A damage type - as the name says - is a type of damage. Each damage type has a different visual effect in the game, but also, for each type of damage each creature in the game has a different damage resistance.
Finding out which damage type a creature is vulnerable against helps greatly in defeating it. In some cases it's intuitive, for example it's not hard to guess that robotic machinery like Shield Drones are immune against virulent damage, but strongly affected by EMP damage. In other cases it's hard to find out. The Society of Xenobiologists has studied many species and may provide the player with valuable information regarding their weaknesses.
Medic ability Resistance can be used to make allies immune to specific damage types and Ranger ability Polarity Field can be used to alter the damage resistances of enemies.
List of damage types
The following are the damage types in the game. For more details about the critical hit effects, see Critical Hit.
| Damage type name | Alternative names | Damage sources | Notes |
 Fire
|
Pyro, Incendiary, Exothermic | Fire and other forms of extreme heat | Strong against Thrax. Crit triggers DOT effect. |
 Electric
|
Electrical, Energy | Electrical sources | Many enemies are immune, but good against the rest, among them striders. Crit triggers Arc similar to Lightning |
 Ice
|
Cryo, Cryogenic, Endothermic | Ice and other forms of extreme cold | Strong against fire-based creatures. Crit triggers stun effect. |
 Sonic
|
Concussive | Powerful concussive forces and extreme-decibel sounds | Built-in crowd control, crit causes knockback. |
 Virulent
|
Poison | Poisons, toxins, and invasive microorganisms | Armor piercing (but effect reduced by armor state). Machines are immune. Crit triggers a snare effect. |
 Laser
|
Photonic, Flash, Light | Laser and other electromagnetic radiation sources | Generally effective damage. Crit reduces target's ranged damage. |
 EMP
|
EM, Pulse | Intense magnetic fields | Bypass external shields, like Shield Drones. Can only damage health of machines. Crit will temporarily stop armor regen. |
 Physical
|
Kinetic | Bullets, shrapnel, and other kinetic sources | Cheap and reliable. |
Non-combat damage
There are three non-combat damage types:
- Environmental - commonly known as fall damage; hurts health directly rather than armor
- System - experienced when falling off the map (for example the Abyssal Zone in Plains), or going into certain areas (like the Howling Maw Volcano); hurts health directly rather than armor, kills instantly
- Unspecified - various damages from scripted events (mortar hits in certain areas like between Irendas Penal Colony and Geyser Chimney Basin in Plains; detonators used in certain missions, explosive barrels in certain bases)