Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is out this week, and one of the more annoying dangers you’ll face in the game are archers. Plenty of times you’ll be in a fight and an enemy will back out, load up an arrow, and attack you from range like a coward. It’s deeply frustrating, but can you actually block arrows in the game without a shield? We offer some Assassin’s Creed Odyssey block arrows tips.
Can You Block Arrows in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey?
Unlike Assassin’s Creed Origins, your character in Odyssey cannot equip a shield. In fact you never get a shield at all throughout the game, despite many enemies carrying them. Consequently it shouldn’t be possible to block arrows, but fortunately Alexios/Kassandra is a badass.
To block weapon swings in the game you have to hold two shoulder buttons to parry (L1+R1 on a PS4 pad, LB+RB on Xbox). The “Parry” move is extremely useful as it gives you an opening to attack enemies afterwards, and you’re told about it in the opening tutorial. However, what the game doesn’t tell you is that you can parry arrows too! The timing has to be good, or you just hold the Parry buttons down constantly, but it can be done. Who needs a shield?
Do You Need to Block Arrows?
Arrows are both annoying and extremely pointy, and you don’t want them sticking out of you. Beyond that, it’s actually quite difficult to block arrows, as most likely you’ll be concentrating on a closer enemy swinging a melee weapon at you. Most of the time it makes a lot more sense to dodge-roll from arrows instead, because then you can avoid melee enemies as well as ranged.
However, the best strategy when dealing with cowardly archers is to dodge-roll towards them and attack them first, before they can loose any arrows at you. Get rid of the annoyance, and then concentrate on the tougher enemy. Then again, parrying arrows does look really cool…
