Affinity in Raid: Shadow Legends is a core battle mechanic that works like a rock-paper-scissors system. Each champion has one of four affinities – Magic (Blue), Force (Red), Spirit (Green), or Void (Purple) – which determines how much damage they deal or receive. Read more to learn more about legends’ affinities and their meanings in and outside gameplay.
What Is Affinity in Raid Shadow Legends?
Affinity is an inherent property of every champion and enemy in Raid. Affinity affects skills and damage output: when a champion attacks a foe of a different affinity, special bonus or penalty effects apply. The system ensures no one champion type is universally best – each has strengths and weaknesses. In practical terms, when you attack an enemy with a disadvantaged affinity, you see a green arrow above them (strong hit chance up); a red arrow means you are at a disadvantage against that champion.
The Four Affinities – Overview
- Magic (Blue): Champions wielding arcane or mystical powers. Strong vs: Spirit (Green) champions. Weak vs: Force (Red) champions.
- Spirit (Green): Typically nature or spiritual fighters. Strong vs: Force (Red). Weak vs: Magic (Blue).
- Force (Red): Powerful physical or brute-force champions. Strong vs: Magic (Blue). Weak vs: Spirit (Green).
- Void (Purple): Dark or otherworldly champions. Neutral: Void has no innate strengths or weaknesses, dealing and receiving normal damage against all types.
Raid Shadow Legends Affinity Chart
Strengths and Weaknesses (Affinity Wheel)
The affinities cycle in a loop. The following table summarizes who is strong or weak against whom:
| Affinity | Strong vs. | Weak vs. |
| Magic (Blue) | Spirit (Green) | Force (Red) |
| Spirit (Green) | Force (Red) | Magic (Blue) |
| Force (Red) | Magic (Blue) | Spirit (Green) |
| Void (Purple) | None – neutral) | (None – neutral) |
Affinity Symbols and What They Mean
Raid uses clear visual cues for affinities. Each champion’s portrait in the roster or team select shows a small colored icon (blue orb, red shield, green tree, purple skull) in the bottom corner to indicate their affinity. In battle, the same colors appear above the champions’ heads. Additionally, arrows appear during attacks: a green arrow above an enemy means your champion has the advantage (you’re attacking their weak affinity), while a red arrow means a disadvantage. These arrows tell you at a glance whether an attack will be boosted or penalized, so you can swap champions to exploit a green-arrow matchup (high damage) and avoid red-arrow matchups that lessen damage.
Affinity Bonuses and Penalties
Affinity matchups modify attack outcomes. These modifiers come from the game’s combat rules (not to be confused with stat buffs). The official values are:
- Strong Affinity Bonus (Advantage):
- +15% Critical Rate (chance to crit increased)
- +30% chance to land a Strong Hit
- Strong Hit deals +30% damage over normal.
- +15% Critical Rate (chance to crit increased)
In other words, when you attack an enemy of a weaker affinity (green arrow), you have an extra 15% crit chance and a 30% chance to do a strong hit that adds 30% damage. Those strong hits stack with crits (so a crit strong hit deals even more damage).
- Weak Affinity Penalty (Disadvantage):
- –20% base damage on all attacks (your attacks start at 20% lower damage).
- +35% chance to land a Weak Hit.
- A weak hit inflicts –30% damage and cannot apply most debuffs.
- Chance to crit is effectively –15% (crit rate is reduced by 15%).
- –20% base damage on all attacks (your attacks start at 20% lower damage).
Thus if your champion attacks an enemy of a stronger affinity (red arrow), each attack deals 20% less damage, and 35% of your attacks will become “weak hits” doing only 70% damage (and not triggering debuffs or some effects).
- Neutral (Void/Same Affinity): No bonus or penalty. Attacks have normal hit chances and damage, with no extra buffs or debuffs applied. Void champions or same-affinity matchups simply fight without the above modifiers.
These effects mean that advantage/disadvantage can swing fights significantly: strong-hits boost your damage, while weak-hits hurt damage and prevent debuffs. Top players therefore strive to attack on green-arrow matchups and avoid red-arrow attacks when possible.
How Affinity Affects Gameplay
In Arena Battles
Affinity rules apply in all modes, including PvP. In Classic or Live Arena, your champions can have affinity advantages or disadvantages against the enemy team. To win, you often need to “mix and match” champions of different affinities so that at least one of your attackers has the green-arrow advantage on a key enemy. In fact, high-level players often carry multiple nukers of different affinities for this reason. For example, if your main attack champion is magic affinity but the opponent’s champs are spirit affinity (thus giving you a bonus), great – but if the opponent switches to force affinity, that same champion would be weak. So competitive teams include backup champions so one always has a favorable matchup.
In Dungeons and Clan Boss
Affinity matters in dungeons and boss fights, too. For example, the elemental Keeps (Magic, Spirit, Force) have bosses of that same affinity: the Magic Keep boss is Magic affinity, etc. Attacking the Magic Keep boss with a Spirit champion (advantage) yields more damage, while using a Force champion would be weaker. Interestingly, the Arcane Keep boss is actually Void affinity, so there is no affinity bonus or penalty there. Always check a dungeon boss’s affinity (sometimes hinted by its name or shown by the colored icon) and bring champions accordingly. It is essential to mix affinities in your roster so your damage output stays strong across phases.
In Doom Tower and Hydra
Affinity mechanics are the same in Doom Tower and Hydra battles. Doom Tower floors and Hydra heads have set affinities you can plan for. For Hydra specifically, each of the six Hydra heads is assigned a fixed affinity each rotation. That means one head might be Magic, another Spirit, etc., in a given month, so you should bring at least one champion strong against each head’s affinity. (For example, use a Spirit champ against a Force-aligned head.) In Doom Tower, affinity matters in multi-champion waves; you’ll want to burst enemies where you have the advantage.
Tips for Managing Affinities
Building a Balanced Roster
Cover all bases: have strong champions of Magic, Spirit, and Force (Void can adapt to any but still follows the same rules). A balanced roster means you can handle any opponent affinity. For instance, if you only have a Magic nuker and face a champion of Force affinity, that nuker will do much less damage and may even miss debuffs. To avoid that, top players keep at least one nuker/debuffer of each affinity. This way, any enemy champion can be attacked on its weakness by someone.
Using the Affinity Chart Before Battles
Always check the enemies’ affinities before battle. In campaign or clan boss modes, the game usually shows each boss’s affinity icon. In dungeons, the affinity is often indicated by the dungeon name or boss art. In Arena, you see enemy champions’ icons on the lineup screen. Use this information to swap or replace champions accordingly.
When to Ignore Affinity Disadvantages
While affinity is important, it’s not the only factor. If your best champion is at a disadvantage (red arrow), it still might out-damage a weaker champion of the correct affinity. In early or easier content, you might ignore the penalty to use your strongest heroes. However, remember a weak hit (red arrow) can not only reduce damage but also prevent key debuffs.
Understanding Raid’s affinity system – the colored icons, the green/red arrows, and the bonus/penalty numbers – gives you a strategic edge. By using the table above and the guidelines in this article, you can plan your teams so you hit enemies on their weak side and avoid strong sides. This knowledge will help you maximize damage and apply debuffs more reliably in Arena, dungeons, Clan Boss, the Doom Tower, Hydra, and everywhere in the game.
