Parrying in Elden Ring means deflecting an incoming attack with the right timing, which staggers the attacker and leaves them open to a counterattack. It is a weapon skill, usually found on shields, and many enemies and bosses have at least some attacks that can be parried.
How a parry works
Parrying is not a basic button like blocking. It comes from a skill: either the built-in skill of certain shields and weapons, or an Ash of War like Parry. Each parry has three phases:
- Startup – you are preparing the parry and can still be hit.
- Active – the window where an incoming attack gets deflected.
- Recovery – the parry is over and you are vulnerable again.
Getting hit during startup or recovery is not a disaster: it hits your stamina much like a normal block. The hard part is that the game gives no clear sign of which attacks can be parried, so learning a boss means learning which swings are safe to try against.
A few tools can deflect specific attacks too, but that is not quite the same as a true parry.
Parry frames compared
Timings are counted in frames. At 60 FPS, one frame is about 0.017 seconds. Lower startup means a faster parry, and more active frames means a more forgiving window.
| Parry tool | Startup frames | Active frames |
|---|---|---|
| Buckler | 8 | 11 |
| Parrying Dagger | 12 | 9 |
| Parry + small shield | 11 | 11 |
| Parry + medium shield | 12 | 5 |
| Parry + fist/claw | 13 | 5 |
| Parry + curved sword | 12 | 5 |
| Parry + thrusting sword | 13 | 5 |
| Storm Wall + small or medium shield | 11 | 11 |
| Carian Retaliation + small or medium shield | 8 | 14 |
| Golden Parry + small or medium shield | 8 | 14 |
| Thops’s Barrier + small or medium shield | 13 | 9 |
Which parry to pick
On paper, Golden Parry and Carian Retaliation are the most generous: fast startup and the widest active window. The Buckler is also quick, with a solid window. The plain Parry skill on a medium shield is the least forgiving of the shield options, with only five active frames, so if you struggle with timing it is worth switching to a small shield or one of the stronger Ashes of War.
Storm Wall gives the same steady 11 frames on both small and medium shields, and Thops’s Barrier sits in between.
Parrying vs. other defensive options
If parry timing never clicks for you, a Guard Counter gives a similar payoff with much less risk: block the hit, then hit back with a heavy attack. Both reward you for standing your ground instead of rolling away.