Why is Parry useful?

[Lagiacrus]

This is a question that probably seems very stupid to a lot of you and I will be inclined to agree, but please note that Skullgirls is the first proper fighting game I've actually gotten into.
What purpose does the Parry serve? As far as I can tell it doesn't do anything blocking doesn't, and blocking doesn't require precise timing.

 

[TheFishWizard]

The blockstun is less and lets you counter parried attacks easier.

 

[Denizen]

Also you take no chip damage when you parry, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Lagiacrus]

So it let's you counterattack faster at the cost of being harder to use? Seems straightforward enough. I had the feeling it was something along those lines but I couldn't tell. Can one parry block several hits of an attack or do you always need to block every hit individually?

 

[SanoBaron]

So it let's you counterattack faster at the cost of being harder to use? Seems straightforward enough. I had the feeling it was something along those lines but I couldn't tell. Can one parry block several hits of an attack or do you always need to block every hit individually?

individually is usually how parries work. you gotta basically block every frame of the attack. the easiest way to learn about this is the third strike tutorial on parrying.

 

[Nap1400]

Actually it does cost chip, but less of it.

And you can't be chipped to death if you parry, so if you're on your last bit of life you can pull a Daigo to save yourself.

And you have to parry every attack, otherwise it won't work.

 

[TechPowah]

Also, if you parry in the air, you don't lose any side-momentum you had from your jump as opposed to just blocking, so you won't lose any footing while trying to jump your way towards/away from your opponent.

 

[dama624]

Parry also maintains your momentum, IIRC, so you can jump forward, parry through Peacock's Airplane George, and still have yourself moving forward.

*EDIT* Val'd

 

[Lagiacrus]

Well that explains a lot. The thing about keeping momentum in the air in particular is very useful, though I feel hp.Brass Knuckle makes approaching with Big Band rather easy in general.

 

[Mike_Z]

- Parry recovers instantly after the hit-stop, so if you parry something that you would normally not be able to punish (like a Napalm Pillar that is then cancelled into bikes) you can punish it.
That's the main reason to parry either in SG or 3s.

- Parrying gives you a lot of meter, as opposed to blocking which gives you nearly none.

If you think Brass makes approaching easy then you aren't playing people at a level where parry is useful yet. :^)

 

[RemiKz]

It is also worth nothing that HP brass knuckle is pretty unsafe on block.

You typically want to use parry as a sort of counter to obvious/predicted attacks. Take Double's j.HP for instance. Normally its super advantageous on block, but if you see it coming and parry all the hits, you can hit her back before she has time to recover.

EDIT: Mike Z'd

 

[TechPowah]

Oh, I didn't even notice that parries earn more Tension than just blocking, thanks Mike!

 

[Lagiacrus]

Parrying giving you lots of Tension is very exciting information actually, thanks a bunch! Now to try to learn to use it.

 

[ClarenceMage]

- Parrying gives you a lot of meter, as opposed to blocking which gives you nearly none.

What determines meter gain when parrying, exactly? When playing, I haven't even noticed that parrying things gains me meter. It certainly does happen when I look at it in training room but, when I parry stuff in game the meter gain from it isn't really noticable.

The only way I could interpret parrying as giving meter is successful parry in the correct circumstance = Combo from parry = Heaps of meter gained from a combo.

 

[Flotilla]

Parrying makes a lot of moves much more easily punishable.

For instance, titan knuckle is a long-ranged move that Cerebella can do, and from the maximum distance it hits from it's not easy at all to punish on block. However, you can PARRY it and then snag them up with LP beat extend into a full combo.

Predictable Filias and Parasouls often make their approach with j.HP, which they can turn into a vicious blockstring. These moves are both incidentally very easy to parry, which enables you to again, snag them into LP beat extend for a full combo.

 

[Mike_Z]

Enemy metergain on parry = same as on hit
Band's metergain on parry = 3/4 of that, minimum 1% of a level (so parrying 100 hits that give zero meter, like Parasoul's Lv3, gives you a bar)

Enemy metergain on block = 3/4 of on-hit
Band's metergain on block = 1/4 of that, no minimum (so blocking Parasoul's Lv3s forever will not give you a level)

 

[TechPowah]

Oh, so you have guaranteed metergain on parry? That's really useful to know.