Different Weapons & Their Parries

Is there any way to identify the effectiveness of one weapon's parry vs another's? Or is there even a noticeable difference among weapons/weapon types? :cyclops:

I think most of it is the total animation time, ones with longer animation time have a bigger window in which you can get the parry the longest being the parrying dagger I think.

Killamari wrote:Is there any way to identify the effectiveness of one weapon's parry vs another's? :cyclops:

I personally like the medium speed parry shields listed on the site. Also mail breaker for extra challenge.

Don't get fooled by the myriad parry animations! Almost every weapon category has its own parry animation, but I think* when you get down to it, the only differences between parries are:

- Parry Window
- Parry Speed

Parry window determines how long the actual parry is. A longer window will be more forgiving, since you can parry slightly early or late and still land the parry. I think* there are only 2 parry window types: regular and special (longer window). Everything has the regular window (all weapons and shields, and bare handed) except for the parrying dagger, target shield, and buckler, which have the special window.

The parry speed determines how quickly you can perform consecutive parries. This is important for when you miss your parry, because it affects how soon you can parry again (its spammability, you could say). I think* there are 3 parry speeds: fast, normal, and special. The special parry speed applies to the same 3 pieces as special window, and is the slowest parry speed. Normal applies to most regular shields and a few small shields, and fast applies to most small shields, some regular shields, most weapons, and bare handed.

As for actually parrying with them... I find there's not much difference. I'd recommend this, for best results: for PvE, use something with the special parry window, and for PvP use anything else! A parrying dagger in PvE makes it really easy to parry everything, but I don't like it for PvP. Which isn't bad, since I find bare handed to parry exceptionally well in PvP anyways! I think the lag makes the game more generous in PvP parrying, because I have no problem at all parrying with anything that has the regular window.


*And when I say "I think", I mean "I'm quite, quite sure"! I parry a lot, and this is coming from experience.

blaine how do you know all this :O

Lots and lots of parrying!

you really are the stat guru :O

For some reason I think blind parries are easier in PVP than in PVE. I like to use the Heater shield or bare hand. They have fast animations and you can parry dex fast hitting weapons.

Most of the time, in PvP, I parry bare handed. But my favorite for PvP parrying is the Notched Whip. Same parry as bare fists (to be honest, I feel like it's a tiny bit slower, but that would ruin my 3 parry speeds theory... It could just be my imagination because the sound is different--maybe it just sounds slower!), has a good attack with decent speed and range, and causes bleed.

Blind parries are especially easy against predictable opponents. Most people can be baited into attacking just by getting within range of them. So if you just learn the range at which you need to be for your opponent to attack, while compensating for the lag, then blind parries become very easy.

The only weapons I can't blind parry are the spears. I mean, really? Their hitbox its ridiculous, and you can never know if you're close enough to land the parry. Other than that, just dance around and like Blaine said, learn their play style.

I never have much trouble parrying spears... Sometimes I'll miss and have to spam a bit to get it, but in the end I usually get it! If you're having trouble parrying spears, try these:

- If you're trying to blind parry, backpedal slowly until your opponent is almost in range, then walk toward them rapidly and parry. Spears can't be parried from the tip of their range, so this will close the range and allow you to parry them.

- If your opponent spams R1 and you miss your first parry, you can try spamming the parry, but odds are you won't land it, because the strike speed of the spears is similar to the parry speed. If parry spamming doesn't work and they're still spamming R1, try to delay your parry a tiny bit. This should allow your parry to sync up with their strike.

- If you still can't parry your spamming opponent, roll away, and try to predict parry again.

Eventually you'll get the predict and spam parry timings down!

Carphil wrote:just dance around and [...] learn their play style.

Oh yeah, I pulled-off a beautiful parry against a DSS a while ago. I was invading in Sen's when I invaded a Gravelord who was using the DSS. He was SL120, and I was SL30! First fight, I was wearing some troll gear (half naked, wielding a bow and shotel). I gave him a good duel, but was no match for his weapon--imagine the DSS, with its range and speed, and dealing enough damage to kill me in 4 hits? Good luck! But while I was fighting him I noticed he was very fond of the rolling-R1...

So I invade him again, but this time I swap to more serious gear (full armor, iaito). Right away he goes for the rolling-R1, and I parry it! Then it was just a matter of finishing him off. The fight was short, and in the end it was actually close, but there's no way I would have won that without the parry, which I landed by observing his play-style!

