Detonate Dead

"To a skilled practitioner of the occult, the corpses of slain foes are a tool to bend to their dark purpose. While most seek to animate the very souls of fallen enemies, a crafty handful have discovered an even more potent use. Infusing the enzymes and acids of the target's body with magical energy, the caster creates a volatile mixture that detonates violently when a final word is spoken. The explosion blasts outwards in every direction, showering nearby enemies with flame and toxic liquid. At higher levels of skill, the detonation will damage and stun foes in a wide area."

— Description on the official Path of Exile website

Detonate Dead explodes a corpse, dealing fire damage in an area around it.

Skill Functions and Interactions

Spell damage modifiers don't affect Detonate Dead. Due to its nature in which it does not share the Spell keyword, modifiers such as x% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells do not affect the skill, nor does the passive Elemental Dominion. The corpse explosion component of the spell will receive bonuses from elemental, area, and fire damage passives and item mods.

While in a party, the explosion ignores the increased life added for each player beyond the first and treats the monster's life as if you were solo.

Reflect: The damage from the Detonate Dead explosion cannot be reflected.

Gem level progression

Template:GemLevelTable |- ! 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 4–5 | 0 | 0 |- ! 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5–8 | 841 | 841 |- ! 3 | 9 | 17 | 0 | 9 | 8–11 | 3,099 | 3,940 |- ! 4 | 12 | 21 | 14 | 10 | 9–14 | 7,433 | 11,373 |- ! 5 | 16 | 26 | 18 | 11 | 13–19 | 22,895 | 34,268 |- ! 6 | 20 | 31 | 22 | 12 | 17–25 | 49,725 | 83,993 |- ! 7 | 24 | 37 | 25 | 14 | 22–33 | 95,714 | 179,707 |- ! 8 | 28 | 42 | 29 | 15 | 28–43 | 169,595 | 349,302 |- ! 9 | 32 | 47 | 33 | 17 | 36–54 | 283,759 | 633,061 |- ! 10 | 36 | 52 | 36 | 19 | 46–69 | 453,996 | 1,087,057 |- ! 11 | 40 | 58 | 40 | 21 | 58–87 | 703,128 | 1,790,185 |- ! 12 | 44 | 63 | 44 | 22 | 72–108 | 1,061,223 | 2,851,408 |- ! 13 | 48 | 68 | 48 | 23 | 90–135 | 2,065,870 | 4,917,278 |- ! 14 | 52 | 74 | 51 | 24 | 111–167 | 2,507,110 | 7,424,388 |- ! 15 | 55 | 78 | 54 | 25 | 130–195 | 2,573,731 | 9,998,119 |- ! 16 | 58 | 82 | 57 | 26 | 152–227 | 7,611,351 | 17,609,470 |- ! 17 | 61 | 86 | 60 | 27 | 176–265 | 13,437,908 | 31,047,378 |- ! 18 | 64 | 90 | 62 | 28 | 205–308 | 25,052,147 | 56,099,525 |- ! 19 | 67 | 94 | 65 | 29 | 238–357 | 43,869,436 | 99,968,961 |- ! 20 | 70 | 98 | 68 | 30 | 276–414 | 242,081,178 | 342,050,139 |- ! 21 | 72 | 100 | 70 | 31 | 304–456 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 22 | 74 | | | 32 | 335–502 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 23 | 76 | | | 33 | 369–553 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 24 | 78 | | | 34 | 406–609 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 25 | 80 | | | 34 | 446–669 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 26 | 82 | | | 35 | 491–736 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 27 | 84 | | | 36 | 539–809 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 28 | 86 | | | 37 | 592–888 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 29 | 88 | | | 38 | 650–975 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |- ! 30 | 90 | | | 38 | 713–1070 | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A | class="table-na" style="text-align: center; " | N/A |}

Version history

Version	Changes
2.0.0	Radius of the explosion increased by 12.5% (from 16 to 18). Damage caused by the detonation of corpses can no longer be reflected.
1.2.1	We have corrected the cast time to 800ms, as originally stated in the 1.2.0 patch notes.
1.2.0	This now deals entirely fire damage. It deals 8% of corpse life as well as flat damage. The damage increase per level has been significantly increased. The base cast time has been decreased from 850ms to 800ms. Quality on this skill now offers substantially less cast speed, from 60% cast speed at 20 quality to 20% cast speed at 20 quality.
1.1.1b	Fixed a bug that caused the damage dealt by Detonate Dead to be delayed.
1.0.0	Mana cost reduced.
0.10.2	The mana cost of Detonate Dead has been reduced at early levels so that it's around 40% cheaper. It ramps up to the same mana cost as before for high levels.
0.9.7	Slightly increased the radius of Detonate Dead's explosion.
0.9.6b	Improved the effects for Detonate Dead.
0.9.5g	Reduced the critical strike chance on Detonate Dead.
0.9.3g	Changed Detonate Dead to not have the damage scaled by mods that affect Spell Damage.
0.9.1	Fixed a crash involving Detonate Dead.