Orange/Red damage is Solar. Light blue damage is Arc (electricity) and purple damage is Void. Now, as far as I know, special and heavy weapons can come with typed-damage and these weapons are required to take down enemies with damage shields. Take Hive Wizards for example, or Cabal Colossus. Their shield (that red glow aura) is Solar based and therefore resists all damage [b]except[/b] from a Solar weapon. The way to defeat them then is to use a Solar-type weapon, let's say a fusion rifle or shotgun up close or a sniper rifle... strip the shield then questions quickly switch to your primary weapon and finish them off. Rinse repeat for other damage types like Void and Arc That's way each character can carry multiple weapons at any given moment. 😎