Boss Modifiers

Diablo III Boss Modifiers are special bonus properties that bosses and champions randomly spawn, or that they have preset by the developers. These grant the bosses extra speed, damage, the ability to teleport or duplicate themselves, and much more.

Regular monsters sometimes appear with one of these properties, presumably as part of their base stats. Molten skeletons, for instance, appear to replace the "Burning Dead" skeletons seen in past Diablo games.

• Diablo II Boss Modifiers.

Blizzcon 2010 Update

Boss properties continue to evolve and be added to the game. At least four new properties were seen at Blizzcon 2010; Ballista, Desecrating, Vortex, and Linked. All have been added to the listing below.

Other known properties had evolved somewhat since Blizzcon 2009, and some weren't seen at the show; they may have been removed entirely, modified, or were just not noticed. A full list will have to wait on the final game.

Special Modifiers

Most of the special, random modifiers found on bosses in Diablo 3 are reminiscent of those seen in Diablo 2, but there are some new ones mixed in. All of the bosses seen (on normal difficulty) in the Blizzcon 2008 and 2009 demos had at least one modifier, but quite a few had two. It's not known if the bosses with two mods were SuperUniques sporting their own innate mod + a random one, or if some bosses can just spawn with multiple modifiers on normal difficulty.

Plenty of champions spawned with one or two properties as well, something never seen in Diablo II.

This page is the master list. Each entry has a brief listing here; click to the individual pages for a fully detailed listing with screenshots and gameplay reports.

Arcane Enchanted

The original, highly-dangerous, Hydra style of this modifier.

Arcane Enchanted bosses are "enchanted" with Arcane energy. Rather than adding Arcane damage to their attacks, they cast Arcane objects that look like second hands off of a clock and rotate around, damaging any players or minions in their slowly-moving path.

This boss modifier was first seen at the start of the Diablo 3 Beta test, where it was instantly the most dangerous property in the game. That initial version, which let the bosses summon an Arcane damage Hydra (just one head, unlike the triple headed version of the Wizard skill), was very dangerous as the dragon head fired a rapid stream of Arcane energy balls. The effect was nerfed in the v5 Beta patch, and changed to the current "second hand" style, which is much less dangerous. This was an unpopular change with fans, and it's often hoped the first Hydra head version will return in the full game, perhaps on higher difficulty levels.

Ballista

Ballista was a new property in the Blizzcon 2010 demo. This modifier appeared to increase the size and damage of their projectiles, but the damage wasn't noticeably giant, and the shots didn't explode upon impact, as Warcraft 2 fans might have expected, given the utility of the human catapult, the Ballista, in that title.

Cold Aura

Cold Aura reported by a fan from the Blizzcon 2009 demo. It has not been seen since, and is considered unconfirmed. It reputedly worked just as it did in Diablo 2, chilling and slowing players within the radius of effect. Interestingly, it was not until after that year's Blizzcon that Jay Wilson let it be known that Auras would return to the game, most likely as Monk skills.

Desecrating

Desecrating was seen in the Blizzcon 2010 demo. The function wasn't clear from viewing it; it seemed like monsters with this were enchanted with an Arcane energy; purple and crackling. Possibly this modifier evolved into the Arcane Enchanted property which was first seen during the Diablo 3 Beta test.

Electrified

Electrified boss putting out massive sparks.

Electrified bosses are Diablo 3's version of Lightning Enchanted bosses. These bosses emit sparks when struck, add lightning damage to their attacks, and enjoy a high resistance to lightning damage as well.

Their sparking properties were first observed with awe in the Blizzcon 2009 and 2010 PvM demos, where the sheer amount of blueish sparks they spit out (whether being hit or not) made them seem like miniature arc reactors. Unlike their Diablo II version (Lightning Enchanted) the sparks no longer spit out in just four directions, like a "+" sign. They now travel in every direction, jittering wildly across the screen.

