Analysis / Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors

Common Arrangements

There are several common forms the system as the whole can take:

• Opposites: In this style, elements are arranged in pairs in which the members defeat each other. In most common cases, Fire beats Water/Ice and vice-versa, and so do Light and Darkness towards each other. As the result, the advantage is usually on the side that makes the first move.
• Cyclical: Following the base rules of Rock–Paper–Scissors more closely, this is when a work has three elements or more that interact with one another in a way that their advantages all form into a close loop. For example, in Wu Xing, Fire melts Metal, Metal cuts Wood, Wood binds Earth, Earth absorbs Water and Water quenches Fire.
• Combinations of the above: It is not unheard of for a work to feature separate groupings of elements where each group employ one of the above styles. If a work uses this arrangement, usually Light and Darkness are grouped in opposition, while the rest are arranged in a cycle.
• Asymmetrical: In this arrangement (if you can call it that), one element is advantageous again another, but there is another element that's strong against two. One element has three weakness, another has four. Rather than a clear cycle or lines with each of them having two elements on opposite ends, all you see is a messy web. Squint closer and you may be a cycle here or there, but unless established within the game's lore, it's coincidental. Unless the inferior element has a compensating quirk, unbalance within the elemental system is inevitable and players would just go for the best for an easy win.

Common Effectiveness Among Elements

Below are the list of elements and their usual strengths/weaknesses against other elements and/or classes:

