You know what you signed up for trouble when you went into Lies of P. As with any decent souls-like, this game is chock full of difficult bosses ready to eat you alive. We will cover the Parade Master in this article and teach you ways to defeat him in Lies of P.
The Parade Master is the tutorial boss of Lies of P. His attacks are telegraphed and are practically the punching bag to test out the different fighting mechanics of the game. Nevertheless, this punching bag hits hard too so do not take him lightly. He is the perfect candidate to practice perfect parries on.
This detailed boss guide will teach you how to easily counter and defeat the first boss Parade Master in Lies of P.
Parade Master Boss Fight in Lies of P
Before commencing the fight against Parade Master, these items will prove extremely helpful in this boss fight:
- Puppet’s Saber or Wintry Rapier. Both these weapons are fast and work wonders against the boss’s sluggish moveset. You can always go for any other weapon, but we found fast weapons to be more effective.
- The Puppet’s Saber is the starting weapon of the Path of the Cricket: Balance class. You can even buy it from the Wandering Merchant for 300 Ergo.
- Wintry Rapier can be bought from the Wandering Merchant for 300 Ergo. It is also the starting weapon of Path of the Bastard: Dexterity.
- Electric Blitz Abrasive. The boss is weak to Electricity damage and thus coating your weapons with this element will capitalize on this disadvantage. It is a consumable item that can either be found while exploring the world or bought from the Wandering Merchant for 250 Ergo each.
You don’t need to be a parry master to beat this boss. However, mastering this skill will come in handy in the later stages of the game so do practice it on this boss.
The Parade Master is the first boss of Lies of P. He is blocking the entrance to Hotel Krat, the hub area of the game, thus making him a mandatory boss to fight.
He is the perfect boss to practice all your moves and tactics, like perfect parrying, blocking, and dodging. His attacks are slow and highly telegraphed, much like any soul-like tutorial boss. He also has two phases.
Phase 1
As soon as you enter the arena, he will typically bend down to perform a rush attack. Dodge to the right or left as he hurtles towards you. He will perform the rush attack every time you distance yourself from him so you can essentially bait him into doing this.
He follows up this attack with a punch, telegraphed with him moving his arm backward, so dodge twice through that and move to his side/back. Use this opening to attack him three to four times. He uses this attack quite regularly throughout the first phase so learn to react to it ASAP.
When you are near him, and he does a short lumbering walk, he is about to do a belly flop. This attack can be easily dodged backward or if you want you can parry it since you see it coming a mile away.
When he faceplants on the ground, it is the best time to go crazy with your attacks since he takes his sweet time to recover. You can execute Fable Arts during this window.
Try to avoid standing behind him. He has a wide swipe attack that comes out of nowhere and will likely hit you when you are behind him.
He sometimes performs a series of smash attacks that are easy to dodge to the sides, following it up with a red-glowing double-fisted smash Fury Attack. Fury Attacks can’t be blocked so make sure to wither perfectly dodge it or parry it.
The vast majority of his attacks, even in phase 2, can be ignored if you dodge into them.
Phase 2
When Parade Master’s health reaches the half point, he will transition into his second phase. He will smash the cage on his back and rip out his head to use it as a mace of sorts.
His attacks in this phase have better reach so be extra careful when trying to dodge out of his attack range. He becomes more aggressive during this phase so keep that in mind.
As soon as you see him throw the cage down, dodge through since it can hurt you, stay close to him, and start attacking him as he transitions. During the transition animation, he is susceptible to damage, so unleash all you have at this point.
His most used move during this phase is his mace’s two to three horizontal swings. When he does these, dodge left then right once, and punish with one strike of your own.
The second big thing he does is a series of overhead attacks. The first overhead attack is a regular attack so wait until very late and then do one dodge left or right. The second overhead attack will be a Fury Attack. If you can perfectly parry this by guarding at the last moment, it is an amazing way to build up a lot of stagger on him.
If you continue blocking and parrying his attacks, his health bar will start to flash. This means that he is vulnerable to getting staggered. To stagger him successfully, his health bar must be flashing and then you have to either perform a charged heavy attack (R2) or a Fable Art.
When you do it right, he will drop down, opening himself up to a critical strike or Fatal Blow. Walk towards his head while he is down to see a marker. Stand before it and press the light attack to deal massive damage.
The best advice is to stick close to him at all times. The way his moves work, it is really hard to come close to him after you distanced yourself. Also, if you perfect parry him enough times during this phase, his weapon will shatter, lowering the reach of his attacks. The boss is also more vulnerable to electricity damage in this phase so this will be the perfect time to use the Electric Blitz Abrasive.
Keep it up and soon you will rain all over his parade!
The Parade Master is no clutch even for a starting boss. He is the quintessential warm-up to introduce you to the challenges you are about to embark upon. Use him to learn the ropes of the game. His second phase is where the true hardship lies and is the fitting barometer for the things to come.