In many ways, Lies of P is a pretty standard (if exceptional) Soulslike game. Actually, its similarities to other Soulslike games have dictated a lot of conversations about the title so far. While your familiarity with that genre will certainly help you dive into the game, even Soulslike veterans may struggle to make sense of the game’s numerous stats.
While many of the vital stats in Lies of P are fairly easy to figure out from the start, some will definitely take a little time and practice to fully understand. If you’d rather just make sense of it all from the start, though, then here is what every stat in Lies of P does and which ones you should invest in.
Lies of P: Vitality Explained
The primary function of Vitality in Lies of P is to increase your max HP. However, increasing your Vitality will also boost your Guard Regain ability (which determines how much health you regain after attacking following a standard block) as well as your defenses against a few types of damage (Physical, Fire, Electric Blitz, and Acid). Only the bravest and quickest players will ignore this appropriately vital stat entirely.
Lies of P: Vigor Explained
Although Vigor also offers increased defenses against Physical, Fire, Electric Blitz, and Acid damage, it primarily dictates your max Stamina. In Lies of P, Stamina is not only drained by your attacks, dodges, and sprints but your perfect blocks as well. That makes it one of the most valuable stats in the game for all styles of play.
Lies of P: Capacity Explained
An initially odd stat, Capacity doesn’t determine how much you can carry but rather how much Weight you can have equipped at any given time. The more Capacity you have, the heavier (and more powerful) weapons, armor/amulets, and Legion Arms you’ll be able to have equipped without suffering a movement penalty. Capacity also increases your Legion meter as well as your Physical, Fire, Electric Blitz, and Acid defenses.
Lies of P: Motivity Explained
One of the more confusing stats in the game, Motivity increases your overall Attack Power but is primarily designed to scale with heavier weaponry. If you’re planning on wielding heavier weapons, you’ll want more Motivity. It also increases your Physical, Fire, Electric Blitz, and Acid defenses.
Lies of P: Technique Explained
Like Motivity, Technique increases your overall Attack Power. However, Technique most commonly scales with lighter, quicker weapons whereas Motivity more often scales with heavier weapons. It also increases your Physical, Fire, Electric Blitz, and Acid defenses.
Lies of P: Advance Explained
Advance will also increase your Attack Power, but it primarily impacts the Attack Power of your Legion Arms as well as weapons that scale with Advance (which are primarily elementally enhanced pieces of gear). To compensate for that specificity, Advance also increases your Legion and your defenses against Disruption, Shock, and Break effects.
Lies of P: Common and Defensive Stats
While the above stats are the only ones you can directly invest points into in Lies of P, leveling those stats will often increase a series of Common and Defensive stats associated with your character. Here is what all of those stats determine:
HP
As you probably suspected, HP simply determines your maximum number of Hit Points and the size of your health bar. Though that obviously indirectly impacts your defenses, higher HP does not directly make you more resilient to various forms of attack.
Stamina
Like many other Souslike titles, your Stamina meter in Lies of P is drained by performing attacks, dodges, sprints, and certain blocks. The Stamina stat determines how much overall Stamina your character has, though it doesn’t impact how quickly that Stamina recharges when not in use.
Legion
Legion determines the size of your Legion Arms meter, which determines how many times you can use your Legion Arms ability before that meter is depleted.
Weight
Your Weight actually applies to your currently equipped items and determines how “heavy” those items can be before you suffer a movement penalty. If your currently equipped items represent 60% or more of your maximum Weight, you will suffer a movement penalty. If your currently equipped item Weight exceeds your total maximum Weight, you will not be able to move until you reduce your equipped weight.
Fable Slots
Fable Slots essentially determine how many Fable Art attacks/moves you can perform at a given time. The more slots you have available, the more moves you’ll be able to perform when they are charged. Unlike other abilities, Fable Slots are not determined by your other stats or gear but rather by how you utilize the game’s P-Organ upgrade system.
Guard Regain
Another confusing stat, Guard Regain determines how much health you can possibly regain after executing a non-perfect (let’s say “standard”) block. After you perform a standard block, you’ll notice that part of your health bar turns transparent. That transparent section represents the amount of health you can potentially regain via follow-up attacks. The more Guard Regain you have, the more health you can regain during those sequences.
Physical
One of the most useful defensive stats, Physical determines your natural resistance against pretty much every type of non-elemental damage in the game. It’s not as effective against specific forms of attacks, but it’s generally effective against most incoming damage.
Fire, Electric Blitz, Acid
These stats determine your resistance against these various elemental damage types. While raising your stats in any of these categories will not grant you total immunity to these effects, it will greatly reduce the amount of damage you receive from attacks associated with them.
Disruption, Shock, Break
These are the three types of ailments that enemies can inflict on you in Lies of P. By raising these stats, you increase the amount of “status damage” you can receive before you are inflicted with one of these ailments.
Slash, Strike, Pierce
Finally, these three stats determine your resistance against the common forms of physical enemy attacks noted above. Though they are much more specific than Physical defenses, they also apply to incoming elemental damage that matches the associated damage type. So, Slash will increase your resistance against incoming elemental slash attacks whereas Physical will only increase your general resistance against purely physical attacks.
Which Stats Should You Level Up First In Lies of P?
Though this depends on your chosen Combat Style, Vitality and Vigor should probably be the first stats you level up in Lies of P. While some Combat Styles naturally grant you more Vitality and Vigor, those stats are universally beneficial for all styles of play throughout the rest of the game. The majority of players will want to invest in them early and often.
From there, your best stats really depend on your chosen playstyle. Capacity is generally pretty useful for the majority of players, but it will be significantly less useful to those who prefer a lighter and quicker style of play. Similarly, Motive, Technique, and Advance are all valuable, but you are usually better off waiting until you find a weapon you really like that scales with those stats before you invest too heavily in any of them. You can invest early in the stat that scales with your starting weapon (or your preferred style of play), but you won’t be punished too much for waiting a bit and expanding your gear before you really start to emphasize one over the other.
Finally, do not overlook the value of your various resistances. Lies of P doesn’t offer many opportunities to increase your natural defenses, meaning that being able to increase your resistance against specific types of damage becomes surprisingly valuable, especially in those challenging boss fights where enemies typically rely on very specific attacks.