How do parrys work?

[CrescentMouse]

It seems no matter what i do, parries will never ever ever land. I use a parrying dagger or buckler and so far literally every single attack ive seen, i can PARTIAL parry it perfectly non-stop hundreds of times in a row. But the timing for an actual parry seems insanely picky like exactly one frame. I've been killed from a partial parry when I literally see the weapon looking like it'd get caught right in the guard of the parrying dagger. Why is it so insanely picky and on what specific frame is it on?

[MULTIPASS]

Originally posted by CrescentMouse:

the timing for an actual parry seems insanely picky like exactly one frame.

Yeah pretty much, it's a very small number of active parry frames. There are several other versions of the parry skill you can acquire that have a more generous window (golden parry, carian retaliation, etc) and they are accessible from the start of the game if you know how to travel ahead on the map.

[CrescentMouse]

Originally posted by MULTIPASS:

Originally posted by CrescentMouse:

the timing for an actual parry seems insanely picky like exactly one frame.

Yeah pretty much, it's a very small number of active parry frames. There are several other versions of the parry skill you can acquire that have a more generous window (golden parry, carian retaliation, etc) and they are accessible from the start of the game if you know how to travel ahead on the map.

Well is it better to just avoid parrying bosses then since it seems so unreliable? And if so, any recommendations for a thief-like build?

[Nyx]

Originally posted by CrescentMouse:

Originally posted by MULTIPASS:

Yeah pretty much, it's a very small number of active parry frames. There are several other versions of the parry skill you can acquire that have a more generous window (golden parry, carian retaliation, etc) and they are accessible from the start of the game if you know how to travel ahead on the map.

Well is it better to just avoid parrying bosses then since it seems so unreliable? And if so, any recommendations for a thief-like build?

duel daggers and rolling. though be careful with when you use powerstance vs light or heavy cause the powerstance attack is kinda long or long enough that if you don't have good timing most bosses will smack you.

[CrescentMouse]

Originally posted by Nyx:

Originally posted by CrescentMouse:

Well is it better to just avoid parrying bosses then since it seems so unreliable? And if so, any recommendations for a thief-like build?

duel daggers and rolling. though be careful with when you use powerstance vs light or heavy cause the powerstance attack is kinda long or long enough that if you don't have good timing most bosses will smack you.

gotcha ok ill give the game more time so far it's been very frustrating for me :(

[Narm]

I'm not great at parrying, but the usual advice is to not watch the weapon, watch the hand. You parry when the hand is moving towards you, not the weapon. I'm pretty sure I've heard people say that this is different than in previous games.

Easiest thing to parry with is carian retaliation. Has the most frames if I remember correctly. Golden parry is good for practice because you don't have to be careful about spacing. Parry on a weapon has the least amount of parry frames and is the hardest to use.

[lindyhop]

parry is an ability that must be continuously honed,
it took me about 30 tries to "parry only" Crucible Knight in Stormhill. :D
and also many bosses need to be parried 2/3 times to fall, some can't even be parried at all.

[Jowain]

Parrying is addictive but also annoying, dealing with enemies like a certain big sword wolf knight (no, not the root mucher) is tedious and the Erdtree Knights don't seem to reward you with a critical strike.

I was so happy parrying three swings in a row from those horsemen, only to find out that I'm not allowed to crit them, making parrying entirely pointless but to squeeze in a few extra hits.

[Azor]

parrying dagger has terrible frames, stick with the buclker until you unlock carrian relatiation or golden parry and put in on a normal shield, which has 1 extra parry frame. You'll learn to love the buckler until then.

more info
https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Parrying

[TuskSpin]

Parrys have startup frames. This advice isn't universal, but using a buckler I've found the best time to parry is when they start the swing, not when it's about to hit. Enemies with slower animations may require you to wait a second.

[Vinnolo]

Originally posted by CrescentMouse:

Originally posted by MULTIPASS:

Yeah pretty much, it's a very small number of active parry frames. There are several other versions of the parry skill you can acquire that have a more generous window (golden parry, carian retaliation, etc) and they are accessible from the start of the game if you know how to travel ahead on the map.

Well is it better to just avoid parrying bosses then since it seems so unreliable? And if so, any recommendations for a thief-like build?

most bosses cant be parried, so dont bother

[opus132]

Practice makes perfect. There's really no suggestion any of us can make, you sort of have to develop a "feel" for it.

I personally think it is definitely worth the effort. Some enemies are simply made much easier to manage with parry, and sometimes FromSoft itself is begging you to do it.

The Crucible Knights are a good example. It's not difficult to learn how to roll-fu through their attacks but those guys are so damn resilient that it's just so damn annoying to kill them that way. Meanwhile, parry makes them almost a joke:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlTuoNnU1NE

Keep in mind you don't HAVE to parry everything. I think in Elden Ring there's no such thing as a one size fits all playstyle. There are different approaches for different enemies and you sort of have to develop different play styles for each of them.

[opus132]

Originally posted by CrescentMouse:

Originally posted by MULTIPASS:

Yeah pretty much, it's a very small number of active parry frames. There are several other versions of the parry skill you can acquire that have a more generous window (golden parry, carian retaliation, etc) and they are accessible from the start of the game if you know how to travel ahead on the map.

Well is it better to just avoid parrying bosses then since it seems so unreliable? And if so, any recommendations for a thief-like build?

Depends on the boss. Commander Niall was much easier for me with parry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzVd8KhfnZY

When i tried it without parry, i had the banished knights chase my ass for 15 minutes and Commander Niall himself was a pain in the ass but parry makes short order of him.

A good rule of thumb generally is enemies or bosses that have a long wind up on their attacks that are otherwise sort of thorny to deal through pure rolling are meant to be parried.

Sometimes, parry can stop an entire combo in its tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sQEPyLfo1U

Check the move he does after his rain of knives. He puts his hammer on his shoulder and rushes forward with his sword extended towards you, which even flashes for a second almost as if FromSoft wants you to notice it. This is a prelude to an obnoxious combo but a good parry can basically knock him out of the whole sequence.

Notice also that in this game parry is made easier than past Souls because weapon arts like Golden Parry or Carian can be used on medium shields. This means you can have the best parries on shields with 100% physical dmg reduction. This makes parry a bit more forgiving than it used to be because if you hesitate a bit you can block the attack and parry the next one.

[opus132]

Originally posted by Jowain:

I was so happy parrying three swings in a row from those horsemen, only to find out that I'm not allowed to crit them, making parrying entirely pointless but to squeeze in a few extra hits.

The only horse riders that is worth parrying are the Night Cavarly dudes. A good parry can knock them off the horse and you can keep them on the ground for a long time by repeatedly parrying his ground swings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL3DnZjFscw