Before you set foot in the haunting city of Krat, there are secrets and strategies every would-be puppet hunter should know. Lies of P is more than a dark Pinocchio tale-it’s a labyrinth of deadly choices, customizable weapons, and hidden dangers lurking behind every corner. Whether you’re a Soulslike veteran or a newcomer, these eight essential tips could mean the difference between survival and becoming another broken marionette in the city’s twisted streets.
Also, it’s called Lies of P because you play as Pinocchio. Yes, that Pinocchio – the puppet from the Disney movies and the Italian fairytale. And, believe it or not, this adaptation rules.
In this beginner’s guide, we’re going to walk you through nine things you should keep in mind during the opening hours of Lies of P.
Lies of P combat is all about blocking
Blocking is central to Lies of P’s combat, offering more than just a way to mitigate damage-it’s a core part of the game’s strategy and rhythm. When you block an attack, you reduce incoming damage and build up Guard Recovery, which lets you reclaim lost health by striking enemies quickly after blocking. Mastering the timing of your blocks-especially learning to perform Perfect Guards-can stagger enemies, break their weapons, and turn the tide of battle, making it essential to focus on your blocking skills to survive and succeed in the game.
Lies of P might look like Bloodborne, but it actually has more in common with Sekiro: Shadow’s Die Twice: It’s all about blocking.
In Lies of P, you candodge enemy attacks – and you’ll need to when they glow red and become unblockable – but the game incentivizes you to guard with your weapon instead. It’s much faster to counter-attack your enemy after blocking an attack with guard. Similarly, you can go from an attack to a guard move very quickly in Lies of P. Rolling, on the other hand, is pretty sluggish in our experience, which makes guarding a better offensive and defensive play.
When you get hit with your guard up, you’ll take a small percentage of the damage (based on your weapon), and gain an effect called Guard Regain. Guard Regain gives you a chance to regain some of the health you just lost by going on the offense and attacking your enemy. This is another system that just makes guarding better in Lies of P. Sure you can just roll out of the way and take no damage, but you can also accidentally time your dodge wrong and get hit for 100% of the attack instead of just a portion – a portion that you can heal back with Guard Regain!
Make sure to time your guards
In Lies of P, timing your guards precisely is crucial for survival. The window to execute a perfect guard is very tight, often requiring you to press the guard button right as the enemy begins their attack swing, not when the attack is about to land. This is because enemy attacks usually have long wind-up animations followed by very fast strikes, making reactive guarding challenging. Learning to anticipate these cues and tapping the guard button at the right moment allows you to block attacks without taking damage and opens up opportunities for powerful counterattacks. Practicing perfect guard timing early, especially against bosses with varied attack patterns, is essential to mastering combat in the game.
If you time your guard just as you get hit by an enemy attack, you’ll perform a perfect guard.
On a perfect guard, you’ll receive zero damage from a blocked attack and – even better – you’ll potentially open up your enemy to being staggered. After enough perfect blocks, your enemy’s health bar will pulse white. If you’re able to hit the enemy with a charged attack within a short window, you’ll stagger the enemy, causing them to fall down, opening them up to a massive attack.
This is one of the best ways to kill bosses and big targets, so pay very close attention to your enemy’s attack patterns so you can block them accurately.
Don’t be afraid to spend your Pulse Cell charges
Don’t hesitate to use your Pulse Cell charges frequently in Lies of P, as they are your primary means of healing and can be replenished during combat by dealing damage to enemies. Starting with three charges, you can increase the maximum number through story progression, defeating bosses, and investing in P-Organ upgrades. Since Pulse Cells only restore a portion of your health and recharge over time when depleted, it’s more effective to use them liberally rather than conserving them, ensuring you stay alive through tough encounters and boss fights.
The Pulse Cell is your healing item in Lies of P, and you’ll gain several charges (more as the game goes on) every time you rest at one of the Stargazers. However, this is not the only way to get Pulse Cell charges back once you’ve spent them to heal yourself.
Once you’ve completely zeroed out your Pulse Cell – as in you no longer have any charges – any damage you deal will slowly charge your Pulse Cell back up. Once you refill the bar, you’ll gain one Pulse Cell charge, but will stop accumulating energy on hits. This means that spending all of your pulse charges early in a fight isn’t a death sentence. Instead, you’ll just need to play carefully until you can get another charge back into your Pulse Cell and heal yourself.
You can repeat this process endless times – assuming you survive.
