Risen Duellist Enemy type 9 of 15 · first met in Valley of Ashes

Counterplay for Risen Duellist, written from its move list, resistances, variants and drops.

Tips built from its data: what it resists, what it is weak to, which attacks to dodge and how to open it up.

• Watch for the red attacks: Melee Combo 2Heavy cannot be blocked, so dodge them instead of holding block.
• Its head takes ×2.2 damage, so aim firearm shots at the head.
• It can block and parry your attacks (block chance 20% / 70% / 100%, parry chance — as the game lists them), so mix in charged attacks and posture damage instead of mashing light attacks.
• Sneak up on it: a backstab deals a fixed 140 damage at level 1, 100% of its health (1 backstab kills it).
• Its toughest variant, Elite*, starts at 1,200 HP, far more than the 140 of a level-1 placement.

The game defines 2 versions of this enemy. Each has its own health, posture and defensive behaviour; elites are tougher one-off placements, summoned ones appear mid-fight.

* Variant names are built from the game's internal tier tags (the game shows no name for them). Block and parry chances are listed in the order the game stores them. Placed = how many level spawners use that variant.

Health of every variant by level

How fast each variant closes the distance, and how quickly its posture comes back once you stop pressuring it.

Its fastest variant moves at 5 m/s; your walk speed is 4 m/s.

Speeds are the AI's movement settings in metres per second. Posture recovery is the posture regained per second, and the delay is the wait before recovery begins (game fields posture_recovery_per_sec and posture_reset_delay). — = not set for that variant.

Enemy levels in Valor Mortis are set per placement, not by a difficulty setting (the game has a single difficulty): the same enemy is level 1 in one spot and level 6 in another, usually higher later in the campaign. This is the main variant from level 1 to 6.

Damage dealt multiplies every attack's base damage. Critical attacks (after a posture break) and backstabs deal the fixed amounts shown, whatever your weapon; the share column is our arithmetic.

Every damaging attack across its variants, grouped into moves, with base damage per hit, wind-up and whether you can block it.

* Attack names are built from the game's internal tags. Damage is the level-1 base; multiply by the placement's damage multiplier (up to ×2 at level 6), so Melee Combo 2Heavy goes from 30 to about 60.

It has no special resistances or weaknesses: every damage type works the same.

Weak points

Random drops on every kill, with the chance the game rolls for each.

Risen Duellist drops

Item	Type	Chance	Amount	On average
Whetstone	Consumable	3%	1	1 in 33 kills
Crude Blade Material	Upgrade material	1%	1	1 in 100 kills

"On average" is 1 ÷ chance (calculated): the expected number of kills per drop, not a guarantee.

2 placed spawners carry a scripted reward that always drops on the kill: Distilled Blade Material (The Outskirts), Harbour Residence Key (The Outskirts).

Elite drops: Ambers and keys

Reward	Type	Location	Carried by	Nearest Lantern
Distilled Blade Material	Upgrade material	The Outskirts	Elite* · Elite	Harbour · about 65 m away
Harbour Residence Key	Key	The Outskirts	Elite* · Elite	Harbour · about 65 m away

These are one-time rewards from specific spawners. The Lantern distance is a straight line from the spawner (calculated).

Placed spawners per region in campaign order: 26 in total, the most in Fortress (5).

Counts are the game's placed spawners; scripted waves and summons during fights are not included.

Data: Steam build 25907482 (1.0 launch). How we source this

Fortress

Reset viewFull mapFullscreen

• Lanterns6
• Boss1
• Chests16
• Keys2
• Letters9
• Item pickups64
• Ability altar1
• Echoes of the Past3
• Enemies100

Click the map to zoom with the scroll wheel

Everything placed in Fortress

Ability altars: 1

Bosses: 1 (Captain Raphael)

Chests: 16 (Indestructible Shell, Life Diverted, Ferrofluid Flask Power Upgrade, Empty Ferrofluid Flask, Quintessential Blade Material, Sands of Time, Remnant's Return, Lucky Shot, Quintessential Transmutation Material, Potent Concoction, Exquisite Firearm Parts, Tomorrow's Promise)

Keys: 2 (Captain's Key, Fortress Armory Key)

Lanterns: 6 (Courtyard, Traverse, Main Gate, Chapel, Ramparts, High Tower)

Letters: 9 (Shrike's Scout Report, Countess Elara's Order, Correspondence from the Imperial Legate, Report of the Siege, Letter from Countess Elara's Husband, Commander's Note, Curfew Notice, The Codex of the Oathbound)

Basic hits needed to kill a level-1 Risen Duellist (140 HP) with every blade and firearm at weapon levels 1, 5 and 10.

Hits to kill

Weapon	Weapon level 1	Weapon level 5	Weapon level 10
Pistol	530 per hit3 to the head	442 per hit2 to the head	360 per hit2 to the head
Musket	1150 per hit	1210 per hit	1300 per hit
Blunderbuss	1150 per hit	1230 per hit	1350 per hit
Saber	720 per hit	440 per hit	360 per hit
Rapier	625 per hit	435 per hit	445 per hit
Claymore	350 per hit	280 per hit	2100 per hit

Calculated from weapon damage × the first light attack's multiplier × (1 − resistance); firearms also show head hits. Upgrades, Ambers, coatings and the stat board are not included, and higher-level placements need proportionally more hits.

William's journal page on Risen Duellist, as written in the game.

Enemies found alongside Risen Duellist

Enemy types that share the most regions with it.

• Risen SoldierThe Battlefield100 Health8 shared regions
• Risen MusketeerThe Battlefield70 Health8 shared regions
• HowlerThe Battlefield100 Health8 shared regions
• CarrionValley of Ashes120 Health8 shared regionsWeak to Fire damage

Walkthrough for the chapter where you first meet it