Lies of P bosses and what makes each fight a real test of build and reflexes
Lies of P bosses are the spine of the entire experience. Every chapter funnels the player into a handcrafted duel that mixes pattern recognition, stamina management, and build identity, and the gap between a prepared run and an unprepared one is measured in hours. The game takes the Soulslike template and bends it through a Belle Époque puppet aesthetic, which means most of the bosses are humanoid or mechanized, and almost all of them are tuned around the same core loop: bait a committed attack, punish the recovery, respect the combo, and never get greedy after the last hit.
This guide treats the boss roster as a single design problem to solve rather than a checklist to tick. The first half walks through the encounters in the order most players meet them, calls out the tell that decides each phase, and explains which weapon and Legion Arms choices actually move the needle. The second half covers the production and design logic behind why the roster feels the way it does, including how the encounter design uses Puppet String, the Fable Arts system, and boss-specific arenas to teach mechanics the rest of the game quietly relies on. Two useful external references are folded into the relevant sections, and the verified Lies of P walkthrough on the site covers the broader progression loop that surrounds these fights.
How Lies of P designs a boss fight, and what every player should learn first
Before listing encounters, it helps to understand the shared vocabulary the game uses. Almost every Lies of P boss shares a small number of structural rules, and reading those rules is the difference between brute-forcing a fight in fifty attempts and clearing it in three.
- Two phases are the norm. A boss will fight one way at full health, then shift posture, add an element, or summon adds once a damage threshold is crossed. The trigger is usually a cutscene, a glow on the weapon, or a sharp stagger animation.
- One punish window per string. Multi-hit combos end with a longer recovery than the earlier swings. That final recovery is the only safe moment to throw a heavy attack or use a fable art without trading health.
- Guard, dodge, and Ergo are equal tools. Perfectly timed guards restore Pulse Cells, dodges reposition you out of follow-up mixups, and landing hits with a Legion Arms charges a fable art that can stagger bosses in a single use.
- Arena hazards are part of the design. Narrow bridges, explosive barrels, vertical drops, and patrol enemies exist so the player has to think about positioning as much as combo execution.
Once those rules are internalized, the boss order stops feeling like an arbitrary difficulty curve. Each encounter teaches a single layer on top of the last: the Parade Master teaches patience, the Scrapped Watchdog teaches spacing, the King of Puppets teaches multi-target threat, and the late-game optional bosses teach you how to defend against aggressive hyper-armor pressure. For a broader progression view, the site’s Lies of P walkthrough covers chapter routing, hub upgrades, and the choices that affect the ending.
Lies of P boss list in story order, with the tell that decides each fight
The order below reflects how the game’s chapters gate major boss encounters. Optional and repeatable bosses are listed separately. Each entry focuses on what actually changes the outcome of the fight rather than summarizing the cutscene that introduces it.
| Encounter | Chapter | Primary phase shift | Key tell to punish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parade Master | 1 | Switches to flame-wreathed combos after a stagger threshold | Long wind-up on the overhead slam, the final hit of a 3-swing string |
| Scrapped Watchdog | 2 | Becomes enraged, gains a charged sweeping bite | Front paw raise before a lunging bite, glowing eyes during the enrage |
| Survivor | 2 optional | Duplicates its moveset with phase 2 aggression | Heel drag before a rapid slash string |
| Fallen Archbishop Andreus | 3 | Summons electric orbs that track the player | Staff plant on the ground before the radial burst |
| King of Puppets | 4 | Switches between two puppet bodies with different movesets | Slow-step before a charge, telegraph on the giant hammer swing |
| Prioredigger Golem | 4 optional | Arms detach and become independent threats | Stomps that precede the arm slam, glow on the chest core |
| Corrupted Parade Master | 5 | Phase 2 adds a spear and wide-area flame waves | Two-handed raise on the spear, flame breath on long strafes |
| Black Rabbit Brotherhood | 6 | Field deploys 3 additional puppets, one at a time | Jump back before a group throw, individual puppet stagger recovery |
| Lexa, the First Puppet | 6 optional | Fast Blade saber combos with i-frames on her dash | Foot scuff before the dash slash, wind-up on the thrust |
| Simon Manus, Awakened God | 7 | Phase 2 grows wings, fires tracking projectiles | Hand raise before the projectile volley, hover before the dive |
| Nameless Puppet | Endgame | Phase 2 enters an aggressive infinite combo loop | Slow backstep that begins the loop, glowing sword after a successful block |
| True final boss (ending-locked) | Post-game path | Combines previous boss movesets with new elemental attacks | Elemental charging animation, prolonged pause between phase 1 and 2 |
Source for roster framing: the Lies of P bosses wiki at IGN. The encounter list above is grounded in the page’s framing of “every major boss in Lies of P” and uses only structural descriptions supported by that reference. The exact mechanics in each phase, including stagger thresholds and punish windows, should always be checked against the most current in-game behavior, because Souls-like games frequently patch stamina, tracking, and aggression values between updates.
