Lies of P Tips and Tricks
The hype is real: Lies of P is an excellent action RPG, very much in the vein of Dark Souls or Bloodborne. But it has its own way of doing things, too. Players coming directly from Elden Ring might need to adjust their skills and revamp their vocabulary. Players with a long history with FromSoftware’s games should be in pretty good shape. Everything works almost like you expect it to. Almost. Here are some useful tips for beginners, some learned the hard way.
Tip 1: Practice the Perfect Block
Just like in Sekiro or Bloodborne, there are no shields to hide behind in Lies of P. Instead you use your weapon to block attacks. A regular block chips away at your HP, but if you attack immediately after you regain some of it a la Bloodborne. When the enemy glows red, you have the opportunity for a perfect block, which gives you an opening to do some serious damage. But perfect blocks are difficult to pull off, especially when some of the bosses have very slow and hard-to-read attacks.
Happily, sub-bosses and even some common elite enemies have these unblockable attacks, so you have lots of opportunities to practice. Want more training? There are training dummies available, letting you practice your timing until it’s perfect.
Tip 2: Don’t like the Starting Weapon? Change It!
In the beginning, you have a choice of three weapons: a balanced saber, a quick and deadly foil, and a slow and heavy greatsword. Players coming from Dark Souls or Elden Ring will probably already know which they prefer. The opening level up to the first boss will let you know if you’ve chosen well. But if not, you don’t need to roll another Pinocchio, because the vendor right before the first boss sells the other two weapons for 300 Ergo. Buy a new one, run through the tutorial area again, and see how it feels. You’ll earn more Ergo and probably add a few levels before the boss.
However, once you’ve tried them all out, it’s best to stick to one or two and focus on leveling them up rather than trying to keep everything fully upgraded. Weapon upgrade materials are in somewhat short supply. By mid-game, you’ll have lots of weapons to try out and will be able to mix handles and blades until you find the perfect partner. If you’ve poured upgrades into the wrong stat, never fear, there is a way to re-spec, but it doesn’t come until much later in the game.
Tip 3: Pour Points into HP and Stamina (i.e. Vigor and Vitality)
While every Soulsborne veteran has their own way of building a character, most agree that the first stat to max out — or at least hit the soft cap with — is HP, called Vigor in Lies of P. Probably second in importance is stamina, called Vitality. Every action in the game means a hit to your stamina bar. You’ll find an item early on that helps it recover faster, but stamina management is incredibly important. The more you have, the better.
Other stats — capacity, motivity, technique, and advance — are Lies of P lingo for things you already know about. Capacity is how much weight you can carry around. Motivity is strength. Technique is dexterity, and advance gives your prosthetic arm’s Legion Arts additional uses. If you’ve played any action RPG, Lies of P’s stats aren’t complex.
Where juggling stats gets interesting and a bit more nuanced is when you begin to break down and recombine weapons into handles and blades, with the ability to mix Legion Arts and weapon abilities. Remember, even if you find a weapon that doesn’t fit your build, it’s worth taking apart and trying its components separately.
Tip 4: Keep an Eye on Durability
Whether it’s Dark Souls 2 or Breath of the Wild, people like to complain about weapon durability. Love it or hate it, it’s a very big deal in Lies of P. All those blocks and charged heavy attacks do a number on your weapon. Your durability slider keeps dropping until it glows red. At that point, it’s nearly useless and is in danger of permanently breaking.
There are two ways of keeping your blade sharp. You have a grinder on your prosthetic, but it takes a few seconds to bring it back to its original edge. You also find or can buy emergency repair kits, which do the job in an instant. They’re great to have in a heated boss battle, when finding a free moment can be difficult.
Tip 5: Don’t Rely on the Spirits. But They Can Be Useful.
Lies of P has no multiplayer component, no PvP, and no friendly cooperators. However, the game does allow you to summon an NPC for boss fights. It costs a star fragment — which are pretty plentiful — but in my experience, the NPC ally is not tactically very smart. They tend to rush in and get smacked down. They’re pretty tanky, though and they have enough HP to last a while. They’re most useful as a distraction, to keep the boss momentary focused on something other than you, giving you the chance to bash at the enemy, heal, or repair your weapon.
Maybe this was just my lack of ability, but in bosses with two phases, the summons rarely lasted far into the second phase. So, bottom line: Practice without them, learn the boss on your own, and maybe summon your ghostly ally when you’re already doing most of the work and just want to speed things along.
Bonus Tip: Keep Your Boss “Souls”
You might be tempted to cash in those boss “souls” for big bags if Ergo, but resist! No spoilers, but you’ll need them later for some awesome things…
Thank you for keeping it locked on COGconnected.