Elements

Elements are a concept included in both the Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors series, and many other Warriors related series. They can be fused with weapons or added as a separate item. Sometimes only one is allowed, though more recent games and as of the Warriors Orochi series multiple elements can be equipped. Elements are effects that affect enemies that are stuck by certain charge attacks. Some charge attacks will have elemental activation, some won't.

Elements

 * Fire/Flame/Blaze/Inferno: Gradual damage on the target that ignores defense but cannot kill on its own, which is percentage-based regardless of the target's defense while also being possible to back the attack itself with a burst of extra damage. The effect is brief if the target is on the ground (depending on the type of hitstun inflicted), but if airborne they will often stay on fire unless they recover in the air, due to keeping them in longer periods of hitstun. In earlier games, this also causes a burned state upon them in the case of Zhang Jiao's fire-based moves, where they flail about a small bit before crumpling to the ground (and hitting a target in this state forces juggle state on them). In several of the Musou Warriors games, almost all True Musou Attacks will have have the Fire element added to it by default.
 * In the Samurai Warriors series, this element is named as Guren (紅蓮. lit. Crimson Lotus) in the Japanese script.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 4, due to inflicting percentage-based damage, it is possible to have maximum attack power stats (along with an Herbal Remedy and/or Power Rune along with picking up a War God's Axe by chance) to be able to have all fire-based attacks become unblockable if the orb behind it is maxed out and with the victims' defense stats being low enough.
 * However, in later games especially as of Samurai Warriors 2, the damage tick no longer lasts for the maximum time of hitstun duration even on airborne targets (in spite of still adding a decent bit of burst percentage damage), or mainly in most Dynasty Warriors games from 6 onwards, the damage tick becomes instead severely nerfed to the point of being barely noticeable.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 7-onwards, attacks that have fire by default (e.g: Zhang Jiao's Musou Attacks and Sun Quan's C3-EX) will either only deal the minimal damage tick or only acts as a visual effect unless the character's weapon has the attribute sufficiently leveled up.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 7, Dynasty Warriors 8 and Warriors Orochi 3, switching characters or weapons and attacking an airborne target affected by Fire will instantly stop the damage tick. In Warriors Orochi 4, the tick's overall damage has been notably buffed.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 9, it also increases attack strength overall as well as increasing the damage inflicted by the attacks that proc this element.
 * Lightning/Thunder/Bolt/Shock: Stuns foes and spreads in some games, as well as causing the target(s) struck to fall-over in place. As of Samurai Warriors 2, this effect will often be indicated by slow enemy fall speeds followed by a short period of immobility or small yellow indicators over their heads. The next hit will launch them into the air no matter what by a small amount (which may hamper continuous damage output as it forces an airborne state). Enemies killed by the lightning in earlier games do not count towards the player's direct KO's, but in later games lightning can also serve to extend the combo counter; it is also in that in those said titles, using it alone without other proper elements results in neutered damage due to forcing juggle combos.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 3, lightning causes targets affected by it to cause a lightning shockwave/quake effect upon them impacting the ground, along with causing another crashing knockback effect. Each target hit by the said quake(s) counts towards filling up the player's Musou bar, and can get very chaotic in tight spaces. Said element also occurs during a Double Musou Attack between two players. Lightning quakes inflict crumple on any other targets within range as collateral.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 4 however, it instead causes a lightning bolt to rain down upon the target hit, causing it to have increased range around other targets. This often tampers with knockdown effects, as targets hit by this are in a shocked/burnt state seen in Zhang Jiao's fire-based attacks, but hitting them with more incoming lightning bolts or with another bolt while they are airborne will cause a launch in a random direction (this often painfully affects most C5 attacks). However, the lightning itself can inflict large amounts of chip damage upon guarding targets if the activation attack behind it is backed up by a number of raw power enhancements as possible with maximum attack power stats (along with an Herbal Remedy and/or Power Rune along with picking up a War God's Axe by chance) and with the victims' defense stats being low enough.
