Parrying
Parrying is a gameplay mechanic in ELDEN RING (2022).
Parrying is a specific type of Skill. They are usually found on shields, but some weapons are also compatible with the basic Parry skill.
To successfully parry an attack means to deflect an incoming blow, which then stuns the attacker and leaves them open to a Critical Hit. There is also a small number of reusable Tools that can deflect specific attacks, although this is not strictly speaking a "parry".
Most Enemies in the game have some number of attacks that can be deflected via parry, including many of the Bosses, but there is no visual queue or sound effect that makes it obvious whether or not an attack can be parried. Additionally, bosses often require two or even three parries before becoming vulnerable to a Critical Hit (note that there's no recovery for this, so a boss that requires two parries and was parried once minutes ago will still become vulnerable upon being parried a second time).
The parry mechanic can be broken down into three parts: startup, active and recovery. During the startup animation, the character will prepare to deflect an attack and is still vulnerable. Then the parry becomes active for a certain number of time, in which an incoming attack will be deflected. Afterwards follows the recovery time of the move, in which the user is vulnerable again. When hit during the startup or recovery frames of a parry, the attack will deal stamina damage similar to blocking.
Startup, active and recovery times are measured in frames, with one frame being equal to 0.03333 seconds at 30 FPS.
| Parrying tool | Startup frames | Active frames | Recovery frames |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skill: Buckler Parry | 4 | 5 | 12 |
| Skill: Parry + Any Dagger | 4 | 4 | 15 |
| Skill: Parry + Any Small Shield | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| Skill: Parry + Any Medium Shield | 4 | 3 | 16 |
| Skill: Parry + Any Fist | 4 | 3 | 16 |
| Skill: Parry + Any Claw | 4 | 3 | 16 |
| Skill: Parry + Any Curved Sword | 4 | 3 | 16 |
| Skill: Parry + Any Thrusting Sword | 4 | 3 | 16 |
| Skill: Storm Wall (Weapons) | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| Skill: Storm Wall (Projectiles) | 0 | 10 | 13 |
| Skill: Carian Retaliation (Weapons) | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| Skill: Carian Retaliation (Spells) | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| Skill: Golden Parry | 4 | 3 | 16 |
| Skill: Thops's Barrier (Weapons) | 4 | 4 | 15 |
| Skill: Thops's Barrier (Spells) | 3 | 3 | 17 |