How To Parry In Elden Ring

The Elden Ring combat system is one thing players enjoy most. What at first may seem simplistic and clunky becomes one of the richest combat systems the genre has to offer once you learn it.

Elden Ring surpasses older FromSoftware games with its breadth of options and variety of enemies for you to test your skills. 

However, one thing that is very difficult for new players is understanding the different options available to you. So many of the small nuances around combat are never explained to you, and it often takes some time to learn some of the most powerful choices on offer.

One of these is how to parry in Elden Ring. You may have heard that this is overpowered in FromSoftware games—but how exactly do you parry?

If you’re wondering about this, then don’t worry! We’re here to help. In this article, we’ll give you a comprehensive breakdown of the parry system in Elden Ring. How to use it, what it’s strong against, and the best ways to practice it. 

What Is Parrying In Elden Ring?

In short, Parrying is one of the combat mechanics that makes up the combat system of Elden Ring. Essentially, parrying allows you to interrupt an enemy attack and stun them for a moment, making them vulnerable to a sudden devastating attack. 

Parrying has existed in one form or another in every FromSoftware game, and it is often seen as one of the most overpowered techniques to learn to complete the game.

You’ll see speedrunners use it often because it lets you completely avoid damage and do impressive damage back to the enemy in question. 

In the Darksouls games, there was a simple parry system. In BloodBorne, there was a more impressive parry system involving your hunter’s ranged weapon.

In Sekiro, they used an extensive parry/posture system to simulate the feeling of real sword fights. In Elden Ring, they’ve simplified things a little bit, but that’s not to say there isn’t much to learn. 

How To Parry 

To parry, you’ll need to have the ‘parry’ skill equipped. You can do this by adding the ‘parry’ ash of war to a weapon or shield or finding one that already has it.

There are a few small and larger shields that you can get early on in the game that allows you to parry. If you want to know more about how to get the parry skill, check this article out on the Elden Ring Wiki. 

So once we have the parry skill, we will need to use it at the right time. Try using it when you’re somewhere safe, with no enemies around.

You’ll notice that your character steps forwards and pushes out with the weapon/shield they have equipped. If you perform this skill when an enemy attacks you, then you’ll be able to parry them.

However, you will have to get the timing right and also know which enemies you can parry.

But if you’ve come across a parriable enemy, all you need to do is wait for their attack, parry at the precise moment, and then they’ll be left open for a critical attack.

It’s easy to know when your parry works, as there will be a sudden loud clunking sound, and the enemy will drop to its knees. From here, all you need to do is press light attack on your main hand weapon, and you’ll be able to land a critical hit. 

Why Didn’t My Parry Work?

If you’re using the parry skill but can’t get it to work, this could be for two reasons. We will break them down one by one in the section below.

Parriable Enemies 

The first thing to know is that only some enemies are parriable. It’s an incredibly strong skill, but only when you know the right enemies to use it on.

Some abilities are parriable and some are not. This means you’ll have to learn when to parry and dodge if you’re looking to use it on all enemies and boss ski.

With so many enemies in Elden Ring, it will take a long time to learn what you can parry and what will hit right through your attempt, but this is something players learn as they go.

There are certain boss attacks that, if you can parry, you’ll be able to trivialize their mechanics completely. However, this takes some skill, knowledge, and practice to accomplish. 

Timing

When it comes to parrying, timing is everything. Let’s say you’re fighting an enemy you know you can parry. You’ve seen people do it on a YouTube video or stream, but no matter how many times you try, you just can’t get it right. 

The first thing to know here is that speedrunners practice the parry skill repeatedly until they get the timing exactly right. This is one of the reasons why parry is seen as an advanced skill for more experienced players.

If you want to learn to parry a specific boss or enemy, just know that it might take some time to practice. However, once you have it, you will likely find that enemy suddenly a lot easier to deal with. 

Parry Windows 

The final thing we want to outline here is that different weapons/shields have different parry windows. A parry window is how much space the weapon has where it can connect with the enemy attack.

Typically, the larger the parry window, the better, which is why many players choose to use small shields. 

Small shields and bucklers in Elden Ring have the largest parry windows and are, therefore, easiest to parry with. If you want to learn how to parry, we’d recommend going picking up a buckler and using it around some humanoid enemies until you get the hang of it.

From there, you’ll be able to keep learning and start your first steps on your journey to becoming a parry God! 

We wish you the best of luck in your adventures across the Lands Between and hope that this article has given you some basic insight into the world of parrying!