Return Buckle
Manual shield establishes a counterattack budget, up to 2 each round. After a complete enemy action, counter its attacker for actual shield absorption, up to 2 and the remaining budget. Spell and automatic shields add no budget. Repeated cores on one hero do not stack. Counters reach the attacker in a back row and bypass contact retaliation, reflection and side petrification; damage defenses still apply.
Equipment passive · Counterattack
Equipment passive. Manual face effects must add shield to this wearer. Actual shield absorption from the complete enemy face action, including that enemy's additional attacks, then returns damage to that attacker: at most 2 per enemy action and 2 per round, limited by manual shield gained and shield actually absorbed. Multiple hits share the action cap. Automatic shield, spells, tactics and ongoing damage do not establish this budget. The wearer and attacker must survive the enemy action; a dead attacker is never replaced by another target. Only the strongest equipped counter rule applies. The return strike reaches a protected back row and obeys the attacker's armor, invulnerability and health-cell rules for retaliation damage. It bypasses contact retaliation, reflection and petrification, cannot trigger another counterattack, and grants no mana, rerolls or relay progress.