I was a little scared to learn how to parry in Mortal Shell when I first played the open beta. Even when I jumped into the full release, I still didn’t tempt my fate at the risk of taking damage. But once I realized how powerful a well-timed parry or Empowered Riposte can be, I almost did it nonstop. Here’s a more thorough guide on it than what I’ve spoken about in other Mortal Shell guides.
How to Parry in Mortal Shell
Before you can parry in Mortal Shell, you’ll need to progress in the story a little bit first. Once you’ve found the Fallgrim Tower (main base), you can remove the Tarnished Seal from The Old Prisoner NPC. This is how you unlock the ability to parry alongside the new Empowered Riposte skill.
Now learning how to actually parry relies completely on timing. You’ll need to tap the parry button about half a second before an enemy hits you. So long as the Tarnished Seal on your back hip doesn’t glow, you can parry an enemy. If your timing is right and you block an attack, you’ll see either a gray glowing circle or a red one. A red one means you have enough resolve (yellow bars above your health) to strike back. Gray means you don’t have enough.
It doesn’t cost anything to parry, but if you want to attack back, it costs one resolve. For example, using an Empowered Riposte to regain health. If you’re struggling to block, it’s important to mention that some enemies are more difficult than others. Certain enemies have more attacks they’ll do, others might have audio cues that make it easy to know when to parry, etc. Regardless, I recommend locking onto whoever you’re fighting so you’re already facing them.
Minor spoilers below regarding boss names.
Four Unique Types of Parries
Empowered Riposte
This is the first parry skill you get by removing the Tarnished Seal from The Old Prisoner. Players who took part in the open beta will recognize the Empowered Riposte. Once you successfully parry an enemy attack, you can strike back to regain a good chunk of health. This also deals decent damage and often staggers enemies.
Inflamed Parry
Once you’ve defeated Imrod, the Unrepentant, you’ll receive an Inflamed Gland. This can be exchanged with The Old Prisoner to get the Inflamed parry. If you’re confident in your skills and not taking much damage, this is a strong ability instead of the Empowered Riposte. Upon successfully blocking an attack, you can strike back with a “charged larva” that will explode after a short moment. While this can hit multiple enemies, you’re more likely to deal a good chunk of damage to one.
Crystalline Parry
Defeating Tarsus, The First Martyr, will reward you with a Crystalline Gland. I never felt the need to use this parry much, but I’m sure it comes down to personal preference more than anything. For this attack, your character leaves their shell with a few attacks and charges through the enemy.
Knotted Parry
Defeating Crucix, the Twiceborn, rewards you with a Knotted Gland. I can’t give much advice on this one since I apparently don’t have the ability for this one. However, it supposedly pushes your enemy into the air and freezes everything nearby. This gives you an opportunity to attack while they’re frozen.
More Parrying Tips
- If you’re struggling to find the Fallgrim Tower, once you’ve received a gland, it will have a ringing bell nearby.
- Every parry type requires only one resolve to attack back. While a normal parry requires nothing.
- You can block many boss attacks by hardening and then following up with a parry immediately afterward. You’re still invincible for a brief moment after being hit while hardened.
- If you’re quick enough and realize you parried too early, you can harden to prevent taking a hit.
- Your weapon and shell have no effect on how you parry. It won’t make you slower or quicker. But certain shell and weapon upgrades can enhance it.
Hopefully you’re an expert at parrying now and can easily destroy your Mortal Shell foes. If you’d like a video showing how to parry, feel free to let me know in the comments and I’ll upload one! Otherwise, be sure to check out our other Mortal Shell guides on tips and tricks for advanced players or ones for beginners.
Mortal Shell released on August 18, 2020, for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC via the Epic Game Store. It will release sometime in 2021 on Steam as well.
Mortal Shell was provided by a PR company via an Epic Games Store code.
Jeff is a journalist with over 10 years of experience writing, streaming, and making content about video games. With an associate degree in journalism, he’s a sucker for RPGs, survival games, roguelikes, and more.