Status effects and debuffs in Arknights: Endfield are built around two big systems: Physical Status (Vulnerable, Lift, Knock Down, Crush, Breach, Shatter) and Arts Inflictions/Reactions (Heat, Electric, Cryo, Nature: Bursts + Combustion, Electrification, Solidification, Corrosion). Understanding how these conditions stack, combine, and get consumed is critical for building high‑damage teams and controlling enemies in harder content.
Core Concepts: Status Level, Primers, and Inflictions
Endfield’s status system is layered, but there are three key ideas.
- Status Level: The total number of Vulnerable or Arts Infliction stacks consumed when triggering a Physical Status or Arts Reaction (max 4); higher Status Level = stronger reaction or Physical Status.
- Primers: Tagged skills that apply the first status (Physical or Elemental) on an enemy; using a second tagged skill of the same or different type detonates into a Burst or Reaction.
- Arts Infliction: Stacking elemental debuffs (Heat, Electric, Cryo, Nature) up to 4 stacks of the same element; these stacks get converted into Bursts or Reactions when you apply another Infliction.
In practice, you apply a Primer (first tag), then another skill (second tag) to either create an Arts Burst (same element) or Arts Reaction (different element).
Physical Status Effects
Physical Status deals with Vulnerable and heavy control/damage statuses.
- Vulnerable
- When you try to apply a Physical Status (Lift/Knock Down/Crush/Breach) to an enemy with no Vulnerable, the game applies Vulnerable instead.
- Vulnerable can stack up to 4 times; each stack increases the effect level when consumed by Crush/Breach and boosts Physical or reaction damage.
- Lift (Physical Status)
- Lifts enemies into the air, deals Physical damage and Stagger, and applies or adds 1 Vulnerable stack (up to 4 total).
- Good for starting Physical chains and setting up Shatter on enemies with Solidification.
- Knock Down (Physical Status)
- Knocks enemies to the ground, deals Physical damage and Stagger, and applies or adds 1 Vulnerable stack (same logic as Lift).
- Great for hard CC and grouping; pairs well with AoE bursts.
- Crush (Physical Status)
- Consumes all Vulnerable stacks to deal massive Physical damage.
- If the enemy has no Vulnerable, Crush instead applies Vulnerable (no big hit yet).
- Signature “big hit” finisher for many Physical and hybrid DPS kits.
- Breach (Physical Status)
- Similar consumption behavior to Crush but also temporarily increases Physical damage taken after consuming Vulnerable.
- If no Vulnerable is present, applies Vulnerable instead.
- Often used to ramp team DPS in Physical teams.
- Shatter (Physical reaction to Cryo)
- Triggered when you apply Vulnerable or a Physical Status to an enemy under Solidification (Cryo reaction).
- Consumes Solidification and deals big Physical damage; extremely strong against frozen or immobilized targets.
Overall, Physical Status effects revolve around building Vulnerable via Lift/Knock Down and then spending it with Crush/Breach/Shatter for huge single‑target burst.
Arts Inflictions, Bursts, and Reactions
Arts (elemental) effects are split into Bursts (same element twice) and Reactions (two different elements).
- Arts Burst (same element twice)
- Heat + Heat = Heat Burst – strong Heat damage.
- Electric + Electric = Electric Burst – strong Electric damage.
- Cryo + Cryo = Cryo Burst – big Cryo hit, often with extra stagger or control.
- Nature + Nature = Nature Burst – Nature damage with various scaling effects.
- Arts Reactions (two different elements)
- Combustion (non‑Heat + Heat)
- Apply any non‑Heat Infliction first, then Heat; creates Combustion, a Heat DoT whose damage scales with the attacker’s ATK.
- Electrification (non‑Electric + Electric)
- Apply any non‑Electric Infliction, then Electric; deals instant Electric damage and makes the target take increased Arts damage.
- Solidification (non‑Cryo + Cryo)
- Apply any non‑Cryo Infliction, then Cryo; immobilizes the enemy (they cannot move) and sets up Shatter when you apply Vulnerable or Physical Status.
- Corrosion (non‑Nature + Nature)
- Apply any non‑Nature Infliction, then Nature; the enemy gradually loses resistance to all elements (DEF/RES erosion over time).
- Corrosion scales with Status Level: consuming 1/2/3/4 Infliction stacks yields roughly 12/16/20/24% resistance loss in beta testing.
Mobalytics and TheGamer summarize this as: same element = Burst damage, different elements = Reactions that debuff, immobilize, or apply DoT.
General Debuffs and Utility Effects
Beyond Physical/Arts, there are many generic debuffs that appear on skills and passives.
- Susceptibility / Amp / Weaken
- Susceptibility: targets take increased damage (broad damage up debuff).
- Amp: amped targets deal more damage; stacking has diminishing returns.
- Weaken: targets deal reduced damage; helps with survival against bosses.
- Slow / Protection / Shield
- Slow: reduces movement speed; only the strongest Slow applies if multiple are present.
- Protection: temporary damage reduction; same‑type effects don’t stack additively, the strongest wins.
- Shield: absorbs damage; some shields only block certain damage types (e.g., Physical vs Arts).
- Link and SP Return
- Link: buffs the next Battle Skill or Ultimate for the whole team, with skills gaining a larger increase; stacking is possible but with diminishing returns.
- SP Return: some skills refund part of their SP cost; this refunded SP does not count as SP Recovery and does not generate Ultimate energy.
- Dispel and Debuff Consumption
- Dispel: removes specific debuffs from your operators.
- Debuff Consumption: some effects deliberately consume debuffs early—e.g., Crush consuming Vulnerable or Combustion consuming Arts Inflictions—to trigger powerful damage; knowing this stops you from wasting stacks accidentally.
Practical Usage: How to Play Around Status and Debuffs
For real fights, guides recommend planning rotations around building and cashing out these conditions.
- Against tanky enemies or bosses:
- Stack Vulnerable via Lift/Knock Down, then hit with Crush/Breach/Shatter during Stagger for huge bursts.
- Open with an element that sets up your desired reaction (e.g., non‑Nature → Nature for Corrosion), then rotate into main DPS once debuffs are active.
- For general waveclear:
- Use repeated Arts Bursts (same element twice) to wipe packs, and slot in occasional reactions like Combustion or Electrification for extra damage and Arts‑damage amp.
- Team‑building priority:
- Combine at least one Primer (status applier) with one Detonator (reaction/Physical finisher) for your chosen element pair, plus supports that provide Susceptibility/Amp and survival debuffs like Weaken or Protection.
Played well, status effects in Endfield are not just bonus numbers; they are the backbone of high‑efficiency rotations, letting you dramatically increase damage and control with relatively few button presses.
