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Elite Affix Mechanics

Last Updated: September 14th 2023

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Overview

As you play, you will find elite enemies of two different types: Champions (Blues) or Rares (Yellows). Each of them have their own set of possible affixes, and a long list of shared ones.

Blue packs are always a set of 3 or 5 monsters of the same type. Be careful when kiting them as certain monster types like to stay behind and you might very well finish off an entire pack only to find one of them hiding at full life in a corner somewhere. When the entire pack is killed, it spawns 3 progression globes (for a total of 3.45% progress).

Yellow packs always consist of one leader (the Elite) and a pack of minions, which can be either of the same or a smaller monster type than the Elite itself. Some affixes only apply to the leader, while others are shared to their minions. When the Elite leader is killed, it spawns 4 progression globes (for a total of 4.60% progress). Finishing off minions does not give any benefits besides their normal progress and enabling procs like In-Geom or Bane of the Powerful (both requiring to finish the entire pack).

Level Ranges

As you progress up in levels on your journey from 1 to 70, Elites will show up with elite affixes higher in quantity and dangerousness. The breakpoints are:

  • 1 Affix: Level 1 - 29
  • 2 Affixes: Level 30 - 49
  • 3 Affixes: Level 50 - 59
  • 4 Affixes: Level 60+
Affix Combinations

Certain combinations of affixes are impossible. Indeed, Elite affixes are grouped by type with an Offensive, a Defensive and a Crowd Control category. An Elite will always have at least 2, at most 3 Offensive affixes and cannot have more than 1 Defensive and Crowd Control affix. Some examples of impossible combinations:

  • Avenger + Health Link
  • Shielding + Juggernaut
  • Missile Dampening + Illusionist
  • Fire Chains + Mortar + Orbiter + Plagued
  • Thunderstorm + Vortex + Jailer + Desecrator
Mitigation

Most of the dangerous offensive affixes can be mitigated through certain stat rolls on your items, such as Melee Damage Reduction, Ranged Damage Reduction and Elite Damage Reduction along with the appropriate Resistance roll. As a rule of thumb, most affixes with ground effects are classified as Melee, most affixes that are fired or cast at a distance are Ranged. Apart from Physical damage which most of the regular attacks from monsters do, elemental resistances are important to reduce the danger from these elite affixes. Certain Elite affixes are also avoidable through Block and Dodge Chance.

Another great stat to roll is Crowd Control Reduction, which helps against Crowd Control Affixes such as Knockback or Nightmarish. Those affixes can be extremely annoying for builds without any form of Crowd Control Immunity. For a complete explanation about Crowd Control Affixes and Crowd Control in general, you can read this article by Chewingnom!

Regarding the importance of elemental resistances, here is a priority order (in general): Physical > Lightning = Cold > Arcane > Fire > Poison. One of the most effective tool to protect yourself from Elite affixes is equipping the Esoteric Alteration, which gives a massive bonus against non-Physical damage.

You can also find immunity Amulets: Countess Julia's Cameo, Mara's Kaleidoscope, The Star of Azkaranth, Talisman of Aranoch and Xephirian Amulet, which can be used as a defensive choice on builds that don't require a very specific amulet to wear. However, these immunity amulets have fallen out of favor over time with the introduction of damage focused Amulets like Squirt's Necklace, The Flavor of Time or The Traveler's Pledge.

Blue/Champion Affixes

Avenger

Fire Chains

Health Link

Yellow/Rare Affixes

Horde

Missile Dampening

Juggernaut

Frozen Pulse

Wormhole

Shared Affixes

Arcane Enchanted

Desecrator

Electrified

Fast

Frozen

Illusionist

Jailer

Knockback

Molten

Mortar

Nightmarish

Orbiter

Plagued

Poison Enchanted

Reflects Damage

Shielding

Teleporter

Thunderstorm

Vortex

Waller

Summary

Elites have a broad range of possible affixes, which leads to a lot of variety in the difficulty of the fights and requires constant decision making about which to engage versus which to skip. Some combinations can help you and be incredible easily, while others can literally destroy your run (when pushing) because they weaken your ability to DPS or make pulls severely. To protect yourself from offensive affixes, try to increase your resistances, Melee or Ranged Damage Reduction, Control Impairing Effects Reduction, Elite Damage Reduction or use Esoteric Alteration.

I hope this overview helps you to better understand and outplay elites in those tough fights, be it when pushing or just trying to optimize your farming. Good luck!

Credits

Info compiled by wudijo. Corrections by Chewingnom.

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