Lies of P tips and tricks for beginners

Lies of P isn’t shy about taking ideas from the Soulsborne games, but not everything is the same in its puppet-packed world. To help newcomers and Souls veterans alike acclimatize, we’ve put together nine Lies of P tips and tricks for beginners. Read on to learn how to take control of your outings in Krat.

Lies of P tips and tricks for beginners

Below you’ll find advice on combat, Fable Arts, weapon combinations, and more that’ll set you up nicely in the early stages of Lies of P.

1. Guard/Parry instead of dodging

Stop dodging and start guarding instead. One of the most important things to grasp quickly about Lies of P’s combat is that you should be guarding often. The main character may appear as thin as a pencil, but they’re capable of blocking everything bar Fury Attacks (indicated by a red glow) just by holding the Guard button (LT/L2 on console, Shift on PC). 

You’ll still take damage when guarding, but crucially, you can regain most of the health you’ve lost. Guard Regain is a core system that allows you to recover a large chunk of your lost health by landing attacks after blocking. Your currently recoverable health is visible as a faded section on your HP bar in the top left. The amount you can regain stacks up with repeated blocks, but it will slowly deplete over time.

Want to go one step further? Practice parrying. Tap the guard button right as an enemy attack is about to land and you’ll block it entirely (a loud clang sound effect will play along with a red flash). Parrying is trickier, but it means you won’t take any damage at all and will build up your opponent’s stagger meter. Later enemies really force you to work on parries, so it’s advisable to practice using them as early as possible.

To summarize: let enemies come to you and attack, then strike back in openings after blocking or parrying their blows. Just watch out for multi-hit attacks from tougher enemies where you’ll need to block or parry multiple hits in a row.

2. Don’t forget to level up (and how to know when you can)

After you reach Hotel Krat at the end of the game’s first area, you will, rather annoyingly, need to return there and speak with Sophia any time you want to level up. It’s all too easy to forget this while out in a level. Fortunately, there’s a handy way to tell if you have enough Ergo to level up. 

Each time you reach a Stargazer, check your Ergo count in the top right of the screen. If it’s blue, you’re holding enough to secure at least one level up. That’s your queue to take a quick trip back and boost your stats. Here’s a breakdown of what all the stats mean in case you’re unsure.

You can also upgrade your weapons (both heads and handles) at Hotel Krat, boosting their damage significantly. Talk to Eugenie to the right of the ground floor to see what you need for upgrades. Just make sure that you're happy with the blade head or handle before committing the resources required.

3. Use the Electric Coil Stick for an easy ride

In the game’s second area, Elysion Boulevard, you’ll encounter a merchant next to the Inside the House on Elysion Boulevard Stargazer. He sells the Electric Coil Stick Head weapon and, if you want an easy time early, you should absolutely buy it. Most puppets have an elemental weakness to Electric Blitz, meaning this weapon deals massively increased damage to them. It scales with the Advance stat that you might not be using, but you can change its handle to adjust this. 

Human enemies aren’t nearly so susceptible to electricity, so you’d be advised to swap out to another weapon when facing them. But for the first three areas? The Electric Baton will help you batter through those puppet health bars with much more ease.

4. Spend your final Pulse Cell early

Pulse Cells are your main healing item in Lies of P. A crucial tip to learn is that you shouldn’t hold on to your last one. Once you run out of Pulse Cells, any attacks you make will begin charging a new one. Hit enemies enough and you’ll recover a health charge to use. If you still have any left, however, this system won’t kick in. So when you’re down to your last Pulse Cell, spend it as soon as you’ve lost a chunk of health so that you can begin charging up another.

5. You can use items to mitigate Ergo loss

Lies of P is more forgiving than most Souls games in that there are lots of ways to escape from a sticky situation. You’ll unlock an item early that allows you to teleport back to the last Stargazer you visited without losing anything. So if you’re left with a fraction of health after a bad fight, don’t be afraid to get out safely with your earnings.

