How do you beat the Lies of P Fallen Archbishop Andreus boss? The twisted Lovecraftian eldritch horror that is Fallen Archbishop Andreus shows up relatively early in this Soulslike, being only the fifth mandatory boss. He’s likely the first one you’ll struggle with because he takes it up a level in terms of difficulty compared to the fights you’ve encountered so far – though King’s Flame, Fuoco, was no pushover either.
So if you’re wondering how to beat Fallen Archbishop Andreus, we can help. Once you’re past him, you’ll wonder how you ever struggled when you see how tough some of the later Lies of P bosses are, but he can feel like a brick wall when you first encounter him. With the best Lies of P weapons and the best Lies of P legion arms in hand, here’s our guide to beating the Lies of P Fallen Archbishop Andreus boss fight.
How to beat Fallen Archbishop Andreus
Fallen Archbishop Andreus is the first proper two-stage boss fight in the game, which is to say when you whittle his health down for the first time, you’ll watch a cutscene then have to take him down again, albeit a tougher version of him second time around.
Fallen Archbishop Andreus first stage
We’re assuming you’re going into this fight with a specter alongside you – if you can’t, check out our guide to Lies of P Star Fragments to see how to farm them quickly.
One crucial thing to note in the entire Andreus fight is that he is an infected foe, which means he is weak to fire damage. While the Salamander Dagger doesn’t have enough reach to warrant using here, we would strongly recommend equipping the Flamberge legion arm, because setting him alight does a considerable amount of damage. You should also have some Attribute Purification and Resistance Ampoules handy, to fight off the decay Andreus can inflict.
As you enter the arena, Andreus will be aggroed towards you. Your specter always starts on your left, so if you move to the left and put the specter between yourself and Andreus, the boss will usually struggle to reach you and you’ll have a window of time to position yourself.
Andreus has a few specific moves in this stage. He’ll smash his long green tentacle on the ground, followed by swiping it from left to right. Both of these attacks are easy to perfect guard and if you’re close enough, there’s a short window after this for you to attack.
When Andreus swipes with his right hand, he’ll always follow that up with an immediate ground pound with the same hand, then a swipe with his left hand. Do not attack until all three animations have finished.
When Andreus is focused on the specter is the best time to hit him hard, but beware because he has a hard shell over his back. If you hit him directly from behind, your weapon will bounce off and not do as much damage, but if you hit him in the side, you need to be careful not to get caught in one of his sweeping arm attacks, as they have a wide reach.
If Andreus stands up on both arms, dodge away as quickly as you can because he’s going to come crashing down with a shockwave effect. There is a window here to attack afterward though, one of the biggest you’ll get.
Once Andreus is staggerable, hit him with a charged heavy attack, then quickly move to the side of his neck where there’s a red circle on the ground. Swing at him from here and you’ll perform a fatal attack – by far the most consistent way to deal damage if you play the fight mostly defensively.
Fallen Archbishop Andreus second stage
Andreus’ second stage isn’t too different from the first, except for the fact he’s essentially two-faced now. Andreus emerges from the monstrosity that contained him during the first half of the fight, attached to a long tentacle. He’s equipped with a spear and has some seriously long reach.
If you’ve hung onto your Flamberge legion arm, this is the time to utilize it, while your specter is still alive and Andreus isn’t focused on you. He’ll switch between his standard attacks from the first phase of the fight to the opposite side where he flails around with his spear. During the latter, just focus on dodging and guarding, because it’s far too unpredictable and small of a target to get consistent hits in.
You’ll need to be a lot more patient during this phase, because you can’t hit Andreus from behind anymore, nor can you hit him from the side as he has more protection there. Bide your time as much as possible and wait for two specific opportunities: after he stands up and sits back down again (though the walking part of this lasts longer than in the first phase), and after he fires a blue beam.
The blue beam will always come when the second stage gets to half HP and is difficult to avoid because the more human side of Andreus will also emit a blue shockwave that deals devastating damage, but if you can dodge or survive these, he’s very vulnerable for quite a while afterward.
If you have the Falcon Eyes legion arm you can use this moment to attack from afar or get close to him with Puppet String, though Flamberge is still our best recommendation for damage throughout the fight.
Here’s the breakdown of key points:
- Andreus is weak to fire damage – Flamberge legion arm and Thermite help with this
- Have Attribute Resistance and Purification Ampoules equipped
- During the first stage, keep his aggro as much as possible to save the health of your specter and attack him from the sides
- During the second stage, bide your time and attack after fury attacks or the blue beam
With this knowledge, you should be able to take down Fallen Archbishop Andreus. Now you know how to win this boss fight, make sure you’re clued up on the best Lies of P amulets to use, and whether you should use or save your Lies of P rare ergo for the treasure hunter.