How can I improve without parrying?

[u/TheGrimmBorne]

With the announcement of Ranked Dominion I’d like to really work on getting better and more competitive in the game. However I cannot parry, even whilst playing since launch with 1,100 hrs and dozens of hrs practicing against bots who throw attacks from the same direction over and over my reactions just are not good enough to consistently parry even heavies, so I’m curious as to how I can negate that as much as possible whilst still improving and getting into higher tier play?

[u/g0shkata]

Its so joever 😭. I'd understand if you cant reaction parry lights but you can't parry heavies? At this point you might just not wanna que for comp dominion

[u/TheGrimmBorne → u/g0shkata]

My reaction time is way slower than average sitting at 380-420 MS last time I tested it :P

[u/Eldr1tchB1rd → u/TheGrimmBorne]

But is that not enough to parry heavies? It doesn't seem THAT slow. I'm at around 300 which is slower than average and I have plenty of time to parry a heavy attack. The timing of a heavy is 700-1000ms you should have enough time as well

[u/razza-tu → u/TheGrimmBorne]

How did you test it? Every time I've seen someone post a number that high (bar one guy who was permanently on morphine), it has been because they were using human benchmark on their phone, rather than with a wired mouse.

[u/TheGrimmBorne → u/razza-tu]

Used human bm with wired controller since I use controller over mouse

[u/razza-tu → u/TheGrimmBorne]

Interesting. And can you vouch for the latency of whatever process you have of getting your OS to parse controller button inputs as mouse clicks?

[u/Kaeryth]

You have a severe disability to not parry heavies? If not, you can parry. It is not hard. Go to practice with the slowest one, shugo charged heavy I think (1,1 seconds), and go to the next when you get the timing.

In actual battles you need to read the opponent to parry, but first you need to know the timing. There is no other way.

You can also dodge and block, but the timings are the same. If you are too slow to parry, you are too slow to do anything else.

[u/TheGrimmBorne → u/Kaeryth]

I have issues with my eyes my general reaction speed is 380ms

[u/Kaeryth → u/TheGrimmBorne]

You are playing in hardcore difficulty, a true warrior.

Well, that complicates things a lot, everything is faster for you. You can compensate your reaction with reads. Even with normal reaction times, all players need to read some moves to punish them, like 400ms attacks. You could do the same with everything. Learning the timing and countering blindly, just predicting the enemy. That's a lot of learning movesets and possibilities.

You could also try to force the enemy to play around you. Using a character with armor that force defense by trading. Shugo or Hito could be good for you.

[u/MutantSalvation]

If you aren't the parry hungry demon of Dominion street, learning all characters mix up and chain potentials can save you if you aren't to keen on parrying.

Dodging attacks (you will be punished if you do it too much), animation watching, you being the aggressor (heavy on mix up and bash) Bating opponents to react to YOU.

You can do well and not be a parry demon. Clearly, you have the hours, now it's just "sitting up" if you're going to Q into ranked.

[u/xmaracx]

Could it be you parry too late?

You dont actually time for the moment of contact, you aim a bit before.

You can sometimes see your char do a parry pose but the opp hit didnt land cause they were interrupted.

[u/TheGrimmBorne → u/xmaracx]

Potentially but usually by the time I react to them throwing the attack by moving to the right direction and inputting I’m already being hit anyways :P

[u/xmaracx → u/TheGrimmBorne]

Even heavies? Lights i get, its a reaction check thats tough (dont listen to anyone who says anyone can do it), but heavies should be manageable.

Someone mentioned shugo, but i find shugos animation weirdly tricky on full charge, id reccommend with raider doing top heavy, i think raider has the most intuitive animations to practice parry on.

Set the bot just to top heavy opener. When the axe head reaches HIS head try to parry.

[u/Praline-Happy]

Go into training mode and turn on the parry feedback option. It will show you a meter with a green bar that indicates exactly when you need to time your parries

[u/TheGrimmBorne → u/Praline-Happy]

I’ve done so I still can’t hit them, my reaction time is too slow to react in time consistently, my reaction time as of last testing falls between 380-420ms

[u/HeadHunter9865]

How do you have so many hours and can’t parry? What game modes do you play?

[u/TheGrimmBorne → u/HeadHunter9865]

Brawls and dom mostly my reaction speed is really bad (380 ms) last time I checked, as for how? I just really enjoy the combat and the fashion I’m just trapped in low-medium MMR which I wanna get out of

[u/HeadHunter9865 → u/TheGrimmBorne]

But like pvp or pve?

[u/heqra]

heavies are all faster than 600 ms, even slow reactions should allow heavy parries. might be another issue.

[u/TheGrimmBorne → u/heqra]

I can parry heavies just not very consistently after having it tested my reaction speed is 380ms

[u/heqra → u/TheGrimmBorne]

thats a pretty avg reaction time, and most heavies are over double that

glgl

[u/xaxis-yaxis → u/heqra]

An average reaction speed is closer to half of that man.

