Mario Gomez plundered a hat trick inside seven minutes but Wolfsburg saw a remarkable fightback victory at Bayer Leverkusen snatched from their grasp in a dramatic conclusion.
The visitors, who ran out at the BayArena in 15th place in the Bundesliga, looked to be in deep trouble when Kevin Volland's 65th-minute strike gave the home side a 2-0 lead after Karim Bellarabi had opened the scoring before the break.
Striker Gomez halved the deficit with 10 minutes remaining when he headed home Jakub Blaszczykowski's cross and repeated the feat three minutes later with Maximilian Arnold the provider this time.
He completed his treble from the penalty spot with three minutes remaining after Blaszczykowski had been felled by Benjamin Henrichs.
That sent the travelling supporters into raptures, but their joy was short-lived as substitute Kai Havertz spared Leverkusen's blushes with an 89th-minutre equaliser.
Florent Hadergjonaj blasted lowly Ingolstadt to just their sixth league win of the season against Mainz to keep their survival hopes alive.
The home side got off to the perfect start when defender Romain Bregerie headed them into a 10th-minute lead from Markus Suttner's cross, and they held their advantage until Marvin Matip's own goal dragged Mainz back into it with 19 minutes remaining.
But two minutes later, Hadergjonaj's shot from a tight angle flew past keeper Jonas Lossl to secure a precious victory.