 * This launch effect has been toned down by a notable amount as of Samurai Warriors 2, where the lightning instead is colored yellow instead. The first two Warriors Orochi installments (including Z) make the lightning instead occur as small bolts that emit from the target instead of actual lightning that comes down from the sky.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 7 and Warriors Orochi 3, this element works much differently than in previous titles, in that instead inflicts damage based on the target(s) HP, and also stuns targets. However, in those games it no longer possesses its traditional area-of-effect or the fall-over effect.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 8 however, this element still functions the same as in Warriors Orochi 3, only it is now able to spread to other targets once more like with its older versions. But as a trade-off, it receives a notable nerf where it no longer triggers on targets that are already airborne unlike its other version known as Induction/Inviting Thunder as mentioned below. When paired with other elements though, it is able to spread them more effectively than the aforementioned Induction whenever it is paired with Explosive.
 * Samurai Warriors 4 reverts it back to its original incarnation from the original Samurai Warriors games, albeit somewhat nerfed in overall damage.
 * However, Warriors Orochi 4 makes it function more akin to its Dynasty Warriors 7, Warriors Orochi 3 and Dynasty Warriors 8 versions along with its graphical effect being a bolt from the sky once more (thus it retains its percentage damage), only it now grounds its targets more often via its stunning hit effect (and still only works on non-airborne targets as in 8).
 * In the Samurai Warriors series, this element is named as Senkō (閃光, lit. Glint) in the Japanese script.
 * Dynasty Warriors 9 while retaining its AoE and stunning effects, also gives it the extra benefit of increasing one's attack speed or speeding up the animations that proc the element.
 * Ice/Frost: Chance to freeze any enemy targets, causing them to remain grounded with lowered defense for the duration (thus negating the airborne damage penalty). Frozen opponents cannot be set on fire and cannot break out of the ice for a short period of time, and not even able to reverse out with a Musou Attack. In previous games, foes who break out will continue/finish their hitstun animation upon being frozen, while in later games they are juggled into the air instead (which may decrease continuous damage output via the aerial damage penalty); however, this usually only happens if the target suffers damage at least once while frozen before breaking out.
 * In games that involve attributes that allow more damage against airborne targets, equipping ice in tandem is usually not recommended; the Fire element in particular will not work on frozen targets. In games that can allow both Fire and Ice to be fused onto the same weapon, one element's effects will override the other.
 * Some games may cause enemy targets to activate a well-timed option that has invincible frames, but will cause the element to freeze them in place which causes them to remain frozen and invincible for the whole duration. Examples include using an EX Counter as a Technique-type in the first 2 Orochi installments (and Z), as well as using a Spirit Evade in Samurai Warriors 4.
 * In Warriors Orochi 3, if the player taps the R1 button at any point of being frozen, then their character will perform their R1 Type Action at the earliest possible frame upon having the freeze wear off, unlike with a Musou Attack.
 * In the Samurai Warriors series, this element is named as Tōga (凍牙, lit. Freeze Fang) in the Japanese script.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 8, it is now possible for an enemy to be afflicted with the effects with both Ice and Fire, though the damage tick of Fire only begins when the opponent is airborne.
 * While in several older games where Ice mainly activates on grounded targets, Warriors Orochi 4 allows this to properly proc on airborne targets, where they'll fall and merely land on the ground upright while frozen.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 9 however, Ice now has an extra benefit of decreasing the attack damage of inflicted targets for a set amount of time, and when paired with various defensive modifiers and increased potency, will allow one to tank even the most relentless of onslaughts on top of victims' lowered defensive stats.
 * Wind/Air: Increases knockback and damage of airborne attacks. Wind will often add extra height to the target's air time. In Dynasty Warriors: Online it will also inflict "lethargy" on any computer or player commander by slowing down the target's foot speed for a short time as well as disabling double jumps. In the former's case, in recent games it has been analogous with the below element.
 * When it first debuted in Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends, it only applied to characters who had projectile-charge attacks, and often replaced their respective projectiles with a miniature wind tornado graphic via the wind trap at Hefei Castle. Wind element attacks in that game also allowed foes hit to be juggled with a fairly high launch in a set distance that only works on a grounded hit (midair hits cause the attack's usual hit effect to occur); Zhuge Liang's C3 and C6 attacks however, were two of the sole exceptions in that they inflicted standard knockdown. Zhurong's case also allows her C6 and Musou Attack to pierce through units via the wind element replacing her thrown knives.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 9, Wind also has extra benefits of debuffing the victims' attack speeds, and increasing the movement speed of the user who proc'd it.
