Confronting the King of Puppets at the Estella Opera House is widely regarded as one of the major skill checks in Lies of P. This intense encounter features two distinct phases that require players to rapidly adapt their defensive and offensive strategies. Understanding how to handle both the massive mechanized outer shell and the nimble humanoid warrior inside is key to surviving the encounter.
Preparing Your Loadout and Elemental Advantages
Before stepping into the arena, selecting the right elemental weapons and consumable items can give you a major advantage. The massive first phase form is particularly vulnerable to Electric Blitz damage, which rapidly builds up stagger. Equipping the Electric Coil Stick or applying an electric grindstone allows players to deal heavy damage during small openings.
For the second phase, switching tactics to utilize Acid damage or fire-resistant gear proves extremely effective. Carrying a healthy supply of throwables like Thermite, Carcass Fluid, and Throwing Cells offers reliable ranged damage when close combat becomes too risky. Players using a Specter should also equip a Friendship Wishstone to keep their ally healthy into the second half of the fight.
Mastering the First Phase Mechanical Beast
The first phase presents a giant mechanical shell with sweeping melee strikes, ground slams, and long-range projectile attacks. Maintaining a safe distance can bait out its predictable forward slam, leaving the boss open for heavy charged attacks. When the boss attempts to pull you in with its vacuum fan, immediately dash backward to avoid getting trapped in its follow-up combo.
Perfect parrying the boss's slow, telegraphed physical swings will quickly build up its hidden posture meter. Keeping close to its body or sticking near the entrance archway can also cause several of its sweeping attacks to pass harmlessly overhead. Once the health bar shows a white border, hit the boss with a heavy attack or throwable to trigger a Fatal Attack.
Navigating Romeo and the Fire Combo Phase
Upon defeating the outer puppet, Romeo emerges from the shell as a fast, agile opponent wielding a massive scythe. Unlike the first phase, standing at long range is dangerous because Romeo possesses rapid gap-closing dashes. The single best defensive tactic against Romeo is dodging to your left around his attacks, which causes most of his slashes to miss completely.
Midway through this phase, Romeo will ignite his weapon with fire and execute a dangerous multi-hit flurry combo. To survive this assault, ensure your health is topped off and prepare to either execute precise guards or continuously dodge left around his movement path. Alternatively, hitting him with a stagger or heavy fable attack right as he begins imbuing his weapon can cancel the combo entirely.
Consistencies for a Victorious Battle Strategy
Patience and resource management ultimately determine success during this challenging two-part showdown. Saving the majority of your pulse charges and throwable items for the final push against Romeo drastically reduces the risk of failing late in the fight. By combining elemental weaknesses with disciplined side-dodging, players can consistently conquer the King of Puppets.
