How To Master Parrying in Hollow Knight Silksong

Parrying returns in Hollow Knight: Silksong, and it’s essentially an unexplained combat mechanic that is pretty useful once you get the hang of it and understand when to use it.

It’s a risky maneuver because you’re opening yourself up to attacks, which is why knowing how to correctly perform it is very important. Here’s how parrying works in Hollow Knight: Silksong and how you can get better at it.

How to Parry in Hollow Knight Silksong

Parrying in Hollow Knight: Silksong works much like it did in the original. To perform a parry, you need to time your attack so that it intercepts the incoming strike. Damage from the incoming attack is negated, and you’ll see a visible white clash on a successful parry.

You must also match the direction of the attack. If an enemy attacks horizontally, you should counter with a horizontal slash. If the attack comes as a downward thrust, you’ll need to strike upward.

In practice, this means carefully observing enemy attack patterns and timing your slash so it collides with theirs. It’s easier this time around, thanks to Hornet’s faster basic attack and the more detailed animations, which give you a clearer read on enemy movements.

This is how parrying works in something like Devil May Cry, where it’s more about timing your attacks to match the incoming attack rather than relying entirely on reactions. To practice, I recommend going to Hunter’s March and taking on the many armed ants to master your timing.

Enemies You Can and Should Parry

You should try and parry enemies and bosses who are carrying melee weapons, because they are almost always open to parrying.

It’s never immediately clear if an attack can even be parried based on just observation, and it’s more about organically learning how you can react to them. Enemies throwing their entire weight towards you aren’t the best to parry because they usually have multiple hits.

Enemies with multiple combo hits can be parried, but if those hits are in fast succession, then it’s not worth parrying them. That’s the same for bosses! Sometimes, simply dodging or jumping out of an incoming attack is better.

So, while parrying is a pretty neat skill in Hollow Knight: Silksong, it can be quite situational and not always worth the risk, considering how much you open yourself up to potential damage. That said, it’s pretty useful against armed enemies, especially those with more readable and slower attacks.

For more on Silksong, check out how to beat the Last Judge, or how to beat Widow.

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