 * Light/Flash/Blast/Wind/Gale/Cyclone: Breaks or damages through guard (as in inflicting chip damage on blocked-hit akin to most fighting games) whenever it is wind-based, or is even outright unblockable while occasionally throwing in extra damage whenever it is light-based.
 * In the Japanese script of Dynasty Warriors 4, it is referred to as "Retsu" (烈, lit. Violent/Fury). In Dynasty Warriors 5 ' s Japanese script however, it is referred to as "Yō" (陽, lit. Yang).
 * In the former installment's case, having an exceedingly high enough attack power behind the elemental charge attack will allow it to be completely unblockable if it exceeds the defender's defense stat; though in the player's case and on higher difficulties, this is normally achieved with high attack power from various other items other than just attack (e.g. Herbal Remedy and/or Power Rune along with picking up a War God's Axe by chance), with a Level 4 Blast Orb being able to enhance the chances of an attack being unblockable a bit further.
 * In the case of it being labelled as the "Wind" element, in both Dynasty Warriors 7 and Warriors Orochi 3, it also inflicts damage based on the target(s) HP, while also still having the original chip damage effect like with the Blast version from Dynasty Warriors 4, only much more amplified; however in Samurai Warriors 4, the chip damage has been severely nerfed, to the point where it is slightly weaker than the Blast variation of the attribute (though it can still chip low-HP targets to death).
 * In Dynasty Warriors 8 as Cyclone, it functions roughly the same as before via percentage HP damage, though it receives a notable nerf in the Xtreme Legends expansion where Cyclone's effects now only apply to targets that are blocking.
 * In the Samurai Warriors series, this element is named as Rekkū (烈空, lit. Violent Air) in the Japanese script.
 * Dark/Steel/Vorpal/Death/Demon/Slay/Reaper/Slash: Instantly kills peons by pure chance and takes an extra percentage of an enemy general's HP. However, enemy generals may also be prone to the instant kill-percentage just like with peons (such as in Dynasty Warriors 8 and Warriors Orochi 4); said instant-kill-based damage is often calculated individually for every target hit by a single activation attack, thus attributes and/or hitboxes that continuously proc elemental activation can increase the chances of landing this on a single target. This often ignores defensive multipliers only when its direct damage inflicted is taken into calculation in most installments, as a majority of the time an attack backed only by this element alone can easily be blocked.
 * In both Dynasty Warriors 3 (including its expansion) and in Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends, the percentage damage applies to the target's current HP instead of the total like in other games (only applies to enemy generals); in this case, if the target's HP was near-full, then the element would inflict massive damage to the point of being able to guard break heavily (only in Dynasty Warriors 3 and in no other installments). However, damage would severely decrease the closer the opposing target was to low HP, to the point of nearly being unable to finish off the target (which is normally the type of damage that applies to non-K.O. hazards).
 * In Dynasty Warriors 4, the element is overall nerfed due to the damage calculation only applying on direct damage without actually altering the base damage of the attack proc'ing it. Even then, the damage inflicted by Vorpal may allow for easier Musou filling on peons.
 * In Dynasty Warriors 5 under the Shadow/Yin (陰; In) element, each successful proc of this element on any attack/hitbox instantly drains the user's Musou gauge completely as a form of balance. This time, the damage against enemy generals is far more consistent to proc.
 * In the Samurai Warriors series, this element is named as Shura (修羅, lit. Shura/Carnage) in the Japanese script. Though in Samurai Warriors 4, there is also a chance the target of any kind may be left with only 1 HP instead of being instantly killed (in the case of enemy peons).
 * Poison/Venom/Virus: Appears only in Dynasty Warriors 4 and Dynasty Warriors 8. Lowers defense for a time or has similar effects as the fire element in Dynasty Warriors Advance. Unlike Fire, the damage tick will have a consistent duration on its targets regardless of their current state upon them being inflicted with it. The defense reduction also can help in making high-powered attacks unblockable against the poisoned targets.
 * Upon returning in Dynasty Warriors 9, it functions much like its Advance version by applying damage-over-time regardless of the victim's hitstate.
 * Earth/Tremor: Added in Samurai Warriors 4. Has a high chance of stunning targets and often allows extra damage inflicted upon said stunned targets. A reprisal of the original version of the Lightning/Bolt element via its Dynasty Warriors 7 and Warriors Orochi 3 incarnation (stuns targets with extra percentage damage), and is named as Kongō (金剛, lit. Vajra/Diamond/Adamantine) in the Japanese script.

