How to Defeat Sean in Sifu

At this point, it should be clear Sifu is less about offense and more defense. It’s hard to learn and even more difficult to master, which is what makes Sean such a hard boss. He functions in the same way as Metal Gear Rising‘s Monsoon fight. He can be brute-forced but ultimately you need to learn the mechanics if you want to beat the game. Thankfully, we’re here to make the fight a little easier.

How to Defeat Sean in Sifu

Set Up

Surprisingly, there isn’t much in terms of setup you can do. I suggest using the shortcut to fight him, as you won’t miss out on a dragon and personally found Focus Reserve to be the most practical ability, along with Structure Reserve.

There is some merit to the weapon skill, though they’re mostly used later on. As far as skills, I stuck to using Strong Sweep Focus and then using attacks that hurt them on the ground.

Sean also has a wall of staff at the start of the fight if you prefer. I would commonly take the staff from the previous fight or the stick near the shortcut into the fight and lay into Sean, but over time I found it caused me to take more damage than I needed to. These will disappear partway through the fight, so if you’re close to pushing him, consider grabbing one.

Sean – Phase One

Sean’s first phase is interesting since he is extremely aggressive. This is also his weakness. You need to use a guard and wait for a series of attacks. They’re almost always high, so either anticipates a high attack or just guard through. The goal is to wait for his last strike and dodge it for a heavy attack. It doesn’t matter how many times you hit him, eventually, he will stop you and that is your cue to stop engaging him.

Personally, once I get a good opportunity, I like to use the aforementioned Strong Sweep Focus and then follow up with a downed attack. It’s good for dealing some easy damage or preventing some awful attacks.

Sean – Phase Two

If Sean wasn’t already enough like Shishio, the place was set on fire, which also includes his staff. Thankfully, the core fight is almost the same. This time he will use the lower attack a little more, though it’s mostly waiting for the last attack and power through. Smart players will want to position themselves near a pillar to deal extra damage and stun him briefly.

It can be hard but as long as you’re not too aggressive you should be able to win.

How to Get the Fire Talisman

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.

Now, what makes Sean difficult is his health. He isn’t as robust as some of the others and there is a good chance you won’t be able to smack him around twice. Instead of smacking him, I made sure to invest in Parry Impact and went purely defense. Each time you input the guard command before he hits the gauge will slowly increase eventually leading to his defeat.

Video Guide

If you’re still stuck, here is a video showcasing the strategy.