Dark Souls - Expert's Guide to Parrying

The next installment of my Expert's Guide series. I cover parrying and riposting from the most basic level to the frame counts of both parry window and recovery times. New players will likely learn a lot, while veteran players probably won't learn anything new until the final section. To my knowledge the actual frame counts have not been done before. Perhaps when the PC version is released and the data-miners do their work I'll find out just how accurate I was in my findings.
This one took me a bit longer to make as I had to do quite a bit of work to test the parry window and recovery timing for the majority of weapons and shields. Hopefully it was worth the effort and a lot of questions will be answered.
*Here is the list of armor used in the video.
Head: Thief's Hood
Torso: Painted Guardian Robe
Legs: Black Tights (Velka's set)
Gloves: Gold hemmed
Note that this armor has zero poise so it's mostly just used for looks. It does have pretty good resistances when upgraded though.

[@Kurai_69420]

This was by far the most satisfying video of Havel getting tortured for his crimes against fun ever.

[@SuperLotus]

Havel does provide fun. Fun for people watching blind Let's plays who pick the master key as their gift.

[@Kurai_69420]

SuperLotus Their reaction to geting one-shotted by a dildo is hysterical.

[@SuperLotus]

DovahSpy Hehe, Tin-Plated called Havel "Lord Iron Scrotum" due to his weapon :D

[@KhallDrake]

This guy was crazy when I started as the knight with my fat rolls. I thought armour would mean more. I come back as the thief (and with more experience) and wreck him.

[@sparkplug8763]

I picked the master key as my gift and when I encountered this guy, I was still a noob. It felt so awesome dodging all his attacks and finally killing him by doing a measly 11 to 20 damage per hit. I didn't know that the pine resin would've made it easier :p

[@brianmead7556]

I discovered a quick and dirty general rule that will usually get you a successful parry: hit the button just as they begin to make their attack go towards you, so hit it right after they stop their windup and begin moving to actually hit you.

[@royrieder2113]

In PvP, that's more or less true when trying to do a psychic-read parry

[@halwa2637]

WTF this makes parrying really easy, than you dude

[@brianmead7556]

mouhamed belhoula No problem. :) Just be careful with PVP -- lag issues mess with timing ever so slightly...

[@istvanandras725]

Brian Mead i started to learn parrying with bear hands... after a few hours i tried a shield. And it was 10 times easyer.

[@revfunk8823]

Brian Mead that's not a trick, that is how you parry lol

[@ZachDxn]

I just realized this came out 10 years ago, holy crap! So well made and detailed.

[@RedThunder5227]

i understand this video is old i doubt you will see this but i feel the need to say it still. a long while ago in my early days of dark souls the one thing i wanted to do was figure out how to parry. that is when i came across your video here. you explained this so well and i today still play the first dark souls and i still can parry 90% of the time due to this video. you made my first dark souls play through so amazing and memorable and all the others to follow as well and i never thanked you for it. so i would like to say it now. thank you.

[@optimizedlaziness6183]

Wow, that's some amazing comment you made there

[@MatPost]

Damn this comment is old as well

[@JoeMama-sc2lv]

I doubt you will see this aswell but well said

[@beanmaster4161]

People reading this in 2021....

[@eulachster]

Wholesome

[@squishymamafat]

I didn't know that lengths of weapons didn't count in parrying, that tip was very useful.

[@torpid]

69 likes

[@Cade_The_Squirrel]

3:54 Most brutal circumcision ever

[@bigkingbean346]

thats gotta hurt

[@Frosty_tha_Snowman]

That's called a colonoscobotomy.

[@Aroydyer1]

Short version: When their hand is moving forward, parry

[@miguelpereira7934]

I try I try but.....

[@ivanyekimov1470]

In the end...

[@cooklich]

@@ivanyekimov1470 it doesn't even matters

[@nogarashi]

@@cooklich I had to fall... to lose it all...

[@abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1979]

@@nogarashi In the end...

[@ChadZilch]

Being someone who just picked up the game last month, knowing that you have to be really close no matter the size of the enemy's weapon is incredibly helpful.

[@benc6816]

Sorry, but after seeing the guy get wrecked by the falling gate at 4:21, I stopped listing to what you were saying and just watched that on loop.