Alternate Attributes
These attributes aren't considered to be elements themselves, but they're known to have a strong synergy with them that can overlap with their activations.
 * Drain/Night/Absorb/Recovery/Uplift: Absorbs life or Musou from an enemy upon activation attack. The latter is naturally applicable to all attacks in the main series games outside of certain crossovers such as Warriors Orochi, but Dynasty Warriors 8 offers extra attributes and other skills on top of it that can increase the base Musou filling rate.
 * In the Warriors Orochi series, this is split up into two different attributes as Drain/Absorption AKA "Kyūsei" (吸生, lit. Sucking Nature) and Absorb/Osmosis AKA "Kyūkatsu" (吸活, lit. Sucking Life); the former absorbs HP while the latter absorbs Musou. Any elemental-activation attack that can synergize with these draining attributes (especially in the third Orochi installment) often results in larger-than expected absorption that overlaps with the percentage damage that is usually inflicted by Bolt, Wind and Slay. If paired with the Almighty attributes however, non-natural activation attacks cannot proc the absorption.
 * In Warriors Orochi 4 however, all attacks can now trigger both/either Absorption and/or Osmosis, though it still scales harder with percentage damage as aforementioned. On the flipside, attacking already-K.O.ed units will no longer trigger both forms of absorption, even if they naturally activate elements. Musou-consuming attacks also will not trigger Osmosis by that proxy.
 * Clones/Multi: Creates an afterimage which will attack via its own hitboxes; can sometimes mess with knockback functions.
 * In Warriors Orochi 3, this will only apply to normal attacks.
 * Echo/Explosive/Induced Burst: Causes collateral-damaging energy bursts to occur upon a successful attack on a target. Introduced first as Echo in Warriors Orochi 3. Said energy bursts can also count as extra hits and damage per energy burst, though in Dynasty Warriors 8, each explosive burst can carry elemental activation on any elemental activation attack, which causes a chance for elemental damage to be spread to other targets; however, unlike in Warriors Orochi 3, the bursts no longer occur 100% of the time even with the attribute fully maxed out.
 * Note that Musou Attack/Rage Attack animations will not trigger this attribute, but any lingering hitboxes after the animation ends will trigger the bursts (e.g. Zhou Tai and Human Nezha's Musou Attacks). In Warriors Orochi 3, most Musou Attacks with beginning flinch animations will also trigger the bursts. However, there are often instances of the bursts interfering with an attack's normal hit effects, which may result in a C2's smaller launch, a Spirit Charge that won't properly stagger, a Musou Attack initial freeze-flinch that won't occur, and so forth.
 * However, in Warriors Orochi 4, this attribute has suffered a severe nerf in that it inflicts extra knockback on targets when triggered, knocking them out of reach quite often and making it difficult to generate large amounts of combo counts compared to before.
 * Storm/Rending Wind: A unique attribute with an incorrect description in Warriors Orochi 3: Ultimate. Cutting wind ripples are generated whenever an attack occurs out of a 10% chance, which often can generate a consistent amount of damage and combo generation. Note that Musou Attack/Rage Attack animations will not trigger this attribute, but any lingering hitboxes after the animation ends will trigger the bursts (e.g. Zhou Tai and Human Nezha's Musou Attacks). In Warriors Orochi 3, most Musou Attacks with beginning flinch animations will also trigger the bursts.
 * However, in Warriors Orochi 4, this can only be triggered when attacking enemy generals, monsters or Chaos Origins. The cutting wind ripples will also last for a set duration as opposed to a brief moment like in Warriors Orochi 3: Ultimate.
 * Induction/Inviting Thunder: First introduced in Dynasty Warriors 8. An alternate counterpart to Thunder, where it instead causes a lightning bolt to emit upon striking a target. Unlike Thunder, the bolts from this attribute do not spread other elements as effectively nor do they stun/inflict percentage damage, but can conduct with Explosive to generate increased collateral damage on a physical-damage scale. Also unlike Thunder, the bolts can occur on any possible hitbox, and can also occur on airborne targets though without the ability to stun. However, the bolts do not emit 100% of the time even with the attribute fully maxed out.
 * Note that Musou Attack/Rage Attack animations will not trigger this attribute, but any lingering hitboxes after the animation ends will trigger the bolts (e.g. Zhou Tai's Normal Musou and Xu Shu's Alternate Musou). However, there are often instances of the bolts interfering with an attack's normal hit effects, which may result in a C2's smaller launch, a C1 not properly inflicting its slowed-down hitstun, and so forth.
 * Windstorm/Raving Wind: Introduced in Warriors Orochi 4, this attribute causes an enemy-sucking tornado to emit whenever an enemy general, monster or Chaos Origin is defeated.

