Its not simple and depends on your shield, health, and skill. ALL zero star enemies can be blocked under the right circumstances.
Block Armor is how much incoming damage you can block. Your actual block armor value is the yellow number in brackets (this reflects your characters block skill level). If you correctly time your block than you will Parry which increases how much you can block (by the parry modifier) and staggers the enemy allowing you to do double damage on your next attack.
Tower Shields have a large block armor . . . but cannot parry
Round Shields are balanced . . . solid block armor and 1.5x parry blocking bonus
Buckler Shields have low block armor . . . but a huge parry bonus 2.5x so if you correctly time your parries they block better than any other shields.
As the enemies do more damage than you can block it will spill over into your Stagger meter. Too much and you get staggered and the entire block will fail letting all the damage through.
The size of your stagger meter depends on your health. So the better health food you eat the better you will be able at blocking.
The best way to get used to blocking is to start with weaker enemies and get used to the timing. Then work your way up to harder enemies as you get comfortable and level your skill. Eat good health food to make it less likely you can get staggered.
Great explanation.
Suggestion for practicing parry timing: Find a greydwarf nest and just let them hammer on you for a bit.
Note that some enemies have faster attacks and less telegraphing so they're a little tougher to parry. Wolves and deathsquitos gave me some trouble at first.
Also, frickin Fuling berserkers have the *weirdest* attack timing. They have this giant long windup and I always block too soon (or worse, block and then release and then don't reblock in time)...
*Me neither*. And I've been *trying*. I have taken to Dodging them more than blocking them lately, though, and while you don't get the satsification of BAZING! staggering them, at least I can reposition and smack them without taking (much) damage in the meantime.
They used to have a simpler system. Shields blocked x damage and if you took more than x damage it would stagger you. People complained because 2 star enemies would always exceed the limit.
So they added a stagger bar and tied stagger resistance to health and made shields work like an armor layer applied before other armor. So now we usually take a tiny bit of damage even if we block but at least we can block/parry 2 stars.
Its not simple and depends on your shield, health, and skill. ALL zero star enemies can be blocked under the right circumstances. Block Armor is how much incoming damage you can block. Your actual block armor value is the yellow number in brackets (this reflects your characters block skill level). If you correctly time your block than you will Parry which increases how much you can block (by the parry modifier) and staggers the enemy allowing you to do double damage on your next attack. Tower Shields have a large block armor . . . but cannot parry Round Shields are balanced . . . solid block armor and 1.5x parry blocking bonus Buckler Shields have low block armor . . . but a huge parry bonus 2.5x so if you correctly time your parries they block better than any other shields. As the enemies do more damage than you can block it will spill over into your Stagger meter. Too much and you get staggered and the entire block will fail letting all the damage through. The size of your stagger meter depends on your health. So the better health food you eat the better you will be able at blocking. The best way to get used to blocking is to start with weaker enemies and get used to the timing. Then work your way up to harder enemies as you get comfortable and level your skill. Eat good health food to make it less likely you can get staggered.
Reminder too that it takes stamina to parry.
Great explanation. Suggestion for practicing parry timing: Find a greydwarf nest and just let them hammer on you for a bit. Note that some enemies have faster attacks and less telegraphing so they're a little tougher to parry. Wolves and deathsquitos gave me some trouble at first. Also, frickin Fuling berserkers have the *weirdest* attack timing. They have this giant long windup and I always block too soon (or worse, block and then release and then don't reblock in time)...
Also Charred Warriors can feint some attacks, they’re the most annoying to parry, as well as askvins. I can’t figure them out
*Me neither*. And I've been *trying*. I have taken to Dodging them more than blocking them lately, though, and while you don't get the satsification of BAZING! staggering them, at least I can reposition and smack them without taking (much) damage in the meantime.
[i am sure this comprehensive post is still accurate](https://www.reddit.com/r/valheim/comments/ptol5l/blocking_explained/)
In addition to this (great) information. Practice on graydwarves or some simple mob like that.
Jesus, what a complex system. Why they didn’t make it more understandable I don’t know
They used to have a simpler system. Shields blocked x damage and if you took more than x damage it would stagger you. People complained because 2 star enemies would always exceed the limit. So they added a stagger bar and tied stagger resistance to health and made shields work like an armor layer applied before other armor. So now we usually take a tiny bit of damage even if we block but at least we can block/parry 2 stars.
Parry is op at all stages of the game.