[@terrythomas1248]

That comment is more radiant than the Sun lmao.....as I saw that gate crush him like a scene off Beserk or Ninja Scroll, that sneaky-evilish grin hit my face along wit a loop 🤣

[@slayerdylk]

@devonbeahan 2 Damn your mature.

[@monsoon7591]

@@slayerdylk but... he has a point

[@MisterSteambathRules]

@@terrythomas1248 I haven't seen that happen in either

[@carriekopczinski]

That guard missed the parry and the gate crushed him

[@DrSid42]

Havel trolling .. you made me cry man ..

[@cervixcrusader85]

I miss this guy and all of the og dark souls content... DS1 had some great times...

[@lettuceprime4922]

Am i insane or is he the fextralife guy now

[@cervixcrusader85]

@@lettuceprime4922 very similar, but this guy has a slightly more nasal tone and pronounces his words a little differently. They could be the same guy tho, idk.

[@lettuceprime4922]

@@cervixcrusader85 - I see what you mean. Sometimes different microphones have a huge effect on the way a person sounds, but Vageta seemed to have a slight southern accent in a lot of these videos that I don't hear in the Fextralife vids.

[@ItzMeWill]

This game was so hard for me that I quit playing it. After beating Sekiro yesterday withkut any help at all, I'm pretty confident that I can come back and beat this game now....actually I'm a little nervous.. im gonna need to forget some of the things from Sekiro. Like stamina bar and I have to release the block button to build back the stamina

[@esbiem653]

@@ItzMeWill I'm in your exact situation, except that I never tried DS before. However, coming from Sekiro, the combat and movement feels so slow and clunky asf, it'll take some getting used to. The parry i-frames here is much less than Sekiro

[@jonathanscott5144]

"I feel sorry for Havel" - said no one ever

[@yahiaaymankamaly3518]

Jonathan Scott I felt sorry for him ....for 3 seconds then I couldnt stop laughing XD

[@darksouls4046]

Lol I killed him after seeming this

[@JacOfAllTrades.]

I feel sorry for Havel being locked in that tower AND for his armor being used by bloodthirsty players for bullying other people.

[@bronzekilla]

Havel is my favorite

[@vageta311]

The definition of "riposte" is generally a quick reply or answer. The definition of parry is to ward off an attack. So you parry(ward off) an attempted attack and then riposte(quick reply) with your own attack.

[@CumAss]

Thank you now i can parry in dark sous

[@VeganAncientDragonKnight]

@@CumAss I'm surprise that I'm actually pretty go at parrying a beginner. I think that because I love playing Lance in Monster Hunter World! One of the weapons that has a parry and riposte mechanic. Although it's thr second least played weapon in the game.

[@lastandfirstman]

I've been playing games for over 25 years and the Souls series since Demon Souls came out in 09, I've played and beaten all 4. Never could I ever get the parry right. I platinum'd Bloodborne, I can parry anything and everything all day in that game, no problem; but parrying in Dark Souls, might as well critical attack my own character for all the good it will do. Then I watched your video. The slow mo was especially some real help. Afterwards, I applied what you taught me in the video and within my first encounter to test the skill in Dark Souls 1 (and after eating the first two strikes) I was able to get my first ever parry. I continued to practice and within 20 minutes I was parrying at a rate I was comfortable with to effectively use the skill. Now I can parry anything in all 3 games with ease and its all thanks to your video. I cannot thank you enough, as all it took for me to finally get it after all these years was how you showed and explained it to me. I'm no noob and have no issues getting through any game really, but the parry in the Souls series has always been a annoyance of mine, something that I had to give up on in a series that is about perseverance against all odds, something I had to watch other do put couldn't participate in, something I could never get right despite my best efforts and other trying to teach me. Your one video changed all that and has opened up a whole new gameplay experience to me, so thank you. Thank you and million more thanks yous as I could never thank you enough.

[@tonya8279]

So.... You've become a boss..........

[@BlueisNotaWarmColour]

I got 90% of the way through Dark Souls before learning that parry was even a thing. Also didn't know about kindling the bonfire lol

[@willsimpson3783]

Just picked up the remaster today. This video is still helpful in 2023.

[@christianvanengen9202]

That's one extremely brutal way to kill Havel (and embarrassing for him).

