Lords of the Fallen (2023) – how to Stagger and perform Grievous Strikes

The thrilling melee combat of Lords of the Fallen is fun yet difficult to master, which is why you should learn how to stagger enemies and utilise Grievous Strikes where possible. If you’ve played Dark Souls before, you might be familiar with this concept.

Grievous Strikes are the names given to powerful critical hits you can perform when you break your enemy’s guard. Staggering an enemy is calculated by a bar, which you should always pay attention to in combat.

For more Lords of the Fallen, make sure you read our guides on how to get boss weapons, and our piece covering the best starting classes. Now, on to how to stagger enemies and perform Grievous Strikes in Lords of the Fallen.

How to Stagger in Lords of the Fallen

To stagger an enemy in Lords of the Fallen, you must wear down their Stagger Gauge. This gauge is shown as a small circular bar around an enemy when you lock on to them; your goal is to decrease this bar to zero to result in a stagger, leaving the enemy open.

Another way to stagger an enemy in Lords of the Fallen is to perform a Kick or a charged attack on an enemy while their back is turned to you. This will allow you to hit them with a Grievous Strike to quickly dispatch them.

The Stagger Gauge starts full, and it will decrease with each hit, parry, or kick you perform on the enemy. Charged attacks with a two-handed stance, and especially parries and perfect parries with a shield will wear the stagger gauge down the fastest. Staggering an enemy in Lords of the Fallen is the best way to make an opening in combat. Bear in mind that different enemies have different levels of stagger resistance, and some bosses will reset their stagger gauge when entering a second phase.

How to perform a Grievous Strike

To perform a Grievous Strike, stagger an enemy, position yourself in front or directly behind the foe, and perform a normal attack (R1 or left click). This will deal a Grievous strike for massive damage, but can only be done when you stagger an enemy.

The lock-on icon will turn red for a brief window, which is an indicator that you can perform a Greivous Strike on an enemy. Pay attention to this visual and it will help you land these hits more reliably. If you’re familiar with the Souls games, this is effectively like Bloodborne’s visceral attacks.

That’s all you need to know about staggering and Grievous Strikes in Lords of the Fallen. For more guides, we have pages covering how to kick and how to upgrade weapons in Lords of the Fallen.