How to Perform Parry in Elden Ring

Want to know how to perform parry and deal critical strikes in Elden Ring?

Elden Ring is a title that heavily drew inspiration from other FromSoftware titles like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro. Despite its similarities, you’ll still notice a lot of differences if you dive into these games. 

In Elden Ring, players have several ways to inflict critical hits on their enemies. From Guard Counters to Sleep Arrows, there are more ways to deal critical damage to enemies in Elden Ring compared to other FromSoftware titles. 

One of the best and old ways to critical strike in FromSoftware games is parrying. This has been present since the first Souls title and still works today. 

Parrying is a skill that requires almost perfect timing to riposte a strike with your shield or weapon. This leaves your enemies vulnerable to a critical hit. Some of the best Souls players use this technique to kill even the hardest bosses. 

Today, we will show you how yo can perform a parry in Elden Ring. 

Let’s get right into it!

Elden Ring vs Other Games

Parrying in Elden Ring is almost identical to how it works in other FromSoftware titles. If you’ve played Dark Souls 3, you probably understand the mechanics of this technique. One difference, though, is that the ability to parry doesn’t imbue on every shield in the game. 

The Ash of War system in Elden Ring lets players change the special abilities that come with the gear. Due to this, there’s an option to remove the parry ability from shields using Ashes of War. 

While most of the shields in Elden Ring have the ability to evade, it’s not a guarantee. 

Performing Parry in Elden Ring

Parry in Elden Ring can only be accomplished with a shield equipped and only on enemy melee attacks. This means that parry won’t work if your enemy is firing arrows at you, nor you can parry Incantations and Sorceries. 

Basically, the only attacks that can be parried are those that physically connect to you or your shield. 

When fighting a melee boss or NPC, you’ll have to keep track of their attack patterns and don’t dodge away. Instead, get ready to test your reflexes and parry. 

With a fraction of a second before the attack hits you, press the Strong Attack trigger on the hand holding your shield. This is usually LT or L2 for consoles. If you timed it correctly, your enemy’s weapon should flail away, dealing you no damage and staggering them. 

Once this happens, you can get in closer and deal a critical hit, which is known as Riposte. 

Keep in mind that parrying requires time to master and is not easy to pull off if you’re just learning the game. To be successful, continue practicing the mechanic and pay close attention to your enemy’s attack pattern. 

That brings us to the end of our guide on how to parry and critical hit in Elden Ring. If you have questions regarding this mechanic, drop a comment below, and we’ll do our best to help.