Instability

Instability is a gameplay mechanic in Dark Souls III.

Description
A player/entity that is in Instability will take increased damage from attacks. Note that this is different from Counter Attack, which only applies to Thrust damage incurred during attack frames. Generally, Instability occurs when the player is in an animation that is not an attack, and damage taken while suffering from Instability is denoted by a deeper impact sound.

Sources of Instability
Instability is limited to various actions/animations that result in recovery frames:


 * Recovering from a long drop
 * Countering inertia from suddenly reversing direction while sprinting
 * Recovery after the dodge frames of Quickstep
 * Recovery after parrying with a Fist weapon
 * Recoil after hitting a solid object with a weapon (wall, powerful shield, enemy buffed by Iron Flesh
 * Stagger from forced repositioning (shield bash or shove attack by enemies, being landed on by an entity, being kicked by an enemy player)
 * Recoil from running out of stamina while blocking with a shield (e.g., getting guard broken)
 * During the starting animation of jump attacks

Certain enemies and bosses, when staggered, are also vulnerable to Instability damage for a short time.