How To Parry In Dark Souls 3 [Comprehensive Tutorial]

Players can parry any attack with any shield, as long as it is not a Greatshield, which trades the parrying element for a strong shield bash. Moreover, not all attacks can be parried as some of the bosses in the game have unparriable and special attacks that can only be blocked.

A similar Read: Dark Souls 3 Best Faith Weapons

How To Parry Using A Shield

1. Parrying an opponent with a shield equipped consists of 4 parts.
2. The opponent’s initiating the attack is the first step.
3. When you notice the flick regarding the enemy’s attack landing on your character, immediately press L2/LT (The keybind to parry).
4. After which, you would notice that the opponent has entered a stun animation, indicating that you have successfully parried the incoming attack.
5. The next part is launching the counterattack by pressing the R1/RB for a successful Riposte.
6. This is a special attack and is only used after you have successfully parried an opponent.
7. Also worth noting during this part is that you are entirely immune while riposting. So do not hesitate when you get the chance to strike back after successfully parrying the enemy.

You can do this parry with a medium shield easily, so not doing it with a light shield is out of the question. Keep in mind that you cannot parry an attack by equipping a great shield.

Shields That Can Parry

• Buckler
• Red and White Shield
• Elkhorn Round Shield
• Target Shield
• Iron Round Shield
• Hawkwood’s Shield
• Caduceus Round Shield
• Crimson Parma
• Leather Shield
• Sacred Bloom Shield (can also Spell Parry)
• Small Leather Shield
• Llewellyn Shield
• Golden Falcon Shield
• Sunset Shield
• Kite Shield
• Crest Shield
• Grass Crest Shield
• Dragon Crest Shield
• East-West Shield
• Blue Wooden Shield
• Knight Shield
• Silver Knight Shield
• Spirit Tree Crest Shield
• Golden Wing Crest Shield
• Large Leather Shield
• Wooden Shield
• Lothric Knight Shield
• Sunlight Shield
• Carthus Shield
• Round Shield

How To Parry Without A Shield

1. Besides shields, there are weapons that you can use to parry. Primarily, these weapons come from light weapon categories such as the Parrying Dagger, the Dagger, Katanas, etc.
2. You can also use fist-based weapons such as the Caestus and even parry bare-handed.
3. The Parry strategy is pretty much difficult if you are using fist-based weapons.
4. They have the lowest parry frames out of all the weapons in Darks Soul 3, so make sure you time it accordingly. The smaller a parry frame, the faster reflexes you need to parry the incoming attack.
5. This is why a separate practice is always required while using the fist and light weapons.
6. Parrying with light weapons and fist weapons is generally harder than the standard shield method, so players would need a lot of practice.

Likewise, the method of parrying an opponent without a shield remains the same. While using fist weapons, make sure you do not parry too early, as it would result in you taking some damage. The same goes for parrying bare-handed. Not only do you take a lot of damage, but you also lose a significant proportion of stamina, so make sure to time it correctly.

You might find this interesting: Best Talisman Dark Souls 3

Weapons That Can Parry

Name of Weapon	Method To Parry
Katanas	Can parry while using Hold
Caestus	Can parry from left hand
Demon’s Fist	Can parry from left hand
Claw	Can parry from left hand
Crow Talons	Can parry from left hand
Manikin Claws	Can parry from left hand
Rapier	Can parry from left hand
Scimitar	Can parry from left hand
Farron Greatsword	Can parry while two-handed or using a shield with Weapon Skill
Parrying Dagger	Can parry from either hand
Shotel	Can parry from either hand
Scimitar	Can parry from left hand
Sellsword Twinblades	Can parry from left hand
Pontiff Knight Curved Sword	Can parry from left hand
Painting Guardian’s Curved Sword	Can parry from left hand
Rotten Ghru Curved Sword	Can parry from left hand

Parry In PvE

1. Parrying in PvE is much easier than Parrying in PvP.
2. Underestimating the parrying mechanics while engaging in PvE combat can prove disastrous.
3. Some NPCs and bosses such as Pontiff Sulyvahn or Champion Gundyr require micro-second-level perfection to parry them.
4. It is why parrying these bosses is immensely challenging, and arguably, they are even harder to parry compared to fights in PvP modes.
5. You can pretty much estimate when to press your L2/LT to parry the attack just by listening to the sound of it.
6. When you hear the enemies’ attack’s swoosh, give it a 0.5-second break and then press L2/LT.
7. The 0.5 second is just to be on the safe side and not parry too early.

An interesting build guide: Dark Souls 3 Katana Build

While playing against the AI in Dark Souls 3, PvE-based enemies do not learn your strategies to break the loop of parrying. Hence you can parry again and again and drain a boss or NPC’s health entirely. Parrying comes naturally after practicing it with different sorts of PvE and PvP opponents, and over time everyone gets over the parry process.

Bosses That Can Be Parried

• Iudex GundyrAbyss Watchers
• Crystal Sage
• Deacons of the Deep
• Pontiff Sulyvahn
• Champion Gundyr
• Dragonslayer Armour (You can’t riposte)
• Lorian, Elder Prince (You can’t Riposte)
• Lothric, Younger Prince (Spell Parry)
• Champion’s Gravetender
• Sister Friede
• Halflight, Spear of the Church

Parry In PvP

That is not the case while playing PvP. An online opponent uses a great variety of weapons, skills, and other combinations in combat, which makes knowing an enemy’s next move an impossible task. So, it would take you a great deal of time to master every weapon. This is probably why parrying in PvE is relatively much easier than in PvP.

That is pretty much everything you need to know about parrying. If you think we missed out on something, please mention it in the comments section below.

This might be interesting for you: Dark Souls 3 Best Shield