How to Beat Pieta in Lords of the Fallen

In keeping with the soulslike tradition, most of the peaks in difficulty within Lords of the Fallen come from its epic boss battles. As with the likes of Iudex Gundyr and Father Gascoigne, CI Games’s RPG wastes no time in testing what you’ve learned with its first major obstacle for you, Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal. After stepping into the arena, the boss will immediately be out for blood. Here is what you need to know to defeat Pieta in Lords of the Fallen.

How to prepare for Pieta’s boss fight in Lords of the Fallen

You should make several preparations before crossing the barrier of moths. First, you should farm enough vigor to reach at least level 16 with your character. This will give you high enough offense and defense to go toe-to-toe with Pieta. The second thing you should do is summon the Iron Wayfarer as backup. The character is located just outside Pieta’s boss fight and can be summoned by interacting with the silhouette of moths next to the entrance. The summon will give you a huge advantage by dealing massive damage while re-directing some of the boss’s aggro away from you.

How to defeat Pieta Phase One in Lords of the Fallen

During Pieta’s first phase, she is a fairly standard melee knight. Most of the time, she does a combo of two sword swings back-to-back. The best time to dodge these is the exact moment before she is about to wind up the attack. During this phase, Pieta will also point her sword in a direction and fire a laser. Thankfully, this is fairly easy to dodge if you are a good distance from her.  

Pieta will be vulnerable for several seconds after each of these attacks, allowing you to punish her if you manage to dodge them. However, be careful not to get greedy and be ready to backstep away from her once she recoils. If you get overconfident and attack for too long, she can dish out an incredible amount of damage against you.

How to defeat Pieta Phase Two in Lords of the Fallen

After she loses about a quarter of her health, Pieta will gain wings. She will signal this by planting her sword in the ground before unleashing a small burst of energy that deals damage. As soon as you see her thrust her weapon into the ground, start dodging!

To kick off phase two of the boss fight, Pieta will give a telegraphed flight down the middle of the arena, followed by a rain of swords over the same area. Afterward, she will retain an airborne version of her sword from phase one while gaining additional moves.

Below is a list of Pieta’s moveset in Phase Two and how to counter them:

• Spectral knight summons: Pieta will bring a second foe into the battle, and it will attack you with a downward slash. To counter this, use your roll ability to constantly move out of the range of this attack.
• Dual knights summons: She will now summon a pair of knights into the fight who will fire two versions of her laser attack from phase one. However, this attack is still well-telegraphed and easy to avoid. Like the phase one laser, keep your distance and start moving the second you see the attack animation wind up.
• Two golden shadows summon: Pieta will summon two shadows of herself to repeat her sweeping attack from the beginning of the phase. Both copies of her will mirror the attack on opposite ends of the arena, so stay in the center of the level during the sword sweeps.
• A grab attack: Finally, Pieta will now have an attack where she lunges at you from a distance. If you get hit with this move, she will suspend you in the air and impale you with her sword. The boss usually initiates this attack if you are too far from her. While you should give yourself enough space to dodge her other abilities, you must move close to her to counter this.

As with phase one, there will be a short window after every attack where you can unleash damage against her. The key to this fight is to dodge each of Pieta’s attacks and wait for the right moment to unleash your full attack power against her. It may take several tries to fully familiarize yourself with her attack pattern, but doing so is vital to surviving this battle. Only through fully understanding her moveset and waiting for the right moment to counter can you overcome this obstacle. 

Lords of the Fallen is available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.