If the player shoots their firearm just as an enemy launches an attack, they will be stunned and put into a vulnerable position, ready for a parry. This is known as a Visceral Attack. This can be done with the Hunter Pistol, Hunter Blunderbuss, Repeating Pistol, Ludwig's Rifle, Evelyn, the Augur of Ebrietas, as well as the blunderbuss shot of the Rifle Spear and the pistol shot of the Reiterpallasch. The only firearm that fires a projectile but cannot be used to parry is the cannon, because it simply knocks the enemy to the ground.
- "Bloodborne encourages characters to stay on the offensive, using an equipped firearm as a staggering tool. By unloading a shot right before the enemy's attack lands, the tables are instantly turned, leaving them staggered and open to a devastating Visceral Attack."
How parries work:
Countershot
- Fire just as an enemy launches an attack. If the bullet hits just as their forward momentum is strongest, they may stun.
- The enemy will lower into a vulnerable state, humanoid enemies usually dropping to a knee.
- Close in on the enemy and press R1 to perform a Visceral Attack.
Backstrike
- Position yourself behind the enemy, within range of your weapon's charged attack.
- Charge your attack by holding R2 until your character attacks.
- The enemy will lower into a vulnerable state, humanoid enemies usually dropping to a knee.
- Close in on the enemy and press R1 to perform a Visceral Attack
This can be quite difficult to pull off, however, as the player must be immobile behind the enemy for a few seconds depending on the weapon.
Best Guns for Parry
- Hunter Blunderbuss (Novice) : Suggested starting firearm for Hunters who want to get accustomed to using Parries. Sports a wide spread so the actual high of the enemy's position and small-range movements will rarely result in misses. Also seems to pack more staggering force than other firearms (not confirmed)
Tutorials
Here’s little something for all you gunslinger’s out there: A guide to Gun Parry in Bloodborne!
This guide has several tricks that you can master to get more comfortable parries with guns in Bloodborne PvP.
What is Gun Parry? (Interrupt)
Gun Parry is timing your gun attack so that the shot lands in the middle of your opponent’s attack or healing animation putting them into a vulnerable state where you can perform a devastating Visceral Attack. There’s also a “Magic Distance” that standardizes parry timing amongst most firearms, and it is when your opponent is ONE dash away from you.
Heal Punish Parry [01:30]
Allows you to interrupt your opponent’s Blood Vial consumption animation. A crucial aspect of gunplay that may determine your victory. Not only will it stop your opponent from recovering health, you may be able to close in and finish the match with a Visceral Attack. How to time it: Watch for the opponent’s gun to disappear as their hand reaches into pocket for vial and shoot.
Gun Parry From Block [03:49]
Similar to Setup Parry from Dark Souls. With the Wooden Shield equipped on left hand, you may parry your opponent if your right hand weapon is the Reiterpallasch. Be mindful that many weapons such as serrated ones will go through the shield instead of bouncing, cancelling this technique. How to time it: Watch your opponent’s bounce on your shield and immediately execute your gunshot.
Back Dash Parry [05:57]
Similar to Backstep Parry from Dark Souls II. This kind of parrying puts you within the Magic Distance, and interrupts a combo chain from an adversary. How to time it:
- Approach your opponent and bait their attack
- Avoid the attack by dashing backwards
- Shoot accordingly to the weapon. For heavy weapons you would do it sooner, for faster weapons such as Blades of Mercy, you would shoot when your opponent begins their third swing or such.
Parrying Charged Heavy Attacks [08:02]
Allows you to interrupt your opponent’s charged R2 attack. Particularly efficient against those relying on the Hunter’s Axe “Spin to Win”. How to time it: Wait until your adversary’s arm is fully arched back, just before the flash effect that signals charged move execution. Be mindful that charging time varies between weapons.
