psy and Nuke.
Phys 	Gun
Fire 	Ice
Elec 	Wind
Psy 	Nuke
Bless 	Curse
Almighty	Almighty
====Exploiting weaknesses====
If the target is Weak towards that element, the attack will deal x1.4 damage. Attacks that exploit weaknesses cannot deal Critical or Technical damage, so the multipliers cannot stack.
If an attack's element is Resisted by the target, it will deal x0.5 damage.攻撃ダメージ量の変化, ペルソナ5ザ･ロイヤル総合攻略Wiki P5R攻略 Wiki* If they resist the respective element, it will be more unlikely for the attack to afflict a status condition or a Critical hit, and decreases the odds of Hama and Mudo skills succeeding.ぺルソナ／シャドウ能力値・属性相性・スキル属性, ペルソナ5総合攻略Wiki P5攻略 Wiki*ぺルソナ／シャドウ能力値・属性相性・スキル属性, ペルソナ5ザ･ロイヤル総合攻略Wiki P5R攻略 Wiki* Combatants immune to Fire, Elec, and Ice damage are also innately immune to Burn, Shock, and Freeze, respectively. 
If the difficulty is set to Merciless, the damage from exploiting weak points will also be tripled in comparison to the normal damage an exploitative attack would deal.
In Persona 5 Royal, there are Traits that affect the damage received in exploiting weaknesses. If the Persona has "Relentless," the user's attack will be boosted by 50% when hitting a weakness, but it only applies to single-target attacks. Additionally, "Crisis Control" reduces the damage the user takes when their own weakness is exploited.
====Modifiers Based on Elements====
This section covers information on additional modifiers whose influence is dictated depending on the related elements, separate from exploiting an enemy's weakness.
Damage amplifying Passives, such as Fire Boost and Fire Amp, both boost the power of certain skills by x1.25 and x1.50 respectively. If they're stacked together, their power will be multiplied to x1.875.スキル効果重複について, ペルソナ5総合攻略Wiki P5攻略 Wiki*スキル効果重複について, ペルソナ5ザ･ロイヤル総合攻略Wiki P5R攻略 Wiki*
In Persona 5 Royal, there are also several Traits that influence the user's SP cost of certain elements, such as "Heated Bloodline," which decreases the cost of Fire Skills by 50%, and Drunken Passion, which instead lowers it by 75%.
There is a set of Passive skills that boost the user's evasion rate against specific elements, such as Dodge Phys and Evade Phys. Party members learn the Evade equivalent of their weak element when their Persona experiences a Second Awakening upon maxing their Confidant.
The elements of the skills play a major role in generating Technical damage. If the target is inflicted with a status ailment, attacks from certain elements will deal additional damage, and in Persona 5 Royal, has the innate chance of downing enemies as well.
====Modifying elemental affinities====
This section covers information on directly nullifying and generating resistances and weaknesses.
Personas can learn affinity-modifying Passive skills that protect their weaknesses when put in Lockdown, a facility in the Velvet Room which is unlocked by reaching Rank 3 in Caroline & Justine's Confidant. There are no Passive skills that affect the user's resistance against Gun skills. In Persona 5 only, Omnipotent Orb automatically sets the user's affinities to Null. In Royal, Omnipotent Orb instead grants the user the Passive skill Zenith Defense, which only provides protection against magical attacks.
Weaknesses can also be protected in combat via elemental shields, such as Fire Wall, which reduces damage and covers their innate weakness to the related element, although it only lasts for three turns. On the other hand, certain Support skills are also able to nullify elemental resistances, albeit temporarily, such as Fire Break. Party members are able to learn these Passive skills respective to their prime element.
In Royal, there is a special set of skills, Brush of Vanity and Bleeding Dry Brush, which have the Passive effect of nullifying the user's weaknesses. These can only be obtained by finding all 3 Will Seeds in Madarame's Palace and equipping the Crystal of Vanity that they produce.
There are several status conditions that influence the targets' affinities. If the user is Painted, they will become weak against any skill, although their innate affinities are left unmodified. In Royal, if the user is Frozen, their affinities to Physical and Gun skills will be changed to neutral.
Shinya Oda's Rank 10 Confidant ability, Oda Special, allows the protagonist to ignore Gun resistances when using Gun attacks.
===Persona 5 Strikers===
Persona 5 Strikers uses the same affinities and elements as Persona 5 and Royal. One major aspect of weaknesses and similar are that some enemies might not directly be Downed, but will be blocked off by a Down Gauge, which is gradually reduced before the ability to Down the target is acquired.
