Anthem: 15 Tips & Tricks The Game Doesn't Tell You
13. How Combos Work (Primers & Detonators)
The epitome of why I write these articles, Anthem tells you next to nothing about the one feature that makes its combat fantastic: Combos.
To adequately explain this mechanic, I'll do it in two halves.
First, know that combos exist, and in Anthem they rely on "Primers" and "Detonators" - both being elemental or damage types.
When in the Forge/loadout screen, look for the small circle and star icons, as below:
The circles denote "Primers"; elementals that will "prep" an enemy for whatever you're going to do next, whereas a star means a power is a "Detonator", and will combine with whatever you've put down beforehand.
Set something quick-firing as your Primer and a heavy damage blast as your Detonator, for example, then go to town.
Primers only wear off after a set amount of time, so after freezing an enemy or covering them in acid, go all-out with your Detonators to deal as much damage as possible in that window.
This is where team tactics come in as you can instruct your squad to try different Primers or go all-in at the right time. It remains baffling that Combos as a game mechanic weren't better tutorialised or messaged before launch.