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elemental mechanics and you!
By bugz
a guide to borderlands 1's rather-complex elemental system.
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Created by
bugz
Online
Category: Classes, Gameplay Basics, Loot, Weapons
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
28 Oct, 2021 @ 9:23pm
28 Oct, 2021 @ 9:32pm
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Guide Index
Overview
what's different? 
general elemental tech rules 
weapon proc list 
total calculation 
quickly going over elemental splash 
item card displays; what do they mean? 
spark and class mods 
elemental resistance (quickly) 
that's about it! 
Comments
what's different?
borderlands 1's elemental system works off of a "tech" system, with variable factors that influence what a weapon's elemental prowess actually is.

in its other titles, elemental damage is relatively simple with it being chance or threshold-based. while this is still the case in a relative sense, it doesn't tell the whole story. strap yourself in for a long-ass read.
general elemental tech rules
weapon proc list
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Repeater Pistols
* Shock pistols only have a 5% chance to proc x4. Note the low Tech Cost.

Revolvers
* Revolvers will ALWAYS proc at least a x1 elemental effect. Almost all revolvers come in x2 or above.

SMG's
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Shotguns
* Pellets proc as a collective clump, and not individually.

Combat Rifles
* Combat Rifles have stronger x3 Explosive procs than most other weapons, they also deplete Tech Pools the fastest, especially with Machine Guns.

Sniper Rifles
* Sniper Rifles, unlike other weapon types -- will ALWAYS proc the highest effect that their Tech Pool will allow. Explosive snipers will ALWAYS proc x1.

Rocket Launchers(?)
* Actually the easiest of all, Rocket Launchers will ALWAYS cause an x4 proc (with the default damage co-efficient), with a Tech Pool Cost of 0.
total calculation
In order to actually assess how much damage you'll do when you proc an element, take this equation with the values presented;

base damage + {base damage * (elemental affinity multiplier) * (elemental damage multiplier) * (weapon proc multiplier)} = total damage

On a neutral target, if I proc a x3 explosive sniper shot -- my damage would be multiplied by 150% for EDM, and once more by 150% for WPM, granting me 225% damage.

This equation excludes status effects; use (total damage * ~0.10 { * 2 [SHOCK ONLY]}) to find out relatively what each individual damage-over-time ticks for.
quickly going over elemental splash
All elemental effects gain higher splash radius for a higher proc tier, this is about 3x of the previous tier. Except for Rocket Launchers, which use the their own splash damage.

SMG's and Shotguns still gain this splash increase, despite them not gaining anymore damage from higher proc tiers, as all weapon types do. This is also a pretty crucial factor to how you use a weapon, considering you can turn a single target sniper into a crowd-control machine with good use of elemental procs.
item card displays; what do they mean?
spark and class mods

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tech pool = {(tech level * 4) * 1.00 + [0.02 * spark ranks]}

tech regen = (4 * [1.00 + class mod%] + [1.00 + {0.055 * spark ranks}])
elemental resistance (quickly)
It's about as easy as it sounds, same as damage resistance (not damage reduction). Add all of your resistances and combat them against your elemental affinity.

You DO have elemental affinity multipliers, so take those into account.

Elemental shields have different resistances based on rarity, which stack with the enemy's current resistances.

You CAN take status effects, but they wear off so fast that I'm not even going to mention them. You're more likely to get killed by the proc itself a hundred times over.

Enemies who are resistant to an element will NOT take any damage-over-time from that status effect.
that's about it!
I hope this helped. Thanks to the wiki for summarizing the info I couldn't exactly put together from inference -- I did it because no-one else did.
5 Comments
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Two Gun Bob 6 Aug, 2023 @ 11:56am 
Another question, are there multiple "rolls" for the proc chance or is there just one with a spread?

ie: when you fire off say an X4 revolver, does it do an individual 15% chance roll for an x4, and failing that does a second check at 20% for an x3 proc, and failing that roll for the x2, and then if needed the x1 proc happens (100%)? Or does it do a single "roll" assigning windows between 1 & 100, so that 1-15 is an x4 proc, 16-35 is an x3, 36-75 is an x2 and anything else is an x1?

This is a purely academic question and makes little difference in the final result even if it does change the chances somewhat, but it really has piqued my curiosity.
Two Gun Bob 5 Aug, 2023 @ 10:08pm 
1: Does the defiler have some special proc bonus or something to make it so OP? Even for a wheelgun it seems to proc more and harder.
2: Same question for the hellfire; it seems like it even burns down fire based enemies.
3: Kroms pistol also seems to have something extra making it proc more/harder, any thoughts?

thanks! good guide!
:steamthumbsup:
bugz  [author] 4 Feb, 2022 @ 6:46pm 
after thinking about it more -- the special procs are unaffected by its regeneration. however, the pool with presumably take from higher standardized procs more often with spark -- as it has consistently more to work with,

is it significant? absolutely not.
Aki-San 22 Dec, 2021 @ 5:26am 
im missing the discussion about how good spark is on maximum elemental weapons (vulcano, hellfire and defiler).

from what i gathered spark is useless since it does literally nothing for the standard procs (no tech consumption) AND the special procs, since the special procs are "rare" and only use a minute portion of the techpool, the pool regens faster than the proc-consumption on those weapons and thus spark does not change anything.
Chiken 1 Dec, 2021 @ 9:03pm 
read all of this thoroughly, and am now uninstalling borderlands to go pursue a PhD