A brief overview of what each element does (as far as I can tell)
Overview
Something important to note, is that all elements have a CD based application, not a chance-based one. For this reason, the best (imo) weapon to run an elemental build on is the rocket launcher, because it applies the stacks to all enemies hit. It works much better as a supportive build in a multiplayer game, due to the ability to freeze tough enemies and apply toxic which will multiply all damage dealt.
Elemental stacks are greatly reduced against enemies with armour (the blue bars) and I don’t think they can be frozen either.
Poison
If you have the “timed shots perk” (damage increased, but dealt as a DoT), the first tick will apply the toxic proc, and the following ticks of damage will be amplified.
Fire
As far as I can tell, it looks like at 100 stacks, it deals 5 damage ~10 times per second. AKA around 50% of stacks as dps.
Ice
Freezing enemies clears all stacks of fire.
Shock
Shock is kinda weird, definitely need to do some more testing. When applied, it zaps the enemy hit and nearby enemies. Then, every tick, the stacks halve and it zaps the same enemies for 1/2 of the previous tick. Each tick is about 1/10th of a second.
@100 stacks, it zapped for 364 damage
@50 stacks –> 182
@25 –> 91
@13 –> 46
@7 –> 24
@4 –> 13
@2 –> 7
and then
@0 it zapped the first target (only) for 104 damage
Yeah it’s a bit of a weird one.
Thanks to Vale for his great guide, all credit to his effort. you can also read the original guide from Steam Community. enjoy the game.