Appearances
In Dynasty Warriors 3 and its expansion, they debuted as being attached to specific fourth/fifth weapons which only activated on certain charge attacks; the fire element was very common on any True Musou attack. Later games as of Dynasty Warriors 4 however, add a corresponding stat number to the element allowing for more chances to properly occur and for more power the higher the said number is on the attribute, though most charge attacks with multiple inputs no longer activated elements on every input (some only on the first, others on their final inputs).

While the Dynasty Warriors games often had elemental activation only on charge attacks by default, the Samurai Warriors series on the other hand, only allows access to these elements only with certain skills unlocked for any character, which when all unlocked for a single character can have it on nearly their whole moveset (and like in Dynasty Warriors 4 also needed a full Musou Gauge to activate).

In Samurai Warriors 2, only 1 full Musou bar out of 3 total unlockable tiers is needed to trigger elemental activation, and now only limits the range of skills to characters' charge attacks (including all inputs for multi-input-based ones) and for the final 4 string inputs of their normal attack chain. It also introduced the Demon/Shura and Wind/Rekkū elements, with the former being initially considered too powerful. This was changed in the expansion as the Demon element was downgraded akin to how it functions in Dynasty Warriors 3 as the Death/Steel/Slash element.

The same element system is retained in Samurai Warriors 3, though once again the Demon element power has slightly been adjusted. Samurai Warriors 4 instead causes all attacks save for jump charges or certain Special Skills to activate elements on a random occurrence (with higher numbers = higher chances and potency).

While the elements are the same as found in previous games, Samurai Warriors 4 also adds the Earth element to the mix, but in trade, the lightning/thunder element by itself has been heavily nerfed in base damage added with the games' recurring aerial damage penalty (especially with the addition of the midair Spirit Evade). In 4-II, a single element by itself on a weapon has a 50/50 chance of occurring on all attacks, but with more and more elements added, the ratios/chances decrease for a single element as all others compete with each other for proc-rate.

In Dynasty Warriors 4 and 5, they come in the form of items, being Orbs (which can be maxed up to a level of 4). Dynasty Warriors 4 requires a full Musou bar to activate the elements, and they can now apply to all standard-grounded charge attacks save for a few select ones. However, level 10 and 11 weapons negate this requirement (only for all physical attacks and certain non-physical attacks like elemental shots from certain characters' C1's; non-physical attacks still require a full Musou bar). In the Xtreme Legends expansion, non-physical attacks can now also activate elements without a full Musou bar when wielding a level 10 or level 11 weapon, and it can also extend to one's True Musou attack as well (but only for non-physical portions). Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends allows players to bypass the musou bar requirement with a separate item.

