Guild Wars 2

I know this is a simple question but I’ve never gotten a 100% answer. Yes or no?

Does Retaliation reflect damage, making it so I don’t take any damage? Or does the attacker take the same amount of damage I’m taking?

You take the dmg dealt to you, but the dmg you receive from the caster/attack is also returned to him.

I’ve seen warriors kill themselves with their own Thousand Blades. Its quite hilarious

You still take damage, though I personally have done no testing for myself to see if that damage is reduced. My best guess is that it does not reduce any damage, simply deals a fixed amount of damage back to the source.

I don’t think it reflects the damage that they do to you; instead it does x damage to them each time they hit you, and your power increases the damage they take.

Eg. A 10k thief backstab won’t return 10k back to the thief, and will instead do as much as if they hit you with anything else.

Or so I’ve heard.

Havent specifically tested it.

I know in dungeons with bosses that have retaliation only do a set amount back. But its always been really low (i’d hit the boss for a couple thousand but would always receive 199 in dmg back)

But i dont think it works like that in pvp just cause. I’ve seen warriors stun me, immediately pop thousand blades, and his health will DROP when i have retal up. Warriors nautrally have almost 10k hp over us in most builds. I managed to heal through it a bit a win the fight. So i suspect it returns full dmg…

I will test tonight and get back to you guys.

Retaliation is a boon which reflects some incoming damage back to its source. Damage returned is fixed per level and scales with power, increasing damage by 1 for every 13.4 power. At level 80, base damage is 267.

From the official wiki:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Retaliation

Kami.7369:

Retaliation is a boon which reflects some incoming damage back to its source. Damage returned is fixed per level and scales with power, increasing damage by 1 for every 13.4 power. At level 80, base damage is 267.

From the official wiki:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Retaliation

Thanks for clearing that up, i totally forgot you can just go to the wiki and see for youself :P

It’s a fixed amount per hit. So it’s not efficient against big hitters. But attacks that hit in multiples, like flamethrower or hundred blades, it works well. It’s modified by your power. Every 1k power = +150 dmg + a base dmg of 250ish. Dmg is mitigated by armor.

Definitely solid against a multitude of builds.

Nevermind, someone linked a source. I’m posting on a phone.

Kami.7369:

Retaliation is a boon which reflects some incoming damage back to its source. Damage returned is fixed per level and scales with power, increasing damage by 1 for every 13.4 power. At level 80, base damage is 267.

From the official wiki:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Retaliation

1/13.4th doesn’t seem very much. It’s certainly not enough to kill a Warrior, so I’m calling bull on Mr Wizardauz’ comment:

I’ve seen warriors kill themselves with their own Thousand Blades. Its quite hilarious

it might not be very much, but remember its free dmg. Most of us have some kind of Retaliation even if we dont spec for it.

@Svarty

Maybe it was an exaggeration to saying “kill themselves” but i’ve popped Save Your Selves, on top of virtues, standing on a SoW, and healing through and giving myself enough additional health to allow for that. It was sPvP and i was wearing a berserker amulet.

He must of been down to atleast 10-20% hp and thats being generous, he turned tailed and tried to run. Pulled him back with a Binding Blade and WW off of it. He died.

Believe me or not, it doesnt matter to me. Not saying he was the best warrior or im the best guardian. But thats what happened.

Edit: Try it out man, grab a warrior friend and find a sPvP server with no one in it and have a ball. Stack for power, pop save yourselves, or w/e retaliation you want a test how much dmg he’ll do agaisnt himself.

I don’t mean to sound whiney, but specifically making a build to wait for someone on 20% health to attack me doesn’t seem like a reasonable way of playing, regardless of how fun it might be if/when it does happen.

Svarty.8019:

I don’t mean to sound whiney, but specifically making a build to wait for someone on 20% health to attack me doesn’t seem like a reasonable way of playing, regardless of how fun it might be if/when it does happen.

Who said my build was made for Retaliation?

1/13.4th doesn’t seem very much. It’s certainly not enough to kill a Warrior, so I’m calling bull on Mr Wizardauz’ comment:

13th of the damage in one hit may not be much but if you factor in bleeds (which can stack), burning and damage from your own guardian, it can give the illusion that the warrior blew himself up. I’ve had damage build warriors and other guardians wipe themselves clean. Thieves tend to disappear and run away.

Retaliation’s tooltip is misleading.
It doesn’t reduce or reflect any incoming damage,you still get hit for the full damage (before other midigations).

Retaliation should read: Retaliation is a boon which causes damage to attackers when hit. Retaliation bypasses armor completely and can proc from conditions on you.

Makes it deadly against classes that have fast hitting attacks and ones that apply a lot of conditions,especially stackable in intensity ones.

While I don’t think Hundred Blades actually hits 100 times, it must hit a lot. This has to be why Retaliation wrecks GS wielding Warriors. It’s also pretty good vs. Thieves and Short Bow Rangers, as they hit fast for little damage on top of stacking bleeds.

Warrior’s take 50% increased damage while under the effects of their Quickness, since most of them pop Frenzy before any engagement as they won’t fight without it.

Most Warrior’s attacking you in sPvP are therefore going to take a decent amount of damage in return from Retaliation and burning when they use Hundred Blades.

It’s most likely he was receiving damage from other sources too (like your own autoattack) or someone else if he ‘blew up’ while attacking.

Thanks for the responses guys. Now I understand the boon and wow I should build it into my Guardian. I appreciate the help!