Fast

Fast does what you'd expect, just more quickly. These monsters have much quicker movement speed than normal, and a faster attack as well. Most bosses looked to be about twice as fast, but Diii.net reported seeing a crazy fast desert wasp boss. [1]

It’s a substantial speed increase; I got a Doppelganger, Fast, Desert Wasp, and the boss and its clones were moving like lightning. Far faster than any other monster I ever saw in the Blizzcon build, and Desert Wasps usually just hovered in place, hardly moving at all. The boss and the clones did not shoot out any of the little green wasp BBs, at least.

Nailing these with Entangling Shot provided some interesting visuals, as the boss would try to pursue at high speed, stretching the chain tethering him to the other slowed monsters for a great distance and seeming to pull the other slowed monsters along at a faster pace than they'd otherwise have moved.

Frozen

Frozen is Diablo 3's version of Cold Enchanted. These monsters hit with bonus cold damage that chills the target, and it's assumed that they have higher cold resistance as well.

The cold property is visible even when they're not attacking, as such monsters sparkle with frost and emit little puffs of cold as they move around.

Magical

Magical. This modifier was seen several times during Blizzcon 2009 play testing, but its effect wasn't apparent to any of the players.

Mirrored

Mirrored Bosses and Champions are able to create duplicates of themselves, much as Baal did in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. The clones have the same properties as the original, potentially including the ability to resurrect or summon new monsters. The Mirrored versions have only half the hit points of the original, so they die fairly quickly, but they do not drop any items.

Individual bosses are able to produce numerous clones at the same time, potentially making their own minion packs. Actual minions can not create Mirrors, though a Champion pack with Mirrored can turn into quite an ordeal.

• Mirrored was originally called Doppleganger.

Molten

A Molten unburied.

Molten is a property that adds fire damage (and presumably fire resistance) to monsters, much as Fire Enchanted did in Diablo 2. This modifier was also seen on some normal monsters; Molten skeletons were seen, and they appeared to have fire damage added. From this sighting players are speculating that boss modifiers may regularly appear on normal monsters, adding to their abilities. Rather than Diablo 2's Burning Dead skeletons, Diablo 3 might just have regular skeletons with Molten or other boss properties.

As of Blizzcon 2010 Molten has been upgraded. Monsters with it now generate fire fields under their feet during combat, burning attackers. They also cause fire fields to appear under the feet of their attackers, guaranteeing that players take AoE fire damage during the combat, no matter how they dart around.

Mortar

Mortar enchanted bosses emit a steady spray of explosive objects, like smaller versions of the Demon Hunter's Grenades skill, in all directions and to all distances. There is no way to dodge or maneuver around the fast-fired Mortars, though being at a longer distance naturally results in fewer of the explosions coming your way.

The theory of this modifier (it was revealed during the Gameplay panel at Blizzcon 2011) is to make Mortar bosses more dangerous to ranged attackers, while melee combatants can stand in close where the mortars will fly out over their heads. In practice, melee fighters take several hits from the boss as they close in, while a ranged attacker who stays well back will hardly be hit at all.

Multishot

Multishot returns from Diablo II. [2]. It's nastier by itself in Diablo III, since ranged attackers pack more of a punch than most of them did in Diablo II, and a boss or champion pack of ranged attackers with this mod can emit some serious ordinance.

The real danger of MS in Diablo II was due to a bug; since the MS stacked on top of the sparks that Lightning-Enchanted bosses emitted, creating insta-kill fields of lightning. That MSLE bug was fixed in v1.10, and MSLE bosses have not been any special danger since then. Though that same bug will surely not return in Diablo III, the developers might give MS some stacking ability with Electrified, Mortar, Ballista, or other ranged boss modifiers to up their danger level on higher difficulty levels.

Mythical

Mythical was seen several times during Blizzcon 2009 play testing, but its effect wasn't apparent to any of the players.

Nightmarish

Nightmarish bosses can inflicts the Witch Doctor's Horrify skill, causing characters to run away. It's an interesting property, since none of the mind control curses worked on players in Diablo 2. It's not dangerous in of itself, but if the horrified character runs into other monsters, or takes a lot of damage while non-responsive from fear, it could be quite dangerous.

