Yakuza 0: Combat Styles, All Six Masters, and Heat Action Completion

Yakuza 0: Combat Styles, All Six Masters, and Heat Action Completion All right, before we finish up Yakuza 0, I want to cover the combat training too. There's a lot here that you can easily leave sitting unfinished if you find one style you like and keep using it for the entire game. So this covers the styles, where the masters fit in, the upgrades worth looking at, and how to handle the Heat Action requirements without making it more complicated than it needs to be. This is for the original Yakuza 0. I'm keeping the instructions in terms of light attack, heavy attack, guard, grab, and quickstep so you can follow them on whichever platform you're using. Before spending your money Abilities are purchased with money. Work outward along connected nodes, rather than trying to buy a distant skill by itself. Most upgrades belong to that particular style. Health increases are an important exception, so buying health in a style you don't use much can still help the character overall. The outer two ranks of the ordinary style trees are tied to progress in that character's business. If you've reached a locked section, check your Real Estate or Cabaret progress before assuming you're missing a combat lesson. My suggested approach is to buy some health, develop the style you're actually using, and then work toward specific defensive moves and master nodes. Don't spend yourself completely dry right before paid training. Ability progression reference: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/upgrading Kiryu's three main styles Brawler is the balanced starting point. It gives you a mixture of strikes, grabs, and counters without pushing you too far toward either speed or power. Its Resolute Counter lets you retaliate when Kiryu flashes red after a hit that hasn't knocked him down. Useful purchases include Extra Quickstep Distance, Body Counter, and Tortoise Spirit. The last one builds Heat through blocking, up to the second bar. Body Counter is performed from guard by pressing heavy attack as a blow arrives, and its damage is greater with less Heat. Read those conditions instead of assuming every counter works the same way. Brawler abilities: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/kazuma-kiryu-brawler-style Rush is for movement, quick combinations, and getting out of danger. It becomes available during Chapter 1. Individual hits are lighter, but repeated attacks can stun enemies, and you can quickstep three times in succession. The additional steps use Heat. I'd practice short attacks followed by repositioning before trying to stay in someone's face through an entire combination. Quickstep Blow gives you an attack after a completed quickstep. Damage Weaving helps you recover defensively after getting hit. Counter Quickstep is another useful option once learned: hold fighting stance and press grab as the incoming attack lands to slip behind the opponent. Rush abilities: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/kazuma-kiryu-rush-style Beast arrives in Chapter 2. It trades speed for heavy, wide attacks. Pressing light attack beside a suitable object automatically picks it up and swings it, so pay attention to what's lying around the fight. Use that reach when you're dealing with several enemies, but remember how much slower Kiryu is in this style. Crushing Hammer provides a guard counter. Bear Hug and Charging Bear Hug are later options that require the third Heat bar. With Bear Hug, guard and press grab as you're struck; Charging Bear Hug uses heavy attack from guard to charge into a grab. Beast abilities: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/kazuma-kiryu-beast-style Majima's three main styles Thug is Majima's balanced style and a good place to work on a single opponent. It has ordinary grabs, two successive quicksteps, and an eye-poke attack from light, light, heavy. Komeki's training adds a lot to this style, particularly the attack out of an evade and the defensive options described below. Practice moving around an enemy and attacking during their recovery instead of repeatedly throwing a full combination into their guard. Thug abilities: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/goro-majima-thug-style Slugger gives Majima a built-in bat with unlimited durability, greater reach, and the ability to block blades with it. That built-in bat is different from an ordinary inventory weapon. Light, light, heavy produces a chargeable full swing. Extra Bat Nunchaku Swings improves the ending of the light, light, light, heavy sequence. Heat Wave helps build Heat while attacking, and Heat Retention slows its loss. Fei Hu's training opens additional weapon categories and their Heat Actions, so his lessons are worth