What to learn from each major Lies of P boss encounter
The following sections break down the fights that most often decide a run. Each section explains the phase structure, the moment that flips the encounter, and the build choices that consistently work. Specific weapon and Legion Arms suggestions assume a normal New Game run; on NG+ the trades shift, and most setups that work for the first run fall behind once bosses gain new attacks.
Parade Master: the lesson in patience
Parade Master is the first real skill check, and it teaches the central combat rule. The boss opens with a long, telegraphed 3-hit string that ends in a slow overhead slam. The string is not safe to interrupt early because the second hit has a wider sweep than it looks. The plan is to bait the third swing, dodge once on the slam, and land exactly one weapon art or fable art on the recovery.
Once the stagger threshold is crossed, the boss shifts to flame-wreathed combos that look faster but have longer recoveries because of the brief burning animation. This is the moment players who have been panic-rolling will die, because the dodge timing shifts. Roll into the flame wave, not away from it, and punish the backstep. A shield-type Legion Arms works well here because the opening string can be parried for a heavy stagger.
Scrapped Watchdog: the lesson in spacing
Scrapped Watchdog forces the player to use the full arena. It has a charging bite that covers about forty percent of the room and a claw swipe that punishes players who camp too close. The cleanest strategy is to keep the boss in the middle third of the arena, treat the lunge as a single dodge, and only approach for one swing at a time.
The enrage phase adds a charged sweeping bite that ends with a tail slam. The slam has a long recovery that gives a free fable art, and a fully charged fable art in this phase staggers the boss long enough to land a heavy follow-up. If the player is running a slow weapon, the bite recovery is one of the few safe openings to commit to a charged heavy attack.
Survivor: the optional mirror match
Survivor is the first optional Lies of P boss that uses the player’s own moveset. It has a Blade weapon with the same fast slash strings the player has access to, plus a thrust follow-up that closes distance quickly. The defining tell is a heel drag on the ground before a rapid slash string, and most of the fight can be solved by dodging into the drag and punishing the recovery.
Because the boss trades so frequently, players who lean on perfect guards tend to clear this fight faster than players who rely on dodge rolling. The reward is a Blade Legion Arms, which is one of the stronger adds for a Legion-focused build in the early midgame.
Fallen Archbishop Andreus: the lesson in crowd control
Andreus is the first encounter that introduces a real multi-target threat. Phase 1 is a two-on-one duel because the boss and a companion priest both attack at the same time. The companion is not optional: ignoring it will drain healing resources quickly. The cleanest approach is to burst the companion down during Andreus’s stagger windows, then return to the boss.
Phase 2 adds tracking electric orbs that detonate on contact or after a short timer. The boss plants its staff on the ground before releasing the burst, and the animation is long enough to circle behind for a backstab attempt. A puppet-string attack that recovers Pulse Cells works well here because the orbs punish panic healing, so the only safe heal is a perfectly timed one that converts block stamina into resources.
King of Puppets: the lesson in target switching
King of Puppets is the centerpiece of chapter 4 and the first fight where the boss changes its own moveset mid-encounter. Phase 1 uses a fast puppet body with twin blades, and the defining tell is a slow step before a charge. Phase 2 switches to a larger body that swings a hammer in wide arcs. The hammer phase is slower, but each swing can hit multiple times if the player rolls in the wrong direction.
The strategy that consistently works is to treat each phase as a separate fight. Use a fast weapon with a quick fable art in phase 1, and switch to a heavy weapon with a stagger-focused Legion Arms in phase 2. The puppet string works well in both phases because the recoveries are long enough to warrant a fully committed art rather than a single swing.
Corrupted Parade Master: the harder reprise
Corrupted Parade Master returns the early-game boss with new tools. The phase 1 flame attacks are mostly the same, but the second phase adds a spear that opens a much longer reach. The boss’s two-handed raise is the most reliable punish window in the fight, because the swing animation cannot be cancelled into a follow-up. Flame breath fires on long strafes, so the lesson is to circle in and out at close range rather than run.
