Combat & Parry Timing
The numbers behind the feel — parry windows, melee timings, stamina and Nephtoglobin — read straight from the game's attribute tables. The most-asked combat question is 'is the parry window too small?', so let's start there.
On the numbers
Parry & deflect
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Shield perfect-parry window | 200 ms |
| Shield deflect angle | 0.7 rad ≈ 40° |
| Parrying Impact (upgrade) | +6% Posture |
Parrying fills an enemy's Posture meter; break it and you land a Critical Attack for heavy damage. Blocking is the safer fallback while you learn a moveset — it costs Endurance instead of risking a missed parry.
Melee attack timing
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Wind-up | 0.05s |
| Swing | 0.08s |
| Overswing | 0.1s |
| Attack cooldown | 0.2s |
| Melee range | 400 uu ≈ 4.0 m |
Short wind-up and swing values mean basic attacks are quick but the cooldown is where you're vulnerable — don't throw a swing you can't recover from before the enemy's counter.
Stamina (Endurance)
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Max stamina | 80 |
| Min stamina | -50 |
| Stamina regen | 0.8 |
Blocking, dodging and attacking all draw Endurance. Going negative leaves you unable to act — manage it like any Souls stamina bar, and the Melee Stamina Cost upgrade stretches it further.
Nephtoglobin & flasks
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Max Nephtoglobin (Blood) | 100 |
| Passive Nephto regen cap | 15 |
| Healing flask power | 50 |
Extract Nephtoglobin by landing melee hits and shattering Weak Points, then spend it on Fire, Stasis or Shield Transmutations. Some Ambers convert flasks to Nephtoglobin or trade Health for it — see the Ambers list.
Damage types & status effects
Every hit in Valor Mortis carries a damage type. The game ships these 8 — extracted from the gameplay-effect tags. Three of them build a status as their meter fills.
Status effects build from repeated hits of the matching type, then trigger when the meter fills:
- Crystallized — freezes the target in stasis; shatter the segments for a burst (see below).
- Ignited — burning damage-over-time once the meter fills.
- Infected — stacking plague affliction that drains the target as it builds.
Stasis break & detection
Crystallizing an enemy builds a stack of stasis segments. Shattering them deals burst damage and siphons Health back to you — the payoff scales with how many segments you'd built:
| Segments | Break damage | Health siphoned |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | 10 |
| 2 | 125 | 20 |
| 3 | 150 | 30 |
| 4 | 200 | 30 |
| 5 | 250 | 30 |
| 6 | 300 | 30 |
| 7 | 350 | 30 |
| 8 | 400 | 30 |
| 9 | 450 | 30 |
| 10 | 500 | 30 |
Break damage climbs steeply with each segment (100 → 500), so it pays to build a full stack before shattering. Health siphon caps at 30 from the third segment on — the damage is the reward at high stacks, not the heal.
For stealth, enemies share an alert noise range of 800 uu ≈ 8 m — a noise (a missed shot, a sprint) within that radius pulls nearby enemies onto you, so isolate fights before you commit.
Combat FAQ
- How big is the parry window in Valor Mortis?
- The extracted shield perfect-parry window is 0.2 seconds (about 200 ms) at base. That's a tight but fair window typical of Souls-likes — it rewards reacting to the strike, not pre-pressing. The 'Parrying Impact' stat upgrade adds 6% Posture damage on a successful parry, and parries don't widen the window, they improve the payoff.
- Are the parry windows too small?
- At ~200 ms the window is demanding but consistent. Most 'the window is too small' deaths come from parrying on the wind-up animation instead of the moment of impact, or from input lag — cap your framerate and turn off motion blur for a cleaner read. Block is the safer option while you learn a boss's timing.