There are a lot of Dexterity (Technique) builds in Lies of P because Technique guns are so fast. These P-Organ Upgrades work the best.
There are a lot of different settings in Lies of P that players can change to make these different builds. It’s very hard for two players to make the exact same build by accident because of all the Costumes, Stat Allocation, Weapon Assembly, Legion Arms, useful Items, and P-Organ Upgrades.
When it comes to P-Organ Upgrades, however, there are clear Upgrades that work better with Strength (Motivation) builds and Upgrades that work better with Attack (Technique) builds. Let’s talk about skill and the best upgrades for Pinocchio to get over the course of one or two games of Lies of P.
Increase Pulse Cells: Phase 1 & Phase 2
| Upgrade Name | Quartz Cost | Requirements | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increase Pulse Cells 1 | 2 | None | Increase the maximum number of Pulse Cell uses. |
| Increase Pulse Cells 2 | 2 | None | Increase the maximum number of Pulse Cell uses. |
The Increase Pulse Cells Upgrades are almost always worth taking, no matter what build a player is going for. If players aren’t sure they won’t get hit or are setting an impossible task for themselves, adding more healing items is always a good idea.
And when Pinocchio builds Technique, he likes to use tools that do less damage to Guard. Technique players who don’t depend on their dodge will lose a lot of health when they Guard, which makes this Upgrade even more important.
Increase Staggerable Window: Phase 1 & Phase 5
| Upgrade Name | Quartz Cost | Requirements | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increase Staggerable Window 1 | 2 | None | Make the enemy’s Staggerable state last longer. |
| Increase Staggerable Window 2 | 4 | None | Lengthen the time that the enemy is Staggerable. |
Again, it might look like Stagger-related items are better for Strength/Motivity builds. In Lies of P, though, that’s not really how it works. Staggering enemies and using Fatal Attacks are important for Technique Builds, Advance Builds, and even the rare builds based around Legion Arms.
They’re just too important to ignore totally. Giving Pinocchio a little more space to find the best time to use his Charge Attack has a much bigger effect than players might think at first.
Link Dodge: Phase 1
| Upgrade Name | Quartz Cost | Requirements | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Link Dodge | 2 | None | Lets you do another dodge while you’re already doing one. |
If your Motivity build is based on Perfect Guards and/or regular Guards, Link Dodge isn’t really required. But in a Dexterity build, it’s handy. There is a Perfect Guard feature in Lies of P, but players don’t have to use it all the time. To be more specific, it’s better to dodge and poke with lighter but faster weapons than to block and hit.
Add Fable Slots: Phase 1 & Phase 4
| Upgrade Name | Quartz Cost | Requirements | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add Fable Slots 1 | 2 | None | Makes the highest number of charged Fable slots bigger. |
| Add Fable Slots 2 | 3 | None | Increases the most charged Fable spots that can be used. |
What you might expect is that Technique builds usually involve using more complex guns or controlling Pinocchio in more complex ways. And if you know how to use them, a lot of the Fable Arts can help you get far. If you use them correctly, Fable Arts like Payback Stab, Absolute Defense, Absolute Counterattack, and Guard Parry can completely destroy a boss’s life.
To do this, though, players will have to keep their Fable full at all times. Since this is the case, it stands to reason that giving Pinocchio more Fable would make it much easier for Technique players to use their Fable Arts.
Add Amulet Slots: Phase 2, Phase 4, & Phase 7
| Upgrade Name | Quartz Cost | Requirements | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add Amulet Slots 1 | 2 | None | Boosts the number of Amulet spots that can be used. |
| Add Amulet Slots 2 | 3 | None | Increases the number of Amulet spots that can be used. |
| Add Amulet Slots 3 | 4 | NG++ | Makes more Amulet spots available for equipping. |
There is a lot of flexibility and choice between builds when it comes to the skills players put into their P-Organ Upgrades, but there is a lot of overlap between builds when it comes to the Upgrades themselves. Enhancements like “Add Amulet Slots,” “Increase Pulse Cells,” and “Increase Pulse Cell Recovery” are often taken on every build.
