This guide is not really good. If you genuinely want to learn more read this guide. https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2949828935
Feel free to carry on and read/rate this if you will.

In Sifu, defense is more important than offense. The player has 2 defensive options: Avoid and Block/Parry. For a new player, avoid is better, as it has IFrames and lets you get an opening to attack the enemy risking less than they would through trying to parry.

Avoid has 2 variations:

• Avoid Up (to dodge low attacks)

• Avoid Down (to dodge literally everything else)

Each can be used by holding guard and flicking the left stick up or down right before you get hit by an enemies attack

If you decide to parry (pressing guard right before getting hit) it will fill up your and the enemy's posture, once their posture is full, they'll be available for a takedown. If you keep parrying enemy attacks perfectly, your posture will fill up, but never "overflow", meaning you'll never get guardbroken therefore never punished. Sometimes parrying specific patterns/attacks will stun your enemy, allowing you to get a nice few hits in.

Regarding avoids, it's also worth to mention that a fat chunk of the hits your enemy will throw at you will be high attacks (for those you need to avoid down by holding guard and flicking the movement stick down), but depending on difficulty, even the most basic enemies will have access to low attacks at some point. When you first encounter an enemy that uses low attacks and tries to use a low on you, you must avoid UP, aka guard + left stick up. I know it's difficult to get used to enemies throwing lows at you, so my advice is just to try and parry a low in the long string of highs. Or just imbed your ability to dodge lows into your muscle memory. (See Learning Patterns)

The player has a few offensive options/moves from the start. You can always check them in the menu under the combos section.

You'll see that you have many combos you can do just by pressing a combination sequence of either Light attacks or Heavy attacks, although, you'll rarely ever get to use them, as even the grunts parry/block your attack on the third-fourth hit. So, that means most of your attempts at trying to do a full combo are futile, as the game usually allows you to only hit a stunned enemy thrice before they block it, unless your enemies are dazed.


Generally, the arsenal of combos you can actually use often and reliably is really small, and here it is.

(After getting an opening via a successful parry that stunned them or an avoid)
Heavy, Heavy, Sweep, Ground Pound (hold B or circle on a knocked down enemy) This is the best combo you'll have right as you start out the game. It's reliable and does alright damage.

Then there are the combos you can use after unlocking specific moves at the respawn screen:

• Heavy, Heavy, Crotch Punch, Heavy, Heavy (Crotch punch lets you get 2 Heavys in)
  
  
• Heavy, Heavy, Palm Strike, Chasing Strikes
  
  
• Heavy, Heavy, Palm Strike, Chasing Trip Kick (This one is an HP shredder)

Then there is Spin Hook Kick and Raining Strikes, both are pretty solid too.


When fighting multiple enemies, make sure they're not all grouped up around you, try to use directional throw to get some away from you. Also, using sweeps to get them onto the ground and basically put them in a timeout is a great strategy too.


You also get access to 3 types of weapons:

1. Sharp (machetes, knives)
   
2. Blunt (baseball bats, wooden sticks)
   
3. Staffs (mops, bo staffs)
   You also get access to throwbles, although, they are one time use.

Weapons have the same controls as unarmed combat, and for example, if you have duck strike unlocked, and try to use it with a sharp weapon, it will do a slashing barrage. Similar things happen to blunt weapons too. If you try to use an upgrade move while holding a weapon, you'll do a new and different move with the weapon you're holding. Weapons also make a difference to when you parry, as when you parry an enemy while holding a weapon, it fills up less of your structure and more of theirs.

A small tip for sharp weapons: If you have Charged Backfist unlocked, you can use the focus move Eye Strike, hold down your heavy, and one shot the enemy. Only works with knife-type weapons.

Enemies in this game have three kinds of stunned states: Being knocked on the ground, being stunned and being dazed.

• You can knock an enemy onto the ground by using moves/combos such as back breaker, spin hook kick, and sweep. Then, you can come up to them and hold B or circle to do ground pound, picking them up and ending your combo.

• A stun is the most common type of stun for enemies, you can stun an enemy by hitting them while they're attacking (only some types of enemies and only sometimes), parrying them, or avoiding their combo.

• A daze is basically a long stun, you can tell an enemy is dazed when a special sound cue plays, and the enemy appears stunned and there's an outline floating around them. A daze allows you to get longer combos in.

