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Damage reflection makes a creature (character, monster, etc.) hit himself. Usually it appear as modifiers that cause a portion of damage dealt to a target to also be taken by an attacker; but this mechanic is also being used in other places.

Mechanics

Reflect cares about the damage taken after mitigation, not the amount of life removed.[1][2] The offensive stats of the character can affect whether he takes reflected damage (accuracy, block chance reduction, etc), but cannot affect the value of the damage if the character do (critical strikes, penetration, ignoring resistance, damage modifiers, etc).[3]

Although reflected damage hits, it intentionally doesn't trigger most on/when hit effects[4] and, accordingly, cannot cause status ailments[5], stun[6], critical strikes 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.[7] Block chance reduction will lower the characters block chance as well.[3]
  • 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 accuracy rating.[8]
    • Consequently, reflected attack damage with the hits can't be evaded modifier 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.
  • Arctic Armour skill iconArctic Armour lessens reflected physical or fire damage taken.
  • 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:

Interaction with Vaal Pact

Leech is processed before reflect damage.[9] Therefore the order of operations is:

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

Items that deal reflected damage

Base items

  • All spiked shields deal physical reflected damage to melee attackers as an implicit modifier.
  • Basalt Flask inventory iconBasalt FlaskBasalt FlaskLasts 5.00 Seconds
    Consumes 40 of 60 Charges on use
    20% more Armour
    Requires Level 40Taunts nearby Enemies on useRight click to drink. Can only hold charges while in belt. Refills as you kill monsters.
    Basalt Flask inventory icon
    reflect 20% of physical damage to attackers during its flask effect.

Unique Items

Reflected damage dealt to melee attackers:

Reflected damage dealt on block:

Self-reflect:

  • Hiltless inventory iconHiltlessHiltless
    Reaver Sword
    Two Hand Sword
    Quality: +20%
    Physical Damage: (182.4-212.4) to (400.8-436.8)
    Critical Strike Chance: (7.00%-7.50%)
    Attacks per Second: 1.50
    Weapon Range: 15
    Requires Level 59, 82 Str, 119 Dex60% increased Global Accuracy RatingSocketed Gems are Supported by Level 1 Lifetap
    Adds (90-115) to (230-260) Physical Damage
    (40-50)% increased Critical Strike Chance
    Enemies you Attack Reflect 100 Physical Damage to you
    +2 to Weapon Range
    The cuts on my hands are a small price to pay
    for the opportunity to drive my steel
    beyond the flesh and into the demon's soul.
    Hiltless inventory icon

Other Sources of Reflected damage

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.

Reflect damage type

Certain effects are typed as reflected damage, but are not necessarily triggered when taking damage. Tukohama, War's Herald causes totems to deal a percentage of its maximum life as reflected fire damage when hit. The Retch inventory iconThe RetchThe Retch
Rustic Sash
Requires Level 44(12-24)% increased Global Physical Damage+(60-80) to maximum Life
+(30-40)% to Cold Resistance
0.4% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Life
60% increased Flask Effect Duration
30% reduced Flask Charges gained during any Flask Effect
200% of Life Leech applies to Enemies as Chaos Damage
15% increased Movement Speed during any Flask Effect
But the grain grew twisted and the water turned dark
and those who partook of Mother Gull's gift
birthed monsters that fed
on the flesh of one another.
The Retch inventory icon
deals a percentage of leeched life as reflected chaos damage from leech targets.

Skill gems

There is currently one skill gem, that reflects damage: Tempest Shield skill iconTempest 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 skill iconSpark supported by Module Error: No skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Pierce" and Module Error: No skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Increased Duration"), 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.

References

  1. Mark_GGG (August 6, 2013). "Evasion and Damage Reflection questions". Path of Exile Forum. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  2. Mark_GGG (August 6, 2013). "Evasion and Damage Reflection questions". Path of Exile Forum. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Mark_GGG (March 15, 2016). "Inevitable Judgment penetrates your own resistance on reflect". Path of Exile Forum.
  4. Mark_GGG (May 31, 2016). "New unique sword "Hiltless" Coming in prophecy.". Official Path of Exile Reddit.
  5. Mark_GGG (April 23, 2013). "Mechanics thread". Path of Exile Forum. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  6. Mark_GGG (July 14, 2014). "Possible to stun yourself on reflect with vulnerability?". Official Path of Exile Forum. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  7. Mark_GGG (February 4, 2014). "I don't think I understand reflect". Path of Exile Forum. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  8. Daniel_GGG (July 15, 2013). "0.11.2 Patch Notes". Path of Exile Forum. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  9. Mark_GGG (July 15, 2013). "Phys Reflect VS Vaal Pact: who wins?". Path of Exile Forum. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
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