YAKUZA KIWAMI: ALL 30 CLIMAX BATTLES, PART 1
All right, this is the full Climax Battle guide for Yakuza Kiwami. There are 30 challenges: 10 Proving Grounds, 10 Melee Battles, five Mad Dog Battles and five Ultimate Battles. Some test your fighting. Others become much more manageable once you understand exactly what the game is asking you to do.
Boss names and late-game locations follow, so consider this a story-spoiler warning.
BEFORE YOU START
Finish the main story to unlock Climax Battles on the main menu. These use preset characters, equipment and abilities. Your story inventory and the upgrades you bought do not carry into them. Clear the first three categories to unlock Ultimate Battle. Clearing all 30 earns Death By Climax.
The preset names matter:
• Strongest Dragon: all Soul, Tech, Body and Dragon abilities.
• Idolized Dragon: Soul abilities. Plenty of Heat options, but limited health and no fully upgraded normal moveset.
• Technical Dragon: Tech abilities. Useful combat techniques, but limited health, damage and Heat capacity.
• Dragon Embodied: Body abilities. High health and attack power, without the complete Heat and technique trees.
• Dragon Reborn: Dragon abilities, including Tiger Drop. Your other trees remain undeveloped.
• Weakest Dragon: no purchased abilities.
A named style means you are locked to that style. “Dragon Reborn” by itself does not mean you are locked to Dragon. Read both parts of the conditions.
I'm using light attack, heavy attack, grab, guard, quickstep and fighting stance instead of one controller's button labels. Fighting stance is the lock-on button, not guard. On default PlayStation controls, light is Square, heavy is Triangle, grab is Circle, quickstep is X, guard is L1 and fighting stance is R1.
Three tools are especially useful:
• Tiger Drop: in an upgraded Dragon preset, hold fighting stance and press heavy just as the enemy's attack is about to connect. It is a counter, not a Heat Action. Practice against one visible attacker before trying it with several enemies around you. If you are repeatedly missing, stop donating health and use dodges, short combinations and Heat Actions instead.
• Dragon Heat Actions: with the appropriate Dragon abilities, these restore a little health. Build Heat in a style you are comfortable using, then spend it in Dragon. Essence of Sumo Slapping is a useful option: hold fighting stance a short distance from a standing enemy and use the Heat prompt.
• Environmental weapons: furniture, bicycles, lanterns and dropped guns can solve encounters that are miserable with bare hands. Use Beast to lift heavy objects when the challenge allows it. Rush cannot pick up dropped weapons.
Heat Action animations pause the challenge timer. They are useful in timed fights, provided the challenge allows you to spend Heat. Repeating the same Heat Action against the same enemy becomes less effective, so vary your finishers where possible.
Back out to the main menu after clearing a batch so your Climax progress is saved. Do not simply close the game from the challenge list.
PROVING GROUNDS
1. THE BOAT: WIN WITHOUT BEING KNOCKED DOWN
Preset: Strongest Dragon. All styles available.
The dangerous enemies are the shotgunner, grenade thrower and circular-saw user. Do not stand in the opening crowd and trade punches. Turn around, use Rush to move quickly to the other end of the boat, and deal with the shotgunner and grenade thrower before settling into the main fight.
If enemies follow you to the dropped shotgun, lead them away and circle back. Switch out of Rush to pick it up. Fire into a cluster instead of wasting every shot on an isolated weak enemy. Watch the saw user while doing this; a loaded gun does not make you safe from an attack during the pickup animation.
Once you have Heat, a Dragon Sumo Slapping Heat Action is a controlled way to damage the saw user. Then clean up with short attacks, throws and available weapons. Keep the remaining enemies in front of you rather than attacking with your back to a crowd.
The condition is no knockdowns, not no damage. Still, a shotgun blast or explosive can end the attempt immediately. Remove the weapons that knock you over before worrying about the ordinary fighters.
2. EARN FIVE EXPERIENCE POINTS
Preset: Dragon Embodied. Target: five experience points before the short timer expires.
Start in Beast and use a motorcycle to hit several of the opening enemies together. There are two motorcycles available, so work through the first one and move to the other instead of spending your opening seconds trying to box seven opponents individually.
A tougher opponent joins the fight. Prioritize him once he appears: defeating him supplies enough experience to satisfy the target, whereas the alternative is clearing the weaker group. Do not split your remaining time evenly between both routes. If the tough opponent is already badly hurt, finish him.
The common mistake is treating this as “kill absolutely everyone.” Watch the objective. You are racing to the experience target, and heavy objects provide the quickest opening damage.
