In Enshrouded 1.0, a sword and shield parry build pairs a one-handed weapon with a shield and wins fights by parrying. Each parry fills the enemy’s Stun Bar, and an overpowered enemy is open to a Merciless Attack for 500% damage. Taking every rank of the seven parry skills costs 23 skill points. All skill values here come from the skill cards; the full list is in every Warrior skill and what it does.
How the parry loop works
The Power Parry skill card sets out the parry rules:
“Parry You can block when equipped with any Melee weapon, Ward, or Shield. A well-timed block will parry the attack and fill up the enemy’s Stun Bar. Wait to see a flash on the enemy or projectile to perform a parry. Overpower Attacking blocking enemies or parrying their attacks fills their Stun Bar until they become overpowered. Overpowered enemies are open for Merciless Attacks.”
Each successful parry adds to the enemy’s Stun Bar. Power Parry raises your Parry Power, and Heavy Handed fills Stun Bars faster when you hit enemies who are blocking. A parry also deals Bash damage, which grows with your Strength, restores Stamina through Vigorous Deflection, and can trigger a Shockwave with that skill.
When the Stun Bar fills, the enemy becomes overpowered. With Breach it takes 100% more Melee physical damage for 3 seconds, and it is open to a Merciless Attack that deals 500% damage.
On the Skills screen, the Power Parry card reads Locked until you put a point into it. After you spend the point, the card shows it unlocked at 1/3.
Parry skills
These seven skills make up the loop. Values shown are the rank 1 card value, and the per-rank amount is in brackets.
| Skill | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Bash | 2 points per rank, 3 ranks | Parrying enemy attacks bashes them for 10 Blunt damage. Bash damage is increased by your Strength attribute. (10 Blunt damage per level) |
| Breach | 3 points | Overpowered enemies receive 100% increased Melee physical damage for 3 seconds. |
| Heavy Handed | 1 point per rank, 3 ranks | Filling up enemy Stun Bars is increased by 10% when attacking blocking enemies with Melee weapons. (10% effect per level) |
| Merciless Attack | 2 points | Perform a Merciless Attack by pressing the key to deal 500% damage to an overpowered enemy. |
| Power Parry | 1 point per rank, 3 ranks | Your Parry Power is increased by 10%. (10% Parry Power per level) |
| Shockwave | 3 points | Trigger a Shockwave when you parry an attack or overpower an enemy. |
| Vigorous Deflection | 1 point per rank, 3 ranks | Successfully parrying an enemy’s attack restores 15 Stamina. (15 Stamina per level) |
One-handed damage skills
Between parries, your damage comes from the one-handed line. Warrior’s Path adds 5% one-handed axe, club and sword damage per rank, One-Handed Specialization unlocks special abilities, and Swift Blades adds 15% attack speed. Veteran raises Critical Strike chance by 2% per rank, and Battle Heal turns those crits into healing at 1% of maximum Health per rank. Finesse and Steadfast restore weapon durability. Taking every rank costs 31 skill points.
| Skill | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Battle Heal | 2 points per rank, 3 ranks | Critical Strikes with Melee weapons heal you for 1% of your maximum Health. (1% of maximum Health per level) |
| Finesse | 1 point per rank, 3 ranks | Dealing damage with One-Handed Swords, One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Clubs or Daggers has a 15% chance to restore 1 durability to that weapon. (15% chance per level) |
| One-Handed Specialization | 3 points | Unlocks Special Abilities of One-Handed Melee weapons. |
| Steadfast | 2 points per rank, 3 ranks | Defeating an enemy with a Melee weapon restores 1 durability to that weapon. (1 durability per level) |
| Swift Blades | 4 points | Increases the attack speed of all One-Handed Melee weapons by 15%. |
| Veteran | 2 points per rank, 3 ranks | Critical Strike chance with One- or Two-Handed Axes, Clubs, Hammers, Swords, Greatswords and Daggers is increased by 2%. (2% Critical Strike chance per level) |
| Warrior’s Path | 1 point per rank, 3 ranks | Damage with One-Handed Axes, Clubs and Swords is increased by 5%. (5% damage per level) |
Defence skills
Defence comes from Heavy Plates and Shiny Plates (+4% Physical or Magical Armor from your items per rank), Tower and Warden (+10% Physical or Magical Resistance while three or more enemies are within 20 meters), Nemesis (+25% attention you draw from enemies per rank) and Thick Skin (1 Constitution for every two Flame levels). Every rank costs 23 skill points.
| Skill | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy Plates | 1 point per rank, 3 ranks | Physical Armor points from equipped items are increased by 4%. (4% increased Physical Armor per level) |
| Nemesis | 2 points per rank, 3 ranks | Increase the attention you draw from enemies by 25%. (25% attention drawn per level) |
| Shiny Plates | 1 point per rank, 3 ranks | Magical Armor points from equipped items are increased by 4%. (4% increased Magical Armor per level) |
| Thick Skin | 5 points | Gain one point of Constitution for every two levels of the Flame. |
| Tower | 3 points | While there are three or more enemies within 20 meters, you receive 10% increased Physical Resistance. |
| Warden | 3 points | While there are three or more enemies within 20 meters, you receive 10% increased Magical Resistance. |
Shields that add Power Parry
Shields raise your parry skills on top of the points you spend. There are 23 shields that carry Power Parry, and most add a second or third skill: Bash, Vigorous Deflection, Heavy Handed, Opportunity or Arcane Deflection. Riptide comes in several item levels and adds +1 to +3 ranks of Power Parry, Heavy Handed and Bash depending on the version. “Blacksmith” means the Blacksmith makes it; “Not crafted” means the shield has no crafting recipe.
