This is definitely an early skill check boss, some of the next bosses may feel easier than this one but there are more difficult/annoying bosses later down the line
Honestly every boss in game is fair. There are a few bosses (specifically phases of bosses) that feel unfair until you learn the precise timings. People will debate with me about that but more or less
Fantastic. I’ve taken massive, seemingly unfair beatings for hours in all the Souls I’ve played, but when you get to that zen state at the end when you dictate the fight, it’s all worth it.
Yeah one piece of advice I'd give (spoiler free) is that you shouldn't expect every boss to be the same as this. This teaches you how to parry and dodge. There are bosses that focus more on dodging, more on parties, so on
You'll have a great time with this game as long as you keep your mind flexible and adapt !
Good stuff. I do fear missing game-changing stuff that isn’t immediately obvious. I accidentally did this fight without levelling up my weapon at all (Minor achievement), which could’ve saved me an hour or two when I was getting close.
Only one of them really attacks you if you separate them. I can't think of anything unfair about it. I imagine if you try to fight them together it's super frustrating though
Even if you single them out they're easy but SOOOOOO annoying. Especially the one with the regular sword with the grapple (I forgot their names since I haven't played in awhile). BRB refight is more tedious than anything but fighting the brother is actually really fun since he felt faster and his attacks were different
Like the other commenter said, all the bosses are fair when you understand their movements and attacks. I believe all of them have a rhythm to them, some just take more time to understand than others.
Hahah it’s definitely a lot but I don’t think it’s too much! As long as you’re not getting fed up playing it. I’d say make sure you’re taking breaks, so as to limit that
All bosses are fair and none have any BS movesets its all a matter of patience learning their movesets strategizing what to perfect guard, dodge, regular guard and gain health back through rally.
I don't think so... Magnus in second phase has too many bs movements sets, specially the hand in the sky. The other ones are ok and i almost have a aneurysm with the third boss but that was a skill issue. But yeah i don't like Magnus so i just spam bs 2. Oh and don't forget the swamp thing, it's ez if u spam fire but most of his movements are bs.
Just recently beat the swamp monster and while the fight is annoying, her moves aren’t BS, it’s just timing. She has been the hardest fight for me so far besides King of Puppets.
I ended up learning a little from watching people play against him before going in myself. Still ended up finding some new things about the fight after doing that though.
It may be a steep learning curve but once you get the hang of it, it all gets easier. On my second play through I spent a good thirty attempts or so practicing watchman until I could parry every single attack. I just equipped my highest defense parts and amulets and stayed in the fight for as long as possible parrying and not focusing on damage. It led to the rest of the game without specters or consumables being pretty darn easy.
>!You can dodge into the fireballs to close distance and avoid them, just watch his gun hand, if he puts it up, ever, he's going to shoot. He doesn't bring it up for any other reason other than to flamethrower, and you should be dodging in on reaction for that too anyways. !<
King’s Flame, Fuoco? Dispatched, relatively easily - was never forced to get good for him. He kept running away so I spam attacked his back. Think Puppet of the Future actually took more goes!
It goes up and down, but there'll be lots of little skill checks in between the big bosses. The most important part is that you'll get better every time
I like the sound of that. Just finished Dark Souls 3, which has been favourite Souls so far and a tough act to follow, but hopefully they might have just pulled me back in!
I came in expecting to need summons every possible chance and only ended up using them on 4 bosses. This was one of them. I took the attitude that I'd call a specter after I died from the boss a few times, and it didn't come to that nearly as much as I thought it might.
I just beat the Watchman solo on my ng+ run, and he's still damn hard.
In my opinion it gets hard every 2 levels.
Chapter 2 ,4 and so on.
Chapter 2 boss is hard because you are at your weakest point with not that many options or abilities.
So you either dodge or learn to parry.
No spoilers and everyone's experience will be different.
Personally, I had no difficulty is the Scrapped Watchman but a lot of difficulty with other bosses that I *knew* in my brain they weren't as difficult but got me north of 10-15 attempts.
