Damage reflection

In general damage reflection causes a portion on the damage dealt to a target to also be taken by the attacker, but is also being used in many different places.

Mechanics

Reflect cares about the damage taken after mitigation, not the amount of life removed. The offensive stats of the character can affect whether you take reflected damage (accuracy, block chance reduction, etc), but cannot affect the value of the damage if the character do (penetration, ignoring resistance, damage modifiers, etc).

Although reflected damage hits, it intentionally doesn't trigger most on/when hit effects and, accordingly, cannot cause status ailments, stun and other similar effects that require a hit.

Reflect mitigation

• Reflected attacks can be blocked and dodged, and reflected spells can be blocked if the player has spell block or spell dodge. Block chance reduction will lower the characters block chance as well.
• Reflected damage is reduced by the attacker's armour and resistances. For instance if a player with 75% lightning resistance deals 100 lightning damage to a monster with 20% elemental damage reflection, the player will only take 5 of the reflected 20 lightning damage.
• If the reflected damage is attack damage, it can be evaded. It uses your own accuracy rating.
  • Consequently, reflected attack damage with the Hits can't be Evaded modifier from the Resolute Technique keystone or an item cannot be evaded by the player. It can still be blocked or dodged.
• Damage dealt by a player's totems, traps, mines, and minions will be reflected back to the totem/trap/mine/minion, not the player.
• Having at least one skill that deals primarily physical damage can be useful for killing monsters with elemental damage reflection, and vice versa.
• Damage from damage over time effects such as burning is not reflected.
• Sufficient amounts of life leech can lessen or completely counteract the damage from reflection.
• There are a few sources of reduced damage taken from reflect:
  • Sibyl's LamentSibyl's Lament
    Coral RingRequires Level 45+(20-30) to maximum LifeAdds (8-15) to (20-28) Fire Damage to Attacks
    (20-10)% reduced Rarity of Items found
    Left ring slot: You and your Minions take 80% reduced Reflected Elemental Damage
    Right ring slot: You and your Minions take 80% reduced Reflected Physical Damage
    (20-30)% increased Elemental Damage with Attack SkillsThe portrait reflected his pain,
    a pain that she could never see. grants reduced reflected elemental or physical damage taken when equipped in the left or right ring slot, respectively.
  • The Slayer's passive Headsman grants reduced reflected physical damage damage taken.
  • The Elementalist's passive Paragon of Calamity grants reduced reflected elemental damage taken.

Interaction with Vaal Pact

Leech is processed before reflect damage. Therefore the order of operations is:

Hit enemy -> Leech (instantly) -> Reflect damage

Sources

Monster affixes

Main page: Monster affixes

Rare monsters can receive an monster prefix that gives the monster damage reflection, there is one prefix that reflects physical damage and another that reflects elemental damage.

Map modifiers

Some map modifiers give all monsters in that map a damage reflection, either physical or elemental.

Items

Damage reflection can be personally acquired by a Damage Return item affix seen almost exclusively on shields. Summoner type players that use Necromantic Aegis should consider using a shield with a high amount of damage reflection for additional synergy as this effect spreads to all minions. Basalt FlaskBasalt FlaskLasts 5.00 Seconds
Consumes 40 of 60 Charges on use
20% more ArmourRequires Level 40Taunts nearby Enemies on useRight click to drink. Can only hold charges while in belt. Refills as you kill monsters. reflect 20% of physical damage to attacker.

Skill gems

There is currently one skill gem, that reflects damage: Tempest Shield, which occurs upon blocking with a shield.

The dangers of damage reflection

Reflection can be one of the most dangerous effects to encounter at high levels, especially for players focused on high damage output. A fast moving rare monster that appears quickly from off the screen can cause a large spike of damage to the player if hit by those high damage attacks or spells. Players must also be careful with skills that have a long duration (such as Spark supported by and ), as once cast, they cannot be cancelled if a source of reflection appears.

Long-range attacks and spells can also be dangerous, as stray arrows and spells might hit a reflecting rare monster, causing a large amount of damage to the player.

Even monsters that are much lower level than the player and would normally pose no threat can prove deadly if affected by reflection, since the reflection is based on the player's damage output, not the monster's damage.

Reflection can sometimes be difficult to spot, especially in the heat of battle when the monster ability can be obscured by various skill effects.

Version history

Version	Changes
2.0.0	Damage reflection mods on rare monsters are no longer auras.
1.2.0	Both physical and elemental damage reflection from monster auras have been reduced from 15% to 14% reflection.