Most Active Matter monsters die to bullets. The ones that don't follow rules: two react to where you look, two are only open at the right moment, and three aren't creatures at all, just things that explode.

Every enemy in the game is below, from Turned Soldiers to the two Alpha bosses. Each entry is built from the in-game Notes bestiary and Gaijin's patch notes, checked 3 October 2026, plus what works in our own raids where the Notes are wrong.

The short answer

  • Fire is the best answer to three of the worst. The Swarm, Devourer colonies and Dendroids all fold to it.
  • Your eyes are a weapon. A Statue moves only when nobody watches it. A Shy Girl attacks because you did.
  • "Immaterial" doesn't mean unkillable. The Notes say you can't fight a Devourer or a Poltergeist. In our raids, you can.
  • The money is in the bosses. Since 0.4.0.156, Alpha Flowermen and Alpha Mimics drop about ten times the Active Matter they used to.

Tap a creature to jump to it. Threat is how likely it is to kill you, out of five: our own call, not an official number.

Gunfights

Both of these shoot back, and one of them is halfway to becoming a bush.

A Turned Soldier in a hooded hazmat suit aims a bolt-action rifle from behind sandbags in a forest

Turned Soldier

Threat
Medium to killAnswer: Any gun

The closest thing to a Tarkov Scav. Soldiers sent to evacuate Dalniy, still at their posts, still following their last order. Black spikes through the uniform are how you tell one from an operative.

Tell
Manned positions: checkpoints, sandbags, gatehouses. Their kit is old and dirty but it works.
Kill
Treat it as an AI gunfight. Cover, first shot, then clear the post before you loot near it. They will retreat if a fight turns.

Patched: Aug 2026 (can flee)

A Dendroid in a soldier's helmet, its body overgrown with roots and orange fungus, holding a rifle

Dendroid

Threat
Easy to killAnswer: Fire

A human halfway to becoming a Flowerman. Slow and clumsy until it spots you. Some still remember how to use a rifle.

Tell
Rooted, staggering soldiers that stick together. They now turn up on Headquarters, Cargo Port and Dogorsk too.
Kill
Set them alight. They take extra fire damage and turn and run while they burn.

Patched: Apr 2026 (fire weakness) · 24 Sep 2026 (new maps)

Ambushers

These get to you before you see them. The Distorted is the start of a chain: given time, it becomes an Invisible.

A Distorted crouched on a cracked road, its body bristling with sharp black growths

Distorted

Threat
Medium to killAnswer: Any gun

Asleep, it looks like a pile of rags in the shade. Awake, it's a spiked body wrapped in smoke that teleports up to 7 metres at a time.

Tell
Frightening noises before it wakes. Lair Distorted scream to call others.
Kill
Let it sleep if you can. If you wake it, it comes for you specifically: keep firing through the teleport and fight where it can't flank you.

Patched: Apr 2026 (chases whoever woke it) · 0.4.0.122 (lair scream)

A Hunter-Distorted in a hooded coat, black spines bristling from its face and clawed hands

Hunter-Distorted

Threat
Medium to killAnswer: Any gun

A Distorted that tracks you. It senses one nearby operative through walls, and its echolocation reaches 100 metres. Not in the Notes; this is from the patch notes.

Tell
Being singled out. Inside 100 metres, walls don't hide you.
Kill
As a Distorted, but on your terms. Pick where you fight it before it arrives instead of hoping it walks past.

Patched: Apr 2026 (one target) · Aug 2026 (100 m radius)

An Invisible half-materialised in a haze of white electrical discharge

Invisible

Threat
Medium to killAnswer: Any gunActive Matter: Sometimes

What a Distorted becomes. It takes about a second to materialise, and it picks the spot you aren't watching.

Tell
The flicker behind you. Water stops the chase: they won't follow you into it.
Kill
Keep a wall at your back so there's no behind to use. It can be hit while invisible, and a dead one may leave Active Matter.

Patched: Apr 2026 (no water, can headshot)

A Mimic, a spray of black tendrils, clinging to a concrete wall beside a road

Mimic

Threat
Medium to killAnswer: Any gun

Black tendrils that move across any surface, ceilings included. Young Mimics hide inside everyday objects their own size.

Tell
An object that's slightly wrong, or movement overhead. Indoors, check up as well as around corners.
Kill
Shoot it the moment it shows. Mature Mimics grow too big to hide, which makes them easier to find.

