Status Effects decide a lot of fights in Anime Expeditions. They are the debuffs your Units stamp onto enemies during combat, and they range from steady damage over time to hard stops that freeze a boss in place. Most of them scale off the applying Unit’s damage stat, so the same effect gets stronger as you upgrade the Unit that casts it.
Quick answer: Status Effects fall into five groups. Damage-over-Time, Soft Crowd-Control, Hard Crowd-Control, Marks, and a small Miscellaneous set. A single Unit cannot stack the same DoT on one enemy, but two different Units can apply the same effect to the same target at once.
Every effect has its own duration and behavior. Some tick damage on a fixed schedule, others simply hold enemies still for a set number of seconds, and Marks sit on a target until a Unit ability triggers them. Because so many of them grow with your Unit’s damage, leveling your casters mid-run matters as much as picking the right effect.
Damage-over-Time effects
Damage-over-Time (DoT) effects chip away at enemy health across several ticks. The total output is a multiple of the applying Unit’s damage stat, split across the listed duration. Keep in mind that one Unit can’t refresh the same DoT on a single enemy, so mixing casters is how you keep the damage flowing.
| Effect | What it does | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Bleed | Deals 0.65x damage across 6 ticks over 6 seconds. | Crimson (Brother), Crimson, Cursed Student (True Love), Cursed Student, Greed, Bounty Hunter |
 Burn | Deals 0.5x damage across 4 ticks over 4 seconds. | Flame Emperor (Reincarnate), Flame Emperor, Demon Cyborg |
 Austere Flames | Deals 0.75x damage across 4 ticks over 4 seconds. | Hollow (Blaze), Hollow |
 Mana Burn | Deals 0.5x damage across 8 ticks over 8 seconds. | Elf Mage (Unleashed), Elf Mage |
Soft Crowd-Control effects
Soft Crowd-Control slows enemies or briefly interrupts them without fully locking them down. These effects pair best with high-damage Units, buying just enough time for your carries to land more hits.
| Effect | What it does | Units |
|---|---|---|
 Slow | Reduces enemy movement speed to 50% for 5 seconds. | Salmon Sorcerer (Grade 1), Salmon Sorcerer, Ice Mage |
 Stagger | Interrupts enemy actions and briefly delays movement for 4 seconds. | Salmon Sorcerer (Grade 1), Salmon Sorcerer |
 Dismembered | Permanently reduces enemy movement speed to 85% of its original speed. | 8th Sword (Berserk), 8th Sword |
Hard Crowd-Control effects
Hard Crowd-Control fully stops enemies or shoves them back down the path. These are the strongest control tools in the game because they take enemies out of the fight entirely for a moment, and Rewind effects can drag a boss back toward the start of a lane.
| Effect | What it does | Units |
|---|---|---|
 Freeze | Freezes enemies for 2 seconds, blocking movement and actions. | Ice Queen |
 Stun | Prevents enemies from moving or acting for 2 seconds. | Shadow (Divine), Shadow, String Demon (Awakened), String Demon |
 Rewind | Forces enemies backward along the path for 3 seconds. Affects each enemy up to 10 times. | Puppet (Telekinetic) |
| Shadow Rewind | Teleports enemies closer to the start of the path. Affects each enemy up to 3 times. | Shadow (Divine) |
Mark effects
Marks are persistent debuffs that stay on an enemy until a Unit’s ability consumes or triggers them. Most of them plug into a specific Unit’s kit, and one of them makes the target easier for your whole team to kill.
| Effect | What it does | Units |
|---|---|---|
 True Saint Mark | Applies a persistent mark that activates additional Unit abilities. | True Saint (Holy), True Saint |
 Puppet Mark | Makes marked enemies take 20% more incoming damage. | Puppet (Telekinetic), Puppet |
| Crimson Mark | Applies a persistent mark used by specific Unit abilities. | Crimson (Brother), Crimson |
Miscellaneous effects
A few mechanics count as Status Effects even though they don’t fit the other groups. Cocoon is the notable one, and it also carries a Stun on top of trapping its target.
| Effect | What it does | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Cocoon | Traps an enemy inside a cocoon and applies Stun. | String Demon (Awakened), String Demon |
Which effects are worth building around
The best effect depends on the job you need a Unit to do, and a balanced team of damage dealers plus control Units clears tough stages far more reliably than stacking one type.
- Bleed and Austere Flames give you consistent, scaling damage over time.
- Freeze and Stun are the strongest control options because they fully stop enemies, which lets high-damage Units unload.
- Rewind and Shadow Rewind shine against bosses and fast movers by pushing them back along the path.
- Puppet Mark is the top support effect since the 20% extra incoming damage boosts your entire team’s output on that target.
Since almost every effect scales with the applying Unit’s damage, the fastest way to make any of these hit harder is to keep investing Yen into your casters during a run. A slow that lasts five seconds or a bleed that ticks for a fraction of your damage becomes far more valuable once the Unit behind it is fully upgraded.