Linked

Health linked bosses and champions were seen in the Blizzcon 2010 demo, and feared. This mod "links" the hit points of all the champions, or the boss and his minions, essentially giving them all one huge health pool. This makes it impossible to kill any single target quickly, since all of the enemies lose hit points at the same rate, until the health link breaks when they are very low on hit points.

It's dangerous since you can't pick them off one at a time, and you can't kill one quickly to lessen the damage they're dealing. All of the monsters stay on the attack until they're nearly dead, at which point they de-link and usually drop over one right after the other. That aspect of it is a fun mod, since the whole group goes over like dominoes once one of them succumbs.

Plagued

Plagued boss death cloud.

Plagued bosses add poison damage to their attacks, and presumably enjoyed greater resistance to poison damage as well. They gave off a visual identifier, with little clouds of green smoke rising up from them. Upon death they explode in a huge cloud of poisonous gas.[3]

This mod seems to be the Diablo 3 version of "Poison Enchanted."

Powerful

Powerful was seen in the Blizzcon 2010 demo, but not understood completely. It sounds like the Diablo III version of "Extra Strong," a Diablo II mod that granted bonus damage to monsters, but that wasn't clear from the play testing. Nor did these bosses seem to have any specially greater amount of hit points.

Stoneskin

Stoneskin returns from Diablo II, once again granting monsters much higher defense. It doesn't seem to improve the monster's hit points or resistances though, as Wizards found monsters with this one easy prey.

Teleporting

Teleporting is another returning modifier from Diablo 2, though it's been changed a bit in function. Diablo 3 bosses with Teleport use it regularly and randomly; about every 6 seconds the monster pops to a new, random location. This is annoying to the boss when it's a melee fighter, and it comes running back to attack at once.

On a large screen, especially one with obstacles like ledges or walls, this was vexing to players, since it often seemed to take a bout 5 seconds to get back into range, at which point the monster would teleport again. It was actually easier in practice to stand your ground when a monster popped too far away, hoping it would pop right back to you 6 seconds later.

This one is most dangerous when it spawns on ranged attackers, since the monster can keep on firing, while a melee fighter player runs after it, getting pincushioned.

Vampirific

Vampirific is life leech in Diablo III, and player reports from Blizzcon 2009 ranked this among the worst of the boss modifiers. The life leech was very high from this one, and some players found these guys literally impossible to kill, since they'd heal almost fully with a single hit, while it took dozens of hits to kill them.[4]

A vampiric monster ruined my last playthrough of the con. I tried to hit it with my Witch Doctor, but it kept healing itself by hitting my mongrels. I spent something like 5 minutes gently kiting it around, trying to get off a Skull of Flame or two before it could melee me. I didn’t even get to level up that time. Very, very mad.

--ExtraCrispy

Vortex

Vortex was seen in the Blizzcon 2010 demo. It was very nasty for ranged players to deal with, since it allowed the boss or champion to yank the player back into their midst; the last place a ranged attacker wanted to be. The graphics for this skill weren't yet clear, since there was no visible display for what was happening. To the player it looked almost like lag, or a desynch, as you'd rush away from the monsters and sudden get bounced back into the midst of them.

Julian Love said that the graphics were still under construction and it would be improved in the final game. [5]

Removed Boss Properties

It's likely that others on this page have been removed, as quite a few are not seen in the beta test. However this section only lists ones that are known to have been removed from the game.

Die Together

Die Together was a Champion-only modifier removed from the game during development. Its removal was announced in the Beta v6 patch notes in November 2011, and further explained by Blizzard afterwards. See the Die Together article for more details, but briefly stated: The modifier grouped the full pack of Champions, enabling each one to resurrect approximately 10 seconds after death so long as any of the pack remained alive.

The theory was to force players to manage the battle, and to whittle all of the Champions down to nearly dead, before trying to kill them all in rapid succession. In practice it was just annoying -- characters with AoE attacks had a considerable advantage over melee attackers and furthermore, some monsters (such as Skeletal Summoners) tended to move apart, making it nearly impossible to kill all of them in the allotted time.

Doppelganger

Doppleganger was the original name of the modifier now called Mirrored. See that entry for full details.