Hyper Light Breaker: How to Parry

Quick Links

How to Parry in Hyper Light Breaker

Parry vs. Dodge: What’s the Difference

At first glance, the combat in Hyper Light Breaker may seem clunky. The lock-on system here isn’t the best, and with mobs coming at you from every direction, you’ll have a hard time surviving your first few trips in the Overgrowth. But after a few deaths, you’ll soon learn that there’s more to the game’s combat design than initially meets the eye.

The game offers you two ways to negate damage: Parry and Dodge. Although dodging is the easier way to avoid taking a hit, learning how to parry can help you take advantage of the many parry-centered bonuses in the game. This guide will cover the basics of how to parry in Hyper Light Breaker to help you master the combat system in the game.

hype

Hyper Light Breaker: How Does Rez Work?

Wondering what the mysterious counter on your screen means each time you die in Hyper Light Breaker? Here’s how the Rez system works in the game.

How to Parry in Hyper Light Breaker

Parrying in Hyper Light Breaker is pretty straightforward. Simply press the Parry button as the enemy attack lands to deflect the hit. If you time it right, you can stagger smaller enemies and also get a bit of Red Health back as a bonus.

The default buttons are Q on the keyboard and B on the controller.

The trick is to watch the enemy’s movements closely. Almost every single attack in Hyper Light Breaker can be parried if you get the timing down. As soon as your opponent raises their hand to attack, you’ll see a faint glimmer. That’s your cue to hit the parry button.

Parry vs. Dodge: What’s the Difference

While parrying enemy attacks requires precise timing, dodging isn’t as complicated. You can pretty much spam the dodge button to dash through enemy attacks and get to a safe distance. If the mob is overwhelming you, hold the dodge button to activate the Hoverboard and escape.

Dodging gives you some invincibility frames, allowing you to evade attacks. Watch for the purple glow around your character when you dodge. The invincibility frame lasts only a short while, but some Holobytes can extend the duration.

Parrying, however, doesn’t offer any iframes. You either get the timing right, or you take the full damage from the attack. The benefit here, however, is that by parrying perfectly, you can regain the Red Health on your Health Bar. You can also stagger an enemy and potentially open them up for execution with a follow-up Flash Step attack.

To execute an enemy, walk up to the staggered enemy and press the button that pops up beside their Health Bar.

hyper-light-breaker-strikestone-holobyte

Some equipment and weapons in Hyper Light Breaker come with additional bonuses that activate after you land a parry or execute an enemy. By timing your parries perfectly, you’ll be able to activate those bonuses and buff up your damage output.

Vermillion, the starting character, also has the Tank Sycom perk, which boosts his armor whenever he lands a parry. Learning to parry consistently also allows you to equip Heavy and Medium Armors in the game. Since these armors add a penalty to your dash, you’ll get hit more frequently if you’ve been relying only on dodging up to this point.

Upgrading the Parry

Unlike dodging, parrying in Hyper Light Breaker can be upgraded in your main hub. By talking to Pherus Bit in the Cursed Outpost, you can unlock the Reflector perk in the Tier 2 section of the upgrade tree.

hyper-light-breaker-parrying-ranged-attack

Unlocking this upgrade lets you reflect projectiles back to their source if you manage to time it perfectly. The reflected projectile also deals 10% bonus damage for each point you put into this perk, allowing you to potentially one-shot ranged enemies just by parrying. So if you’ve got enough Golden Ration in your inventory and the parry mechanic mastered, consider picking up this upgrade.

You can parry bullets without the perk, but you can’t deflect the projectile.

Hyper Light Breaker doesn’t do a good job of explaining things which can make the early hours of the game quite difficult for new players. Mastering the art of parrying can take some time. But with some practice and a bit of patience, you’ll be able to deflect all enemy attacks consistently without worrying about getting hit.