If your first forays into the combat of Tainted Grail: The Fall Of Avalon primarily consisted of you flailing your sword around and desperately trying to connect with a single spell, you’re not alone. If you thought the combat in Oblivion: Remastered was clunky, then prepare for some serious jank here, especially when it comes to learning parrying.
Luckily, we’ve put in the time (and pain) to learn the intricacies of parrying, so you don’t have to suffer alone. Parrying may seem like a simple matter of blocking at the right moment, but timing is just a fraction of the equation.
What Is The Best Gear For Parrying?
To get the most out of parrying, you should first equip yourself with some of the better weapons for parrying in Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon.
First, you’ll want to find the Parrying Dagger to get the hang of parrying and learn the ropes without too much difficulty.
As the name implies, the Parrying Dagger is perfect for beginners as it doubles your parrying window, giving you more forgiving timing for successful parries.
To find the Parrying Dagger, head to the Abandoned Stronghold in the northwestern section of the Horns of the South map.
This is where you fight Galahad during the Shadow of the Horns quest.
Before the door that would normally take you to Galahad, there’s an alcove with a small hallway leading to a blocked door – a dead end.
On this door is a note pinned by a dagger – the Parrying Dagger. Claim the dagger to help make learning to parry much easier.
Once you’ve mastered the basics of parrying, the next weapon will help you get the most bang for your buck.
Head to the Blood Lake and swim below the surface into Blood Cave, where you’ll meet Mallory and begin the Blood Stains The Circle quest.
Once you’ve defeated Mallory, loot their body to acquire the Parrying Sword, which has a different effect from its twin, the Parrying Dagger.
The Parrying Sword allows a successful parry to deplete 105 percent more stamina from the enemy. Essentially, this means you’ll need to parry fewer times before your foe is completely stunned by having their stamina reduced to zero.
How To Parry
Parrying involves carefully timing your block (LT or L2) with the moment that your enemy’s attack is about to land. However, you can only parry with the proper gear in your hands, like the parrying equipment above.
You cannot parry with two weapons, two spells, or one of each equipped.
The timing here can be very janky, with your weapon reach and your enemy’s position playing a major role in determining if your parry connects.
A successful parry will deplete a chunk of an enemy’s stamina and eventually cause your foe to be staggered, leaving them open to a riposte or execution attack.
The best way to visually confirm which parries were successful is by watching the enemy’s stamina bar.
Flutter Parrying
Keep your block up as long as you can while parrying to give yourself the best chance of your parry registering properly.
The easiest way to learn to parry is by using the flutter method, which means you hold your trigger to block, then release and block again just as the attacker is about to land their strike.
This fluttering of the trigger helps to ensure you don’t get hit by too many attacks that you would have parried too late, while allowing you to minimize your window of taking full damage from enemy attacks.
If you notice your parries are not registering using this method, try to move closer to the enemy and initiate the attempt again. You can see an example of these awkward but helpful movements in the video.
