Minor spoilers for Lies of P are contained
Lies of P, being a souls-like, is going to have a lot of bosses that can punish you if you are not careful. Being the first true boss in the game, the Parade Master serves both as the first true challenge for Pinocchio as well as a metric to see how well you, the player, are learning the mechanics of the game. As such, while not a particularly hard boss, getting the best of him can be a little difficult.
You will encounter the puppet master shortly after arriving in Krat, making your way through the streets, and a staircase leading to a gated off area that features what appears to be a circus on the other side. The staircase will be easy to identify as a Stargazer, which Pinocchio uses to level up at this point, in the middle of the road, right before this. There really isn’t a ‘right’ way to play the game, with several builds for Pinocchio being available at the start. I chose to use the Path of Balance, which gives Pinocchio the Puppet’s Saber Blade, and primarily split my levels between his Motivity and Technique stats, which govern the damage of that weapon. The Puppet Master is easy to increase your DPS against to the point you can tear through him, if that is a way you would prefer to go.
The fight itself starts off simply enough. Puppet Master is big and, for the most part, slow. He lumbers around but has a pretty obviously televised move of lowering his shoulder to clear the distance between you and him by thrusting forward with his shoulder. This can deal damage, but more often than not, he uses this while you are outside of its range. The point of this is to get up close, where he can actually use speed to attack you. The moves he uses at close range include swiping with his hands, sometimes just one, but other times a combo between both hands, a downward swipe with both hands, or he will move forward, an indicator that he will jump and land on top of you. Occasionally, he glows red, an indicator that his next attack cannot be blocked without a perfect guard. Since this boss is early on, I recommend risking it as it can help you get better at landing the timing, but there is no shame in going the easy way and backing away, since you know this way will be safer.
In most cases, Pinocchio has the speed and distance to dodge out of range of these, usually with a two-dodge combo, but this isn’t really effective, as the Puppet Master recovers from attacks quickly enough to negate you moving back into range with his next attack. This is where the perfect guard comes into play. While not really advertised, Pinocchio can land a perfect guard to completely negate an attack, something that is taught earlier, though very briefly. Blocking works too, but Pinnochio takes damage even in a block, as well as comes out slightly slower than a standard block. Most blocked chipping damage can be regained through attacking, but it is easy to lose it fully. Perfect dodge works on all attacks, even the belly flop, meaning that if you land one, you are free to begin a counterattack without any major repercussions. Just make sure to back out before your enemy is set.
In addition, this boss is particularly easy to stagger, something you can tell when his health bar is surrounded by white. When this occurs, go in for a charged attack, or use your fable art to break his stance and get an opening for a powerful attack, indicated by the same slash marks as if you’re attacking an enemy from behind. Especially if you have not built for strength, exploiting these openings is a great way to whittle the Puppet Master down in health.
Around the halfway point of his health bar, the Puppet Master will go into stage two. If you can get behind him during his transformation pose, you can score a lot of free hits, but there is a damage reduction, so it is equally as valid to get some distance instead. He slams the cage that was on its back on the ground in front, then rips off his own head to use as a mace. So, if you didn’t already figure this out, he is about to hit you much harder. He will also be faster in this form, so the perfect guard, especially since if you’re like me, you have already burned through your healing supply, is going to be much more vital here. Thankfully, your pulse cell can be replenished by wailing on your enemy with your weapon, so just because you’re down does not mean you are out.
The boss will continue to lumber as it sizes you up with its new weapon, but attacking will involve it running at you to close in, then swiping the mace at you multiple times. There is also an attack where Puppet Master raises the mace over your head and brings it down on you, which will break your guard unless you do so with perfect timing. You might be tempted to fall back to the backline, letting him thrash the mace about and then move in, but the recommendation here is to take the mace swipes till he goes to reset himself, then go for the counter offensive in between. Even in this form, he is still easy to stagger, so a stronger counterattack when you have that window can open him up further. Be careful as this form also has a skill that glows red and needs a perfect guard to block.
There is a bit of a war of attrition in the second phase as he can be a much more to deal with, but you will soon drain him of his health and watch him collapse at your feet. For all your hard work, you are rewarded with 1,852 ergo, the Parade Leaders Ergo, which needs to be redeemed but offers even more ergo, and your first Quartz, which will become an important item a little while past this point. Congratulations on beating your first boss. It only gets harder from here!
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