Hi all,
So, I have a question about artefacts and they work exactly. I’ve received from various sources conflicting information.
So, for instance I have this one:
Is the 103% damage boost for all elemental damage, the slam or just when I’m suffering from an elemental damage?
Similarly, I have this one:
Same question, which I assume the answer will be the same as the previous question. The 75% bonus elemental damage will be in addition to the 103% damage boost?
Many thanks.
the 103% damage boost is for the element thats currently damaging you. so if your on fire, fire will get 103% more damage. how this interacts with the other modifers i cant tell you however
the 75% extra damage is for mele damage only. it changes what element your mele attack will do. but if you were to mele an enemy and deal 100 dmg 1 of the elements would also deal 75 dmg to that enemy
Most artifacts have two “halves” like the ones in your post, a top half and a bottom half. The text at the very bottom of the card is used to clarify the power described in the top half. It’s a little counterintuitive, but that seems to be par for the course for the UI team on this game.
“Currently damaging you…?” Maybe I am reading your statement incorrectly, but I think this means for any element that you are using against an enemy that you get a damage boost against that enemy with that element. It would not make much sense to pick up an artifact that would cause yourself more personal damage. For that we have “sink in lava” modifiers in M2.0!
second part is the random part (slam, victory rush, slide, etc.) the rest is your standard card.
so the bottom text (while suffering blah blah) is for the top (as you’d see on sliding cards that launch projectiles)
quite simple realy 
it’s just that allmost nobody uses non legendary artifacts (and mods) because of the added power. and so nobody notices why the artifact is “legendary”
simple solution would be that GB puts a tag on the “legendary” add-on
These are two very different things actually.
The Commander Planetoid (“deal XY% bonus elemental damage”) means that a second instance of damage will be added to your hit. For example, if you hit an enemy with a 1000 DMG melee strike, Commander Planetoid will hit the enemy another time with 750 DMG of the element it’s currently on. Technically this is two attacks hitting the enemy at the same time; if they’re different elements, you’ll see 2 numbers popping up – if they’re the same element, the game adds them together and shows just one number which is the sum of both.
I highlighted “bonus elemental damage” because this specific term denotes an important mechanic found all over the game. If weapons or shields or grenade mods have a “+50% bonus elemental damage” anointment, or if you have a skill that gives “bonus elemental damage” (e.g. Amara’s Forceful Expression), this is what’s happening.
“Bonus elemental damage” does not increase the damage of other elemental attacks – it just adds one more instance of damage on top.
The Elemental Projector (“Damage Boost”) is completely different. This doesn’t add another instance of damage, instead it increases the damage of all damage you deal with a given element.
So let’s use the first example again and say we’re dealing 1000 kinetic damage while we’re on fire. Since our attack isn’t fire, the Projector doesn’t do anything. Now if we do 1000 fire damage instead, the Projector boosts that by 1000 × (1 + 103%) = 2030 fire damage. It just doubled our damage. Unlike with “bonus elemental damage”, there is still only one instance of damage – but it is increased.
This works similar to Amara’s Tempest skill which generally increases all elemental damage, and in fact if you’re using both, they are added together: 1000 × (1 + 30% + 103%) = 2330 fire damage. The Elemental Damage guardian rank works the same.
Now in the case of the second artifact shown you can have both effects at once: Let’s say the Planetoid creates an extra “attack” with 750 fire damage while you are on fire. The Projector will then boost that attack to 750 × (1 + 103%) = 1523 fire damage. It will also boost your main attack if that’s fire too, it just takes any damage you deal and boosts it if it’s the right element.
Note that when I say “fire damage”, that’s base damage before it is modified again based on what you hit (flesh, shield, armor). More on that here.
limpan233 is right, Elemental Projector only increases damage while a status effect is applied on you, e.g. more fire damage while you’re burning. That’s all it does. It’s the reason why some players e.g. set themselves on fire with a low level Sellout pistol to get more fire damage. Main staple of Spiritual Driver Amara builds as that relies on being on fire/whatever all the time anyway.
Very interesting. I have not been interpreting the top portion of the card correctly. Although, for the most part, up the level limits I use Moxxi’s endowments for the extra point bonus, while focusing more on the bottom portion of the card than the top. I will have to try some of this out. I also note that there are a couple of COV guns that will combust the user during use, so that probably comes in handy as long as you do not burn to a deadly crisp before switching weapons? Thanks for the insights (all!).
Thanks all for the input!
I did think it would be the damaging element type that was enhanced but certainly didn’t expect all of that, DocStrangelove. Had to read it two or five times for it to sink in properly but makes sense and certainly learned something tonight.