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Though stealth and from-the-shadows assassinations are a central component of the combat inAssassin’s Creed Shadows, traditional head-on fights are equally as prevalent. Aside from leaning on Naoe and Yasuke’s attacks and skills to fend off enemies in these open combat situations, defensive parry and deflect maneuvers play just as crucial a role.
The different naming conventions – parry and deflect – denote the different ways Naoe and Yasuke fend off attacks, but cover the same basic defensive parry mechanic. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the core basics around how to parry and deflect in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
How to parry and deflect in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Before we dive into the details, it’s important to note that Naoe deflects enemy attacks, while Yasuke parries attacks. They provide the same effect, which is to block and divert an enemy attack to avoid incoming damage and create an opening for a counter attack.
To deflect as Naoe, press L1 on PS5, LB on Xbox, or Q on PC just as an incoming enemy attack is about to land. To parry as Yasuke, press L1 on PS5, LB on Xbox, or Q on PC at the last possible moment before an incoming enemy attack is about to hit.
Any single one-hit melee attacks and ranged attacks that you can parry or deflect will flash white just before the enemy delivers the strike, giving you a reliable visual indicator of when to prepare. This applies to successive blue flash attacks known as flurry attacks.
How get parry and deflect timing right
Timing is crucial. Shadows features a perfect deflect and a perfect deflect feature, which occurs if you time the parry/deflect just at the exact moment when the incoming attack is about to hit Yasuke or Naoe. This will put the enemy into a vulnerable state, as denoted by their body shining orange, triggering a long window where you pull off combos or posture attacks with high damage outputs.
It takes a bit of practice, but it should come fairly easily to pull of consistent perfect parries and deflects. Pay attention to the flash and wait until the last possible moment to tap the button. It’s also slightly easier with Yasuke because his parry is also a block you can hold just in case you mess up the timing. Naoe’s deflect is a quick up-down motion with her weapon, meaning a missed deflect will cause her damage. If you don’t manage to pull of a perfect, the parry/deflect window is pretty forgiving. As long as you do the move sometime between the flash of light on the enemy’s weapon and the attack hitting you, you’ll defend against the attack.
Lastly, you can’t parry or deflect unblockable attacks that are preceded by a red flash. Instead, you’ll need to dodge out of the way. In this instance, you can pull off a last-second dodge to register a perfect dodge, making the enemy vulnerable just like with perfect parries and perfect deflections.
Naoe’s Counter Attack skill. Captured by VideoGamer
Yasuke’s Riposte skill. Captured by VideoGamer
Parry and deflect counter attacks
Aside from getting you out of harm’s way, perfect parries and deflect are the ideal setups for counters. You’ll need to unlock Yasuke’s Riposte in his Long Katana skill tree and Naoe’s Counter Attack skill in her Katana skill tree. These are Knowledge Rank 2 skills so you’ll need to earn Knowledge Points to level up your rank before you can unlock them with Mastery Points.
With Riposte, if you tap L1 on PS5, LB on Xbox, or Q on PC just after pulling off a block or parry, Yasuke will follow up with a powerful strike. As for Naoe, pulling off a perfect parry then tapping L1 on PS5, LB on Xbox, or Q on PC will render the enemy vulnerable and trigger a counter attack.
These are among the best skills to get early on in Assassin’s Creed Shadows and transform the basic parry and deflect into much more than a simple defensive move.
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