These orbs are normal items found on field in Dynasty Warriors 4 while all having a statistic that allows for an increase in both power and by-chance-occurrence according to the level/stat number of the orb equipped (a staple for the Musou Warriors games onwards), but the fifth game treats them like special items that need certain conditions to acquire them while doing away with the stat numbers, and do not require full Musou bars to activate save for the Shadow element (though C1 and C2 attacks no longer activate elements). In Dynasty Warriors 6, only the regular elements Fire, Ice, and Bolt appear; they are attached to weapons and certain horses. Elements in Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce also inflict secondary ailments that may continuously persist within a set amount of time.

Meanwhile in Dynasty Warriors 7 however, they return to being attached to a weapon itself (including having multiple copies of one weapon each have a different element), as well as having one specific equip-able seal boost the element's potency. Though only one element can be attached to a weapon at a time.

In the Warriors Orochi series, they are an attribute attached to a weapon, which is the debut of allowing more than one element to be present on a weapon at once while also bringing back the statistical values. These abilities can be given to other weapons through the Weapon Fusion system. They do not require a full Musou bar to activate, they will only activate on certain attacks, known as "activation attacks". In the second game however, the same rule carried over from Dynasty Warriors 4 and Samurai Warriors 2 was then applied where multi-input charge attacks would only activate elements (and all other weapon attributes) on the final input (with Cao Cao's C6 being an exception for its first input and final input), but overall this nerf neuters their offensive power heavily in regards to the setting and engine of Warriors Orochi; only Technique-types would be able to have elemental activation on their C1-EX and C2-EX moves (as the rest of the C1 and C2 moves no longer do so much like in Dynasty Warriors 5).

The third Orochi game however, now varies a lot more in terms of which independent moves possess basic elemental activation (and while retaining the same element physics from Dynasty Warriors 7, allows multiple elements to be slotted onto a character's weapon once more); so far nearly all normal attack chain finishers do so (a staple carried over since the start of Samurai Warriors) save for a select few. This game and its re-releases also introduces dual-elements converted into a single attribute to be fused onto weapons (such as Boltslay, Flamewind, Icewind, Flamebolt and so forth), allowing for more room to add other attributes and/or other dual-elements (with single element attributes likely stacking with their dual versions, e.g. Bolt + Boltslay).

However, a majority of elemental activation is removed from EX Attacks in Dynasty Warriors 8. Meanwhile, the fourth Orochi installment has limited elemental activations on a majority of specific moves while retaining Dynasty Warriors 8 's elemental physics. Instead of all-currently-equipped elements activating at once however, depending on the attack in question per target, only one, two, three or four elements can be inflicted, which often limits proc'ing capabilities against multiple targets at once unlike in older games. Samurai Warriors figures with their movesets from their fourth title however, are able to continuously activate activate elements with any of their Hyper Attack inputs, which can be massively effective against any juggled targets (including officers and especially even monsters for any disjointed-hitbox inputs). As of the 1.05 patch for Orochi 4 however, a number of figures from the Dynasty Warriors games as well as any Chinese-based figures have gained at least one extra elemental charge attack, including having some of their EX Attacks gain and/or regain such properties to increase their viability in higher difficulties when playing them solo.

Several accounts have shown that elements are activated primarily through grounded combat, though in later titles starting as of Samurai Warriors 2 and the Warriors Orochi series, elements can now activate through mounted attacks. There are also games where as long as there is a lingering hitbox whenever an elemental-charge attack is inputted, the flags associated with the input will carry over to all other active hitboxes, but this heavily varies per moveset and other modifiers applied (such as attack speed).

In Dynasty Warriors 9 however, a majority of elements now have extra utilities such as increasing damage dealt, debuffing enemy stats, increasing attack speed, increasing movement speed, and so forth, solely depending on the element proc'd. The Break system was also added in with a patch that allows 2 specific elements to have opposing effects on each other to make it easier to break through an enemy officer's defenses.

Innate Elemental Affinity
Elemental attributes used by each character when controlled by the computer.