[@christianvanengen9202]

***** Dark Hand. You get it as either a rare drop from Darkwraiths or you get it by joining the Darkwraith covenant by speaking with Darkseeker Kaathe after you've obtained the Lordvessel, but before you talk to Frampt.

[@MrStealYoGirl22]

Disrespect level OVER 9000

[@christianvanengen9202]

***** What?

[@SeEpiNIncoherentRambling]

what about mage havel?

[@davidsaid7474]

lol Yep... Poor Havel

[@AceStrife]

70 hours put into DkS2 and I still can't parry for the life of me. Just loaded up DkS out of nostalgia and I parried all the Firelink hollows in one try, even getting no sound ripostes on a few of them. Oh how times have changed..

[@dummy4788]

Do you even Monastery Scimitar?

[@AceStrife]

Marvelous Chester Funnily enough, I found scimitars/falchions the most reliable way to actually get a parry in DkS2. Still not good enough to actually use it over a shield though..

[@dummy4788]

***** Well for a while the Monastery Scimitar had instant parry frames, thats why I said that.

[@michaelpirro2883]

I most commonly parry with the parrying dagger or rapier in dark souls 2. But I don't really play online so hell what do I know about those being useful outside of pve.

[@sirwartooth]

Michael pirro Parrying dagger is actually worse than a medium shield in DS2 for some reason.

[@IronEdDo]

I find it helpful to look at your attackers body and not the weapon. As soon as their body move toward you, parry.

[@andrewr5357]

10 years later and this video is still relevant. Helped me immensly in learning how to perry/reposte. Thanks a bunch!!!

[@gyromurphy]

I was seriously about to hang this game up for good....until I watched this. I can actually enjoy the game now. I know it's been years ..but thank you. Really

[@alanelu]

His Channel helped me alot

[@ATHDIMENSION]

this is parry useful!

[@stabinghobo57]

Adrian A this comment needs more likes 👍

[@darksouls4046]

🙄🙄🙄🙄

[@hrithiksurya2302]

No... just no.

[@corytreverson5756]

BOOOOOO

[@DynoSkrimisher]

Get out.

[@shiroatir7086]

5:10 good sir this clip helped me alot with parrying and with timing, i know its 2016 but this video is never too late for the game because its always gonna be good, great work on the video and thanks.

[@davideo7286]

This was an incredible video; The information was great as well as the presentation. I really enjoyed the editing of the first intro minutes as well. Great video

[@victorvici3612]

Incredibly professional and well composed. Great video, great advice. If only there were more channels like this one. Bravo.

[@silentneo1431]

just bought this game for my switch, never played dark souls or the others. Great video!

[@kennylyaffected]

After playing for a while, I realized that parrying is all about knowing the different attack animations and patterns.

[@LorenTR]

Thank you for this wonderful in depth guide. From the footage I see that your parry skills are god like. Kudos.

[@jbeavan010205]

Absolutely brilliant guide, thank you! Being new (like less than two weeks) I am still unaware of many of the finer--yet essential--moves and whatnot; but, this guide gives me hope :-)

[@hanh59]

DARK SOULS LOGIC: The giant geeatsword of Gwyn got push away by your tiny arm BONUS LOGIC: Do you see the metal balls that the giant used to throw in Sen's Fortress?Try punch it to see what happens

[@madlinursah5604]

What will happen?

[@borys0917]

@@madlinursah5604 they will broke

[@S33PlusPlus]

I love how those reposites while you're "havel trolling" looks like your motorboating him. Adds insult to injury to insult.

[@DeusRevelations]

The first few bits of this video gave me the most precious knowledge on parrying. Seeing that you parried on when they cocked their arm back helped me with my timing so much. I used to stare at the tip of the weapon and use that for timing. It always resulted in getting hit or a partial. Thank you so much for that slow-mo and the follow up advice

[@RipshawRyan]

Very nice Video man. as a very new player, but also somebody who has delved into frame animations of other games, I really appreciated the effort you put into this.

[@beefstew286]

Every few years I come back to brush up my skills

[@drear7265]

Same

[@LodovicoAriosto1]

thanks for this. I am 10 hours into the game and I am starting to get into how things work. The first 5 hours were painful I must say, now it is getting somewhat playable.

