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The first major boss of Lords of the Fallen protects the entrance to the Skyrest Bridge — your first major objective in the game. This is Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal and she is a tough challenge for new players. If you don’t learn her attack patterns, she can wipe out your Dark Crusader in seconds using a killer array of divine magic. By the end of the fight, you’ll be struggling to squeeze a hit in while she turns your huge arena into a massive killing ground with copies, tracking explosives, and linear laser beams. If you’re looking for tips to finally overcome Pieta, here’s what we recommend.
More Lords of the Fallen guides:
Beginner’s Guide | How To Reach Skyrest Bridge | Mineowner’s Ring Location | Seedling Vestige Farm | Blacksmith Location | Boss Weapon Unlock | Critical Attacks | Early Vigor Farm
Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal Boss Guide
How To Reach Pieta: Found at the top of Redcopse Village. To reach her, reach the Redcopse Windmill at the top of the town and cross the shortcut path. To reach the opposite side of the broken bridge, switch to the Umbral to cross the water — there’s no water in the Umbral. Continue up this path to reach a Vestige Seedling and an Umbral Flowerbed. At the top of the high castle walls, you’ll find this boss arena.
- Before Fighting Pieta: For this boss, you can summon an ally. After dying once, interact with the moths to the left of the moth door. You’ll summon the Iron Wayfarer. This summon uses magic and draws attention away from the boss, making the first phase much easier. Due to the way Pieta fights, you can also easily perfect block (parry) many of her attacks against your summon.
The Holy Knight Pieta uses graceful divine magic with surprisingly long range on her sword. You can parry her regular sword attacks to drain her posture meter, or you can dodge through them if you time your dash.
- NOTE: For this first major boss, remember that blocking is extremely useful. Blocking will absorb all damage but generates wither damage. Withered health will disappear immediately if you take damage but can be recovered if you attack. Most of Pieta’s attacks leave her vulnerable after an attack. Hit her with a few regular strikes and you’ll fully recover your wither (scratch damage) with no penalty.
Pieta Boss Phase 1
To deal high damage quickly, learn to perfect block (parry) her standard three-attack combo. She attacks with deliberate and predictable swings that don’t change over the course of the battle. This is true even in Phase 2.
- When far away, she’ll attempt to blast you with a holy beam. It shoots forward very quickly. Be prepared to dodge just as it appears. If you stay close to her, you’ll rarely see this attack. She will hold her sword forward. It will flash briefly, then the beam will shoot out. Remember this for later.
She can also summon explosions from the ground. When she stakes the ground with a golden sword, a light will appear and explosions will shoot toward you — these only partially track, so dodge just as they get close to avoid damage. Later she’ll summon multiple of these.
Phase 1 is relatively easy. Stay close, dodge (or parry) through her attacks and get in a hit or two while she is recovering post-combo. With the Iron Wayfarer, she’ll be so distracted you can easily take care of her without taking a single hit. That changes in Phase 2.
Pieta Boss Phase 2
At about 60% health, Pieta will grow wings and begin moving around the arena much faster. She’ll often summon gold copies of herself and attack — dodge these copies, they’ll only attack once. She’ll follow up with an attack of her own.
- At the start of Phase 2, she’ll fly toward one side of the arena and cross, damaging anything in her path. When she (or copies) appears on either side of the arena, avoid the lane entirely. After swinging across, she’ll bomb the area with swords. Consider these areas dead zones until they’re clear.
- She’ll often strike the ground, generating holy energy. The area will explode. Dodge backwards, then move in — after the explosion, she’ll linger for a moment while she recovers.
As the fight goes on, she’ll summon more copies of herself. She’ll summon gold copies that sweep across the arena, perform attacks, throw explosive magic spears or fire holy beams. Watch for the stances of the enemies and be prepared to dodge when they appear. You can parry their melee attacks, which will damage Pieta’s posture.
- By the end of the battle, she’ll attack so often and with so many copies, you’ll need to be patient and dodge attacks until she has an opening. An easy opening is after she performs her melee attacks — parry or dodge through them then attack.
Using the Iron Wayfarer makes the first part of this fight much easier. Even with very little practice, you’ll rapidly complete the first phase with the summoned minion’s help. Remember that you have three healing charges and your second life in the Umbral. Use the Umbral like a fourth healing charge. As long as you have the Umbral, you’ll have a safety net if you take too much damage suddenly.
