I----------------------------------------------------------I I-------------Dynasty Warriors Online Guide----------------I I----------------------------------------------------------I Dynasty Warriors Online Guide Welcome to Dynasty Warriors Online (DWO) Guide. This guide purpose is to help those who have just installed the game to blend with the community as get past the beginner point where new players will mostly be “kicked” (Forced Retreat option) in melee waiting room if they do not know the left and right of this game. You might ask yourself at first, “Why the treatment of new players are so harsh in this game?”. However, just like every online game; new players will always get the short end of the stick, most veteran players seek to get as many wins as possible, and does not want newcomer to become the weakest link and feed opponents the winning points. Thus, with the harsh environment in mind, this guide intention to help the newcomers to overcome the so-called nooby phase until the phase where they can become acceptable player by the level standard of the community. ------------------ Table of Contents: ------------------ 1. Starting Out -Tips #1 - Quest and Domestic Stats 2. Guard Phase -Tips #2 - Choosing A General -Tips #3 - Items, Gems, and Ores -Tips #4 - Weapon and Gear Drop -Tips #5 - Furniture 3. Lieutenant Colonel Phase -Tips #6 - Avoiding Colonel Rank -Tips #7 - Showdown 4. Field General Phase Onwards -Tips #8 - Weapon with Good Stats and Emblem -Tips #9 - Weapon Grinding 5. In-depth Melee Strategy -Melee #1 - Surpress -Melee #2 - Defeat -Melee #3 - Confront -Melee #4 - Receive Treasure -Melee #5 - Fighting Strength -Event - Campaign 6. Weapon Assessment 7. Item Assessment 8. Closing ---------------------------------------------------------- 1. Starting Out – Recruit & Training Phase – Rank 1 Weapon ---------------------------------------------------------- Chances are, the moment you are reading this; you are already taking the very first tutorial. After you finished the very first battle; there are 2 possibilities. The first one is that, you score an acceptable result and now moving on to more tutorials in-game. The second one is that, you score a S result and being awarded 200 honor instantly, which allows you to take Guard test right off bat. To score a S result; simply do 200 KOs to the best of your capability before killing the NPC officer in a short time. To do this, with the BSpear that you get in the very first battle, do a Charge 3 attack again and again for every troop (3 J then 1 K on keyboard). The reason for spamming this move is that BSpear Charge 3 does not knock opponent away, thus you can do a Charge 3, then wait until opponent feet on the ground, and spam Charge 3 again. Do this to the NPC officer as well. Scoring a S result will grant you 200 honor right away and be able to take Guard rank test instantly. The downside? No further game tutorial for you, which may be bad if you are not familiar with the game at all, which may be different compared to the console version it’s based on (Dynasty Warriors 5). Whatever your decision may be; slow, but sure or fast, but reckless, your goal as a Recruit is to accumulate 200 honors until you are eligible to take Guard rank test, which is available once you talk to the Trainer with 200 honors. ---------------------------------- Tips #1 - Quest and Domestic Stats ---------------------------------- Toggle your character screen and you see five stats that is Commerce, Distribution, Military, Technology, and Peace. These stats are what we call domestic stats, and are the main reason why you would want to do quests, aside from the obvious prize. The higher these stats are, the easier time you will have with this game in the long run. Always try to get S rank on every quest you attempt, because there is a “cool down” time after each quest. The higher the rank is, the longer the quest will be available again. Thus, always try to score best result. ------------------------------------------------- 2. Guard Phase – Trying Out Melee – Rank 2 Weapon ------------------------------------------------- Once you successfully passed Guard rank test, the Trainer will grant you one free Rank 2 weapon; that is tempered with 3 attack, 1 damage, and 3 defense. Now, this is a crucial point for all new players out there, “What is the weapon I should choose?”. Irresponsible players will probably just tell you, “Whichever you like.”, but naturally, that comes with HIGH PRICE since you don’t know how each weapon works at this point. For a Guard rank, one mode of melee where lower rank does not get kicked out from a waiting room is “Defeat 2000 or 3000”, which the aim is to defeat the designated number of enemy troops before the opposing team does. In this case, a direct PvP is generally avoided, although one can argue that killing other player can also be one of the viable ways to win, thus preventing them from killing your troops. Guard can be “smart”, play safe, and avoid confrontation while focusing on killing troops, with simply knock their opponent away while killing the troops. Now you should think, “What is the best weapon for killing high number of troops in a small time?”