One of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth‘s greatest strengths is its absurd – and often crushingly difficult – boss fights. Infinite Wealth is the second game in the series to use a turn-based combat system. While it’s very closely based on its predecessor, it includes several new mechanics. Infinite Wealth has new jobs, new characters, and a more complicated system of proximity and positioning. In all, it’s one of the most complicated and strategically demanding games in the Like a Dragon series to date, and that’s most powerfully felt in its boss battles.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for the final boss of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.]
Ichiban, Kiryu, and the rest of the party battle a wide variety of enemies throughout their journey across Honolulu, from wannabe gangsters to giant sea monsters. Boss fights in the series are usually made distinct from run-of-the-mill battles by their dramatic intros, quick-time events, and celebrity cameos. There are twelve of these major bosses in the game, and while they follow a pretty standard upward difficulty curve, there are more than a few outliers. These are all the big bosses fought in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, ranked from easiest to hardest.
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12 Roman Reynolds Is An Easy Early-Game Boss
Level 11
Roman is the first boss Ichiban fights with Kiryu and Eric in the party. This fight isn’t too tough altogether, but it’s a little annoying to deal with both Roman and his goons at the same time. However, this fight takes place in a bar, which provides a unique advantage: there are stools everywhere, which means Ichiban and his party can pull off weapon attacks for extra damage almost every turn.
As for crowd control, it’s easy enough to have one character – likely Ichiban or Kiryu – tank the majority of the enemies in the back corner of the bar, and let everyone else wail on them with AoEs and back attacks. Just watch everyone’s positioning and HP, and Roman should go down before long.
11 Yamai Is A Recurring Boss Who Gets More Difficult Each Time
Levels 8, 22, 26, 28, & 31
Ichiban fights Yamai four times throughout the game. He’s a literal cold-blooded killer, and the patriarch of his own Honolulu-based yakuza syndicate. While he does get incrementally stronger each time he appears, with a pretty huge difficulty spike in the second battle, he’s never that strategically challenging until the final encounter.
Flanked by multiple allies, consumed by violet flames, and wielding Molotov cocktails, Yamai finally comes into his own. He applies debuffs to the party, and is resistant to fire damage. However, his allies can be wiped out quickly with a fiery AoE, after which the rest of the party can focus on Yamai.
10 Sawashiro Is A Classic Tank-And-Spank Fight
Level 36
Sawashiro returns from the previous Like a Dragon with a brand-new boss fight. He’s not the most difficult enemy Ichiban will face, but he has one unique advantage: Sawashiro is fought in an almost completely empty arena, which means weapon attacks, environmental bonuses, and combos are much harder to come by.
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However, there’s a classic strategy that can be used to take Sawashiro down with ease. Just have one character tank him in a corner of the warehouse while everyone else approaches from behind for back attack bonuses. Players can also take advantage of his weakness to fire to ensure a constant barrage of damage.
9 Wong Tou Tests The Player’s Knowledge Of Infinite Wealth’s New Mechanics
Level 25
But just as Sawashiro bullies the party into a specific strategy, other bosses, like Wong Tou, require them to plumb the depths of their combat experience, pulling out the right strategy for the right scenario. Wong Tou has a powerful block and high evasion, which means he’s very hard to hit. When his guard is up, players will need to use grapple attacks to take it down. Throwing Wong Tou’s own office chairs at him can also help bypass his evasion.
Other than that, it’s important to keep an eye on everyone’s HP. Wong Tou can pull off some high-damage attacks without warning, so having a dedicated healer or plenty of onigiri can help make this fight easier.
8 Narasaki Doesn’t Fight Fair
Level 43
Most Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth bosses aren’t paragons of virtue, but Narasaki is especially slimy. He’s not interested in a fair fight, opening with a barrage of gatling gun fire before sicking his underlings on Kasuga and the party. Only once they’re all defeated does Narasaki himself enter the fray – and his stats will leave the player wondering why he ever relied on anyone else.
Unlike other bosses, Narasaki doesn’t have elemental weaknesses. That means the party will have to rely on other strategies, like positioning and weapon attacks, to take him down. Thankfully, there are plenty of opportunities for all of the above, and Narasaki’s katana attacks don’t do too much damage.
7 Infinite Wealth Has Ichiban Fighting Heavy Machinery Again
Level 36
Another new Like a Dragon tradition involves pitting Ichiban against various construction equipment. He fought a wrecking ball in Like a Dragon, and in Infinite Wealth, he fights not one, but two excavators. Each one doesn’t hit too hard individually, but together, they can pack a punch. To make matters worse, the excavators don’t move and can’t be knocked back.
The party can’t rely on environmental attacks or combos in this fight, but they can rely on the machines’ weakness to water. With an Aquanaut or two in the party, and a strong focus on one enemy at a time, this fight is still difficult, but manageable.
6 Infinite Wealth’s Giant Shark Is Mostly A Joke – Until It Isn’t
Level 46
Fighting a giant shark is just so quintessentially Like a Dragon, the absolute pinnacle of man versus nature, that this fight could be called a cornerstone of Infinite Wealth‘s foundation. Fought in the final chapter, the greatest of the great whites mostly just exists for laughs. Mostly.
