Attack Reflector

OH FU--

Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me—and hurt you.

Because sometimes dodging and blocking aren't quite enough. The ultimate way to evade an opponent's attack is to send it right back at him.

This can be done through magic, specialized Deflector Shields, thinking with Portals, ordinary old mirrors, a cartoonish U-shaped pipe, or just sheer momentum-reversing martial arts. Either way, there's nothing like smacking your enemy in the face with his own attack, possibly with some added power.

If both combatants have this, it can lead to Playing Tennis With the Boss.

Similar to Catch and Return, only without the Catch but with all of the Return. See also Counter Attack, Deadly Dodging and Reflecting Laser. Once Evil Eye appears, its interaction with mirrors will be either clarified or abused.

Compare Hoist by His Own Petard.

Examples of Attack Reflector include:

Anime and Manga

  • A Certain Magical Index: Accelerator's ability, Redirection, functions like this by default. Anything that tries to hit him will automatically have its vector value reversed and go back where it came from. HARD. He can even reflect the backlash on his hand when he punches things, making his punches twice as hard. Unfortunately, it does in fact simply reverse the vectors, and not redirect away from him, so pulled punches get reflected inwards to hit him.
  • GaoGaiGar
    • GaoGaiGar's Protect Shade/Protect Wall.
    • Also, the Mirror Shield used by EnRyu.
  • Inuyasha
    • Inu-Yasha's Backlash Wave acts like this, only with interest. See also Kanna's Mirror.
    • Naraku's barrier developed this ability after he rebuilt himself in Mt. Hakuri. Naraku could reflect both Inu-Yasha's Wind Scar and Sesshomaru's Tokujin Ki attack
    • Also in the second movie, when the Kaguya-hime youkai uses her mirror to capture Inu-Yasha's Backlash Wave and duplicate its return-with-interest feature. Then taken Up to Eleven when in the climatic battle scene, Inu-Yasha uses the Backlash Wave again, Kaguya fires it back, and Inuyasha Backlash Waves his own reflected attack right back at her, completely annihilating her physical existence.
  • Digimon Frontier has Mercuremon and his mirror shields. He can reflect an attack at the user immediately, or even absorb an attack with one mirror and then fire it with another.
  • Bleach
    • Captain Ukitake can do this with his sword, Sogyo no Kotowari. In its shikai state, Ukitake can absorb an attack through one blade, send it down the chain connecting the two swords, and back out the other blade. Although it's not just reflection, as Starrk observes Ukitake can control both the timing and the strength of the returned attack (the only example so far being many of Starrk's ceros). For this reason, the Espada notes it's a far more "malicious" ability than it may otherwise appear.
    • Orihime get this after the Time Skip. More exactly, she combines both her defensive shield Santen Kesshun and her attack reflector Koten Sanshun; this creates the Shiten Kosshun shield, which as soon as it receives an attack, disperses the resultant force as a concentrated explosion that is automatically returned along the attack's opposing trajectory.
  • The Akatsuki from Gundam Seed Destiny has a computer-controlled mirror coating which allows it to reflect any beams that hit it.
  • Impact Dials in One Piece can absorb attacks and store them to be released later. The more powerful Reject Dials return it with ten times the power, but also hurt the user.
  • Speciality of Audrey, number 3, in Claymore
  • Class Minus 13 member Kagamaru Chougasaki from Medaka Box takes this Up to Eleven. His "Encounter" Minus redirects all damage directed against him—physical and emotional. His personality is especially warped because of this. He redirected so many of his feelings and memories—anything that could be the least bit unpleasant—to other people that he essentially became "nothing". People grow up by dealing with hardship, not by avoiding it.
  • According to Word of God, in Puella Magi Madoka Magica's new reality from the final episode, Homura's wings can do this.
  • Edgar's Excalibur move can do this in Inazuma Eleven.
  • One episode of Shikabane Hime had a shikabane who could reflect damage done to him back on his opponents, for example when Minai hit him in the face, she got thrown back as if she was the one who got hit, with a bruise on her face in the same spot as she hit the shikabane.
  • In Saint Seiya, this is first revealed by Poseidon (and demonstrated by Phoebus Abel in the Non-Serial Movie) as an ability gods possess (looks like a blend of Reality warping and Your Mind Makes It Real, though it can be countered by strong enough Determinator humans with Heroic Willpower ; a bit of Fridge Logic given Saori takes a golden arrow to the chest, though she can block a God Warrior's axe in Asgard, so one might argue she wasn't awakened properly yet). The Gemini Saint has a Dimension Portal approach to the problem. Hyoga managed once to pull this with Ikki's Phoenix Demon Illusion Fist by virtue of reflecting light.
  • Pokemon anime. When a Pokemon (such as Wobbuffet) uses the Counter or Mirror Coat moves, the Pokemon that attacked it will take the damage from its own attack.


