How to parry, dodge and jump in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 slowly drip-feeds you counter, dodge, and jump mechanics into your battles, and it’s something I appreciate. These mechanics are incredibly important to master — at least parry is, anyway. While dodge is introduced early, I didn’t really find it to be as satisfying to do. I parried and jumped my way through the game, primarily because that’s where the counterattacks are.

Counters allow you to do incredible damage to enemies, and in some cases, just one-shot a foe. The game will sort of teach you how to parry, dodge, and jump, but it takes practice. So with that in mind, we’ve got a few tips to help you get better at parrying in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, along with other combat mechanics.

---

Tips for using parry, dodge, and jump mechanics in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Types of defensive manuevers

• Parry
• Gradient Counter
• Jump
• Dodge

Press the button right before the attack connects for easy parries (Image via Sandfall Interactive)

Over the course of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you’re going to learn several mechanics, some of which are more important than others. Parrying is the most important one — you’ll be doing it in every single fight. Failure to learn Parrying will result in you taking needless damage and deaths.

You want to Parry in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 right before an enemy attack hits, which is easier said than done sometimes. When you successfully parry, you’ll counter attack for plenty of damage. If it’s a multi-hit move, you need to parry every hit to get the counter. This gets much harder later in the game, so practice it as often as you can.

Much later, you’ll learn Gradient Counter, which is hinted at by a huge gray cloud covering the screen. A second or two after the enemy slows down after initiating the attack, press the correct button to Gradient Counter, and deal tons of damage.

When you see the yellow symbol, it's time to jump and then counter! (Image via Sandfall Interactive)

These are a bit rarer in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, typically in important boss fights. Jumping is much easier. You’ll see an icon pop up on the screen on the enemy, as they trigger a jump attack. However, some enemies use a "jump" attack, like Goblu, but require a parry. If you don't see the jump icon, don't jump!

Simply press the right button, and then counterattack when the prompt appears to deal damage. Dodging is done with a similar timing to parrying, but to me, it only really felt useful on single-target attacks, not multi-hit moves.

Parrying magical attacks is also very important to practice. When an enemy casts a spell, it will pulse a few times, and charge up. If it’s an attack on the ground, it will summon a few patches of magical damage until it hits your character — typically, you want to parry around the third patch of magical damage.

Parrying magic attacks can feel harder, but once you learn the timing, it will simple and satisfying (Image via Sandfall Interactive)

If it’s a projectile in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, parry, right before it hits your character. For ground spells, I typically count “1, 2, 3”, or time it out by watching it, and keeping a count of when it hits me, so I can parry it perfectly later on.

Tips for parrying successfully

• Take advantage of Flags/Camps to reset encounters and practice.
• Learn enemy patterns.
• Don’t panic, don’t rush.

Over time, you will naturally get better at parrying, because the game makes you practice it. It’s not something you do occasionally — you do it in almost every single fight. Unless you beat every enemy with one attack, you will inevitably have to parry. So the first, and possibly most important tip is to take advantage of Flags/Camps to reset encounters, and practice.

Don't get discouraged - just keep practicing until it feels natural (Image via Sandfall Interactive)

There were so many points in the early hours of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, once I saw a Flag, to rest and recover, I’d rest, which resets all enemies, and go fight them again until I had a feel for what they do. Enemy archetypes tend to have the same patterns, so you can learn enemy patterns.

You’re going to get hit by attacks often, most likely, in the early parts of Clair Obscur: Expedition, and even much later. Some enemies have simply unfair-feeling combos, like hitting you 8-10 times in a row. You absolutely need to know which enemies are going to do what, so you’ll want to spend a lot of time in battle.

The final, and perhaps most important tip to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 parrying, is don’t panic, don’t rush. There will be times when enemies start combo attacks, and they change up their speed, or have slightly longer animations, and you might get panicky, and press the button too early. Take your time, and pay attention to what the enemy does, This will help enormously.

---

Sandfall Interactive’s epic turn-based RPG/Soulslike is coming soon, and with it an unforgettable, emotional journey. You can learn more about it in our in-depth review.