Lies Of P: Overture — Veronique Boss Guide

Veronique is one of the few Stalkers you’ll battle in Lies of P: Overture. However, unlike in the base game, the same old tricks won’t work on Veronique. She is much harder to backstab, and the attacks she has at her disposal are far more deadly than any Stalker you’ve fought before.

We’ll teach you how to navigate her bludgeoning blows, disrupt her staggering strikes, and put out her fire once and for all. We’ll even give you an approach that will make this encounter less of a battle, and more of a one-sided stomping.

Veronique's Attacks

		First Form
Attack	Wind-Up Tells And Attack Description		Suggested Counters
Overhead Slam	This is Veronique’s basic overhead swing. It isn’t particularly rangy, but she will sometimes ignite the head of her hammer to create a small explosion.		Dodge away from it.
Three-Hit Overhead Slam Combo	Veronique will reel back before slamming her hammer down, then pivot and bring her hammer down twice more. The third attack will be furious, so you’ll need to dodge it or perfect parry it. She can choose to ignite the head of her hammer after the third strike. The parry timing is relatively easy here.		Sprint away from Veronique or parry these three attacks.
Three-Hit Lunging Combo	This is Veronique’s main combo. She’ll perform two lunging, sweeping strikes with her hammer by a jumping attack. She winds up for quite some time before each lunge, so, whether you are parrying or rolling, you will want to time this attack based on the lunge, not the wind-up.		Dodge away from this sequence. You can parry it if you like, but the dodge timing is easier.
Shoulder Charge Combo	This combo is faster but doesn’t reach nearly as far. She will swing her hammer twice, without the lunge, then shoulder charge toward you, and finish off with one big swing of her hammer.		Sprint away from Veronique.
Flamethrower	Veronique will plant the handle of her hammer into the ground, turning the hammer’s head into a flamethrower. This attack has decent range, but she can’t reposition the head, so you can circle her when she is committed to this attack and land big hits on her backside.		Sprint to the side, circle, and attack Veronique while she is committed.
Spinning Attack	Veronique will spin in a circle multiple times before ending this sequence with an upward swing. This attack is fast and covers a lot of ground. If you aren’t too close to her, you can sprint away. However, if Veronique uses this attack when she is point-blank, then you will need to parry it. You likely won’t survive blocking it, and she spins too fast for you to roll through each swing.		Sprint away if you are at medium range when she starts this attack; parry if you are close.
		Inflamed Form
Inflamed Overhead Slam	When she is in her enhanced move, her overhead swings will cause a small explosion once they hit the ground.		Dodge away.
Exploding Combo	Once her health is down to around the halfway point, Veronique’s hammer will be engulfed in flames. In this form, she will perform an attack where she swings her hammer horizontally twice, then, she’ll spin her hammer above her head before bringing it down for a third strike. When this attack hits the ground it will cause an explosion which will then launch her into the air for a giant spinning attack that is furious.		Sprint away and get distance from her.
Inflamed Lunging Combo	Her lunging combo is largely the same, but now she travels farther than before and the wind-up animations appear faster.		Dodge away from this sequence. You can parry it if you like, but the dodge timing is easier.

While Veronique’s attacks are parriable, since she hits so incredibly hard, you’ll be better off keeping your distance. Veronique’s attacks often leave her vulnerable for a sizable amount of time, so, you will still be able to keep your distance and then sprint up and land an attack of your own once her attack sequence has ended. That being said, her overhead attacks don’t have any odd pauses, which does make them relatively easy to parry. I’d recommend parrying them.

Veronique’s lunging attacks are an effective way for her to close that distance, and most attacks won’t stagger her while she is mid-lunge. Your best approach is to time her swings based on her dashes. When you see her lunging forward, dodge backward just before she reaches you.

You’ll do this twice before she ends this sequence with a leaping attack. However, the leaping attack doesn’t take her as far forward and isn’t as fast. So, once you’ve dodged the first two lunging strikes, just sprint away from her. Try to stay close enough to land an attack of your own when she is recovering.

You can disrupt Veronique’s attacks with a heavy strike, or a charged Cataclysm shot. Typically, she is able to be disrupted when she is winding up, but not when she is lunging forward. Trying to disrupt her lunging attacks will get you hit.

You can also land backstabs on Veronique, but she is among the hardest humanoids to land a backstab on. She’s constantly moving, and will not let you strafe around her. It isn’t something I would recommend relying on.

Your best opportunity to deal easy damage is when Veronique uses her flamethrower attack. You can very easily circle her and then land your biggest, slowest attacks on her while she is committed to her flamethrower move. She is fully committed, which makes her extremely vulnerable.

So, your key takeaways should be…

She hits very hard, making parrying a little more dangerous.
She is often left vulnerable at the end of her attacks.
She can be disrupted by heavy-hitting attacks as long as she isn’t lunging.
Focus primarily on dodging away from her attacks, but try to stay close enough to be able to up once she is vulnerable.

Recommended Legion Arms For Veronique

There are quite a few Legion Arms that are viable in this battle. Cataclysm deals a solid grip of damage and can disrupt a number of Veronique’s attacks. Additionally, since she pauses fairly frequently, either due to recovering from one of her big attacks, or to use her flamethrower attack, you have plenty of time to set up landmines with an upgraded Deus Ex Machina.

Finally, a fully charged Fulminis will flatten her, and leave her vulnerable for seconds (enough time to fully charge a second Fulminis shot). These are all great options and are extremely helpful during this battle. However, if you want to absolutely trivialize this fight, the answer is the Puppet String.

While Cataclysm and Fulminis will disrupt her, certain moves, such as her lunging hammer swings, are uninterruptible. This is not true of the Puppet String. In fact, outside of her guard stance, there is almost no attack in Veronique’s arsenal that you can’t disrupt with this legion arm. Bring a couple of Legion Magazines, and you’ll find that you are more than capable of using the Puppet String to basically win the entire fight.

The Puppet String is so overwhelmingly powerful in this fight that you will completely remove all challenge by using it. Even in New Game Plus, on the Legendary Stalker difficulty, the Puppet String makes this fight a joke.

How To Defeat Veronique Leader Of The Sweepers

Veronique will start this battle at the other end of the arena. This is your chance to charge a Cataclysm shot or to spend a little Fable and empower your weapon (if your weapon of choice has that option). She will immediately start charging at you. Respond by dodging away from whatever attack she attempts to land, but try to stay close enough so that you can dash back into range with an attack of your own.

When possible, reset back to the center of the arena so that you can have the space to back away again. If you are feeling brazen, feel free to parry her overhead attack combo. Doing so will leave you in range to land a charged heavy attack, which will often cause her to stumble a little. Keep performing this dance, and you will reliably whittle her health down.

Be cautious, she will sometimes ignite her hammer when she misses one of those overhead swings. If you rush in and attack her as she does so, you will be set on fire.

Veronique Inflamed Form

Once you have taken half of her health away, she permanently ignites her hammer’s head. Now, singular overhead slam attacks will leave a pool of fire behind. While all her attacks become a little more dangerous, the biggest change is that she will now launch herself into the air for a spinning overhead swing. This attack is unblockable. If you are far enough away, you can still space this attack out, but there will be times when you will quite simply need to parry it. It is her most damaging attack, but at least it isn’t overwhelmingly hard to parry.

Alternatively, if you have the Puppet String fully upgraded and equipped, from start to finish all you will need to do is wait for her to run at you, then entangle her with your string, hold it for the lunge, and perform your Puppet String attack. Rinse and repeat until she is dead. But where is the fun in that?