There are also several consumable items sold by merchants which protect from Ergo loss. Gemini’s Iron Protection grants you a temporary protection from losing Ergo when you die. It’s a great item to chug if you’ve just scraped your way to a boss fight but don’t want to risk losing all the Ergo you’ve collected on the way there. Other items like Gemini's Emergency Protection will help protect Ergo that’s at risk when you’ve already died. Each time you meet a merchant, check out what everything they offer does.

5. Don’t forget about Fable Arts 

If you’re coming from a Souls background especially, it’s very easy to forget to use Fable Arts entirely. These special attacks and powers can make a huge difference, so don’t overlook them. You’ll always have two Fable Arts available, one tied to your weapon head and one to your weapon handle. You can check what each of them does by looking at your weapon in your inventory and pressing the Switch Display button repeatedly (F on PC, Y/Triangle on console).

Some Fable Arts aren’t attacks. The Electric Coil Stick Head, for example, temporarily boosts your Electric Blitz damage. The Greatsword of Fate handle, by contrast, allows you to perfectly block an incoming attack without parrying. It’s a great option if you’re struggling to deal with Fury Attacks.

The same logic applies to your Legion arm as well. Even the opening arm attack deals hefty damage, so make sure you’re working it into your fighting patterns.

6. Swap weapon parts to get the Fable Arts and stat scaling you want

Once you get a bit more comfortable with Lies of P’s weapons, it’s time to start customizing. At any Stargazer, you can create new weapons by combining heads and handles from weapons you have in your possession. 

The head will usually determine your attack pattern and damage types. The handle will change the stats your weapon scales with, indicated by the Ability Scaling letters. Like a speedy weapon but want it to scale with Motivity? Try swapping out its handle for something like the Krat Police Baton or Greatsword of Fate. These parts also determine which Fable Arts you have access to, so tinker around to find the ideal weapon for you.

7. Remember to repair

Weapons in Lies of P have a limited durability, indicated by the gray bar in the bottom right corner of the screen. If decreases as you attack and guard. If it runs out, your weapon will break, neutering its power and range significantly. Fortunately, you can repair your weapon’s durability at any time by using the Grinder. 

It takes a few second to repair the weapon from near empty to full, so it’s best to do use the Grinder in quiet moments between enemy encounters. That said, you might need to find an opening to do so during longer boss fights as well. If your weapon breaks, you’ll need to return to a Stargazer to fix it up again.

8. Don’t spend boss Ergo

The last of our core Lies of P tips and tricks for beginners is one simple instruction: don’t spend the special Rare Ergos you earn after beating each major boss. Souls fans, you’ll already know that these usually serve some kind of special purpose, and Lies of P is no exception here; you’ll want these boss rewards for a later point in the game. Stick to using Ergo fragments instead if you need to top up your total for a quick level up.

9. Upgrade your audio with HyperX

Before you go, a quick bonus tip! Lies of P has glorious production standards in both visuals and audio. To enjoy the latter to the fullest – and score yourself an advantage picking up those audio cues during boss fights – it’s well worth picking up a quality headset like the HyperX Cloud III. Compatible with PC, PlayStation and Xbox, it’ll have you feeling like you’re actually stood in the city of Krat. Don’t worry though, your real head will be safe from puppet frenzies, resting comfortably between memory foam in the ear cups and headband.

Those are our beginners tips and tricks for Lies of P. If you’re just starting out, feel free to use our Parade Master boss guide to help you overcome the game’s first major enemy. We also have a guide to the early Faded Whistle quest, which you can complete after beating the game’s second main boss, the Scrapped Watchman.

Henry Stenhouse

Associate Editor

Henry Stenhouse serves an eternal punishment as the Associate Editor of AllGamers. He spent his younger life studying the laws of physics, even going so far as to complete a PhD in the subject before video games stole his soul. Confess your love of Super Smash Bros. via email at henry@moonrock.biz, or catch him on Twitter.