The Tavern

Just trying to think up a character that could utilize this new mechanic to it's best as early as possible. My initial thought is MfGl with the great Dodging and respectable Long Blade aptitudes, but maybe there's a better way?

I've been trying to run light-armored HEGls of Ash to try this out, only I keep dying due to being careless.

I'm also planning on trying this kind of build on a Vampire who can alternate between stabbing and swordplay.

You can't riposte with a polearm.

What, you don't find fencer's gloves on D:5 every game?

Seriously, what is this?! We need to be able to choose type of gloves when you first start the game.

{Mi,HO,DD,Mf}{Gl,Fi,Be}. Mf is probably perfect if you can stand to not take advantage of the Polearms apt. (Same for HO and, to a much lesser extent, DD.) Pick Dex at stat ups. Wear the same armour you usually would. Trog and Oka help with getting a good collection of toys.

If HE didn't suck so much they'd be the obvious choice. (I'm not sure why, but I splat them alot. Must be the -10%HP. And my aversion to ranged (bows).). Maybe HEAE? Or HESk (ha!)?

OpFi? {Ha,Sp,Ko,VS}As? Dith?

EDIT: KoBe!

i played a GrAr^ash which found an early disc of storms and wielded a scimitar of flaming through midgame, without weapon skill.
just spammed the disc + riposte through midgame. worked quite well (gr ofc, you can run naked through the game with it). ash helped to boost evo and EV
in the end i had 30 shield and a 1hander so i didnt notice much of riposte. so 2handers recommended

and a Ds with triple sword through extended, where it was noticable and the dmg seemed almost better than a triple sword before the change

Tengu would be a good choice too imo, because the aux attacks also proc on riposte and it has decent EV and apts + lots of other good apts to do something else than hitting.. thats my understanding of your question at least.
if you wanna play a straight fighter you wont notice much difference except that you get more text

Honestly? I'd say a durable species.

I'd actually say a less-than obvious; but potentially strong choice is to play a Halfling. Sure, you can't use the biggest swords; but as a Halfling; you're probobly wanting to use a Shield anyway, and Halflings have +1 to Dodgeing; Armour and Shields; and get an EV bonus for their size. Also their apt for Long Blades is 0. Which is above average.

Minotaurs are the obvious best due to their apts.

Actually for riposte abuse i currently like book starts with melee-range spells, and flat damage brands.

Is it appropriate to think of ripsote as a auxilliary attack that triggers on your EV instead of on your STR+DEX?

Well, ripostes can themselves trigger auxilliary attacks(and are identical in strength to your main attack), so not exactly. It's kind of its own thing.

Heh, riposting with a demon blade as a vine stalker did lead to a lot of biting. They don't exactly have super apts for it, but a VS with a long blade does quite well with riposte due to all the biting. It doesn't feel like that was intended though, I imagine riposts triggering aux attacks will be removed sooner or later, so enjoy it while you can!

Thank you so much for making this thread! I just downloaded offline trunk to replace my 0.18 stable version, and this new feature has made my favorite race/god combo even better.

So, in order to make the most of riposte, I think the best build is Minotaur Gladiator of Cheibriados.

Dex on level up, lots and lots of EV and plenty of AC once you find some medium artefact armour. The fact that auxiliary (retaliatory?) headbutting is going on at the same time has lead to some amazing free damage and I'm only on L:5 with my first attempt so far.

/OT Full disclosure, this is also the first game in my crawl career where I have found an early rod and used it -- what an awesome item, I wish they were more common! /OT

Disclaimer: I am in the extreme minority who think Chei is not only viable, but amazing. YMMV. This message is small so that you might still give it a try.