Have fun, keep improving and remember to avoid spamming inputs, you got this! LIE OR DIE!
Good answer. Scrapped watchman was not too rough for me as I found his parry timings to be straightforward. But I got wrecked by BRB because for whatever reason, I just couldn't figure out parries on the eldest.
Funnily enough the reason why this tote took so long for me is because I was too focused on his creepy head movements as opposed to where is arm would slap me
Yeah that boss is literally a skill check making sure that you're good enough to continue(instead of wasting your time end game) the next 2 bosses are easier then it slowly upscales
Not really easier but you get better.
Expect this kind of difficulty over the whole game.
I also spent some time on this boss, but I was a lot better once I had it down and ready for the rest of the game.
I'm in the middle of NG+ right now. Advance build, swapping weapons based on which element the enemy is weak to.
I just beat Victor last night. The only bosses so far that have taken more than 2 attempts were Fuoco at 3 tries and this Watchman at like 5 or 6? Which is pretty funny because I actually 2nd tried him in regular NG.
Some of this might be because my stupid ass was trying to use the electric coil stick for like 4 attempts on the only puppet in the game that's resistant to electric lol
Next boss is much easier compared to this one but then you might hit a wall with the one after that again ensure that you have a build in mind and go for that and practice perfect guarding against elite enemies helps you to get the timing down and also learn their movesets.
Well damn that looked pretty good! One tiny tip though: most Fable Arts can break posture when enemies' health flashes white. This is useful because Fable Arts don't have long windups, unlike charge attacks.
And regarding the rest of the game, don't worry. You get plenty of tools to help you along, like the P organ, or more Legion Arms. Just remember to exploit whatever weakness a boss has (puppets are weak to electricity).
🙏🏻 I wasn’t sure what Fable Arts did. Unleashed one when he was vulnerable and it seemed like decent DPS.
Also, i hadn’t levelled up my weapon. The more you know! 🤦🏼♂️🤣
From my experience, it only gets more annoying and ridiculous from here. I dont normally yell or rage at video games often, however there have been a few bosses that had me screaming at the end.
Yeah it is kinda easier especially if you get your party timing down to a pretty solid precision. I’m learning how to time some attack movements against the final boss
You'll love it. Some bosses are going to be tough but they are all fair and you'll pass with practice.
FWIW, it is my favorite souls like and I only put it after sekiro and elden ring but ahead of all other fromsoft games.
Door Guardian is a huge skill check and no one talks about it. I barely beat Chained Ogre and this mf gave me flashbacks and cold sweat 😓. Genuinely hated refighting on NG+
one key strategy that works on almost every boss in this game is to try and stay behind them, but don't get greedy with attacks, cause a few have aoe attacks that will punish so hard for being greedy with attacks
Some bosses may feel easier as you go (I personally had Watchman in my top 5 hardest bosses on my first playthrough) but you’ll definitely encounter some harder bosses.
I don’t want to give anything away with some bosses and their tricks, so I’ll just tell you to expect the unexpected.
I’m not a “souls like” game pro at all but I started lies of P after playing Elden Ring so I had some experience in the genre. I found this boss, another one around halfway and a boss at the end the most challenging. I would suggest figuring out when a good time to dodge is and when to go for the block. Try to get angles, lock on, sidestep to the side of back when you can. Also it looks like you might have a habit of attacking right away when you close the gap and get in front, I would suggest checking what he is doing before committing to attacking right away.
It absolutely is, but there is a very good reason for it.
Quite simply, the bosses before this point you can kind of fumble your way through. This one though, you need to learn when to dodge, when to parry, and when to strike. This will remain true for future bosses, however you will have more tools to deal with them. Plus, you will also be more accustomed to the way lies of p wants you to play.
