Guild Wars 2

The wiki does not give me an answer on how this boon works. It says it reflects the attack causing damage equal to 198.45 + (0.075 * Power).

- Does reflect mean that no damage will come through during the 3 second window?
- Will the first attack reflected consume the boon regardless of the duration left?
- will the damage caused be the same regardless of the potency of the attack?

I have been using Prismatic Understanding for a while and just realized how many blocks I get from it. Plus, I have been using scepter and its block… so I was thinking to minmax the blocks by using Retaliatory Shield. It isn’t bad if after a block you neglect all damage for three seconds right after it. Or, isn’t this the way it works? Can someone explain it to me, please?

Thank you

Quoted from the wiki:

Retaliation is a boon that damages anyone who hits the affected target. The attacker will not be damaged if the attack fails to hit.

It does precisely what the wiki says it does; no more and no less.

Argh, you dont know how the boon works. how is it possible!
In few words you do X damage every attack you receive. Confusing images, scepter #3, provides a good example since you are running that weapon.
You land FIVE hits (i discover something new every day with this forum, kittens!) and each one will trigger retaliatation damage if the enemy has that boon. This is especially powerful in combination with confusion and against skills that has more hits (confusing images in an example, another could be thief’s unload).
Retaliatory shield is absolutely worth it if you play a PU build with staff and scepter/torch. Even if the damage scales with power you’ll be able to tank many hits without a problem and retaliatation will add to all the conditions you have.

Thank you! I knew it reflects damage but I did not know all the details. I may give it a try even if I do not run with a staff! Thanks!!!!

It doesn’t reflect damage. The in-game tooltip is wrong and the source of most confusion. You still take damage from every attack that hits you, but you also deal a set amount of damage (based on your Power) back to the attacker for each hit.

Enemy hits you for 2000 with a single attack. you lose 2000 and deal, say 300, damage to him. Damage is based on the formula on the wiki, 300 is just an example.

Reflect is really the wrong word.

Hi OP, just want to clarify to you about the retaliation boon:

For the duration of the boon, if enemy attacks you, you still get dmg, but they get dmg too for every hit they land on you.

Retaliation dmg scales with power of the source person. That means if you get it from guardian, it will scale with the guardian’s power stat. Or if you give it to someone else, it scales with your own power.
The enemy’s power stat or the dmg they land on you has no effect on the retaliation dmg.

Retaliation is easily confused with Reflection. The latter protects you from projectile attack only but you receive no dmg. I think the wiki does a better job explaining Reflect than Retaliation: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Reflect

Hope that helps.

I sort of wish it was referred to as a “damage shield” or something similar to what thorns are generally called in other fantasy games. “Reflect” sort of implies that some if not all of the damage would be prevented – whereas with Retaliation, it doesn’t matter how hard they hit you – you’re going to hit back for a static amount unless your Power changes.

Retaliation Punishers fast hitting small attacks.
E.g. A warrior using rifle F1 skill hits you for 7k with 1 hit you deal 300 retaliation damage to the warrior. A mesmer hits you for 3k with 8 hits with blurred frenzy you deal (300×8=)2400 retaliation damage.
Whilst having the retaliation boon you still get full damage taken from skills. As said before Retaliation scales with the power of the wearer of the boon

Don’t forget though that it stacks only in duration, not intensity. So with Retaliatory Shield I generally don’t take it over other things, because in especially the currently popular PU builds you may already be getting it off Chaos Storm, iMage, or other places like traited F2 Shatter, or Leap Combo-Field with Focus Temporal Curtain.

Sure you can just keep stacking it up, but it might be overkill and you’re better off getting some kind of other trait.

Retaliation is pretty nice though, but as stated doesn’t work well against big hitting attacks or of course Condie-damage. (Only procs on application, not with every tick.)

Ehm. Its the fact that it stacks in duration that makes the trait worth it during a fight.
Chaos storm: With retaliatory shield aegis will also add retaliatation, its even better with that trait.
iMage: retaliatation is near to useless if your only source is chaos storm and this phantasm.
Confusing cry: Domination, dueling and even inspiration offer better options than illusions line for PU builds. Also, f2 has few space in condition or phantasm PU builds.
Focus: If you run a power build its ok, if not a trait in a perfect tree as dueling is way better.

It does not work well against single hit burst yes, but it wrecks MANY skills.

Updated the Wiki page in lieu of this confusion.