God of War Ragnarok: How to Parry?

Looking for how to parry in God of War Ragnarok? Parrying is an extremely important technique in Ragnarok, and a huge part of the game's balletic-style combat system. For those of you who are unaware, parrying is the act of stunning an opponent by blocking an attack in milliseconds before impact. This opens enormous attack windows, allowing you to inflict some serious damage on your opponents. As part of our God of War Ragnarok guide, we're going to explain how to parry.

How to Parry in God of War Ragnarok

Parrying in God of War Ragnarok occurs when you block an attack moments before it hits you. For those of you unaware, you block with the L1 button in Ragnarok. Therefore, what you need to do is push the L1 button in the milliseconds before an attack hits Kratos, or the character you're currently playing as.

While most attacks can be parried, there are some in-game icons you should pay attention to, specifically the coloured rings that appear while some foes are winding up. A yellow ring indicates that a move can be parried, while a red ring means that it's unblockable. If you see a red ring, then you should dodge or roll with the X button in order to get out of the way. For the record, a blue ring means you can shield strike the opponent to disrupt their attack rhythm, and you perform this by double-tapping L1.

While a successful parry will stagger most opponents, this isn't always the case. Some bosses will attempt to hit you with three or four strikes in quick succession, and you may need to parry them all in order to disrupt their rhythm. Be sure to practice your technique to become a true God of War, and maybe consult our list of all Shields and all Shields Attachments to make sure you have the best possible defence.

Did you find this page on how to parry in God of War Ragnarok useful? Take a look at our God of War Ragnarok guide for much more information, and let us know in the comments section below.