Lies of P includes many common Soulslike bells and whistles like progression systems. To level up, you need to spend the Ergo (Souls-equivalent) to buy a point in any of the six core Attributes. Understanding how each of those skills works in particular can get a bit tricky, however since the game doesn’t directly explain some points. Fortunately, we’re here for that. From beginners to more experienced players, everyone can learn from below.
How to Level Up – Find Sophia
For most of the game, players need to check in at Hotel Krat to level up. Sophia, your main NPC supporter, can help you here. Find her somewhere on the first floor of the hotel or main staircase. Talk to her, and choose the Level Up option. Then, if you have the required Ergo, you can spend that Ergo on a point in any of the below six attributes.
This is the Level Up screen. We’re going to focus on various parts of this screen throughout the article.
A few notes before continuing: first, most stats soft-lock, or reward less for each point you buy, after a certain point in their respective levels. Next, Damage Reduction Rate (bottom right stats, middle column) and all Slash, Strike, and Pierce defenses only change based on your Armor loadout. Finally, some Amulets raise specific Attributes or stats governed by Attributes (like Health and Stamina).
Vitality – Long Live Hotel Krat
First up is Vitality. Vitality increases your Health, Guard Regain, and general defense stats. When you imperfectly guard an attack, your health bar’s end will turn grey. Guard Regain dictates how much of your Health Bar turns grey. Whatever turns gray can be healed back. To heal back after a blocked attack, land successful weapon attacks on any enemy before the Guard Regain disappears.
While Guard Regain and DEF start to soft-lock around the late teen values, HP goes on forever. When toying with the stat, we’ve seen it go over 900. That is an extreme maximum that literally ignores every other stat but it’s worth calling out.
Vigor – Keep Up With Your Challenges
Next is Vigor. Just how Vitality governs health, Vigor governs stamina and defense. Stamina mostly goes towards sprinting, attacking, and blocking. Blocking consumes stamina, and when you block without stamina, you stagger. Unlike Vitality, Vigor does have a soft-lock. Players won’t fully notice it until the stat goes over 30.
Capacity – The Core Defensive Stat
This might be the most important stat in the game. Capacity controls your defense stats, Legion Arm and Weight limits. Like HP and Vitality, Legion and Carry Weight do not soft-lock. Carry dictates how much you can equip at one time. As shown above, weight limits change based on the percentage of your current maximum Weight:
- Below 60%: No penalty
- 60% – 80%: Slightly Heavy. Your attacks, movement, and stamina regain slow down a bit. Physical actions cost a bit more stamina.
- 80% – 100%: Heavy. Your attacks, movement, and stamina regain slow down. Physical actions cost more stamina.
- 100%: Very Heavy. Your attacks, movement, and stamina regain slow down a lot. Physical actions cost much more stamina and you can’t sprint but still lose stamina when trying.
Additionally, you can’t equip items past 120%. If you reset your skills which puts you above 120% your weight, then you can only unequip items, not add them.
From left: current overall level, current weight usage, and current Ergo
As somebody who played with a lighter build, I only needed to get Capacity to the late 30’s to maintain a powerful build. Tank builds might want to get Capacity up to the 40’s and 50’s to accommodate for the heavier weaponry.
Motivity and Technique – Similarly Offensive
Motivity and Technique are your two main Physical Attacks. While neither are explicitly tied to heavier or lighter weaponry, Motivity seems linked to heavy weapons and Technique linked to lighter. Before continuing, I’d like to pull a quote from our Advanced Tips article regarding Motivity, Technique, and Advance (covered next):
For now, let’s focus on the last three. Motivity, Technique, and Advance all govern how much damage you do. Motivity and Technique increase your currently equipped weapons’ stats, and will vary based on their main stat. Advance affects your elemental based weaponry.
Between these three, players can Alter their Weapon Handle’s main stat between the three Attributes above. When you do, that changes how much that weapon’s power increases upon leveling.
Motivity’s icon is the Lightning Bolt on the left of the Weapon subsection.
Each weapon has letter grades for these three Attributes ranging from no grade to S. The higher the weapon’s grade, the stronger each level’s increase. So when you find a weapon build you like, use its grades to inform your stat increases or vice versa and use your stats to inform which handle you should set for those weapons.
Technique’s emblem is the middle icon under the weapons subsection
Advance – Elemental Fury and Harbor
Advance is the last skill in Lies of P. This skill handles everything with the three elements: Fire, Electric Blitz, and Acid. That includes a base, consistent +1 to Legion for each Advance stat boost.
Most notably, however, Advance also raises all non-Physical Resistances. If you’re having trouble with an element-based fight, look at investing in Advance. It helps both your resistances and your elemental weaponry to prevent and deal status afflictions.
Everything mentioned above about weapon grades applies to Advance too. Weapon builds deserve their own breakdown as well