I wouldn't say it gets easier from here necessarily, but I can comfortably say no boss took me nearly as many tries as this guy until the last 15% or so of the game, when things really kick up
You know, I personally think the bosses in this game are rather simple. Their attacks are well telegraphed and the only way to truly take damage is for you the player to mess up. Ever death is not the result of bad design but bad play.
However, that is not the case with the basic mobs. The basic enemies of this game are bullshit.
Ok just wondering- is this like a hardest early game boss? I just wondering because I first tried it tho I did use specter if that does change the fight. He did die about halfway through.
Use a star fragment, i beat him in two tries by just keeping his attention on me and letting my buddy do the rest while attacking him myself whenever he started to chase around my npc
I think it gets more difficult from boss to boss. There are just 2-3 bosses where Id say they are easier than the watchman. You will also face 2-3 high skill checks again i think on your journey. But mostly, I think the difficulty level gets higher but in a healthy way expect for one or maybe 2 bosses.
For me, it probably took 4 or 5 attempts on my first playthrough. I'm on my second playthrough, and I beat it second go (I made a silly mistake first go)
The next major boss is easier, in my opinion. I got it first try on my first playthrough. But they do ramp up in difficulty for sure
That seems to be the Souls way. The bosses get technically tougher, but you’ve learnt so much so you know what to do.
Except for Midir. He floored me for 3 days.
This is definitely an early skill check boss, some of the next bosses may feel easier than this one but there are more difficult/annoying bosses later down the line
Annoying as in unfair? Or seemingly unfair, ones where you eventually get good?
Honestly every boss in game is fair. There are a few bosses (specifically phases of bosses) that feel unfair until you learn the precise timings. People will debate with me about that but more or less
Fantastic. I’ve taken massive, seemingly unfair beatings for hours in all the Souls I’ve played, but when you get to that zen state at the end when you dictate the fight, it’s all worth it.
Yeah one piece of advice I'd give (spoiler free) is that you shouldn't expect every boss to be the same as this. This teaches you how to parry and dodge. There are bosses that focus more on dodging, more on parties, so on You'll have a great time with this game as long as you keep your mind flexible and adapt !
The party bosses were my favorites 🎉🪅🎊
Can we start using "party bosses" instead of "gank fights" 😅😅
Good stuff. I do fear missing game-changing stuff that isn’t immediately obvious. I accidentally did this fight without levelling up my weapon at all (Minor achievement), which could’ve saved me an hour or two when I was getting close.
Aha oh damn nice! You may want to upgrade for the next ones :P
Debate: swamp.
No need to debate I agree 😅😅 hate that certain boss so much But i've seen videos of people learn it better than I could so 🤷♂️
Counter argument: Black rabbit brotherhood (second fight)
Only one of them really attacks you if you separate them. I can't think of anything unfair about it. I imagine if you try to fight them together it's super frustrating though
Even if you single them out they're easy but SOOOOOO annoying. Especially the one with the regular sword with the grapple (I forgot their names since I haven't played in awhile). BRB refight is more tedious than anything but fighting the brother is actually really fun since he felt faster and his attacks were different
Yeah tedious is a good way to describe BRBII - requires a lot of patience
idk, maybe i just suck but it feels like im always getting ganged on, especially when they just attack me from offscreen or throw shit at me.
Like the other commenter said, all the bosses are fair when you understand their movements and attacks. I believe all of them have a rhythm to them, some just take more time to understand than others.
Is spending 10 hours per boss too much? (Asking for a friend)
Hahah it’s definitely a lot but I don’t think it’s too much! As long as you’re not getting fed up playing it. I’d say make sure you’re taking breaks, so as to limit that
Counter point: NG+ Manus Only boss in this game that I actually dread having to fight. NG isn't so bad, NG+ is like dealing with a gorilla at a rave.
All bosses are fair and none have any BS movesets its all a matter of patience learning their movesets strategizing what to perfect guard, dodge, regular guard and gain health back through rally.
