Element (mechanic)

This article is about the mechanic. For more uses, see Element (disambiguation).

Elements or their Affinities (相性, Aishō)^? are properties for each individual character in battle.

Overview

Each character can have a weakness (弱点, Jakuten)^? (read on the affinity chart as "Wk" (弱, Jaku)^?) or resistance (耐性, Taishi)^? ("Rs" (耐, Tai)^?)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 be of only 1 element.

Additionally, the user can have a different type of resistance against attacks from certain elements:

• If the target blocks or nulls (無効, Mukō)^? that affinity, they will receive zero damage. On the affinity chart, it is read as "Nu" (無, Mu)^?.
• If the target repels (反射, Hansha)^? that affinity, the attack will not just be blocked, but sent back to the attacker. The attack sent back has the same element and power as the original attack and cannot be evaded. On the affinity chart, it is read as "Rp" (反, Han)^?.
  • If the repelled element is also repelled by the one who used that attack, it will become a standard block.
• If the target drains (吸収, Kyūshū)^? that affinity, the attack's damage will be converted into HP recovery. On the affinity chart, it is read as "Dr" (吸, Kyū)^?.

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.

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.

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
Fire	Ice
Elec	Force
Light	Dark
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 into 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, likely as a placeholder.

Physical	Weapon	1-hand Sword	2-hand Sword	Spear	Axe
		Whip	Throw	Arrow	Fist
	Firearm	Handgun	Machinegun	Shotgun	Rifle
	Other	Tech	Rush	Special
Magic	Element	Fire	Ice	Wind	Earth
	Force	Electric	Nuclear	Blast	Gravity
	Light	Expel	Miracle	Bless	Prayer
	Dark	Death	Curse	Nerve	Occult
	Other	Assist	Anti-Boss	Non-elemental

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

The melee weapons are assigned to deal one of the three respective Physical damage types:

Weapons	For	Affinity
One-Handed Swords	Male protagonist Mitsuru Kirijo	Slash
Naginatas	Female protagonist
Two-Handed Swords	Male protagonist (P3 / F only) Junpei Iori
Knives	Koromaru
Fists	Akihiko Sanada	Strike
Bludgeons	Male protagonist (P3 / F only) Shinjiro Aragaki Metis
Spears	Ken Amada	Pierce
Bows	Yukari Takeba
Guns	Aigis

Persona 4 / Golden

Unlike Persona 3, Persona 4 merges all Physical attacks into 1 element.

Phys
Fire	Ice
Elec	Wind
Light	Darkness
Almighty

Persona 5 / Royal / Strikers

Persona 5 reintroduces Gun, Psy and Nuke after Persona 3 and Persona 4.

Phys	Gun
Fire	Ice
Elec	Wind
Psy	Nuke
Bless	Curse
Almighty

Exploiting Weaknesses

If the target has their weakness exploited, they will be Downed in the process, unless they guard. Striking enemies' weaknesses in such a manner is a major method in generating Hold Ups and All-Out Attacks.

If an attack's element is Resisted by the target, it will deal x0.5 damage. If the target is Weak towards that element, the attack will deal x1.4 damage. 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 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 they're exploiting 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.

There is a type of Passive skills that boost the attack power of the user's skills of a certain element. For example, Fire Boost and Fire Amp both boost the power of Fire skills by x1.25 and x1.50 respectively. If they're stacked together, their power will be multiplied to x1.875.

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.

There are certain types of Passive skills affect the user's affinity against certain elements (sans Gun skills), even if indirectly: for instance, Resist Phys, Null Phys, Repel Phys and Drain Phys tweak the user's affinities against Physical accordingly. Personas can learn such 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.

Weaknesses can also be protected via shields, such as Fire Wall, which reduces damage and covers their innate weakness to the related element, although it only lasts for 3 turns.

In Persona 5 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 negatively influence the targets' affinities. If the user is painted over, they'll become weak against any skill, and in Persona 5 Royal only, if the user is Frozen, their resistance to Physical and Gun skills will be nullified, although this doesn't apply to Repelling or Draining.

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.

Shinya Oda's Rank 10 Confidant ability, Oda Special, allows the protagonist to ignore Gun resistances when using Gun attacks.

Devil Survivor Series

Devil Survivor renames all Curse skills to Mystic Skills.

Phys
Fire	Ice
Elec	Force
Mystic	Almighty

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 skills 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