completing even if you mostly enjoy the bat. Slugger abilities: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/goro-majima-slugger-style Breaker is the style for those sweeping dance attacks. Some moves take time to get started, so leave yourself enough room. After a light-attack sequence, keep pressing heavy attack to continue the dance move and aim it through the group. Pose Soul upgrades help build Heat during Freeze Poses. Freeze Counter gives you a response when someone attacks during a pose. Heat Wave and Heat Retention are also worth considering if you're regularly building toward Heat Actions. I'd learn where each combination leaves Majima before relying on the same long spin every time. Breaker abilities: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/goro-majima-breaker-style The master-training rule that matters There are six masters, each with five lessons. Before a lesson becomes available, purchase an ability adjoining its master node in the relevant tree. Those master nodes turn pink when learned. Completing the lesson awards the skill; you don't then pay for that same skill a second time. Kamoji, Miss Tatsu, and Komeki require their lessons in order. Bacchus, Fei Hu, and Areshi allow you to choose among the lessons whose prerequisites you've opened. Master prerequisites: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/masters Bacchus: Brawler His training starts late in Chapter 2, after the homeless men's alcohol errand. Speak to him in the nearby alley, handle the initial encounter, and speak again to continue. Each lesson has you demonstrate a technique against a hitman and then win the fight. His five rewards are: - Extra Resolute Counter: charge your retaliatory attack. - Essence of Face Twisting: a new Heat Action. - Essence of Disarming: use the lesson's Heat prompt as the blade attacker prepares his attack. - Essence of Wall Smashing: position Kiryu with his back near a wall for the required action. - Essence of Finishing Blows: light, light, light, heavy, then another heavy when the Heat follow-up becomes available. Don't stop after performing the demonstration. Finish the encounter so the lesson is actually complete. Bacchus training: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/bacchus Kamoji: Rush Find him in the Shichifuku Street parking lot during Chapter 2's first daytime section. His lessons revolve around surviving a 60-second challenge. Bring the stake required for each one: - ¥10,000: Swallow Spirit. - ¥100,000: Damage Weaving. - ¥1,000,000: Floating Re-Guard 1. - ¥10,000,000: Counter Quickstep. - ¥100,000,000: Essence of Relentless Barrage. For the early challengers, watch for their forward movement and dodge around them rather than backing yourself into the edge. The third challenger can be handled by guarding his bursts. Against the fourth, respect the sword's reach and move around his committed attacks. The fifth challenge becomes an actual fight. Winning the initial gun challenge isn't necessary, but you do need to handle the fight that follows. Bring recovery items and enough money to start it. Kamoji training: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/kamoji Miss Tatsu: Beast After meeting her in Chapter 2, take a taxi to the Tokyo Pier. Complete ten paid training courses and five debt-collection jobs, alternating two courses with each job. Courses require both destroying the mannequins and reaching a money target. Use the valuable boxes. Destroying the final mannequin ends the course, so don't finish that last target while you're still short on money. Guarding while holding a box can also absorb gunfire. Course fees rise from ¥100,000 to ¥4.5 million; the final course requires ¥12 million in training earnings. Prioritize the red boxes in later courses. Job rewards, in order: 1. Tetsuya: Guarded Weapon Charge. 2. Domoto: Iron Fortitude. 3. Gingoro: Crushing Hammer. 4. Kinji: Essence of the Beast: Wall Pin. 5. Hiroya: Essence of the Beast: Overrun. These jobs are real fights. Restock before going in, and use the furniture and other objects available. Miss Tatsu training: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/miss-tatsu Sometaro Komeki: Thug Train in Ashitaba Park after Majima's date with Akko in Chapter 4. Fight him, demonstrate the technique introduced during the encounter, and finish the fight. His five Thug Cunning lessons are: 1. Evasion Strike: heavy attack after an evade. 2. Enlightenment: build Heat by guarding, up to the second bar. 3. Frantic Throw: press grab while you're being grabbed to counter-throw. 