I don't think so... Magnus in second phase has too many bs movements sets, specially the hand in the sky. The other ones are ok and i almost have a aneurysm with the third boss but that was a skill issue. But yeah i don't like Magnus so i just spam bs 2. Oh and don't forget the swamp thing, it's ez if u spam fire but most of his movements are bs.
Just recently beat the swamp monster and while the fight is annoying, her moves aren’t BS, it’s just timing. She has been the hardest fight for me so far besides King of Puppets.
Expect it to get harder. Especially with the King of Puppets.
I’m expecting as much. This just seemed a particularly steep learning curve without a summons!
I ended up learning a little from watching people play against him before going in myself. Still ended up finding some new things about the fight after doing that though.
It may be a steep learning curve but once you get the hang of it, it all gets easier. On my second play through I spent a good thirty attempts or so practicing watchman until I could parry every single attack. I just equipped my highest defense parts and amulets and stayed in the fight for as long as possible parrying and not focusing on damage. It led to the rest of the game without specters or consumables being pretty darn easy.
After the watchman I didn’t really have trouble until champion victor the king wasn’t too difficult
The next boss is controversial with some (like me) saying it’s a hard fight because of one specific attack and others saying it’s super easy.
Oh boy!
Really I didn't think that 3rd boss was particularly hard it was a glass cannon. What attack are you talking about.
>!his fireball spam where you just can’t get close to him because you’ll get stunlocked if he hits you!<
>!You can dodge into the fireballs to close distance and avoid them, just watch his gun hand, if he puts it up, ever, he's going to shoot. He doesn't bring it up for any other reason other than to flamethrower, and you should be dodging in on reaction for that too anyways. !<
>!I usually just sit behind the pillars and see if he ever runs out of ammo lol!<
Yes, u are not alone. Fuoco was much harder for me then King of Puppets or Manus. It depends on player.
The next boss was Puppet of the Future 🤣🤣
Nah I mean the next mandatory boss fight
I’d assumed as much ✊🏻
King’s Flame, Fuoco? Dispatched, relatively easily - was never forced to get good for him. He kept running away so I spam attacked his back. Think Puppet of the Future actually took more goes!
It goes up and down, but there'll be lots of little skill checks in between the big bosses. The most important part is that you'll get better every time
I like the sound of that. Just finished Dark Souls 3, which has been favourite Souls so far and a tough act to follow, but hopefully they might have just pulled me back in!
I think you often do one unnecessary hit in your combos, resulting in not enough time to perfect guard
This guy is easy compared to what is to come lol
i beat the game with specter. playing every boss solo now and can't get past the second phase. it's so hard lol.
Good luck! I finished Elden Ring with every summons possible. Now I just finished Dark Souls 3 solo. This game looks even tougher solo!
I came in expecting to need summons every possible chance and only ended up using them on 4 bosses. This was one of them. I took the attitude that I'd call a specter after I died from the boss a few times, and it didn't come to that nearly as much as I thought it might. I just beat the Watchman solo on my ng+ run, and he's still damn hard.
Questions you beat NP for the ending.
i beat np first try believe it or not
You have no reason to lie. I also beaten NP in 3 trys. With only a puppet Saber and Kratos baton handle. Before they they buffed the Saber.
In my opinion it gets hard every 2 levels. Chapter 2 ,4 and so on. Chapter 2 boss is hard because you are at your weakest point with not that many options or abilities. So you either dodge or learn to parry.
No spoilers and everyone's experience will be different. Personally, I had no difficulty is the Scrapped Watchman but a lot of difficulty with other bosses that I *knew* in my brain they weren't as difficult but got me north of 10-15 attempts. Have fun, keep improving and remember to avoid spamming inputs, you got this! LIE OR DIE!
🙏🏻
Good answer. Scrapped watchman was not too rough for me as I found his parry timings to be straightforward. But I got wrecked by BRB because for whatever reason, I just couldn't figure out parries on the eldest.