===Persona 5 Tactica===
In Persona 5 Tactica, most of the elements from Persona 5 and Royal have been renamed and revamped into ailments-inflicting skills. Along with this, unit affinities and weaknesses have been removed. This means every skill now deal type-less damage by default. Instead, skills now inflict certain Ailments depending on the element the attack. All skills have a guaranteed chance of inflicting their respective ailments, except against bosses who are immune to ailments.
Any unit that is attacked out of cover will always be hit with a Critical and Downed regardless of the element of the attack. Any unit hiding behind cover will become resistant to all Physical and Gun attacks until their resistance is broken by a skill or they are knocked out of cover by a Melee Attack or stage hazard.
80px|link=Fire Skills 	80px|link=Ice Skills
80px|link=Electricity Skills 	80px|link=Wind Skills
80px|link=Nuclear Skills 	80px|link=Psy Skills
80px|link=Light Skills (Affinity)	80px|link=Dark Skills (Affinity)
80px 	80px|link=Forget
80px|link=Physical Skills 	80px|link=Gun Skills
80px|link=Almighty Skills 	80px|link=Almighty Skills
===Persona Q / Persona Q2===
Persona Q uses the elements from Persona 3, including the 3 different types of physical skills. Persona Q2, on the other hand, uses the affinities from Persona 5, but removes the Gun element. As such, there is only one type of physical skills.
In both games, if an enemy or party member hits a weakness or lands a critical hit, they are now in a Boost state until they attack again or get hit. Boosts can be chained by continuously hitting weaknesses or criticals.
Physical	Stab 	Stab	Cut 	Cut 	Bash 	Bash 	Almighty
Magic 	Fire 	Ice 	Electric	Wind 	Light 	Curse	Almighty
Support 	Ailment	Bind	Healing 	Recovery	Buffs/Debuffs	 	
Physical	Physical 	Physical	Physical	Physical	Physical
Magic 	Fire 	Ice 	Electric	Wind 	
Magic 	Psychokinesis	Nuclear 	Bless 	Curse 	Almighty
Support 	Ailment 	Bind 	Circles 	Healing 	Buffs/Debuffs
===Devil Survivor series===
Devil Survivor renames all Curse skills to Mystic Skills. If a target is hit with a weakness or a critical hit, or if the user nulls/drains/reflects an attack, the user will gain an Extra Turn after everyone's turn is over.
Phys 	Phys
Fire 	Ice
Elec 	Force
Mystic	Almighty
===Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner / Avatar Tuner 2===
The Digital Devil Saga duology bases its gameplay off Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne and features many of the same affinities. It also uses the Press Turn system, but also introduces some new elements. Ailment skills have all been separated into their own categories, and Hunt skills have been added due to the story of the games.
Physical 	Physical	Physical	Physical	Physical	Hunt 	Hunt 	Hunt 	Hunt 	
Magic attacks 	Fire 	Ice 	Electric	Force 	Earth 	Expel 	Death 	Almighty	
Ailment spells 	Mute 	Mute 	Nerve 	Nerve 	Poison 	Poison 	Panic 	Panic 	Charm
Defensive spells	Healing 	Healing 	Healing 	Support 	Support	Support	Shield	Shield 	Misc
The Misc category only features the Analyze skill.
===Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE===
in Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, the Physical attacks are split into 4 types: Sword, Lance, Axe and Bow. Additionally, physical ailment skills and offensive Dark spells have combined into one affinity called Body, and mental ailments and offensive Light spells have combined into an affinity called Mind.
Sword 	Lance
Axe 	Bow
Fire 	Ice
Elec 	Force
Mind 	Body
Almighty	Almighty
==Trophies & Awards==
Trophy 	Icon	Description 	For 	Reward
Press Turn Master	 	Hit a weakness 100 times. 	SMT3NHD trophy	
Calculated 	 	Defeated an enemy via repelled damage.	SH2 trophy 	
Tactical Fighter 	 	Exploit enemy weaknesses 100 times. 	P3P trophy 	
Tactical Fighter 	 	Exploit enemy weakness 100 times 	P4G trophy 	
Precise Insight 	 	Exploit enemy weaknesses 100 times. 	P5 trophy 	
Know Your Enemy 	 	Hit the enemy's weakness 300 times. 	P5S trophy 	
==Terminology==
The terminology of the subject varies. Generally, the subject may simply be referred to as "weakness(es)."
In Persona 3, skill types are referred to as "attack properties."
In Persona 5, the mechanic is referred to as "elements" in tutorials.
In Shin Megami Tensei V, they are generally referred to as "affinities," but the description of Archangel's Essence in Cadaver's Hollow instead names them as "elements."
==References==
Category:Mechanics
Category:Attack Properties