[@budkin]

Just started my Dark Souls journey and this video is a lifesaver. Thank you for putting in all the time!

[@IshamTrivedi]

It was amazing to see you parry arrows and magic attacks. You're awesome!

[@tube1971]

Late praise, but extremely impressed with the quality of this video (and presumably the series - about to find out). Articulate gaming webcasts are hard to come by.

[@TomLehockySVK]

Very useful, thank you sir.

[@quicksi1vr900]

Very informative video and well put together. I have beaten dark souls 1-2 a couple times each now and am familiar with parrying but I still learned a couple of things from this video. Thank you.

[@PatriotKittens247]

Professional quality with presentation, content, and delivery. Fantastic

[@weiwang8208]

2020 and still the best parry tutorial ever

[@TotallyToonsTV]

I need this information so I can kill Gwyn. He is my nightmare. From what I understand here, the best window to parry is as soon as the attacker has finished their attack wind up animation and begins the actual attack itself.

[@v1kk3485]

awesome video! I love the fact that you took the time to make some actual measurments of the parry-windows and recovery time. Every other comment or video I've seen regarding this has all been based on mere speculation. great job, man :)

[@gysahlgemuse7208]

Not only is the information in this video excellent, it is also very well made and that is something you don't see very often

[@ernesthemingway9094]

Just looking back on some of my favorite DS videos as DS2 fast approaches. Vageta311 - this was one of the classics for me along with EWFG's videos and a few others. Hope you do some of this in DS2. Cheers.

[@caffeetyler]

You're doing the Lord's work

[@SuperAtruss]

What a great technical guide Thanks a bunch!! Love your measuring technique with the lift!

[@davidruiz7086]

Wow. I have played this game for months, yet I still learn more! Like last week I learned to parry longswords, curved swords, and all other fast attack weapons. I never knew you could parry the berenike knight at 1:30. Thanks so much!

[@tofeandrice5150]

you just snapped the rock's neck with one hand. My god. That was beautiful.

[@MRLebanonnn]

this video makes it look so easy! I've died a good 20 times trying to parry the black knight

[@xbloodz1]

Keep it up man. Very convincing evidence and effective testing. Keep doing what you do, can't wait to see more.

[@alexmelendez7871]

my first video from you collection and I am impressed

[@jnickw]

Great tutorial, and holy shit that dude got annihilated 4:21

[@richrich9740]

thats be u in bed and im the man of thbe relationshoop not girlk hte girl with the hole ohpphphphphm

[@rudyleon5366]

@@richrich9740 WHAT THE FUCK

[@jmr10s16]

tf

[@leonidas1491]

Playing as Bulma?

[@lonemexio]

Are you fucking kidding -.- just cause someone has blue hair doesn't make them bulma. Damn anime freak

[@leonidas1491]

lonemexio His name is "vageta." Obviously, there's a correlation between his name being a play on "Vegeta" and his female character having turquoise hair.

[@markostamenkovic8350]

lonemexio Anime freak....what? Please explain.

[@kensyeyang1140]

Lol ur an anime freak too lonemexio, how come u know Burma, hypocrite

[@Mattias8007]

Thank you Vegeta for this informative video. I've beaten the game and the DLC and I find myself continuing to learn about DS thanks to helpful people like yourself. Much appreciated and subscribed.

[@asianflvrsoda]

Thanks man, I've been struggling and recently started to get into this game series

[@LPBelligerentsGaming]

Really handed Havel the Rock his ass at the end. Didn't even need a shield for it. I think practicing parries will be my next goal.

[@yittmashups]

Hey, you're really good at parrying. You should do a video.

[@nikajo__8755]

Just watched this video today and you helped me realise my mistake. Trying to parry from too far away! Then being confused why I hardly ever get it to work. Shortened the distance and wouldn’t you know it - it works a lot better now! Thank you so much dude, really appreciated 👍🏻

[@3cheeseup]

Thank you for these infos. For me specifically the "be close to your enemy" was the one that is boosting my parrying the most.

