Lies of P combat guide: How to parry attacks

Lies of P is a challenging game that tests and subsequently rewards patience, timing, and perseverance. Taking obvious inspiration from titles like the Dark Souls Trilogy, Bloodborne, and even Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Neowiz's latest action role-playing game features a robust combat system that focuses on timed deflections and counterattacks.

Much like FromSoftware's "Souls" games, Lies of P features a very heavy emphasis on parrying incoming attacks. However, parrying in Neowiz's latest game is a tad bit different from how it works in most souls-like action role-playing games. Instead of a long-winded animation like in Dark Souls and Elden Ring, parrying in the new souls-like action RPG is done via perfect blocking.

While the game does explain parrying briefly before the first main story boss, there's still plenty that is left for you to figure out as you engage with the combat system. Here's everything you need to know about parrying attacks and the associated counterattacks in Lies of P.

---

How to master parrying in Lies of P

Parrying attacks in Lies of P is basically as simple as pressing the block button (LB or L1) at the exact time when an enemy's attack is about to hit. However, the timing for initiating and executing a parry is quite precise, with a very small window of performing a perfect parry. Unfortunately, unlike in Dark Souls, the penalty for missing a parry is much more severe in this game.

Also, parrying attacks does not let you automatically deal critical hits to enemies. Instead, it only brings them to a "groggy" state, prompting you to land a charged heavy attack or a "fabled arts," i.e., weapon arts. Also, during the groggy state, the enemies also become much more aggressive and increase the frequency of their attacks.

While there are alternatives to parrying attacks in Lies of P, i.e., dodging or quick stepping, the game does encourage parrying, especially against some of the mid to late-game boss fights. Blocking against attacks only allows you to negate a fraction of the total damage. However, in order to negate all incoming physical from enemies, you will need to parry.

It does take a bit of time to get used to the parry mechanic in Lies of P. Fortunately, the central hub of the game, Hotel Krat, has a practice range. There, you can try out new weapons, Legion Arm upgrades, and also practice the more complex combat maneuvers, such as perfect blocking, parrying, and using your weapon's fabled arts.

You can also mix parrying with a charged heavy attack as a follow-up, which results in an immediate stagger in most cases. However, it's safe to stick with consecutive parries and light attacks if you're uncomfortable with the charged heavy attack, which does have a fairly long wind-up animation.