This brutal Soulslike action RPG tasks you to venture into the dark realm of Mournstead to prevent the resurrection of a tyrannical demon god named Adyr and our Lords of the Fallen review shows it capable of captivating fans of the genre. During your quest, your path will be blocked by a knight known as Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal. A higher power has corrupted this once noble warrior and sees all beings before her as enemies – including you.
Pieta is the first truly difficult boss you will encounter in Lords of the Fallen (2023) and can be quite a troublesome roadblock for first-time players. However, I have developed an in-depth guide detailing all of Pieta’s strengths, tactics, and weaknesses so you can better understand how to fight and overcome this holy adversary.
How to prepare for Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal
When it comes to preparation, you have limited options to choose from because, at this point in the game, you won’t have access to shops to buy equipment, support consumables, or attack items. So, depending on which starting class you choose when beginning the game, you may have a slightly easier or harder time fighting Pieta.
For example, Pieta is a Radiant-type enemy so she is resistant against Radiant-type damage but weak to Fire-type damage. This means if you picked a Pyric Cultist as your starting class, you could use Rhogar fire magic to deal a decent amount of damage to her from a distance. On the other hand, if you picked the Orian Preacher class, your Radiant magic spells will deal less damage to Pieta, thus limiting your attack options.
If you are having trouble defeating Pieta on your own, you can summon allies to help you. At the entrance of the boss arena’s entrance is a cluster of moths, which, if you approach it, a ‘Beckon’ option will pop up. Selecting this option will allow you to summon an NPC ally called The Iron Wayfarer, who will fight alongside you during the battle.
Alternatively, you can summon other human players by resting at the Vestige checkpoints and use the game’s online co-op options.
Finally, make sure to level up your character’s stats by using Vigor, a currency obtained from killing enemies if you feel like you need more health, stamina, or mana to survive longer in battle. With all that preparation out of the way, step forward and engage Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal.
How to defeat Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal
Pieta’s attacks mainly consist of melee attacks with her sword. However, she extends the range of her sword attacks by encasing it with Radiant magic, so she can hit players from mid-range or even behind her without looking. These attacks can be dodged (dodge rolls in this game have invincibility-frames, so take advantage of that), blocked, or parried.
If you parry her regular melee attacks enough times, you will reduce her Posture meter and leave her open to being staggered via charged-heavy attacks, parries, or kicks. Once Pieta is staggered, stand next to her and press the light attack button to perform a Grievous Strike, which will deal her a substantial amount of damage.
Although that is easier said than done, Pieta has other attacks up her armored sleeve to catch players unawares:
- Pieta can shoot beams of Radiant magic from her sword, which you must dodge to avoid damage.
- She can summon swords made of light to rain down upon your head.
- She has an overhead strike that unleashes a small explosion of Radiant magic that can’t be blocked or parried.
After reducing her health to 50%, Pieta senses that the end is near and decides to unleash all of her power by transforming into an angel of death.
Bear witness to the radiance of Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal
In her angel form, Pieta will retain all her attacks from her human form and gain brand-new ones. For instance, she starts the second phase of the fight by flying to the far edge of the arena, then charging to the other side while a shower of over a hundred Radiant swords follows in her wake.
In addition, Pieta can summon Radiant duplicates of herself, which perform one attack before dissipating. Her duplicates can do regular melee attacks and also blanket two-thirds of the arena with a deluge of Radiant swords.
This phase will be very difficult to overcome, but if you keep your cool, dodge her ranged attacks, and parry her melee attacks, you will send this fallen angel crashing down back to the earth in defeat.
Defeating Pieta will reward you with 6,000 Vigor to upgrade your character. Before moving on to the next area, while you are still in Pieta’s arena, enter the Umbral realm by using the Umbral Lamp. Here, use the lamp’s Soul-Flay ability on a nearby ghostly vision (also known as an Umbral Stigma) of Pieta to glimpse into her past and obtain an item called ‘Remembrance of Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal’ and two Umbral Scourings.
Your crusade against Adyr has only just begun
Congratulations, you have defeated the first major boss of Lords of the Fallen. However, don’t get too cocky, as there are many more daunting opponents that await you in Mournstead.
So, explore the land for secret treasures to help you become stronger and upgrade your arsenal with powerful weapons and magic. Only then will you be able to stop Adyr and conquer one of the best Xbox games in the Soulslike genre.
If you wish to learn more about this dark fantasy adventure, check out our full Lords of the Fallen review.
Lords of the Fallen is now available to purchase on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC via Microsoft Store & Steam after its release on October 13, 2023.
