Timed Block, Parry and Related Mechanic

Some deep mechanics of this game.

Mechanic of Timed Block

- Timed Block Condition

- A Timed Block is triggered by blocking an enemy attack within 0.5 sec after certain Block Action is activated.
- There are multiple actions in the game that provide blocking state, but not all Block Actions can trigger Timed Block.
- A Parry is technically the name of a weapon trait, and can be triggered by a Timed Block. Note: there are talents/boon descriptions which refer to parries, but for purposes of this guide and for the sake of clarity, it would be more accurate to call them Timed Blocks instead.
- All parries are Timed Blocks, but not all Timed Blocks are parries.

- Block and Timed Block can be distinguished by their different sound indication. This feature is added in Patch 4.6. Chaos Waste Boon Hoeth's Sword-Craft will also add the Timed Block sound indicator to all blocks.

- Timed Block and related Talent/Chaos Waste Boon/Weapon Trait

- Timed Block is referenced with different terms in different Talent/Chaos Waste Boon/Weapon Trait.

Here is a list of Talent/Chaos Waste Boon/Weapon Trait that interacts with Timed Block, their in-game description and their actual mechanic.

Name	In-game Description	Actual Mechanic
Virtue of Discipline	Timed blocks increase power level by 20% for 6 seconds.	After triggering a Timed Block, increase Power Level by 20% for 6 seconds. Duration can be refreshed.
Blur	Parrying an Attack and quickly Dodging grants Kerillian Stealth for a short period.	After triggering a Timed Block, dodge within 1.5 sec will grant you 1.5 sec of stealth. Duration can be refreshed.
Riposte	Blocking just an enemy attack is about to hit causes your next melee attack within 2 seconds to be a guaranteed critical hit.	After triggering a Timed Block, your next attack within 2 seconds will be a critical hit. No matter melee or range .
Righteous Finesse	Parrying and enemy inflicts a powerful Knockback and refreshes other Skull Boons. 30 seconds cooldown.	Timed block creates an explosion near the parried enemy, stagger all types of enemies and deal minor damage, refreshes other Skull Boons. 30 seconds cooldown.
Ptra's Protection	Every 3 seconds, a Perfect Parry spawns an Orb that reduces Damage taken by 50% for 10 seconds.	Every 3 seconds, triggering a Timed Block spawns an orb that provides 450% cooldown regen for 0.5 second(2.25 second of cooldown).
Harrying Boon of Anath Raema's Deflection	Parries spawn 4 projectiles that seek out enemies.	Timed block spawns 4 projectiles if there are enemies within 15 units.
Hoeth's Sword-Craft	Every block counts as a parry.	Every block is counted as a Timed Block.
Stromfels' Retribution	Every 8 seconds, Parrying an Attack triggers a lightning strike against the attacking enemy.	Every 8 seconds, triggering a Timed Block creates an extremely small explosion near the parried enemy. Stagger all types of enemies and deal minor damage.
Eldrazor's Deflection	Parrying an attack makes you immune to damage for the next 2 seconds.	After triggering a Timed Block, you are immune to damage for 2 seconds. Duration can be refreshed.
Parry	Timed blocks reduces stamina cost by 100%.	If a block is counted as a Timed Block, this block action does not consume stamina. Does not allow you to block unblockable attacks.

- Block Actions that can trigger Timed Block

- There are only 4 Block Actions in total that can trigger Timed Block.
- They both provide block states and can also trigger Talent/Chaos Waste Boon/Weapon Trait mentioned in the previous section.

• Hold right click with a melee weapon/Torch/Chaos Waste Relic.
  
• Hold right click with Trollhammer Torpedo.
  
• Hold left click with Bretonnian Longsword.
  
• Hold left click with Flail and Shield.

- Block Actions that cannot trigger Timed Block

- There are multiple Block Actions that cannot trigger Timed Block.
- They provide block states. However, by themselves, they cannot trigger some Talent/Chaos Waste Boon/Weapon Trait mentioned in the previous section.
- With Chaos Waste Boon Hoeth's Sword-Craft, they can trigger all Talent/Chaos Waste Boon/Weapon Trait mentioned in the previous section.

• Push with a melee weapon/Torch/Chaos Waste Relic.
  
• Push with Trollhammer Torpedo.
  
• Kruber Spear and Shield special poke attack.
  
• Rapier side pistol shot that initiated while blocking.
  
• Push with Explosive Barrel/Lamp Oil/Cannonball/Statue/Gargoyle Head/Dummies.
  
• Reviving & rescuing teammates.
  
• Rescued from Assassin pounce.
  
• Released from Hookrat or released from Hookrat pole.

Common Misconceptions About Timed Block

Timed Block by itself has no special effects. Which means:

• It does not reduce the stamina cost of blocking
  
• It does not guarantee to force the enemy into a stagger animation. And even if they show the stagger animation, they are not actually staggered.
  
• It does not stop berserker enemies(Savage/Plague Monk) chain attack.

