In order to investigate the influence of deviator stress on true triaxial compression with confining pressure and unloading tests, indoor experiments were conducted with six different stress combinations for unloading tests. Macroscopic characteristics of the true triaxial compression with confining pressure unloading test showed that during unloading, the ε1 curve dropped and then increased along the original loading curve, while the ε2 and ε3 curves dropped vertically during unloading and then continued to increase. When the minimum principal stress remained constant, with an increase in deviator stress, the peak stress and axial deformation also increased. During unloading failure, crack development mainly concentrated in the σ2 direction, while splitting and volume expansion were primarily concentrated in the σ3 direction. As deviator stress increased, the number of cracks increased, gradually forming a "V"-shaped failure pattern with more rock spalling on the surface. The energy characteristics of the unloading failure test showed that the elastic strain energy curve during unloading was similar to the axial stress-strain curve, with an increase in elastic strain energy related to axial stress changes. The dissipation energy rapidly increased in the post-peak stage, indicating sample failure, with a correlation between dissipation energy and sample failure. As deviator stress increased, the total energy and dissipation energy at complete sample failure increased, but the rate of increase in total energy and dissipation energy decreased as the σ3 value increased.