. The answer is: IRON BLADE (Guan Ping weapon). The reason for this is, the IBlade has wide AoE (Area of Effect) at the end of Charge 3, which allows you to attack all troops in your designated area at the same time, thus allowing you to kill large enemies compared to other Charge 3 moves. Another good point is that IBlade also has amazing Defense upgrade, which is on slot 5, this may takes long, but in “Defeat 2000 or 3000” mode, people will rarely use direct confrontation and should they decide to, the high number of Defense upgrade would also allow you to take some damage thereof and keep you stay alive as long as you only get hit once in a while throughout the game. Thus, with little practice with the IBlade to kill troops at a good pace and able to knock any opponent away, you will not be intimidated or kicked by the veteran players in a “Defeat 2000 or 3000” room. The target of your next rank is 500 honor, Lieutenant Colonel. The test will be available on your officer list of quest when you talk to him/her with 500 honor. ---------------------------- Tips #2 - Choosing a General ---------------------------- The first thing you need to do upon reaching Guard rank is to choose a general to serve under. Depending on who you choose, you get a bonus in one of the five melee stats and one of the five domestic stats. Choose wisely on this; damage may not be used often compared to other four melee stats, and for domestic stats you should prioritize on either Technology (higher % on crafting), Military (lower price to unlock weapon), or Commerce (item availability on merchant). While possible, it is very hard to change general to server under; involving stuff where you have to raise the affection for the general that you want to change into, which can be done by fighting alongside them in a campaign battle. Stepswordsman (4/25/2012) clarified on changing general; "Displeasing your current commander doesn't help you change one, only raising your target general's affection towards you does. I'm not sure if doing the repeatable quests they offer does anything, but there is a hard one-time quest they offer which, when S-Ranked, allows you to switch right away, and just raises their affection on lower ranks. Failing that, fighting (and preferably winning) alongside said general during the faction wars (forgot what are they called) also raises it." ------------------------------- Tips #3 – Items, Gems, and Ores ------------------------------- As Guard, items and gems are pretty much one of the most essential deposit for melee (and some hard quests, even). Item does many things, and disappear once you use it, so try to use it wisely. Item can be gotten through melee, arena, or mock battle. Also buyable and sellable through broker. Gems are almost a necessity in this game as it is the material necessary to tamper your weapon. You need 1 for first temper, and increase by another number on subsequent temper. Unlike items, gems cannot be brought from broker, but available instead as AP exclusive item (buy with real money). It can, however, be gotten from melee, arena, and mock battles; which is of course, more time consuming. Thus it is advisable not to waste gems unnecessarily, especially in the beginning of the game where you start with essentially no gem and item. Always try to think thoroughly before tempering a weapon. Ores are optional for higher level of gameplay later. It is used for weapon, gear, and item crafting as you can only add an element to weapon and gear this way, as well as create item that has both effect by combining them (like +30 health and musou by combining Peacock and Dragon Amulet as one item). ------------------------------ Tips #4 - Weapon and Gear Drop ------------------------------ In melee, officer NPC, including supply base captains can drop weapon and gear. As guard, you will only be \able to get Rank 2 weapon and +4 gear. You can, however, buy Rank 3 and above weapon, as well as gear above +4 from broker. There is rank restriction on weapon and you cannot equip a weapon that is higher than Rank 2 regardless. Fortunately, gear has no restriction. Also watch the number of temper points available whenever you get a new weapon. It goes without speaking the higher temper the weapon has, the better it is because you can put more attack/damage/defense/life/musou. Maximum number of temper points for Rank 1 is 12, Rank 2 is 16, Rank 3 is 20, and Rank 4 onwards is 24. The higher rank you have, the better weapon you can use, naturally. ----------------- Tips #5 Furniture ----------------- AKA the part where it hits you where no game is 100% free. Yes, you could play this game without spending a single dollar, but ultimately, you will realize that to get an extra space for any equipment you have; whether it is weapon, gear, and even item. To increase the space for these stuff, you need to purchase a furniture for your house, and these furniture can only be purchased with Aeria Point, and Aeria Point, as you know it, can only be purchased with real money. You could , of course, save in-game gold and hope someone would want to give you AP in exchange of gold via internet payment like Ultimate Game Card nowadays. Ultimately, you still need someone willing to pay real money for this stuff either way. The useful furniture that you will need in the long run are; *Armory - To increase weapon space. *wardrobe - To increase gear space. *Item Shelf - To increase item space. *Shipping Desk - To send item directly to your friend. There are other various others that are useful to make your journey in DWO easier, but those above are the necessity that a lot of people would spend their first purchase on, should you decide to spend money for Aeria Point. