Questions about reflects and projectiles and how it affects other players.

HiI sometimes see comments in the forums that having a Ranger in Zerg does more harm than good because of reflects.But I want to generalize my question to all classes since Guardians, Elementalist, and maybe all other classes have projectiles too, which I assume can be reflected as well.

1) Do reflected projectiles damage other people aside from the one who cast/used the projectile if they happen to be in the way?

2)If they do damage other players who happen to be in the way, how big is the damage compared to if the damage hit its intended target with no reflects? If the projectile originally can hit 5 targets, does the reflected projectile also hit 5 targets?

3)Which particular class and skill is the most effective projectile reflector?

Hoping to learn something.

Thank you

@"Alver Lyko.4693" said:Do reflected projectiles damage other people aside from the one who cast/used the projectile if they happen to be in the way?they do.If they do damage other players who happen to be in the way, how big is the damage compared to if the damage hit its intended target with no reflects?that depends on the stats of the one putting up the reflect. often its rather tanky guards so the reflected damage is pretty low compared to what you would hit yourself.Which particular class and skill is the most effective projectile reflector?the one that has most effect in large scale is probably the one in the firebrand tome simply because every firebrand has it by default and there is plenty of them.

*effect LOD often can make projectile denial fields invisible wich can be an issue in trying to avoid them.

Guardian barely has reflects and majority of ele's damage comes from aoes which aren't projectiles (projectiles are also slow so if you notice one of them being reflected you can position better or wait for reflect to disappear). Similar with rev and necro. Reflects damage whoever is in the way and they proc traits that you have on them (traited arcane blast would inflict condition when it gets reflected).

When it comes to damage I believe that it does same damage, but it scales with precision of one who dropped the reflect. Considering that most reflects come from minstrel guards, that damage is usually low, but not something you can ignore if there's a lot of projectiles and combo fields in between.

Before this patch, burn guard was quite strong damage dealer in certain situations (like dropping reflects on gates) since all reflects would inflict burning. I've heard that DH is still decent (not sure how it works exactly), but power mesmer is probably the only class that's competition to guard when it comes to accessibility and reliability of damaging reflects (magnetic aura is kinda pointless in large scale, aoe reflects are much better).

Great questions. Part of the issue here is Rangers' play style. If you channel Longbow #2 and a reflect wall goes up, turning your character away from the wall often isn't enough to stop you from continuing to fire arrows (unless, of course, you turn around 135+ degrees). So most Rangers find that they can't stop attacking fast enough to minimize the number of reflected arrows.

Instead, Rangers should bind a dead stop key. I believe ESC does this by default. It's 50 mm away from the W key, and will immediately stop attacking when pressed.

Rangers are the best tail-snipers and every zerg should have a few.

I think it might also be the fact that a Ranger's burst window (RF) can be negated by a simple reflect. On my hammer rev for instance, my Hammer 1 is a projectile that can be reflected, but that ability is just a filler between Hammer 2, 3 and 5. If Hammer 1 gets reflected the impact on my DPS is pretty minimal.

There is only one non reflectable (unless it’s an unblockable shot/trait) skill in the longbow. Most of the other classes that utilize projectiles on their primary weapon set tend to utilize other skills more consistently.

But projectile hate is only one of the reasons.

1.) Yes, also will apply conditions if the projectile has them.2.) Based off Precision stat.3.) I would say tempest auramancer.

Reflection is one of those mechanics I feel should mostly only be single target -- to be used by less mobile professions to deal with ranged spam and not as bubbles/group effects that perma-reflect an entire zerg.

~ Kovu

@Uthrax.4975 said:1.) Yes, also will apply conditions if the projectile has them.

I would also add it will invis the reflector if it hits them back as well - ie: if the skill contained an invis on hit such as Hunter's Shot.

tempest is probably the most effective projectile reflector.

@Stand The Wall.6987 said:tempest is probably the most effective projectile reflector.That depends on the situation. Are we talking zerging or solo? 5 auramancers can cycle reflects on targets around them true, but 5 guards can make the entire zerg reflect projectiles from one direction provided they dont move past it and 5 scrappers can reflect all projectiles from all directions fpr the entire zerg while on the move.

Using an auramancer is probably the worst scenario.

For the ranged class most apt to counter it, its easy - mesmer. You cant reflect many of its ranged attacks. Even if a zerg backline is perma immune to projectiles when you wanna flank it with pewpew, mesmers could punch a hole in it in a second.

But of course, its taboo to bring anything other than GRN regardless.

Interesting. Who cares if a guardian pops reflect when a ranger pops unblockable?

@Dawdler.8521 said:

@Stand The Wall.6987 said:tempest is probably the most effective projectile reflector.That depends on the situation. Are we talking zerging or solo? 5 auramancers can cycle reflects on targets around them true, but 5 guards can make the entire zerg reflect projectiles from one direction provided they dont move past it and 5 scrappers can reflect all projectiles from all directions fpr the entire zerg while on the move.

it only takes 1 auramancer to protect an entire zerg. as long as the 5 people in question are on the frontline, anyone behind them are protected. auras have way better up time, and they are mobile. scrappers don't reflect, that gyro toolbelt skill blocks projectiles. guard is more reliable and since there are a ton of them they are better suited to protecting the frontline, while ele is better at backline defense.

Reflected hits use the attackers power and the defenders crit chance/ferocity. To stop a channeled ability from reflecting an easy way is to switch weapons. When I run Dead Eye Rifle I frequently have to swap weapons to prevent catastrophic damage from coming back at me.

Elementalist or Mesmer are the two most "reflecty" with Engineers following up 3rd.

A pet peeve of mine is that Reflect is not a boon that can be removed or counter played easily. I often sit for entire rotations waiting for a Magnetic Aura to cease.

@Stand The Wall.6987 said:that gyro toolbelt skill blocks projectilesGod dammit I always forget its a block, you are correct.