4. Counterattack: retaliate after taking an attack while in Heat Mode. 5. Harsh Lesson: at the third Heat bar, hold fighting stance and press grab as the enemy strikes. For the counter lessons, watch the Heat requirement first. If the move won't come out, repeatedly pressing the button won't fix an empty or incorrect Heat state. Let him commit to an attack you can recognize, then perform the required response. Komeki training: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/sometaro-komeki Fei Hu: Slugger You'll meet him in Chapter 3. His training is at the Dragon & Tiger and consists of defeating him in Slugger while he demonstrates a weapon type. The five lessons unlock weapon training for poles, kali sticks, tonfa, nunchaku, and katana. Give the pole room because of its reach. Wait through the rapid combinations from kali sticks and nunchaku before answering. Tonfa can break your guard, so move clear of the heavy attacks. Slugger's bat guard is useful against his katana. Open the adjoining ability nodes before asking for a lesson. These weapon unlocks also matter when you're filling in weapon-specific Heat Actions. Fei Hu training: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/fei-hu Areshi: Breaker After his Chapter 4 introduction, visit the southwest back alley in Sotenbori. Complete the introductory practice battle, then return for lessons. - Essence of Friendly Fire: use the Heat prompt while between two enemies as one attacks. - Pose Soul (Finisher): heavy attack near a downed enemy. Suppress Heat Actions if another prompt keeps taking priority. - Dash Pirouette: heavy attack while running. - Rolling Snake: quickstep near an enemy and then grab, specifically on the second Heat bar. His trainees carry stun guns during this lesson, so avoid losing your Heat to them. - Essence of Blade Biting: use the Heat prompt against a sword attack. His Breaker Battles are additional practice encounters. After unlocking and completing Samurai, there's a closing encounter for his little storyline too. Areshi training: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/areshi The two Legend styles Finishing Real Estate Royale unlocks Kiryu's Dragon of Dojima. Finishing Cabaret Club Czar unlocks Majima's Mad Dog of Shimano. In the original game, you toggle these through the pause-menu prompt rather than selecting them like the normal three styles. Kiryu gets options including double finishing blows and several counters. Majima gets a fast knife style with a running frenzy after finishing blows; quickstepping cancels that frenzy when you need control back. The Limit Breaker CP reward opens the locked part of each Legend upgrade tree. Repeatedly leveling those trees is something you can pursue, but don't make an enormous Legend-level grind a prerequisite for simply finishing your combat checklist. Kiryu's Legend style: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/kazuma-kiryu-legend-style, Majima's Legend style: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/goro-majima-legend-style Heat Actions: what completion actually asks for The targets are 40 different Heat Actions for Kiryu and 30 for Majima. Repeating one action doesn't produce new entries. Shared actions credit both characters when performed by either one. Open Completion List, switch to Completed Items, and inspect Heat Actions. On PlayStation that switch uses Triangle; on Xbox, Y. Start with shared actions in Brawler or Thug. Vary the weapon and the situation: - Front and rear grabs beside low surfaces. - Car-door actions beside black cars. - Standing and grounded opponents with different weapon sizes. - Bat, golf club, bowling ball, and stun-gun actions. - Dagger actions near a wall or table. - Environmental items such as the kettle near Serena or Odyssey and the stove near Kamurocho's shrine. These examples use the second or third Heat bar. Then add your unlocked style-specific actions. Check the recorded list after each unfamiliar animation. Some special story/team actions aren't recorded there, so seeing a new animation alone isn't proof of another completion entry. Heat Action list and conditions: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps4/816306-yakuza-0/faqs/74451/heat-actions My suggested cleanup checklist - Buy the prerequisites for each remaining master lesson. - Finish all five lessons for all six masters. - Practice the defensive moves you actually intend to use. - Keep enough cash aside for Kamoji and Miss Tatsu. - Revisit the locked ability sections as you finish the businesses. - Inspect the Heat Action record before starting a cleanup session. - Choose a few missing actions, prepare the right weapons or location, and work through those instead of fighting randomly. - Confirm the 40/30 completion targets in the menu. That gives you a clear stopping point for this part of Yakuza 0. You can keep experimenting with every move if you want, but for getting the training and completion requirements handled, this is the set of things I'd work through.