Thanks for the tips Blaine! I'll add those to my PVP strategies!

Hmm... I'm not too sure about the parry speed of the weapons with special windows. To be honest, it's been a long time since I've used them in PvP. I went and did a quick test, and it seemed to me that the parrying dagger has the same spammability as bare fists.

I know there's a reason I don't like it for PvP, though. But like I said, it's been a long time, so I forget what the reason is! Maybe it's that you're committed to the parry for a longer window so, even though both can be spammed as much, the special window locks you into place longer?

i cant parry UGS or GH, dont know why i just cant get into the rhythm for it

And any good player wil just dead angel the crap out of you for trying.

BLA1NE wrote:Hmm... I'm not too sure about the parry speed of the weapons with special windows. To be honest, it's been a long time since I've used them in PvP. I went and did a quick test, and it seemed to me that the parrying dagger has the same spammability as bare fists.

I know there's a reason I don't like it for PvP, though. But like I said, it's been a long time, so I forget what the reason is! Maybe it's that you're committed to the parry for a longer window so, even though both can be spammed as much, the special window locks you into place longer?

Don't know why you don't like it but maybe why I don't like it will jog your memory. I don't like the parrying dagger because it screams at your opponent, "I'm going to try and parry you a lot, so use R2's and *** me up"

^Yeah, that too!

But I always had the impression that parrying with the special window was slightly delayed. So you need to parry at least a split second sooner than you would with the regular window. You have a much longer window, but you need to initiate it sooner. So, coupled with online's lag, you need to parry even earlier than early... Just became too much. But others have argued against me, claiming there is no delay, so I could be wrong. Either way, add the extra soon parry on top of the blatant intentions, and yeah, you'll get punished for just wielding it.


@Billy:

For ultra-greatswords, great axes, and great hammers, you can actually parry them by sight, despite lag. If you're getting partial parries on them and think it's because you're parrying too late, it's possible you're actually parrying too early! For an ultra-greatsword R1, you need to parry almost as soon as you see them initiate the swing. You don't need the reflexes of a cheetah, but you do need to parry pretty soon. As for R2s, and great axe and great hammer R1s, you need to delay your parry a bit. So once they initiate their strike, wait a split second more, then parry. For great axe and great hammer R2s, you need to delay even more. I don't want to hazard any real times, because it's hard to gauge such minute timing in the heat of a parry, but for a Gaxe R2 it's a non-negligible delay, when you consider lag. You have to wait until they're about at the mid-point in their swing.

My favorite is parrying the Dragon King Greataxe's 2H-R2 (did it twice just today... on the same guy!). And the Dragon Greatsword is pretty rare in PvP, but I also parried its R2 today.

Yeah the obvious intentions of any of the special parry items prevents me from using them. I act different when I see them so I'm sure others do too, also I've never been punished by one so they can't be that great.

I figure I may as well post this here. Does anyone know the best way to parry spears? And in asking this I mean that Im going up against the DSS twohanded and I could use some advice.

Umm my personal tactic is to get out of range sprint in and parry just as the spear pulls back. there may be more experienced people on the forums however.

ViralEnsign_ wrote:I figure I may as well post this here. Does anyone know the best way to parry spears? And in asking this I mean that Im going up against the DSS twohanded and I could use some advice.

Block, after the first blow hits the shield parry. Though I suspects you'll see more rolling R1s

sponge a hit and then hit l2 - works with all fast weapons for me - if not as soon as you see their shoulder move minorly hit l2 it gets parries all the time

BLA1NE - I disagree. From my experience, you need to parry just a split second earlier with the medium shields. I practiced parrying with a Target shield. When I tried with a medium shield, I had problems. I felt like I had to parry sooner. I.E. I need to finish my parry animation before their weapon hit me. It was like using the shield to create a force field for their weapon to bounce off. Whereas the Target shield, you "push them away" (the parry takes effect just past halfway through the animation - just at the same point the "push" animation completes).

Federally wrote:

ViralEnsign_ wrote:I figure I may as well post this here. Does anyone know the best way to parry spears? And in asking this I mean that Im going up against the DSS twohanded and I could use some advice.

Block, after the first blow hits the shield parry. Though I suspects you'll see more rolling R1s

What happens if I.....um ..... don't use a...um .....shield....... For example dual shotel.