Card Games


Comics Books

  • During the Cold War, Marvel Comics had Vanguard, a Soviet hero/villain who carried a hammer and sickle. Whenever he crossed the two of them, they'd reflect any attack back at his attacker.
  • 1980's British Starblazer.
    • The Reflector was a dish-like defensive weapon which reflected enemy fire.
    • The Nimbus Cloud could deflect an attacker’s energy back at itself.


Films -- Animation

  • In Igor, the main character and his sidekicks are being shot at with a shrinking ray by Dr. Schadenfreude. Scamper comments, "If only you'd made yourself indestructible," which reminds Igor that Eva's indestructible skin makes any projectile ricochet off, and so he gets her to pop up when the next beam is shot, sending it right back at Schadenfreude, shrinking him instead.


Films -- Live-Action

  • Star Wars' Lightsabers are commonly used not only to deflect blaster bolts, but send them back as well.
  • In Tron, the title character's disc could not only block enemy attacks but reflect the attacks back at them.
  • Spaceballs
    • This parody of Star Wars (and other such movies) has Lone Starr use an ordinary mirror to reflect Dark Helmet's Groin Attack.
    • And in another scene, Barf the Mog rips a bundle of U-shaped pipes off a bulkhead of Spaceball One and uses them to deflect a number of Spaceball stormtroopers' blaster shots back at them.
  • In the Soviet sci-fi two-part film Teens in the Universe, The Captain uses a Chekhov's Gift (a small mirror) given to him for luck by his Love Interest to reflect a laser fired by an automated defense system.
  • Speaking of mirrors, a rear-view mirror was the Man of Steel's weapon of choice against General Zod's heat vision in Superman II.
  • Big Trouble in Little China. Egg Shen uses a mirrored fan to send Lightning's lightning bolt attack back at him.
  • Clash of the Titans (1981). Perseus uses a mirrored shield to reflect Medusa's gaze back at her and petrify her.


Gamebooks

  • In the Lone Wolf series, the Sommerswerd can sometimes be used to volley a magical attack back at the caster. An example from Shadow on the Sand is the Vordak riding a Zlanbeast and firing on Banedon's skyship with a magic staff, who subsequently gets a taste of his own Fireballs.


Literature

  • The Protego charm from Harry Potter.
  • In the Vorkosigan Saga's first entry, the scientists of Beta Colony develop Mirror Shields which they give to their Escobaran allies when they're attacked by the Barrayarans. Unknown to either group, intel on the mirror shields had been leaked to the Barrayaran emperor, who used this as an opportunity to have his warmongering son, the prince Serg, killed in a forward assault before they can catch on to the new tech.)
  • This is the purpose of the Jigger-Rock Snatchem in Dr. Seuss's Butter Battle book.
  • In The Empire of the East, Som the Dead, the liche viceroy of the Black Mountains, has a permanent enchantment of this type. Any attempts to harm him rebound back on the attacker. He is eventually killed when a large share of liquid life force is thrown his way.
  • In Book of Swords, Doomgiver is a powerful example of this as a supremely magical force that turns all attacks on the wielder back on the enemy. It even works against Aphrodite's seduction, causing her to fall in love with a human. Unfortunately, it isn't seen in action much because it is destroyed by Shieldbreaker in the third book.
  • In a Star Trek Expanded Universe novel, a race of genetically-engineered humans, upon whom The Federation declared war, have a number of technological advances way beyond what the Federation (or anyone else) has. One of these is a Deflector Shield that reflects most of the incoming energy back at the attacker. Picard figures out that there is a slight delay between the shot and the reflection, so he has the pilot literally run circles around the ship at extreme speeds in order to have the reflected shots reflected harmlessly into space, building up the damage that does hit the shield until it fails.


