The Mendacious Visage boss in Lords of the Fallen is a strange mix of the head of a giant statue and tangle of roots acting as limbs. The cracked face hides a humanoid body within, waiting for an opportune moment to tear open its own face and assault intruders with magic. If you’re having trouble with the boss, here’s our guide to beat Mendacious Visage in Lords of the Fallen (LotF).
How to Find the Mendacious Visage Boss in Lords of the Fallen
The easiest way to get to Mendacious Visage requires opening two shortcuts. From the Vestige of Valade, take the cave to the shortcut you need to open from the other side. Jump down, go to the pyre, and follow the wooden path beside it deeper into the swamp. When you get to an archway with two torches, turn right and climb the ladder on your left—that ladder is the second shortcut you’ll need open. The doorway is only accessible in the Umbral, so if you aren’t clearing the path of enemies each time, use your lantern to enter the Umbral near the ladder, knocking the enemies guarding the ladder over so you can use it without getting hit. Once you’re up the ladder, follow the path forward and turn right. Now in the Umbral, walk across the pathway and Soul Flay the door open.
You can also reach the Mendacious Visage in Lords of the Fallen by taking the long way around through the lake past the Hushed Saint boss seedling Vestige, but for the sake of your boss runs, I recommend opening up the shortcuts to save time.
How to Beat Mendacious Visage in LotF
Once you’re in the battle, you’ll see Mendacious Visage stumble to its feet. The boss is a massive, cracked stone head with some root-like limbs carrying it about. Its attacks aren’t difficult to avoid thanks to clear and distinct telegraphing. However, if it does connect, it can do a lot of damage, so don’t expect the fight to be easy.
Its most common move is a jumping slam, where it plants both hands on the ground and launches itself skyward. When it lands, a wave of blue light erupts all around it. The wave is fairly short-range, and you can avoid it by dodge-rolling when it’s just over halfway through the jumping arc. It usually jumps towards you, but it’ll sometimes jump in place, so be mindful of that.
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When it plants one arm down, that means it’s going to start its running attack. It’s easy to avoid with a roll, and since it charges forward for a set amount of time, you can get it caught against a wall to get some free hits while it’s running in place.
Sometimes, Mendacious Visage raises both hands. If that happens, the boss is going to do a slam attack that’s both a close-range melee strike and a long-range homing spell. If you’re far away during this attack, start side-stepping in a direction that has plenty of room, then roll in that direction when the spell gets close. If you’re close, circle around the side of it. Sometimes, this attack doesn’t produce any spells, so use this opportunity to get a few hits in.
Several times throughout the fight, it will open its face, exposing the vulnerable parts inside. This brings with it a new set of attacks.
It can shoot a cluster of homing spells that are harder to avoid than the ones with the slam attack, so be mindful of your timing. It can also fire out a bunch of grub-like creatures that litter the arena and will burst when stepped on. If your frost buildup bar fills, you’ll take a lot of damage and have your max stamina reduced for a short time. These grubs stay on the ground for a while, so be aware of them when dodging other attacks.
Finally, it will slam its face shut after a few attacks This can do some serious damage, so do not get caught in it.
While Mendacious Visage’s attacks are easy to avoid, the boss is tanky, and when it hits, it hits hard. Thankfully, it has a few weaknesses you can exploit. First off, many of its attacks do wither damage, so put on your best wither-resistant armor before the fight. (assuming this is what the wither stat for armor does).
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When its face is shut, Mendacious Visage is almost completely immune to damage from the front, so you need to get behind it and attack its backside. What attack is best is going to depend on the swing of your weapon. For example, if you’re using double axes, an uncharged heavy attack has a wide arc, allowing it to hit even from an angle that isn’t directly behind it.
When its face is open, you’ll deal more damage if you hit the exposed innards. However, you can easily take a spell point blank to the face if you go for the front, so do so at your own risk.
Many of its attacks will cause frost buildup, and when it fills, you will instantly take a huge amount of damage. So be mindful of your health when you have lots of buildup.
When you don’t have a clear opportunity to get behind it, stay near the center of the arena. It’s easier to dodge its ranged attacks when you have room, and if the boss is near a wall, its backside will be inaccessible. If you need to, run in circles in the center to bait it into a better position.
If you remain mindful of your frost buildup, use your attacks with the widest arc, and watch out for those grubs, you can defeat the Mendacious Visage in Lords of the Fallen. And after gaining a few thousand vigor as a reward, you’ll be ready to tackle the next part of Lords of the Fallen.
If you’re looking for more on the game, check out how to respec in Lords of the Fallen.
