Zandra

Very true. There are plenty counters to parry such as:

1. Not attacking. Eat some fruit or Meditate since that Parry effect only lasts for the enemy turn after yours and disappears after.

2. If Riposte isn't active, Stun or Paralyse them. If they can't move, they can't parry. Use that opportunity to EC them to their death.

The stun/paralyze option seems the most viable, due to not attacking obviously being only a band-aid solution. If one activates Parry and the other player doesn't attack, does the Parry attempt then count as a failure and drain 2 energy?

The 2 energy drain occurs if you miss when you activate your parry and thus have no riposte.