Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a third-person survival shooter game where a squad of three Colonial Marines fend off hordes of Xenomorphs in a series of missions. There will be a lot of situations where your team has to navigate through confined spaces—with Xenos waiting in every corner. The aliens’ melee attacks don’t really hurt, but a lot of them can surround you at once that dodging no longer becomes the best solution. So the next time an alien pounces at you, try to parry their melee attacks.
Yes, most players did not realize that they can parry a melee attack in this game. This guide will teach you how.
How to Parry an Attack
Press of the Melee button (Default: V).
That’s all you have to do. However, you must use your Melee attack after the Xeno starts its pouncing animation and before its attack reaches your Marine.
As long as you timed it correctly, an incoming Xeno melee attack will be cancelled and you will take exactly zero damage.
Timing is really crucial for a successful parry. Do it too early and your Marine will hit nothing but air, and the Xenomorph will hit nothing but your Marine. Do it too late and you will still bash the Xeno with your happen, but it already dealt damage to you first.
Why Should You Parry
The most important thing about parrying is that it does not cancel your reload animation.
Let’s say a Xenomorph comes running at you. You’re in the middle of reloading your weapon so you dodge out of the way to avoid a pounce. However, you have to reload your weapon again because dodging cancels the animation. That’s a few seconds of precious time wasted.
Now what if you try to parry the Xeno attack instead? Your reload animation is halfway done when the alien begins to pounce. You respond by pressing your Melee key and perform a successful parry. The Xeno deals no damage to you—and your weapon is fully reloaded!
When Should You Parry or Dodge
A veteran Colonial Marine must know when to dodge out of harms way or when to stand their ground and block a melee attack.
Here are a few scenarios where parrying is more advantageous:
- Your back is against the wall and there are multiple Xenos coming right at you
- You are surrounded by Xenos and dodging backwards or sideways leads you right at an alien’s acid or melee range.
- Your squad mate is spraying an area with bullets and you don’t want to get hit by friendly fire.
- When dodging puts you out of position and allows the enemy to exploit a gap in your formation
The last point is very important in higher difficulties (Insane and above) where proper positioning makes the difference between a successful mission and a squad of dead Marines.
Meanwhile, there are situations when parry an attack is not the ideal decision. Here are examples where dodging is recommended:
- There is more than one Xenomorph lunging towards you. Sure, you can block the first alien’s attack but the second—maybe even third—alien still hits you. Just move out of the way, soldier!
- A Prowler Xenomorph pounces at you. This attack cannot be parried.
- A Special Xenomorph uses its Grapple attacks—this is the one that activates a Quick-Time event. This type of attack also cannot be blocked.
Put Your Skills to the Test
There you go! You are now fully prepared to take on the claws of any Xenomorph that tries to come near you on your next mission. It’s best to practice your parrying skills in Horde Mode since there are an unlimited number of aliens. Or feel free to practice in a campaign mission—just make sure not to put the mission at risk.
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