Dynasty Warriors 4
Note that for characters that use elemental shot-based C1 attacks, their element of highest affinity tends to allow them to fire 5 shots at once as opposed to the usual 3, especially if the orb they equipped is at maximum level in regards to being controlled by the player marked with an asterisk; two asterisks indicate exceptions. {| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" align="center" width="100%"
 * valign="top" width="10%"|

Fire

 * Zhao Yun
 * Zhang Fei
 * Xiahou Dun
 * Zhou Yu*
 * Lu Xun**
 * Sun Jian
 * Lu Meng*
 * Lu Bu
 * Yuan Shao
 * Zhang Jiao
 * Meng Huo
 * Zhu Rong

Poison

 * Sima Yi*
 * Zhen Ji
 * valign="top" width="10%"|

Lightning

 * Guan Yu
 * Liu Bei
 * Ma Chao
 * Jiang Wei*
 * Wei Yan
 * Dian Wei
 * Xu Zhu
 * Zhang Liao
 * Xu Huang
 * Taishi Ci
 * Gan Ning
 * Sun Ce
 * Da Qiao**
 * Dong Zhuo
 * valign="top" width="10%"|

Ice

 * Pang Tong*
 * Yue Ying
 * Sun Shang Xiang
 * Diao Chan

Blast

 * Zhuge Liang*
 * Huang Zhong
 * Xiahou Yuan
 * Cao Ren
 * Sun Quan
 * Huang Gai

Vorpal

 * Cao Cao*
 * Zhang He
 * Xiao Qiao
 * Zhou Tai
 * }
 * Lu Xun has higher natural affinity with Vorpal on his C1, whereas Fire makes him fire 3 shots at once instead of 5 like with the aforementioned elements. Da Qiao on the other hand, has no strong natural affinity that makes her fire more than 3 shots on her C1.
 * However, equipping Secret of Orbs in the Xtreme Legends expansion enhances any element for any character, even allowing for a 5-shot C1 for the aforementioned elemental shot users on elements that don't synergize effectively on them.


 * There exist a number of NPCs with the Ruler-Sword-moveset that make use of an elemental shot C1 that have their own elemental affinities as well, especially in the other expansions:
 * Fire: Chen Gong, Tian Feng
 * Lightning: Xu Shu, Lu Su
 * Ice: Xun Yu
 * Vorpal: Jia Xu
 * Poison: Fa Zheng

Dynasty Warriors 5
Characters marked with an asterisk use a different element for their elemental bomb C1 attacks as opposed to their orb-based affinity. {| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" align="center" width="100%"
 * valign="top" width="10%"|

Fire

 * Zhao Yun
 * Zhang Fei
 * Huang Zhong
 * Guan Ping
 * Xiahou Dun
 * Dian Wei
 * Xu Zhu
 * Xiahou Yuan
 * Zhang He
 * Zhou Yu
 * Lu Xun
 * Sun Shang Xiang
 * Sun Jian
 * Lu Meng
 * Gan Ning
 * Huang Gai
 * Da Qiao
 * Xiao Qiao
 * Ling Tong
 * Diao Chan
 * Zhang Jiao
 * Meng Huo
 * Zhu Rong
 * valign="top" width="10%"|

Ice

 * Wei Yan
 * Pang Tong*
 * Yue Ying
 * Zhang Liao
 * Sima Yi
 * Zhen Ji
 * Cao Pi*

Shadow

 * Zhou Tai
 * valign="top" width="10%"|

Light

 * Guan Yu
 * Zhuge Liang
 * Liu Bei
 * Ma Chao
 * Jiang Wei*
 * Xing Cai
 * Cao Cao*
 * Xu Huang
 * Cao Ren
 * Pang De
 * Taishi Ci
 * Sun Quan
 * Sun Ce
 * Lu Bu
 * Dong Zhuo
 * Yuan Shao
 * Zuo Ci*
 * }


 * Cao Cao and Jiang Wei both use a fire-based elemental bomb C1, while Pang Tong has a unique wind-based C1. Cao Pi can perform a unique shadow-elemental bomb attack off of his evolution chain finisher, while Zuo Ci can proc both a fire or ice bomb.

