From Dark and Darker Wiki
Damage Types
All damage is either Physical or Magical. Both Physical and Magical are then broken into several types, including Neutral if it has no type.
Physical Types
All Physical damage is one of the following types, otherwise it is Neutral damage.
To see what damage type a physical ability deals, check the description in the class page. Most descriptions do not yet contain this information, as currently Physical types have no use.
Slash
Horizontal or Vertical swiping attacks are typically Slash, like Arming Sword's 1st and 2nd attack.
Pierce
Thrust attacks are typically Pierce, like Arming Sword's 3rd attack.
Blunt
Attacks dealt by non-sharpened weapons tend to be Blunt, like all 3 of Flanged Mace's attacks.
It is a common misconception that Cleric's Blunt Weapon Mastery applies to Blunt damage, when in reality it only applies to Maces.
Magical Elements
All Magical damage is one of the following types, otherwise it is Neutral damage.
Following are some iconic examples of each, the list is not meant to be exhaustive. To see what damage type a magical ability deals, check the description in the respective class page.
Note that a Spell can be of one element, but the damage it applies can be another. For example, Wizard's Zap Spell is Light, but it applies Fire damage.
Fire
Wizard's Fireball, Zap, and Explosion.
Ice
Wizard's Ice Bolt.
Lightning
Wizard's Chain Lightning and Lightning Strike.
Earth
Cleric's Earth Quake and Druid's Barkskin Armor
Arcane
Wizard's Arcane Missiles.
Light
Wizard's Light Orb does not deal any damage.
Dark
Warlock's Ray of Darkness and Bolt of Darkness.
Evil
Warlock's Curse of Pain, but not Power of Sacrifice.
Curse
Warlock's Curse of Pain and Power of Sacrifice
Divine
Cleric's Holy Strike spell and Judgement skill.
Air
No current sources deal Air damage
Spirit
Druid's Dreamfire
Neutral
Any Physical/Magical damage that is not in the above mentioned types is said to be either Physical Neutral or Magical Neutral. Examples of Magical Neutral damage include Crystal Sword and Staff Mastery's Magical portion, and Poisoned Weapon. Examples of Physical Neutral damage include..., but not weapon hits which deal Slash/Pierce/Blunt.
All bonuses or reductions to a specified type do not apply to other types, nor Neutral.
For example, Warlock's Antimagic perk gives 25% Magical Damage Reduction against all types but Divine, Curse, and Neutral. As such, Poisoned Weapon is not affected by it, and neither is Cleric's Holy Strike / Warlock's Power of Sacrifice.
Cleric's Faithfulness perk increases only Divine damage, as such, only Holy Light and Judgement are impacted and not Neutral damage.
Projectile
Damage dealt by projectiles is considered Projectile Damage, and is therefore affected by Projectile Damage Reduction.
Damage can be both Projectile Damage and a specific Magic Element at the same time, like Fireball's direct hit is both Magical Fire and Projectile damage.
Projectiles are affected by Hit Location bonuses such as headshots.
Examples
- All Arrows and Bolts shot from ranged weapons, as well as throwables.
- Fireball is a Projectile; the direct hit deals Projectile damage, but the AoE and burn do not. Therefore, the direct hit benefits from Hit Location Bonus, but the AoE and burn do not.
- Warlock's Hellfire may seem like a projectile, but is in fact a moving AoE zone. It is not a projectile and therefore, it does not benefit from Hit Location Bonus.