The giant shark mostly just slaps the deck with relatively limp AoEs that are easily healed through. It’s also weak to lightning, so Eric can do a lot of damage in his Cabbie job here. But every now and then, the shark will target one party member for a devastating attack, which could easily kill them if their HP is low. Stay ready for these strikes by keeping everyone’s health topped up.
5 Infinite Wealth’s Giant Squid Boasts Tactical Tentacles
Level 48
And speaking of doing battle with giant sea creatures, it won’t be long before Ichiban has to face the kraken. While visually and thematically similar to the giant shark boss fight, the giant squid is a little more mechanically complicated. It technically consists of three enemies: two tentacles and a head. The party will have to take out the former before the latter, which is extra helpful since the tentacles double as the squid’s main means of attack.
However, the squid can regenerate its tentacles after a few turns. Still, there’s really only one strategy for this fight: tentacles, head, tentacles, head, et cetera. Stick to the plan and it’ll be over before long.
4 Bryce Can Take A Hit
Level 50
Bryce may be the second-last boss in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the second-hardest. His attacks don’t hit nearly as hard as expected, and he’s very weak to water. Essentially, the fight against Bryce is a test of stamina. He has high defense, so even the strongest water attacks won’t do as much damage as they would to normal enemies.
The trick to this battle is not to burn through everyone’s MP as soon as possible. Save the biggest attacks for the most opportune moments, and keep everyone’s HP high, although not necessarily at 100%. Bryce’s high defense drags the fight out, and the party will need to go blow-for-blow with him to win.
3 Dwight Is A Recurring Boss With A Deadly Twist
Level 16 & 44
Much like Yamai, Dwight challenges Ichiban and company many times. Most of these fights are pretty simple: played by Danny Trejo, Dwight aptly wields dual machetes, alternating regular attacks and stronger, quicker blows. The biggest issue to watch out for is Death Wish, a move in which he charges up for a turn before unleashing a quick one-two combo on a single party member – but since it has a long activation time, the party has an opportunity to block in between.
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During Dwight’s final stand, however, there’s a problem: the giant shark circles the boat. This can be either helpful or harmful to the party, depending on what the shark decides to do. If it rears up its head at the stern, it’s possible to fling Dwight into the shark’s maw for some extra damage. At other times, the shark will jump into the air and snatch a random party member, chomping down on them for hundreds of damage before slinking back into the water. It’s mostly up to random chance, so the party needs to be ready for anything.
2 Ebina Is Infinite Wealth’s Final Boss, But Not Its Hardest
Level 52
The final boss fought in Infinite Wealth‘s campaign is Masataka Ebina, acting chairman of the Seiryu Clan. He’s fought exclusively by Kiryu’s party, which includes Saeko, Nanba, Tianyou, and Seonhee, so players should make sure everyone involved is leveled up with a decent job before going into the finale. He’s the highest-level enemy in the game at 52, and has lots of HP and an arsenal of powerful attacks at his disposal.
Ebina specializes in status effects, which means the bulk of this battle is spent healing through those. However, he has high resistance to status effects himself. Thankfully, Ebina has two weaknesses: lightning and slashing damage. This makes him especially vulnerable to characters with the Samurai job. Other than that, this fight is much easier with a well-balanced team, a lot of healing, and patience.
1 Daigo, Saejima, & Majima Are The Hardest Bosses In Infinite Wealth
Level 42
The hardest boss battle in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth pits the party against Majima, Saejima, and Daigo, three of Kiryu’s former enemies, allies, and rivals from previous games in the Yakuza series. The party fights all of them at once, and despite their age, these three are as strong as they’ve ever been. Pulling off the kinds of moves one could only expect from yakuza legends, Majima, Saejima, and Daigo present the greatest challenge in the game.
There’s one trick to winning this fight: focus on Majima first. One of his abilities allows him to make copies of himself, which can make the battle infinitely harder. Of course, doing so is no easy feat, and even once he’s down, the party will have two difficult enemies to contend with.
As in every fight, preparation is half the battle here. Going in with a leveled and balanced party is the key to success in any of these difficult turn-based fights. As a result, experimenting with gear and party composition is vital in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Kazuma Kiryu returns alongside Ichiban Kasuga in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth – the first game in the franchise to drop the Yakuza title. Known as Like a Dragon in Japan, the franchise continues the story from the seventh entry while reintroducing the original protagonist. Current details about the game are limited, but it will share a similar active turn-based RPG battle system used in Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
- Franchise
- Yakuza
- Platform(s)
- PC , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S
- Released
- January 26, 2024
- Developer(s)
- Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
- Publisher(s)
- Sega
- Genre(s)
- Action , Adventure , RPG , Simulation
- ESRB
- M
- Prequel(s)
- Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name , Yakuza: Like a Dragon , Yakuza 6: The Song of Life , Yakuza 5 , Yakuza 4 , Yakuza 3 , Like a Dragon: Ishin! , Yakuza Kiwami , Yakuza Kiwami 2
