Barrels

Chemical barrels are found in almost all alerts and secret bases. They offer a short-term boost depending on the type of barrel and respawn at regular intervals. Different barrels use different colour schemes and symbols to make them easy to recognize.

Mechanics
Barrel effects are activated by breaking them using a ranged or melee attack, area effect damage or weaponization. They only have 15 health, except for LexCorp barrels, which have 150 health. They will affect only allies or only enemies (depending on the type of barrel) of the player who triggers them.

They can be triggered by various NPC enemies by accident, in which case they will work against the player and their group.

Players may choose to carry barrels without breaking them, saving them for an upcoming fight. If they are left on the ground for too long, however, they will despawn and return to their original position.

Common Barrels
These are the most common barrels found in almost all alerts and bases.

Red Explosive Barrels
Known as Plasma Barrel in combat messages. Provide instant area of effect knockback and damage. Stacked red barrels will explode simultaneously, amplifying the effect.

Orange Restoration Barrels
Known as Restoration Barrel in combat messages. Possibly the most valuable of all, they provide an area effect regeneration aura (indicated by pulsing orange waves) which restores health, power and a small amount of supercharge. The healing and power restoration effects are increased by Restoration and Vitalization, making them much more effective if used by a healer or controller rather than the tank or damage. An orange barrel restores 40 power 13 times at 0 Vitalization, barring critical restores.

The effect of multiple orange barrels stack.

Blue Cryo Barrels
Known as Liquid Nitrogen Tank in combat messages. Causes a localized blizzard which lasts a few seconds and will instantly encase all enemies in ice, although stronger enemies may break out immediately and bosses are completely unaffected.

Green Toxic Barrels
Known as Toxic Waste Drum in combat messages. Found near the Ellsworth Memorial Hospital, Lair of the Spectre, Hall of Doom and en-masse inside Ace Chemicals, they will poison an area (indicated by pulsing green waves) dealing a percentage of enemies' maximum health in damage as well as applying a damage-over-time effect. They are extremely effective (as far as barrels go) on bosses. Oddly, their damage could be reduced by block and affects inanimate objects.

A version of the toxic barrels, also called Toxic Waste Drum, could be found in Bludhaven. Visually, they have a different shade of green and lacks the biohazard symbol. They work similarly except the area of effect seems to be smaller.

Special Barrels
These are uniquely tied in with the zones they are found in, making them less widespread.

White STAR Labs Barrels
Known as Cyclone Barrel in combat messages. Found in some STAR Labs and Tech related zones, these will create a gravity vortex within an area, launching enemies and objects caught within.

Purple LexCorp Barrels
Simply known as LexCorp Barrel in combat messages. Found in areas connected to LexCorp, they will release a gas which will instantly cause enemies to choke and become stunned.

Fear Gas Containers
Exclusive to Scarecrow's territory inside Arkham Asylum, they will stun allies and enemies alike, making them the only barrels that can directly harm the player's group other than HIVE crates mentioned below.

Gorilla Fuel Cells
Known as Nitro Barrel in combat messages. Found in Gorilla Grodd's territory, these red fuel cells behave very similarly to red explosive barrels.

Yellow Chain Explosion Cells
Visually similar to Fuel Cells but yellow, these are found inside the Watchtower Containment Facility. They do continuous damage to enemies in an area, similar to toxic barrels.

HIVE Munition Crate
These are found in territory of H.I.V.E. They work similarly to red barrels, but has a larger knockback, and could damage players within range, including the player that attacked with it.

Mystic Crystals
Sometimes when going through Magic-themed areas players will encounter special crystals which have identical function to barrels of the same color.

Orange crystals are found in Mannheim's Chinese Theater, and acts like an orange barrel.