Sifu Boss Battle Guide

So, you've looked at our Beginner's guide as well as dabbled in our advanced combat guide for the martial arts brawler, Sifu. But you need a bit of a hand dealing with the five major antagonists of the game, the main targets the protagonist is fighting so hard to get to. While we can't just take command of your game for you, we do have some tips and tricks to help make things easier with this Sifu Boss Guide.

Sifu Boss Battle Guide – The Squatts' Fajar

How to beat Fajar

We'll start with the very first boss battle: Fajar. He's the mute head of the drug ring you break up in The Squatts and he makes one hell of a first impression. You fight him in a greenhouse of sorts with rows of potted plants and he skips across the arena with acrobatic jumps and devastating kicks.

So the first big thing to keep in mind comes straight from the advanced combat guide: Most of Fajar's attacks can be ducked. The tricky part will be timing since Fajar does have two different variations of his axe kick. One is a slightly different variation that is closer to a hook kick that is faster, the other is a more powerful axe kick that has a slight delay in its wind-up. If you see the distinct orange glow of an interrupt attack, it's the axe kick so wait a few frames more than you think you should.

Otherwise, Fajar's attacks are relatively straightforward. He has one quick sweep attack that can trip you up, but the wind up for it can be spotted pretty early on.

As for strategies, if you looked at our Advanced Combat guide you should know the answer already: throw Fajar into the rows of plants. They are plentiful, they'll keep his stun going longer, and it can lead to some nasty knock-on effects.

But once you break his structure and go for a finisher, Fajar will enter his second phase. Every single boss fight in Sifu has two phases, which either drastically changes the arena, the boss' fighting style, or both. This is where things escalate with Fajar pulling out a machete and the greenhouse turning into a bamboo forest. In this phase, Fajar has a few new attacks added to his arsenal. One is where he leaps into the bamboo forest, only to pop up against with a flying machete slash. Much like his axe kick, you can just duck to dodge this one. But one of the deadlier attacks he has here is a fierce flurry of machete slashes. When you see his machete shine, get ready to duck three times in quick succession. These attacks cannot be blocked. Also, much like the first phase, you can shove and throw Fajar into the bamboo walls for some extra damage to his Structure. Keep your cool and you'll shut him down.

Sifu Boss Battle Guide – The Club's Sean

How to beat Sean

Moving on to the second big boss of Sifu is the fiery staff fighter of The Club, Sean. Sean's arena isn't as cluttered as Fajar's. Aside from some quarterstaves littering the walls and three columns on both the left and right side of the arena, it's mostly an empty space. But if you've invested more in stick fighting and want to help counteract Sean's extra reach, run out and grab one immediately.

As for Sean's first phase of attacks, they're mostly straightforward. A shoulder check. A staff-assisted uppercut. A spinning horizontal swing at the temple. These are usually strung together into three or four attacks. Duck or parry all four, then counterattack.

It is when you get to Sean's second phase that he decides to turn up the heat (sorry, not sorry). Overall, his attack patterns change very little aside from his attacks now being wreathed in flame and dealing more damage to your Structure. There is a leg sweep attack he does, the wind up animation showing  him spreading his arms out wide before doing the motion, but otherwise, his attacks just hit harder and faster.

But simply dodging his assaults and counterattacking won't be enough. As you get closer to breaking his Structure again, he'll begin dash-cancelling his own attack strings, making it almost impossible to punish any of his mistakes. The only thing you can do is chip away at his Structure by perfectly parrying his attacks, or keep dodging to build up your Focus gauge then strike him with a super attack to just make an opening for yourself. Either way, this last stretch will be a challenge.

Sifu Boss Battle Guide – The Museum's Kuroki

How to beat Kuroki

Boss number three is artistically inclined creative Kuroki found in The Museum level. Continuing the environmental reduction seen in Sean's boss arena, Kuroki's arena is a big circular expanse of snow with a small handful of rocks in the perimeter. It is possible to wall or corner punish here, but it will be tricky.

As for Kuroki's attack patterns, they are a bit more exotic than the others. This is due to her weapon of choice being a bladed chain-staff which she twirls around with deadly efficiency. Simply rushing her will result in her leaping backwards while throwing out a circular slash. Because of this, if you want to safely close the distance to Kuroki, you'll have to wait until you've successfully parried or dodged her attack strings first, since you'll have about two seconds to do so.

As for her attack strings, there are two major ones to keep in mind. The first is a four-attack string where she twirls her chain-staff in large horizontal slashes. But she generally goes in a discernible pattern: going high, then low, high, then low again. Figure out the timing of each slash, and the rest becomes muscle memory. There is a slight variation of this where her slashes are in much closer quarters, her final attack being essentially two attacks in one with a Z-pattern starting with an upper attack before going into a leg slash, so keep an eye on that.

