Everybody should learn parry in this game, even if you think you can't do it

[opus132]

Since this game was released, one constant refrain i've been hearing is that many bosses have unfair movesets, endless spinning combos or strange delayed attacks, while others appear to have excessive defenses or health which makes killing them a chore (Crucible Knights, Rune Bears etc).

Now over time it has become clear that Elden Ring has kind of a rock/paper/scissor philosophy, which while not new with their games, has been pushed much further in Elden Ring than it used to be. Many bosses in this game appear to require certain "counters" and shouldn't actually be faced straight up, without any sort of plan or strategy, expecting to easily react-roll to everything without putting much thought into it. Which is not to say it's impossible to roll-fu your way through the game, but i think in many cases this can make certain parts frustrating.

In previous Souls games, parry was something that had the reputation of being reserved for advanced players. It was an high reward but high risk playstyle that many normal players or newcomers felt intimidated in using. In Elden Ring, it has been made considerably easier in my opinion. First, because some of the parry tools in this game appear to have relatively generous parry frames. Second, parry is no longer as risky as it used to be because it is now possible to use it in conjunction with 100% physical damage reduction shields without losing anything in terms of parry frames (in fact, i think the Carian or Golden Parry skills have better parry frames than the Buckler). This mitigates the risks since it allows one to mix up some blocking and fish out parries more comfortably.

Lastly, it is actually not the case that rolling is always the easier option, given all the delayed attacks or roll catching tactics of enemies in this game. If you can time a roll to a delayed attack, you can time a parry it's basically the same thing at this point.

Rather than seeing parry as an "advanced" ability or as an exclusive playstyle, i think it should be seen as just as another tool, to be used as needed, especially when FromSoft is making it obvious to you with attacks from enemies with a very slow and obvious wind up or like that double slam the Godskin Noble does, where if you weren't prepared for the first one you can still fish out a parry on the second one and so on.

I've never myself been much of a parry master in previous Souls games, and when i first approached Elden Ring i relied mostly on rolling which as i said it made certain parts frustrating or annoying. On my current playthrough, i decided to practice parry and i'm finding out that some enemies or bosses become much more manageable this way. The Crucible Knight was obnoxious to me since whenever i fought one it seemed to just never die. Since practicing parry against them, the time it takes me to kill one is comparable with that of other standard enemies. And keep in mind that i'm not some kind of master gamer, so if i can learn to do it, it should be within the reach of most people.

[causality]

But can we parry crabs like in DS3?

[Cootswig]

How can I parry using 2 swords.
Shields are lame. Besides jellyfish shield that's cool

[opus132]

Originally posted by Cootswig:

How can I parry using 2 swords.
Shields are lame

I'm specifically trying to demystify the idea parry is for try hards and i'm making the argument it should be seen as a normal tool, within the reach of most people.

[an entire Roman legion]

I refuse to use parry since DS2 and I will continue doing so

[causality]

Originally posted by Albob:

I refuse to use parry since DS2 and I will continue doing so

If Team B did anything good it was making those cool new crit/riposte animations instead of copy pasting them from Demon's Souls.

[HomongUS]

Let me parry those lobster beams and we'll talk from there

[nfinite.recursion]

I parried a few times on my first playthrough with a basic sword and board build. Even then it was pretty much only against Crucilble Knights and occasionally a random trash mob just for fun. Mind you, this was with a medium shield which only offers 7 parry frames. Since this was a completely blind run, I was unaware of the Buckler having over double the parry frames or AoWs that enhance parries. Much later on, I did a Hookclaw run in NG+6 and tried putting the parry AoW on my Hookclaws. Despite being lightweight and easy to wield, the Hookclaws only offer about the same parry window as a medium shield.

I'd be much more willing to use parrying if there was an "enhanced parry" AoW that could be applied to weapons and medium shields while providing the same parry window as the buckler. While people can point to Golden Parry and Carian Retaliation, I don't need the addition effects. A hypothetical "enhanced parry" could be a regular parry but with the Buckler window and lower FP cost than GP/CR.

[Humpenstilzchen]

I have never managed to parry a single time even with golden parry. I just can´t get it to work so I roll and run to avoid damage.

[opus132]

Originally posted by ketchup:

Let me parry those lobster beams and we'll talk from there

The counter for the lobsters is sleep.

Rock/paper/scissor like i said.

They are also weak to piercing and stance breaking from under their belly. Square Off works well there, but the St. Trina sword just makes them super easy.

[BOXman]

Never found the idea of parrying; especially in this game to be useful. Most of the time I was constantly moving around the boss. And parrying requires you to stand still and pray to every god that is on your hotline so that you time it right. It seems like a poor idea when you have many other nicer options to fight something.

Now anyone who manages to perform parries nonchalantly, kudos to you. I cannot be asked to retry a single move again, again, and again. I will lose my mind.

[opus132]

Originally posted by Humpenstilzchen:

I have never managed to parry a single time even with golden parry. I just can´t get it to work so I roll and run to avoid damage.

It takes some time to get use to it, but once you learn to parry one enemy it becomes easier for the others as well.

When i started i couldn't parry for crap either. But you can see how far i've come with it over time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzVd8KhfnZY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7b2Z57aTKk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sQEPyLfo1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfx1wYrlG_g

You can check Thingfishy on youtube he explains how to parry bosses really well.

I recommend you pick one enemy, something like a Crucible Knight, and take your time to practice it until you finally start to get the hang of it. Once you get a feel for it for one enemy it becomes easier to learn to parry everything else as well, like i said.

And you don't have be a try hard about it. This is not about showing off but trying to make certain things in the game more manageable. On the Spiritcaller video i just posted, you can see me mix up blocking and rolling as well, just fishing out those parries i felt confident i could make.

[opus132]

BTW, i found sometimes Carian is better than Golden Parry. The latter has a better reach so it's more useful against certain attacks but the Carian parry appears to have a more well rounded hit box, from what i can tell similar to the Buckler and it's easier to parry attacks from overhead with it.

At least this is how it feels to me could just be in my head i'm not sure.

[Guglhupf]

The hell I have to! Don't tell me what to do!! I'll NEVER parry in ANY game. Dodging FTW!

[Cootswig]

People complain about using summons. Let me complain about some of the shield play I've seen. You just stand there tanking hits and retaliate.
Summons are more exciting to watch lol

[Humpenstilzchen]

Originally posted by opus132:

Originally posted by Humpenstilzchen:

I have never managed to parry a single time even with golden parry. I just can´t get it to work so I roll and run to avoid damage.

It takes some time to get use to it, but once you learn to parry one enemy it becomes easier for the others as well.

When i started i couldn't parry for crap either. But you can see how far i've come with it over time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzVd8KhfnZY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7b2Z57aTKk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sQEPyLfo1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfx1wYrlG_g

You can check Thingfishy on youtube he explains how to parry bosses really well.

I recommend you pick one enemy, something like a Crucible Knight, and take your time to practice it until you finally start to get the hang of it. Once you get a feel for it for one enemy it becomes easier to learn to parry everything else as well, like i said.

And you don't have be a try hard about it. This is not about showing off but trying to make certain things in the game more manageable. On the Spiritcaller video i just posted, you can see me mix up blocking and rolling as well, just fishing out those parries i felt confident i could make.

Thanks for the advice.

I tried the carian parry and I also tried it on a crucible knight in the past when I was trying to learn parrying and I got slapped hard until I lost patience because I wasn´t able to parry him a single time. I have no issues parrying in other games like Valheim or Grounded but I just can´t pull it off in ER. I´ll try again at some point though.