Why blocking is (usually) better than parrying in SF6 

Oops you guys are right, you CAN block during parry recovery, however you are locked out of throw tech

TBH "parry" is a really bad name for the mechanic considering what it actually does. "drive guard" would have been way better.

2:12 Need to correct some misinformation here, the "wind down" animation of parry is *not* punishable. You can still block during it as long as you're actually blocking. If you want to prove it for yourself, set the bot's reversal option to drive parry and try to punish the recovery with the bot set to "Guard All". Even if you hit him while he's in the wind-down animation, he'll block you instead of parrying.

Parry also covers overheads and lows and cross ups. So if youre not sure how to block a move parry covers all of it.

I think this is a correction? Maybe I’m wrong, but even while the prey recovers, I’m pretty sure you can still block. You just can’t throw tech, so it’s still quite wea to throws

This game is amazing I’ve had it for only 3 weeks and there is so much to learn in it I grew up playing street fighter as a kid and these changes have made this game really fun

If you parry multiple hits with one parry activation I believe you actually gain a lot more drive meter than you spent

There is another bonus to parry , I believe it means you take slightly less block push so strings or moves they are safe by spacing may be punishable

One thing I noticed from watching iDom is Manon is incentivized to go for perfect parries. Even if your combo afterwards is heavily scaled you still get the medal for landing the command throw.

There's a reason Mago says Drive Parry is OP and you missed the crucial detail that parry recovery can ONLY be true punished by throws.

Would love to see a showcase on In-Battle accessibility settings. It was hard to get my partner into fighting games, but teaching her Modern Controls, and turning on sound accessibility while I play blindfolded has been an absolute blast. I would love to see more showcase to these options and show devs that people care about physical accessibility in games (not just easier controls).

one thing i would say about parry is if you know your opponent is gonna commit to a blockstring, its very worth it as you not only negate drive chip damage, but you also gain a modicum of drive meter back (much more if the block string is really long) if you find yourself drive meter hungry a lot of the time, parrying hits really help.

You do such a great job of showcasing these ideas and explaining what and why, damn nice.

The best way of using parry is to put it inbetween strings. This 0:18 is how to *not* use the parry If your opponent does repetitive strings (like the classic: jab jab jab) perfect parrying the second or third Jab is free as fuck. Think of parry like just-block from Strive. You force your opponent to delay their string, or stop it entirely, making you able to take back the turn. Like bruh, its really weird that jmcroft doesnt realize what the actual job of parry is

Good tips JMC. I learnt a lot!

Thanks for the option select at the end, didn't know about that. Super helpful!

i didn't understand anything about why 90% of the time blocking should be better? You said it but you didn't explain it. Parry gives you drive gauge on hit, block takes away. parry blocks high and low, block you have to choose. parry can perfect parry and reversal. the only downside to parry seems to be that it takes more slightly damage when you are thrown when parrying. i was hoping for some in-depth explanation here , regarding why I should block, instead again a video about why parry is good. your title has nothing to do with the video really.

Bit of misinformation here. You can block during parry recovery, you just have to block correctly if they go with an overhead or high.. this includes If you attempted the perfect parry as a tap parry is only active for 8 frames.. The only way to guarantee a punish is via a throw and that's all.. also Parry pushes the opponent back, so while blocking is okay if you aren't in a drive deficit... Parrying can be good to slightly push back and gain a whiff punish.

Here are two more scenarios where parry beats block: an opponent who likes to mix cross ups and normal air attacks, and your anti-air is unusable (e.g. Guile’s flash kick when you don’t have the time required to charge it); and defending against a projectile that is coming up from behind like Dhalsim’s Yoga Arch after it bounces behind you.

Love JmCroft's enthusiasm. It shows he really loves whathe's doing.

Great tutorials, thanks

Also you can hold the block input while mashing parry to try to randomly get a perfect parry during a block string

Great content as always jm! I'd be interested in seeing pro player match analysis type videos. Also the bee system mechanics open up various possibilities for new option selects so breakdowns for those would be more than appriciated fam

Great content! I always thought I am under utilitizing the parry mechanic. Its great to know there are some downsides that I didnt even know about. I just cant use it without thinking

If you perfect parry a fireball, you can get instant drive Rush into a 30% damage combo. This tech alone got me into diamond.

