Sifu: Complete Walkthrough & Boss Guide
0% complete
🗺️ Main Story Walkthrough
Tick off each step as you go — your progress saves locally, no account needed.
The opening level takes place in a rundown housing project controlled by Fajar's drug operation. You begin at age 20 with a clean death counter, but each time you are killed your age increases by your current death count — die once and you age by 1, die again (at age 21) and you age by 2, and so on. Mastering the Focus parry system is critical here: block incoming strikes with the precise guard-timing parry to reduce enemy Structure, then use the Structure Break prompt to drop them. In the Squats' main hallway fight, locate the Skull Twins mini-boss who carry keys that open a shortcut, allowing you to skip the most enemy-dense section and arrive at Fajar fresher. Shrines found throughout the level let you permanently unlock skills — prioritize Weapon Durability and Environmental Mastery for immediate utility.
The second level is a neon-lit underground fight club where Sean the Fighter trains elite martial artists. The Club features significantly harder enemies than the Squats — most fighters here guard high, so starting combos with a low sweep into a grab punishes their defensive posture effectively. The level design channels you through a series of progressively harder room fights before an arena showdown. Sean's fighters wield staffs and sticks; use Environmental Mastery to grab the weapons racks on the walls and fight back with improvised weapons. This is the level where the player death-and-aging system typically forces its first real consequences, so conserving health by walking away from fights you cannot finish quickly is better than committing to a protracted exchange.
The third level takes place in a modern art museum at night, where Kuroki the Artist's disciples guard the exhibits. Enemy complexity peaks here: many opponents carry weapons and combine kicks with weapon strikes in longer unpredictable strings. The Museum contains some of the game's most rewarding collectible evidence boards — interact with every art installation and marked object to fill out the murder-investigation cork board back at your headquarters, revealing the full backstory of what happened to your father. A key shortcut unlocks after finding a specific access card on a security guard on the second floor; taking the shortcut preserves health and age for the Kuroki encounter. If you are above age 45 entering the Museum, consider resetting the level from an earlier point to reduce your age before attempting Kuroki.
Level four is a glass-and-steel corporate skyscraper owned by Jinfeng's tech corporation. The Tower introduces the highest density of armored and weapon-wielding enemies in the game — security guards with electrified batons require two Structure breaks before they stagger, so plan for longer individual fights. The elevator sequences are controlled corridor fights ideal for practicing the push and shove mechanics that slam enemies into walls for bonus Structure damage. Jinfeng's Penthouse is accessible via a side staircase that bypasses a particularly difficult lobby fight — find it on the 38th floor's eastern wing. Arriving at Jinfeng below age 40 is achievable with disciplined play and directly impacts whether certain late-game skill unlocks are still accessible.
The fifth and final level is Yang's secluded highland sanctuary, a serene-yet-deadly environment populated by Yang's most devoted students. This level tests everything the game has taught — enemy combinations here mix weapon users, fast strikers, and grapple specialists simultaneously. Critically, the game has an alternate path: if you spared all four previous bosses by breaking their Structure twice in Phase 2 without killing them, a different ending path unlocks in the Sanctuary. The final approach to Yang's inner dojo is intentionally linear, ensuring you arrive at the climax in whatever condition the entire run has left you. At age 70 or above the protagonist dies permanently on the next kill, so aggressive shrine-based age reduction in earlier levels pays its dividend here.
⚔️ Boss Guides
Fajar (The Botanist — The Squats)
Attack Patterns
Fajar is a mute former soldier turned drug lord who fights with acrobatic Capoeira-influenced kicks inside his rooftop greenhouse. Phase 1 features wide looping jump-kicks, a rapid three-kick combo that must be blocked in full, and a cartwheel escape when cornered. Phase 2 activates mid-fight: Fajar removes his shirt, transitions to fighting with his hands, and begins using the greenhouse's plant trellises to swing for additional aerial kick angles. He gains a diving heel-drop attack in Phase 2 with significant stagger on hit.
Strategy
Duck (hold down-block) for most of Phase 1 — Fajar's entire Phase 1 kit consists of high and mid attacks that a simple crouch neutralizes. After ducking a kick, sweep his grounded leg immediately to knock him down and apply the ground-stamp follow-up for Structure damage. In Phase 2, the heel-drop must be dodged laterally rather than ducked; the instant he commits to the aerial dive, side-step and counter with a grab into the greenhouse wall for the largest single Structure hit available in this fight. To spare Fajar for the alternate ending, break his Structure bar twice in Phase 2 and hold the Takedown button when the glow prompt appears instead of striking.
