Relic Hunters Legend: Damage Types and Their Advantages

Skipped past the chatty side quest that goes into what each type of damage does?
No worries! I did too.

This guide will hopefully and helpfully describe what each damage type does, in hopes it gets ingrained into your brain easier, without having to go to DeathanatorX (The fox at the shooting range) for a refresher!

First, we’ll quickly go over what Shield and Armor looks like in game, so you have an understanding on which is which, and what weapons would be effective.

This blue bar at the end of your and your enemies’ health is Shield.
Shield is generally weak against Physical type damage.

Shield regenerates over time, unlike Armor, and takes no extra damage from Critical hits.

This yellow bar at the end of your and your enemies’ health is Armor.
Armor is generally weak against Elemental type damage.

Armor reduces all damage taken by 50% in the form of Damage Reduction, and takes no extra damage from Precision hits.

Health is the red bar that makes up the majority of your HP.

Health has no benefits and takes 25% extra damage from the Injury and Burn conditions.

Now, there are exceptions to the rule; when enemies state underneath their health bar that they are resistant to a certain type, such as a Shield (weak to Physical types) wearing enemy that has a resistance to Fragmentation damage (usually strong against Shields).

You’ll still do damage, but with only a little advantage or none at all. (Still need to do testing on this, but I would guess it’s on par with shooting an enemy’s guard with a non-advantageous damage type.)

There are two other noteworthy stats that can help survivability, namely Damage Reduction and Dodge.

Damage Reduction (DR) reduces the total amount of damage you take by it’s percentage. So if you have 50% DR, and take 100 damage, you only take 50! DR caps out at 75%, and stacks multiplicatively with your Resistances (which is like DR, but capped at 50%, and is Damage Type specific. eg. Fire Resistance, or Impact Resistance.)

Dodge is your percent chance of taking no damage from any source. So every instance that you would take damage, if you roll your Dodge chance, you take nothing! Embrace your Payday 2 dodge builds!

(25% more damage)
Impact damage can cause Stun, which prevents you or your enemies from moving or attacking for a duration.

(25% more damage)
Fragmentation damage can cause Injury, which makes you or your enemies take damage over time every second. 25% more effective against enemies without Shields or Armor.

(75% more damage)
Magnetic damage can cause Silence, which causes you or your enemies to be unable to use skills.

(25% more damage) Fire type damage can cause Burn, which causes you or your enemies to take damage over time every second. 25% more effective against enemies without Shield or Armor

(25% more damage) Water type damage can cause Freeze, which makes you or your enemies frozen for a duration, preventing you from moving or taking actions.

(75% more damage) Nature type damage can cause Contagion, which prevents you or enemies from healing from any source.

Precision Damage occurs when your projectile hits an enemy centre mass (Indicated by the red crosshair). Precision Damage shows up as yellow text when you hit.

Precision Damage is multiplied by your weapon’s Precision Damage % (PD%).
This varies between weapon types, and even within those, but for the most part:

Auto Rifles, Sub Machine Guns, and Shotguns tend to have less PD%.

Pistols, Heavy Pistols, Marksman Rifles, and Beam Rifles have more PD%.

Note that weapons that are explosive, and melee attacks/skills cannot hit Precision Damage.

Critical Damage occurs whenever you roll your Critical Rate percentage (CR%). So if you have a CR% of 20%, you have a 20% or 1/5 chance of hitting a Critical.

Critical Damage can be identified by the exclamation mark next to your damage number.

Critical Damage can stack with Precision Damage, so aim true with your Marksman Rifles!

Thank you for reading through this! If you didn’t notice, I redrew some of the Damage Type symbols for my guide, namely Frag, Magnetic, Fire, and Water. They look good all things considered!

Hopefully this guide helps someone out, and I hope you have a good time hunting those relics!

Happy grinding!