Riposte



Riposte is a very rare defensive effect that causes the user to respond to attacks with a counterattack.

The only Heroes that have a skill that can trigger this effect are the Highwayman and the Man-at-Arms, although several enemies have it as well.

Effect
When a unit affected by Riposte is targeted by an attack, they will retaliate by attacking back to the original aggressor. The initial attack that targets the unit with Riposte does not need to inflict damage or hit: if it is dodged, Riposte will be triggered all the same. Similarly, a Riposte attack can be dodged as well. The attack that triggers Riposte can be melee or ranged and hit one or more targets, the only requirement is the unit with active Riposte is targeted. DoT effects such as blight or bleeding will not trigger Riposte, but abilities that apply these statuses will, even if they don't inflict direct damage. However, Stress attacks which do not inflict damage will NOT trigger the Riposte (e.g. the Madman's Accusation). If the unit with Riposte is attacked while stunned, Riposte will not trigger.

When an enemy is killed by Riposte, any additional effects from their attack (i.e. Stress, Bleed, Blight) will not be applied. The Stress that comes from critical hits will still occur.

Riposte, unlike many status effects, lasts only for two turns; its duration can be refreshed by using the ability that activated it a second time.

A Riposte attack will have the base stats of the Weapons held by the Heroes, inheriting base damage and critical chance before calculating any modifiers to those parameters. The skills in the base game that trigger Riposte are the Man-at-Arm's Retribution or the Highwayman's Duelist's Advance - both start at -40% base damage and get progressively stronger as you improve those skills.

Although you can increase the level of the skill that triggers the Riposte, the Riposte's base accuracy will always remain the same, regardless of level of the skill. Unfortunately, that will implicate that at higher level's dungeons, opting to Riposte will become an even riskier gambit. This, however, can be mitigated with ACC increasing trinkets.

Synergies
By its nature, Riposte is extremely effective if paired with other effects (namely being marked) that draw the attention of the enemy: by being hit more, more Riposte counterattacks are carried out.

Notably, Riposte is a part of Retribution, one of the abilities of the Man-at-Arms, who also possesses Defender, a guard ability that redirects hits aimed to an ally to him, thus triggering Riposte while shielding the ally. This coupled with the increased PROT buff granted by this skill will allow the MaA to withstand increased amounts of punishment. (Note that using the MaA's "Defender/Guard Ally" ability will over-ride the Antiquarian's Protect Me ability, and vice versa; only one such Guard ability can be active on a single target at any time.)

Though the Highwayman possesses no protection skill or marking that can be paired with his Riposte skill, the introduction of the Antiquarian and her Protect Me! skill synergizes extremely well with this hero's Riposte, meaning he will be counter-attacking more often (i.e. when either he or the Antiquarian are attacked) while simultaneously being protected by the Protect Me buff and in turn protecting the frail Antiquarian.