When the game begins, the player is presented with a choice between three classes: The Cricket, the Bastard, and the Sweeper. There’s no hard rule in Lies of P that forces you to stick to your starting class; it only affects your starting stats in the game. You can even respec later in the game if you’re unsure of your build, though you will still have the same starting stats as your class.
That being said, it’s important to have a good enough base for the future so you can maximize your character’s damage output and performance.
Updated by Huzaifa Haq on October 24, 2023: Since this article was first published, a lot of new information has come to light. We’ve updated the content within the article to reflect the viability of the Cricket Class and added links that might be useful to the reader.
Path of The Cricket
While you might be tempted to think that Path of the Cricket is the ‘worst’ choice out of the there, you’d be very wrong. It gives you stats in all three of the damage-dealing stats: Technique, Motivity, and Advance. Spliltting your attention like this might sound like a bad idea, but it actually works quite well in your favor. There are only a few weapons in the game that are exclusively one stat. Most weapons have an almost equal dependency on both Techinque and Motivity, though you’ll want to spec into Advance if you want to use a weapon with a status effect.
The starting weapon for Path of the Cricket is the Puppet Saber, a slashing weapon that does okay damage. There’s no real downside to choosing Path of the Cricket. If anything, it’s probably the best option out of the three.
Path of The Bastard
The Bastard Class is the dexterity build of the game. You get a bunch of points in your Vigor stat (stamina), giving you a lot of wiggle room to dash around and have fun. The Technique stat is usually reserved for fast stabbing and slashing weapons. These don’t take a lot of time to fire off and don’t consume that much stamina. The combination of low stamina costs and high stamina reserves means that you can swing your swords a lot before you get tired, giving you high damage potential.
You can keep the Handle from a Technique weapon and combine it with a heavy weapon’s blade to craft a new weapon if you want high damage. You will need extra Capacity in order to use it since they will be as heavy as regular heavy weapons.
The player starts with the Wintry Saber, a stabbing weapon that encourages you to weave in and out of attacks. It’s a fun playstyle that lets you go toe to toe with the most annoying enemies in the game, making it a very popular option. One downside to the path is that you won’t do a ton of damage, at least compared to if you were using a heavy weapon. In theory, this means you’ll have to be patient and spend a lot of time chipping away at the health of bosses compared to if you were a Sweeper. In practice, the fast strikes and high stamina stat mean you can deal at least as much damage as a Sweeper since enemies won’t just line up for your attacks; you’ll have to time them.
Path of the Sweeper
If you like swinging around heavy weapons and doing great deals of damage to enemies with each hit, the Path of the Sweeper is for you. Join the ranks of the muscle heads and get some extra points into Vitality and Capacity, stats for your health, and weight limit, respectively. The attacking stat for the Sweeper is Motivity, usually found in heavy weapons like Greatswords and hard-to-move weapons of all sorts.
Larger weapons are slower to swing since they’re heavier and cost more stamina.
The best part about being a Sweeper is that every fight is shorter because you do a lot of damage. Much more than the Bastard. However, it comes with multiple downsides as well. For one, you’ll have to divert your attention between Vigor and Capacity for your secondary stats. You need the Capacity to lug around the monstrosities you’ll be using without being Encumbered, and you’ll need Vigor if you want to have the stamina to use said monstrosities.
You’ll start the game with the wonderful Greatsword of Fate, a weapon that does a mix of slashing and stabbing for you. It deals much more damage than either the Wintry Saber or Puppet’s Saber, but it’s harder to maneuver as a drawback. Be prepared to be stopped by walls and run out of stamina.
Recommendations – What To Choose?
Choose whichever class you like; it doesn’t matter too much since you can level up quickly at the start of the game and spec in whatever you want afterward. As a Cricket, you’ll be able to use almost every weapon you come across; go down the path of the Bastard if you love drawing out fights, avoiding enemy attacks, and not having to worry about your stamina bar. And if you like big things, and like to smash bigger things with said big things, become a Sweeper.