Surprise: Sifu is tough as hell. If you came into the game expecting for a combat system similar to Sleeping Dogs or the Batman Arkham series, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. The combat is on par with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice to some extent, while the overall structure is akin to a roguelite.
There’s a lot to learn, but this Sifu tips guide may help make your journey as painless as possible — after a few retries, that is.
If you’re in need of more help, we have several additional guides on Sifu, covering the male or female choice, Death Counter, shortcuts, dialogue options, best skills, altar locations and best perks, as well as the detective board.
Sifu Tips
1. Evading Is Almost As Important as Parrying, if Not More
At the start of the game, you’ll be taught to parry before dodging or evading. While a perfectly-timed parry is something you want to achieve often, it isn’t the only way to defend yourself. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it shouldn’t be your priority. Evading enemies is tough to coordinate, as you need to pay attention and act during very short windows of time, but it’s key to get used to it as early as possible.
A successful evade keeps you safe from harm and prevents enemies from attacking your structure. In addition, if you manage to evade specific attacks (either a strong attack from an enemy or the last attack in a sequence from bosses or special encounters), then the foe will be in slow motion for a brief moment. You can use this window to attack them. Repeat this a couple of times and they’ll be briefly stunned, becoming prone to even more attacks. Evading is everything, and it will be mandatory for bosses, so get on it.
2. Bumping Into the Environment Causes Damage
A collision against environment objects, from walls to pillars, will always cause damage — as a silver lining, this also applies to enemies. Performing a Palm Strike is great for this as well as using weapons.
3. Dodging Is a Good Reflex To Develop
While you should definitely focus on evading first, one of the Sifu tips to keep in mind is that dodging can provide for a great escape during tough situations. Evading demands for you to dodge either up or down. While evades have their own benefit, you can just dodge to any direction using the right shoulder button to the same effect.
4. No, There Are No Difficulty Options
There is no way to choose a difficulty option in Sifu nor tweak the experience in some way. The only aspect that gets close is the option to remap buttons. If you were looking for an easy mode, that is not present here. It’s all about mastery, so definitely keep this in mind in case you aren’t used to combat systems that demand precision.
5. Remember to Vault Over Objects
This is something that is explained early on but is easy to forget, especially since there isn’t a visual indicator present all the time to remind you of it. In any case, you should be making the most out of nearby tables or counters by vaulting over them if you need a quick escape. Friendly reminder that you need to actually press X/A to vault over objects — don’t try to rush through them as it won’t work. Oh, and of course, enemies can vault as well.
6. There is Both a Photo Mode and a Taunt Action
You likely won’t even be thinking about the D-Pad most of the time, but there are two distinct buttons there: D-Pad down is Photo Mode, while D-Pad right is Taunt. The first is fairly standard and what you would have come to expect after years of iterations. The good thing is that you can use it to pause any moment outside of cutscenes and take a stylish shot.
On the other hand, Taunt is kind of an optional action — doing it in front of enemies will give you some score points. But of course, be wary of upcoming attacks while you’re telling everyone that they’re a coward.
7. Push Enemies Down Stairs Or Elevations
It may sound redundant amidst the rest of Sifu tips, but there is a benefit to pushing enemies down stairs or elevations, such as the pit in The Club. They’ll be hurt quite a bit after they fall, and it may just be the thing that turns a tough encounter around, especially when dealing with multiple foes at once. Just keep in mind that the same applies to you, so stand your ground as much as possible.
8. Stages Are Permanently Unlocked… and You’ll Have To Replay Them
You don’t get to keep everything you’ve gained during runs after a game over screen, but stages are one of the exceptions. If you beat a final boss, you will forever unlock the following stage. This is important, as you’ll find yourself replaying them more often than not to improve your Death Counter or find new shortcuts that will help you in the long run. There are only five levels in Sifu, but they aren’t shy in scope by any means.
9. Your Score Multiplier Stays With You
Your score multiplier will stay with you so long as you don’t get hit, so don’t worry about having to chase another enemy group just to keep your streak going. Moreover, your overall score isn’t lost, so you’re free to spend it on an altar reward afterward if you want.
10. Structure Damage Stays With Enemies After You Revive
If you have been dealing damage on the structure of an enemy and you die, reviving won’t restart their structure. This is useful in case you want to rise again to finish an enemy that only needed a couple more hits, instead of restarting the stage altogether.
11. Throwing Weapons is Great, Actually
Pressing R1/RB while holding a weapon will automatically throw it to the enemy you’re aiming at. It took me several runs to remember this was a thing, but it then became my go-to in most situations. If you’re facing multiple enemies at once, you can quickly throw a broom or bottle to someone who is approaching you from behind, while quickly coming back to the foe you were targeting beforehand.
It creates great synergy. At times, you may even get a takedown opportunity from a successful throw if the enemy’s structure was just about to be depleted.
12. Play Dirty, Be a Pain in The Ass
This advice goes alongside all the Sifu tips on the list, and it’s important to focus on: You should be a complete asshole and use everything at your disposal in ways that benefit you. Throw weapons, interrupt attack sequences by sneaking a quick punch in between, repeat the same skill as many times as you want against the same enemy… don’t be afraid to experiment with everything.
For example, there is a moment in The Museum where you’re inside a room with two enemies. There also happens to be an exhibition with colored lightbulbs — you can grab all of them. Throwing them causes damage to the enemies, so I just stood up and quickly threw all of them until they were both down. Forget about finesse — it will only take you so far.
13. The Strong Sweep Focus Attack Is Essential
In case you’re wondering about which skill to get first, this is it. Poking enemies’ eyes with the default Focus Attack is good, but the Strong Sweep has saved me countless times. This will always take an enemy down to the ground, granting both a moment of respite and the opportunity to hit them by holding the Circle/B button. Honestly, invest in Strong Sweep — you can thank me later.
14. Restart Your Death Counter Before Final Bosses
If you’ve accumulated a Death Counter of three or more and you’re about to face a final boss, spend the altar reward on resetting that to zero. This is costly and you may not have enough XP (around 1,000) by the time you get to the boss, but if you do, I can’t recommend it enough.
15. Maximizing The Takedown Perk Isn’t Too Beneficial
The last of our Sifu tips is to not focus too much on the Health Gained On Takedowns perk. Found as one of the altar rewards, this perk can be incredibly useful. I strongly recommend getting at least one perk as soon as possible. That being said, remember that this won’t help you during one-on-one encounters, so prioritizing it over getting other perks before special encounters or boss fights isn’t too beneficial.
