By Odin.Aramina 2009-11-19 14:04:10
Here's some information about Parrying...
Capped Parrying for SAM (269 before gear/merits) returns roughly a 21-22% parry rate. I forget who did the parsing and what level mob it was, but it was either EM or T at 75 for the testing with a quite large sample size.
Parry can proc on AoE and other mob TP moves (as can Guard), so if you are fighting a bunny in Terrigan FoV and you get an "Evades" on whirl claws, chances are that it was a Parry in actuality. I know this because I have gotten skillups for Parry from that very TP move doing FoV out there on BST.
Otherwise, for Parrying skillups at higher levels, stack Parrying Skill and AGI as much as possible (Seiryu's Kote FTW), then PDT where you can't get the other two. Bring additional PDT gear to swap out pieces indivually depending on the mob.
I could solo EM-T Puck (Den of Rancor, back entrance from Yhoator Jungle) on SAM/DNC with a mixture of Parry/Evasion/AGI gear and have no real trouble staying alive. Most of the time just the Drain Samba II was enough to keep HP up.
More commonly I'd skill Parrying soloing Ul'Phuabo in Sea for merits (there are 5 spawns in a loop from Palace going SW either CW or CCW, and I could get chain 4 fairly regularly). I wouldn't always have full parrying setup on because I needed to be alive, but I got plenty of skillups and fuel for my Justice Sword in the process. That was a lot more pleasant than killing Colibri for me.
Also, if you skillup on SAM, Parry procs BEFORE Third Eye, so it's safe to keep Seigan and Third Eye up full time, because it should not detract from your parrying skillups at all.
My notable gear pieces for Parrying Skillup:
Kirin's Osode (10 AGI), Seiryu's Kote (15 AGI), Parrying Torque (7 Skill), Parrying Earring (3 Skill), Bushinomimi (5 Skill), Boxer's Mantle (10 Skill), Myochin Haidate +1 (10 Skill), and Emissary Boots (5 Skill).
Askar Gambieras are probably a good alternative for feet with 3 AGI and PDT.
I recently quit playing, and capped Parrying for SAM (on Darkmoose) was one of my "won the game" moments that I was looking to accomplish, so best of luck to anyone else shooting for it.