Status Ailments Guide: Air, Down, Stun, Bleed, and the Rest

The verified skill data tracks eight enemy statuses: Air, Down, Stun, Bleed, Fire, Poison, Shock, and Ice. Each status appears in two roles: a skill can apply it to an enemy, and a different skill can consume it to trigger a Signal. Air and Down are positional states tied to crowd control, Stun locks the target, Bleed and Poison deal damage over time, Fire, Shock, and Ice round out the elemental set. The exact application and consumption rules for every skill are published in the hero database /heroes.

Statuses are directional. Seeing "Stun" on two different heroes does not create a combo; one hero must apply Stun to the enemy and the other must consume that status with its Signal. The team builder /team-build uses the same direction rules to evaluate a three-hero line-up, so you can check a team before testing it in combat.

The current roster of 19 heroes splits the eight statuses unevenly. Castella applies Stun and Air while consuming Down. Lute applies and consumes Stun and Down. Theresia applies and consumes Bleed and Stun. Charlotte applies Poison, Air, and Down. Ornette applies and consumes Shock and Down. Othello, Cerese, and Dana apply Ice. Johnny applies and consumes Poison and Air. Kalien applies Fire and Stun but consumes no enemy status in the published data, which makes her a pure opener. Compare the full apply-and-consume table in the hero database /heroes before planning a rotation.

The imbalance matters for team building. Because several heroes compete for the same apply role, the best team is usually the one where the opener's status is rare enough to be useful and common enough to be answered. Poison, Fire, and Ice each have a small apply pool, while Air, Down, and Stun have several, which changes how easily a chain can be repaired with a substitute.

Applying the right status is only the first step. The published skill rules include requirements that change whether a chain actually fires: the minimum stacks the target must carry, the skill level and ascension step needed, and in some cases extra activation conditions such as a second status or a specific combat state. A skill that applies Down only at higher levels will not feed a Down-consuming Signal on day one. Read the requirements on the skill's page in the hero database /heroes and confirm the unlock is affordable before building the team around it.

The same evidence explains the classic "Signal never appears" report. Check the apply direction first, then stacks, then level, then the target. If the target resists, interrupts, or dies before the Signal window, the status never reaches the consuming skill.

Choose one status family as the spine of the team instead of chasing every status at once. A Stun family keeps the enemy locked while the finisher loads; an Air family focuses on launching and follow-ups; a Bleed family combines damage over time with Signal payoff. Families with both apply and consume heroes on the same status—Stun (Lute, Castella, Theresia, Astria), Down (Lute, Charlotte, Alex, Dana), Air (Castella, Charlotte, Johnny, Kalsion, Cerese), Bleed (Roxy, Theresia)—produce the most reliable three-hero routes. The team builder /team-build can confirm whether a chosen family connects end to end.

Once the spine works, use the remaining slot to cover a weakness: a second opener when the first is resisted, a finisher with better range, or a connector that repairs a broken edge. Changing one slot at a time keeps the comparison honest.

Roster growth and equipment change what a status build can do, so re-verify after major unlocks. If a chain that used to fire stops firing, check whether a skill level, ascension, or Karma requirement was reset by a respec or whether a new hero enables a cheaper route. The material planner and build planner /build-planner help compare the cost of fixing the current chain against building the alternative. In the meantime, keep a fallback team whose chain only needs the statuses you already apply reliably—resilience matters more than a perfect combo you cannot afford to maintain.

The stack mechanics deserve a separate verification pass. Some statuses only matter at a minimum stack count, and the consuming skill states the requirement on its page in the hero database /heroes. If the chain connects on paper but the target never accumulates enough stacks, the fix is usually a faster opener or a different status entirely—not more damage. Test the stack count explicitly in combat once, record the number, and compare it against the consuming skill's requirement to close the loop.