Deflection curses

"Deflect" redirects here. For the threshold Defence ability, see Reflect.

A player deflecting Melee damage

Deflection curses are Ancient Curses, which have the same drain rate as their respective protection prayers and the chance to deflect damage back at the enemy, commonly known as "pray melee, range, mage, necromancy". Players need to have completed The Temple at Senntisten quest to access these prayers. Once players have completed the quest, they can switch to the Ancient Curses prayer book by praying at the Altar of Zaros in the Zarosian temple beneath the Varrock Dig Site or the Elven grimoire in the Cadarn district in Prifddinas.

Some high levelled monsters and bosses (e.g. Nomad, Bork, wild jade vine) cannot be harmed by deflection curses and the player will get a message You are unable to reflect damage back to this creature.

Mechanics

Deflection curses stop 50% of damage in PvM and 40% of damage caused by other players (in PvP). In addition, they also have a chance of deflecting some of the damage they would have caused back onto the attacker. As with 'Protect from' prayers, players can only deflect one style of combat at a time (Melee, Ranged, Magic, or Necromancy). Creatures that can only be damaged in a specific way (ex. Vyrewatch can only be damaged by the Ivandis flail or Blisterwood weapons) cannot be hurt using a deflect curse.

While activated, the Curses have a deflect rate of approximately 60%. This means that on slightly more than half of the hits, the player will wave their arm in a blocking gesture, accompanied by a light (Red-Melee, Blue-Magic, Green-Ranged, Purple-Necromancy), showing that the deflect occurred. When this happens, 10% of the blocked damage will be deflected back, and if it would have hit a zero or under ten, there will be no recoil. However, recoils become helpful when fighting a boss because they deal higher damage than normal monsters.

List of Deflection curses

Curse	Level needed	Effect
Deflect Summoning	62	Reduces damage dealt from Summoning scrolls, prevents the use of a familiar's special attack, and can deflect some of the damage back to the attacker.
Deflect Magic	65	Provides 50% damage reduction against magical attacks and can deflect some of the damage back to the attacker.
Deflect Ranged	68	Provides 50% damage reduction against ranged attacks and can deflect some of the damage back to the attacker.
Deflect Melee	71	Provides 50% damage reduction against melee attacks and can deflect some of the damage back to the attacker.
Deflect Necromancy	73	Provides 50% damage reduction against Necromancy attacks and can deflect some of the damage back to the attacker.

Exceptions to prayers and curses blocking 50% damage

Protection prayers and curses give 50% damage reduction in most scenarios. However, there are a number of exceptions that are outlined in the charts below.

Abilities, items, and perks

Modifier	Type	Damage reduction %	Notes
Devotion	Ability	100% (75% in pvp)	Lasts for 10 seconds when activated and can be extended by an additional 10 seconds.
Amulet of souls	Item	+10%	Adds an additional +10% damage reduction to any scenario. In most cases this makes Protect/Deflect prayers block 60% damage.
Essence of Finality	Item	+10%
Pontifex shadow ring	Item	+10%	Adds an additional +10% damage reduction against Arch-Glacor's basic attacks. Stacks additively with amulet of souls or Essence of Finality.
Powder of protection	Item	+10%	Adds an additional +10% damage reduction to any scenario. In most cases this makes protection prayers/curses block 60% damage. Does not stack with amulet of souls or Essence of Finality.
Devoted	Perk	100% (75% in PvP)	Has a chance to activate for 3 seconds every time you get hit.
Enhanced Devoted	Perk	100% (75% in PvP)	Has a chance to activate for 3 seconds every time you get hit. Greater chance than Devoted.

NPCs

NPC name	Damage reduction %	Notes
Arch-Glacor	65%	Protect/Deflect prayers are 65% effective against the Flurry special attack instead of the normal 50%.
Balance Elemental	100%
Balfrug Kreeyath	100%	He is K'ril Tsutsaroth's minion that attacks with Magic.
Blink	15%	Protect and Deflect Ranged block 15% of the damage of Blink's magic attack.
Brutish dinosaur	~72%	Special attack deals melee damage and Protect/Deflect Melee reduces damage by ~72%.
Corporeal Beast	25%	Unconfirmed/needs testing
Demon boss	0%	Protect/Deflect prayers do not reduce any damage. Additionally, using any prayer increases the damage they deal by 200% as well as their accuracy.
Giant mole	0%	On hard mode, if she attacks a player that is trapped in mud deals around 3,000 melee damage that is not reduced by Protect/Deflect Melee.
Kalphite King	Varies	Reduces normal Melee and Ranged attacks by 70%. Reduces double-mage ball Magic attack by 0%. The reduction from the melee "green" attack is much less than 50%, probably 0%.
Kerapac	Varies	The more enrage Kerapac gains during the 4th phase of the fight, the less effective your Protect/Deflect prayers are.
Legiones	0%	Their lightning area-of-denial attacks deal Magic damage but are not reduced by Protect/Deflect Magic.
Memory of Nomad	0%	Gielinor's red bomb attacks deal Magic damage but are not reduced by Protect/Deflect Magic.
Nex		Unconfirmed/needs testing
Nightmare	75%	Special attack deals Ranged damage and Protect/Deflect Missiles reduces damage by 75%.
Nodon artificer	0%	Their "Feel the flames..." special attack deals Magic damage but is not reduced by Protect/Deflect Magic.
Nodon engineer
Nodon enforcer
Siege engine	50%	Despite dealing cannonball damage, Protect/Deflect Missiles reduces damage by 50%.
Ogre shaman	0%	Interacting with them before completing the Watchtower quest without the magic ogre potion deals Magic damage but is not reduced by Protect/Deflect Magic.
Raksha	60%
Scopulus	>50%	One of the minions spawned at Vorago. Unconfirmed/needs testing
TzTok-Jad	100%	Praying the correct protection prayer against TzTok-Jad, TokHaar-Jad, or TzekHaar-Jad blocks their damage completely.
TokHaar-Jad
TzekHaar-Jad
Tormented demon	100%

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included – see here for how to help out!

• patch 24 June 2010 (Update):
  • Adjusted the curse deflect animations to be faster. This was an animation issue only; running/walking is still the same with or without curses active.

• patch 15 December 2009 (Update):
  • Deflect curses should now work correctly against skeletal wyverns.