AnonymousGame has existed for almost 10 years now. considered the best fromsoftware game by a huge portion of the community. Also the only game without a reliable list of parryable and unparryable enemies. you would think “everyone’s favorite game” should be the one they put the most effort into the wiki for
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Hunter Blunderbuss is the best firearm for parrying. Evelyn with it's best bloodtinge scaling can hide...
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The parrying was the first time I've heard the associated sound effect, but I just started watching jojo and realized that show uses the same sound effect very often, along with some movie trailers. I know it's a weird tangent, but is it a common/reused effect or is my monkey brain just making false connections?
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Does successfull parry with pistols relay on pistol damage to or is it just right timing to shoot?
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Can you parry every creature in this game? I remember reading that the cleric beast could be parried but I wasn't sure
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Can someone help me? I remember that somehow when fighting Martyr Logarius i parried him by accident with a running R2 attack I wasn't recording but that is the only thing i did I ran towards him, (I think he raised his arms to attack, probably he did), pressed R2 not too close and when i hit him he drops into his knees (I was so confused that i hit him with R1, losing the visceral attack)
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And it's just as enjoyable to read that they want to party your SpinToWin so you give it to 'em, but release half way/early
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I've done some testing, and from that testing, I've determined that visceral attack damage seems to scale primarily with skill but also somewhat with strength. It's also affected by the base physical damage of your equipped weapon. As a result a pure arcane build will have TERRIBLE visceral attack damage because their weapons have no base physical damage.
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so how the ***** do you do it? no kano heart rip, guy just attacks as normal when they are on their knees?
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I think the trigger is Head. 3/4 of the time i stun a monster for do a VA one of my bullet touch the head or a critic point. i don't think the damage count because my shotgun+2 stun monster at the end of the game.
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Seems to be a bit inconsistent. For example the frankenstein guy pounding on the door near the bonfire party in central yharnam, I could stun him consistently. But the same monster at Hemwick lane, I couldn't stun as consistently. Dos the damage of your gun affect it? since the one at henmwick lane could be of a higher level than the one at central yharnam.
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From my experience in the game so far, there seems to be a greater time opportunity to do a VA with a lower lvl version of the enemy, than a greater one. This also seems to be affected with damage scaling. ex: my charged melee (which has had more investment) gives a greater amount of time to do a VA than my firearm (which has less investment). difference also seems to be there when scoring a parry with the lower lvld version of the enemy vs higher. Can anyone confirm, or am i just overthinking this?
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Is there a list of which bosses and what atks can be staggered? Seen a few vids of Vicar being staggered, but have no idea how you can VA that huge...bitc--lady.
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Anybody know if you can improve it? currently I can do more damage just powering up an attack
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You can parry some of the larger bosses with cannon. I have parried Cleric Beast on NG+ with the cannon.
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If you want to heal, but are worried that the guy is going to try a parry, face away from him when healing. Even if he/she does stagger you, they'll have to run around to your front to do a VA(why, I don't know. Game programming.). Those extra seconds might give you time to recover and avoid a VA. I was fighting a guy like this. He parried me twice for a heal punish, but couldn't get the VA in time for either one. Won by an inch. Seriously, had no red on my health bar, it suprised me.
Greetings Hunters
Video containing basic info related to P&R. Feel free to take a look Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXMbUy1PFYU
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The first and most obvious difference is the damage. Pistols have a higher base damage and higher scaling. The second difference is the fire rate. Pistols can be fired in quick succession while the blunderbuss has a significant delay before allowing a successive shot. The third difference is stagger level. The blunderbuss will frequently interrupt an opponents attack while a pistol shot will usually only interrupt the attack if it was timed correctly. The fourth difference is the bullet spread. The blunderbuss is much harder to avoid and can frequently hit your opponent even while they are dodging while the pistol can easily miss even if the opponent is just moving fast laterally. Keep this in mind when selecting which gun to use for parrying. P.S. I didn't feel like creating an account to edit the wiki so if someone cares enough feel free to put this info in the wiki.
Parry enemy. Visceral attack. Calmly mutter, "**** you" as enemy dies.
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