Chaos Perks offer players the chance to gain build-defining abilities in Diablo 4 Season 10, but often come at the cost of some kind of drawback. While some Diablo 4 players can find ways to lean into the deficiencies of certain Chaos Perks and find success, other Chaos Perks are better off avoided altogether. One of the worst trade-offs among Chaos Perks comes from Unstable Power, which ultimately causes players more harm than good.
Diablo 4 offers a solid variety of Chaos Perks for players to choose from in Season 10. Every class has access to 3 Magic, 3 Rare, 3 Legendary, and 3 Unique Chaos Perks, as well as an additional perk of each quality that is exclusive to that class for a total of 16. While only 1 Unique Chaos Perk can be equipped at a time, players can select any 3 perks of other qualities, which makes it easier to find an alternative to Unstable Power.
Diablo 4 Players Can Unintentionally Shoot Themselves in the Foot with the Unstable Power Chaos Perk
At first glance, Unstable Power seems like a solid Chaos Perk for any Diablo 4 Season 10 build with its ability to make Basic skills guaranteed to Overpower and Critically Strike for 50-100% damage. For builds like Lunging Strike Barbarian or Heartseeker Rogue that have a Basic skill as their primary damage source, powering up those skills with Unstable Power seems like a no-brainer. Given that players will unlock this Chaos Perk fairly early in their Season 10 journey, it’s very easy to pop Unstable Power into a build and accidentally throw a wrench into the player’s combat loop.
How Unstable Chaos Can Hinder Diablo 4 Builds More Than It Helps
The trade-off for Unstable Power’s guaranteed Crit and Overpower damage is that Basic skills now have a 3-second cooldown. This may not seem like that much of a dealbreaker, but Basic skills in Diablo 4 are typically meant to be spammed to both deal damage to enemies and, more importantly, generate the class’s primary resource. With a 3-second cooldown on Basic skills, players will be left with gaps in their skill rotation unless they time the use of their Basic and Core skills precisely, which could leave them open to enemy attacks when facing large groups in Helltides or Infernal Hordes.
Better Chaos Perk Alternatives to Unstable Power in Diablo 4 Season 10
In general, players are better holding off on adding Unstable Power to their build just to fill the third Chaos Perk slot. Instead, there are several better alternatives that can provide broadly useful buffs to most builds with minimal drawbacks.
- Erupting Chaos — Rare Chaos Perk
- Dual Threat — Barbarian Magic Chaos Perk
- Overabundance — Druid Magic Chaos Perk
- Unpredictable Alchemy — Rogue Magic Chaos Perk
- Explosive Combinations — Sorcerer Magic Chaos Perk
- Alacrity — Spiritborn Magic Chaos Perk
Nearly all class-exclusive Magic Chaos Perks provide a better buff to Basic skills than Unstable Power, offering better damage increases with little downside. Barbarians can get a lot of mileage out of Dual Threat, especially on builds that double up on Basic skills since using one casts the other as well. Overabundance is a great option for Druids since it rewards overgenerating Spirit with a 10-20% damage increase for 5 seconds. Rogues also get a nice buff to their Basic skills with Unpredictable Alchemy, which randomly imbues their Basic skills for 20-40% increased damage.
Sorcerers have a fantastic Chaos Perk in Explosive Combinations that should be used regardless of build, as it grants the next Core skill used after a Basic skill a damage increase of 30-50%. Alacrity gives the Spiritborn’s Basic skills 10-30%[+] increased attack speed, 50% increased dash range, and causes their third attack to be used as their second. For players uninterested in using these Magic Chaos Perks, waiting until Erupting Chaos is unlocked is the best alternative to Unstable Power since it randomly deals 200-400% of their highest damage type, with 100% of its initial damage dealt over 4 seconds.