Volatile Dead

Volatile DeadSpell, AoE, Fire
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (9-26) Mana
Cast Time: 0.80 sec
Critical Strike Chance: 5.00%
Effectiveness of Added Damage: 170%Requires Level 12Corpses near the targeted location explode, dealing damage in a small area and creating an orb which moves towards nearby enemies before dealing spell damage in a larger area. The explosion of the corpse is not affected by modifiers to spell damage, and cannot be reflected.Deals (20-753) to (30-1129) Fire Damage
Explosion deals base Fire Damage equal to (3-4)% of the corpse's Maximum Life
Consumes up to 3 corpses
Base radius is 2 metres
Base explosion radius is 1.5 metres
Maximum of 60 Orbs at a time

Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
(2-40)% increased Orb Movement SpeedPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.

Acquisition
Drop level: 12Metadata
Item class: Skill Gem
Metadata ID: Metadata/Items/Gems/SkillGemVolatileDead

Volatile Dead is a spell that explodes a corpse to summon a volatile orb. The orb homes in on nearby enemies and explodes for fire damage on contact.

Skill functions and interactions

• Homing: Orbs have the same pathfinding AI as the enemy modifier "Volatile Flameblood", which means they can seek out enemies with no line of sight, and even navigate through short maze layouts and pass through fences and some closed doors to reach an enemy. This can be exploited to damage an enemy without the enemy finding your location to retaliate.
• The skill has two damage-dealing portions: the corpse explosion and the volatile orb damage. The explosion scales with corpse life and is secondary damage; it does not scale with spell damage. The volatile orb damage deals fire spell damage.
• Despite their appearance, the orbs created by Volatile Dead are not projectiles. Thus, effects that normally affect projectiles (such as Lesser Multiple Projectiles SupportLesser Multiple Projectiles SupportSupport, Projectile
  Icon: l
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 130%Requires Level 8Supports projectile skills.Supported Skills deal (15-6)% less Projectile Damage
  Supported Skills fire 2 additional Projectiles
  
  Additional Effects From 1-20% Quality:
  Supported Skills deal (0.5-10)% increased Projectile DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket.) do not have an effect on Volatile Dead.
• After reaching the maximum number of orbs, creating new orbs causes older orbs to disappear without exploding.

Orb movement speed

This section needs to be updated.

Reason: Check for any changes to movement speed scaling as now innate to quality effect

Please update this article to reflect newly available information. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page.

• Orbs created by Volatile Dead have a fixed 5s duration once the spell is cast. The animation for them to emerge from the ground takes 0.67s, leaving them 4.33s to move and target enemies.
• The Volatile Balls have a base movement speed of 26 units/s. They gain 2.5% increased movement speed per level required to use the gem and 2% per quality.
• Once the spell is cast, the Volatile Balls begin to accelerate and gain 200% increased movement speed over their 5s duration

Gem level progression

Level				Mana Cost	Fire Damage	Corpse Life %	Exp.	Total Exp.
1	12	21	14	9	20 to 30	3%	0	0
2	15	25	17	10	26 to 38	3.1%	15249	15249
3	19	30	21	12	35 to 52	3.1%	41517	56766
4	23	35	24	13	47 to 70	3.2%	81983	138749
5	27	41	28	14	62 to 92	3.2%	147968	286717
6	31	46	32	15	80 to 120	3.3%	250557	537274
7	35	51	36	16	104 to 155	3.3%	405086	942360
8	38	55	38	17	125 to 187	3.4%	447718	1390078
9	41	59	41	18	149 to 224	3.4%	615318	2005396
10	44	63	44	19	178 to 268	3.5%	834639	2840035
11	47	67	47	20	213 to 319	3.5%	1570760	4410795
12	50	71	49	20	253 to 379	3.6%	1633987	6044782
13	53	75	52	21	299 to 449	3.6%	2151030	8195812
14	56	79	55	22	354 to 530	3.7%	2812189	11008001
15	59	83	58	23	417 to 626	3.7%	5099360	16107361
16	62	87	60	24	491 to 737	3.8%	9400731	25508092
17	64	90	62	25	547 to 820	3.8%	15273366	40781458
18	66	92	64	25	609 to 913	3.9%	26286582	67068040
19	68	95	66	26	677 to 1016	3.9%	62890590	129958630
20	70	98	68	26	753 to 1129	4%	212046017	342004647
21	72	100	70	27	836 to 1254	4%	—	—
22	74	—	—	27	928 to 1392	4.1%	—	—
23	76	—	—	28	1030 to 1545	4.1%	—	—
24	78	—	—	29	1142 to 1713	4.2%	—	—
25	80	—	—	29	1266 to 1899	4.2%	—	—
26	82	—	—	30	1402 to 2104	4.3%	—	—
27	84	—	—	30	1553 to 2329	4.3%	—	—
28	86	—	—	31	1719 to 2578	4.4%	—	—
29	88	—	—	32	1901 to 2852	4.4%	—	—
30	90	—	—	32	2103 to 3154	4.5%	—	—
31	91	—	—	32	2211 to 3316	4.5%	—	—
32	92	—	—	33	2324 to 3486	4.5%	—	—
33	93	—	—	33	2443 to 3665	4.5%	—	—
34	94	—	—	33	2568 to 3852	4.6%	—	—
35	95	—	—	34	2699 to 4049	4.6%	—	—
36	96	—	—	34	2837 to 4255	4.6%	—	—
37	97	—	—	34	2981 to 4472	4.6%	—	—
38	98	—	—	34	3132 to 4699	4.7%	—	—
39	99	—	—	35	3291 to 4937	4.7%	—	—
40	100	—	—	35	3457 to 5186	4.7%	—	—

Item acquisition

Volatile Dead can drop anywhere.

