Question about magic reflect

[Citronvand]

If you have 100 in magic reflect does that mean you have a 100% chance of reflecting spells? Because I just found another Mirror Darkly Shield which has 50 magic reflect. I thought that I could save it for Dredmor then dual wield them to get 100 magic reflect and take him out from range.

[Haldurson]

It's a little bit more complicated (and I don't have an exact answer for you, but stay with me).

First of all Magic Reflect only affects missile-type magic (eg. fireballs). But it's my understanding that yes, it's the percent chance that you will reflect a magical-type missile.

That said, creatures can ALSO have magic reflect. So I can't tell you what happens if a creature reflects back on you a spell that you reflected first (is the reflect percentage reduced on the second reflect???). Nor can I tell you what happens in the case of a haywire (I'm not sure that reflect will work on a haywire/magical crit).

If you are talking about non-missile magic, then what you need is magic resist, and it does not guarantee, even if you make your roll, that you'll take zero damage, but it can reduce the damage.

Also, keep in mind that Dredmor has some really tough magical attacks that are non-missile in nature. So that magic reflect sounds great, but it's not adequate alone for Dredmor himself. You'll want Magic Resist as well (and even at 100% resist, that's only going to reduce the damage, not block it).

That said, getting 100% magic reflect is great. But you'll probably stilll want the defense as well that you are losing from using those instead of more physical damage-oriented shields. Ideally, you want both. But if you are lucky, you may be able to make up for that loss with your other gear and/or skills.

In other words, the old saying is true even in Dredmor -- "TANSTAAFL" (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch). You take one advantage by sacrificing another.

[Citronvand]

Thanks, I appreciate the lengthy answer. Here's my plan: Use both shields, beef me up with astrology and demonologist buffs which means over 100 block, resist & reflect magic. As I've understood haywire ignores resists so I'll bring a long some of those potions that give me resist lightning since I've heard that's the major damage element he uses.

Then I use summons, especially the mustashe guy (no cooldown), next to him while I shoot him with mechanical bolt/bomb arrows and holy grenades. If that's not enough I might have to melee him, my character is primarly a melee fighter. It seems like if the enemy has any friendly monster next to them they will always attack them and not me.

This is a random skills + Rogue difficulty + permadeath run so I don't want to mess up on him. How much is his damage in general? I don't want to be one-shotted. I'm currently on level 12 and I have almost 200 hp.

[Haldurson]

True, he will attack pets first if they are adjacent. The problem is that pets will not last that long. If you are on level 12, you should pretty much figure that out. You probably will not be one-shotted, but your pet might be. The Mortal Machine pet, of course, is better. I just don't have any experience with it.

You can see the Lord's stats on Dredmorpedia (which vary based on the difficulty): http://j-factor.com/dredmorpedia/

Generally speaking, if you are on level 12, then you still have more chances to improve your situation. look out for throw weapon/bolt vending machines, useful potions, etc. You primarily want to do piercing and Righteous damage (Well, Righteous is his primary weakness, but that's a lot rarer than piercing). You especially want to conserve invis potions, and the fungus that has the same effect (even if you have burglary, remember that the invis skill has a cooldown, so it's good to have the potions just in case). If your health gets low, a simple heal potion is not going to save you -- what you want to do is go invisible, and then use whatever you have. If you don't have those, then simply getting out of his line of sight will allow you to do the same. Also, before the fight starts, fill up on food so you don't have to eat during the fight, use your various resist/damage potions/fungi, etc.when you are invisible, reload those potions as necessary (if you have spare, use them while invisible or out of the line of attack, because no sense letting anything go to waste).

Look at his entry on Dredmorpedia -- he has a large number of different possible attacks that he can use, and it's random as to which he'll use on any given turn.

[Citronvand]

I did it! Thanks for your help Haldurson, damn he had a lot of HP and his lightning attack hurt a LOT. I drank a couple of lightning potions so I had about 30 lightning resistance but even with that amount he did over 50 damage so I had to drink them all + use wand of tesla.

I noticed that the mustashe guy didn't really help so much, he sometimes hit him but usually he just cast spells at me even with the mustashe next to him. Speaking of the mustashe, I used him instead of the robot since he is very cheap to cast and has a high dodge chance. The robot wasn't very good when I used him due to his cost and that he only had slightly more hp if any.

[FireFlower]

I got killed by haywired magic reflect + enemy magic reflect => haywired again => haywired again until I died.