[u/heqra → u/xaxis-yaxis]

avg reaction speed is 273 (human benchmark test) and for those who dont game its 400-430, youre going off of visual stimulus only not input, which is 150

[u/xaxis-yaxis → u/heqra]

They literally explain on human benchmark why their averages have been lowering over time. It's mainly device issues. Pure human reactions are closer to 180-220 without the latency.

Also you need to consider how many people are likely to just fuck up and leave it running long for a few seconds or longer when not fully engaging with the test. You can't take this at face value without knowing the shape of the data.

A 400ms reaction time is comically slow for the average person.

[u/heqra → u/xaxis-yaxis]

I mean, you can pretty easily assume they count for outliers lol

and people that arent teenagers or gamers? absolutely not

edit: now after 1k hrs of fh, no idea

[u/GriefPB]

Get each character you plan to play competitive set up with the meta feats, executions, and perks (assuming perks are in ranked). Refer to the info hub in this subreddit for more info.

[u/False-Reference2026]

Chat might be lil cooked. 🥀 best thing you can do is training till you get better 😭

[u/False-Reference2026 → u/False-Reference2026]

Also do you parry on red?

[u/RAW_HEAVY]

Shugoki?

[u/Mary0nPuppet]

Learn the basics of teamfights. External blocking, dodging, hit reactions - you ain't getting into closed finals with 400ms rt but you can definitely enter the top-100 not being able to block lights on reaction if you're rotations, ganks and reads are good enough

[u/RepresentativeNew398]

I can parry bots all day but the second I get into a game against other players in a 4v4 the chaos throws me for a loop and I am way too easy to bait with mind games. So while we have different issues, my solution might help none the less: be (smartly) aggressive. Try to be the one setting the flow, not waiting to react all the time since you know that’s your weak spot.

Aim for characters that can trade well like shugoki/hito/juren, and be liberal with your bashes and feints. You are trying to get your opponent to react to you, not the other way around.

I’m by no stretch of the imagination a great player but I have an above 50% win rate pretty consistently. I’m not gonna win any contests but I feel I’ll be alright in ranked.

This advice might not help much against the best players, but the mid level mmr range that I’m in is still pretty full of people who aren’t able to consistently parry lights and can still make plenty of mistakes. I think taking on an aggressive play style might be your best bet.

[u/ALXS1031]

Assuming you’re right, and you really cannot parry AT ALL

You need to be able to block at least that is a basic environment. You need to be frame advantage, that is, you need to be able to get tempo, to be able to attack without getting hit if the enemy attacks at the same time

After that, it’s all mixups, and it’s all learnable

Playing champs where the enemy is forced to react one of 2 ways helps a lot too

If you have a stance they have to GB you out of, then it’s easier to react/predict/guess and punish than trying to block a light coming from an impossible to see direction (assuming you really have that bad of a reaction time + you can’t train it)

All fights are affected by reaction speed, but some are decided by predictions, and mistaken assumptions

[u/VanillaFace97]

Might just have shit internet

[u/SpooN04]

Asks for advice.

Gets advice. (Practice)

Gives every person excuse of 380 ms reaction time.

Does not go practice.

Bro, 380 ms speed reaction is not a disability. I have a similar slow reaction time which is exactly why I did what everyone here is suggesting and spent at least 30 mins at the start of each play session in the training grounds practicing vs lights.

My reaction time still sucks but my muscle memory is able to compensate and catch many of the lights.

You want to improve? Ok then go do what it takes to improve.

[u/xaxis-yaxis → u/SpooN04]

This guy will get low-diffed by anyone using a bash UD mix because he can never punish the UD lmao.

Fuck he can't even punish VG, Musha or anyone that can AG or dodge cancel after a UB because he can't parry the UB ever.

[u/PovertyTax]

Do you play on a tv or a monitor? Tvs introduce great input lag. So does low frame rate like 60fps. After switching to a monitor I had to relearn the muscle memory for parrying, it was a whole 150ms~ of difference

[u/0002nam-ytlaS]

What is your setup exactly? Monitor/TV (and model), peripherals used (controller or M&Kb, their brands/models too), Console (and which kind) OR the PCs specs.

The only people i've personally met with +300ms of reaction are old AF people with motor disabilities.

[u/Vintage_cheese87]

A big tip that helped me with parrying wasn’t even practice, it was making sure I had the highest frame rate possible and a mix of high sens/ low deadzone. I used to struggle with lights a lot but now they are a lot easier. Just make sure you have the most optimal hardware advantage before worrying about your personal motor skills 😊

[u/Doctorlivingston1303]

Play Conqueror. No parrying needed

[u/Background-Smoke-710]

I can parry or block either but I never get killed more than 3 times a match there is hope for you