How do i work training mode i been tryna lab situations but im confused in the menu

I hope they make perfect parries more akin to third strike. I would love to see more of them in tournament matches

“Parry” is one of your best friends in this iteration of Street Fighter

5:22 how would you get chip damage if you had drive gauge to parry anyway and not burned out?

This is a great video. Thank you

You forgot one situation where you want to perfect parry: When you want to style on your opponent and really drive home that you dominate them.

You can still block during the “recovery” frames of parry so that part of the info is wrong

6:21 - 6:23 I'm childish for this. Lmao

SF3 third strike had a TEN frame parry window!? I had no idea, that honestly sounds kinda ridiculous if there was no damage penalty after. Really need to actually try third strike since everyone loves it even with the gigantic parry window timing lol

It should be mentioned that a big downside to parry is how damaging throws become since they get a punish counter damage boost

If someone throws a strange egg laying marsupial at you then you should also parry the platypus.

Very helpful!!!!

Perfect parrying always having 50% dmg scaling is kinda sad for how hard it is in certain situations, tho changing it would be awkward

great video

Not me only just learning the input for a drive reversal in this video completely by accident

As each tournament comes, I'd love to see you break down the mechanics of the evolutions in the meta. Say in tournament 1, the current top tiers are all in top 8 and the expected character comes out on top. In tournament 2, however, if there are no patches but the top 8 have different characters, explain what tech has been found and what about the specific moves have been figured out, and how it shakes up the meta. Oftentimes, we just notice that certain characters lose favor and only get the reason of "they've been figured out", rather than actually learning what exactly was figured out. Was it parry/DI options like shown in this video, or optimal spacing and shimmy tech, etc etc. Also, when each patch comes out, perhaps highlight a few impactful changes that explain why we should expect the meta to shift, like a weather report XD "We should expect zones of high pressure and Russian Hurricanes sweeping in."

Hi jm love your videos longtime fan. So I have an idea for a video, maybe you can show us how to read the frame data that shows after an attack or show us which character moves are safe on block and last but not least you are the reason I got back into fighting games keep up the great content my man🤙

I thought I heard somewhere that you can block during parry's recovery frames is this true? I think that should be taken into account when considering the risk of parrying. Also another situation where the game suggests you use parry is to defend against hi/low left/right mixups. thought it was worth mentioning.

other examples of moves that are + on block where we can use drive reversal would be great, thanks for the video!

"Please use block instead of parry." This message was brought to you by a large italian lady.

what about using it against heavy corner pressure with heavy mix up characters? that avoids a lot of guessing if you know exactly how to go back to block

Parry into drive reversal is such a good strategy i will definitely be using that in matches against ken, juri and cammy. As kim more defensive options are needed. Ill be using this to fight out the corner especially

Seeing the video of the title and so many higher level players use it, makes me question anything being said, especially since not knowing the animation for releasing the parry is just visual and not punishable. Considering all the shenanigans the game has, it's crazy that someone would think being forced to guess is better than the parry. Basically, the only downsides you listed is that you can be baited, which is just part of the game anyways.

about the option select. if my opponent is plus on block and i dont get the perfect parry, wouldn't my opponent be able to block the drive reversal and still be on my ass?

I thought you also got drive reversal just by pressing DI during Parry so you don't need to press forward during parry to get it. I learned that from the game's tutorial mode and thats how I've been doing it.

Useful. When I try to react to + move with drive reversal on block DI often comes out and then I'm wide open! 😅 I'll try these tips.

one other obvious use case for parry is when you're too low hp to drive impact their drive impact

Still waiting for the "wake up options video" and "trapped in a corner options video". Lol I'm getting wrecked and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Finally found this. I always find myself losing more when trying to parry anything that is not a projectile. I know Perfect Parry exists but the timing is quite strict, so I can never really take advantage of this mechanic...

