Dark Souls 3: Abyss Watchers - Backstab & Parry Guide

Disclaimer: Backstab fishing is relatively easy strategy but parrys are very situational and difficult to pull off while there are three watchers battling out. Anyway here is my guide:

How to setup backstabs:

Phase 1: When boss does the sliding dash that ends with a 180 degree slash he ends up facing the way he came from. If you outrange the slash, you can just walk towards the boss and go for free backstab. Keeping your distance usually triggers this move.

Other good opportunity is when the main guy is fighting with another legionare. I almost get a backstab here: 01:40

Phase 2: This is pretty much cheese strat. Lure boss to do his 3-hit combo. It is either above mentioned dash 180 + slash + jumping smash or slash+slash+jumping smash. Either way, barely outrange the first two moves and then simply walk left and behind him while he jumps to take the backstab. Learning to identify the second move of the 3-hit combo helps.

How to parry:

This is tricky and should be tried only during phase one and only when you are fighting an isolated legionare. Basicly outrange the first swing and parry the second move. The second move can be either a dagger swing or a sword slash. Either way pressing the parry button shortly after the first move is finished has a high chance of parrying (when using a small parry shield). There are other moves to parry but this is how I did it.

More helpful information at Fextralife wiki: http://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Abyss+Watchers