Struggling vs Retort

[Loius]

Struggler: When damaged by enemy, attack adjacent enemy
Retort: When attacked, inflict 10% of hit as damage on attacker

As far as I can tell, when a struggler attacks a retorting enemy from an adjacent locationj on high cycles, the struggler just dies. This isn't because of bad build or overconfidence or anything like that - the problem is that none of the "on attack" triggers of the attacker occur before the Retort damage. So even if "on attack, if bare hand, hit the target", the hits never trigger.

This doesn't feel right; there are some lightning enemies that "on hit, deal lightning in a path to a random target; damage = speed" who basically instadelete everything, and these still feel fair - all my abilities are going to trigger correctly, I just have to be savvy about positioning and timing.

A better example might be the "worm" boss of the main tower (I think it's that one) - when it blocks an attack, it performs an extra attack. This is a similar mechanic but the timing allows for the player's effects to trigger.

With struggle vs retort, the only effects I can slip in between my attacks are "on being dealt damage", and the options I have don't seem capable of preventing an instant death.

I'm trying to figure out if Struggler just needs to never become adjacent to a Retort enemy (feels bad, negates a lot of builds for a prestige class that's all about being adjacent), or if there's some combo to alleviate the issue that i'm just not seeing, or if the "queue order" of abilities needs adjusted.

In a perfect world I would expect my "on attack" abilities to fully complete before I'm allowed to attack again, I think. The enemy can still retort before my attack finishes, but stacking up all my "on attack" triggers and then processing them after all my attacks complete is I think the weird element here.

(Edit)
Actually, playing just now, I went up and killed a retort creature easily. The ones that instakill have so far had very high Dodge so I never hit with the attack; it may be only defensive Retorters that instakill.

[Loius]

Found "the" solution - I don't see another way to survive Retort, but I am not a panopticon.

Saurian Nartaka of Humbaba, with Gore Chant 1, Bloodbath X, Hemokinesis 1, Master Charge 1, Technique 1, Electromancy X, and Pugilism 2X
Focus WIL / VIG

Saurian doesn't really help or hinder, it just adds a little extra damage.
Honestly, same for Nartaka and its gear.
Humbaba + Pugilism + Technique are how you avoid death.
If you see a Retort enemy, you can use best judgement: either dance around it with Electromancy and never attack, or dive it and hope your Bloodbath*WIL is high enough to out-heal it. Bloodbath DOES trigger in between retorts, but pugilism (Humbaba) does not, so your only source of defense against retort is Bloodbath.
By the end of cycle 32 with 50 WIL, I no longer needed to check for Retort, I could just charge anything and outheal the damage.

This was effective, but not the same level of OP as some other builds I've made, so I'm sure there's room for improvement.

Gear:
Golden Helm (not important, just helps kill faster)
Fire Gloves (practically useless, the lightning gloves would be better)
Garnet Necklace (you need some way to defend against scorch)
Emerald Skirt (you need some way to defend against scorch)
Zasadzka Claw (massive increase to effectiveness against the first few enemies you Hydlide into - make sure you aren't two-handing it)
Glaghar (probably not helpful but I picked it up and kept it at the end just so I'd have it in the Path of Dust in case i got enough extra attacks; i did not get enough extra attacks)