During the early development of Diablo III , there were blue [[Mana Globe]]s as well as red Health Globes, but these were removed in mid-2009, and the classes were given skills that could enable them to gain mana from health globes. As only the [[Witch Doctor]] still uses mana, that is the only class with such a bonus, now granted by [[Witch Doctor traits|traits]].

The health Health gain varies with the type of health globe, but it is always some percentage (25%, 33%, 40%, etc) of a character's maximum hit points. The hit points are not added on instantly, but fill up gradually, over a few seconds. Health globes are thus not an instant cure for death, and a so an embattled, near-dead character very low on hit points and in a battle should drink a potion for the instant life boost, since they could still die to an attack taken right after using a health orb.

Health globes only add hit points to a character's maximum life, and provide no benefit or bonus above that level. A health globe has no effect for them when used by a character with full health, though Witch Doctors can receive a boost to their mana from a health globe, if they have enabled one of the [[traits]] that grants this bonus. A character with full health can still grant the full bonus to other characters though, so if a companion is low on health and stuck in combat, it's wise to use a health orb to assist them.

The healing effect of a health orb is shared by all friendly players and pets in the immediate area (a radius of perhaps 10 yards; characters who are at the far corners of the screen may not be close enough to benefit). Health orbs are community drops, unlike item drops in Diablo III; all players in the game see all health orbs when they appear, and they can be used by anyone.

Each health orb is consumed completely when used, vanishing from the world. Health orbs can not cannot be moved; rather, they simply float where they spawned, but if . If no player uses one , however, they will remain floating there for some time, and can be returned to for a later health boost.

Health orbs are a major part of Diablo III's gameplay design. The [[D3 Team]] has worked to remove the easy ways of healing and escaping from trouble that were so common in Diablo II; : no more can characters count life leech equipment, or belts full of potions that can be used instantly and repeatedly, or [[Town Portals]] for quick town returns. These changes allow the developers to make the game more consistently challenging; unlike Diablo II, where the only way things were hard in Diablo II was if a monster could kill a character in an instant, and that wasn't hard, it was cheesy.

Boss monsters drop health orbs during the battle, generally at set percentages of their hit points. For instance, once you knocked a monster down to 75% of its maximum life, it would drop a globe or globes. [[Jay Wilson]] said commented on this in 2009, [http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/101/1017305p2.html] "[bosses] would drop health globes at percentages of their health. Rares in particular are almost guaranteed to drop about every 25%."

<blue>When you do battle with stronger foes, like "[[rare]]" and "[[champion]]" monsters, you're likely to see medium-sized health globes emerge before these monsters are killed, as they reach certain health percentages or are stripped of their defensesbefore death. Medium globes restore a sizable percentage of your health, but and you'll need the extra boost to survive when dealing with these formidable enemies.<br>

Health orbs grabbed in the arena grant their full benefit (40% of max hit points) to all nearby members of the team, as well as minions. This dynamic can be seen in the three -shot series to the right, where the blue team Witch Doctor gets an orb which that grants a health bonus to his Mongrels, as well as the blue team Barbarian.

This changed further in early 2010, when the Wizard's new resource, [[Instability]] was revealed. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/monk-resource-system-complete/] This resource, later changed to [[Arcane Power]], was not effected affected by health globes. The Witch Doctor, on the other hand, continued to gain mana from health globes.