Live-Action TV

  • In Star Trek: The Original Series, Kirk threatens to do this with a device embedded in the Enterprise that would reflect any attack back at an aggressor. He couldn't do it then, but in the video game Star Trek Armada, set almost a century later, the player can perform a "Corbomite Maneuver".
  • Red Dwarf: Lister uses an effective one to bring everyone back in "The Inquisitor". He gets Kryten to reprogram the Inquisitor's gauntlet they stole through a series of events that would take too long to explain. When the Inquisitor picks up the gauntlet after winning the climactic battle to use its Cosmic Retcon power on Lister, it's instead directed at himself. He disappears up his own existence, everyone comes back and Lister gives Kryten fifteen.
  • In the third episode of Lost Girl, Bo uses the reflective surface of a toaster to expose a Fury to her own Evil Eye power.
  • Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Green Ranger's Dragon Shield could serve as one of these (among having other powers), as Jason found out when he tried shooting Tommy during "Green with Evil". Also, in the battle where the Thunderzords were destroyed Rito Revolto reflected the Tigerzord's White Tiger Thunderbolt back up the Tigerzord's throat. This may have been why they didn't try switching to the Mega Tigerzord - without the tiger's mouth to charge up the Firebird, the finisher doesn't work.
  • In Charmed, the main forms of attack for many demons are Fireballs and energy balls. One of the main characters has telekinesis as her power, so she can just send those projectiles right back at the attacker. Sometimes attacks on shielded characters also bounce back.


Myths & Religion

  • Perseus deflecting the gaze of Medusa with a mirror shield.
    • This depends on which version of the tale. In most versions, it was her direct gaze that killed; she was asleep when Perseus snuck in while wearing the invisible cap and used the shield to guide his strike in case she woke up.
    • The "makes her petrify herself" version is mostly a Disney-like version for children. In the original myth, he cuts the head and then keeps it (or sometimes just one eye) to petrify his enemies with. He ultimately throws it at the ocean or gives it to Athene.


Tabletop Games

  • In the Champions superhero RPG, the Reflection power works like this against enemy superpower attacks.
  • Dungeons & Dragons
    • 1st Edition
      • The Volley spell protected the recipient by reflecting incoming spells back at their caster. Later it became Spell Turning (and in the item Ring of Spell Turning), though attempts to Play Tennis with the Boss using them can be more disastrous than the initial attack.
    • 1st and 2nd editions
      • If a monster had a gaze attack (e.g. the basilisk's petrifying gaze or the catoblepas death gaze), reflecting the gaze back at the monster (e.g. with a large mirror or the Gaze Reflection spell) would cause the gaze attack to affect it instead. Also, there's a spell that does this while protecting someone - Gaze Reflection.
      • If the Fire Shield spell was in effect on a creature, anyone physically attacking that creature took damage. In 1st Edition they took double the damage they inflicted, in 2nd Edition they took the same amount of damage as they inflicted.
      • The spectator (a relative of the beholder) had a central eye that could reflect one ranged spell per combat round back at the caster.
    • The psionic Kinetic Control power absorbed mechanical damage which could be discharged back as an impact.
    • And then there's the Shield enhancements Reflecting and Great Reflection, the first one can be called once per day, the second one can be turned on and off to allow beneficial spells as a free action, Shields Are Useless?, Not so much.
    • Forgotten Realms
      • Specialized low-level spells: Magic Missile Reflection and Lightning Reflection.
      • The Spelltrap spell caught incoming spells and spell-like powers used on its caster directly (i.e. Magic Missile but not any Fireball) and discharged everything it caught in the random order at any targets chosen by the caster in addition to normal actions. And follows its caster everywhere. Its only weakness is explosive overloading.
      • The magical shield Dzance's Guardian reflected any Magic Missile spell cast against the user back on the caster.
      • Jhessail's Silver Ring reflected any Charm magic cast on its wearer back on the creature that cast the magic. This included Charm attacks delivered by gaze, such as that of a vampire.
      • The mirror created by a Wand of Magical Mirrors will reflect a Color Spray spell back on the caster. It also reflect gaze attacks back on the creature they came from the same as a Gaze Reflection spell.
      • The Cloak of Reflection would reflect the following spells back on their caster/source: Magic Missile, Irritation, Ray of Enfeeblement, Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter, Polymorph Other, Feeblemind and Color Spray.
    • The 2E Tome of Magic also has the priest spell Physical Mirror. This one doesn't just redirect spells, but anything crossing the invisible "mirror" plane, including arrows or catapult stones.
  • Rifts has the spell Targeted Deflection, which can send even laser blasts back.
  • Mutants and Masterminds offers attack reflection on two different flavors of powers. It can either be attached to Protection, working on all attacks under a certain power automatically, or it can be attached to Deflect, requiring an attack roll to deflect and one to attack with the deflected projectile, but allowing attacks of any level to be reflected.
  • GURPS
    • The default Reflective Damage Resistance will actually reflect punches back at the enemy just as well as lasers. But because it's GURPS someone can simply overpower it if you're too far out of your league.
    • Also, the Reverse Missiles spell, which (as the name suggests) only works on projectile attacks.
  • Shadowrun
    • Awakenings: New Magic in 2057
      • The Reflective Shielding metamagic ability for initiates. If an initiate successfully used the ability, any spell cast on them rebounded on the attacker.
      • If a mage had the Redirect spell available and a held action ready, he could cast the spell and any physical or melee attack on him would be reflected onto the attacker.
  • Star Fleet Battles. The Omega Sector race the Loriyill have Flame Shields on their ships which can reflect some of the damage hitting the ship back on the attacker.
  • In DC Heroes this was covered by the Reflection power.
  • Mongoose Publishing's Strontiuum Dog RPG. The psionic ability Mind Mirror reflects any psionic attack back on the attacker.

