How does guarding work? I may do a madhouse run.

[Rocket]

Do you need to time it right to get max damage reduction or can you just hold it?
How much damage is reduced when guarding?
Are there attacks you can't guard?
What are the best attacks to guard?
Do certain weapons guard more than others?

I never really bothered with guarding in re7. Most attacks felt they came out too fast so I just tried to stay at range and run away. Madhouse might change my mind if I ever do that.

Also, what order should I play the DLCs?

[GoobleMoWizard]

You can literally just hold down block. Blocking reduces quite a bit of damage, but if you're going to do Madhouse, it's still a bit of reduction but a few more hits and you should heal. The attacks you can guard would be basic attacks from enemies, but Jack, Marg, Mia, their heavy attacks do more stun damage. You can block heavy attacks, but your block will be broken.

[「Choobs」]

I don't have exact numbers, but blocking just as the enemy hits you reduces damage more than just holding block This is referred to as a "just guard" or "just block" (this is a fighting game term, similar to a parry). If I had to guess, I would estimate that a normal block reduces damage by about 50%, while a just guard reduces about 75% so it is absolutely worth learning.

The best attacks to guard are every attack, if you can't run away and know you're going to get hit. Some attacks can be avoided by crouching too. On madhouse it is almost always better to run away and reposition, though there will invariably be situations where you will need to block. Just don't hold block all the time, it will guarantee that you will take more hits since you can barely move while you're blocking. I don't know if different weapons block more damage than others but my guess is no.

If you want to practice your just guards, all 3 Jack fights are a good place for it. All of his moves are highly telegraphed. Normal molded are decent for practice too. It should be pretty easy to tell if you successfully just guard an attack. It will do barely any damage and it will look like the attack was brushed off for the most part.

[Rocket]

Thank you both!

[GoobleMoWizard]

No Problem, glad I could be of some help. :)

[pcdeltalink]

For an easy time in madhouse I recommend having the power saw as well as the bonus items (I forget the name) that negate taking any damage when blocking.

[Bullett00th]

Originally posted by pcdeltalink:

For an easy time in madhouse I recommend having the power saw as well as the bonus items (I forget the name) that negate taking any damage when blocking.

IMO this defeats the point of Madhouse. The circular saw and other goodies are for when you've bested the game's biggest challenge and just want to fool around

[talgaby]

Originally posted by RocketJump:

Do you need to time it right to get max damage reduction or can you just hold it?

You can just hold it.

How much damage is reduced when guarding?

50% normally, 75% with one defence object in the inventory, 100% with both unlockable defence items in the inventory. Yes, that means full damage reduction, as in you take zero damage with a successful block.

Are there attacks you can't guard?

Yes, like environmental hazards, a few boss attacks, and the crawler leap on Madhouse difficulty.

What are the best attacks to guard?

Everything that is lockable.

Do certain weapons guard more than others?

Blocking is universal, all weapon animations are just that: animations.

Also, what order should I play the DLCs?

Not a Hero, End of Zoe for the story. Bedroom, Nightmare, 21 for the Clancy storyline. Daughters for the last story element. Jack's 55thg birthday and Ethan Must Die can be played at any time since they are just minigames (a score attack and a rogue-lite, int his order).