01 / BOSS GUIDE
General Lothaire:
survive the second phase.
For the Chapter 2 fight, use fire and pistol weak-point shots to build stagger, then punish the opening. Keep dodging red attacks when the second health bar begins.[1]
Which Lothaire fight is this?
PowerPyx separates the Chapter 1 opening encounter from the Chapter 2 rematch. PC Gamer also reports an opening-encounter victory, so “intended to lose” is not proof that winning is impossible.[1][2]
This guide targets Chapter 2 progression. It does not promise opening-fight rewards or recommend force-quitting to repeat an encounter.
A plan for both health bars
| When you see | Your response |
|---|---|
| Phase 1: ordinary blade combos | Parry the melee sequence; avoid treating every pause as a safe attack window. |
| Red warning | Dodge rather than attempt a parry. |
| Shoulder-gun follow-up | Watch the gold flash fade, then dodge the shot. |
| A weak point is exposed | Apply Fire Transmutation, shoot the weak point with the Pistol, then use melee or parries to complete stagger. |
| Phase 2: enlarged-arm attacks | Watch for additional unblockable swings and a grab; resume the same weak-point cycle after defending. |
| Summoned soldiers | Clear them quickly with pistol or fire, then return attention to Lothaire. |
The action cues above come from Gage’s 14 October PowerPyx guide; this site has not independently tested the timing.[1]
Choose one problem to fix next
Losing at the second bar? Treat the transition as a new defensive sequence. Recognize the arm and grab before extending an attack chain.
Dealing damage but getting few openings? Check whether you are shooting exposed weak points, rather than spending pistol shots without that target. This follows the stagger plan above.
Unsure whether to tap or hold parry? Players disagree in the discussion sampled on 16 October. We cannot establish a special input technique from those reports; do not rebuild your controls around that claim.[3]
Before your next attempt
For General Lothaire, identify the encounter first, then make surviving the newly introduced attacks your priority. A repeatable defense gives the weak-point plan time to work.
Sources & verification
- PowerPyx · Gage ↗ (opens in a new tab)14 October 2026. Encounter chapters, two phases, attack cues, and stagger approach. SINGLE_SOURCE for the core fight plan.
- PC Gamer · Sean Martin ↗ (opens in a new tab)13 October 2026. First-person report of defeating the opening encounter; used only to qualify the intended-loss distinction.
- Reddit · r/ValorMortis difficulty discussion ↗ (opens in a new tab)Sampled 16 October 2026. Conflicting player descriptions of parry input; not evidence of a reliable alternate technique.