Her second major strike is a quick and fast flurry of figure-eight slashes, ending in a long overhead slash. Just spam the down dodge until the overhead slash comes, then duck one more time as it comes in then you're good to start punishing.

 As for Kuroki's second phase, that is where things change a lot. First, she throws out the chain-staff for a pair of kunai. Second, she becomes a lot more agile with quick and fast slashes, drop kicks, and throwing barrages of knives at you.

There are three major attack chains to avoid here. The first is a string of about five slashes, all done in quick succession, followed by a running leap into a dropkick. You can parry or dodge the slashes as you see fit, but if that dropkick connects, you will be knocked off your feet. The second attack is where Kuroki leaps backwards and throws an arc of knives at you. This is usually followed up by one or two additional thrown knives. But more often than not, this is followed by her third attack: a fast-moving dash followed by an upward slash. If this isn't dodged or parried perfectly, it can drop you in one hit.

That last attack is the most difficult to handle, but there are a few work arounds. First, pay attention to Kuroki's model. You'll see a white flash on her face right before she attacks, so you can use that to your advantage. Alternatively, you can catch one of her knives out of the air with the Weapon Catch skill, wait for the flash, then just throw the knife at her. It will stop her mid-attack and leave her open to punishment. If you're going to do the latter, make sure you wait until you see her telegraphing this attack, otherwise she'll dodge or switch her attack patterns.

Sifu Boss Battle Guide – The Tower's Jinfeng

How to beat Jinfeng

Weirdly enough, Jinfeng might counterintuitively be the easiest and the hardest boss in Sifu. This is because most of her attack patterns and strategies are relatively straightforward once you know the patterns. Also, there isn't that much of a change in her fighting style going from her first phase into her second.

So what exactly makes Jinfeng so challenging? Her weapon. It's a chained flail with absurdly long range. If will hit you from across the room, and it will not be coming at you slow. Worse still, she is the only character in Sifu that uses this weapon, so it will be surprising those who go in blind.

Jinfeng's most commonly used combo is a string of three attacks. It starts with two upper strikes, followed by a wide, arena-spanning lower sweep. Worse still, if you are tripped up by this sweep, she will immediately follow it up with a downward slam. Dodge roll or ground counter accordingly. Much like Kuroki's first phase, the best way to close the distance on Jinfeng is completely avoid these attack strings, then run and strike. Overall, while the attack animations and perspective might shift, Jinfeng's long-distance strikes will fall into this pattern of two upper strikes, followed by a sweep.

While close-up, Jinfeng does have two more alternate attacks strings. The first is a string of figure-eight attacks followed by an overhead strike. The second is two more overhead attacks followed by a spinning pivot into an open palm attack. All of these can be avoided by ducking.

Sifu Boss Battle Guide – The Sanctuary's Yang

How to beat Yang

Finally, we have the last big bad of Sifu, Yang. The guy that killed your sensei/father in the very beginning. The jerk that kicked this entire game off. You are finally able to get your revenge after so much hardship. It all boils down to one last fight.

And... there's no real silver bullet strategy to beating Yang. The reason for this is because fighting Yang is essentially fighting against yourself but with the entire Skill Tree unlocked. Name a single skill in your arsenal that you've used to break guards or interrupt some mook getting here? Yang can do the same thing to you. Do you like tripping up baddies with that running sweep kick? Yang does it as well. That flurry of blows attack? Yep, Yang has it too.

That's not all. In addition to Yang essentially being a mirror match, all of your Focus skills are disabled. Those unique attacks that can break enemy defenses and help you get out of a bind are completely useless here.

The best advice I can give is just keep in mind your own gaps in defenses when it comes to certain attacks and apply them to fighting Yang. How many strikes are in that attack string? What are the wind up animations for that one attack? How would you dodge or parry your own attacks?

Things only escalate in Yang's second phase. In addition to everything I mentioned above, Yang gets some unique attacks of his own. In keeping with the rule or threes, he will start slipping in leg sweeps at the end of some of his combos. In addition, Yang will start kicking off walls to perform powerful spinning back kicks. These can thankfully be ducked, but can be disarming if you're not careful. Finally, there is a powerful dash attack Yang will perform where he speeds forward in a blur, followed by two rapid open-palm strikes.

No joke, Yang is the ultimate test of all of your skills in Sifu, and he is not easy. Hopefully, this bit of foreknowledge will make things more manageable.

And with that, you should have a better idea of what awaits you in Sifu's boss battles. Good luck, and remember practice makes perfect.