What buttons am I supposed to press?

[Tazor]

When defending most specifically. This is probably the worst explanation I have ever seen in my life for controls in a fighting game. What the ♥♥♥♥ even is this?

This isn't a case of "git gud" like in Souls games. There the controls are clearly explained. This is dodge, this is parry, good luck.

What the ♥♥♥♥ do you press in Sifu to avoid taking damage? You seem to have 5 options from my understanding.

Parry: tap space at the right time
Deflect: hold space
Avoid high weapon attacks: hold space+S
Avoid low weapon attacks: hold space+W
Shift: dodge out of the way

So the first boss, the botanist. What do I press? Especially for the leaping attack. None of these 5 options seem to work against that specific attack. It is guaranteed damage.

[Strawbs]

Originally posted by Tazor:

When defending most specifically. This is probably the worst explanation I have ever seen in my life for controls in a fighting game. What the ♥♥♥♥ even is this?

This isn't a case of "git gud" like in Souls games. There the controls are clearly explained. This is dodge, this is parry, good luck.

What the ♥♥♥♥ do you press in Sifu to avoid taking damage? You seem to have 5 options from my understanding.

Parry: tap space at the right time
Deflect: hold space
Avoid high weapon attacks: hold space+S
Avoid low weapon attacks: hold space+W
Shift: dodge out of the way

So the first boss, the botanist. What do I press? Especially for the leaping attack. None of these 5 options seem to work against that specific attack. It is guaranteed damage.

For his leap specifically it is surprisingly delayed, you want to dodge to the side for it.

[Star]

leap can be dodged with down+lb as well, but I agree, controls are a mess

[Michanicks]

tl;dr: it's a timing problems, try to change your timing and everything will start to work

You still can avoid or deflect this if you get timing right, don't worry. It's just such a long windup you simply pressing avoid/deflecting too soon so you getting struck because of this. Don't be discouraged, just find the timing, and when you gonna start to similarly struggle with other moves by other enemies/bosses then just remember that it'svery easy to start deflecting/avoiding it too soon.

Also both parry and deflect is tapping space at the right time (it's virtually the same thing with different outcomes), holding space is just blocking.

You can deflect/parry EVERY move in this game (including charged attacks and weapons, except for grabs) if you get timing right, but timing is somewhat strict.
You can avoid avoid EVERY move in this game including the grabs, and timing is much easier, the only problem is that you may confuse high and low and also you don't fill enemy structure with this.

[Bloodartist]

This game is heavily timing-based. Regular block is very bad as blocking will cost you structure which will break very quickly and then you get hit. ie. You cant keep blocking forever.

Your key defenses are dodge and parry (block with timing). Dodge is somewhat easier, but some swingy attacks cant be dodged. Red attacks cant be blocked normally, they must be parried or dodged. As others say, parry always works, but timing is strict.

You should also keep moving in relation to the enemies so they come to you one by one instead of from many directions at once. This is very important.

As to what keys are used for what, I cannot say as I play on keyboard and mouse.

[𝕊𝕠𝕡𝕙𝕚𝕒]

Originally posted by Tazor:

When defending most specifically. This is probably the worst explanation I have ever seen in my life for controls in a fighting game. What the ♥♥♥♥ even is this?

This isn't a case of "git gud" like in Souls games. There the controls are clearly explained. This is dodge, this is parry, good luck.

What the ♥♥♥♥ do you press in Sifu to avoid taking damage? You seem to have 5 options from my understanding.

Parry: tap space at the right time
Deflect: hold space
Avoid high weapon attacks: hold space+S
Avoid low weapon attacks: hold space+W
Shift: dodge out of the way

So the first boss, the botanist. What do I press? Especially for the leaping attack. None of these 5 options seem to work against that specific attack. It is guaranteed damage.

have you tried alt + f4? It's hidden combo that one shots everything.

[justfaded]

Boss leap can be dodged by your dodge. You can go any direction, you just have to time it right and the timing isn't that tight.

The controls are not bad at all, I just hate the directional inputs. Other than that, you're generally using the block button.

Avoid and parry are both tied to block but parry sucks don't use it. Just avoid, dodge is for when you really want to get out of the way. With avoid, you can go any direction, not just up and down like the game seems to suggest. But only down defends against low attacks.

Sorry to say but this is exactly a skill issue.

Also this game is not like dark souls or sekiro. It's not a rolling game like dark souls where you can have perfect defense with just roll and it's not a timing game like sekiro. Block is actually useful in the game but you want to avoid or parry attacks you know can be punished to maximize damage. You can skip parrying though, the timing is tight and you can get the strong stun with other methods. Avoid is much easier to pull off making it the superior option.

[Strawbs]

Originally posted by justfaded:

Boss leap can be dodged by your dodge. You can go any direction, you just have to time it right and the timing isn't that tight.

The controls are not bad at all, I just hate the directional inputs. Other than that, you're generally using the block button.

Avoid and parry are both tied to block but parry sucks don't use it. Just avoid, dodge is for when you really want to get out of the way. With avoid, you can go any direction, not just up and down like the game seems to suggest. But only down defends against low attacks.

Sorry to say but this is exactly a skill issue.

