I have noticed that in some circumstances, when you parry and riposte an enemy, sometimes you do more damage than others.
For example, on either the Alonne knights in the Iron Keep, or the Syan Soldiers in the Drangleic Castle, when using the Greatsword, the "upward sweep" riposte animation seems to either cause one or two hits during the animation. The most concrete evidence of this is I may need to either parry/riposte them, and then hit them once more after they get up, or I just parry/riposte once.
I have attempted to reproduce this effectively, but to no avail.
Does anyone know what might cause this?
Note – I am referring to the console version
Best Answer
This was known as a phantom parry, it happened when walking backwards before doing the riposte attack and attacking just before leaving the riposte range. This affected multiple, but not all weapons (The normal dagger is an example for a weapon it was often used for).
The game would essentially ad a normal rb/r1 attack to the riposte, adding to the overall damage.
I thought it was fixed a while ago though.
For more information on the technical stuff check the video "Dark Souls 2: Technique - Phantom Ripostes & Backstabs" on youtube.