[@GKrawrs]

Miss ya man

[@brianpelfrey5788]

I cannot thank you enough for this video. Until I watched your video I never understood how parrying actually worked. Which is sad because I’ve played through all the dark souls and Bloodborne multiple times. 😅

[@hedoragen]

thank god for this vid. i've been so confused on how special parrying items (parry knife and target shield) work compared to normal parrys. thanks alot man

[@Gmagtube]

This was exactly what I was looking for. Great great video!

[@insanitygaming2523]

1. Thanks for the guide. 2. Havel got rekt

[@DaKussh]

lol if the hornte's ring was in the game in the first plase and you can equip it during pvp then fuck them, everything is valid in war.

[@CoRascal]

Can I just say that the little transitional frames are a really, really nice touch? Super classy, nice homage, 10/10 will steal for use later.

[@Danktitties]

Excellent video man! You're pretty elite with those parries.

[@HebaruSan]

Analysis of the animation is nice, but what we need to know is when to press the button. Has anyone found a video with a "press button now" icon?

[@Gambit771]

As they start swinging their weapon at you after the wind up. Wish the video would've told you this

[@hedworm]

jesus... you are so damn good at this game man. you just have fun, I've played them over and over again scared miserable, while using all my health potions. I dont get it, but props!

[@waelsayed12]

vermonster I think you're having more fun than he is, this game is meant to be tough and unforgiving. so yeah you have to survive with that 0.5% HP and use up all ur pots. when a game gets easy is when it gets boring. maybe it's just me

[@indrit9]

wael sayed its sopposed to be hard like The witcher 2, where pre planing is key or you dead, but this is some next level sh*t, im still on that castle at the begining getting my a** handed to me by those skeletons. This is frustrating. I'm pausing the game and comming on youtube to understand some sht. but its hard.

[@waelsayed12]

dude don't fight the skeletons :D you're going the wrong way.. I spent 5 hours fighting them before i realize that

[@indrit9]

Quick update. Yup, I played this game with one hand as I was too busy clenching my middle finger at the monitor. 'F**k this game'

[@Bluemilk92]

indrit9 Dude listen to Wael he is right, you're going the wrong way. Don't head towards the skeletons! I did the same thing for hours until a friend told me to turn around. Look behind the Bonfire and a little to the left and you will find a ramp that leads up the side of the mountain. Not the ramps in the ruins.

[@Nova04550]

SO HELPFUL! Thanks for all your hard work.

[@kimberlymyrick7666]

You saying that they gotta be close for it to work is exactly what made it click for me. Thank you

[@vsg1980]

Thanks to your guide here I went up to that black knight above the Hellkite Dragon, and whooped that ass.

[@nekodude2724]

I stopped listening when he got to the Havel trolling and just watched

[@GruntKilla90]

XD I know, I had to keep rewinding it back to hear what he said.

[@durandus676]

This is the most helpful thing ive seen for dark souls, im so glad it is the same parry stuff from ds1 in ds3. This vid still works for the new ones it is snazzy

[@ZakEmber]

I've played all three, and I'm on my second run through all of them, currently on game three... and I've never really figured out how to parry. I'm a dirty casual. Watching this though, has made me seriously want to dive back and and try it again, armed with this new knowledge! Great video, man!

[@gorytarrafa]

4:21 demon's souls fat minister flashbacks 😂😂😂

[@augustoluis6888]

I watched the beginning of the video with my jaw to the ground. Seriously man, you do it like a machine (or asian).

[@No0ne._.]

After I watched this video it really helped me learn the interworking's of parrying and I damn near mastered it not too long after watching it. I could definitely use a guide like this for elden ring.

[@Chumanuma]

i watched this for 30 seconds then i started parrying EVERYTHING literally i love you now.

[@ejoman3002]

13:19 why are you motor-boating havel?

[@MopeyN]

4:17 Dude.

[@wongoli]

Very in-depth which is what I was looking for. I just got into this game because of Dark souls 3 and I like the thief class a lot and want to fully take advantage of it.

[@SuperJ3sus]

My God... I never expect anything this thorough on KZbin. you just blew my mind sir.

[@KrankuSama]

there was no need to use that system of counting frames, if you have Sony Vegas then you can change the timecode to count frames rather then seconds anyway.

[@crazyhans]

Only if the recording is at the same framerate as the game, 22fps recording = wrong frame count.

[@KrankuSama]

If he's using Sony Vegas to review the frames then surely that means he's only counting the frames in the recording anyway.