Your channel is great it really is a awesome guide and good advices 😎 I'm playing better in SF6 since i saw some stuff here 😁

Option select sounds so cool! I'll have to try it out! My 8 year old is killing me right now and I need all the help I can get

I thought I was so crazy trying to use this move as someone new to SF. Parry feels like such a misnomer. Good to get the reasoning behind why I was getting so frustrated

I think parry is a great mechanic because since people are so throw anxious, it works well as a tool to bait them to approach. I only wish theyd add backwards drive rush somewhere later down the line.

thank you

What's plus or minus on block?

Ngl the title should be "Parrying is DIFFERENT than blocking 🤯"

You can add an additional forward input to that OS to get drive rush if they whiff

I actually had assumed that Parry gives you less blockstun and lets you react faster than blocking. Good to know now that isn't the case and only for perfect parries.

Yo jmcrofts, I love your videos usually, but I think you forgot a detail or two about the technical differences between Drive Parry and the way 3rd Strike parries work. In SFIII you have to commit to either block or parry with the stick. It's a powerful technique there not because of no whiff animation, but because if you screwed up the timing you would get hit by an attack and possibly an entire combo and just die. It was a higher risk/reward thing because blocking was always easier in many situations even if you took chip damage. Learning to parry effectively is not just holding forward on the stick, it's tapping it at exactly the right time and often multiple times with very precise timing. It takes a lot of experience to do well, which means at high levels being able to parry expertly is a game-changing skill provided you also know how to deal a ton of damage with a response once it's your turn again. Drive parry has a different purpose and different properties. There's no chip damage in SF6 when you block, but you lose Drive Gauge instead unless you're in burnout state. You also can't do any Drive actions when you're in burnout and you recover faster from that when you're on the ground blocking than when doing other stuff, and you have to watch out for Drive Impact in the corner and stuff. Drive Parry lets you avoid attacks without losing Drive Gauge and only requires some buttons to be pressed instead of choosing forward or back on the stick. It's a pretty safe option most times. Like blocking, though, it can be overcome by throws. The big difference - you can't try to parry early in SF3 - it fails and you get hit. You can parry early in SF6 and it just needs meter and gets some back if it works, but it doesn't automatically make it your turn unless you time it perfectly. Overall you're right in that there's better and worse cases for using each method, but SF6 is just different and the new Drive mechanics just aren't the same as SF3 and now there's different options and choices and Drive Parry (and Perfect Parry) all have their uses as well as all Drive Gauge skills. Drive Impact and Reversals are new skills that seem to take the place of the advantage you used to get with 3rd Strike parries, and combined with Drive Rush and the new parry system, I think there's a lot of nuance to it all that needs to be learned before you can say that one or another is always better. I think at higher levels people will find that everything in SF6 can be very situational with many different choices.

I play an hour a day and with every passing day I found myself parrying less and less. I didn't notice this until yesterday or something. I took a couple days off and when I came back I nearly forgot that the party option even existed. I used it to drive dash, but didn't even remember that, that button was supposed to be used as a parry too. And this video explanation makes sense. Parrying is, in most cases, too slow and has a wiff animation where you can't counterattack but can still get punished

Woaaahhh look at those artifacts, funky

i think while blocking with certain characters that have *charge*, it's useful to negative edge before hand

I remember Ono saying he wished he didn't add parry to SF3 because it was too dominant, seems that sentiment stayed

What does plus one mean?

Completely unrelated to SFVI but...will we see you make a return to DBFZ when the rollback patch releases?

A great time to use parry is against ken jinrai kick mixups, can block high and low and get a punish

its gonna be so hype if a pro gets a parry in a tournament

I did a perfect party the other day and the dude immediately hit drive impact and wrecked me lol

didn't know +ob was +on parry too ty

I've noticed perfect parries aren't guaranteed punish either. I've had Ryu's OD shoryuken get BLOCKED after I completed a perfect parry. To me thats insane that you did everything right and you end up getting punished for it after the opponent blocks your move after the perfect parry.

