Sifu Boss Guide: How To Defeat Fajar

Silent but violent.

Sifu
Sifu

Sifu is a challenging kung-fu action game that sees players controlling a determined martial artist looking for vengeance against the five people who conspired to murder their father. The first of these targets is Fajar, who’ll represent your first huge roadblock on the path to completing Sifu. Here’s everything you need to know about how to beat Fajar in Sifu.

 

Where Is Fajar?

Fajar is the end of level boss for the game’s first stage, The Squats, which are a series of dilapidated buildings currently occupied by the city’s lowlifes and degenerates. Fajar works as a botanist, and has control over plant life, so it’s perhaps no surprise then that Fajar is located in the greenhouse.

 

How To Defeat Fajar – Preparation

There isn’t much prep work to do in the lead-up to the fight with Fajar, at least when first starting out. It’s only on subsequent replays, where shortcuts become a thing, where you need to make the prep work, especially if you’re grinding for the subsequent bosses or planning for a full game run. There is a shortcut at the start of the level that takes you towards the end of the level, but if you’re looking to build up your run ahead of a full game attempt, don’t bother with it.

Take the default route, grab the shrine and follow the path all the way through the fight with the first big guy. Afterwards, take the optional fight against the Twins for the bonus shrine, then continue to Fajar, grabbing one last shrine beforehand. With future levels in mind, you’ll want to grab the first two focus bar upgrades. On top of that, you’ll need to score 4000 points to grab the “parries do more structure damage” upgrade, which is essential late game. After that, it’s time for Fajar himself.

 

How To Defeat Fajar – Phase 1

Sifu
Sifu

Fajar is by far the most dangerous foe you’ll have come across by that point in Sifu, though that’s something that could be said about 4 out of 5 of the game’s bosses. Initially, Fajar will feel like an intimidating fight, but after a few tries and time with him, patterns will start to emerge that’ll make your life much easier.

Phase one of the boss fight takes place in Fajar’s greenhouse, and Fajar will often try to engage from long range with huge jumping vertical kicks. Holding L1 to block then moving the left stick to the side just before impact should allow you to dodge the kick and let you follow up with a quick combo.

In truth, Fajar doesn’t have a lot of big moves in this stage, so you can treat it more like a regular fight, blocking, parrying and dodging his attacks as necessary in order to get to phase two. When you’ve built up enough focus, be sure to use it to gain the upper hand against him. The leg sweep and vertical strikes are great options to have against any boss, though require spending XP and grinding through the levels, so be sure to focus on permanently unlocking those skills as soon as possible.

If you are struggling with him, a good cheese tip to remember is that you can vault over the railings and planters scattered around the room. If you can get into a good rhythm with it, you can vault over, stun Fajar with the animation and land a quick combo, before vaulting back to relative safety. Just be careful of Fajar’s own vault attack. Once you’ve broken Fajar’s structure and hit a takedown, or simply reduced their health, you’ll move on to phase 2.

 

How To Defeat Fajar – Phase 2

Sifu
Sifu

Fajar’s second phase is when things get real. You’re both transported to a forest area, and the fight opens with Fajar jumping out of the thick bamboo trees to try and land a vertical machete slash. This will become a regular move to watch out for, so whenever Fajar jumps into the woods, expect him to jump back out with murder in his eyes.

Fajar’s moveset is vastly different in this second stage anyway. Machete in hand, Fajar will try his best to cut you to ribbons, but most of these moves can be avoided by spot dodging (L1+any direction). Be mindful of the combo that starts with a smaller jumping slash, as after a second slash, Fajar will go for a delayed side kick that’ll catch you off guard and deal significant damage. Either keep blocking until he stops attacking, being mindful of your own structure, or try to avoid mashing spot dodge as you’re more likely to be caught off guard.

The same focus attacks mentioned before are just as useful here, though the fight area also contains some broken bamboo which can be used as a weapon against Fajar. Blocking with a weapon will reduce the structure damage taken, while attacks with a weapon will deal increased damage. When you first encounter Fajar, you’re likely to be in for a rough ride, but if you stay calm and persistent, you’ll take down Fajar and be on your way to a showdown with Sifu’s second boss: Sean.

Sifu is available on PC, PS5, and PS4.

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