Recipes

Volatile Dead can be created from the following recipes:

Amount	Part	Description	Meta
13	The CataclysmThe Cataclysm13Level 21 Spell Gem CorruptedThe mighty warriors traded in blows, the nimble archers in arrows, yet it was the brazen thaumaturgists who would bring catastrophe to all.	Random corrupted level 21 Spell gem	A
6	The FoxThe Fox6Level 20 Gem"Masters of wit, strength and cunning. To survive the harsh winters, you must be like the fox." - Ezomyte Proverb	Random level 20 gem	A
3	Gemcutter's PromiseGemcutter's Promise3Gem Quality: +20%"I swore to use my position to help the people. What good is power when it just accumulates on the already-powerful?" - Erasmus, Imperial Gemcutter	Random gem with 20% quality	A
1	Gemcutter's IncubatorGemcutter's IncubatorStack Size: 10Adds an incubated Quality Gem item to an equippable item Item drops after killing {0} monstersRight click this item then left click an item to apply it. The Incubated item drops after killing a specific number of monsters.	Random gem with 1–20% quality	A
1	The VoidThe Void1Reach into the Void and claim your prize.	Random divination card set exchange	A

Quest reward

This item is given as a quest reward for the following quests:

Class →	Witch	Shadow	Ranger	Duelist	Marauder	Templar	Scion
Quest ↓
The Siren's Cadence Act 1

Vendor reward

This item can be bought at the listed NPC vendors, after completing the following quests:

Class →	Witch	Shadow	Ranger	Duelist	Marauder	Templar	Scion
Quest ↓
The Siren's Cadence Act 1 Nessa
A Fixture of Fate Act 3 Siosa
Fallen from Grace Act 6 Lilly Roth

Related helmet enchantments

The following helmet enchantments affect Volatile Dead.

Note that helmet enchantments are no longer obtainable since version 3.23.0 and can only be obtained in permanent leagues as already enchanted items from before this patch.

Name		Labyrinth	Stats	Spawn Weighting
Enchantment Volatile Dead Cast Speed 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	8% increased Volatile Dead Cast Speed	helmet 100
Enchantment Volatile Dead Cast Speed 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	12% increased Volatile Dead Cast Speed	helmet 100
Enchantment Volatile Dead Damage 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	25% increased Volatile Dead Damage	helmet 100
Enchantment Volatile Dead Damage 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	40% increased Volatile Dead Damage	helmet 100
Enchantment Volatile Dead Orbs 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	Volatile Dead Consumes up to 1 additional corpse	helmet 0
Enchantment Volatile Dead Orbs 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	Volatile Dead Consumes up to 1 additional corpse	helmet 0
Enchantment Volatile Dead Orbs 3	75	Eternal Labyrinth	Volatile Dead Consumes up to 1 additional corpse	helmet 100

Alternate skill effects

Volatile Dead has the following alternate skill effects:

Item	Description
Darkwood Volatile Dead EffectDarkwood Volatile Dead EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Volatile Dead becomes a Darkwood Effect.	Your Volatile Dead becomes a Darkwood Effect.
Stygian Volatile Dead EffectStygian Volatile Dead EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Volatile Dead becomes a Stygian Effect.	Your Volatile Dead becomes a Stygian Effect.
Void Volatile Dead EffectVoid Volatile Dead EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Volatile Dead becomes a Void Effect.	Your Volatile Dead becomes a Void Effect.

Version history

Version	Changes
3.24.0	After reaching the maximum number of Orbs at a time, the oldest existing Orbs no longer explode, they are simply killed.
3.23.0	Quality now provides 0-40% increased Orb Movement Speed, instead of 0-10% increased Area of Effect.
3.19.0	Now has "Explosion deals base Fire Damage equal to 3% of the corpse's maximum Life" at gem level 1, up to 4% at gem level 20 (previously 3% at all gem levels).
3.17.0	Volatile Dead now deals 20 to 30 Fire Damage at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 753 to 1129 at gem level 20 (previously 507 to 760). Now has 170% Effectiveness of Added Damage at all gem levels (previously 120%).
3.10.0	Now displays that you are limited to a maximum of 60 orbs at a time.
3.9.0	Now has a limit of 60 Orbs.
3.6.0	Mana Cost at gem level 1 is now 9 (was 10). Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 26 (was 31). Now deals 20 to 30 Fire damage at gem level 1 (unchanged) and 507 to 760 Fire damage at gem level 20 (from 535 to 802).
3.1.0	Volatile Dead has been added to the game.