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Which Moves Have Which Elemental Attributes? The Answer Will Shock You

D

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So with spirits granting bonuses to things like electric, fire, energy, PSI attacks, etc. I was curious to know just which attacks for each character this would apply to, since the game only gives you a couple examples. I searched online but didn't see that anything was being documented about this, so I decided to run some tests myself. (Btw I see this same question was also brought up on another website, here, with no real answer)

A nice list of all of the spirit bonuses can be found here, and there is some discussion on some of the other aspects of the elemental properties here.

I was chiefly interested in the elemental properties of Samus' attacks, so that's where I started. I equipped her with a primary spirit to use as the control, then in subsequent tests used that same primary spirit with a single support spirit that would grant an effect like Electric Attack ↑ or Fire & Explosion Attack ↑. Keep in mind that my findings are in no way comprehensive or exhaustive, but I haven't yet seen anyone document anything and hopefully one day we'll have a full list of which attacks have which attributes. In the vast majority of cases, the bonus seems to be a multiplier of 1.1. So if the base damage was 19.5%, it may have been increased to something like 21.5%. So what I'll do is list each move I tested as well as any confirmed bonus (keep in mind I didn't test all of them). Some are pretty obvious, but I was surprised by some of my findings as well.

:ultsamus:
Charge Shot (neutral special): Electric Attack ↑, Energy-Shot Attack ↑
Missile/Super Missile (side special): Fire & Explosion Attack ↑
Screw Attack (up special): Electric Attack ↑
Bomb (down special): Fire & Explosion Attack ↑
Grapple Beam (zair): Electric Attack ↑, Energy-Shot Attack ↑ (as far as I could tell, though this was harder to test)
Earth Blaster (down tilt): Fire & Explosion Attack ↑
Cannon Lunge (side smash): Fire & Explosion Attack ↑
Cover Fire (up smash): Fire & Explosion Attack ↑
Aerial Fire (forward air): Fire & Explosion Attack ↑
Zero Laser (final smash): Electric Attack ↑, Energy-Shot Attack ↑ (curiously, the electric multiplier for this one was only around 1.03, rather than 1.1)

:ultpikachu:
Thunder Jolt (neutral special): Electric Attack ↑ (**NOT Energy-Shot Attack ↑**)
I assume the rest of its electric moves similarly have Electric Attack

:ultcorrin:
Dragon Fang Shot (neutral special): **NOT Water & Ice Attack ↑, NOT Electric Attack ↑, NOT Energy-Shot Attack ↑** (really?? I couldn't believe it doesn't count as any of those)
Torrential Roar (final smash): **NOT Water & Ice Attack ↑** (what?? at this point I became really curious just what counts as water & ice if not these moves)

:ultolimar:
Red Pikmin Throw (side special): Fire & Explosion Attack ↑
Yellow Pikmin Throw (side special): Electric Attack ↑
Blue Pikmin Throw (side special): **NOT Water & Ice Attack ↑** (no real surprise, but thought I'd check)

:ultisabelle:
Water Pail (down smash): **NOT Water & Ice Attack ↑** (starting to see a trend here)

:ultgreninja:
Water Shuriken (neutral special): **NOT Water & Ice Attack ↑**
Water Kunai Slash (forward smash): **NOT Water & Ice Attack ↑**
Double Water Kunai Rip (up smash): **NOT Water & Ice Attack ↑**
Double Water Kunai Slash (down smash): **NOT Water & Ice Attack ↑**
Hydro Pump (up special): Water & Ice Attack ↑ (<--amazingly, this actually counts as water!)

:squirtle:
Hydro Spurt (side smash): **NOT Water & Ice Attack ↑**
Twin Geysers (up smash): **NOT Water & Ice Attack ↑**
Water Spin (down smash): **NOT Water & Ice Attack ↑**
Waterfall (up special): Water & Ice Attack ↑ (yay! counts as water)

:ultlucas:
PK Freeze (neutral special): Water & Ice Attack ↑

:ultganondorf:
Thunder Punch (standard attack): Electric Attack ↑
Thunder Drop (down air): Electric Attack ↑

To be honest, the electric and fire/explosion bonuses are usually pretty obvious because opponents will be briefly engulfed in electricity or fire, respectively. There is a disappointing trend, however, in a lot of moves that should be water not actually gaining any bonus from Water & Ice Attack ↑, though if I had to guess I would bet that most if not all ice moves, such as those of the Ice Climbers, do get the bonus. But with so many characters these days having legitimate water moves, I was surprised that they did not consistently count as water. As has been previously noted, there doesn't seem to be any bonus for dark/shadow moves, such as what Mewtwo and Ganondorf wield, but Ganondorf does have some electric attacks and I wouldn't be surprised if Shadow Ball is affected by Energy-Shot Attack ↑, though I didn't test it.

Hopefully someone else with even more time on their hands can finish figuring this out for the rest of the characters, lol.
 

Luigifan18

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What... literally what. Water gets shafted again...
 
D

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Another update: I was curious if Ken's/Ryu's Hadoken counted as an Aura attack, and it does not. Mewtwo's Shadow Ball and Disable also don't seem to count as anything--not energy-shot, PSI, magic, electric, etc. Sad.
 

