Status effect

Status effects are statuses that effect the behavior of both players and enemies. They have a wide range from effects, such as dealing damage over time or damaging a character when it attacks.

Positives/Negatives of Status Effects

Curse:

+ causes enemy healers to damage themselves
+ allows you to inflict mild damage when shielded
- doesn't make it easier to dodge/block attacks
- only extremely useful against monsters who don't pause/wait after attacking once.
situation: healers that are protected by mobs or anything else, e.g. Danger Rooms, Arenas and Royal Jelly.

Fire:

+ inflicts strong damage over time without you needing to attack
+ allows you to run away from a monster instead of shielding attacks
- like curse, it doesn't make it easier to dodge/block attack
- becomes a lot less useful in situations with two or more healers
- ingites Oilers
situation: damaging large mobs and monsters that are hard to deal with at close range, e.g. deconstruction zones and gun puppies. 
Also great for melting Ice Jellies.

Freeze:

+ immobilises monsters, limiting their attack range as well as giving you breathing space/time to charge an attack
+ if left alone, monsters will take damage from the ice breaking naturally.
- isn't an uninterrupted status effect, meaning an attack will free the monster out of it. it can also be cancelled out by Fire
- waiting for ice damage is time-consuming
situation: small areas with large mobs; dodging enemies

Poison:

+ stops monsters from being able to recover HP, making dealing with healers a lot easier.
+ lowers attack and defense of poisoned monsters, effectively shortening the time it takes to kill them
- like fire and curse, doesn't make attacks easier to dodge, block or run away from
- doesn't directly deal extra damage; you still have to attack normally for poison to make a huge difference to the fight
situation: areas where healers aren't easy to kill immediately, and where you are facing a large number of attacks 
at once or monsters that hit hard

Shock:

+ interrupts attacks and movement and deals weak damage over time; almost like fire and freeze combined into one status
+ can be passed from one enemy to another, potentially shocking a large bunch of enemies at the same time
- both fire and freeze do a MUCH better job than shock; a jack of all trades
- only lowers enemy defense while they are in shock, giving you a very small window of opportunity
- supercharges Quicksilvers
situation: small mob numbers tightly bunched together; useful in most normal rooms of normal levels (not Arenas/Danger Rooms etc)

Sleep:

+ completely pacifies enemies for a certain amount of time; and is uninterrupted making it even better than Freeze
+ gives you a wide window to deal damage without any evasive maneuvers.
- monsters heal while asleep, lowering your DPS.
- more of a hindrance when fighting large mobs; the equivalent of giving the enemy another healer.
- currently no weapons exist that inflict Sleep, meaning you just have to be lucky to have a vial at the right time.
situation: individual monsters with large HP that are hard to approach normally, e.g. Lichen Colonies and Royal Jelly.

Stun:

+ significantly slows monsters' movement speed and attack speed, meaning you can attack more and shield less
+ uninterrupted, meaning stunned monsters will stay stunned for the whole duration.
- you can still be attacked by stunned monsters, and will take full damage
- can't be bothered thinking of a second negative because stun is awesome.
situation: places where enemies attack rapidly, or against enemies that move faster than your weapon can keep up with. 
Spookats, dodgers like Alpha Wolvers and Devilites, Gun Puppies.