Sifu’s system of unlocking skills has players gaining experience through multipliers based on decisive combat over button mashing, such as perfect blocking, dodging, and using a combination of combat techniques to dismantle foes’ guard and lay down the hurt. However, as the challenge ramps up (and it does quickly) players will find they’ll need a lot more tools in the kit to deal with the ever-increasing threats. Here are some of the best skills players can permanently unlock first in Sifu to guarantee justice is served swiftly and with maximum prejudice.
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Best Skills To Permanently Unlock First in Sifu
The First Stage and Getting Experience
Sifu’s difficulty is cleverly disguised in its enemy design. The first stage will have the player dealing mostly with foes who may as well be punching bags, with the occasional mini-boss to spice things up. This serves as a good initiation to the combat mechanics and stage design separate from the game’s killer intro. As the player fights their way through all the games’ stages, they will earn experience points based on their combat performance.
Sifu is a game about patience and timing the perfect strike, so the better the player is at avoiding hits and successfully performing dodges and blocks, the more experience points they will earn which they can then use for purchasing skills. The player should use this first mission to get as high a multiplier and as many experience points as possible, as it will set the tone for the rest of the playthrough. The player is able to save their experience points, and it is recommended to do so, as the player can get through the first stage fairly reasonably without needing to purchase any skills. After the first Sifu stage in The Squats, the player will be sent back to the dojo where they can use the literal skill tree to spend their hard-earned experience.
Cancels/Counters
The player begins the game with some combos already known, and these can be seen in the combos tab of the pause menu. It is recommended then to initially spend experience points on the Focus Attacks or the Cancels/Counters. The player could really choose either, but the cancels/counters are recommended initially as dodging/countering is crucial to maintaining the multiplier and minimizing damage. The less the player gets hit due to dodges/counters, the higher the multiplier will go, which of course leads to more experience points, more skills, and keeping the age low.
These can be easily overlooked since they aren’t as exciting as say a triple spinning back kick, but a Pushback Cancel will keep the player on their feet to perform said kick in the first place. However, if the player does find themselves knocked to the floor, the Ground Counter skill will rectify this by sweeping the enemies’ feet and immediately standing the player up. A good defense is a great offense in Sifu, and practicing the dodges and counters right from the start will only do the player well as a good foundation. The player can practice using these skills against the training dummy in the dojo. Set the AI to aggressive and take some time practicing avoiding attacks, also allowing the character to be knocked down as well to practice the Ground Counter, as timing in Sifu can be tricky for beginners.
Focus Attacks
The next skills the player will want to unlock are going to be the Focus Attacks, as they allow the player a powerful free attack that cannot be blocked. Since the player has more confidence with the dodging/countering now, the increased multiplier will also contribute to building the player’s focus. The player can then use these to interrupt a powerful foe’s attack, or to free up some breathing room when surrounded by multiple enemies.
There are Focus Attacks for both melee and weapons. It is recommended to initially go with the melee ones, as weapons can be sparse at times, but the player will always have their fists. With the combination of a swift defense plus the Focus Attacks, the player can now really focus on learning the combos, as they will become crucial to the long-term playthrough, as Sifu’s enemies and bosses get increasingly difficult. Like before, it is recommended to practice on the training dummy. This time, work in some known combos as well to start getting a feel for the dance that is martial arts.
Weapons, Environmental, and Combos
Next, the player may want to start working on the weapon and environmental skills. This can go interchangeably with the combos as they both involve more of the offensive side of combat, arguably the most challenging aspect of Sifu. Save the bladed weapon skill for last, as blunt weapons will appear more readily at first. The second stage has the player going to a club with a lot of bottles around, so the Environmental Mastery or Weapon Catch skills work well here as the enemy will start throwing them.
From here, it is a matter of preference what combos to unlock first, though the light attack combos may prove useful because, of course, they are weaker than the heavy attacks. They are fast, proving extremely useful as the character ages. The character will get slower with age, but the attacks will become stronger, so going with the light attacks first will set the player up nicely for the long game as they maintain speed over the heavier while increasing damage with the passing decades. Heavy attacks can be purchased last as the solid nail in the coffin that will see Sifu players through to the end.
Sifu is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.
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