Lies of P – how to beat Fallen Archbishop Andreus

Trying to beat Fallen Archbishop Andreus in Lies of P? Andreus is one of the game’s main bosses, and a difficult challenge to overcome if you want to move the story forward. So how do you beat him?

Here, we’re going to our best strategies and advice to help you beat Fallen Archbishop Andreus in Lies of P. He’s far from the only boss you’ll face off against in this game though. If you want some advice for his predecessors like the Scrapped Watchman or King’s Flame Fuoco to help with your New Game Plus runs, or some help with the next big fight against the Black Rabbit Brotherhood, we have you covered.

How to beat Fallen Archbishop Andreus

Here’s our top advice to help you defeat Fallen Archbishop Andreus in Lies of P.

• Make use of fire
• Don’t spend all your focus on positioning
• Choose which half to fight
• Learn the counters for his deadliest attacks
• Punish consistently
• Perfect parry

Let’s go over each of these in a bit more detail.

Making use of fire

As we covered in our general tips and tricks guide, status effects are varied and common in Lies of P, and you’ll run into them often. However, as the game progresses, you’ll be able to turn the tables more effectively, inflicting these effects on your enemies.

In the case of the Fallen Archbishop, fire damage is a particularly effective tool. Not only is Andreus vulnerable to it, but his large size and favourable openings make it easy to proc. You’ll have access to the Flamberge, a flamethrower legion arm by this point, as well as the elemental grindstone that you can use to temporarily imbue your blade with fire when you repair weapons.

You can also use consumables like Thermite to whittle through his HP. It’s a great way to finish off the first phase quickly, which helps to mitigate some of the daunting disadvantage of dismantling more than one health bar back-to-back.

Don’t over focus on positioning

Positioning is important in all of these sorts of fights, and something we touched on in our Lies of P review, but spending too much time on energy thinking about it here can be detrimental to your performance. The issue is that, while possible to position behind or to the side of Andreus, it’s usually pretty unreliable.

Andreus’ arms work effectively to keep you pinned to the area in front of him, making it much harder to manoeuvre around him. He also has enough wide, sweeping swipe attacks and tongue attacks attacks to ensure that his sides are rarely safe for long. If you decide to try and get right behind him, you’ll find it safe only for a moment, as he has a special attack with little telegraph that he can execute while you’re positioned there. On top of all of this, he can and will turn to face you quickly whenever you’re not in front of him, with his tracking to the player making it a constant battle to remain away from his decayed maw. On top of this all, positioning becomes moot in his second phase, since his front and rear sport separate entities that can attack you.

What this all means is that, contrary to typical Souls-like doctrine, your best bet may be to remain up in his face for the duration of the fight, dodging where openings appear, but not relying too heavily on sticking to his side or rear.

Choosing which half to fight

As mentioned, phase two sees the dynamic of the fight change as Andreus’ monstrous deformed half is joined by a twisted one-winged angel in a grotesque cutscene. Suddenly, you’re dropped into a position of juggling two different monsters with different move sets and fighting styles. Both still inflict decay buildup as the one half did in the first phase, and both can deal some tremendous damage. Even if you happen to bring a Specter into the fight, unlike previous encounters, chances are they won’t last long as they help you fight against both of these creatures. You do have one advantage here, however.

Position yourself long enough facing one half, and that’s the half which will become active and aggressive. This essentially means you can choose which half to face off against after an initial tussle with the angel at the start of the phase.

We’d recommend going after the half you fought in phase one if you want to make things more manageable. Not only is its move set relatively the same as phase one, but he’s a considerably less frustrating target to deal with. The massive arcs of the angel half’s attacks and its small profile don’t mesh too well with camera tracking, and it’s considerably harder to consistently land blows.

Learning the counters to his deadliest attacks

Fallen Archbishop Andreus has an impressive suite of attacks, and some are definitely more deadly than others. Here are the worst ones to watch out for, and the best counter strategies.

Butt slam

One of his most common attacks, Andreus will rise up on his legs, position himself above you, and come slamming down for a staggering impact. This move does pretty serious damage, and it’s a fury attack, so it’s one that’s important to avoid.

You have two real options at your disposal here. The first is to move out of the way. This attack has a long telegraph, so rushing backwards and away from him is pretty easy – as long as he’s in front of you when he does it. If he isn’t it becomes nearly impossible, as the camera lock on will force your view upward towards him, hampering your ability to move away. Your second option is to perfect parry. This is difficult because of the speed he descends with, but with some practice, it becomes a fairly reasonable counter.