Video Games

  • Dixen's satellite shield in Tech Romancer.
  • Baldur's Gate 2
    • There's a Shield of Missile Deflection, which does just that—sends all incoming arrows, bolts, etc. back (in)to the shooter.
    • The Shield of Balduran does the same thing for beholder eye rays, turning these Demonic Spiders into a self-cleaning encounter.
    • There's also a cloak the reflects lightning, and another that reflects all magical attacks, though in the expansion it was sensibly nerfed to simply absorb spells.
  • Zelda
    • The Mirror Shield is different from each game: sometimes it turns all attacks into energy that can be fired back, sometimes it only mirrors fire and ice attacks and its main use is for light-based puzzles....
    • The Shield Attack in The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess allows you to reflect projectiles.
    • Sword swings can also serve this role in some fights, notably against Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time
  • The item 'blademail' in Defense of the Ancients does this to all damage. A couple of the heroes have spells with similar effects.
  • EarthBound
  • Super Smash Bros.
    • Fox's reflector attack in the various games. Also the reflector shields used by Falco and Wolf, the Mirror Shield used by Pit, Zelda's Nayru's Love, and Mario's Cape, among other examples. Actually, any character can pull this off the standard shield move (by pressing the shoulder buttons), but it requires perfect timing.
    • Speaking of Fox, the Barrel Roll (which the reflector is based on by looks) does this on occasion but usually it only deflects attacks, preventing damage.
  • World of Warcraft
    • The Warrior ability Spell Reflect.
    • Warriors and Paladins both have the ability to damage you when they block an attack. Warriors gain the Damage Shield talent, while the Paladins Holy Shield spell causes the shield to blast enemies with Holy damage when struck.
    • There are a few other chance-based reflects such as certain talents or a meta gem.
    • Mostly however, the ability is found on bosses. There are numerous variants, from the simple reflecting a portion of the damage they take, preventing the damage entirely and hitting back with an attack of their own, or more unusual versions. It's a popular trap for catching damage dealers grown careless on their ability to burn through enemies. Two of the three high difficulty instances introduced in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion (Forge of Souls and Pit of Saron) feature a final boss who uses such abilities. The Devourerer of Souls uses an ability that causes all damage dealt to it to also hit a random party member, and often leads to the healer being butchered by their own allies. Scourgelord Tyrannus occasionally causes all damage and healing dealt by one person to hit his current target or himself, respectively.
    • At low health Hungarfen causes all attacks to heal him, leading to people not paying attention healing him from 20% health to almost full.
    • Pandemonius shields himself occasionally, preventing all damage, reflecting spells at their casters, and striking back from any melee attack that hits him.
    • The second stage of the Reliquary of Souls is a particularly nasty version of this, causing 50% of all damage dealt to it to strike the player while reducing the mana people have available. There's no trick to it, everyone simply has to damage it through the stage as quickly as possible before they run out of mana while healing through the massive damage they take.
  • In Magical Battle Arena, this is Nanoha's Block special, creating a barrier that reflects weak projectiles back at the attacker.
  • Final Fantasy
    • The "Reflect" spell does this, but only for spells, and as has a limited duration. (Unfortunately, it also reflects healing spells, making it somewhat awkward to use.)
    • Some items and abilities can ignore Reflect status, allowing you to heal without worry and bypass an enemy's Reflect. Unfortunately, there are some late game enemies and side bosses that can also ignore your Reflect status.
    • The recommended technique in many of the games is to cast Reflect on everyone, including the enemy. Spells only bounce once, so you can attack by casting offensive spells on yourself, and heal by casting beneficial spells at the enemy.
      • In some examples with larger parties (like 4 in Final Fantasy VI), the sum of the multi-target damage reflected 4 times is greater than the single-target damage cast directly. Especially effective against enemies with an elemental weakness.
      • In fact, there are a few bosses that basically require you to do this, either because they have Reflect on themselves or constantly cast healing spells on themselves.
      • Notably Ashura, from Final Fantasy IV, who has an extremely powerful counterattack whenever you hit her (enough to kill any member of your party unless you did heavy Level Grinding), and is constantly casting on herself the highest healing spell, the one to get extra defense, and, for some reason, the one to revive. That last one is the key; in this game, the Reflect spell isn't timed, it's just eventually broken by the magic. But White Magic doesn't break it, so you just cast reflect on her, attack, wait until she revives you, and attack again. Rinse and repeat until she dies (does take a bit of time though).
