More than you ever wanted to know about parries
Ground parries of ground attacks/fireballs may only be attempted once per 24 frames.
Ground parries of air attacks may only be attempted once per 19 frames.
Air parries may only be attempted once per 21 frames, regardless of what’s being parried.
These are the restrictions that keep you from mashing down (or toward in the air all day.
If a parry attempt is successful, the 19/21/24 frame restriction is taken away and you can attempt another parry immediately.
If another attack connects within 2 frames of your parry, it will automatically be parried as well. For example, one parry input negates a few hits of Twelve’s SA1 since the hits are close enough together.
When a parry attempt is successful, you and the object you’re parrying are frozen for 16 frames (the object may be frozen for a few more frames depending on what it is, see below). These are the frames where the character goes into his or her parry pose. In CFE, you’re frozen for far less time, which is why parries look so weird in that game.
The only exceptions to the freeze rule are Oro’s EX Yagyou Dama and the parryable hits of Akuma’s KKZ: they have an infinite number of hits spaced a certain number of frames apart and won’t stop for anyone or anything. Other supers that you have to parry fast, like Ibuki’s SA1, Twelve’s SA1, or Remy’s SA1, are only because there are many seperate knives/sonic booms/needles.
When you parry a fireball, you and the fireball are frozen, but NOT THE OPPONENT. If you start parrying Akuma’s SA1, he can freely move in and attack while you’re stuck. However, this 16-frame parrystun can be cancelled into a block or another parry (the latter is obvious given the last paragraph). If you are thrown out of parrystun, you CAN tech the throw, but only after the throw connects.
There are 3 types of parry: blue, sloppy blue, and red. Blue parries are performed by returning the stick to neutral quickly enough. Sloppy parries occur when the stick isn’t returned to neutral in time, reducing the parry window; these are far more noticeable in CvS2 than in 3S. Red parries are parries that cancel blockstun.
Blue ground parry windows for ground moves/fireballs: 10 blue, 6 sloppy.
Blue ground parry windows for air moves: 5 blue, 5 sloppy. (Interesting.)
Air parry windows for all moves: 7 blue, 6 sloppy.
Red parry windows for all moves: 3 for normal moves, 2 for specials/supers.
Frame advantage for parried Jabs/Shorts: +4 (opponent is frozen for 20 frames)
Frame advantage for parried Strongs/Forwards: +3
Frame advantage for parried Fierces/Roundhouses: +2
Frame advantage for non-projectile specials/supers: 0
Frame advantage for projectiles: -16
Example of frame advantage: let’s say Chun parries Ken’s low Forward point blank. Chun is in parrystun for 16 frames and Ken is frozen for 19 frames. Because Chun’s low Jab has 2 frames of startup, Ken won’t be allowed to cancel to SA3 if Chun does the Jab at the earliest possible frame.
You are able to buffer motions while frozen for all ground parries, but NOT air parries. The game treats air-parrystun like superfreeze and does not accept inputs until the freeze is over.
That’s about it.