How to perfect parry in Space Marine 2

Nothing quite beats stopping a Tyranid in its tracks with a well timed parry then retorting with the metallic might of sinew-carving sword swipe. Space Marine 2 has a robust parry system that doesn’t just keep Titus safe from attacks but opens the door to a host of follow up attacks that are as satisfying as they are visually impressive. But, pulling off a perfect parry and getting to grips with the whole parry system can be a bit tricky. We’ll walk you through all the details.

How parrying works in Space Marine 2

To perfect parry in Space Marine 2, tap the parry button just as an enemy attack preceded by a blue circle is about to hit you. The timing window is fairly generous, especially if you bump down the difficulty settings. Pulling off a perfect parry will execute smaller enemies like Gargoyles and knock back larger enemies like Tyranid Warriors and allow you to follow up with a Gun Strike to take them down quickly.

Once you move into the Operations PvE mode, you can soup up your parrying possibilities with weapon perks that offer added effects such as a lightning field that damages nearby enemies after landing a perfect parry. It’s also worth noting that not all weapons offer perfect parrying, while others make it a more viable defensive move. This is determined by their defensive style, as follows:

• Fencing – Offers a more generous perfect parry window
• Balanced – A balance between blocking and perfect parrying with a shorter window.
• Block – Completely removes perfect parrying but offers improved base weapon stats.

✓ Armor regen

Perfect parrying, and follow-up execution moves, regenerate armor.

Fencing gives you more leeway to land perfect parries. Meanwhile, Balanced requires solid timing to pull them off. Blocking completely removes perfect parries and instead buffs raw weapon stats to compensate. You can still parry blue circle attacks, you just won’t get execute or Gun Strike follow ups, and you won’t benefit from the parry-enhancing effects of perks.