How to Beat Sean the Fighter, Club Boss - Sifu

In many ways, Sean is actually an easier fight than the previous boss. That being said, he’s still a boss. In this guide, we’ll go over all of Sean’s moves, and give specific strategies as well as general tips and tricks for dealing with him.

Note that the following is only applicable after beating the game once and being sent back to the Wuguan.

SPARING BOSSES: During the second phase of boss fights in Sifu, you can choose not to use the finishing move on them once their structure is broken. If you do this twice, you’ll be given the option to spare them if you stand close enough (while their structure is broken and they’re ready for a finishing move). In order to accomplish this, you’ll need to make sure you don’t reduce their health bar to zero in the process — if their health is close to gone, you’ll have to parry them instead of attacking to break their structure.

Sparing every boss is the only way to truly beat the game.

General Tips

If you aren’t low on structure, you should parry instead of avoiding in phase 1; in phase 2, also parry, except on the last move of the combos — these should be avoided instead.
If you are low on structure, avoid attacks instead of parrying or blocking. In phase 2, you can use the dodge button () backwards for the first attack, as it may be the leg sweep.

Phase 1

If you enjoyed using the staff when you fought that huge woman a few rooms back, you should start this fight by sprinting to your left or right and grabbing a staff from the rack against the wall. They don’t seem to do significantly more damage than your fists, so if you prefer knuckles to wood, it’s really up to you. There are plenty of staves, so feel free to grab another one when your first one breaks.

In this phase, all attacks are high attacks, so you can avoid down every time. There is only one guardbreak, and it comes at the end of a three swing combo. Try to parry everything except the final attack in the Triple Staff Swing Guardbreak unless you’re low on structure (in which case you should use avoids instead).

Attacks

Triple Staff Swing

This is Sean’s most used move (even in Phase 2). You should try to parry the first two swings, then avoid the third and start attacking.

Triple Staff Swing Guardbreak

The timing is basically identical to the other Triple Staff Swing, but the final attack is a guardbreak and needs to be avoided. You’ll know the guardbreak is coming if his first swing is vertical instead of horizontal.

Staff Lunge

This is almost always used as a gap closer, and is frequently chained into one of the Triple Staff Swings. It should be parried whenever possible.

Elbow Strike

Similar to the Staff Lunge, but faster and generally used from closer. Should also be parried, though feel free to just block this one since it’s so dang fast. Like the lunge, this is usually chained into one of the longer combos.

Side Strike

This looks identical to the beginning of the Triple Staff Swings, but only consists of one swing. In the below clip, Sean does it twice in a row. This is frequently chained into other attacks. Easily parried, though counterattacking can be risky since some of his follow up moves will land if you attempt to counter.

Phase 2

The overall strategy remains the same: parry when high on structure, avoid when low. The most meaningful difference is that Sean sometimes opens a combo with a low sweep, so you can’t safely avoid the first attack in his combos unless you identify the low attack coming.

The biggest challenge in this phase is how often he’ll dodge backwards mid-combo, making it harder to gain a rhythm. Focus on parrying the beginning of his combos and avoiding the rest; get follow-up damage in if he finishes the combo instead of dodging, or if you manage to stun him.

All of Sean’s moves from Phase 1 are present in Phase 2. However, the three swing combos now both end with a guardbreak, and sometimes he’ll end combos early and dodge backwards. There are a few new moves as well, as seen below.

Attacks

Sweeping Staff Swings

This is the Triple Staff Swing Guardbreak combo from phase 1, but with the addition of an opening low attack. Your best bet is to parry his opening attacks in this phase, but if you see it coming you can avoid up as in the GIF below.

Overhead + Lunge

This attack isn’t particularly powerful, and can be guarded, avoided, or parried.

Overhead + Swing + Overhead

A fairly fast combo, so try to avoid or guard rather than parry.

Victory

Once you defeat the Fighter, you’ll find yourself back in the Wuguan. You can use the Skill Tree to spend the points you earned from defeating the boss, then use the window to start the next level – The Museum.