Everything in the Kingdom of Loathing is composed of the five basic elements: hot, cold, spooky, stench, and sleaze. Although most monsters in the Kingdom show no preference for or aversion from any particular element, many monsters, such as the demons in Pandamonium Slums or the undead enemies in The Cyrpt, have an affinity for one element or another. Additionally, adventurers can make use of certain spells and accessories to harness the power of the elements.
The elements exist in a delicate balance, and each one can cause great harm to foes of opposing elements, while dealing 1 damage to enemies of the same element. The following is a breakdown of how each element performs against every other one.
Each element deals normal damage against the other two, and negligible damage against itself.
Adventurers with Hotform, Coldform, Spookyform, Stenchform, or Sleazeform will themselves become aligned to the corresponding element, inflicting all of their damage using that element and resisting all but 1 damage of that type (but also becoming vulnerable to double damage from the two elements that are strong against your chosen elemental form).