Hey all, just wanted to make this post so that I could talk about reflect builds and their newfound viability with the new primordial body armour coming with Beneath Ancient Skies.
I have had a reflect build created in game since 1.1 Harbingers of Ruin, and it has evolved considerably through Tombs of the Erased, notably with the introduction of reflect suffix on weaver idols, so id like to say I am pretty knowledgable around Reflect damage and the viability of builds that utilise it.
First id like to talk about the power and scaling of the new primordial body armour.
The new body armour seems unbelievably over-powered. Not just at making reflect builds decent C or B tier capable, but potentially some of the most powerful S tier builds across the entire game.
Having an effective Attack Speed of twice a second, and being able reach 50kish damage reflected using âThorn Shellâ Unique shield, the clear speed will be pretty insane. Also the fact that it relies on enemies looking at you, its effective AoE is screen-wide, since this tick damage will apply to all enemies facing you at the same time.
Not only that, but the huge scaling on the body armour for reflect damage against bosses will, in theory, make it one of the most potent boss-killers outside the absolute top meta.
Neither of those points includes the fact that, not only will it tick every 0.5 seconds, but you can get further reflect damage procs through enemies actually hitting you.
Here is the part to talk about specific builds and variants, and their pros and cons.
Two generic theory-crafted build ideas have spawned. One being a Primalist Druid/Shaman Spriggan Form utilising the Thorn Shield skill. And, Sentinel FG/Paladin which is prevalent due to the much higher survivability and tankiness, but also has more access to things scaling with attunement. (Attunement being the primary scaler for Thorn Shell and thus your reflected damage).
I personally am biased towards Primalist reflect builds, since that is the reflect build ive created in game, so I apologise if that bias comes across in this post.
This is my initial plan for my reflect build this update: Willselby01âs Reflect Shaman Build Planner.
I believe that between Druid and Shaman, the latter is better for a reflect build. It simply has more access to Attunement, through +10 in mastery passive bonuses and 8 in âElemental Shrinesâ. This means Shaman gives 18 attunement that cant be accessed through the other two masteries, compared to the Druidâs 10 total attunement in âHarmonious Wisdomâ.
Shaman also has access to âConfluxâ passive tree node, which is 8% less damage taken from shocked enemies. Through storm bolt procs from Maelstrom and the Shaman passive tree, it is very easy to apply shock on enemies. Admittedly, Druid is alot better if your build utilises Shapeshifter Buff, and âRoar of the Woodlandsâ in the Spriggan Form Skill tree.
For sentinel reflect builds, I would argue Paladin is in a better spot, though im not super knowledgable on how to exactly build a Sentinel reflect build.
From my understanding, As a Paladin, you still have access to the Forge Guard nodes: âThornmailâ, giving you reflect damage normally and reflect damage scaling with armour mitigation. And âIron Attunementâ, granting you DoT mitigation through armour from Attunement, which is the main scaler of reflect builds. Since both of these nodes reside in the first half of the FG tree.
But, from Paladin you get healing effectiveness scaling with attunement from the mastery passive bonus, the node âPrayer Aegisâ to give endurance threshold scaling with Attunement, and overall more total attunement in the second half of the tree. As an added bonus, Paladin makes it much easier to scale defensive/healing skills to support the tanky playstyle of a reflect build. All of this would be unavailable to a FG.
Thats all of my yapping, I am very passionate about reflect builds in this game and the new unique was a godsend for likeminded people. Please start a discussion between me and even yourselves down below and ill keep an eye on and respond to comments. (also feel free to share your own planners for reflect builds and potentially nicher uses of it).
Thanks for reading! <3
EDIT: for new readers, I just wanted to clear up the exact mechanics of reflect to avoid any confusion.
FLAT DAMAGE REFLECTED:
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Flat Reflect damage ignores all enemy mitigation methods, dealing what would be considered âtrueâ damage. (The only exception to this is enemies having more/less/increased damage taken modifiers (e.g. 30% more damage taken)). Meaning regardless of enemy armour and resistance, you will deal the same amount of reflected damage.
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Your flat damage, increased damage, and more damage does not apply to reflect. Only flat damage reflected, increased reflect damage (from Thornshell) and more reflect damage (from Thicket of Blinding Light) can alter the reflected damage you deal.
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Flat reflect damage cannot crit enemies, so crit chance and multiplier do not apply to it, and if an enemy hits a critical strike on you, that does not effect the damage that is reflected back to them in any way.
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Player mitigations will still cause you to reflect damage, with the exception of dodge. If you dodge an attack from an enemy, it wont count as them âhittingâ you, meaning you wont reflect damage onto them. (parrying will still reflect damage, despite the enemy dealing no damage to you).
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Reflect damage does not apply ailments or leech health.
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You cannot reflect Damage over Time, whether that is ailments, or a DoT attack/spell. (examples are: Bleed & ignite for ailments. And an enemy doing a fire breathing DoT attack or leaving a DoT pool on the ground.)
PERCENT DAMAGE REFLECTED:
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% damage reflected works differently to flat. It reflects whatever damage is dealt to the player, rather than reflected a fixed amount when hit. This means that your damage mitigations will decrease the amount of % damage reflected, and the higher damage dealt to you by the enemy, the higher damage that will be reflected. (this means enemies will take more reflected damage if they crit you, assuming you dont have maxxed crit reduction).
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Everything else about flat reflect mentioned above will also apply to % damage reflected. (aka no ailments/leech, dodging doesnt reflect, % reflect also deals âtrueâ damage and isnt effected by the damage type of the hit that caused it.)
(Note on percent reflect damage: Usually it is advised to avoid % reflect, since youre damage mitigation will make it incredibly weak, using flat damage reflected allows you to stack defensively without sacrificing DPS.)
Sorry for the long list, but hopefully this might help anyone who comes across this post in search of information when making or trying a reflect build!