Parrying...what does it do exactly?

[Cadbury]

Hi again,

I'll continue my trend of weekly silly questions. What does parrying do?

Back in the day on OSI (maybe 1998-2000), it raised your AR rating quite significantly, based on your skill. Here, it doesn't do that. I've noticed you can gain it even with a two-handed weapon like a halberd equipped.

On occasion, I see a white flash on my character, I assume that's parrying do something. I just can't tell what it is...

Is there any advantage to using a shield? From what I can tell, everyone seems to use two-handed weapons.

Thanks!

[Enigma]

Parrying gives you the ability to completely block a physical attack. Depending on your skill level, the % chance to block will vary. If you use bushido with a 2 handed weapon, your chance to parry will increase significantly - however if you use bushido with a SHIELD and not a 2 handed weapon, it will decrease significantly.

Parrying with a shield at 80 dex and 120 parry gives 35% or so chance to parry (if memory serves me correctly) while parrying with bushido AND a 2 handed weapon will give 40% chance to parry, assuming you have 120 bush, 120 parry and 80 dex. This is the reason many opt to use 2 handed weapons (also because the bushido skill itself is extremely useful and powerful if used correctly).

So basically if you are a shield user, its best to just live without bushido, whereas 2 hand weapon users will probably want to get 110-120 bushido for more parry and the perks that come with having the bushido skill.

[Cpt_Starfox]

The main advantages that shield users have that I can think of are the fact that even if you are disarmed, you still have your shield to protect you and the fact that you have an extra item (your shield) that you can socket with all sorts of useful stuffs.

So, it comes down to a matter of style and choice - what's your style and what do you consider to be the best advantages for you: the shield stuffs or the bushido stuffs.