Best Skill Tree Upgrades in Sifu

In Sifu, every time you die, the Student enters a sort of metaphysical realm, allowing them to run through the scenario of their death a few times and figure out where they messed up. This way, when they’re returned to life by their talisman, their kung-fu proficiency has grown, albeit at the cost of years off their life. You definitely shouldn’t make a habit of getting yourself killed willy nilly, so it’s important to learn the right lessons at the right time. In this guide, we’ll go over the best skill tree upgrades in Sifu.

When you’re killed, or when you interact with the little tree in your yard between levels, you open up the skill tree to spend your earned XP on new moves and abilities. There are five sections of upgrades on the tree, each corresponding to one of the five coins on the revival talisman. The rub here is that, if you age 10 years and one of the coins shatters, that entire section of the skill tree vanishes along with it, so anything you didn’t already learn from that section is completely out for the rest of the run. This is why you need to think very carefully about where you allocate your experience, as there’s a distinct chance something you had your eye on may not be available later in the run.

Best Skill Tree Upgrades in Sifu

• Strong Sweep Focus
• Pushback Cancel
• Environmental Mastery
• Crooked Foot
• Crotch Punch
• Side Kick
• Weapon Mastery

In no particular order, these are some of the moves and abilities you should definitely grab from the skill tree as soon as you have enough XP for them. Bear in mind that if you get a game over, your skill tree is reset, so if you want to unlock these abilities permanently, you’re going to have to funnel at least a few levels worth of XP into them, if not a few runs worth.

Strong Sweep Focus

A Focus move that attacks an enemy’s knees, knocking them down. Costs 500 XP to unlock, 2000 to permanently unlock.

Knocking enemies down is step one to trapping them in your rhythm, so a free knockdown you can spend some Focus on is a great way to quickly turn the tables on a bad encounter.

Pushback Cancel

Allows you to stop yourself from stumbling when pushed back. Costs 500 XP to unlock, 2000 to permanently unlock.

When you’re knocked back by a strong shove or a Structure break, you’re wide open while stumbling. This ability lets you stop yourself and quickly regain your defensive stance.

Environmental Mastery

Lets you throw or kick weapons and small objects at enemies right off the ground. Costs 1000 XP to unlock, 5000 to permanently unlock.

When you’re dealing with a lot of armed enemies, they’ll gradually drop their weapons on the ground as you deal with them. You can only hold one at a time, but with this ability, you can launch any other weapons directly at an enemy’s head or legs. You can also use this on objects that normally can’t be used as weapons like small stools.

Crooked Foot

Follow up on a successful parry to immediately knock an enemy down. Costs 1,250 XP to unlock, 6250 to unlock permanently.

A successful parry is already great, so if you can immediately follow it with a guaranteed knockdown, that’s a perfect set-up for an instant KO combo.

Crotch Punch

Duck high attacks while delivering a fast jab to a sensitive spot. Costs 1500 XP to unlock, 7500 to unlock permanently.

If you’re crafty, you can use this move to immediately break an enemy’s combo and force them into a very painful stun state. It’s a dirty trick, but it works.

Slide Kick

Turns your regular running heavy attack into a sliding kick that knocks enemies down. Costs 1250 XP to unlock, 6250 to unlock permanently.

Most fights will start out with a dashing attack, so it might as well be one that knocks an enemy down in addition to hurting them.

Weapon Mastery

Allows you to continue using a weapon until it breaks completely. Costs 1500 XP to unlock, 7500 to unlock permanently.

Weapons deal more damage and are great for controlling crowds, so you want to get as much mileage out of them as possible. Not only does this ability make your weapons last longer, but when they’re on the verge of breaking, you’ll automatically throw them at enemies, where they’ll shatter in their faces like a bottle or brick.

For more related guides and content, you can check out our website’s Sifu section.