Luigifan18

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Another update: I was curious if Ken's/Ryu's Hadoken counted as an Aura attack, and it does not. Mewtwo's Shadow Ball and Disable also don't seem to count as anything--not energy-shot, PSI, magic, electric, etc. Sad.
Mewtwo's Shadow Ball likely counts as Darkness, but there are no spirits which interact with that element for some unfathomable reason — sad times for Ganondorf and Mewtwo (and Robin to a considerably lesser extent). It certainly is baffling that none of Mewtwo's moves count as PSI, though.
 
D

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Mewtwo's Shadow Ball likely counts as Darkness, but there are no spirits which interact with that element for some unfathomable reason — sad times for Ganondorf and Mewtwo (and Robin to a considerably lesser extent). It certainly is baffling that none of Mewtwo's moves count as PSI, though.
Ridley, Dark Pit and Bayonetta may have some Darkness-type moves as well, so even more of a shame.

And yeah, I like matching spirits up with their series so it's annoying, for example, that Mega Mewtwo Y's spirit doesn't seem particularly tailored to Mewtwo?? Or that a Fire Emblem spirit granting a bonus to Aura attacks only works for Lucario? I bet Sakurai mixes all of his food together too.
 

Scipion3

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Actually, Mewtwo and darkness have Fire/explosions properties.
Richter down b is water and Dark Samus's moves are more electric than Samus
 

MarioMeteor

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Actually, Mewtwo and darkness have Fire/explosions properties.
Richter down b is water and Dark Samus's moves are more electric than Samus
Richter’s Holy Water is Aura, not water.
Ridley, Dark Pit and Bayonetta may have some Darkness-type moves as well, so even more of a shame.

And yeah, I like matching spirits up with their series so it's annoying, for example, that Mega Mewtwo Y's spirit doesn't seem particularly tailored to Mewtwo?? Or that a Fire Emblem spirit granting a bonus to Aura attacks only works for Lucario? I bet Sakurai mixes all of his food together too.
I don’t think Dark Pit or Bayonetta have Darkness attacks. As far as I can remember, Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Ridley, Olimar and Giga Bowser are the only fighters that use Darkness.
 
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Arthur97

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Water is already pretty rare, but come on. Guess it's better to know this know before I build my Greninja Amiibo. Though, if dark counts as explosions, that could be handy for Mewtwo.
Richter’s Holy Water is Aura, not water.

I don’t think Dark Pit or Bayonetta have Darkness attacks. As far as I can remember, Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Ridley, Olimar and Giga Bowser are the only fighters that use Darkness.
Nosferatu
 

Crystanium

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:ultinkling:
Neutral special, jab, Splat Bomb all count as energy-based. They can be absorbed by Ness and Lucas' PSI Magnet.
 

Kirby Dragons

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I want characters with moves or abilities that let them deal with certain elemental types. Like a character with resistances to electric attacks, or a character with a move that makes them immune to fire attacks briefly.
 

Luigifan18

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:ultinkling:
Neutral special, jab, Splat Bomb all count as energy-based. They can be absorbed by Ness and Lucas' PSI Magnet.
That's separate from whether or not a move is treated as energy-based in terms of elemental damage. Last I checked, PSI Magnet couldn't absorb R.O.B.'s Forward Smash.
 

MarioMeteor

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That's separate from whether or not a move is treated as energy-based in terms of elemental damage. Last I checked, PSI Magnet couldn't absorb R.O.B.'s Forward Smash.
I would think that the move would have to be both energy-based and a projectile for PSI Magnet to work.
 

Admiral Pit

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I think the update gave many of Lucas's PSI attacks, like F-tilt and U-tilt, electrical properties now, but I don't know. Speaking of, you think there could be a list for "Sword Attack" bonuses? Like I know it says Link and Marth's attacks, but I'm curious if Pit's moves technically count as swords too since you know, dual blades.
 

Scipion3

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I think the update gave many of Lucas's PSI attacks, like F-tilt and U-tilt, electrical properties now, but I don't know. Speaking of, you think there could be a list for "Sword Attack" bonuses? Like I know it says Link and Marth's attacks, but I'm curious if Pit's moves technically count as swords too since you know, dual blades.
I think Pit and Dark Pit have weapon attacks, not swords but I'm not sure
 
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Arthur97

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Weapon is generally much more vague. Theoretically, it could even apply to Dedede and the Climbers, but after the water shenanigans, I'm not so sure.
 
D

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I've been away for a while, but I'm glad to know there have been a few other people interested in this topic. I still think it's kinda frustrating, both that the game only gives a couple examples of what counts as what, and that beyond that there's no way to absolutely know if a move counts as a certain type, apart from tediously testing it out like I did before.
 

Arthur97

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There's also the issue of moves with seemingly two attributes. Do they have both or does one override the other? Like Flare Blade, or Falcon Punch. Again, you'd think it'd be obvious, but I'm not so sure. Apparently the game also still thinks Richter has fire despite it actually being an aura effect, but that's likely just lazy copying and pasting.
 
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