Patched: Dec 2025 (possesses objects)

The boss Mimic, a huge mass of black tendrils shimmering with rainbow distortion, from Gaijin's announcement art

Alpha Mimic

Threat
Hard to killAnswer: ExplosivesActive Matter: About 10×

The boss Mimic, also known as the Mimic Car: it hides as a vehicle, then comes out of it. When it dies, it explodes and takes the scenery with it.

Tell
Abandoned cars, especially on routes you have to use. It spawns on Dogorsk as well.
Kill
Grenades and RPGs work on it now. Don't be next to it when it goes.

Patched: Dec 2025 (added) · Apr 2026 (explodes, explosives fixed, Dogorsk) · 0.4.0.156 (10× yield)

Chargers

"Hellhounds are much faster than humans, so running from them is a bad idea." The Notes, on Hellhounds
A spined Hellhound stalking through shallow water

Hellhound

Threat
Medium to killAnswer: Any gun

Pack hunters that wait in forests and fields. One can't take down an operative. A pack of five to ten can.

Tell
The Rifts: that's where they come out.
Kill
You can't outrun them, so fight from somewhere they can only reach you from one side. If they can't get to you at all, the pack gives up and scatters.
A Scorch, a charred human figure with glowing cracks across its body, standing in a misty forest

Scorch

Threat
Hard to killAnswer: Range

A charred figure that smoulders constantly. Strong, aggressive, and it keeps coming through damage that would stop anything else.

Tell
Sparks and smoke drifting through the trees before you see the body.
Kill
From range, and never finish it up close. Near death it detonates and throws burning fragments.

Nests

Flowermen start as Dendroids, and the biggest grow into Alphas. Find the nest and you've found all three.

A Flowerman covered in red flowers standing among bushes outside a cottage, red eyes glowing

Flowerman

Threat
Medium to killAnswer: Any gunActive Matter: In the nest

Perfectly still, it looks like a flowering bush. Disturb it, or brush the tall plants in its nest, and the whole group attacks at once.

Tell
Brightly coloured thicket in the distance. African and American maps have their own variants.
Kill
From outside the nest. They're tougher than at launch but turn slowly, so moving sideways buys you shots. Their hits throw your aim off.

Patched: Aug 2026 (variants) · 24 Sep 2026 (tougher, slower turn)

An Alpha Flowerman, a towering mass of orange flowers and black thorned branches, standing in an overgrown courtyard

Alpha Flowerman

Threat
Hard to killAnswer: Any gunActive Matter: About 10×

The next stage of the Flowerman: much bigger, slower, and always escorted. Its nests hold large amounts of Active Matter.

Tell
The biggest nest on the map. Rooftops don't save you: Alphas can climb to snipers.
Kill
Thin out the escort before you commit to the Alpha. It's slow, so make the distance work for you.

Patched: Apr 2026 (added) · Aug 2026 (reaches rooftops) · 0.4.0.156 (10× yield)

An operative firing a rifle into a Swarm of giant insects circling a brick chimney

Swarm

Threat
Hard to killAnswer: FlamethrowerActive Matter: Under the hive

A flock of insects changed by Active Matter, nesting on a tower or high point. Enough of them will find the gaps in your armour.

Tell
The hive on the tallest structure nearby. They only attack in the open: a building, tree cover or water is safety.
Kill
The flamethrower is best; shotguns and rifles are weaker. Destroying the hive leaves Active Matter, and releases everything inside it.

The two that care where you look

They run on opposite rules, and mixing them up is how you die.

You look at it
It freezes
It attacks
You look away
It charges
It calms down
The rule
Never look away
Never look at it
The warning
Stone cairns
A mannequin out of place
A Statue, a human figure of dark stone, standing in long grass beside a wooden fence

Statue

Threat
Hard to killAnswer: Eyes on it

Petrified quarry workers. Motionless while watched; the moment you look away it closes the gap, and up close it crushes you in seconds.

Tell
Stone cairns. Breaking one can summon a Statue nearby.
Kill
Keep your distance and never lose sight of it. The Notes say "as long as someone is looking," so in a squad, keep one pair of eyes on it while you move.
"The act of being observed appears to affirm her existence." The Notes, on the Shy Girl
A group of Shy Girls, pale mannequins, one with a distorted screaming face, in a dark room

Shy Girl

Threat
Hard to killAnswer: Look awayActive Matter: 3 to 4×

A mannequin with the DNA of missing Dalniy residents. Eye contact sets off an aggression wave aimed at whoever looked.

Tell
Mannequins where there shouldn't be any. Don't stare to check.
Kill
Break eye contact at once and back off with it out of view until the wave passes. They do die, and since 0.4.0.156 they pay three to four times more.

