Hi fellow knights,
I was recently told by a very respected and well-geared player that zombies do split normal elemental damage and ONLY shadow lair and grave yard zombies do split normal shadow damage. I dont meant to insult him in anyway by questioning his statements but on the wikia page it says "all zombies deal shadow damage". http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Zombie. So does that mean the player is wrong or is this some typo? Thanks
He's wrong, although the wiki could be more precise.
All zombies do either normal damage (in t1), split normal/shadow (in t2 and below), or their status infliction (in t2 and below).
(All monsters do only normal damage in t1, though, unless they're in danger rooms on the second stratum.)
The others here are right. Your friend may be confusing elemental (a type of damage) with fire, shock, etc. (types of status). The two have nothing to do with each other. A fire zombie can inflict normal, shadow, and fire, for example.
There's an easy way to prove it: get hit by a zombie. If it's elemental, green life squares will pop up. Shadow takes purple squares.
This was a well respected player? Hehehe, strip him of his rank. Go with wiki
You can verify for yourself by getting hit by zombie swipes. It does split normal/shadow damage.