The "Parry" mechanic.

First of all, let's clearly establish how Parry works in most games that have it, except PoE2, of course:

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🛡️ How Parry Works:

Timing-based: You must press a specific button or perform an action at the exact moment an enemy attack lands.

Risk-reward mechanic: If successful, you interrupt the enemy and often get a chance for a powerful counterattack. If you fail, you might take damage or be left open.

Visual/audio cues: Many games give subtle hints (like a flash or sound) to help players time their parry.

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From the get-go.. PoE2's parry fails at the most basic thing, which is the timing requirement. And honestly, it can't even be called a parry for that reason alone.

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⚔️ Why It’s Not a “True” Parry
In most games, parrying is:

Instantaneous: A timed button press right as the enemy attacks.

Reactive: Requires precision and reflexes.

Rewarding: Often opens up enemies for critical hits or counters.

PoE 2’s version is:

Preemptive: You hold the stance and wait.

Passive: It auto-blocks and retaliates.

Debuff-centric: The payoff is more about setting up other skills than direct counterplay.

🤔 Verdict
It’s more of a hybrid block-retaliate mechanic than a classic parry. It shares some DNA with parrying—like counterattacks, but lacks the reactive finesse that defines the term in most action games.

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This highlights yet again, the whole issue with PoE2's combat and how these attempts to dumb it down to fit in the PoE1 casual style gameplay doesn't work.

In most games, you're typically expected to parry one enemy at a time—and that's by design. Parrying is usually a precision-based mechanic, meant to reward timing and focus rather than crowd control.


Funny enough, even this dumbed down version of parry still doesn't work in the PoE1 "combat" climate... simply because it doesn't do a great job at wiping out or dealing with screens of enemies. Same as combo abilities, same as charged abilities... and so on.

So.. GGG.. I ask you again... what will you do about this? Is Good and engaging combat still something you seek? Will you actually address the severe underlying issues of combat in your game?

Or will you choose the easy way out and do something like this and call it a day:

Parry has no place in this game, at all. It's just a failed experiment w/o much thought put into.

It's usable to shuffle red and green gems to change crystalline immunity if the map has ignited or shocked ground (or doing the jump&run trial vs traps). It's just a free skill that would never be slotted but can hold various support gems.

It provides no benefits, 1m is too low range and most 'interesting' attacks cannot be blocked... I mean, parried.

Bucklers themselves are subpar to shields and scepters (both lower damage, and defenses), no usable uniques either. At the least bucklers should come in with 30% deflection right off the hop.

Kind of true. I really want parry to have a role in this game, but I just don't see it, right now. I think anyone who wants a "meaningful combat" ARPG should look at No Rest For The Wicked. I'm not saying either game is better than the other, but I want to point out how different a game has to be from what PoE2 is, to reach "meaningful combat".

I want to note another annoying thing with PoE2 parry. When I tried it, I'd put up my buckler to parry, and wait for the enemy to attack. The enemy shuffles around. Neither of us are doing anything, lol. What was the point? Or, I would parry, but I made a mistake and it was a red attack. Or I parried, but I disengaged the wrong enemy. I imagine parry is about delayed gratification, but that gratification just doesn't feel worthwhile.

Again, I hope we find a cool fix for parry. I played spear + buckler through the whole campaign in 0.2, and although I dropped it pretty much as soon as I got to maps, I still want to do it, again.

Systems like parry, dodge, and evasion may work in other games, and even in PoE2, the only way they'd be useful is single-target. While these mechanics might be fun to use when fighting a single monster, let's address the point where they fail. These systems are inadequate for end-game map farming because, unlike single-target, you can't calculate based on a single hit. Which of the 50 monsters attacking you can use parry to fight? Or will evasion be enough for 50 hits simultaneously? These are fundamentally enjoyable systems in RPGs, even making combat more visceral and enjoyable. But in PoE2, they'll remain a test case that will never succeed.

Parry could have definitely worked if they prioritized good combat like they've said initially. But as of right now, it's shortcomings are clear. The actual parry, not whatever block thing they did there.

For the trashy screen clear gameplay, if I can even call it that, what i gave as an example wasn't by accident. If it dealt enough single target dmg to overkill by a lot.. suffice to say there are a few ways to make that into a screen clear ability...

I do wonder if they'll go for the cheap solutions, turning it more and more into PoE1 with each patch.