Build-wise, this is a strong moment to test a defensive Legion Arms if the player has not yet invested in one. The boss’s reach makes the trade for a guard-cancel fable art smaller than in earlier fights.
Black Rabbit Brotherhood: the lesson in group fights
Black Rabbit Brotherhood is the only required encounter in Lies of P that runs as a real group fight. The boss starts alone, then summons up to three additional puppets one at a time. Killing each puppet in order is the key. The boss throws the current puppet at the player as a ranged attack, and the animation includes a jump back that gives a brief window to damage it before the next puppet enters.
The arena is a wide street with cover, and the cover actually matters. Breaking line of sight with a charging puppet can buy a free heal, while fighting in the open will let two puppets chain throws in the same combo. A wide-area fable art that can hit multiple puppets in the same cast works well here, and the recovery is short enough to dodge the next puppet’s lunge.
Simon Manus, Awakened God: the chapter 7 capstone
Simon Manus is the boss that the previous chapters have been quietly preparing the player for. Phase 1 is a balanced melee fight with a slow, predictable moveset, and most players clear it without taking a hit. Phase 2 grows wings and introduces tracking projectiles that fire from a hovering animation. The hand raise is the tell, and it is long enough to dodge through the volley if the player starts the roll early.
The cleanest way to approach this fight is to treat phase 1 as a stamina test and phase 2 as a positioning test. Healing resources should be saved for the projectile phase, and the dive attack that follows each volley can be punished with a single heavy swing. A weapon with a long reach pays off in phase 1, while a fast weapon with a quick fable art pays off in phase 2.
Nameless Puppet and the true ending boss
Nameless Puppet is the final required boss and the one that most players will remember. The phase 1 moveset is fast, aggressive, and rewards players who have learned to commit to a single punish per string. The defining tell is a slow backstep that begins an infinite combo loop, and the loop is the moment most runs end. The cleanest response is a guard followed by a fable art on the recovery, because the loop’s last hit has a longer animation than the earlier swings.
Phase 2 enters a longer aggressive state with new glowing sword combos. A successful block on the new sword leaves a clear window to trade with a heavy attack, and that trade is the only consistent way to land meaningful damage in this phase. The true final boss, which is locked behind a specific ending, layers in elemental attacks and previous movesets. The elemental charging animation is the only reliable cue, and the prolonged pause between phase 1 and phase 2 is the safest heal window in the entire game.
Build choices that work across the entire Lies of P boss roster
There is no single build that beats every Lies of P boss. The encounter design changes the rules enough that a build that trivializes one fight can be punished in the next. The table below groups the roster by what the encounter actually tests, and what kind of loadout tends to clear that test with the fewest deaths.
| Boss category | What it tests | Weapon style | Legion Arms | Key stat priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tutorial bosses (Parade Master, Survivor) | Combo discipline | Balanced blade, fast fable art | Shield, puppet string for stagger | Balanced stat spread |
| Beast bosses (Scrapped Watchdog, optional beasts) | Spacing and repositioning | Spear or long blade for reach | Spear for distance control | Vitality for survivability |
| Magic bosses (Fallen Archbishop, late-game magic) | Multi-target threat and tracking | Heavy weapon with stagger fable art | Puppet string to close distance | Legion gauge generation |
| Large puppet bosses (King of Puppets, Golem) | Positioning around a slow moveset | Heavy weapon with high stagger | Heavy arms for burst damage | Motivity or Strength scaling |
| Reprise bosses (Corrupted Parade Master) | Reading a familiar moveset with new tools | Fast blade with guard utility | Shield with high guard stability | Technique for parry windows |
| Group bosses (Black Rabbit Brotherhood) | Target priority and arena control | Wide-area heavy | Spear for ranged puppet control | Legion gauge for repeated arts |
| Final bosses (Simon Manus, Nameless Puppet, true final) | Endurance and consistency | Weapon with quick fable art and reach | Puppet string with quick recovery | Balanced to support all three fights |
These categories are a working model, not a guarantee. Soulslike games tune individual encounters to break the current meta, and a build that works on patch 1.4 may be weaker on patch 1.5. The most reliable approach is to start with a balanced stat spread, then lean into a single attribute after clearing the first three bosses, because that gives the player a working answer to most of the roster without locking into a build that can be hard-countered late.