Sean (The Fighter — The Club)
Attack Patterns
Sean is a disciplined martial arts champion who fights with a traditional wooden staff in Phase 1. His staff combos are three-to-four-hit strings ending in either an uppercut sweep or a spinning overhead swing. A shoulder tackle with significant forward momentum punctuates his offense. Phase 2 ignites his staff with fire and dramatically increases his attack speed; he adds a double-staff spin that tracks Sifu's position continuously and a leaping flaming slam that creates a ground-burn zone.
Strategy
In Phase 1, block the first two staff hits and then dodge backwards on the third — the staff's recovery after the final swing is approximately one second, giving a full five-hit follow-up window. Use grabbed improvised weapons from the club's weapon racks to deal bonus Structure damage at the start of the fight before Sean disarms you. In Phase 2, the double-staff spin can only be dodged by dashing through it (toward Sean) as it tracks backward movement. After dashing through the spin, his back is briefly exposed — this is the highest-damage combo window in the entire fight. Focus attacks on his arms during the flaming slam to build Structure faster.
Kuroki (The Artist — The Museum)
Attack Patterns
Kuroki is a performance artist who uses a bladed chain-staff (kyoketsu-shoge) in Phase 1, fighting with flowing wide arcs that cover enormous range and a whip-wrap grab that immobilizes Sifu briefly. She uses the chain's length to attack from beyond normal melee range, making standard pokes ineffective. Phase 2 switches entirely to dual-wield kunai and close-range hand strikes, becoming faster and more aggressive at close range than Phase 1 while removing the range advantage.
Strategy
Phase 1: close the gap to grapple range (inside the chain-staff's ideal distance) to completely neutralize the weapon's range. At close range, Kuroki's chain swings miss entirely, leaving her in recovery. Grab and slam into the marble sculpture bases for bonus Structure damage. Phase 2: the kunai throw is preceded by a visible right-arm-pull-back animation — activate the Weapon Catch input the instant you see the pull-back to catch the kunai and immediately throw it back, which deals its full damage and briefly staggers her. Between kunai throws, her close-range hand combos are actually shorter than Phase 1's weapon strings and easier to parry-counter.
Jinfeng (The CEO — The Tower)
Attack Patterns
Jinfeng is the only Sifu boss who fights almost entirely with a weapon: a long spiked chain flail that gives her extraordinary range. Her primary combo starts with two overhead upper strikes followed by a wide sweeping lower attack that crosses the arena floor. She periodically charges a single-hit spinning-flail slam that covers 360 degrees and is her most damaging individual attack. In Phase 2 she adds a rapid multi-hit chain-lash that must be perfect-parried rather than standard-blocked or it drains enormous amounts of Sifu's Structure instantly.
Strategy
The two overhead strikes can be ducked; jump the floor sweep at the end of her combo string rather than attempting to block it, as blocking the sweep breaks your guard entirely. After the jump, you land directly beside her for a free grab. Against the charged 360-degree slam, sprint backward to its maximum range — the flail loses nearly all knockback at range and becomes safe to absorb. In Phase 2, when her chain-lash begins (rapid multiple-hit sound), switch to the perfect parry input (earlier timing than standard block) for each individual strike. Breaking her Structure twice in Phase 2 without a kill enables the spare ending path.
Yang (The Leader — The Sanctuary, Final Boss)
Attack Patterns
Yang is the architect of the massacre that killed your father and the game's ultimate test. Phase 1 presents Yang as a controlled tactician using precise one-inch punch combinations, low sweeps, and wrist-grab throws. His Phase 1 combos are short but perfectly timed to beat impatient offense. Phase 2 sees Yang attack with genuine emotional intensity — he becomes relentlessly aggressive with longer eight-to-ten-hit combo strings, a diving palm strike that travels half the room, and a devastating throw chain that can kill a young player outright if they fail the escape prompt. He almost never attacks recklessly and will punish any missed block or failed parry with a full combo.
Strategy
Phase 1 demands that you let Yang attack first and counter rather than initiating. His one-inch punch combo always ends in a palm thrust that can be perfect-parried for a free structure break follow-up — mastering this specific counter is worth practicing for several deaths. In Phase 2, the diving palm has a run-up animation; back-dash then immediately counter as he commits. Never attempt extended combos in Phase 2 — Yang will interrupt at the fourth or fifth hit with a reversal. Instead, stick to two-hit chains followed by a grab. For the alternate (spare) ending, break his Structure twice in Phase 2 without the kill and hold the Takedown input when the glow prompt appears; this triggers a different cinematic that resolves the story without perpetuating the cycle of revenge.