  • The "Wall" spell in Secret of Mana.
  • In Bloodline Champions, the Spinning Strike ability for Raveners, the Chronosphere for Heralds of Insight, and the (tellingly) Reflect ability for Vanguards reflect projectiles. The second does so very slowly, to limit it to a more just defensive manner.
  • Diablo
    • The Paladin has a "Wall of Thorns" ability that reflects a certain percentage of damage back to the attacker.
    • There is also a Necromancer curse called Iron Maiden that causes enemies to be damaged by their own attacks. It also multiplies the reflected damage. Unfortunately for players, enemies can use it as well.
  • Mega Man has the Mirror Buster and Jewel Satellite, which reflect shots directly back at the shooters. Other shield-type weapons absorb the shots or bounce them at an angle.
  • The shield mechanic in Giga Wing.
  • The Bat and the Reflect EX weapon in Bangai-O Spirits.
  • Kirby's Mirror power adds this effect to his defense pose in Kirby SuperStar.
  • Pokémon
    • Wobbuffet's Counter and Mirror Coat work this way in the anime. It still takes damage in the games, but returns double to the attacker.
    • A more direct example would be the move Magic Coat which sends status effect moves back at the opponent.
  • Iji: One of Iji's weapons, the Resonance Reflector, does this for a split second. Time it right. This is also a useful way of remaining a Technical Pacifist as (post v.1.6) kills by reflected enemy attacks do not count. This is also practically required against one boss.
  • Shin Megami Tensei series:
    • The Makarakarn and Tetrakarn spells, along with reflection being a form of elemental resistance.
    • In Shin Megami Tensei Imagine, you have a counter ability which readies you to receive and attack, then sends it back at your enemies.
  • Persona 3 and Persona 4, at least, also include item versions of the same: Attack Mirrors and Magic Mirrors.
  • A staple of the Mortal Kombat series. Not only can characters like Shao Kahn and Nightwolf perform special moves that reflect projectiles, Motaro does this by default in MK3.
  • Master of Orion 2 has two devices demonstrating this trope: Reflection Field gives a chance to turn incoming beam attacks back, and Energy Absorber absorbs 1/4 of all damage inflicted to the ship then allows the equipped ship to fire the stored energy as a beam weapon in the next turn.
  • The Refractor in Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal could redirect any laser that hits the shield out of its emitter. This was used not only to solve puzzles (or attack enemies who came at you in those rooms, but could also reflect the beam attacks of some enemies (like walkers).
  • A perfectly-timed parry in Advance Guardian Heroes would send any projectile right back at it's firer, even if they normally couldn't be attacked from their position. This skill was vital to surviving later stages of the game. The end of the game even has you reflecting a planet-killing attack.
  • Team Fortress 2's Pyro uses the super-non-magical version, a blast of compressed air from his/her flamethrower. As befitting its mundane nature, the compressed air blast only works on rockets, grenades and other projectile weapons (bullets don't count). On the bright side, deflected projectiles deal more damage in most cases.
  • Max and Monica each have their own version of this in Dark Cloud 2. Swing Max's right-hand weapon at the right time and you can knock enemy projectile attacks back at them. Block elemental magic attacks with Monica's sword, and it stores up the absorbed energy, allowing you to send it right back at them (or at another enemy of your choosing).
  • Although not usually used to reflect attacks, Power Slash can be used to bounce back fruit from cursed fruit trees in Okami. Equipping certain weapons as sub-weapons also reflected attacks, most notably, Infinity Judge against Crow Tengu when they swoop down to attack.
  • Items with the "reflection" property in Nethack (e.g. the shield of reflection) can reflect ray-based attacks, like magic missiles and death rays, back at whoever fired them. It's also the easiest way to deal with Medusa.
  • In Dragon Quest Swords, you can reflect some attacks by swatting them with your sword. This is the only way to defeat some enemies, such as the bodkin archers, who only attack from a distance.
  • For Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG players, be thankful that Magic Cylinder is a Limited card now. Numerous damage has been done from that card, which basically does what the trope says.
  • Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
    • Super-Guard, an Action Command that, it done right when the enemy attack connects, nullifies all damage to you and deals 1 HP of damage to the enemy (unless it was a projectile attack or the enemy can only be hurt by a specific attack, like the Iron Clefts). Super-Guarding against a projectile attack is a more direct usage of this trope, because certain projectiles will bounce back at the enemy, making them take whatever damage they were going to do. Weaker projectiles, like what Dry Bones throw, will just bounce away without harming either side.
    • The Return Postage badge, only found after defeating the Bonus Boss. When equipped, direct attackers take half the damage they deal. A Spite Pouch also gives this effect, but only for a few turns. The Zap Tap badge is kind of related, but it only does 1 point of damage to a direct attacker. Neither badge requires an action command, and the effect can be combined with a Super-Guard to protect Mario (there is no Partner Badge version of either).