Patched: 0.4.0.156 (yield)

The two that aren't solid

The Notes say neither can be fought. In our raids, both die.

"There is no defense against the Devourers because they are not material." The Notes, on Devourers
A Devourer colony, a hovering mass of black worms and rainbow discharge in a dark corner

Devourer

Threat
Hard to killAnswer: ShotgunActive Matter: A lot

A colony of worms living in a paralysed body that hovers off the ground. Get close, or let it see you, and it sends a worm flying at you. The Notes give you three or four hits.

Tell
Dark corners. It never strays more than 30 metres from home.
Kill
In our raids, the opening comes right after it throws a worm: the body is exposed, and a shotgun up close does the rest. Fire and explosions break a colony easily too. Its remains are full of Active Matter.
An abandoned dormitory with a pipe and debris hanging in mid-air, thrown by a Poltergeist

Poltergeist

Threat
Medium to killAnswer: Shoot the objects

An invisible anomaly that hurls whatever is lying around. You'll hear it first: children laughing or crying, and doors rattling.

Tell
The sound, then the furniture lifting.
Kill
You can't see it, but you can see what it's carrying. Shoot or melee where the objects hover. The Notes' fallback is to leave or dodge until it runs out.

Patched: Aug 2026 (rattles doors)

Hazards

Not creatures. They drift, and they explode when you get too close.

A Fireball burning in the stairwell of a dark wooden house

Fireball

Threat
AvoidAnswer: Wide berth

A ball of plasma 40 to 70 cm across, as bright as arc welding, hovering up to 3 metres off the ground and changing direction almost instantly.

Tell
It sets your clothes alight before it touches you. On contact it detonates and leaves ground that burns for a long time.
Kill
Go around it, and around the fire it leaves.
Ball Lightning, a bright glowing sphere hovering over rubble

Ball Lightning

Threat
AvoidAnswer: Keep away

A glowing sphere drifting low across the map. It explodes on contact with operatives, cars and monsters alike, hard enough to throw things around.

Tell
The glow, and the trailing discharge behind it.
Kill
Keep your distance and don't drive into it.

Patched: Aug 2026 (trailing discharge)

A Seed, a spiked red pod, sitting in the grass at the edge of a forest

Seeds

Threat
Easy to killAnswer: Shoot from range

Small spiked red pods in the undergrowth. Come within a metre and they follow you, then explode when touched or shot.

Tell
A buzz that starts the moment one activates.
Kill
Watch your feet. If one locks on, walk away or shoot it from a distance.

Patched: 24 Sep 2026 (buzz on activation)

Which monsters pay

SourceActive Matter
Alpha FlowermanAbout 10× its old yield (0.4.0.156)
Alpha MimicAbout 10× its old yield (0.4.0.156)
Shy Girl3 to 4× its old yield (0.4.0.156)
Devourer colony"A lot" from the remains
Swarm hiveUnder the destroyed hive
Flowerman nestIn or near the nest
InvisibleSometimes, where it dies

What Active Matter is worth and what it buys is in the currencies guide. Which raids are thickest with creatures, and how often squads get out, is in the raid guide.

When the zone won't let you out

The two raids with the lowest extraction rates on the terminal are both monster raids, and both are PvE-only: Escape from Dogorsk and Downtown: Collapse. If either is your wall, a raid clear puts one of our pros in your squad until you're out. The loot is yours.

Stated once, because it's true of every paid service in this game: Gaijin's EULA (§3.2.6) bans paid "combat services," so this is against the rules. Because our pro plays on their own account, there's no account sharing, which the terms ban separately. The full reasoning is in Active Matter Boosting Explained.

Monster questions

What enemies are in Active Matter? Nineteen, counting variants. The in-game Notes list sixteen creatures and anomalies, from Turned Soldiers and Hellhounds to Statues and Devourers. On top of those are the Hunter-Distorted and two bosses, the Alpha Flowerman and the Alpha Mimic (the Mimic Car).

Can you kill a Devourer in Active Matter? Yes, whatever the Notes say. Wait for it to throw a worm, then hit the exposed body, ideally with a shotgun at close range. Fire and explosives destroy a colony easily.

Are there fewer monsters in PvE raids? Isolated raids remove the other players; the creatures stay. Our PvE guide covers which raids have the mode and how their extraction rates compare.

Where is the bestiary in Active Matter? Profile, then the Notes tab, then the "Warning! Danger!" folder. Each entry has a portrait and a short field report.