The subject of this article was retired or removed from the game in patch 4.2, and is no longer available to players.
Retired items may still be kept in inventory but can no longer be renewably obtained. Tradable items may still be obtained from the Market Board or directly trading with other players.
The information in this article is kept and maintained for historical purposes.
The Character Attributes screen showing elemental resistances
Elemental Resistances were a set of Attributes originally introduced with Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 (although the concept itself was introduced in and carried over from Final Fantasy XI). Increasing an elemental resistance attribute would decrease the damage taken by the corresponding attack of that elemental type, as well as grant a small chance to completely negate an attack of an elemental type. The six elements that could be guarded against were Fire, Ice, Wind, Earth, Lightning, and Water.
Theoretically, a character could have increased these attributes to guard against devastating attacks of a certain element as had been done in Final Fantasy XI; for example, water resistance could be increased to guard against attacks from Leviathan. However, few methods were available to alter these attributes. A small bonus (and small decrease) were assigned to two elements with the selection of a character's patron deity.
The only way to semi-permanently increase these attributes was to meld Elemental Resistance materia. Testing with a full set of gear melded with Wind materia yielded a damage reduction of approximately -12%.[1] In practice, this was rarely done because doing so would mean passing up materia that would have a far greater impact in terms of damage dealt.
As most enemy encounters never made use of these attributes in any meaningful way, and character progression was tied to increasing Item Level rather than sidegrades, these attributes were removed from the Character page and elemental materia was stripped of any stat bonuses in Patch 4.2.
Vestiges of these attributes still remain though Buffs and Status effects. These are only used as a mechanic to shield against enemy attacks or increase incoming damage from certain attacks. For example, Scylla will drop water puddles that grant Fire Resistance Up which drastically decreases damage taken from her Ancient Flare.