I agree, but there is an equal number of preposterous things that a player can do and benefit from:

- parrying ranged attacks
- lines/ropes cutting through impassable terrain like walls
- enemies clipping through walls (thus enemy level easy to determine)
- swimming with 20 units of iron with no penalty whatsoever

The Unity 3D engine, that Val is built on, is far from perfect.

Other than that, some enemies simulate stamina loss by running a little circle around you or close to you, during which time they do not attack you. You are doing the same thing when swarmed - you walk a little to recover stam before you parry or strike again.