In this guide, we take a full dive into the stamina-based build path, experimenting with top-tier skills like Hadouken and Cleaver, while weaving through some of the game’s most critical story moments. From optimizing energy-draining attacks to hacking into the heart of the Upper City, here’s everything you need to know about dominating with stamina and uncovering the mystery behind GPP chips, the feds, and your own father’s virtual imprisonment.

High-Tier Stamina Attacks: Hadouken, Cleaver, and Vampire

Reaching high stamina unlocks some of the most powerful abilities in the game:

• Vampire: Drains health with each attack, providing passive sustain.
• Cleaver: Solid damage, low initiative cost (only 1 point), and increases your opponent’s energy expenditure.
• Hadouken: Extremely high damage but costs 4 initiative and a chunk of energy.

While Hadouken might seem like the obvious powerhouse, the synergy comes when you pair it with Burst of Rage—a modifier that increases the energy cost of an attack but drastically boosts its damage. It’s a brutal one-two combo that can turn a high-risk move into a match-ending strike.

We also picked up Living Armor, which reduces block damage taken based on stamina. To access that, you’ll need to go through Masochism, which helps if you’re low on energy. Late Cannon is another powerful option—it deals heavy damage if the opponent doesn’t dodge or block, though it comes at a cost of 3 initiative points.

League Strategy: Countering Dodge Builds with Stamina Control

Facing Dodge builds? No problem. Using Zone Control from the Trapper school shuts down dodge-heavy enemies by draining their initiative each time they evade. Pair this with passive initiative loss from dodging itself, and they’re left without the ability to attack back.

This tactic allows you to hack the system a bit—challenging higher-ranked opponents repeatedly and farming GPP for progression. Even as you surpass them in rank, you can still earn large GPP payouts due to the league’s hack mechanics. Exploiting this lets you build faster without grinding lower-tier matches.

Ghetto Boys, Gym Ownership, and Cash Farming

Throughout league battles, you’ll also progress through Ghetto Boy story arcs. Recruiting them into your gym boosts your income, not that you’ll necessarily need it if you’re winning fights cleanly. By the time you’ve humiliated enough dodge-build opponents, you’ll be so far ahead in GPP and cash that even 1,000-dollar fights become trivial.

Meanwhile, our gym becomes the Ghetto Boy Daycare, with members covering every piece of equipment. It’s profitable and narratively fun.

Optimizing Hadouken for One-Shot Potential

To use three Hadoukens in a single round, you’ll need around 12 initiative points—just enough if you boost agility by a couple points. We aimed to one-shot a strength-build enemy who used the All In modifier (+60% damage taken, reflects 60% of damage received).

With Targeting Strikes boosting our undefended damage and pairing it with Burst of Rage, we nearly succeeded. Even though the enemy had Battle Hardened, which reduces undefended damage, the setup still crushed him in a two-hit kill. The synergy between stamina, modifiers, and status effects turns high-cost moves into finishing blows.

Torturer Build vs Rank 1: The Shockwave Showdown

The final stretch involves taking down Jax, the rank 1 fighter. He’s built with:

• Strength-based attacks
• Double shockwave kicks (each draining extra energy and reducing block efficiency)
• Modifiers that punish failed blocks and amplify low-health damage

We counter with:

• Living Armor x3 (high stamina = best defense)
• Energy Leech and Contusion (drain opponent energy while increasing their attack costs)
• Cleaver and Skull Breaker (ideal for low-strength, high-efficiency damage)

After tanking two shockwave kicks and draining nearly all of his energy, Jax collapses from knockdown damage. Thanks to the Torturer school perk, knockdown damage doubles, sealing the fight decisively.

Story Beats: GPP Chips, Carla, and the Truth About Barry

The narrative unfolds rapidly:

• A janitor at Apu’s gives us a stolen chip using the password “donuts.”
• Barry needs us to investigate it, but hacking it is dangerous.
• Carla, our mysterious phone contact, is revealed to be a car AI who helps us escape when the feds raid our home.

The chip belonged to K, a former secret detective who removed his GPP chip, losing all implanted memories. We learn the city is essentially run like a simulation—a Matrix—where people’s thoughts are governed by the corporation.

K tried to expose them, but was betrayed and nearly vaporized. After a dramatic escape, we scan his chip using a memory device crafted by Carla, uncovering the conspiracy.

Upper City and the Final Battle

The Upper City is not real—it’s a simulated construct. We must hack in and defeat a three-phase robot boss using all the build strategies we’ve accumulated. While you can technically fail over and over, each failure grants new skill points, letting you refine your setup.

Using Sucker Punch and Vampire modifiers for sustain, we win the first round. For the final two, we copy a tried-and-tested build, eventually toppling the final boss.

The twist? We’ve been trapped in this simulation over 118 million times, trying to stop Fluffy the Cat, who holds a magical medallion.

Our dad, who’s been in the simulation for 20 years, can’t be freed unless we defeat Fluffy. His soul is intertwined with the simulation, and the only way to break the loop is to disconnect him—permanently. But if anime has taught us anything (Sword Art Online), we believe he can make it.