How to parry in Salt and Sacrifice

The Salt and Sacrifice parry mechanic is a not-especially-well-explained feature of the game that's definitely worth understanding nonetheless, as it allows you to deflect enemy attacks and even stagger them as a result. A parry master is capable of surviving much more easily across the campaign of Salt and Sacrifice than a regular player, though be warned - this is a high-risk/high-reward technique, and failure means taking a gremlin's sword to the nose. But if you're determined to be the best battler regardless, here's how to parry in Salt and Sacrifice.

How to parry in Salt and Sacrifice

To parry in Salt and Sacrifice is simple, but not easy - you have to trigger the block at the very moment that the enemy attack lands (and be facing the enemy attack, of course). The timing is incredibly difficult - too early and you just do a standard block. Too late and you get hit by the attack.

However, if you get it right you'll see a blue circle effect around the impact, as shown in the image above, along with a slightly louder noise compared to the standard block or attack. This has three benefits over the standard block:

• It uses up a negligible amount of stamina (basically nothing).
• Whereas blocking normally reduces damage by a percentage dependant on what weapon/shield you're blocking with, parrying reduces that damage to zero.
• Parrying the same enemy multiple times briefly stuns them, leaving them vulnerable to follow-up attacks.

Again, this is a risky strategy, but we advise getting to grips with it, especially when it comes to enemies you're used to fighting. Parrying is hardest when you don't know their attack patterns and when the strike is actually going to land, but it's much more feasible as you grow to understand the way enemies operate, and we recommend learning it to at least make dealing with common enemies more painless. Riposting a series of standard enemy strikes as you cut your way through them makes you feel pretty good, and it adds to the strength of melee characters in particular. Spend some time duelling with ghouls, and you'll feel better for it later on.