There is a lot going on with the controls in Ninjala, GungHo Online Entertainment's brand-new Switch exclusive, and players will need to master a variety of mechanics if they want to come out on top. Two particularly important mechanics are parrying and blocking, and indeed understanding how both of these systems work is critical to success in a match. As such, this guide is being written for those players that would like to improve their game by learning how to parry and block in Ninjala.

To start, there is something akin to rock-paper-scissors at the heart of the combat in Ninjala, and this concept is the key to understanding how parrying works in the game. More specifically, players can execute different types of attacks in Ninjala by inputting different directions on the left Joy-Con, and each of these attacks win against one type of attack while losing to another. Here is exactly how that breaks down:

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  • Up Attack: Beats Down | Loses to Sideways
  • Down Attack: Beats Sideways | Loses to Up
  • Sideways Attack: Beats Up | Loses to Down

With that established, when two players land identical attacks on one another at the same time they will clash and have the opportunity to parry in Ninjala. This simply means that each fan will need to quickly select one of the directional inputs listed above, and the player that parries is determined by the rock-paper-scissors system. To note, fans can break free from a clash with a Dodge if they have the requisite S-Energy.

ninjala parry block

When it comes to blocking in Ninjala things are quite a bit simpler, as all a player must do is hold down the Gum Guard input, which is ZL or Y depending on the control scheme being used. This will cause a Ninjala character to blow a bubble that is capable of blocking attacks, and players can continue to increase its size and the number of attacks it can absorb as long as they have S-Energy.

That said, once the Gum Guard has been broken fans of this free-to-play game will be left quite vulnerable, and they should thus be prepared to make their next move. Additionally, things like Break Attacks can get right through blocking in Ninjala, which means that players should not rely too heavily upon their Gum Guards.

Ninjala will be available June 24th, 2020 exclusively on Nintendo Switch.

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