3. ARES: WEAPON DAMAGE ONLY
Preset: Technical Dragon. Weapon-only damage. No time limit.
Bare-handed hits do not do the required damage. They do not automatically fail the challenge, but punching the shotgunner while everyone crowds around you is wasting your limited health.
If the group blocks your route, use Rush to draw them away, then circle back and switch to Beast beside the furniture. Hit the shotgunner with a large object first. Collect his shotgun in a style that can use weapons, create a little distance and fire into the group. There is also an EXPULSION S-12 on the floor between two sofas, which gives you a firearm without first defeating its owner.
Once the ammunition is gone, return to furniture and dropped weapons. Be particularly careful of the sword user when an object breaks. Move before starting another pickup. You have no timer forcing you to reach through an incoming attack, so separate the enemies and choose a safe approach.
4. THE KITCHEN: HEAT ACTION DAMAGE ONLY
Preset: Idolized Dragon. Two minutes thirty seconds.
Normal attacks still build Heat even though they are not the way to damage the enemies. Use short Brawler combinations or Rush attacks to fill the gauge, then cash it in with a Heat Action. If available, the kitchen's recovery items also help you get back into Heat.
The two shotguns in a kitchen corner are another useful Heat source. Shoot a cluster to fill the gauge, put the gun down, then spend the Heat. The shot itself is not your damage solution; it is a fast way to power the attack that counts.
For crowd damage, move to the more open end of the kitchen, away from counters and stoves. Switch to Beast and, at Climax Heat, grab an enemy with others close by to use Essence of Entangle. Nearby kitchen fixtures can replace the prompt with a single-target environmental attack, which is why positioning matters.
The large chef in yellow needs more attention than the ordinary enemies. Use different environmental or weapon Heat Actions on him rather than repeating one reduced-damage finisher indefinitely. When only one enemy remains, Rush is a useful way to rebuild Heat without needing a crowd.
Do not mistake an unchanged enemy health bar during normal punches for a broken challenge. Those punches are charging the attack that actually counts.
5. BRAWLER COUNTERS ONLY
Preset: Weakest Dragon, locked to Brawler. One opponent.
This is Resolute Counter, not Tiger Drop. You must receive a non-knockdown hit and press an attack button during Kiryu's brief red flash to retaliate. A light-attack counter is quick. The heavy-attack counter gives you another option if the light retaliation keeps meeting his guard.
Stand close enough that the counter will connect. Let him commit to an attack, react to the hit and reset. Do not hammer long normal combinations between counters, since those are not the damage route for this challenge.
If he blocks your retaliation consistently, try letting him strike from behind, then direct the heavy counter back toward him. The high kick is another readable attack to practice against. Your health is still finite, so the goal is one deliberate counter per opening, not taking an entire combination while guessing at the timing.
6. ROOFTOPS: NO DAMAGE, STAY IN HEAT
Preset: Strongest Dragon, locked to Rush, one HP. Nine gunmen and one swordsman.
You must finish without taking damage or leaving Heat Mode. Keep your Heat for this route. Do not use Heat Actions and risk draining below the required level, even as a supposed finishing blow. Chained quicksteps also spend Heat, so use direct movement over empty ground and dodge when a shot or swing actually threatens you.
The opening has a gunman to the left, one to the right and one ahead. Take the nearest left-hand enemy first, cross to the right-hand one, then finish the third. Use a short light-attack combination into heavy rather than a full Rush string against enemies who only need a couple of hits.
Past them, take the gunman on the left, then the one up the stairs to the right. At the top, remove the nearby gunman before closing on the one in the far corner. Listen for their warning grunt. If someone off-screen is preparing to shoot, dodge before finishing your current attack.
Across the bridge are the last two gunmen and the tougher swordsman. Draw the swordsman back across the bridge, then dodge around him and return to the gunmen. This separates his pressure from their firing lines. Kill both gunmen before committing to the duel.
Against the swordsman, stay mobile and use several quicksteps to reach his side or back. Punish with a short string and move again before he turns. If you cannot see a clean opening, keep circling. Getting greedy when he has a sliver of health is how a successful route turns into another restart.
7. TOJO HQ: GOLDEN PISTOL ESCAPE
Preset: Strongest Dragon, locked to Beast, one HP. Three minutes.
You have to reach the goal, not merely shoot the final opponent. Learn the route as well as the enemy positions. Heavy attack fires the Golden Pistol. Retapping fighting stance with your shots cancels much of the firing recovery and lets you fire much faster than repeatedly using heavy on its own.