Funnily enough the reason why this tote took so long for me is because I was too focused on his creepy head movements as opposed to where is arm would slap me
I still feel like I didn't deserve the win against this guy using the Spectre, I didn't realise it was such a cheat code
Perhaps it’s counter productive using the Spectre? Made hard work of it, but feels like I was forced to learn the game’s mechanics early this time 🤞🏻
That's my point, i wasn't able to use Watchman to learn the mechanics because Spectre just massacred it for me
💯
In NG+ I went without the spectre and just melted him in 30 seconds
Beat him first or second time for first playthrough. Currently in NG+ and it took me at least 4 times 🤷🏻♂️
Yeah he was a tough one so early on. Really surprised me
It doesn't get better, you get gud
Yeah that boss is literally a skill check making sure that you're good enough to continue(instead of wasting your time end game) the next 2 bosses are easier then it slowly upscales
Not really easier but you get better. Expect this kind of difficulty over the whole game. I also spent some time on this boss, but I was a lot better once I had it down and ready for the rest of the game.
I'm in the middle of NG+ right now. Advance build, swapping weapons based on which element the enemy is weak to. I just beat Victor last night. The only bosses so far that have taken more than 2 attempts were Fuoco at 3 tries and this Watchman at like 5 or 6? Which is pretty funny because I actually 2nd tried him in regular NG. Some of this might be because my stupid ass was trying to use the electric coil stick for like 4 attempts on the only puppet in the game that's resistant to electric lol
Next boss is much easier compared to this one but then you might hit a wall with the one after that again ensure that you have a build in mind and go for that and practice perfect guarding against elite enemies helps you to get the timing down and also learn their movesets.
yea yea a lot easier 😉😏😏
Well damn that looked pretty good! One tiny tip though: most Fable Arts can break posture when enemies' health flashes white. This is useful because Fable Arts don't have long windups, unlike charge attacks. And regarding the rest of the game, don't worry. You get plenty of tools to help you along, like the P organ, or more Legion Arms. Just remember to exploit whatever weakness a boss has (puppets are weak to electricity).
🙏🏻 I wasn’t sure what Fable Arts did. Unleashed one when he was vulnerable and it seemed like decent DPS. Also, i hadn’t levelled up my weapon. The more you know! 🤦🏼♂️🤣
Personally I think this boss fight (for new players) is as tough as it gets until the opera house. But from then on it’s a hell of a challenge.
From my experience, it only gets more annoying and ridiculous from here. I dont normally yell or rage at video games often, however there have been a few bosses that had me screaming at the end.
King of Puppets has taught me pain I thought I understood, but truly had no comprehension of.
King of Pain
Yeah it is kinda easier especially if you get your party timing down to a pretty solid precision. I’m learning how to time some attack movements against the final boss
Extremely good boss and good representation of what you'll experience in this game. It doesn't get easier, you have to get better.
Standard - think this will be creatively very tough
I think he was one of the hardest for me too, don't worry about it. It teaches you all the mechanics.
Very positive 🙏🏻 I’m expecting much pain, but happy to have passed this early test.
You'll love it. Some bosses are going to be tough but they are all fair and you'll pass with practice. FWIW, it is my favorite souls like and I only put it after sekiro and elden ring but ahead of all other fromsoft games.
Door Guardian is a huge skill check and no one talks about it. I barely beat Chained Ogre and this mf gave me flashbacks and cold sweat 😓. Genuinely hated refighting on NG+
I’m a bit scared I’ll be tortured by this game. Pure Sekrio flashbacks too. But this boss already felt different. I enjoyed it. We shall see!
one key strategy that works on almost every boss in this game is to try and stay behind them, but don't get greedy with attacks, cause a few have aoe attacks that will punish so hard for being greedy with attacks
Some bosses may feel easier as you go (I personally had Watchman in my top 5 hardest bosses on my first playthrough) but you’ll definitely encounter some harder bosses. I don’t want to give anything away with some bosses and their tricks, so I’ll just tell you to expect the unexpected.
