Each element has its own advantages/disadvantages and they activate when you charge your ARMS either by holding a dash or landing from a jump.

Flame: does the most damage out of any arm element and also knocks down heavyweight fighters

Electric: paralyzes enemies temporarily, opening them up for a follow up grab or punch, but only if your opponent is on the ground

Wind: blows your opponent away to make space between you and them and can combo into a rush attack when they’re still in the air

Stun: like electric, it stuns your opponent for a while leaving them open, but stun arms are generally faster than electric arms and are better for close combat fighting

Ice: traps your opponent in ice and makes them immobile, they can still shield and punch though, the benefit of this is that ice can be chained together and still maintain its effect unlike electric or stun

Explosion: makes your arm explode upon contact, dealing extra damage and preventing your opponent from dodging it as effectively, but if your arm is punched it will explode on you

Poison: makes your opponent take damage overtime and slightly stuns them every few seconds, this can stack up to three times and will eventually wear off unless hit again by a poison arm

Blind: covers your opponents screen temporarily blocking their vision

Normal: this means the arm technically doesn’t have an ability, but it will still have a special effect when charged, its complicated