Short answer: fire, frost and bleed are the three status effects Mudtek names directly, and each has a documented chain — fire into an inferno, frost into a freeze, bleed stacks into an execution finisher. Cures exist to clear bleed and poison buildup. No damage values, stack thresholds or durations have been published.
The documented chains
The combat devlog states the system’s purpose in one sentence and then gives three worked examples.
Official Combat devlog, 18 July 2025
“Spells are the foundation of your combat identity in Dimraeth. At launch, we aim to offer over 300 spells, designed around chain interactions and status synergy to allow for rich and expressive builds.”
“Do you ignite enemies with fire and follow up with an inferno? Stack bleed effects with your teammate to trigger an execution finisher? Layer frost on an enemy and then freeze them in place with a javelin of ice? Every spell is part of a greater puzzle — each one a piece of possibility, not a one-off button.”
Source: Mudtek Steam announcement, 18 July 2025 · verified 16 September 2026
Those examples define the shape of the system, and each one teaches something different.
| Status | Setup step | Trigger step | Named by Mudtek |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire | Ignite the enemy with fire | Follow with an inferno | Yes |
| Frost | Layer frost on the enemy | Freeze in place with an ice javelin | Yes |
| Bleed | Stack bleed effects | Trigger an execution finisher | Yes — and explicitly with a teammate |
Fire: ignite, then inferno
Fire is the status with the most supporting detail across official sources. The Magician’s class description names it directly as one of three elements: “the ability to summon fire, ice, or lightning.”
Official patch notes also reference specific fire-related behaviours, which tells you the underlying system is simulation-based rather than abstract. Two examples from Mudtek’s 2025 build notes:
- “Fixed burning pool not working correctly”
- “Fixed stacking effects”
A “burning pool” implies fire can exist as a persistent ground effect, not only as an enemy debuff. That is a meaningful detail for positioning: the fire you create can occupy space.
Note Burning as a state
Mudtek's archetype co-op example refers to an archetype that spreads fire and procs passives “whenever enemies are Burning.” That confirms Burning is a distinct state with its own trigger conditions, separate from the act of casting a fire spell.
Source: Mudtek Steam announcement, 16 November 2025
Frost: layer, then freeze
Frost follows the same setup-and-trigger pattern, and the phrasing “layer frost on an enemy and then freeze them in place” implies frost accumulates toward a threshold rather than applying instantly.
That reading is consistent with how bleed is described — “stack bleed effects” — and with Mudtek’s patch note reference to fixing “stacking effects.” Together they suggest statuses have a buildup value that must reach a level before the payoff state triggers.
Thresholds are unknown. Whether frost requires two casts or ten is not published. Any page quoting a frost stack count is producing it from somewhere other than Mudtek's announcements.
Bleed: the co-op status
Bleed is the most interesting of the three because Mudtek’s example is explicitly a two-player action: “stack bleed effects with your teammate to trigger an execution finisher.”
That wording establishes two things at once.
Status buildup accumulates across players. If it did not, stacking with a teammate would not be possible. This is the same design logic as the Burning engine archetype example, where one player applies a status and another converts it.
An execution finisher exists as a payoff state. “Execution finisher” is described as the result of stacked bleed, which implies a distinct action or damage event rather than a passive damage-over-time.
Official Design post, 20 January 2026
“Cures sit in a more specialised category. They matter most when you're taking on enemies that apply heavy bleed or poison buildup. In those cases, bringing cures is less about raw power and more about keeping control of the fight by clearing a dangerous buildup before it snowballs.”
Source: Mudtek Steam announcement, 20 January 2026 · verified 16 September 2026
Two conclusions follow from that passage. First, enemies can apply bleed and poison to you, which makes status effects a two-way system. Second, buildup is the mechanic that matters — cures clear the buildup rather than healing damage already done, and the official framing is about preventing snowballing.
Poison
Poison appears only in the cures context, as a status enemies apply through “heavy bleed or poison buildup.” Mudtek has not described granular poison mechanics, whether it stacks like bleed, or how it compares in damage.
Not published No poison details
Beyond the existence of poison buildup and cures that address it, nothing about poison is documented officially. We record the gap rather than filling it with genre convention, because Dimraeth's status system is explicitly chain-based and conventions from other games may not hold.
Checked against: 30 Mudtek announcements, Steam store page · 16 September 2026
The defensive side: resistances
Status effects are not only something you apply. The crafting post describes preparing for a boss’s damage profile using food buffs that grant elemental resistances.
Official Design post, 20 January 2026
“The same goes for elemental resistances when you're preparing for a boss with a specific damage profile. To access those high-impact buffs, you'll need to discover the recipes and cook them.”
Source: Mudtek Steam announcement, 20 January 2026
An official equipment screenshot also exposes resistance values on a piece of gear, listed alongside attack speed. That confirms resistance is a tracked stat on equipment as well as a temporary buff from food.
| Mitigation | Source | Confirmed |
|---|---|---|
| Elemental resistance | Cooked food buffs | Yes — official design post |
| Resistance values | Equipment | Yes — official screenshot |
| Bleed / poison clearance | Cures (crafted) | Yes — official design post |
| Status buildup | Applied by enemies | Yes — official design post |
Note that the same patch notes reference “vital potions not healing after taking stuns,” which confirms stun exists as a third category of negative effect — not a damage-over-time status but a control effect that can interfere with item use.
Practical takeaways
Nothing here is a rotation, because rotations require numbers. What follows from the documented design:
- Treat buildup as the resource, not the status. Bleed, frost and poison all appear to accumulate toward a threshold. Spending a second application to reach the payoff is the intended pattern, not wasted damage.
- Chain deliberately within five slots. Ignite-plus-inferno and frost-plus-freeze each consume two of your five equipped spells. That is a substantial budget commitment.
- In co-op, coordinate the status. Bleed and the Burning engine both demonstrate that status effects are designed to be shared across players. Deciding who applies and who converts is how the official examples work.
- Carry cures for content that applies them. Against enemies with heavy bleed or poison, Mudtek positions cures as the tool for maintaining control rather than as optional comfort.
- Prep resistances for named bosses. Elemental resistance from food is described specifically as boss preparation against a damage profile.
Status systems in Early Access games change frequently. Mudtek's patch notes already show stacking behaviour being fixed more than once, and no balance pass has been documented. Check the official patch notes after each update before treating any interaction described here as current.