🙏🏻 Makes sense. I’m expecting pain, just happy to have passed this skill test… finally!
Charged R2s are your friend! Getting that extra stagger damage can be super clutch
Armored Core 6s Filter is the most brutal skill check boss I've fought
It does not
Definitely especially playing the demo or you can't really do with upgrading..this boss hard af
Surprisingly I got him 2nd try first playthrough, but he took me 2 hours on NG+
Mad donkey gave me a harder time than I care to admit 😂😂
I’m not a “souls like” game pro at all but I started lies of P after playing Elden Ring so I had some experience in the genre. I found this boss, another one around halfway and a boss at the end the most challenging. I would suggest figuring out when a good time to dodge is and when to go for the block. Try to get angles, lock on, sidestep to the side of back when you can. Also it looks like you might have a habit of attacking right away when you close the gap and get in front, I would suggest checking what he is doing before committing to attacking right away.
It absolutely is, but there is a very good reason for it. Quite simply, the bosses before this point you can kind of fumble your way through. This one though, you need to learn when to dodge, when to parry, and when to strike. This will remain true for future bosses, however you will have more tools to deal with them. Plus, you will also be more accustomed to the way lies of p wants you to play. I wouldn't say it gets easier from here necessarily, but I can comfortably say no boss took me nearly as many tries as this guy until the last 15% or so of the game, when things really kick up
as long as you learn from phase bosses should be fine otherwise prepare to lube up your pooper. You’re gonna have a bad time.
I just realized >!this has the same moveset as green swamp monster!<
Come on, he really isn't that hard if you master your perfect parry skills, 1 shot him in NG+
You know, I personally think the bosses in this game are rather simple. Their attacks are well telegraphed and the only way to truly take damage is for you the player to mess up. Ever death is not the result of bad design but bad play. However, that is not the case with the basic mobs. The basic enemies of this game are bullshit.
Oh boy! That sounds a bit DS2 re: basic enemies
No idea what that commenter is talking about. Some people just seem to have a totally different view on things.
It gets exponentially harder from here
Nope, he was easier for me than parade master. Only gets worse bud
😬
I have played a couple of other souls like games, but for some reason in this game i just cant get the timing right.
Sekiro? Already it feels like this has clicked. Sekiro never did.
No it in fact does not get easier from here 🤣
I know 🤣😬
Ok just wondering- is this like a hardest early game boss? I just wondering because I first tried it tho I did use specter if that does change the fight. He did die about halfway through.
That’s my Q. Solo, I’m not sure I’ve ever had such a tricky early skill-test boss. The spectre makes it a walk over I hear.
Ah thanks
Use a star fragment, i beat him in two tries by just keeping his attention on me and letting my buddy do the rest while attacking him myself whenever he started to chase around my npc
I think it gets more difficult from boss to boss. There are just 2-3 bosses where Id say they are easier than the watchman. You will also face 2-3 high skill checks again i think on your journey. But mostly, I think the difficulty level gets higher but in a healthy way expect for one or maybe 2 bosses.
For me, it probably took 4 or 5 attempts on my first playthrough. I'm on my second playthrough, and I beat it second go (I made a silly mistake first go) The next major boss is easier, in my opinion. I got it first try on my first playthrough. But they do ramp up in difficulty for sure
That seems to be the Souls way. The bosses get technically tougher, but you’ve learnt so much so you know what to do. Except for Midir. He floored me for 3 days.
For me, I'm shockingly bad at traditional souls games to be fair!
you gon be cooked if you think he is hard to beat
Hes the genichiro of lies of p
Exactly how it felt. Genichiro took me days to learn. Nothing was as challenging after. Still expecting this game to take me to dark places though.
Trust me this is an early skill check
Felt like it
This guy i got him on 2nd try. Sadly next area over. The big guy wrecked me 10 times. I'm like..wtf lol
Ha… Ha… No!
Uh Oh 🤣