Which skills should you get first in Sifu?

Sifu features a variety of skills you can learn to dispatch your foes better. You learn these skills via the game’s skill tree and unlock them by spending some hard-earned XP. There are tons of skills to choose from, ranging from hard-hitting attacks to evasive maneuvers that might save your life in a tough spot.

We’ve created a list of the top five skills we found particularly useful when starting in Sifu. Each of these skills not only add to your offensive arsenal, but we also felt they made the gameplay a lot more varied, dynamic, and a tad more fun.

Strong Sweep Focus

This skill consumes one Focus Bar, and it delivers a strong sweeping attack that will knock your target to the ground for a few seconds. This move can be used as a combo finisher or as a means of disrupting your opponent’s attacks. After grounding your target, you can follow this up with a ground attack to deal a little extra damage.

Weapon Catch

This skill lets you catch items thrown at you — such as bottles or knives — by hitting the parry button right before a projectile hits you. Once you catch an object, you can do whatever you want with it. This skill is by far the most effective way to counter projectiles. As a bonus, the animation for it looks pretty cool too.

Weapon Mastery

Sifu is filled with weapons for you to use, but they will all eventually break. However, the Weapon Mastery skill allows you to get a little more utility out of every weapon used. With it, you can continue to use a weapon even after it breaks.

Environmental Mastery

This skill lets you take advantage of your environment in a big way. With Environmental Mastery equipped, you can hurl small objects scattered about the ground at your opponents to daze them. This skill greatly widens your pool of offensive options, and it can be a perfect way to disorient and distract some of your more challenging foes.

Ground Counter

Enemies will occasionally knock you to the ground in Sifu, but luckily, there’s a skill to prevent them from following that up with a devasting ground attack. The Ground Counter lets you parry while grounded with a sweeping kick that will knock your foe to the ground, while also allowing you to get back up. Not only is it a good defensive maneuver, but you can also follow your counter up with a ground attack of your own. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like Sifu’s NPC fighters are capable of performing ground counters of their own.