Opening garden: shoot the five enemies in front of you from range. As you advance, check the right for two more. In the side building, the next enemies are partly hidden behind successive walls on your left. Turn toward each corner as you pass it, ready to shoot. The tougher enemy near the exit on the right takes several shots.
Main building: clear the three enemies at the start of the hallway, then watch the viewing-room doorway. Shoot the enemies as they run out. If they stay inside, firing near the doorway can draw them out. Two remain inside the viewing room; step into the main aisle to get a clean firing line rather than wasting shots against the seating and walls.
Continue through the other door, around the back, up the stairs and along the right-hand hallway. Shoot through the fire door. At the foyer, deal with the three enemies coming up the stairs, then the two downstairs, before heading outside.
Final approach: shoot the attackers in front of you and keep firing quickly into the durable final opponent. Do not waste time shooting spectators at the edges. As soon as the required enemies are down, run to the front entrance to register the clear. Aim to reach this last outside section with roughly a minute available.
Use ordinary movement between groups rather than repeatedly dodging to travel. Save the dodge for an actual shot. Most failures here come from an unseen corner enemy, slow firing or forgetting the exit after the last fight.
8. DRAINING HEALTH AT THE POOL
Preset: Strongest Dragon, locked to Dragon. Five enemies. Ninety seconds.
Remove the two gunmen first. You start with full Heat, so approaching one and triggering Komaki Shot Stopper is a useful opening. Follow with a short Dragon combination on the other, or use nearby furniture. Their interruptions are especially costly because both your health and Heat drain over time.
Use the supplies: a Tauriner ++ is behind your starting position, with a Toughness Emperor and Staminan Royale toward the back. These are part of the solution, not items you have to save for a later challenge. Take the healing when it will help and use the Heat supplies to secure a strong Heat Action.
Against the three durable fighters, use Tiger Drop on attacks you can actually read. Keep the others visible so a successful counter is not followed by a hit from your blind side. The evasive suited fighter can waste a lot of time; spend a reliable Heat Action on him rather than leaving all your damage dependent on countering his jumping attacks.
Dragon Heat Actions also restore some health. Alternate those guaranteed openings with counters instead of trying to solve the entire fight with ordinary Dragon strings. If you repeatedly run out of time, check whether you are chasing the evasive enemy while the gunmen remain alive.
9. PROTECT THE RHINO BEETLE
Preset: Strongest Dragon, all styles. Start with one HP. Protect her for three minutes.
This is an escort-defense fight. The “rhino beetle” is the woman you are protecting, and she has her own health bar. Enemies grabbing her drain it. Staying alive yourself is only half the objective.
The important difference from the previous no-damage stages is that your initial one HP can be increased. Build Heat safely in the opening group, switch to Dragon and use a Heat Action. An opening running heavy attack in Brawler is a useful way to activate the preset's Heat-building bonus. The Dragon ability restores a little health, so a later stray hit does not have to end the attempt.
Keep using Dragon Heat Actions when you need to recover. When a new wave crowds around the woman, a multi-enemy Heat Action in Brawler or Beast can clear space more quickly. Choose between recovery and crowd control based on what is actually in danger.
The opening has four weaker enemies, with groups of three tougher enemies arriving every thirty seconds. Do not chase someone to the edge while another enemy grabs her. Interrupt the grab first. With one opponent left and a little time before the next wave, rebuild Heat so you can meet the next group with a finisher ready.
Do not turn that into endless stalling. Reinforcements arrive on a schedule, and allowing multiple waves to accumulate makes protecting her much harder.
10. DO YOUR BEST, DATE-SAN
Preset: Date. Three enemies in one minute forty-five seconds.
Go for the gunman, then the bat user, then the unarmed enemy. Date's limited moveset and recovery animations make every interruption expensive. He cannot compensate with Kiryu's style switching, weapon pickups or upgraded counters.
Use the three-light-attack string and try to line it up so more than one enemy is caught. Knock enemies toward walls or objects for extra damage. A heavy attack is available, but repeatedly throwing out isolated attacks and exhausting yourself wastes time.
After a combination, allow the final animation to finish before starting the next one. Mashing additional inputs during the recovery can leave Date bending over instead of immediately attacking again. The useful rhythm is a complete string, a brief pause, then the next string.
If you are close but timing out, improve the opening target order and the number of enemies each string reaches. Do not spend the whole attempt chasing the unarmed man while the gunner interrupts you.
Continued in Part 2: Melee Battles and Mad Dog Battles.
YAKUZA KIWAMI: ALL 30 CLIMAX BATTLES, PART 1
· Yakuza Kiwami