Confuse (Status Effect)
Overview
Confuse (or Confusion) is a Status Effect. An enemy under the effects of a Confuse power is unable to correctly distinguish friend from foe.
Confused critters will typically use beneficial powers on targets they normally consider enemies and harmful powers on targets they normally consider allies. (Exceptions to this include foes that have rez powers (who will always use the rez power on their allies) and the Devouring Earth eminators (which always buff Devouring Earth).) Confused critters do not actually switch sides, become pets or teammates, or become controllable in any way by the thing that Confused them. Confused critters technically remain enemies to player teams and can still be targeted and affected as such, even though they won't return fire while the Confusion lasts. Attacks made by Confused critters will draw aggro to the critter, but not to the thing that confused them.
Confused player characters will lose their ability to reliably target their powers. When activating a power that effects others, it will be applied to a random target within range--sometimes friend, sometimes foe--regardless of what is currently targeted. The random targeting can include teammates, pets, critters, enemies in PvP, and allies in PvP. Confusion does not shut off toggle powers.
Confusion and Experience
An enemy defeated entirely by Confused critters is worth no experience. An enemy that's partially damaged by Confused critters is worth partial experience. However, the split is not perfectly proportional, like it is when multiple competing teams fight the same enemy. When a Confused critter damages another, only 1/4 of its damage counts toward "stealing" experience. The other 3/4 is removed from the target's maximum health before comparing how much damage everyone dealt to it.
- Example: If an enemy has 240 Health and you and a random passer-by each do 120 damage to it, you will get half the normal experience (120 / 240). However, if we replace that passer-by with a Confused enemy, experience is distributed as if the Confused helper only dealt 30 damage (1/4 of 120) and the target only had 150 Health to begin with (its real Health minus 3/4 of the confused damage, or 240 - (3/4 of 120)). Since you still dealt 120 damage, your portion of the XP will be 120 / 150, or 80%.
How to tell if a power uses confuse
Most confuse power's icon is a variation of a bust of a character surrounded by small bubbles, seen at left.
Examples
Ranged Cone, Confusion (Mag 3)
A confusion AoE available to Controllers and Dominators through the primary power set Plant Control as early as level 8.
Range, Target Confuse (Mag 3)
A single target power available to Controllers through the primary power set Illusion Control as early as level 2.