Run, don’t walk, to your dropped Ergo
In Lies of P, Ergo is the essential in-game currency that you’ll want to collect and spend wisely from the very start. It’s used not only to level up your character’s attributes but also to purchase crucial items, consumables, and upgrade materials from various merchants scattered throughout the city of Krat. Since weapon durability and combat readiness are constantly challenged, having a steady supply of Ergo allows you to strengthen your weapons and maintain your edge in battles. Prioritize gathering Ergo early and often to ensure you can upgrade your gear and survive the brutal encounters that define the game’s dark, twisted world.
Ergo is the currency you gain from killing enemies in Lies of P, and you’ll use it for basically everything – buying new weapons, leveling up your character, etc. You’ll also drop all of the Ergo that you have on you when you die, and will need to pick it back up again by returning to your body.
This is pretty common in games like Lies of P, but there is a fun twist to the dropped Ergo mechanic here. Every time you get hit on your way to your Ergo, the game will reduce the amount of Ergo you can recover, so it behooves you to rush back to your body, ignoring combat as much as possible.
However, if you do get hit, you can return some of the Ergo to your old body by killing enemies. It’s a risk vs reward system that makes corpse runs a little more interesting. Thankfully, any Ergo you drop when dying to a boss will appear outside the boss’ arena.
Keep your weapon sharp – especially during a boss fight
Keeping your weapon sharp is crucial in Lies of P, especially during boss fights where every hit counts. The weapon sharpness meter, visible on the HUD, directly affects your damage output and effectiveness in combat. Dull weapons deal less damage and can even break, putting you at a severe disadvantage. Fortunately, the game provides a Grinder that you can use to restore your weapon’s sharpness before engaging bosses, ensuring maximum damage potential. Additionally, upgrading the Grinder can boost your weapon’s damage and even add elemental effects like fire or poison, giving you an edge against tough opponents. Maintaining sharpness not only preserves your weapon’s durability but also enhances your combat efficiency, making it a key factor in surviving and winning boss battles.
As you use your weapon in Lies of P – for guarding or attacking – it will progressively lose durability. You can recover this durability by using the Grinder item that you get very early on in the game. After just a few seconds of grinding – even mid-combat – your durability will be back at max level and you can keep fighting.
This is one of those mechanics that you’ll never really understand the importance of until you forget to do it that one time and it ruins you. If you let your durability drop to zero, your weapon will break, causing it to deal less damage than normal and bounce off of enemies. If you break a weapon in this way, you won’t be able to repair it with the Grinder until you rest at a Stargazer.
You’ll chew through a lot of normal enemies in Lies of P before needing to grind up the durability on your weapon. However, you will need to regain durability in the middle of some of the game’s longer boss fights, as blocking breaks down your weapons pretty quickly.
Be extremely patient in boss fights
Boss fights in Lies of P demand extreme patience and careful observation. Instead of rushing in aggressively, focus on learning the boss’s attack patterns and timing your dodges or blocks precisely. Landing just a few hits before retreating to safety is often the best strategy, especially in multi-phase fights where additional enemies may join. Perfect guarding key attacks can open valuable windows for counterattacks, but reckless aggression will quickly lead to defeat. Stocking up on resistance consumables and managing your healing resources wisely also plays a crucial role in surviving these challenging encounters.
Speaking of bosses, they can be really tough in Lies of P – especially if you’re trying to roll around erratically like you might in FromSoftware’s games. But as we mentioned earlier, this is a blocking game, not a dodging game.
To take down bosses like the Scrapped Watchman or Fallen Bishop Andreus, you really want to carefully watch them make attacks and step away for the first few swings. Size them up and don’t worry about fighting back. Analyze their moves, then step in and place yourself in the danger zone. Only worry about blocking for the first few hits. Once you’re comfortable surviving their attacks, try and time your blocks so you get a perfect guard.
Only once you feel like surviving their moves isn’t a problem should you try weaving in your attacks. You’ll likely stumble a bit when you add another ball for you to juggle, but establishing a defensive baseline first will help you take down these bosses with skill, rather than hoping you get a good attack pattern.
Purchase multiple weapons from shops and vendors
Many weapons in Lies of P can be purchased from shops and vendors throughout the game. Weapons are divided into regular and special weapons, and regular weapons can be disassembled into their blade and handle components, which can then be mixed and matched to create different combinations. Collecting weapons expands combat options and opens crafting possibilities .
You’ll pick your first weapon and handle early on in Lies of P. You’ll get that weapon for free, but you can buy the other two weapons and handles you rejected once you find the first shopkeep.
Each weapon and its handle has an ability associated with it, and you can activate these abilities by charging up and spending Fable (which you earn by dealing damage). These abilities range from powerful sweeping attacks, imbuing your weapon with an element for a short time, a guaranteed perfect block, and more.
