Once you achieve that, start mixing it up a little bit - parry into counter-attack into more attacks back into a parry. Set yourself a consecutive parry goal, say three in a row without taking damage. Their weapons don’t deal as much damage as the better-armed Mongols, and their attacks are slow and easy to predict. Getting the Timing DownĪs for getting the timing down, stick to fighting the enemies in bright yellow shirts. A few missteps at the beginning are a small price to pay. The muscle memory you build early on will pay dividends in the late game, where even the easier bosses hit like trucks but offer plenty of parry bait for you to exploit. You will fail a lot, and you will die a lot, especially on Ghost of Tsushima's hard difficulty setting.ĭon’t let that slow you down, though. Kill a couple to give yourself some breathing room, then start trying to parry. Instead, rush in headlong and get a few enemies to attack you. Once you’re out of the opening sequences and the open-world map is available to you, go to the nearest encounter area and forget stealth altogether. The best way to get the timing down is as simple as it will be brutal. In practical terms, give yourself a little more than half a second to parry. Usually, I found I needed to add an extra quarter-second before I pressed "L1" to allow for input delay.
Parry timing is relatively specific and somewhat depends on your game’s framerate. Later and you’ll have already taken a hit, making the parry attempt worthless. Any sooner and you’ll leave yourself open. To parry in Ghost of Tsushima, press " L1" about a quarter- to a half-second before an enemy’s attack lands.
That’s what this guide is all about: how to parry, how to make parrying easier, and where to practice your parrying skills early so you can spend the rest of the game honing them to a razor's edge.