Retaliation Damage and RatA: The Basics of Hit-Me-Back Builds

Retaliation basics: always triggers - but only on melee hits

Think of retaliation as a 100%-proc counter that strikes only your attacker.

• ▸Retaliation automatically damages any enemy whose melee attack hits you - at a 100% rate, against every attacker at once if a crowd is beating on you.
• ▸It only triggers on melee hits taken. Ranged and skill attacks cannot be answered - the fundamental limit of pure passive-retaliation play.
• ▸Your retaliation amounts are set by your own stats and shown on page 3 of the character sheet; sheet DPS never includes them.
• ▸Retaliation damage is subject to enemy resistances and to damage conversion just like ordinary damage (see the conversion article).
• ▸Since v1.2.1.0, pure Physical retaliation is also mitigated by enemy armor (with across-the-board buffs to physical retaliation as compensation).
• ▸DoT-style retaliation such as Poison or Burn behaves like any DoT: however many times one enemy hits you, only one instance accrues (same source - see the DoT stacking article).

Scaling retaliation: only retaliation-specific bonuses count

Retaliation's bonus system is fully separate from ordinary damage - confusing the two ruins gearing decisions.

• ▸Flat retaliation (e.g., 'n Physical Retaliation damage') is the base, gathered from gear, skills, and devotions.
• ▸Only '+n% ... Retaliation damage' amplifies it. Ordinary '+n% ... damage' and '+% All Damage' contribute nothing.
• ▸'n% Total Damage Modified' does not touch retaliation either - only 'n% Total Retaliation Damage Modified' does.
• ▸Gearing a retaliation build therefore means leaning into retaliation-tagged properties; ordinary damage options simply do not feed it.
• ▸Retaliation comes in damage types (Physical, Fire, Lightning, Acid, ...) - pick a main type and match flat values with the same type's % bonuses.

RatA: delivering retaliation through attacks (FG)

FG's flagship fix for the wait-to-be-hit problem - and the axis of modern retaliation builds.

• ▸Retaliation Added to Attack (RatA) works only with Forgotten Gods installed. It appears as 'n% of Retaliation damage added to attack' on specific skill effects and item skill modifiers.
• ▸It adds each damage type's retaliation on your sheet, multiplied by the listed rate, onto the target skill's damage. Multiple RatA effects on one skill all add together.
• ▸RatA-delivered damage still scales only with retaliation bonuses, never ordinary damage bonuses - and it is subject to damage conversion.
• ▸When a default-attack replacer carries RatA, the retaliation damage also comes out through any WPS that fires during it - plus that WPS's own RatA if it has one.
• ▸Caveat: loading retaliation DoTs onto several skills via RatA never stacks them per skill - they all trace back to the single source 'your retaliation'.
• ▸Reflection trap: innate retaliation damage is not reflected by reflective enemies, but RatA-delivered damage is reflected just like ordinary damage.

Easily confused mechanics: counter-skills and enemy reflection

• ▸Counter-attack skills (procs on being hit) are separate from retaliation. Unless limited by wording like 'when hit by melee/ranged attacks', they trigger on every hit taken, including per-second ticks of sustained enemy skills.
• ▸Enemy reflection (Damage Reflected) is also separate: a reflecting enemy (the spiky aura is the classic tell) returns a percentage of the damage you deal it, DoTs included.
• ▸The defenses are capped resistances plus '+n% Reduced Reflected Damage' (reflect resistance) - reduction sources add up, and at the 100% cap (as of v1.2.1.2) reflected damage is fully nullified. The total shows on sheet page 3.
• ▸80% resistances absorb most of it, but Physical resistance is hard to stack - so the more physical your build, the more reflect resistance matters. In the Shattered Realm enemy reflection is heavily toned down, lowering the priority for SR-only farming.
• ▸As an offensive tool for players, reflection is marginal and generally not rated as a practical damage source.

1. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: Combat Mechanics — Confirms retaliation's trigger rules (melee hits only, 100%), its separate bonus system (ordinary %, All Damage %, and Total Damage Modified not applying; only retaliation-tagged bonuses and Total Retaliation Damage Modified), sheet page 3, enemy resistance/conversion/armor application (physical retaliation since v1.2.1.0), the RatA rules (FG-only, additive, retaliation bonuses only, WPS carry-over, same-source retaliation DoTs, only RatA-delivered damage being reflectable), and the counter-skill/reflection distinctions with reflect resistance (additive, 100% cap, SR tone-down).
2. Official Grim Dawn Game Guide: Combat — Confirms the official basics of damage types and defense (the name 'Retaliation Added to Attack' follows the official guide's usage).
3. Official Crate Forum: Grim Dawn v1.2.1.6 + Hotfix — Official patch notes for the verified version.