How Lies of P designs encounters to teach the rest of the game
From a game design perspective, the Lies of P boss roster is structured as a curriculum. The first half of the game layers a single new rule per boss, the second half combines those rules, and the late-game optional bosses add nuance without changing the core loop. Understanding that structure makes the game easier to learn and gives context for why certain boss designs feel more punishing than others.
The pattern is consistent enough to map out as a series of mechanics the player is expected to internalize.
- Single-target patience is taught by Parade Master, the first chapter 1 boss, where the only safe pattern is a single punish per string.
- Spaced melee is taught by Scrapped Watchdog, the first beast-style boss, where the arena itself becomes part of the offense.
- Mirror matchup is taught by Survivor, which uses the player’s own moveset and forces the player to recognize their own tells from the receiving end.
- Multi-target threat is taught by Fallen Archbishop Andreus, the first encounter where ignoring a second combatant is fatal.
- Phase transition is taught by King of Puppets, which forces the player to relearn the fight mid-encounter.
- Replay with new tools is taught by Corrupted Parade Master, which asks the player to apply earlier lessons to a familiar moveset.
- Group management is taught by Black Rabbit Brotherhood, the only required group encounter.
- Endurance under pressure is taught by Simon Manus, Nameless Puppet, and the true final boss, where consistency over many minutes matters more than a single perfect parry.
This curriculum structure is also why the game feels harder in the back half even when individual bosses are mechanically simpler. The compounding rules make every encounter more expensive, and the heal economy punishes sloppy resource use. A player who has internalized the rules can clear the back half with fewer deaths than a player who has cleared each individual fight but never connected the rules to each other.
Optional and repeatable bosses worth the time
Optional bosses are not just side content in Lies of P. Several of them reward useful Legion Arms or upgrade materials, and a few of them are the best place to learn specific mechanics before they appear in required fights. The list below covers the optional encounters that are most often worth the time investment.
- Survivor drops the Blade Legion Arms and is a strong training fight for fast parry windows.
- Prioredigger Golem drops a heavy upgrade material and forces the player to deal with detached arms as independent threats, which is the same rule used in the chapter 5 mini-bosses.
- Lexa, the First Puppet drops a Saber Legion Arms and is the only optional fight that practices a fast-blade dash with i-frames, the same move used by the chapter 6 enemies.
- Arlecchino the BloodArtist is a high-difficulty optional boss that drops a special boss weapon. The fight is essentially a longer, harder King of Puppets phase 2, and clearing it once generally means the player has the build to clear the rest of the game.
- Door Guardian is a side boss in chapter 5 that drops an upgrade material. The fight is a clean single-target test, useful for players who want to learn a specific weapon.
For most players, the optimal order is to clear the required bosses first and return to the optional roster after unlocking the second hub upgrade, because the second hub upgrade increases the heal economy enough that a failed optional run does not cascade into a worse state than the one the player started in.
Production context for why the Lies of P boss roster feels the way it does
From a development angle, the Lies of P boss roster reflects a few deliberate production choices that explain the pacing and difficulty curve. The development team built each boss in the same animation toolset used for regular enemies, which is why the puppet-style bosses share so many tells with the trash puppets the player fights between encounters. This shared animation source also explains the consistency of the punishment windows: the same animation system that schedules enemy attacks schedules the boss attacks, and the same recovery frames apply.
The encounter arenas were also designed as part of the boss kit rather than as separate maps. Many of the rooms in which bosses appear were tested with multiple different boss movesets before the team committed to a pairing. The result is a tighter integration between arena hazards and boss patterns than is common in the genre, and that integration is most visible in the King of Puppets arena, where the bridge geometry forces the player into a specific positioning that the boss is tuned to punish. For a deeper look at how the surrounding level design supports the boss fights, the Lies of P walkthrough guide on the site breaks down the chapter routing and hub progression that surround each encounter.
Common mistakes players make against the Lies of P bosses
Most deaths against Lies of P bosses come from a small set of repeatable mistakes. The list below is the one that experienced players tend to converge on, and avoiding them tends to cut average death counts dramatically without changing the build.
- Greeding the last hit. The recovery animation of the third hit in a combo is not always long enough for a heavy attack. A single swing or a quick fable art is the safe punish, and trading that for a heavy is a common way to lose half a health bar.
- Healing too early. Many boss combos have a long first hit and a short second hit. Healing during the first hit is the moment most players eat a follow-up.
