Everything in Sifu is merely prelude for the final boss. It’s an understatement to say Yang is the hardest boss in the game. Yang is one of the hardest bosses in any game. Defeating him instantly includes you in the hall of gaming great achievements — up there with taking out the final boss of Sekiro. The final boss of the game, The Leader, waiting in his secluded sanctuary healing center, is on another level. After beating this guy, the rest of the bosses in the game feel like bugs to be easily squashed.
After your first fight, Yang is going to feel insurmountable. But there are strategies to beat him — unlock the right Shrine rewards and you’ll have a much easier time against Yang. Both of his forms are brutally hard, requiring precise timing and use of two features you might’ve been neglecting earlier in the game. If you haven’t learned how to use deflect or dodge to their fullest, you won’t last long against Yang.
If you’re struggling against one of the hardest bosses ever — and why wouldn’t you — then check out my tips below. After a little practice, you’ll be able to beat Yang consistently. Just don’t ask for help if you want to try beating Yang without dying once.
More Sifu guides:
Beginner’s Guide | Best Skills To Permanently Unlock First | Best Shrine Rewards To Unlock First | How To Beat The Warrior | How To Beat The Artist | How To Beat The CEO | How To Spare Bosses & Unlock The True Ending
How To Beat The Leader | The Sanctuary Boss Guide
The one true challenge of your skill in Sifu. The Leader, Yang, is an incredibly difficult opponent that utilizes all of your moves — and some of his own. He is fast, aggressive, and carries enough health / structure to take you from Age 30 to Age 70+ all by himself. Before entering this fight for the first time, you’ll want to refight all the previous bosses in the game and give yourself as many extra lives as possible.
NOTE: Focus is useless against Yang. Focus moves will NOT work and are locked out. Any rewards related to focus will not help in this fight.
For this boss, practice really makes perfect. You don’t need any specific moves — but certain Shrine Rewards will help you win. Before going into the fight, you’ll want some (or all) of these shrine rewards.
- Required: Structure Reserve – If possible, you’ll want x3 Structure Reserve upgrades. The more blocking energy the better.
- Required: Structure Regain – Again, increase this as much as possible. You will be dodging and blocking a lot in this fight. To keep your structure from breaking, get Structure Regain upgrades.
- Optional, But Very Helpful: Parry Impact – This increases the damage a successful Parry does on an opponent’s structure. Getting the required score can be difficult, but it is absolutely worth it. Get it as early as you can. It helps against every boss, and especially helps against the final boss.
When you’re ready to take on Yang, fight through his legion of followers and enter his private quarters.
Also, I’ll be talking a lot about “perfect guarding” — that’s when you perform a perfectly timed deflect [L1] that staggers your opponent and opens them up to a parry attack.
Phase 1:
Your first fight against Yang is a lesson. Yang is a relentless, lightning-fast enemy that will take advantage of your every weakness. In the first phase, he is less aggressive and will not pursue you — he’ll only attack when you get close. He will always guard your opening attacks and counter. Be ready. This fight is all about dodging and perfect guards for a parry.
For the first round, I recommend learning his moves and practicing your dodge, and practicing perfect guards against his standard strikes.
- Yang will counter with a very fast two-hit palm strike combo — or a kick followed by three more. Learn to dodge this and immediately strike back. You should be striking at every opportunity that’s open to you. Yang is extremely fast and won’t give you much time to attack him — if he whiffs a combo, that’s your chance to hit him.
- Perfect guarding — blocking at just the right time to stagger — is your best strategy for both phases of this fight. You want to deal maximum damage to Yang’s structure. We’ll be breaking his structure FAR earlier than taking down his standard health bar.
- When Yang performs a huge jump backwards, be prepared for him to rush in and attempt a low sweep kick. Dodge high (or simply guard, but you can’t perfect guard this attack) — if you can learn to dodge this attack and counter, you’ll be making a lot of progress on finally defeating him.
Yang changes up his attacks and combos rapidly. He doesn’t have strong tells for most of his attacks, so learning to perfect guard is one of your best defenses. If you spam guard during his flurry attacks, you can get lucky and stagger him. Just make sure to recharge your structure before it breaks completely.
Phase 2:
In Phase 2 Yang has much more aggressive. He’ll rush into combat with you and won’t wait — be prepared for rapid attacks that can cover a lot of turf. He’ll jump off walls to perform a dropkick, or sprint directly at you with heat fists that can’t be perfect guarded.
- Yang’s most dangerous move in this phase is his throw. Whenever you’re in close range, Yang can attempt to grab and throw you with almost no warning. The only way to counter this attack? Don’t stand close to him too long.
- The throw, unlike throws from large enemies, can be blocked, interrupted, or perfect guarded. It is not a glowing attack. As long as you’re not simply dodging, you can stop these annoying, powerful attacks.
- Yang also gains powerful red-hot palm attacks that can’t be perfect guarded and deal strong damage to your structure. When you see him charging forward with his clawed hands outstretched, be prepared to down low [L1+Down]. Then you can attempt to counter.
- Any red-hot glowing attack can also be countered with a quick kick or punch while it’s winding up. You’ll have to be very fast.
Like the first phase, perfect guards is your best friend. Scoring perfect guards (deflects) against the boss will bring him down faster and safer than any other method. Learn when to dodge and when to deflect, always keep on the pressure, and exploit his every mistake. If you can do that, you’ll finally conquer Sifu.