  • In Boktai 3, Vanargand can fire bolts of energy at you, and they are pretty good at tracking you down unless you're Dashing. If you swat them back with a sword, however, they will damage one part of Vanargand instead—if it damages the face, it may trail off to hit a hand as well! These attacks will do a number on your sword's durability, but a broken sword is just as useful as a fresh one in this regard, so keep a broken sword handy for this purpose.
  • Quick guarding with a shield in Lunar Knights has a similar effect, but it works on all projectiles. This is useful against the Manticore's beams, as they behave like Vanargand's when reflected—that is, they go straight back to the boss.
  • Street Fighter
  • All of whom are probably inspired by Rugal's fireball reflector from The King of Fighters. Which also belonged to Athena Asamiya, who calls it Psycho Reflector. Even more, up until KOF 97, a Psycho Reflector performed with Strong Kick (or Punch?) could even be used as a direct attack.
  • God of War: Kratos could do this once he obtained the golden fleece (or Helios shield in the prequel). It even works on gorgon stares and leads to a Playing Tennis With the Boss match with Persephone in the prequel.
  • Youmu's Netherworld Reflection Slash special in the Touhou fighting games, which bounces back any projectile that hits the barrier it creates. Alice had this in Mystic Square.
  • The Corbomite Reflector ability mentioned above becomes available in the Star Trek Armada games. It reflects torpedoes back to the attacker. Has no effect on regular phasers, pulsed phasers, or long-range torpedoes.
  • The Elder Scrolls games have the Reflect Damage and Spell Reflection abilities. The first reflects damage back to the attacker based on a percentage, and does not work for ranged damage. The second reflects harmful magic, but has a percent chance of working (20% Spell Reflect has a 20% chance to bounce back magic; it does not automatically reflect 20% of damage like Reflect Damage does).
  • In both Sin and Punishment games, you can use your sword to swat projectiles back at the enemy. The final bosses in both games can only be damaged like this.
  • Sword of the Stars has this as two armor types that only reflect a percentage of incoming projectiles (with each having higher, more expensive levels of protection that require research for each level.) One type reflects lasers, while the other reflects ballistics. Unusual in that the one that reflects ballistics also provides more structural integrity, but the one that reflects lasers does nothing other than reflect lasers.
  • In Samurai Shodown, several characters can reflect attacks back at the attacker. (And some characters can instead do Ninja Log counterattacks.)
  • A core mechanic in RefleX.
  • Alice: Madness Returns: Alice's parasol can help deflect enemy's attacks. Sending their projectiles back at them is crucial to defeating them, because of their ability to block or evade normal attacks.
  • Kingdom Hearts
    • In Kingdom Hearts II, the reflect line of spells casts a spherical shell around Sora, negating any damage for a split second before inflicting identical damage to any enemies in range through energy bursts. Even the highest level of the spell has a fairly small range, so it doesn't often hurt long range attackers, but this is made up for the fact that the reflected attack can damage as many enemies as it can reach. (It ends up being a great way to do a lot of damage to Sephiroth.)
    • Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep has reprisals, which require a successfully blocked attack. The block and reprisal are separate actions, and it's not so much of a reflection as taking advantage of the enemy getting caught off guard by their blocked attack, but the fact that it is a fluid transition from block to attack, and is almost guaranteed to hit the blocked enemy for damage can make it seem like this trope.
  • The Reversal spell in Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire, which bounces back whatever offensive spell is cast at it. If it's an area spell it will falter though. The Magic User has to have this spell to finish the game.
  • Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain: The chaos armor, although both you and the enemy would be harmed, and the 'repel' spell which causes missiles to bounce back.
  • Prototype has the Shield power which does this for small arms fire only.
    • The Sequel expands this by letting you use it to, say, return missiles to their owners.
  • In Hyper Princess Pitch, Counter can reflect certain projectiles, while it only blocks most others.
  • Hard Corps: Uprising lets your character swat normal (green) bullets back at enemies.
  • In Shoot Many Robots, you can hit back some bullets using your melee attack. Red bullets deal heavy damage to their targets, while yellow bullets explode on contact, dealing heavy damage to you instead.
  • In Acceleration of SUGURI, Kyoko's ice mirror reflects any energy projectile and transforms it into a homing laser that turns back on the attacker. Unfortunately, melee attacks or explosive weapons (such as Saki's grenades) can easily destroy it.


