Parry and blocking has a fundamental design flaw that needs to be changed.

Completely agree — parry and block just don’t feel reliable right now, and that makes them borderline unusable as core mechanics.

I played the Huntress in patch 0.2 with a spear and buckler, running a bleed build, and I was really hoping for something that felt tactical and reactive. I’ve been playing ARPGs for over 20 years, and while I’m not a Souls-like fan, I do enjoy games with meaningful, skill-based combat. Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 is a perfect example — it lets you block, parry, and take on hordes of enemies while still feeling powerful. That game works because its enemies are readable, its timing is tight, and the power fantasy never breaks.

In PoE 2, though? Everything just feels off. Most enemies attack way too fast, with barely any tell, while you move at a crawl. You try to parry, but half the time the attack isn’t even blockable. Then a spell hits you or a ground effect appears with no real warning. The whole system punishes you for trying to play smart.

If block and parry don’t work consistently on all hits, they’ll never feel reliable. Your suggestion of having block work against all hits but only mitigate 75% by default is exactly the kind of change that could make it viable. Give us options to scale that through gear and passives, and it becomes a real build path — not just a cool-sounding trap.

Right now, it feels like we’re being asked to engage with mechanics that the game itself doesn’t support. That needs to change if this combat system is going to reach its full potential.

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Right now, it feels like we’re being asked to engage with mechanics that the game itself doesn’t support. That needs to change if this combat system is going to reach its full potential.

This.

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chobo999#2010 wrote:

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onetruelai#7327 wrote:

Personally i had a blast playing resonating shield + magma barrier + boneshatter titan. While mapping there are always mobs doing blockable attacks so i rarely had a problem procing magma barrier.

Parry, or more specifically disengage feels terrible and is currently useless because you miss half of the time.

SSF or Trade/Standard?

What did you use for single-target?

HCSSF. It's not a bossing build so for bosses it's pretty standard hotg and perfect strike spam, and rares usually die from all the boneshatter aoes around them. I really hoped parry would work.

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onetruelai#7327 wrote:

"

chobo999#2010 wrote:

"

onetruelai#7327 wrote:

Personally i had a blast playing resonating shield + magma barrier + boneshatter titan. While mapping there are always mobs doing blockable attacks so i rarely had a problem procing magma barrier.

Parry, or more specifically disengage feels terrible and is currently useless because you miss half of the time.

SSF or Trade/Standard?

What did you use for single-target?

HCSSF. It's not a bossing build so for bosses it's pretty standard hotg and perfect strike spam, and rares usually die from all the boneshatter aoes around them. I really hoped parry would work.

Stats on your Mace?

I'm asking since I have a lvl 66 Warrior from 0.1 for RS/MB, and I'm trying to make it work (or tried to loL). But it seems like I have to do Trade for it (and Trade sucks).

Why?

Because I believe I need these stats for Mace:
+Melee Skills/+Elemental dmg/+Fire dmg

I haven't been able to really find anything like that on a Mace.
Wondering...did you just get lucky or what? (you said you are SSF)
Were you somehow able to Craft those above aforementioned stats on the Mace?
You certainly didn't find that at a Vendor lol.
(and I can't believe you found it as loot lol.)

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For the single-target, I just don't enjoy HotG/PS. I know HotG changed now but I just started Huntress. PS I know also changed, but I feel it still misses (as per various streamers..).

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chobo999#2010 wrote:

HCSSF. It's not a bossing build so for bosses it's pretty standard hotg and perfect strike spam, and rares usually die from all the boneshatter aoes around them. I really hoped parry would work.

Stats on your Mace?

I'm asking since I have a lvl 66 Warrior from 0.1 for RS/MB, and I'm trying to make it work (or tried to loL). But it seems like I have to do Trade for it (and Trade sucks).

Why?

Because I believe I need these stats for Mace:
+Melee Skills/+Elemental dmg/+Fire dmg

I haven't been able to really find anything like that on a Mace.
Wondering...did you just get lucky or what? (you said you are SSF)
Were you somehow able to Craft those above aforementioned stats on the Mace?
You certainly didn't find that at a Vendor lol.
(and I can't believe you found it as loot lol.)

---

For the single-target, I just don't enjoy HotG/PS. I know HotG changed now but I just started Huntress. PS I know also changed, but I feel it still misses (as per various streamers..).
[/quote]

IDK how it would work in 0.2, but you don't need huge dps mace for a boneshatter build. Everything (talking about monster packs of course) should die regardless thanks to high damage mp on boneshatter and overlapping aoes.

Lol.
Dodge more

They finally added the Souls-like elements!!!!
This is "The Vision"
Working as intended.

Honestly Huntress to me feels disjointed. Her Melee scaling is low (No decent melee moves except her basic attack; the only thing that deals decent damage), but Projectiles are through the roof even though she's supposed to be a hybrid. Parry mechanic is cool, but as everyone said having to disengage to get a Frenzy Charge and pray it hits the parried enemies, THEN try to get into range. It's all just a mess. I honestly thought that it would have been better if PARRY and DISENGAGE were the same skill. You hold the button to Parry and then release it to Disengage.

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Motomoto#6136 wrote:

They finally added the Souls-like elements!!!!
This is "The Vision"
Working as intended.

Lol. It's even more silly, since in souls games shields are actually really reliable and strong if you understand how blocking works and scales. In PoE2... Not so much.

Make it an automatic prebuff, like using charges. You press a button, and 5 next hits will be auto parried. Then it's either go on CD or you need to refill parry charges via another skill. Here is your combo GGG.