Once you defeat an enemy, you'll unlock them in the training mode. You can access training mode by going into your wuguan and coming up to the kung-fu training ♥♥♥♥ and activating it. There, in the training mode, you need to pick out an enemy and then press the prompt on the right to change their behavior to aggressive. Then, you can memorize your enemies' patterns, fight different variants of an enemy (for example, a grunt can be a grunt, an elite and a miniboss, training mode lets you access all) fight up to 3 enemies at once and see what's parriable or not, get used to the enemy's low attacks and so forth. Learning enemies' patterns is the best thing you can do to improve in this game. Being able to avoid or parry every attack is crucial to staying as young and as deadly as possible.

If you're struggling with going to the end of the level and unlocking enemies and bosses in training mode, here's what you can do:

Do a full run of the level without caring about your age, just make sure to get as close to the boss as you can. If you do get to the boss room, that must mean you've already beaten an enemy that gives you access to a shortcut. Look up shortcuts for your specific level on youtube. Then, you beat the level again using the shortcut, and get to the boss room as young as you manage to be when you get there. Then you just hope for the best and try to beat them. When you do, you unlock them in training mode, there you can practice against them, learn their attacks and patterns and so forth. Then you start a third run of the level from your wuguan, beating them at the best age you can, with a shortcut or without.

Here are the important upgrades you should prioritise getting. If you don't see an upgrade on here it's probably because it's useless.







S Tier

• Environmental Mastery - Lets you instantly throw projectiles/weapons at your enemies. It does great damage and can extend combos. Has no reason not to get it, it just has no downsides.

• Duck Strike - Lets you inf combo. (If you're garbage at the game) Also gives you avoid frames, as well as being able to interrupt some enemies attacks and stun them.

• Invert Throw - Positioning tool, no downsides.

• Chasing Trip Kick - HP shredder, no downsides aside from being a combo ender (?)

• Crotch Punch - Bread and Butter of your button mashing. Heavy variant bypasses most enemies' guard

• Charged Backfist - Good damage, even better interrupt potential. Best used as a sort of a counter. You can use this as your enemy telegraphs their attack so you can stun them and get a combo in.

• Weapon Catch - Just a good tool with no downsides. Useful against Kuroki.

• Ground Counter - Solid counter tool. The defense you need in a dire situation. No downsides either.

• Pushback Cancel - If you get pushed away by an enemy you might get your face pounded in with a bamboo stick without being able to do anything. This prevents it.

A Tier

• Crooked Foot - Good damage, good posture damage. Must only be used in a 1v1 or when the enemies are far away, as it gives you no IFrames and cannot be cancelled.

• Snap Kick - GAP CLOSER, AVOIDS UP

• Chasing Strikes - Sort of a combo extender with alright damage.

B Tier

• Raining Strikes - Just an HP Shredding move, you can't combo after it though. It's just alright.

• Spin Hook Kick - This is a move you wanna use when you're bored of just spamming Heavy Heavy Sweep Ground Pound I guess. Does good damage. Ends combos too.

C Tier

• Hook Intercept - I guess SOME people could find a use in this, but not me. I can see the potential though, as it gives you hyperarmor and can sometimes stun/interrupt.
  
  
• Flowing Claw - Barely any use. It gives you IFrames on timed use and lets you do 3 weak hits.

• For Fajar: Try to avoid his every attack. Aside from that, there aren't many tips for him, he's one of the simpler and straightforward bosses to fight.
  
  
• For Sean: Easiest boss in the game, spam avoid down or sometimes up, if you're on master difficulty. Relying on your reaction time is key.
  
  
• For Kuroki: Unlock her in training mode, and just try to memorize all her patterns. Her attacks are very confusing and it can take a lot of time, as it's mostly a mix of low and high attacks. For her phase 2 you can get weapon catch and throw her kunais back at her whenever she throws them at you. Spamming avoid instead of parrying her is also the preferred method.
  
  
• For Jinfeng: Parry her endlessly, if you get hit you're most likely going to get punished, unless you have the upgrade pushback cancel unlocked. Her posture fills up slightly quicker than other bosses, and she takes more posture damage from regular attacks, so keep parrying her, use a focus move and get a few hits in, then retreat.
  
  
• For Yang: Spam avoid, when you avoid a few hits from him, he will retreat. Hit him while he's in his "neutral state" and he'll do two strikes, both can be avoided, then he will be open to your attacks. Basically the same thing for his phase 2, except he'll get more aggressive and will use more different moves. Parrying is also a viable option.
  
  It's important that you unlock and grind all of bosses out in training mode before you go and try to fight them for real.
  
  Your playstyle whenever you fight bosses should be passive, just avoid/parry their attacks until you get an opening to attack them. Repeat.

So, to close this off, training mode is your best friend. Another bit of advice would be not to try and bruteforce your way through a difficult enemy, most of the time you'll just die again. Be patient, and try to understand and see the patterns.