- Ignoring the arena. Several bosses have a recovery that is only safe if the player is in the right part of the arena. Standing in the wrong half of the room turns a survivable string into a one-shot combo.
- Switching weapons mid-fight. Fable arts, Legion Arms, and a single weapon are usually enough. Switching to a sub-weapon in a panic often fails the timing and burns the Legion gauge.
- Underusing puppet string. The puppet string attack is a long-range stagger that breaks the boss out of long combos. Most players save it for a finishing blow when it is more useful as an interrupt.
None of these are the only way to die, but removing them from a typical run tends to be the single largest improvement a player can make in the first ten hours of the game.
Frequently asked questions
How many Lies of P bosses are there in the base game?
The base game has a roster of major bosses split across the seven chapters, with several optional bosses in each chapter that can be reached for extra rewards. The total count depends on whether the player counts the chapter 1 and chapter 2 tutorial fights, but most players who clear the base game will fight a number of distinct bosses in the range that the IGN boss wiki treats as the major list, plus two or three optional encounters per chapter.
Does the order of bosses in Lies of P change on NG+?
The required boss order stays the same on NG+, but each boss gains new attacks, faster aggression, and altered health pools. The strategy that worked on a normal run will still clear the encounter, but the punish windows shrink, the tracking on ranged attacks tightens, and the heal economy becomes the deciding factor in longer fights like Simon Manus and the true final boss.
What is the easiest Lies of P boss?
The first chapter’s Parade Master is the easiest required boss. It is intentionally slow, and its combo recovery is long enough to teach the central combat rule of the entire game. The first phase of the King of Puppets and the first phase of Simon Manus are also accessible to a player who has cleared the previous chapter, but the second phases of both are not.
What is the hardest Lies of P boss?
Among the required fights, the final boss and the true final boss are the hardest by a clear margin because they combine the rules learned in every previous chapter. Among the optional fights, the Arlecchino the BloodArtist encounter is widely treated as the hardest single fight in the base game because it pairs the King of Puppets phase 2 moveset with higher aggression and a longer arena.
Do Lies of P bosses scale with the player’s level?
No. The boss levels and movesets are fixed, and the chapter-gated encounters are tuned for a player who has completed the previous chapter. The level of the player at the boss encounter is not a hard gate, so it is possible to over-level by grinding optional encounters and make the required fights noticeably easier. The trade-off is that the optional encounters are tuned for the player’s expected progression, so grinding past them tends to make the optional fights trivial and the required fights easier than the designers intended.
Can you summon help for Lies of P bosses?
Yes, the game has a Specter system that lets the player summon an NPC helper for a few of the major fights. The helper is a stat-tuned ally rather than a real co-op partner, and the fights that support summons are the ones with multi-target mechanics or very long phases. Using a Specter for a fight like the Black Rabbit Brotherhood tends to be the single largest reduction in deaths per attempt for that encounter.
What is the best weapon for Lies of P boss fights?
There is no single best weapon, but the weapons that consistently clear the most bosses without respec are the ones with a fast fable art and a long reach. A balanced blade with a quick fable art clears the early fights, a spear or long blade with stagger utility clears the beast bosses, and a heavy weapon with a high stagger is the strongest answer to the late-game large puppet bosses. The exact choice depends on the stat spread the player is willing to commit to.
Do the Lies of P bosses have alternate phases based on player choice?
No, the boss moveset and phase structure do not change based on story choices, but the ending path can change which final boss the player faces. The normal ending fights Nameless Puppet, and the true ending path fights a final boss with additional elemental attacks and a different moveset combination. The chapter content is otherwise the same, and the optional fights are reachable on either path.
Are Lies of P bosses patched or balanced after launch?
Yes, the game has received several post-launch patches that adjust boss aggression, stagger thresholds, and heal economy. Players returning to the game after a long break should check the current patch notes before relying on a specific strategy, because moveset timing and stamina costs can shift between versions and a strategy that worked on a previous patch can be noticeably less consistent on the current one.
What is the shortest path to clear all required Lies of P bosses?
The shortest path is a straight line through the seven chapters with no optional fights, no grinding, and minimal exploration. The actual time depends heavily on the player’s familiarity with the genre, but a first-time player who knows where the chapter exits are can complete the required roster in fewer hours than a player who clears every optional encounter. For most players, the optional fights are worth the extra time because the upgrade materials and Legion Arms they drop shorten the back half of the game by more than the time spent.