Best Early Upgrades For Goro In Like A Dragon Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii

Goro Majima Upgrades in Pirate Yakuza, Explained

Amnesiac Goro Majima is an aggressive ex-yakuza who starts Pirate Yakuza with one fighting style in the game’s first chapter. However, as players progress through the main story, Goro will unlock new weapons and an entirely new Sea Dog fighting style that unlocks a new upgrade tree of its own. Overall, there are four different skill trees to progress in the game:

Overall Stats Shared Abilities Mad Dog Sea Dog

There are several upgrades the players should consider making early on in Pirate Yakuza that will make your life easier in various battles and quests and don’t require too much money or points.

Max Health Boost (Overall Stats)

One of the first upgrades that players should buy is the max health boost. Much of the boss fights involve plenty of henchmen, and part of having good crowd control also includes having a high health bar so Goro can take hits if need be. Outlasting opponents while dealing high damage is the key to success in all the most critical battles in Pirate Yakuza, making this early upgrade for Goro a no-brainer.

Attack Boost (Overall Stats)

Another obvious early upgrade for Goro in Pirate Yakuza is the Attack Boost, which allows players to deal out higher levels of damage with all the base attacks. Now that the series has taken a break from turn-based combat and returned to the gameplay style that Yakuza was founded on, melee attacks have become critical to completing the story and bonus content. While it might also cost a lot of in-game currency and points, Attack Boost Plus (a separate upgrade) could also make future playthroughs much more manageable.

Knockdown Evasion (Shared Abilities)

When fighting multiple enemies at once, it becomes harder to evade all attacks, and more likely than not, you will be knocked down by a heavy attack. Knockdown Evasion is the perfect early upgrade for Goro, as it allows for a quick recovery after being hit by melee weapons or a heavy attack from bigger characters so that you can immediately return to playing offensively.

Quickstep Strike (Shared Abilities)

The quickstep strike upgrade allows players to deal out attacks after doing a dodge while focusing on an enemy. This upgrade is essential, as it will make all fights in the game that much easier, as any extra attack makes all the difference. This upgrade is also helpful for boss fights early on, giving Goro another way to activate his heat gauge attack.

Grapple Counter (Shared Abilities)

Another excellent upgrade for dealing with crowds of enemies is the grapple counter upgrade, which can stop a grab attack and keep you from receiving any damage. What’s more, when successfully executing the counter, you can dish out an attack of your own.

Serpent Trick (Mad Dog)

The Mad Dog Style is Goro Majima’s Pirate style of fighting, which allows the player to use dual swords, a flintlock pistol, and a grappling hook. Because of all of these attacks, Mad Dog is perfect for fighting multiple people at a time, and the Serpent Trick in this new form of fighting is a tremendous early upgrade that allows Goro to launch enemies into the air, giving players further opportunities for deadly combos while leaving enemies helpless up in the sky.

Frenzy Trick (Mad Dog)

This spin move attack in the Mad Dog style is also all about crowd control, as Goro spins around like a top, knocking down everyone in his path. Much of the side-quest naval combat fights in Pirate Yakuza see the player going up against large waves of pirates at a time, meaning that wide-ranging and long-lasting attacks like this will help make those tough battles much easier down the line.

Catch ‘n’ Slash (Sea Dog)

This attack is already unlocked when you first get Mad Dog style in the game, but the upgrade for the Catch and Slash only improves the projectile-based combat technique. The throw lasts longer and allows you to attack right after using it to make combos last even longer.

Charge ‘n’ Shoot (Sea Dog)

The flintlock pistol you earn in the Mad Dog style for Goro is an interesting ranged weapon, but it mostly takes too long to charge and leaves Goro vulnerable, making it not such a helpful technique in Goro’s big bag of tricks. However, should you choose this as an early upgrade for Goro, the gun becomes a lot more practical, shooting multiple enemies at once and sending them flying. And those are the best early upgrades for Goro in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is available now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.