Reflected damage vs. "deal no damage"

My 3.16 planned build is Ice Spear totems, but my experience with Ice Spear mines indicates that it's a lousy clearing skill -- too many enemies get missed. Rather than having a secondary totem skill for clear, I was thinking of using the new Tornado skill. Of course I'm taking Ancestral Bond, which prevents skills I use myself from dealing damage; however, since the bulk of Tornado's damage is reflected, and reflected damage isn't affected by modifiers to damage dealt, I'm hoping Tornado will still deal damage. Does anyone have experience with Ancestral Bond and e.g. Molten Shell, to know whether Ancestral Bond prevents reflected damage? I'm not really in a position to test it myself right now.

reflects x% of damage

no damage, no reflect

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Ludvator wrote:

reflects x% of damage

no damage, no reflect

But I'm dealing damage with my Ice Spear totems, it's just my self-cast Tornado I'm concerned about.

Checking online, there are several Reddit and Forum post stating that Molten Shell won't deal damage if you take Ancestral Bond. They are also posts from 2013-2015.

I do believe those rules still apply nowadays, despite all the changes done to Molten Shell in 8 years

Note: Molten Shell deal Reflected Damage (now?)

Ice spear totems work fine OP you just need the pingpong from deadeye or the unique abyss jewel so they can bounce off walls with chain, its a little janky but the # of totems makes up for the poor clear if you selfcast it.

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Maxtrux wrote:

Molten Shell deal Reflected Damage (now?)

Yeah, it used to deal direct damage, but when it became a guard skill it was changed to deal reflected damage instead.

I just tested Molten Shell + Ancestral Bond in the Coast, and yes, its reflected damage still nukes cannibals, so I think it's safe to assume Tornado would also work. Next question: will Tornado accept projectiles from traps/mines/totems? I ask because I know (from testing) that totemized Frost Bolts can't be used as targets for Ice Nova. So the point might be moot anyway.

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Draegnarrr wrote:

Ice spear totems work fine OP you just need the pingpong from deadeye or the unique abyss jewel so they can bounce off walls with chain, its a little janky but the # of totems makes up for the poor clear if you selfcast it.

Nice concept, but I'm playing Hierophant, and there's no way I can fit enough searching eye jewels into my build to get a decent chain chance from the jewel. Anyway what if there's no wall behind the monsters? There are plenty of wide open maps and similar areas.