The damage received when blocking an attack is calculated as follows:
If the blocking item has an applicable resistance, reduce the damage.
Reduce damage based on block armor value (the same formula as armor).
Leftover physical and lightning damage is converted to staggering. If the stagger bar is filled, the player staggers and the block fails (step 2 does not apply).
Leftover damage is further reduced by other resistances and worn armor.
Leftover physical and lightning damage is converted to staggering. If the stagger bar is filled, the player staggers, but the block does not fail.
Blocking[]
Block armor determines how much damage the player receives similarly to Armor. An item’s total Block armor is indicated in the yellow parenthesis and depends on its stats as well as the player's Blocking skill.
Blocking skill increases Block armor by 0.5% for each skill point, reaching 50% at level 100.
Block armor from the skill is not rounded (except on the tooltip).
Blocking uses 10 stamina multiplied by the percentage of the used Block armor (i.e. damage/block armor).
Blocking skill indirectly reduces the Stamina usage by increasing the Block armor.
If there is not enough Stamina available, the block uses all remaining Stamina and does not mitigate any damage along with staggering the player.
Blocking reduces the amount of received knockback based on the used Block armor.
Block force is the amount of knockback dealt to the attacker when blocking melee attacks. It scales from 50% to 100% based on the used Block armor.
Parrying[]
Parrying happens when the block is raised shortly before a attack lands, indicated by a red splash effect & a notable clanging sound and generally proceeded by a enemy being staggered
The amount of Block armor is multiplied by the Parry Bonus of the weapon or shield.
If the attacker is not immune to staggering, they will stagger and take double damage for a brief period of time.
Parrying costs will cost 10-20 stamina (using 20 if available or if below 20 using all of it until you get to 9 stamina).
If the Parry fails due to a lack of stamina (9 or less), the player will be staggered and not mitigate any damage from the attack.
Parrying is not available as a option to some items like Tower Shields
Parrying allows the player to block more damage than the static block in addition to staggering enemies, so there is no reason to block except when having low stamina.
The Staff of Protection's shield offers the ability to parry without worrying about stagger.
Fast way to level up is to find a Greydwarf nest in the Black Forest and equip a shield and one-handed weapon and hold block against Greydwarfs.
The player may find a stump to place themselves against and hold right click to block the hits from Greydwarfs.