• Darkness (Alt. Name: Ghost, Shadow)
  • Against Fire
    • Example of darkness being weak to fire: Nexomon
  • Against Light — Light and Dark are conflicting forces who are strong against each other, but weak as a defense. Therefore, just as how Light is usually effective against the undead and other evil beings such as demons, Dark is effective against "good" beings such as angels and divine beings, especially when they are rather antagonistic.
    • Examples of dark being weak to light: Fire Emblem
    • Examples of dark and light being mutually weak: Brave Frontier
    • Mixed examples: Digimon^note Data-type wise, Vaccine, usually represented by the divine and holy, beats Virus, which are usually associated with demonic Digimon. However, in games with Elemental Powers implemented, holy Digimon are just as weak to dark as demons to light.
  • Against Water
    • Examples of darkness being weak to water: Nexomon
• Earth (Alt. Name: Ground, Mineral, Sand)
  • Against Fire — Earth is sometimes strong against fire as dirt is one of them ways to smother the flames out. However, if it is grouped together with Plants as Nature in general, it would be weak to fire instead. If Metal is separate from Earth, it will almost always be weak to Fire, under the logic that metal melts in flame.
    • Examples of earth being strong against fire: Abomi Nation, Cassette Beasts, Nexomon, Pokémon^note The Pokémon series has two types representing the Earth element: Rock and Ground. Rock-types are super-effective to Fire-types and Fire-types are not very effective against Rock-types, while Ground-types are super-effective against Fire-types, though Fire-type attacks are neutral against Ground-type Pokémon
    • Examples of earth being weak to fire: Brave Frontier^note The Earth Element is actually translated from Wood in japan, but there are some Earth Units who have Earth-elemental motif in their designs.
  • Against Ice — Usually weak
  • Against Lightning — Earth is usually strong against Lightning as they can ground electricity.
    • Examples of earth being strong against lightning: Cassette Beasts, Coromon, Dinosaur King, Nexomon, Palworld, Pokémon^note Ground-types are super effective against and immune to Electric types, Wizard of Legend
    • Examples of earth being weak to lightning: Naruto's Five Basic Natures
  • Against Plant — Pretty much always goes in Plant's favor, since plants feed off soil and can split rock with their roots.
    • Examples of earth being weak to plant: Cassette Beasts, Dinosaur King, Palworld, Pokémon
  • Against Water — Earth is usually weak against water as it can be slowly eroded away by the river flow. On the flip side, earth can be strong against water instead and the land absorbs water for plants to grow on. This is doubly so when Earth is grouped together with plant powers. It can also "dam up" the water, effectively reversing the above logic. If Earth is divided further into Metal, then Water may react to it differently; sometimes being strong under the logic that metal rusts, and sometimes weak under the logic that metal is strong.
    • Examples of earth being strong to water: Naruto's Five Basic Natures
    • Examples of earth being weak to water: Abomi Nation, Cassette Beasts, Coromon, Nexomon, Pokémon^note Rock and Ground-types are weak against Water-types
  • Against Wind — Earth is sometimes utterly ineffective against wind as attacks from underground cannot reach targets flying high in the sky; and like water, it can be gradually eroded away by wind blows. Other times, the two elements are seen as polar opposites like light and darkness.
    • Examples of earth being strong against wind:
    • Examples of earth being weak to wind: Abomi Nation, Nexomon, Wizard of Legend
    • Mixed examples: Pokémon^note The Pokémon series has two types representing the Earth element: Rock and Ground. One one hand, Ground-type moves have no effect on Flying-types, but on the other hand, Rock-types have a complete advantage against Flying-types.
• Fire
  • Against Ice — Fire is typically strong against ice as they melt under the heat. At worst, Ice would, in turn, be also strong against fire; as coldness deprive the fire from heat to stay alive; making the two Mutual Disadvantage against each other. However, there are cases where ice is treated as water. In these cases, fire would be completely weak against ice instead.
    • Examples of fire being strong against ice: Abomi Nation, Coromon, Palworld, Pokémon
    • Examples of fire being weak to ice via water: Brave Frontier, Wizard of Legend
    • Examples of fire and ice being mutually weak: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • Against Lightning — Normally, fire is neutral against lightning, but in a few case where are few elements available (such as in the form of Fire, Ice, Lightning) and they all form into a cycle, fire's effectiveness to lightning goes either away depending on Fire'e effectiveness against the third party.
    • Examples of fire being strong against lightning: Mega Man X: Command Mission
    • Examples of fire being weak to lightning: Fire Emblem (Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn), Mega Man Zero, Mega Man ZX
  • Against Plant — Fire is typically strong against plant, as wood easily burns.
    • Examples of fire being strong against plant: Abomi Nation, Cassette Beasts, Nexomon, Palworld, Pokémon
  • Against Water — Fire is usually weak to water, as fire gets quenched off. In the best case scenario, fire is treated as water's opposite, and it'll be simultaneously strong against water through its heat evaporating the volume off.
    • Examples of fire being weak to water: Abomi Nation, Cassette Beasts, Coromon, Dinosaur King, Naruto's Five Basic Natures, Nexomon, Palworld, Pokémon, Wizard of Legend
    • Examples of fire and water being mutually weak: Quest 64
  • Against Wind — Fire is typically strong against wind as oxygen blown in fuels it instead.
    • Examples of fire being strong against wind: Dinosaur King, Naruto's Five Basic Natures, Nexomon, Wizard of Legend
    • Examples of fire being weak to wind: Cassette Beasts
• Ice (Alt. Name: Cold)
  • Against Water
    • Examples of ice being strong against water: Coromon
• Light (Alt. Name: Holy)
• Lightning (Alt. Name: Electric, Thunder)
  • Against Plant — Lightning is not very strong against plant as it can be grounded through its roots. It can even be weak against plant when the latter is grouped together with earth.
    • Examples of lightning being weak to plant: Abomi Nation, Brave Frontier, Cassette Beasts, Nexomon, Pokémon^note Grass-types resists Electric-types
  • Against Water — Lightning easily beats water, as its trail of wetness prevents the watery target from escaping the zap. The common explanation for it is that water conducts electricity, but in reality, it's the aqua ions within the water that carries the electrical charge.
    • Examples of lightning being strong against water: Abomi Nation, Cassette Beasts, Coromon, Dinosaur King, Nexomon, Palworld, Pokémon, Wizard of Legend
  • Against Wind — Sometimes strong
    • Examples of lightning being strong against wind: Abomi Nation, Cassette Beasts, Nexomon
    • Examples of lightning being weak to wind: Naruto's Five Basic Natures
• Plant (Alt. Name: Grass, Nature, Wood)
  • Against Water — Usually strong; plants drink water, after all.
    • Examples of plant being strong against water: Abomi Nation, Cassette Beasts, Nexomon, Pokémon
  • Against Wind
    • Examples of plant being weak to wind: Abomi Nation, Dinosaur King
• Water
• Wind (Alt. Name: Air)