Reflection

Version 0.19: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Reflection is a curious ego that can be found on all types of shields and as a type of amulet. It provides no additional defensive properties, but reflects all successfully blocked projectiles, both physical and magical, back in the direction they originated. Be aware that only some spells can be blocked (for example, it can prove devastating against casters with Orb of Destruction or Lehudib's Crystal Spear, but it serves no purpose against Fireball or Airstrike). Also, its reliability is dependent on your actual skill with shields, and dodged attacks will not be reflected.

The reflection ego is most commonly found on the shield of reflection often worn by the unique fighter Donald.

Tips & Tricks

• The reflected attack can miss and may strike unintended targets.

• This ego is nowhere near as powerful as it is in some other games, most notably NetHack. Your chance of blocking an attack is not increased by wearing a shield of reflection, and there are still many types of attacks that cannot be blocked at all. In general, a shield with any resistance you may be lacking is preferable to a reflection-branded shield, though one might prefer it over a protection-branded shield, especially if you know you'll be facing opponents with powerful, blockable ranged abilities soon (Roxanne, Dispater, etc.).

• Note that you can also reflect rolling boulder beetles.

History

Until version ?? the game treated the reflected attack as an attack initiated by the player himself. If you followed a god who prohibited certain attacks, you would invoke penance for these unintentional reflected attacks.

The amulet of reflection was added in 0.18.