Web Comics


Web Original

  • In the Whateley Universe, Flying Brick Lancer has this ability now. He can reflect energy attacks back at you, and he can hold them for a bit before he hits you with them while your guard is down. It's apparently not an uncommon ability of PK bricks.


Western Animation

  • A typical gag in cartoons is for the character being shot at to pull out a bent pipe so that the bullets come in one end and go back to the shooter. Never mind the actual logistics of this, it's just a cartoon.
    • The Mythbusters have shown that with a handgun and a bent piece of pipe, a bullet could be reflected back to the shooter. Of course, the pipe made a circle about 10 feet wide, but it worked.
  • Code Lyoko
    • The Frickin' Laser Beams of the monsters can sometimes be reflected by Ulrich's swords, Yumi's fans or Odd's shield (and even by the landscape in the Ice Sector). Though not the most common tactic, it is occasionally used by the heroes (most often Ulrich) to destroy monsters, especially when they're out of immediate striking range.
    • And in episode "Music Soothes the Savage Beast", a mirror is used to send back the lightning attacks of XANA's specters.
  • In Batman Beyond, silent assassin Curare can do this with her sword. Terry also did it to one of Blight's radiation blasts once, but it didn't work out too well for either of them.
  • Hudson of Gargoyles fame has an entire episode of being pursued by Demona, laser gun in hand, and repeatedly parrying her point-blank attacks with his trusty sword.
  • Iroh, Zuko, and Aang of Avatar: The Last Airbender use lightning redirection techniques.
  • In Wakfu, Yugo's portals can be used to redirect his opponents' attacks. Most notably in episode 3 against the Black Raven, or in episode 5 where he finally defeats the huge Bully leader this way.
  1. ↑ which, in Mother 3, becomes a fairly significant plot point
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