Elements

Elements in Orcs Must Die! Unchained are the different types of damage Heroes, Enemies and Traps have.

There are currently 5 Elements in the game: Physical, Fire, Lightning, Frost and Arcane. Magic element refers to the last four.

Elements have unique effects and synergies with other buffs, debuffs, effects, etc.

Heroes and Enemies have Armor that reduces the damage from different elements. There are also many ways of increasing a Heroes' Armor or decreasing an enemies' Armor against certain elements in order to deal more damage and create synergies.

Zoey is the exception and can use all Elements.

## Physical

Physical element is the most common and has no special effect but it has lots of synergies.

Heroes with phyisical damage as main damage type:

* Bionka, Bloodspike, Dobbin, Blackpaw, Ivy, Midnight, Temper, Deadeye, Yi-Lin, Brass,

Physical Damage Traps:

* Arrow Wall, Boom Barrel, Boom Barrel Roller, Boulder Chute, Ceiling Ballista, Floor Spikes, Grinder, Haymaker, Overload Trap, Pounder, Quarter Pounder, Swinging Mace, Wall Blades, Big Game Hunting Arrow Wall, Big Game Hunting Ballista,

Synergies:

* Smashing Deals: -15% physical trap cost.

Ways of reducing enemies' Physical Armor:

* **-50** Using traps with Debilitation Resonator **(+33% damage)**
* **-50** Ivy's Reach of Roots **(+33% damage)**
* **-15** Dobbin's Dust Devil **(+13% damage)**

## Fire

Fire element is the most popular and has the unique aspect of leaving a burning effect on targets hit by damage of this type. It has several synergies, specially with Trap Parts.

All Fire Damage sources, like a Hero ability or Traps, deal Damage over Time (DoT) from the burning effect that they apply. Some Hero abilities have an initial burst damage in top of the DoT but Traps do all their damage through the application of a stronger DoT. The Burn Duration varies from the damage source, you can see the duration from Traps on their pages.

Each Damage Source applies a different DoT whose damage stacks with other DoT, however a same source like same Hero Ability or a same Trap Type (E.g Floor Scorcher) won't stack with itself it will just refresh the DoT timer, (this includes 2 different Traps of the same, e.g 2 Brimstones placed too close to each other).

Heroes with Fire damage as main damage type:

* Smolder,

Fire Damage Traps:

* Brimstone, Fire Cracker, Floor Scorcher, Naphtha Sprayer, Spitfire Wall,

Fire Damage Gear:

* Fire Wall Bracers, Flame Bracers

Synergies:

* Fire Sale: -15% fire trap cost.
* **-60** Fire Armor Naphtha Sprayer Debuff (+37.5% Damage)
* Fire Resonator: Increases the trap's damage to burning enemies by 30%.
* Heat Activated Trigger: Adds a 10% chance for the trap to reset if burning minions are nearby, regardless of the traps' cooldown state.
* Weaponwright Guardian Aura: (In Combat) Adds fire damage to primary attacks.

## Lightning

Lightning element has a powerful special effect, enemies killed with a Lightning attack explode dealing area damage in a small radius around them. This element doesn't synergize much but is powerful in pretty much all situations.

This damage is based on enemies max health but is also affected by damage amplifiers like Leveling Up, Traits, etc.

Heroes with Lightning damage as main damage type:

* Maximilian, Cygnus,

Lightning Damage Traps:

* Lightning Rod, Shock Zapper, Wall Charger, Big Game Hunting Zapper,

Lightning Damage Gear:

* Ring of Storms

Synergies:

* Lightning Deals: -15% lightning trap cost.

## Frost / Ice

Ice or Frost element is has one of the best special effects, it allows to freeze targets, interrupting everything and making them totally vulnerable. Unlike Fire, it naturally synergizes with more sources of the same element.

Ice Heroes have Abilities that can instantly Freeze enemies or apply several Chill Stacks at once. The rest of Ice Damage Sources (like Minions or Traps), apply 1 Chilled effect/debuff on the target upon hit, when a Minion reaches 3 Chill Stacks, it's frozen for a brief moment. Heroes, Bosses and Mercenaries require 5 Stacks to be froozen.

**Only Heroes have a cooldown to be frozen again after being frozen, Enemies can be frozen an unlimited amount of times consecutively.**

Heroes with Frost damage as main damage type:

* Hogarth, Tundra,

Frost Damage Traps:

* Ice Vent, Ice Shard, Icicle Impaler, Saw Of Arctos,

Frost Damage Gear:

* Ice Amulet

Synergies:

* Ice Cold Deals: -15% ice trap cost.
* Ice Resonator: Increases the trap's damage to frozen enemies by 90%.
* Priest Guardian Spin: Enemies are frozen on hit.

## Arcane

Arcane element has a unique special effect, targets hit by arcane attacks are affected by a debuff that stacks up to 5 times and reduces their Arcane Armor, making consecutive hits of Arcane attacks more powerful. Like Ice, it naturally synergizes with more damage sources of the same element.

Arcane attacks apply a stack of an effect that reduces the target Arcane Armor by 12 (+10.7% damage) per Arcane Debuff stack (max 5 stacks, -60 armor, +37.5% extra damage). Every Arcane attack from any source adds a stack of this debuff to the target, debuf fades away after a couple seconds but the timer is refreshed with every hit.

Heroes with Arcane damage as main damage type:

* Gabriella, Stinkeye,

Arcane Damage Traps:

* Arcane Bowling Ball, Arcane Phaser, Cursed Ground, Dragon's Lance, Summoner Trap,

Arcane Damage Gear:

* Arcane Bubble Blower

Synergies:

* Insane Arcane Sale: -15% arcane trap cost.
* Friar Guardian Aura: (In Combat) Adds arcane damage to primary attacks.