Parrying enemy attacks is a big part of combat in God of War: Ragnarök and having an understanding of that early on will save you quite a bit of headache in more difficult encounters down the line. There are three main types of attack rings that players need to be aware of in God of War: Ragnarok and each type will determine whether you can parry, interrupt or block an attack.
Red rings mean that the attack is unblockable and thus you need to dodge away from it. If you see doubled-up blue rings, then that means the attack is unblockable, but you can interrupt it—which essentially acts as a parry-like ability.
You’ll need to double-tap the L1 button during these attacks to complete a shield strike, which will interrupt the attack and stun the enemy slightly. If you do this continuously, you can actually stagger the enemy, allowing you to attack them for a hefty amount of damage.
The final type of attack rings to look out for are yellow rings. These actually tell you when you can parry the enemy attacks. These attacks cannot be blocked. Instead, you will need to parry or dodge away from them. If you don’t want to dodge, you’ll need to tap L1 to parry the enemy’s attack when the rings close on each other. If you are successful, you’ll knock the enemy back, and the action will slow for a moment, allowing you to complete a counterattack. If you do this often, you’ll actually stun the enemy, too.
Now that God of War: Ragnarök is officially out, you can take advantage of whatever preorder bonuses you acquired by purchasing the game early.
It’s also recommended that all players take a look at the God of War 2018 recap guide, which will go over the important events you need to know going into this latest chapter of the story. And, of course, you can take a look at Newsweek’s God of War: Ragnarok review for more details about the game.