Eventually, you’ll unlock a weapon crafting system that will allow you to mix and match weapons and handles – and the abilities that come with them. Because of this rad weapon crafting mechanic, you want to make sure you have a large roster of weapons to choose from so you can create your perfect tool for taking down puppets.
Trade out your weapon handles to improve your weapon scaling
Swapping out weapon handles is one of the most effective ways to improve your weapon scaling in Lies of P. Each handle determines which of your stats-Motivity, Technique, or Advance-your weapon will scale with, directly affecting how much extra damage you gain from investing points into those attributes. By altering handles using Crank items, you can shift a weapon’s scaling to better fit your chosen build, such as boosting Motivity scaling for heavy weapons or Technique for agile ones. Visit Eugénie at Hotel Krat to use Cranks and upgrade handles, but keep in mind that these materials are limited, so plan your upgrades carefully to maximize your weapon’s potential and tailor it to your playstyle.
Speaking of weapon handles and mixing and matching, your handle actually determines which stats your weapon scales off of.
If you’re investing heavily in Motivity (strength), but decide you don’t like the heavier weapon types, you can pair a fast blade with a heavy handle. The fast blade’s original handle may only have a C in Motivity scaling, while the heavy handle has a B in Motivity, which impacts how much damage your stats contribute to your weapon’s attacks.
This is a really cool and complex system, and it allows you to build the perfect weapon that fits with your playstyle and the stats you’ve already upgraded. As the game progresses, you can even upgrade your handles at the upgrade shop in the hotel, increasing their scaling from a B to an A, for example, allowing your skill to contribute even more to its overall damage.
What key mechanics should I master before diving into Lies of P on PC or consoles
Key Mechanics to Master Before Starting Lies of P
Perfect Guard (Parrying)
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Mastering the perfect guard, or parry, is essential. The timing is strict, but a successful perfect guard negates all damage, preserves stamina, and can stagger enemies, opening them up for counterattacks. This mechanic is crucial for surviving tough encounters and bosses, as regular blocking only reduces damage and chips away at your health.
Weapon Sharpening
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Regularly sharpen your weapon to maintain its effectiveness. If your weapon becomes dull, your attack chains and damage output will suffer. Find safe moments between or during fights to use this mechanic, especially before boss battles.
Legion Arm and Weapon Customization
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Experiment with Pinocchio’s mechanical Legion arm, which can be outfitted with various abilities like elemental attacks, blocking, or grappling. Additionally, you can break weapons into handles and blades to mix and match, tailoring your arsenal to your playstyle. Each weapon also has unique Fable Arts (special moves) to master.
Stat Management and Builds
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Invest in Vigor (stamina) and Vitality (health) early for more forgiving gameplay. Stamina is especially important, as it governs your ability to attack, dodge, and block. Choose weapons that scale with your preferred stats (Motivity for strength, Technique for dexterity) for optimal damage.
Ergo Management
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Ergo is the in-game currency used for leveling up. You lose all collected Ergo upon death, but you can retrieve it if you return to the spot where you died. Pay attention to cues (like the blue Ergo icon) to know when it’s wise to spend your Ergo rather than risk losing it.
Aggressive Play and Health Recovery
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The game rewards aggressive play: if you lose health from a block, attacking enemies shortly after can recover some of that lost HP, similar to the system in Bloodborne.
Level Exploration
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Take your time to explore each area thoroughly. Levels are interconnected and filled with secrets, shortcuts, and NPCs offering valuable items or side quests.
Controller vs. Keyboard & Mouse
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The game is fully playable with either keyboard & mouse or controller, so use whichever setup feels most comfortable. Some players prefer the precision of a controller for melee combat, but both options are viable.
Mastering these mechanics will give you a strong foundation and make your journey through Krat more manageable and rewarding.
How important is mastering parrying and guarding in Lies of P combat
Mastering parrying and guarding-especially the Perfect Guard mechanic-is critically important in Lies of P’s combat. A well-timed Perfect Guard is the only way to completely negate incoming damage, as regular blocking still allows some chip damage to get through and slows your movement. Parrying not only protects your health but also staggers enemies, making boss fights and tougher encounters significantly easier.
Perfect Guards have additional benefits: consistently executing them can break enemy weapons, reducing their damage and hitbox for the rest of the fight-a unique and rewarding feature. While dodging and blocking are viable, relying solely on them will make certain fights much harder, especially against aggressive bosses or enemies with unblockable attacks that require precise parries.
In summary, while blocking and dodging have their place, mastering parrying-especially Perfect Guard timing-is essential for survival, maximizing damage opportunities, and overcoming Lies of P’s toughest challenges.
