In the same vain as countless other Soulslike titles, including the recent Elden Ring, Lies of P features a tough-as-nails combat system that relies heavily on blocking, parrying, and the occasional dodge. You’ll spend less time performing the latter, so forget what you know about the sub-genre and prepare for a whooping or two as you learn the block and parry mechanics. To help you kick some puppet butt, let our Lies of P tips and tricks for beginners guide help you!
Focus On Blocking
First and foremost, once again, you need to forget the combat styles of Elden Ring and Dark Souls, which focus heavily on dodging. In Lies of P, the developers want you to learn how to block and parry incoming attacks successfully. Blocking is, of course, all about timing. As soon as you see the enemy wind up for an attack, hit that block button. If you time it correctly, you’ll perform a successful block and can parry their attack for a bit of extra damage.
That said, there are some situations in which dodging makes the most sense. For instance, when an enemy enters their frenzied glowing red state, you can’t block those attacks, so dodging is the only option.
Don’t Be Afraid to Heal
Like in other Soulslike titles, you have limited healing items in Lies of P. Here, they’re called Pulse Cells, and you start the game with just three fully charged cells. They reset each time you rest at Stargazers, and those are relatively few and far between. But unlike other titles in the genre, Lies of P is gracious. As you deal damage to foes, your Pulse Cell will automatically regenerate. It’s not a death sentence to run out of healing items in Lies of P, so use them wisely but willingly.
Pick Up Your Dropped Ergo Quickly
When you die, you drop all of your Ergo. This is Lies of P’s answer to souls, and you require quite a bit to level up, buy new weapons, and purchase other aid items from the various roaming vendors in the game.
Unfortunately, if you die and drop your Ergo, you’re on the clock. The longer it takes for you to scoop up your lost resource, the more you lose. You see, the game reduces the amount of Ergo you recover for every second it’s on the ground.
Spend Ergo Wisely
Speaking of Ergo, each time you level up in Lies of P, the Ergo cost increases significantly. As such, your first tens of levels genuinely make a difference because the deeper into the game you get, the higher the cost to level up. Eventually, it’ll feel like you hit a wall as progress slows seemingly to a halt.
For your first few levels, we recommend investing in Vitality to increase your health pool, then Motivity or Technique to increase weapon damage output.
Explore the Game World
One of the most important Lies of P tips we have for you is to explore the game world in earnest. Around every corner, each nook and cranny in the devastated city, you’ll find useful items and enemies to farm. The loot spawns both in random chests and on the ground, and you’ll find weapons, quest objectives, and Quartz.
Furthermore, you’ll occasionally run into NPCs in the world. These offer quests, lore, and other insights that may prove useful as you progress deeper into the game. In fact, some of the NPCs you discover in the game world will return with you to Hotel Krat, offering their unique services in the hub area.
Stay tuned for additional Lies of P guides at MP1st!
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