Riposte icon.
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, the Man-at-Arms and the Duelist, 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
On their own, Riposte-based abilities suffer from a host of issues, including low-up front damage and unreliability—both from the Riposte's low base accuracy, not to mention the fact that the enemy must first attack the hero to trigger the riposte. The latter is especially detrimental, since avoiding enemy attacks is a basic principle of surviving combat in Darkest Dungeon. However, when paired with other effects, Ripostes can become a highly action-efficient source of damage and damage negation:
- Guard abilities can redirect enemy attacks to the Riposting hero, thereby multiplying the number of times Riposte will trigger.
- Self-marks can have a similar effect.
- DODGE and PROT can help negate incoming enemy attacks.
There is a natural synergy, for example, between the Man-at-Arms' Retribution and Defender: the guard from Defender and the self-mark from Retribution redirect attacks to the Man-at-Arms, while the PROT buff from Defender allows the Man-at-Arms to absorb more damage. There is also a powerful synergy between the Highwayman's Duelist's Advance and the Antiquarian's Protect Me!. Alone, the Highwayman has no way of redirecting attacks to himself; however, not only does Protect Me! force another hero to guard the Antiquarian, but it also marks that hero while increasing their PROT and DODGE. With a reliable source of healing, the Highwayman-Antiquarian combination is powerful enough to take on dungeons at any level.
Riposte abilities also excel when facing certain bosses. Many bosses have multi-target attacks and multiple actions per round, making it much easier to trigger Ripostes. Additionally, accuracy is somewhat less important when facing bosses than in regular fights. While accuracy normally allows the player to guarantee deathblows, thereby preventing future enemy actions, this is not possible when facing bosses; it is simply necessary to deal a lot of (expected) damage over time. The Shambler and the Miller, for example, are both especially susceptible to Ripostes. Accuracy buffs like the Jester's Battle Ballad can help greatly when attempting to take down a boss with a riposte-based strategy.