Against Marisa, I like to fish for perfect parries against her charged Gladius, I'll have to try that against for EX Phalanx as well. Basically, it's better to use parry against the more telegraphed strikes. Since combos off of perfect parries scale horribly, I'd make sure to follow up with combos focused on better knockdowns rather than damage. That way, that small reward can at least lead into something bigger.

Can you parry after blocking the first hit in a string combo?

Parry is being treated like 6Ps in Strive. "Just 6P it bro." "Just parry it bro."

Video aged like milk

You can also parry drive impact in the corner so you don't get the wall splat and the opponent gets a combo

VERY informative video. Thanks for your hard work!

THX cool vid SON 👍🏼🎉

for opponent wake up situations I prefer delay teching them, if they super or ex DP I block, if they do nothing I grab, if they grab I tech. Whereas if I parry and they might spam wake up back throw x.x

Im new to street fighter and have a question that i haven't been able to find an answer too, hopefully someone can enlighten me... The question being - If an opponent is normal blocking, should i continue executing my combo/attacking, or just stop hitting them?? I've seen pros continue combos, but I've also seen them land 1 hit and then stop... so im not sure which is accidental vs intentional, and if intentional, then why?? Pros and Cons?? Etc...

Paring also negates any knock-back on block. So walking forward and paring is way more effective vs projectiles.

Idk if it's just the nature of low level lobbies but arent you able to grab out of a successful parry(not perfect)? I was playing marisa against kim and anytime i parried her slide i just grabbed her out of parry

Great tutorial... I love the fact that SF6 is so balanced and its truly a thinking mans game.

You forgot to mention that if you parry a multihit super, you usually get an INSANE amount of gauge.

I do believe parry works decently if you are worried about a mixup. Also, it does give some gauge back which can be useful. Overall I do feel it is situational.

Unless there is a armor break move... you don't Drive Parry, you Drive Impact... Enough said...

I'd argue that if you have more drive meter than your opponent and they're chucking fireballs, you Shouldn't parry and should instead neutral jump or use some kind of ability to get around the fireball because while parry will make your meter drop less than blocking the fireball, the opponent Still gets full gain from the fireball "connecting" with you. The way parry works in this game is incredible... because it feels like Capcom went out of their way to make sure parry wasn't an overpowered defensive mechanic in this game.

I feel like "you only press fwd to parry" is a weird thing to say is advantageous, maybe that's just from a pro's perspective but at my low rank it feels like the ultimate check on how powerful it is, given the narrow timing

If the frame window for a parry in 3S was 10 frames, then why was Daigo's parry of Chun Li's lightning legs so difficult? A 10-frame window makes it seem like it's easier than most combos.

This is what I've been trying to tell my friend. Now I have a vid I can share

I think that they are perfectly fine the way they are. The only thing that I don’t like is that 50% scaling cap after Perfect Parries.

I don't fully agree with this simply because blocking reduces your gauge heavily. Mainly for characters like Gief who rely on it a ton and don't have counterplay if they get burnt out (big body, no level 1 super in the corner, all medium and heavy buttons can be DI'd, only 4F crLK can't be canceled). Also, perfect parry is not meant to do damage without super. If you combo into level 1-2-3, it will still do a ton of damage as super has 50% scale limit. Also, the main reason you want to PP is to combo into a better screen position, combo side switch, or back throw yourself out of the corner. PLUS, it's your turn, your momentum. Corner in this game has the potential to kill someone, if you PP and side switch from it, it's worth more than any damage you can get from the combo. Also, big damage from perfect parry would be unfair as you can PP by pure luck read or execution.

evasion is always better than either blocking or parrying no matter what game you play, even non fighting games. unless it's a massive aoe attack in which case you're screwed anyway.

Random note but you can D.I Blanka ball if you’re fast enough

I now wanna fight this guy, must be a worthy opponent!!

I was thinking that Drive Reversal cost too much for how weak it seems, but I wonder if this OS justifies it.