Tongue whip

A favourite opening move, Andreus will lash out his tongue for a two-move combo. First an overhead whip, then a long, horizontal sweep. It’s a surprisingly fast move relative to much of his moveset.

You can dodge this one with the right timing, though it’ll take some practice. However the move is reasonably forgiving for a perfect parry/ perfect guard, so you may find that to be a more amicable approach. Either way, we’d advise against trying to simply outrun it, as the tongue has strong tracking (a sentence we never saw ourselves saying). Staying close also gives you a good opportunity to attack Andreus after the move.

Super laser attack

No boss-fighting game would be complete without one of these. In phase two, once he reaches around his last third of health, Andreus will begin charging a massive, powerful laser attack. This thing can snipe you across the arena, and does an absurd amount of damage.

Luckily the counter is pretty straightforward. Once you see the blue glow in his mouth indicating the attack is incoming, run up and stick close to him, preferably just at his side. This will be too close for the beam to hit, and it’ll simply sail out into the arena. It also gives some ample opportunity for replenishing your weapon’s durability, or continuing the offensive and getting in some heavy attacks.

Punish consistently

This might seem like stating the obvious, but it’s a particularly relevant point with the Fallen Archbishop. Contrary to his size, Andreus isn’t all too difficult to stagger – you can easily have a couple of fatal strikes in before he reaches phase two.

The key to making this happen is consistency. Though he can unleash some long combos and fast attacks, Andreus has plenty of great openings for counters. Take advantage of them as often as possible and be aggressive. Combined with a good number of perfect parries, this will quickly build him up towards a stagger.

Perfect parry

If you know how to parry, also called guarding, you’ll find this fight goes a lot smoother. Because of your typical positioning relative to the boss in this fight, parrying is likely your best and easiest counter. That being said, Andreus deals some fairly serious damage, so perfect parries are essential.

Try practising your timings and learning his main moves during runs as much as possible. Eventually, the general rhythm will start to click, and once you’re consistently getting perfect parries, overcoming Andreus becomes a whole lot easier.

Fallen Archbishop Andreus boss rewards

Once you’ve finally overcome the Fallen Archbishop Andreus boss fight, there are some pretty great rewards to pick up. Here’s a full breakdown of what you’ll get when you defeat him.

• 8878 Ergo. You’ll get a nice little stack of Ergo when you finish him off, giving you a few more levels to enjoy when you go to level up.
• Twisted Angel’s Ergo. This is Andreus’ special Ergo, which you can trade in to Alidoro after the fight to unlock either a special amulet or unique boss weapon. We’ve covered how to do that more extensively in our guide on where to get weapons in Lies of P.
• A Stargazer. As standard, you’ll unlock a new Stargazer, the last one within the Cathedral grounds before you enter the next area.

Who is Fallen Archbishop Andreus?

Andreus was the most recent Archbishop of St Frangelico Cathedral, an ancient house of worship and safe haven for the first settlers of Krat and pilgrims who came to visit it. It was Andreus who allowed the alchemists to join Krat, and these alchemists would be the ones who first discovered Ergo, and used it to create puppets. But Andreus would later regret his decision, as Krat grew and prospered and, in his eyes, lost its way and strayed from God.

Seeing himself as a successor to St Frangelico himself and the legend of the one-winged angel who came to the saint’s protection, Andreus believed only he could save the city and bring it to salvation. He manipulated his follower, Cecile, into retrieving a mysterious relic. But the relic ultimately played a role in transforming the survivors of the Cathedral and those suffering from the Petrification Disease into mindless abominations. At the heart of this horrific transformation was Andreus himself, warped beyond recognition into a monstrous form overwhelmed by his greed, envy and rage.

That covers everything you should need to know to beat Fallen Archbishop Andreus. Make sure you know where to get weapons, the best weapon combos and how to upgrade weapons if you want an additional edge in battle against this ironically unholy foe.

Is Fallen Archbishop Andreus a difficult boss?

Fallen Archbishop Andreus is a pretty difficult boss, with many powerful attacks, surprising speed for his size, and two phases with separate full health bars.

Is Fallen Archbishop Andreus a mandatory boss in Lies of P?

Fallen Archbishop Andreus is a mandatory boss for Lies of P, and a difficult opponent that you’ll have to overcome if you want to continue forward in the game.