Sifu: Best skills to unlock

Better than all the rest

Picking the best Sifu skills gives you an advantage in the fighting game’s often-overwhelming combat. A lot happens, very quickly, and just a few brutal strikes can entirely deplete your health before you know what happened. You need to learn to dodge and weave, as we outline in our Sifu tips and tricks guide, but more than that, you need some of the best skills in the game.

Our Sifu skills guide offers a breakdown of our favorite Sifu skills and what makes them worth your hard-earned XP. Proper use of these skills – combined with permanent unlocks – will make your successive runs through Sifu far easier.

For more help, check out our Sifu beginner's guide, which also outlines how to unlock permanent skills.

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Best Sifu Skills

Raining Strikes

They'll never see it coming / Sloclap

Raining strikes is incredibly simple to execute, and it unleashes a satisfying flurry of attacks. You just need to press “Triangle” twice, with a slight pause between presses to pull it off. That’s it. Just two buttons, and you’ll rapid-fire pound your opponent, which has the added bonus of knocking most low-rank enemies out of their attack animations.

Chasing Trip Kick

Violence does actually solve your problems / Sloclap

The Chasing Trip Kick does exactly what it says on the label. Most opponents will get pushed back after a light-to-heavy strike combo, and by double-tapping forward and hitting your light attack button, you’ll be able to chase and put your opponent to the floor. This gives you an advantage as they get up, or you can hold "Circle" for a grounded strike.

Duck Strike

Quack / Sloclap

Holding the light attack button with the Duck Strike skill unlocked lets you duck and move forward at the same time, striking your opponent at the end. It’s a simple and effective move, and it helps you dodge underneath an opponent’s strikes and punish them for even approaching you. In the first two stages, many standard and tougher enemies focus on high strikes, and Duck Strike puts you out of reach of these cheeky attacks. It’s one of the most expensive skills to unlock permanently, though.

Environmental Mastery

Throwing hands and everything else you can find / Sloclap

This one makes you feel really, really cool. Environmental Mastery lets you throw an item directly from the ground at a foe, without having to pick it up. This works with items like bottles and bricks, in addition to actual weapons including bats and blades. Best of all, you can multitask with this skill and potentially distract one enemy while combating another in crowded situations. 

Charged Backfist

Good timing is key for pulling this one off / Sloclap

This attack needs to be charged – hence the name – but that’s its only downside. Charged Backfist will stun any enemy and open them up for your next attack. This effect can be incredibly handy with tougher foes who love to keep their guard up and even interrupt your combos. Mixing Charged Backfist into your attacks should open up foes and help you defeat them more quickly, though many bosses won’t give you the opportunity to charge up. 

Snap Kick

A kick for every occasion / Sloclap

Snap kick is just like the chasing trip kick, except you tap your heavy attack after double-tapping forward. You can start this one from anywhere, not just as your opponent stumbles – though it can be used in that situation too, if you haven’t unlocked Chasing Trip Kick yet. Snap Kick allows you to cover a decent amount of distance when approaching an enemy, and the harsh kick can interrupt enemy attacks. 

Focus Attacks

They're costly, but worth it / Sloclap

Skills that we haven’t listed here are Focus Attacks, and there’s a good reason for that. All unlockable Focus Attacks require two bars of Focus in order to use – except the Thigh Cut Focus, which requires three bars. Focus attacks need Focus energy to use, of course, and as such you’ll be using them far less often than other moves. That’s not to say these moves can’t be incredibly helpful in the heat of battle, but they’re more situational – especially the ones that require weapons to use. When moving on to unlocking Focus Attacks, get the ones that don’t require weapons first.

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