Why is parrying so bad?

[Sgt. YippyYap]

I completed the game and now I'm doing another run, completely turning the playstyle from the previous run.

I started with the buckler. Apparently it's good at parries? But it's so bad. It's so horrible, it's so inconsistent.
I am even recording myself so I can analyze it better after, and I literally press the parry button during same part of enemy attacks, sometimes I get easy free parries, sometimes it's a miss.

No wonder not a single phantom I see in my games has a shield lmfao.
there is no point in parrying, it's so inconsistent, the hitboxes are broken. Just dodge attacks and that's it.

Apparently parrying is great and all bosses can be parried to some extent, but I really can't see it. It's just suffering because inconsistencies and wonky hitboxes
And you get no information on when to parry and what to parry
And considering all of the Elden Ring bosses have attack windups that are either to slow and then just INSTANT SLASH, or are instant slashes with no windups, how in the hell am I supposed to predict the parry window that only has like, 2 frames at 60 FPS or some dog**** like that

[Midnight]

The parry isn't bad. It's just that the timing for it in these games goes against every other game with a parry mechanic ever including FromSoft's very own Sekiro.

Whereas in other games the parry window is tuned to just before an attack hits you, in this game it's just as enemy's attack starts to shift momentum towards you. So way too early, it's incredibly unintuitive.

But once you get used ot it it does work consistently. I dunno why they keep this timing, it must be a legacy thing or something.

[paincanbefun]

Originally posted by Cryptic:

Originally posted by paincanbefun:

wtf

it gives a free critical. you just need to time it correctly

if your results are inconsistent, it's not the bucker's fault

says the guy with almost 1400 hours played lol.

the parry window being narrow is not "inconsistent"

the number of people that make strong objective statements about the game being "poorly designed" or "inconsistent" when what they mean is "i have trouble with X thing" is crazy

also, i just leave my computer on. i'm not very good. i'm patient and i don't blame the game for stuff when i fail at it

Originally posted by Midnight:

it must be a legacy thing or something

i think the parry tool needs to collide with the attack swing, so you need to know when the hit will happen and press parry a certain amount of time in advance. same as Dark Souls, yeah. once you get it, it becomes muscle memory and then the only issue is knowing when the hit will happen and reacting at the right time

[opus132]

Parry is hard only the first time you try it, but it's a skill you can carry with you for the rest of the game once you master it even for just one enemy. Eventually it becomes natural.

[Fistraiser]

Parry just takes a bit of timing and practise.once you got the rythm down you'll realise how boring and broken it is for bosses.
There's a reason that so many people use shield for all these level1 not hit runs etc.Because its the easiest method to do it.
Im honestly dissapointed how easily people can cheese even the last dlc boss with the shields.
The mechanic is just badly designed.
I hope they nerf shield parry properly this time because it never truly got a big enough nerf when it became obvious how broken it is in base game.

[Æthelwulf]

Parry in Elden Ring is super janky, you have to push the button way too early... Your character does the animation, and THEN once the animation is done it's like there's another magic animation triggered that's your actual parry. I really don't get the design choice.

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Old mechanic from 2+ decades ago. One of the experimental "high risk - high reward" things that oddly stuck. Mainly because if you do pull it off you can 1-shot most enemies and get a free crit on most bosses.

Or.. you can use something with high dmg like Golden Halberd and 1shot stuff with a jump attack R2 or with charged R2 (or stagger enemies wirth 1 or 2 chanrged R2 then crit for high crit dmg).
Feels way better and more consistent imho.

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

I personally dislike it. The timing has always been awkward due to windup frames. The Deflect mechanic from sekiro (and now being adapted into newer soulslikes) is better if you ask me. Not as high reward, considering you need to deflect multiple times, but much easier to pull off consistently and it doesn't feel like you got it right by accident.

I disliked the Sekiro deflect, not because I could not pull it consistently (I could and it is the easiest thing to pull out at Sekiro), I disliked because I dont like the mechanic. Only games I ussed parry and felt good was For Honor and The Surge 2.

[1100011]

Originally posted by Dedprice:

do not start with malenia. start with the start of the game, and go from there. the attacks are very basic and easy to parry, so you can understand the window of when to parry and when your just shield clashing, or missing entirely.

