Whirling Defense

Whirling Defense - Stance
For 8-18 seconds, you have a 75% chance to "Block" attacks. Whenever you block an attack this way, adjacent foes take 5-10 piercing damage.

clearly states when an attack is blocked it does AoE dmg....however it appears as though it only does AoE dmg when a projectile attack is blocked...can anyone clarify?

Yes, whirling defense dishes out damage only to your "adjacent" enemies whenever a projectile attack is blocked, regardless whether your adjacent enemies are attacking via melee or projectiles. But the key is blocking projectile for damage to be given. Sorry for being not clear before.

The actual text of the skill states "Whenever you block a projectile in this way" not "block an attack this way"

think about it: whirling defence, flying projectiles. doing some freaky ninja move catching the arrows and spinning about scratching everyone around you~

yeh its only projectiles

Great analogy, I concur.

all you needed to say.