[@vageta311]

I went through the trouble for the audience's sake, not everyone understands these things without explanation. You may realize that 10 frames = 333.3ms at 30fps, but many others won't. Plus by converting it to time it helps some people to grasp how small these actual windows, or the difference between them, really are. I could have just went with frames and not even mentioned time, but it was less work for me to explain it then get a flood off messages asking the same questions. Also it was to give validity to my method so I didn't just spew off a bunch of data and expect everyone to take it as gospel.

[@viljamtheninja]

vageta311 Awesome work. Very highly appreciated.

[@djjoel1]

+vageta311 atta boy thanks for the video, this helped a lot.

[@Jaypact1]

You sound like Rust Cohle off True Detective

[@ExyL24]

Just got into DS1 after playing BB. Excellent video sir, thanks for going so in-depth

[@yourexistencehasexpired9545]

Lol Bloodborne isn't even close to being in the same league as Dark Souls

[@ordohydra]

Very nice m8, only picked this game up a few weeks ago and though I was gonna thrw it out the window after a few very frustrating hours! glad I stuck with it, I cant believe I never picked this up sooner!! was struggling with backstabs and parry/riposte, still learning new things every day but this really helped me a lot!

[@Katsuhi50]

havel getting owned that hard made my day xD

[@GhoulI]

Im not your pal

[@vageta311]

I'm not your pal, chief.

[@tredfxman]

You'd be a video standard then - Phase Alternative Line, PAL.

[@avd7288]

+vageta311 He's not your chief, buddy!

[@shawnlazurith4588]

+Tony Ookami He's not you buddy, brother

[@avd7288]

Shawn Lazurith I'm not your brother, dude!

[@MTsoulMK]

i have been playing this game for a while and i had noticed the partial parry but never really looked into it. with this video everything is clear. thanks for the info bro, oh and the magic parry, damn you just took it to another level!!!

[@Starduster93]

for me best vid on the subject, very informative, great job man!!

[@shadowboxingmatt]

do all of these apply to darksouls 3?

[@jonahwilson6385]

They have almost the same mechanics, but dark souls was basically a cakewalk to parry

[@coolbeans3635]

+Sir Catteus makes gwyn a walk in the park.

[@MatthewTheUntitled]

Yes but ds3 is much more dynamic so the parry window is smaller therefor making it harder

[@FluThre3X]

So how much crit modifier has rapier then? it's written 110 on wiki.

[@ProdigiX12]

its actually more like 160 with the hidden modifier

[@FluThre3X]

but I tested it and it's seemed to have like 110... the difference wasn't as big as I expected actually.

[@zendoclone1]

FluThre3X One thing he forgot to mention or maybe didn't state correctly is that the hidden modifier doesn't JUST apply to the rapier, its ALL RAPIER CLASS WEAPONS. So estoc, ricards rapier, mail breaker, etc.

[@ElDrHouse2010]

Rapier > Estoc > Richard's Rapier > Mail Breaker It goes kinda like that. Don't trust the numbers the game tells you, I already tested it.

[@zendoclone1]

ElDrHouse2010 no sir, Your ranking is only considerate of criticals, and not of general purpose. The standard rapier has a higher crit, (marginal), but the estoc has a higher base damage (marginal) AND range. Ricard's rapier may start out worse than the estoc and rapier, but as levels progress, it quickly becomes better than both. The one that is often forgotten is velkas rapier, but I lack the resources to accurately determine its true value, though I suspect all levels figured, it is better than all of them.

[@lucemus1]

I'm quite good at parrying, but there were occations where i would miss, so i tried parrying without using the autolock and now i get it everytime! Thx for the tips & inspiration!

[@derekwilkerson5686]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge on parrying.

[@koosa6289]

Come back vageta :(

[@carocrazy132]

"Dark souls runs at 30 frames per second." That is not a constant. Look down on blight town and tell me it always runs at 30fps >.>

[@optimizedlaziness6183]

He meant that ds is programmed to run at 30fps. It can't get more fps

[@manamad2829]

This was extremely helpful, now I know I need to be a LOT closer to what I'm parrying.

[@supergeeb4774]

The slo mo part really did help my timing, fresh to game