RAID Buffs and Debuffs Explained: The Effects That Win Fights

Most RAID battles are decided by buffs and debuffs, not raw stats. A team of rares with the right effects will beat a team of legendaries without them. This glossary covers the effects you’ll see most often.

Damage-boosting debuffs

Debuff	What it does	Why it matters
Decrease Defense	Lowers the target’s DEF by 30% or 60%	The biggest damage multiplier in the game
Weaken	Target takes 15% or 25% more damage	Stacks with Decrease Defense

Decrease Defense and Weaken together are the foundation of almost every boss team.

Damage-over-time debuffs

Debuff	What it does
Poison	Deals 2.5% or 5% of the target’s max HP each turn
HP Burn	Deals 3% of the target’s max HP each turn

Because these scale with the target’s HP, they’re devastating against bosses with huge health pools.

Control debuffs

• Stun, Freeze, Sleep – the target skips turns. Sleep breaks when the target is hit.
• Provoke – forces the target to use its basic skill on the provoker.
• Fear – the target skips turns; it can be removed by damage depending on the type.
• Decrease Speed – lowers SPD by 15% or 30%, slowing the turn meter.
• Block Buffs – prevents the target from receiving buffs.

Survival-reducing debuffs

• Decrease Attack – lowers ATK by 25% or 50%. Essential against hard-hitting bosses.
• Heal Reduction – lowers healing received. Great against Lifesteal and healers in Arena.
• Leech – your attackers heal when they hit the target.

The most important buffs

Buff	What it does
Increase Attack	+25% or +50% ATK
Increase Defense	+30% or +60% DEF
Increase Speed	+15% or +30% SPD
Shield	Absorbs a set amount of damage
Block Damage	Prevents all damage while active
Unkillable	HP can’t drop below 1
Block Debuffs	Prevents new debuffs
Continuous Heal	Heals each turn
Counterattack	Attacks back with a basic skill when hit
Ally Protection	Shares damage taken by allies

Unkillable and Block Damage are the heart of the famous Clan Boss “unkillable” teams – see our unkillable explainer.

Accuracy and Resistance

Every debuff you place is checked against the target’s Resistance, so debuffers need Accuracy. Bosses tend to have high Resistance, which is why Accuracy matters more the further you progress. Read our accuracy and resistance guide for practical targets.

Quick team-building rule

For any boss team, try to cover:

1. Decrease Defense (and ideally Weaken)
2. Decrease Attack or another survival tool
3. A healer, shielder or cleanser
4. Damage that fits the boss – poison/HP Burn for high-HP bosses, raw damage for others

Learn these effects once and every new champion becomes much easier to evaluate.