The best Lies of P combat style is ultimately a matter of player preference and, to some extent, it's not too big a choice as you can level up and change course, and obtain the other weapons from the different paths not far into the game. Still, it'll definitely determine how you play for the short term, and to a larger extent this is a question about what's most important: speed, damage, or a healthy mix of the two? This guide to the best combat style in Lies of P will explain everything you need to know, including how to change style later.
The best combat style in Lies of P
There are three combat styles in Lies of P to chose from: the Path of the Cricket, Path of the Bastard and Path of the Sweeper. That largely translates to an all rounder style, a fast speed style and a damage focused heavy style. Overall, these options will introduce the core styles you need to master the Lies of P weapons you'll encounter - namely options that focus on raw damage, mobility and, eventually, elemental effects.
- The Path of the Bastard is the best Lies of P combat style of the three options available.
Having tried all three combat styles and played far into the game, I feel comfortable recommending the Path of the Bastard. It's a speedy, technique-focused build about movement, quick jabs and agility. Your individual attacks don't do much damage most of the time, but that doesn't matter so much when you can pepper foes with them quickly, especially using the starting Wintry Rapier.
Moving slowly in Lies of P spells disaster for all but the most skilled players, and I found that the only strategy with most enemies is simply to be quicker than them. The Path of the Bastard combat style teaches you this from the start, and the rapier has some attack patterns that allow you to leap back out of reach as you poke holes in your foe.
What are Lies of P Combat Styles?
Here's how each Lies of P combat style actually works:
- Path of the Cricket: A middle-of-the-road combat style that starts you with the Puppet's Saber, which focuses on simple slashes that do moderate damage. Though not as good as the Bastard path, it's probably the most beginner-friendly.
- Path of the Bastard: A Technique-focused (Dexterity) combat style that uses a Wintry Rapier and is all about speed, movement and agility, while landing quick strikes and evading enemy attacks. Our preferred pick, and one for players with good reflexes.
- Path of the Sweeper: A Motivity and Capacity-focused combat style (i.e., Strength and Weight) that gives you the Greatsword of Fate, which swings in large, slow, highly-damaging combos. It does require patience to use effectively and time your shots, but does allow P to carry more weight.
How to change combat styles in Lies of P
You can change combat style in Lies of P easily because each 'style' is effectively just a combination of weapon and stats. So all you need to do to change is level specific stats to match the combat style you want once you're able to level up in Lies of P.
The three core weapons stats in Lies of P are:
- Motivity - Strength and damage
- Technique - Dexterity and speed
- Advance - Arcane, magical and elemental effects
So if you picked the Motivity (strength) focused Sweeper, you just need to level up your Technique (Dexterity) instead to match the skills of the Bastard. You can also buy the starting weapons from all three Paths - the Saber, the Rapier and the Greatsword - from the merchant outside the Parade Master boss fight, the first boss encounter in the game. These weapons cost 500 ergo each, so are comfortably affordable and a good way of trying all three styles out early on before you commit too many points.
You will also be able to buy cranks later that will change weapon scaling. So if you have a Technique (Dexterity) weapon you'd like to use with a Motivity (Strength) build, you can use a crank to change what stat its damage levels with.
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