Unstable Magic Abilities

Unstable Magic Abilities are a set of standardized NPC skills and effects originally introduced with the Bounty system in the Path of Fire expansion and later expanded to a number of high-ranking NPC enemies in subsequent expansions and content releases. Many of these abilities have unique mechanics requiring players to perform specific actions in order to avoid damage or be able to inflict it. Depending on the rank, the NPCs may randomly possess two or three Unstable Magic Abilities, one from each category.

List of abilities[edit]

Champion rank NPCs gain one defensive and one offensive Unstable Magic Ability, each randomly selected from the lists below. The first category of skills makes a Champion either gain additional health or make it harder for players to inflict damage. Abilities of the second type are designed to damage player characters unless they actively react to it. Champions never have two abilities from the same list, they always have one defensive ability and one offensive ability.

Defensive Effect	Description
Exploiter	Attack from close up to identify weak point.
Phase-Shifted	Avoids attacks from outside the designated area.
Propagator	Plants a tendril that applies protection to allies.
Restorer	Spawns a coalescence to provide a health shield.
Signaler	Blinds players who ignore stop or go signals.
Survivor	Periodically blocks the next several attacks.

Offensive Effect	Description
Ley-Energy Buildup	Find ley-energy orbs to discharge damaging buildup.
Polluter	Drops expanding poison fields.
Scorcher	Drops fire fields that damage and burn foes.
Sniper	Targets foes, then fires a powerful shot.
Spinning Laser	Creates spinning lasers that damage foes.

Legendary rank enemies also gain an additional third Unstable Magic Ability from the following list:

Effect	Description
Captor	Traps players in difficult-to-escape snares.
Flash Freeze	Time jumps to avoid chilling pulses.
Frightener	Surrounds itself with a fear-inducing field.
Hammerer	Knocks down foes with hammer strikes.
Petrifier	Locks eyes to turn foes to stone.

Countering the abilities[edit]

Breaking the defiance bar of the enemy NPC is encouraged as it causes the Lockout effect that disables all Unstable Magic Abilities for a short period of time.

Effect	Strategy for countering
Exploiter	Touching the bubble surrounding the bounty will grant the Identified Weak Point for 20 seconds during which the bounty can be damaged.
Ley-Energy Buildup	Standing in a Ley-Energy orb area of effect will grant the Resistor until the orb disappears. Note that if a player stands on multiple fields at once and one of the fields disappear, the player will lose the effect and will have to re-enter the AoE.
Phase-Shifted	Standing in the designated blue areas will allow to damage the bounty. The area will change between melee and ranged distances. Any damage done from the outside of this field will be blocked.
Polluter	Dangerous fields of poison start to appear and expand around the area applying Torment and Poisoned conditions to anyone standing on them. Can be simply avoided by not standing in them.
Propagator	Protection Tendrils appear near the bounty. Can be ignored or easily taken down by damaging them.
Restorer	Summons Elite Healing Coalescences or Champion Healing Coalescences periodically. Can be either ignored or killed.
Scorcher	Avoiding the fields is encouraged.
Signaler	When the bounty has a Red Light next to it, players must not move in order to damage the bounty. During the Green Light players must be always moving while causing damage. Not following these rules causes Persistently Blinded causing all attacks to the bounty to miss.
Sniper	Players should avoid touching the glowing orb. Touching it will give you Target effect and make the player vulnerable for a powerful shot. If you do have the effect, breaking line of sight with the NPC will remove it.
Spinning Laser	Laser bars that spin around appear near the bounty causing heavy damage to anyone who touches them. Avoiding them is the best option.
Survivor	Doing damage during this time is automatically blocked. Waiting for this to end is encouraged.
Captor	Small AoE fields start appearing near the bounty locking players within them. Player cannot run out of the field, but can simply evade or use other means to escape the field.
Flash Freeze	Jumping during the wave to avoid the momentary freeze.
Frightener	Damaging the bounty should not be affected.
Hammerer	Three rotating hammers will start to circle the bounty increasing and decreasing the distance from it. Avoid touching the hammers since they cause knockdown.
Petrifier	Facing the opposite way of the bounty whenever the petrification sign appears above the bounty should be enough to prevent petrification.