Kuroki is a rather interesting boss. She starts by filling a lot of the samurai movie cliches in Sifu. You have the geisha girl who challenges you to a duel in a peaceful land covered in snow. Naturally, this fight can only conclude with one of you covering the snow with blood, and depending on how you got here, that will dictate the flow of battle.
Anyone who brute-forced their way through Sean is going to have a bad time. Kuroki isn’t that different from him, but the way she attacks makes a reckless style of play difficult. Those who mastered parrying will likely kill her without too many issues. Regardless of which path you’re on, we wanted to make sure you know How to Defeat Kuroki in Sifu.
How to Defeat Kuroki in Sifu
Set Up
Unlike the other bosses, Kuroki is shockingly simple to get to. Defeating two enemies, which are annoying but do decrease your death count, are all that stand between you and her. However, I suggest going on a detour and getting the other dragon statue.
To get it, use the keycard and go up the stairs. You’ll fight three enemies, each with a weapon. Once they’re done, you’re going to have two more enemies waiting for you. For the trophy hunters out there, the dapper gentleman in a fedora can be used to earn Be Like Water My Friend by stunning and then grabbing. This will instantly kill him and should land him in the fountain. The other enemy should go down relatively fast. If you’re not going for the trophy, I typically throw my bat at one, slide kick the other, finish the weaker one and then take down the dapper guy.
At this point, you want to decide which weapon you want to use against Kuroki. The two enemies on the second floor have a blade and baseball bat, with the mini-boss on the third floor giving a staff. I wouldn’t mess with the boss unless you want a death cleared, but if you do I suggest going forward if you’re low on health.
On the fourth floor, there is the dragon, which will heal you if you want to kill the mini-boss, or can be used to further your build. Unfortunately, you shouldn’t have enough scores to earn one of those rewards, so I suggest getting either Structure Reserve or Weapon Proficiency if you followed our Sean guide, though there isn’t a bad option. Even the dead one is worth it if you’re sitting on four or more.
After this head to the elevator and it will take you straight to Kuroki and the other statue. Simply get another upgrade you think is worthwhile, like in my case I did both of the aforementioned skills. I also suggest having Strong Sweep Focus if you haven’t got it yet.
Alt. Method
If you’re pretty good at Sifu and have issues with Kuroki’s first phase, it’s extremely easy with Parry Impact increased. She basically defeats herself, though getting to her with multiple parry impact levels is arguably harder than beating her normally.
Kuroki – Phase One
Surprisingly, Kuroki’s first form is a lot harder than her second. She attacks in alternating heights, meaning you legitimately need to know her move set if you want to dodge through it. Even with Structure Reserve, I wouldn’t suggest guarding until the end.
Since you should have a weapon, I suggest keeping your distance and letting her do her fancy attacks. For the most part, she has three set rotations. One where she constantly attacks chasing after you that will need to be guarded or attacked, another that ends with her looking pretty open and a third where she glows orange at the end doing a lower attack. My advice is to wait until you see the orange attack and then rush her.
If done correctly, she should follow this up with a single downward slash that counts as an upward attack. Dodge it and punish her. I would commonly attack until she defends, use a Strong Sweep Focus and then attack her on the ground.
Please note: I used three Strong Sweep Focus attacks with the build shown above and had enough with the bat to essentially win this phase. If you’re worried about longevity it should last.
Kuroki – Phase Two
Now, the second phase is going to depend entirely on your ability to play. If you’re good at countering and keeping cool, you’ll be fine and if you’re brute-forcing it, now is the time to stop.
Kuroki essentially has four different attacks again. She will go at range and throw kunai at you, rush at you with devastating speed, a powerful combo, or do an evasive move where she throws kunai at you.
Essentially there are two things you need to do. When she throws a kunai at you, use the high attack parry to avoid it or try your luck with dodge. While the parry always works, unless you can always do it, you’ll likely take more damage than trying to dodge it. At some point, she will rush you, which can also be avoided the same way. I suggest the parry for easy damage, you input the command when you see the light.
The other is her combo attack. This attack can be guarded through, but each time you get hit with her kunai it will deal damage to you. Worth it if you don’t want to risk additional damage, but not if you’re certain it can be avoided. It will always end with her jumping back and then forward, which you need to parry. Failing to do so will deal substantial damage and almost certainly break your structure.
If you can get the timing right for these two parts you’ll eventually win.
How to Get the Water Talisman
After beating Sifu you’ll obtain the ability to mercy each of the four main bosses. This is done by defeating their first phase, bringing their second phase to a takedown, letting it expire, and then doing it again. The second time there will be a different input that gives a new cutscene, unlocks their talisman, and gives a trophy. Getting them all also gives the true end, another trophy, and more.
Out of the four, she is the hardest because Kuroki doesn’t have a lot of health. She will die before you can do it a second time, so you have to use something like Parry Impact and guard through her attacks. In addition to that, you need to input the command each time, not hold down guard, to actually increase her gauge. If done correctly she will eventually be in a state to defeat.
Video Guide
If you’re still stuck, here is a video showcasing the strategy.