| Shield | Rarity | Item level | Skill ranks it adds | Made at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astrodome Shield | Rare | 45 | Arcane Deflection +1, Power Parry +1, Vigorous Deflection +1 | Blacksmith |
| Brazen Bull Shield | Rare | 30 | Power Parry +2 | Blacksmith |
| Crestflame Shield | Rare | 45 | Power Parry +2 | Blacksmith |
| Emberguard Shield | Rare | 45 | Bash +1, Opportunity +1, Power Parry +1 | Blacksmith |
| Fell Black Knight Shield | Common | 1-55 | Power Parry +2 | Not crafted |
| Fell Crusader Shield | Common | 1-55 | Arcane Deflection +1, Power Parry +1, Vigorous Deflection +1 | Not crafted |
| Fell Defender Shield | Common | 1-55 | Power Parry +1 | Not crafted |
| Golden Bulwark Shield | Rare | 40 | Power Parry +2 | Blacksmith |
| Guardian Shield | Rare | 15 | Power Parry +2 | Blacksmith |
| Hero’s Shield | Rare | 10 | Bash +1, Opportunity +1, Power Parry +1 | Blacksmith |
| Mercenary Shield | Rare | 15 | Bash +1, Opportunity +1, Power Parry +1 | Blacksmith |
| Mountain’s Shadow Shield | Rare | 30 | Bash +1, Opportunity +1, Power Parry +1 | Blacksmith |
| Riptide | Legendary/Rare | 1-55 | Bash +1-2-3, Heavy Handed +1-2-3, Power Parry +1-2-3 | Blacksmith |
| Rising Fighter Shield | Uncommon | 5 | Bash +1, Opportunity +1, Power Parry +1 | Blacksmith |
| Rogue Shield | Rare | 20 | Arcane Deflection +1, Power Parry +1, Vigorous Deflection +1 | Blacksmith |
| Scrap Shield | Common | 1-55 | Power Parry +1, Vigorous Deflection +1 | Not crafted |
| Shield of Arisztar | Rare | 40 | Arcane Deflection +1, Power Parry +1, Vigorous Deflection +1 | Blacksmith |
| Shield of Light | Rare | 20 | Power Parry +2 | Blacksmith |
| Soldier Shield | Rare | 20 | Bash +1, Opportunity +1, Power Parry +1 | Blacksmith |
| Spearfisher’s Shield | Common | 1-55 | Bash +1, Heavy Handed +1, Power Parry +1 | Not crafted |
| Sunpiercer Shield | Rare | 40 | Bash +1, Opportunity +1, Power Parry +1 | Blacksmith |
| Valiant Shield | Rare | 10 | Power Parry +2 | Blacksmith |
| Wolf’s Fang Shield | Rare | 30 | Arcane Deflection +1, Power Parry +1, Vigorous Deflection +1 | Blacksmith |
Armor and rings for the parry build
Every piece below adds 2 or more ranks of this build’s skills. Chestplates add Heavy Plates or Shiny Plates, and boots add Warrior’s Path. The Commander’s Ring adds Bash and Heavy Plates, and Vorgoth’s Soulbound Boots add Vigorous Deflection among other skills.
| Piece | Slot | Item level | Skill ranks it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fur Boots | Feet | 4 | Warrior’s Path +2 |
| Rising Fighter Boots | Feet | 5 | Warrior’s Path +2 |
| Adventurer Boots | Feet | 10 | Warrior’s Path +2 |
| Tank Chestplate | Chest | 10 | Heavy Plates +2 |
| Commander’s Ring | Ring | 15 | Bash +1, Heavy Plates +1 |
| Guardian Chestplate | Chest | 15 | Heavy Plates +2 |
| Mercenary Boots | Feet | 15 | Warrior’s Path +2 |
| Elite Hollow Chestplate | Chest | 20 | Bone to Ash +2, Heavy Plates +2 |
| Elite Hollow Pants | Legs | 20 | Bone to Ash +2, Shiny Plates +2 |
| Gloom Monarch Chestplate | Chest | 20 | Heavy Plates +1, Shiny Plates +1 |
| Soldier Boots | Feet | 20 | Warrior’s Path +2 |
| Warden Chestplate | Chest | 20 | Heavy Plates +2 |
| Brazen Bull Chest | Chest | 30 | Heavy Plates +2 |
| Mountain’s Shadow Boots | Feet | 30 | Warrior’s Path +2 |
| Golden Bulwark Chestplate | Chest | 40 | Heavy Plates +2 |
| Sunpiercer Shoes | Feet | 40 | Warrior’s Path +2 |
| Venerable Hollow Chestplate | Chest | 40 | Bone to Ash +2, Heavy Plates +2 |
| Venerable Hollow Pants | Legs | 40 | Bone to Ash +2, Shiny Plates +2 |
| Crestflame Chest | Chest | 45 | Heavy Plates +2 |
| Emberguard Boots | Feet | 45 | Warrior’s Path +2 |
| Vorgoth’s Soulbound Boots | Feet | 45 | Athlete +2, Slasher +2, Titan Edge +2, Vigorous Deflection +2 |
Other melee builds
For two-handed play, see the greatsword Warrior build and the Barbarian build. If you are still picking a class, start with which class to play.
