Deflect

A spell being deflected.

Deflect screenshot from the Alpha.

Deflect is a little understood and rarely used mechanic which negates all effects of spells or melee attacks. It is not known what is the chance of deflection nor if it requires any type of weapon or offhand item equipped. It has been compared to the parry rating, which may affect the chance to deflect. The possibility of a deflect may lie in the random distribution of excess parriable attack damage, a parry being an offensive force being met by a defensive force head on; versus a deflection, where by the offensive force is redirected onto a tangent, away from the target, possibly a function of movement and position. Deflect also appears more prevalent with ranged physical attacks and is speculated on the World of Warcraft forums that it may replace Parry in ranged melee or attack situations . It is also speculated that the mechanic is more common with low hit rating.

Known attacks that can be Deflected

• Hammer of the Righteous
• The "Sharpened Bone" physical ranged special attack of Cultist Corrupters in Icecrown

Abilities and items affecting Deflection

There are certain gems that may make it more likely to happen through Parry rating, although deflection is an exclusive effect.

The hunter ability Deterrence gives a 100% chance to parry melee attacks and to deflect spells.

There are death knight runes that will deflect a percentage of spell damage.

Other information

UI messages about Deflects can be seen in-game by typing:

For auto-attacks "deflect":

/script message( VSDEFLECTOTHEROTHER )
/script message( VSDEFLECTOTHERSELF )
/script message( VSDEFLECTSELFOTHER )

For abilities (or maybe spells?) "deflect":

/script message( SPELLDEFLECTEDOTHEROTHER )
/script message( SPELLDEFLECTEDOTHERSELF )
/script message( SPELLDEFLECTEDSELFOTHER )
/script message( SPELLDEFLECTEDSELFSELF )

See also

• Combat
• Combat rating system