During Diablo 3's development the various types of elemental damage had different special effects from their base damage and/or their [[critical hits]]. These secondary effects were removed during development as part of an overall simplification of the game, save for cold damage which retained a chilling or freezing effect, which came at the cost of slightly lower damage.

The Reaper of Souls expansion is likely to reintroduce secondary elemental damage effects on critical hits, though this may change during further development.