Reflects Damage

Witch Doctor bleeds from Reflect Damage.

Reflects Damage is a Boss Modifier possessed by Champions and Bosses (but not boss minions) on Nightmare and higher in Diablo III.

The property works as a sort of Thorns effect on the boss, causing the hero to take back as damage some percent of the damage dealt with attacks. The reflected damage comes from all attacks, not just direct one. Ranged attacks, and even spells such as Hydra or Sentry. The effect can be seen most clearly for players who have health bar displays enabled, as your hero will spout a steady stream of red numbers from all the reflected damage you are hurting yourself with.

This property is also granted to a number of Elite enemies, most noticeably Siegebreaker on Hell and Inferno difficulties.

Reflects Damage:

• Monster Level Minimum: 31
• Available to: Champions and bosses.
• Damage Type: Physical.
• Additional Resistances: N/A.

Patch Changes

The v1.0.4 patch in August 2012 fixed a bug related to this affix.[1]

A player who is killed by a monster’s Reflect Damage affix will now be able to release his or her corpse and be resurrected by other players.

Strategy

This effect is most dangerous to glass cannon type characters who do not have high regeneration or healing or life leech, as they will take steady damage even if they're not being hit by the enemy. It can really rack up when damage is dealt by DoT or AoE effects that land multiple hits, and ranged attackers can have scary moments as they shoot, the run, and watch their health drain rapidly even when the enemies are not visible on their screen.

The affis is less troublesome to most melee attackers, as they're built to absorb and leech and heal during combat, and the added damage from Reflects Damage isn't generally large enough to greatly impact their play style.

In any event, life regeneration is the best counter to this property, as a good regen rate can entirely counteract the effect. On the other hand, if a player is used to staying alive due to their life regeneration, Reflects Damage will basically cancel out the usual healing from regeneration, so additional healing or potions might be required to survive the fight.

Media

Reflects Damage does not grant any appearance change to the boss or champion with it. The property is seen only in the tooltip hover display, or by the effect on the player, as a steady stream of red damage taken numbers will fountain out from your hero as you deal damage to the enemies.

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  Enemy tooltip displays the grim tidings.

The effect is best seen in video, as a shower of red numbers constantly sprouting out of the hero.

Expert play by a Witch Doctor against an Inferno pack of Demon Troopers with Reflects Damage, Plagued, Fire Chains, Vampiric.

A Demon Hunter shows a brilliantly-effective cheese against Siegebreaker on Inferno (when he gains Reflects Damage as a property), using a shield with high life regen to negate the reflected damage entirely.