Deflect Melee

This article is about the prayer. For the status effect, see Deflect Melee (status).

Deflect Melee
Release date	3 December 2009 (Update)
Members	Yes
Level	71
Book	Ancient Curses
Drain rate	150 points per minute (1 point per 0.4 seconds)
Effect	Protects against damage from attacks and can deflect some damage back onto the attacker.
Infobox • Talk page

Deflect Melee is a curse which is similar to Protect from Melee, except that it has a chance of deflecting some damage back to the attacker. This is considered to be one of the most useful prayers in the game, along with Protect from Melee, as a great majority of the players and monsters in RuneScape use Melee. While having Deflect Melee active, it is possible to take half the melee damage from most NPCs (Notable exceptions include monsters in the Fight Kiln).

Along with the curses Turmoil and Soul Split, the deflection curses are a primary reason for players to switch from the normal prayer set to the curses (provided they have the prayer level to use the deflect curses), as they have the same drain rate as their respective protection prayers, but can deflect some of the damage they would have received back.

Deflect curses will grant you 50% damage reduction against most attacks from players and monsters. Deflect curses have a 67% chance to reflect damage back at your attacker, and the damage reflected is 10% of the damage the attack would have done if not blocked by the deflect curse.

In order to use this curse, you must have the Ancient Curses activated, which requires completion of The Temple at Senntisten quest.

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%	Adds an additional +10% damage reduction to any scenario. In most cases this makes Protect/Deflect prayers block 60% damage.
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.
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%.
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%
TokHaar-Jad
TzekHaar-Jad
Tormented demon	100%
Vorago	30%	Testing has confirmed that protection prayers are ~30% effective against blue bombs. Vorago's melee hits might also have abnormal values. Needs testing.

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 4 February 2014 (Update):
  • An issue where using a hotkey would not activate Deflect Magic and Deflect Melee from the action bar has been resolved.

• 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.

• update 3 December 2009 (Update):
  • Added to game.

Trivia

• According to the ancient hymnal, Deflect Melee's verbal incantation is "Arceto impetum gladiatorum." (I hinder the attack of swords.)
• The deflecting animation does not always occur.

See also

• Protect from Melee
• Deflect Magic
• Deflect Summoning
• Deflect Missiles