Elites

Elites are basically larger enemies with higher health and hit-points, along with special passives called 'Elite affixes'.

The number of affixes that Elites can have increases with Threat Level. At a maximum, Elite Lieutenants can have no more then 3 affixes before 17-1, and no more then 4 through 18-4. Whereas Elite Minions have been known to have as many as 3 affixes, but usually have just one or two.

An enemy can occur as elites naturally, or be transformed into one by Mutation Agents. However, Operatives cannot be elite, nor can Mutation Agents.

Elites are not to be confused with Captains. Although both have affixes, Captains aren't technically Elite.

Elite Affixes

These are the affixes that an elite may have, along with a description of what they do and their visual effects.

Affix	Description	Appearance
Accurate	Additional 50% chance for attacks to critically strike.	N.A.
Armored	Takes reduced damage from each attack.*	N.A.
Aura	Shares an affix with nearby Darkspore. Always accompanies the affix its sharing.	(The same as the affix that's being shared, if it has one.)
Carapace	Can't take more than an certain amount of damage from each attack.*	N.A.
Deadly	Attacks deal 50% more damage.	Circular red aura around eyes and hands.
Frenzied	Attack Speed is 40% faster, and Cooldowns are reduced by 40% as well.	N.A.
Ghostly	Increased chance to Dodge physical damage.*	Transparent with slightly lightened color.
Persistent	Resurrects back to half-health upon first death, unless it was killed by a critical strike.	A yellow disk hovering overhead, and if it's creating an aura, there's also a yellow-green ring circling on the ground below.
Reflective	Increased chance to Resist energy damage.*	A pulsating yellow sheen on its skin.
Regenerative	Restores a portion of health every second.*	N.A.
Shielded	Damage shield that refreshes periodically.*	Surrounded by a yellowish and translucent sphere.
Shifted	Receives 75% less damage from AoE attacks.	Transparent, distorting periodically.
Spiky	Reflects a percentage of melee damage back at the attacker.*	Opaque tan-colored spikes emanating from the ground below.
Surefooted	Can't be slowed, snared, rooted, knocked-back or pulled.	Slightly transparent with a thicker outline?
Swift	Movement speed is doubled.	N.A.
Tough	Maximum health is increased by 50%.	N.A.
Type Resistant	Immune to 75% of attacks from a certain genesis type. (e.g. 'Bio Resistant', or 'Plasma Resistant')	N.A.
Unstoppable	Immune to being stunned, terrified, slept, taunted, or suppressed.	N.A.

Examples

• Reflective
• Shifted
• Spiky (Notice the spikes coming from the Thorium Fist's foot)
• Persistent
• A Ghostly Killsquad Brawler (Also had Regenerative)
• Elite Voracious Howler with an Aura (Shifted in this case)
• Deadly (Look closely; the Howler'seye is glowing red)
• Shielded
• Ghostly Aura (The smaller Smart Robo-Bomber is receiving the larger Smart Robo-Bomber's Ghostly Affix)
• Viper Alpha dealsa maximum of 5247 damage on a Smart Robo-Bomber with Carapace. (in 18-4^4)
• Another Spiky enemy

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Special Elites

Sometimes, Elites will spawn that have an appearance that's different from other enemies of its kind. Players have noticed that several of these are the winners of the Spore Template Challenges.

• An Elite Electron Burster with a special skin, also known as the "Hamster Monster".
• Another picture of the "Hamster Monster" at the Glacial Rifts.
• An Elite Toxiraptor. It has the skin of the 3rd place Entry of the Emerald Toxiraptor Template Challenge.
• The same Special Toxiraptor.
• Another special Toxiraptor from the Template Challenge. This entry won the Challenge.
• Another special Elite Toxiraptor. This entry earned 2nd place in the Toxiraptor Challenge.
• An Elite Pyramander.
• An Elite Pyrachnid. It used the model of a winning entry from the Raktha Template Challenge
• A Special Triocular Scorpiod.
• A Special Lightning Stalker. This entry won the Lightning Stalker Challenge.
• A Special Space Barracuda.
• A Special Blasting Fiend. This is the winning entry of the Tusked Lamprey Challenge.
• The file of an Elite Pterodyne. Has got 2nd place in the Pterodyne Challenge.
• Another file of an Elite Pterodyne. This entry is known as the "Fiendish Pterodyne".
• The file of an Elite Animus. This entry got 2nd place in the Clawed Spectre Challenge.
• Another file for an Elite Animus. This Clawed Spectre entry won the Challenge.
• Another Special Space Barracuda
• The Hamster Monster.
• A Special Pyramander.
• Another Hamster Monster

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Trivia

• Elite Haunt Striders have been known to spawn. Whether this has been fixed yet is unknown.
• Though "Special" elites aren't necessarily more common in higher levels, are found more frequently. This is because the chance of Elites occurring at those levels is higher, meaning the likelihood of finding a special elite is higher too.
• In the "Obelisk Room" on DB's Palace, the mini-captain guarding it can be turned into an Elite by a Mutation Agent. This can occur if that mini-captain is ignored, and the player instead enters the middle of the room, thus triggering a horde trap and spawning an agent.
• If a Split Beetles is Elite, the duplicate it makes of itself will also be elite... but with different affixes. This can have some interesting results, and is potential dangerous if both have auras.
• Some of the first elites players ever saw were in the Developer Walkthrough: Co-op. First was an elite Quadrakiller (at 2:48), and later an elite Caustic Stinger (at 6:07).
• Originally winning contest entries were to be used for ordinary enemy designs, as seen in the Darkspore Gameplay Trailer #1, such as the first and second place entries in the Pterodyne and Stegavaar challenges.