Amulets are the only real “equipment” that players can change. They can have a big effect on their total Stamina, their map Health, or even do something completely different, like making it possible to avoid Fury Attacks. Because of this, gamers will need as many Amulet Slots as they can get.
Enhance Pulse Cell Recovery: Phase 3 & Phase 6
| Upgrade Name | Quartz Cost | Requirements | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enhance Pulse Cell Recovery 2 | 3 | None | Boosts the benefit of Pulse Cells on recovery. |
| Enhance Pulse Cell Recovery 3 | 4 | NG+ | Increases the effect of Pulse Cells on healing. |
That being said, this Upgrade might not seem important to people who are still in the first four or five chapters of Penalty Kick Online. But as players gain Vitality, it will become clear how useful it is. Once a player gets to the end of the game, bosses can easily kill them with one hit if their Vitality isn’t strong enough.
On top of that, players only heal half of the way when they use their Pulse Cells to heal after this attack (if they survived). Now that they have this Upgrade, they will use up their Pulse Cells much more slowly.
Increase Special Grindstone Uses: Phase 4
| Upgrade Name | Quartz Cost | Requirements | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increase Special Grindstone Uses | 3 | None | Changes the highest number of times the Special Grindstone can be used from 1 to 2. |
The Grindstones that Venigni gives to Pinocchio can be used in a lot of different ways in Lies of P. On the other hand, the Critical Chance Grindstone for Technique builds has by far the most important effect, maybe second only to the Stagger Damage Grindstone for Motivity builds.
Crit Chance is a stat that is usually only found on Daggers. However, this Grindstone lets players briefly use their high-damage Technique weapons to critically hit for huge amounts of damage even when they aren’t using a Dagger.
Perfect Guard Weapon Durability Recovery: Phase 6
| Upgrade Name | Quartz Cost | Requirements | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perfect Guard Weapon Durability Recovery | 4 | NG+ | When a Perfect Guard works, some of the Weapon’s Durability is recovered. |
From Phase 6 to Phase 7 of the P-Organ Tree, which are the last three Upgrades, let’s start with the ones that are only available in NG+ and NG++. The Perfect Guard Weapon Durability Recovery Upgrade can only be used in Phase 6 of the P-Organ tree after NG+. As players go deeper into Krat and its scary secrets, they’ll notice that each new boss seems to damage their weapons more quickly.
After that, though, bosses don’t even give players a second to breathe, let alone five seconds or more to fix their weapon. Even though Technique (Dexterity) builds don’t depend too much on Perfect Guards, this Upgrade is still worth it because it lets Technique players switch to Perfect Guarding to Stagger the boss and get their Durability back without having to leave themselves open while they use their Grinder.
Light Weight: Phase 7
| Upgrade Name | Quartz Cost | Requirements | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light Weight | 4 | NG++ | You’ve lost a lot of weight and feel lighter. |
The Capacity stat is very important in Lies of P. Anyone who has played for at least two hours knows this. Players will need to spend at least 20 points on Capacity by the end of the game, even if they’re not building to be “tanky.” This is to avoid falling into the “Slightly Heavy” group.
It’s likely that the best Upgrade in the P-Organ tree is one that raises the necessary percentages for Light, Regular, Slightly Heavy, and Heavy weights.
Fury Attack Guard: Phase 7
| Upgrade Name | Quartz Cost | Requirements | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fury Attack Guard | 4 | NG++ | You can now use standard Guard to stop Fury Attacks on Pinocchio. |
The last thing is that not even the Souls games are as risky as letting players forget a mechanic they’ve had to use the whole time they’ve been playing. But Lies of P does this more than once. The first time is with the Ghost Walk Amulet, which lets players avoid Fury Attacks. The second time is with the Fury Attack Guard P-Organ Upgrade.
In theory, the Ghost Walk Amulet is better because avoiding a Fury Attack does no damage, but in practice, the P-Organ Upgrade is more useful because it protects against Fury attacks without taking any damage.