Malenia and Rellana suffer from the boss rotation effect. In my experience, timing can depend on your position vs. the boss, which changes constantly as the boss is rotating. I (try to) solve this by moving towards the boss so they're facing me directly.

Don't try to parry every attack. Stick with the easy ones first. Delayed attacks usually have a small tell before the actual attack (Margit is a good example of this).

Also: you can stick Carian Retaliation or Golden Parry on a rickety wooden shield to minimize equipment load.

Also: I wish pushing through made you a parry god... but if you do land them, feels pretty good!

[1100011]

PS golden parry was nerfed in a recent patch. Current state: Carian Retaliation has the longest active window, Thops has the quickest windup and buckler has the quickest recovery.
source with startup, active, and delay data[eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com]

[SpottedHare]

Because if it was above garbage then player would use it, then player would beat the game and the only marketable feature is gone.

[~X_Lost Sxul_831_X~]

Originally posted by Chris1:

Parrying is the worst designed mechanic in the game by far. It is an infuriated exercise in trial and error to figure out which attacks can even be parried, and which can't (there is zero visual cues to the player on which attacks are even possible to be parried). Once you discover which individual attacks can actually be parried, now you have to trial and error the timing to understand the exact split-second timing needed to register the parry. Again, there is zero consistency between attacks on the specific timing you need, it's purely an exercise in trial and error.

If you are really interested in parrying, I would recommend checking online regarding the specific attacks and can even be parried and the timing required.

"Parrying is the worst designed mechanic in the game by far." LOL i can parry just fine and have no issues with i even in PvP aswell

[CourtesyFlush09]

Originally posted by toughnails:

You need to press the parry button EXACTLY at the APEX of the enemy's attack animation, not a moment sooner or later. Usually it's when their arm is at its highest (or furthest) point.

Weird. I could have sworn it's right before the enemy hits you. That's what it felt like when I was parrying Godrick's soldiers.

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by CourtesyFlush09:

Originally posted by toughnails:

You need to press the parry button EXACTLY at the APEX of the enemy's attack animation, not a moment sooner or later. Usually it's when their arm is at its highest (or furthest) point.

Weird. I could have sworn it's right before the enemy hits you. That's what it felt like when I was parrying Godrick's soldiers.

It is slighhtly different for everyone due to "reaction times being different".
If you are 0.2s or 0.1s faster or slower your reaction cue will be different.

[EF_Neo1st]

Originally posted by EF_Neo1st:

Originally posted by CourtesyFlush09:

Weird. I could have sworn it's right before the enemy hits you. That's what it felt like when I was parrying Godrick's soldiers.

It is slighhtly different for everyone due to "reaction times being different".
If you are 0.2s or 0.1s faster or slower your reaction cue will be different.

That also is reason why some days you play better and some days you play worst and dont understand why, if your "reaction times" are off or all over the place it is hard to pull off even basic dodges and a multitude of things can change your reaction times or reduce your reaction times (including being tired, not playing for a time, being angry/nervous/anxious or just with some problem in your head, physical pain, etc to even "just being so over confident to nail that you stopped paying atention).

[deadshooter]

Originally posted by Sgt. YippyYap:

I completed the game and now I'm doing another run, completely turning the playstyle from the previous run.

I started with the buckler. Apparently it's good at parries? But it's so bad. It's so horrible, it's so inconsistent.
I am even recording myself so I can analyze it better after, and I literally press the parry button during same part of enemy attacks, sometimes I get easy free parries, sometimes it's a miss.

No wonder not a single phantom I see in my games has a shield lmfao.
there is no point in parrying, it's so inconsistent, the hitboxes are broken. Just dodge attacks and that's it.

Apparently parrying is great and all bosses can be parried to some extent, but I really can't see it. It's just suffering because inconsistencies and wonky hitboxes
And you get no information on when to parry and what to parry
And considering all of the Elden Ring bosses have attack windups that are either to slow and then just INSTANT SLASH, or are instant slashes with no windups, how in the hell am I supposed to predict the parry window that only has like, 2 frames at 60 FPS or some dog**** like that

there is a particular reason to it. I-frames of the parry are not starting immediately as you pushes parry button. There are a few vulnerability frames in the beginning of the parry animation. Also there are few vulnerability frames in the end of the parry animation. This leads to a strange situation, where you pressing button right on attack telegraph, but game punishes you for good reaction time with delayed attack, so it strikes through parry animation.