How to beat the final boss in Sifu, Yang the Leader

After defeating the first four bosses in Sifu, you’ll find yourself at The Sanctuary, a mountainside facility run by Yang. He’s the final step in completing your revenge, and he doesn’t make it easy. Here’s how to beat the game’s final boss.

First things first, be ready for the purest fight in the whole game. Focus attacks are disabled — Yang will even comment that it’s not worth trying — and you can’t bring any outside weapons into the fight. This is a true test of skill, demanding almost entirely parries and counters. Getting in a clean hit without waiting for Yang to mess up first is very rare.

He’ll come at you with kicks, single punches, and a series of swipes, all of which can be dodged to the side or parried with the right timing. You need to wait for Yang to move first, avoid or parry his blow, then fire back with your own attacks when he’s done to catch him off guard. If you’re trying to beat him via the structure meter, then you’ll need to be very aggressive about this, goading him into attacking by throwing a punch of your own, parrying his incoming blows, and making sure to hit him at every opening. He may also come at you with a sliding kick — this cannot be parried, so be sure to hop over it.

Keep the pressure on, and you’ll initiate phase two after the first takedown. The fight moves outside, and Yang begins to attack even faster than before. The same rules apply — dodge or parry his attacks and counter as often as possible — but now you’ll need to be even more on top of things. The space is also smaller in phase two, so try to avoid having your back near the wall, as he can knock you into it and cause extra damage.

You’ll also need to be prepared for two new attacks. One is a copy of the flying kick used by Fajar the Botanist, sending Yang leaping toward you. This attack has that telltale red glow, so be ready to dodge it since it can’t be parried. The same goes for his other new attack, which is a series of glowing swipes that can completely break your structure meter if you just hold down the block button. You’ll know this attack is coming when Yang’s arms glow and he starts rearing up, so be ready to dodge the series of swipes because that’s your only option.

Yang is an aggressive fighter, and you need to battle him the same way. Parry everything you can, dodge what you can’t, and always look for opportunities to get your own hits in. Stay sharp, and you’ll come out of this fight on top and finish Sifu.