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce & Multi Raid 2
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" align="center" width="100%"
 * valign="top" width="10%"|

Wood

 * Zhuge Liang
 * Jiang Wei
 * Xu Huang
 * Zhen Ji
 * Xiao Qiao
 * Beauty Yu
 * Nu Wa

Fire

 * Guan Yu
 * Guan Ping
 * Dian Wei
 * Zhang He
 * Zhou Yu
 * Lu Xun
 * Sun Shang Xiang
 * Sun Jian
 * Zhang Jiao
 * Meng Huo
 * valign="top" width="10%"|

Earth

 * Ma Chao
 * Wei Yan
 * Sima Yi
 * Cao Ren
 * Taishi Ci
 * Lu Meng
 * Dong Zhuo

Metal

 * Zhang Fei
 * Huang Zhong
 * Pang Tong
 * Xiahou Dun
 * Zhang Liao
 * Huang Gai
 * Ling Tong
 * Sun Quan
 * Da Qiao
 * Yuan Shao
 * Xiang Yu
 * Sun Wukong
 * valign="top" width="10%"|

Water

 * Zhao Yun
 * Yue Ying
 * Xu Zhu
 * Xiahou Yuan
 * Cao Pi
 * Gan Ning
 * Xi Wang Mu
 * Fu Xi

Yin

 * Cao Cao
 * Zhou Tai
 * Lu Bu

Yang

 * Liu Bei
 * Cai Wenji
 * Sun Ce
 * Diao Chan
 * King Mu
 * }

Dynasty Warriors 9
As of the patch that added in the "Break" system, characters with these elemental affinities often require an opposing element in order to make it easier to deal with them by debuffing their defenses like so: Note: This table only applies to most non-Musou Attacks and non-Special Techniques (as those already have innate elements that differ from equipped preferences).
 * Fire vs. Ice
 * Lightning vs. Wind
 * Slash vs. Poison

Fire

 * Zhang Fei
 * Pang Tong
 * Bao Sanniang
 * Man Chong
 * Zhou Yu
 * Lu Xun
 * Taishi Ci
 * Sun Jian
 * Sun Quan
 * Lu Meng
 * Huang Gai
 * Sun Ce
 * Ling Tong
 * Ding Feng
 * Lianshi
 * Lu Su
 * Zhu Ran
 * Xu Sheng
 * Deng Ai
 * Yuan Shao
 * Zhang Jiao
 * Meng Huo
 * Zhurong

Ice

 * Huang Zhong
 * Zhang Bao (Shu)
 * Cao Cao
 * Xiahou Yuan
 * Zhenji
 * Cao Ren
 * Cao Pi
 * Guo Jia
 * Cao Xiu
 * Wang Yuanji
 * Guo Huai
 * Zhang Chunhua
 * Chen Gong

Lightning

 * Zhuge Liang
 * Liu Bei
 * Ma Chao
 * Jiang Wei
 * Yueying
 * Liu Shan
 * Guan Xing
 * Zhou Cang
 * Zhang Liao
 * Xu Huang
 * Yue Jin
 * Xun Yu
 * Sun Shangxiang
 * Sima Shi
 * Zhuge Dan
 * Xiahou Ba
 * Zuo Ci
 * Dong Bai
 * Yuan Shu

Wind

 * Zhao Yun
 * Xingcai
 * Ma Dai
 * Guan Suo
 * Guan Yinping
 * Xiahouji
 * Dian Wei
 * Cai Wenji
 * Li Dian
 * Xun You
 * Daqiao
 * Xiaoqiao
 * Han Dang
 * Sima Yi
 * Sima Zhao
 * Wen Yang
 * Xin Xianying

Slash

 * Guan Yu
 * Guan Ping
 * Xiahou Dun
 * Pang De
 * Wang Yi
 * Gan Ning
 * Zhou Tai
 * Cheng Pu
 * Zhong Hui
 * Jia Chong
 * Lu Bu
 * Lu Lingqi

Poison

 * Wei Yan
 * Xu Shu
 * Fa Zheng
 * Xu Zhu
 * Zhang He
 * Jia Xu
 * Yu Jin
 * Diaochan
 * Dong Zhuo
 * Hua Xiong

Trivia

 * Solely in the Warriors Orochi series via the first 3 installments (and Z), all forms of elemental damage (be it innate or weapon-attribute-based) have a unique graphical effect involving clear-purple white bolt flashes emerging from any victims impacted by it. However, this graphic was removed in Warriors Orochi 4.