Tricks to Trigger Timed Block Frequently

- You can trigger Timed Block safely and easier by switching between multiple Block Actions.
- It does not require all Block Action in the action chain to be able to trigger Timed Block. As long as some Block Actions in the action chain can trigger it, you can enter Timer Block window in short session safely.

Here are some examples.

• Block --> Push while keep holding the right click.
  
• Block --> Swap to another melee weapon or Trollhammer Torpedo while holding the right click.
  
• For Bretonnian Longsword and Flail and Shield specifically: Charge the heavy attack --> Block.
  
• For Kruber Spear and Shield specifically: Block --> Special Attack while holding the right click.
  
• For Rapier specifically: Block --> Pistol shot while holding the right click.

Helpful Resource

- You can use sanctioned mod Parry Indicator to help you get the Timed Block timing whiling using the melee weapon trait Parry.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1459917022
- You can use unsanctioned mod Ph. Indicator to get Parry indicator for Grail Knight/Shade/Witch Hunter Captain.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2827840248
- Zaphio made the wonderful LUA script I used in the videos in the previous sections, allowing the game to show Block/Timed Block/No-Block state on screen. You can find the script here[gist.verminti.de].

[monky]

very comprehensive and useful, thank you

[VisionofFire]

All good, if it's out of scope, that's completely fair.
Appreciate your work and thanks for the guide.

[Royale w/ Cheese]

I guess I can try add a bit more on shade guide, but just like all my other mechanic guides, this is a mechanic guide, not really 'how to deal with xyz'. And I kinda have to focus on one aspect of the mechanic when making mechanic guide.

[VisionofFire]

And to reply to 1)
Yeah, that's the confusing bit for newer players. They may not know that the shield icon disappearing briefly indicates there is an opening, because the word Blocking never goes from YES to NO. Not a problem for long time players, but I can see it being confusing for someone who is just learning the mechanics through your guides.

i guess the way I feel about it is, a lot of people will be naive and simply try to parry everything coming out of the horde, which is why there are complaints about parries being dangerous or eating overheads. Showing how to safely integrate parries alongside your other defensive options for managing a horde might be of more practical use, as well as escapes enabled by Blur. (guard broken by multiple SV running attacks, escaping corners / surrounds, etc.)

[VisionofFire]

If it makes sense, it's more about making things explicit for players who may not necessarily understand how defensive rotations work in this game. Having someone explicitly break down a defensive pattern, and showing where it's safe to refresh your block (e.g. coming out of a dodge) and extending it (by pushing without letting go of RMB) to safely fish for a parry in a horde would be instructive. I think the first thing players would instinctively try is to just walk up to a horde and parry, and when they miss the first one, try to retap RMB, which is very unsafe, when they should be covering the end of their parry window with either a dodge or push. Although maybe such a video belongs in the Shade guide instead.

[Royale w/ Cheese]

1) Yes there is a gap. You can see in the video the shield icon disappears for a short period of time. I guess if that's not clear enough I can try to remake the video.
2) There is a gap on some weapon. I thought I explained the mechanic clear enough in the section & previous section about how this trick works. It's about reset block to trigger timed block timing again.
3) I may remove tapping but push reset is something used very often. It's more about learning the mechanic and I think I demonstrate it well enough in previous sections. I don't know how to force ppl to read the how guide though :p

[VisionofFire]

And while I know it's not really in the scope of a mechanics video, I do think the above two tricks aren't really useful from practical standpoint, or at least not as displayed. I think pretty much all people looking to make Shade Blur work are going to visit your guide, and trying to tap block or repeatedly push is not a good way to setup a parry to trigger her passive. Arguably the most useful accidental parry with Shade is when you're surrounded or cornered, and your block gets broken. Or you're holding block against stacked up SV running attacks. As we're typically holding right click and mashing dodge in such a scenario, the reblock often automatically counts as a parry, allowing Blur to trigger and letting Shade slip away through the crowd. The other thing that's less clear from your video is the new parry window only kicks in when your push completes. Necessary to know if you're holding right click in a horde and want to push to fish for a parry.

[VisionofFire]

Due to 1k character limit splitting up the post: (continued)

I do think for pushing while keep holding right click, it might've been better to demonstrate a weapon that can't push as quickly. With weapons like Elf Spear, Dual Swords, Hammer & Shields with Bardin etc. I'm pretty sure there's a gap between pushes where you're not considered parrying due to the push animation being slower. Axe's quick push might be more the exception than the rule here.

[VisionofFire]

Question: is the tricks to trigger timed block video misleading?
Specifically, the video makes it look by spamming right click quickly, that there's no gap in your block, as the Blocking indicator stays as YES the whole time. I have not found this to be the case when testing in mission and that releasing the RMB leaves a small gap where you can be hit. I would like to think that I'm not that slow a mouse clicker (0.5 seconds refresh should be trivial to keep up constant block) Also, how does this interact with multiple enemies hitting your tapped block? i.e. if your tapped block has a buffer that stays up a little past when you release the RMB, if one hit lands in said buffer, will follow up hits during that buffer also count as blocked? I'm guessing someone might get the wrong idea and try to run into a horde mashing RMB, then be disappointed when they get downed.

[EdgeDancer]

good job, thanks