Elite Monsters is a collective term for the monster types in Diablo games that are above average in power. A group of Elite Monsters and their minions, if any, are called an Elite Pack. They may referred to as Elites, or by the specific variety of empowerment they have, such as Champion status. Most Elite Monsters have some form of color coding and formatting around their names or models in the game world, and many exhibit extra Monster Skills compared to normal monsters of their type.
The most well-known Elite Monsters include:
- Rare Monsters, and any minions (These Diablo III monsters are similar to Unique monsters of Diablo II.)
- Unique Monsters, and any minions
- Super Unique Monsters, and any minions
- Champion monsters
- Bosses, including Act Bosses and Rift Guardians
Additionally, these count as Elites:
- Illusions spawned by any other Elite Monster with the relevant affix
- Treasure Goblins, despite showing their names in white like normal monsters
- Enemy players, their summoned minions, pets, companions and followers count as Elites in PvP, for the purpose of abilities and bonuses against Elites.
Note that an Elite's summoned creatures (for example, Skeletons raised by Skeletal Summoners, or Corrupted Vessels summoned by Maghda) generally do not count as Elites.
Diablo III[]
Diablo III has several gameplay mechanics related to "elites". The ratio of elite power to normal monster power increases with game difficulty, so bonuses against them can be quite valuable in the endgame.
The affixes 'X% reduced damage taken from elites' and 'X% more damage dealt to elites' can appear on items. As standard attributes, only weapons and off-hand items can roll damage against elites, and only chest armor can roll reduced damage from elites. One may also socket a Diamond into a weapon for increased damage against elites. They do not appear frequently. Some Legendary and Set Items provide more significant bonuses, such as The Furnace - 50% damage bonus to elites - and Aughild's Authority - +30% damage done and -30% damage taken against elites.
The Bane of the Powerful Legendary Gem grants a 15% benefit to damage done and taken against elites, and grants a bonus to all damage after defeating an elite pack, which requires killing all elites and minions in the pack. Bane of the Stricken's primary bonus applies to all monsters, but since it accumulates with each hit done to an enemy, it is really designed against elites and especially bosses, which require many more hits than other opponents.
In Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts, elites drop progress orbs which significantly increase the speed to complete the rift. Some rift strategies focus almost entirely on killing elites.