Originally posted by crispb:

if not mistaken Block Armor doesn't matter as much as Parry Bonus. The higher the parry bonus the more likely to parry all of the damage. So a shield like Black Metal even thou its high on block armor only has 1.5x parry bonus and still takes chip damage from parrying very strong attacks.

Parry bonus is just a multiplier on your block armour.
https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Blocking#Parrying

There is nothing better for parry than a high quality buckler or shield, but weapons might be enough depending on HP and value.