Damage reflection is death for witches

There's something fundamentally wrong about being able to shoot a fireball offscreen, crit on a group of enemies that you had no idea were there, and just keel over dead.

This illustrates the difference between difficulty and cheese. A pack of "Moves Quickly, Attacks Quickly, Extra Damage" monsters coming after you while you desperately try to keep tanks and walls between you and them is difficult. Instantly taking a lot of damage, with no warning whatsoever, from a source you can't defend against or see coming? Pure cheese.

Here's another idea. Turn the reflection damage into a fast, dodgable projectile (maybe with an even higher percentage of damage reflected) instead of insta-hit. This might create some interesting dynamics for Witches in parties with tankers, but at least they can see it coming.

Physical should still be broken up, though, because there isn't a single thing a Marauder can do about reflection except switch weapons.

I am a big fan of projectile response. Adds some fun to dodging their attacks.

I thought of a similar idea, except not a projectile, but a nova style spell.

I considered that, but a nova makes kiting too easy and help from tankers too hard.

For physical reflection, the marauder does have infernal blow and glacial hammer. Not sure what you're talking about with "switching weapons".

Personally, I think elemental reflection is fine as it is (though I also think the projectile-response method is a good suggestion) - but it does highlight the fact that there aren't really any non-elemental spells at the moment for a Witch to acquire.

I kinda like the fact that not everything can be solved by thoughtless application of damage everywhere.

Maybe the reflected damage should have a certain cap. Like not being able to do more than 15% of your max HP or something. It would still be damaging, but you wouldn't instantly die.

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Skivverus написал:

Personally, I think elemental reflection is fine as it is (though I also think the projectile-response method is a good suggestion) - but it does highlight the fact that there aren't really any non-elemental spells at the moment for a Witch to acquire.

Right. I mean if there were some reliable* non-elemental spell for a Witch to temporarily switch to the effect would be basically the same as if the reflect was split into different damage types, except more predictable (since you would always know to switch to non-elemental spells when you see reflect).

*Neither summons or wands currently fit this criteria.

I just died from this on HC and now here I am.

My situation was simple. A witch that just entered Act 2 Normal with a Shock nova gem in a +1 wand, and another wand with +% spell damage. No damage speccing skill-wise (aside from maybe a point or in the way). Ran into big monkey/bandit mob casted 2 shock novas and before I knew it I was dead. It didn't even register that the aura was in play until I was dead.

I'm not saying to scrap the idea completely, but it happens way too fast and way too early on. I'm not gonna argue whether or not it's good to have possible insta kills late game, but it's definitely not good for normal difficulty.

I do think that it needs some kind of visual improvement though. Perhaps a visual link could be made to the player like a beam or something from the enemy reflecting the damage. That way it's clear as soon as it's happening and we're not left to wonder wtf just happened to my life.. look for rare monster.. hover and see what aura does.

I would prefer something tangible rather than insta-reflect. I liked how in D2 enchanted enemies would shoot off lightning charges when hit or how that cold shield shot ice bolts at ranged attackers. It gives a good incentive to change tactics because now you have to avoid a projectile per every hit.

Lulz.

I nearly killed myself in 2 Detonate Dead casts on a physical reflect aura. Stupid higher dexterity gain. They were crits on a very large pack of enemies, but it was still funny.

Hm, after playing more Chaos games, I retract my previous statement for modification:

It's not literally guaranteed to encounter elemental reflection, it's just severely more likely. And, depending on which type of enemy gets it, it's possible to lure them away, trap them behind an ice wall, and leave them to wander there.

Still, there are some map lay out / aura / aura carrier combinations which make the above tactic suicidal or impossible.

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konfeta написал:

Still, there are some map lay out / aura / aura carrier combinations which make the above tactic suicidal or impossible.

Like carriers with the faster run speed aura. My god, talk about just making me want to log out of the game.

Edit; And yes I am aware of Temporal Chains.

Dude, I have +20% ms boots, phase run with increased duration, temporal chains, cold snap, and 2 flasks of adrenaline, and I still have difficulty running away from double speed buffed mobs. Ice Wall is basically what keeps me alive.

If it weren't for spell reflect issues making those things unfightable, that combination would have been the star jewel of "fun to play against" aura combos.