Mewgenics Status Effects Guide

Status effects are temporary conditions that affect cats and enemies in combat. They can be applied by abilities, items, terrain, mutations, and even disorders. Understanding what each status does — and how to apply, resist, or remove them — is essential for building effective combat strategies in Mewgenics.

Status effects are divided into three broad categories: damage-over-time (DoT) effects that deal damage each turn, debuffs that reduce a stat or restrict actions, and buffs that temporarily enhance performance. Many effects can stack, and some interact with each other in important ways.

Damage-Over-Time Effects

Burning

Deals fire damage at the end of each turn. Stacks by increasing damage per stack rather than duration. Applied by fire-element abilities and several hazard tiles. Removed by Ice abilities or stepping onto water tiles. Burning enemies take bonus damage from Ice abilities, making fire/ice combo setups very effective.

Poisoned

Deals poison damage each turn that scales with the number of Poisoned stacks. Unlike Burning, Poison stacks increase duration as well as damage. Poison is the primary DoT for Venomancer builds and pairs well with abilities that apply multiple stacks at once. Poison damage ignores most defensive mutations.

Bleeding

Deals physical damage each turn. Bleeding stacks multiply damage and are applied by slash and claw-type abilities. Healing while Bleeding has reduced effectiveness — heals only restore half HP per stack of Bleed active. Bleed is especially dangerous on high-HP enemies that would otherwise outlast your damage output.

Shocked

Deals lightning damage each turn and reduces the target's Speed stat for the duration. Shocked targets go later in turn order, which can chain with other effects. Applied by Stormcaller abilities and certain terrain. Multiple Shocked stacks reduce Speed further, potentially making enemies act last every turn.

Frostbitten

Deals ice damage each turn and reduces movement speed. Frostbitten targets are easier to hit with multi-hit abilities. Pairs well with Burning — a Burning target that gets Frostbitten is extinguished but takes burst ice damage proportional to lost Burning stacks.

Corroding

Deals acid damage each turn and permanently reduces the target's Defense stat by 1 per stack, even after the status expires. Corroding is one of the most dangerous debuffs to leave on your cats long-term. Cleanse it with antidote items as soon as possible to prevent permanent Defense loss.

Stat Debuffs

Weakened

Reduces the target's Attack stat by a percentage for the duration. Weakened stacks reduce Attack further. Applying Weakened to a dangerous melee enemy early in a fight significantly reduces incoming damage. Multiple Weakened applications can effectively neuter physical attackers.

Slowed

Reduces Speed, causing the target to act later in combat order. Slowed is not the same as Stunned — Slowed targets still act, just later. Very useful for controlling fast enemies that would otherwise interrupt your ability rotations.

Blinded

Causes abilities and attacks to have a chance to miss. The miss chance scales with Blinded stacks. Blinded is one of the best debuffs against boss enemies with powerful single-target attacks — even a 30% miss chance dramatically reduces damage taken over a long fight.

Cursed

Reduces all stats by a flat amount. Cursed cannot be resisted by stat-based defenses — it bypasses resistances and always applies at full value. Some enemies apply Cursed through specific aura abilities, making them high-priority targets to eliminate quickly.

Exhausted

Reduces the number of abilities a cat can use per turn. An Exhausted cat with 2 ability slots per turn may only use 1 while the effect is active. Exhausted is particularly devastating on multi-action cats or those built around ability chaining.

Control Effects

Stunned

The target skips its next turn entirely. One of the most powerful control effects in the game. Stunned targets cannot act, use abilities, or apply their passive effects for that turn. Chain-Stun builds can keep key enemies locked down every turn via multiple cats.

Frozen

The target cannot act and takes increased damage from all sources while Frozen. Fire abilities instantly shatter Frozen targets, dealing bonus damage equal to the remaining Frozen duration multiplied by a damage coefficient. Freeze + Fire burst is one of the highest single-hit damage combos available.

Confused

The target uses a random ability each turn, potentially targeting allies or using abilities sub-optimally. Confused is chaotic — on cats it wastes turns or hurts allies, but on enemies it can cause them to damage each other. High-value when applied to enemies with powerful AoE abilities.

Charmed

The Charmed target treats enemies as allies for the duration, attacking its former allies and avoiding your cats. Unlike Confused, Charmed targets use their abilities intelligently (just against the wrong team). Very powerful on strong melee enemies that then deal massive damage to their own side.

Rooted

Prevents the target from changing position or fleeing. Rooted targets can still act and use abilities but cannot move. Especially useful for pinning down fast enemies or bosses that try to reposition. Some terrain effects also Root targets that enter them.

Buff Effects

Enraged

Increases Attack but reduces Defense. Enraged cats deal significantly more damage but take more hits in return. Several class abilities deliberately self-apply Enraged as a tradeoff mechanic. Enrage synergizes with high-HP builds that can survive the reduced defense window.

Shielded

Creates a barrier of temporary HP that absorbs damage before the cat's actual HP is reduced. Shield stacks add HP rather than extending duration. Some mutations convert incoming heals into Shield HP instead of restoring actual HP, which can be extremely powerful on tanks.

Hasted

Increases Speed, causing the target to act earlier in turn order. Hasted cats may act multiple times per round if Speed differential is large enough. Haste stacks are multiplicative — even one extra action per round from Haste dramatically increases output.

Regenerating

Restores HP at the end of each turn. Regenerating is the main sustained healing effect in combat and is more efficient than one-time heals over long fights. Stacks increase heal amount per turn. Bleed reduces Regenerating's effectiveness while active.

Empowered

Increases the damage of the next ability used. Empowered is consumed on use and does not persist across turns unless re-applied. Stacking Empowered before a high-damage finisher ability is a core tactic for burst builds. Some class abilities self-Empower as part of their rotation.

Invisible

Enemies cannot target the Invisible cat. Invisible is removed when the cat uses an ability or is hit by an area effect. Very powerful for repositioning or setting up a high-damage ability without fear of retaliation. Some rogue-style classes have multiple sources of Invisibility.

Key Status Interactions

Several status effects interact with each other in meaningful ways. The most important interactions: Burning + Frozen causes shatter damage; Bleeding reduces Regenerating and heal effectiveness; Shocked reduces Speed (stacking with Slowed for extreme Speed reduction); Corroding permanently lowers Defense even after it expires.

Mutations can grant immunity to specific status effects. The Fireproof mutation prevents Burning from stacking, while Venom Glands converts Poisoned from a debuff into a damage buff. Building cats with relevant immunities can completely nullify certain enemy strategies. Always check your cats' disorder list too — disorders like Anxiety increase susceptibility to Confused, while Hemophilia makes Bleed stacks deal significantly more damage.