Talk:Great Chaos Fire Orb/@comment-151.40.147.144-20190825132432/@comment-4511886-20190825134302

It's possible, but it could also be because of how defenses work. Specifically, the lava is most likely calculated separately from the fireball, and Dark Souls III "compares" the attacker's damage to the target's defense to calulate damage. Basically, this means that a stronger attacks punches through armor more effectively than a weaker hit. Therefore, it's possible that the lava does much less damage because it doesn't hit as hard, and therefore can't pierce the crab's fire defense effectively.

I'd recommend looking for an enemy that you can either bait into water, or that spawns both inside and outside of pools of water, to confirm that the water is what reduces the damage. I think either the Black Knight or one of the Exiles in the same area should suffice for such a test.