Also this game is not like dark souls or sekiro. It's not a rolling game like dark souls where you can have perfect defense with just roll and it's not a timing game like sekiro. Block is actually useful in the game but you want to avoid or parry attacks you know can be punished to maximize damage. You can skip parrying though, the timing is tight and you can get the strong stun with other methods. Avoid is much easier to pull off making it the superior option.

Skill issue, but you say you don't parry? Practice it, it's a good tool.

[justfaded]

Originally posted by Strawbs:

Originally posted by justfaded:

Boss leap can be dodged by your dodge. You can go any direction, you just have to time it right and the timing isn't that tight.

The controls are not bad at all, I just hate the directional inputs. Other than that, you're generally using the block button.

Avoid and parry are both tied to block but parry sucks don't use it. Just avoid, dodge is for when you really want to get out of the way. With avoid, you can go any direction, not just up and down like the game seems to suggest. But only down defends against low attacks.

Sorry to say but this is exactly a skill issue.

Also this game is not like dark souls or sekiro. It's not a rolling game like dark souls where you can have perfect defense with just roll and it's not a timing game like sekiro. Block is actually useful in the game but you want to avoid or parry attacks you know can be punished to maximize damage. You can skip parrying though, the timing is tight and you can get the strong stun with other methods. Avoid is much easier to pull off making it the superior option.

Skill issue, but you say you don't parry? Practice it, it's a good tool.

Nah you don't need parry. It's too much risk for the same gain for the same input. You could parry in souls games too but no one did unless they were showing off.

[Michanicks]

Originally posted by justfaded:

Originally posted by Strawbs:

Skill issue, but you say you don't parry? Practice it, it's a good tool.

Nah you don't need parry. It's too much risk for the same gain for the same input. You could parry in souls games too but no one did unless they were showing off.

There is reasons to parry in this game:
1) It fills enemies structure opening them for eventual finishing blow;
2) You can deflect/parry every move except for grabs, so you will not confuse swipe and high attack;
3) Some people prefer parrying in different games over dodging and in Sifu both options are just as good;
4) Deflecting will help to get good ending, avoiding will not;
5) Some enemies, like example Bodyguards and Yang, are only open up after you parry some of their moves, if you'll try to avoid them they will fall back faster than you can strike them back;
6) Parrying in first Dark Souls was very very good (i would even say OP) and still somewhat viable in Dark Souls 3.

[Strawbs]

Originally posted by justfaded:

Originally posted by Strawbs:

Skill issue, but you say you don't parry? Practice it, it's a good tool.

Nah you don't need parry. It's too much risk for the same gain for the same input. You could parry in souls games too but no one did unless they were showing off.

I would say dodging is more risky, actually. If you don't know the properties of the incoming attack, high/low, guessing wrong and dodging will make you eat the full damage. Holding block will let you get away with a bit of increased posture (unless it's something very strong like Fajar's guard break front kick in which case you'll take damage).

[justfaded]

Originally posted by Strawbs:

Originally posted by justfaded:

Nah you don't need parry. It's too much risk for the same gain for the same input. You could parry in souls games too but no one did unless they were showing off.

I would say dodging is more risky, actually. If you don't know the properties of the incoming attack, high/low, guessing wrong and dodging will make you eat the full damage. Holding block will let you get away with a bit of increased posture (unless it's something very strong like Fajar's guard break front kick in which case you'll take damage).

Just watch some hitless runs. No one parries.

[Strawbs]

Originally posted by justfaded:

Originally posted by Strawbs:

I would say dodging is more risky, actually. If you don't know the properties of the incoming attack, high/low, guessing wrong and dodging will make you eat the full damage. Holding block will let you get away with a bit of increased posture (unless it's something very strong like Fajar's guard break front kick in which case you'll take damage).

Just watch some hitless runs. No one parries.

I'm not gonna tell you how you should play, but I think telling someone to straight up not use parry is just bad advice. Just like everything else in the game it's a tool. Having more tools is good.

[justfaded]

Originally posted by Strawbs:

Originally posted by justfaded:

Just watch some hitless runs. No one parries.

I'm not gonna tell you how you should play, but I think telling someone to straight up not use parry is just bad advice. Just like everything else in the game it's a tool. Having more tools is good.

In theory sure but in practice it never works that way. All games have a meta and some strategies will be more effective and or easier to implement.

In that light, I think telling people to parry is bad advice. You don't see people advising others to use parry in the souls games. It's for the same reason.

Again, watch some hitless runs. These guys are the ones who put in hours and hours to execute a perfect run and none of them use parry.

[justfaded]

Parrying in dark souls was not op, it was just good against the last boss.

[Strawbs]

Originally posted by justfaded:

Originally posted by Strawbs:

I'm not gonna tell you how you should play, but I think telling someone to straight up not use parry is just bad advice. Just like everything else in the game it's a tool. Having more tools is good.

In theory sure but in practice it never works that way. All games have a meta and some strategies will be more effective and or easier to implement.

In that light, I think telling people to parry is bad advice. You don't see people advising others to use parry in the souls games. It's for the same reason.

Again, watch some hitless runs. These guys are the ones who put in hours and hours to execute a perfect run and none of them use parry.

I think we've derailed the topic enough at this point, let's agree to disagree. I think parry is extremely useful, you don't. Let's leave it at that, shall we?