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Lt. Colonel Phase – Capture and Fighting Strength – Rank 3 Weapon -------------------------------------------------------------------- The rank Lt.Colonel is basically “borderline” between novice and musou room, you will be able to compete with 20 tempers Rank 3 weapon in musou room, as the maximum tempers allowed in novice room is 16 (so you will still be able to join novice room as Lt.Colonel, but the game will ban you from using a weapon that has more than 16 tempers count). At this stage, after familiarize yourself in “Defeat 2000 or 3000” game, as per suggestion above; this is where I highly suggest you to put a “Damage” temper in your IBlade weapon from the initial Guard test. With that, you will have 3 attack, 2 damage, and 3 defense in your IBlade, which is –not too bad- for a “Capture” or “Fighting Force” game. These two games require you to capture bases and doing KO to win. In addition, “Fighting Force” further add PvP points to the mix; which I recommend not to charge recklessly still, if you are facing high rank, but you can still stall them and take bases relentlessly to prevent opponent from scoring a point. This is where you should get to know those two games above with the 32300 IBlade, and perhaps develop your own weapon later from the experiences once you are able to use a better weapon that is Rank 4 with 24 tempers point. If you need to repair the said weapon (not letting them break), use any Gems to “repair” it. As your weapon is Rank 2, it takes 2 Gems in order to repair the durability of the weapon. Should you let the weapon durability drained until it breaks, one of the upgrade will be randomly deleted, in which case, it could be the attack or defense temper, which will take you 3 Ambers or Jades to repair, potentially costing more than 2 Gems. The target of your next rank in this phase is 2000 honor, which is Field General and finally let you equip a weapon with maximum temper points (x/24). One of the best ways to get honor is doing a Showdown game, a 12 versus 12 battles that usually occurs on the weekend (actual time schedule is decided by Aeria, the host of the game itself). In Showdown game, you CANNOT be kicked from a room. Whether you win or lose on Showdown, you will always get 20 to 24 honors (if win) or 10 to 12 honors (if lose), as well as one weapon, one gear, and one item no matter what the result. This weekend event usually goes for 3 hours once it starts with 15 minutes interval per game. Thus, if you can participate on the weekend and happens to win all your game, you can accumulate up to 240+ honors in one session (3 hours) of Showdown. The next best thing? It usually happens twice in a day in the weekend, so you can do that three more times over the course of Saturday and Sunday (12 hours combined) for 960+ honors. Undoubtly one of the event where people come around and farming for honor points whenever possible. ------------------------------- Tips #6 - Avoiding Colonel Rank ------------------------------- Now, you might be wondering, “But I get another rank at 1000 honor?”, the answer is yes, but this rank, is no doubt the worst rank in DWO meta-game and nobody should step on. The rank Colonel you see, do not let you join novice game anymore, and if you are on the said rank, you have no choice but to join musou game that is free for all ranks. Knowing that, a Colonel that is only able to use Rank 3 weapon tends to be at disadvantage (4 temper points less on the weapon compared to the next rank that is Field General); this is also why many of those below Field General tends to get “kicked” out of room by the veterans of the game, especially if the room leader is very high rank compared to Colonel and below. For reason above, DO NOT bother with Colonel rank test at 1000 honor under any circumstances and keep accumulating honor until 2000 honor, where you are ready to become Field General. ------------------ Tips #7 – Showdown ------------------ The objective to Showdown is to deplete opponent bar until zero, sort of like fighting game in general. The way to do this is to capture bases, then let the bar on bases fill to deal the damage. Thus, defending bases is all more important here in Showdown. Killing whoever that comes to take your base is number one priority. The other is to destroy opponent gunpowder boxes in their supply base. This deal even more significant damage, and generally contributed to the winning factor in a 12 versus 12 game. The gunpowder boxes, however, have the most health out of all non-living thing, and it will certainly take more than one people to do significant damage. Always try to attack supply base together rather than recklessly going alone. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Field General Phase Onwards – Community Main Game: Confronting ----------------------------------------------------------------- Upon reaching the Field General rank, if you have followed the suggestion above thus far, you should have plenty of Gems, which is necessary to temper a weapon. The best way to get weapon is again, Showdown. If you have done that to get to this phase, you probably already know you will get a weapon no matter you win or lose. With Field General rank, you can now also participate in an Elite room of Showdown. Joining Elite room may increase your chances on getting better weapon/gear/item, if not for the more honor alone would be reason enough. From here on, you can try playing Confront melee where most, if not all the community of the game plays, which goal is to score 10 kills first before the other team. Why is this melee type that most people play? Because human is sadistic by nature, if you have not figured it out by now. There are many combinations in Confront, and the veterans have certain expectation where newcomers do not just hope for the veterans to carry them throughout the game. This is basically where you should try weapons out in the Proctor again, and figure out which weapon will suits you best in term of killing people. Whether you choose to be a PvP-er with huge attack upgrade, but weak defense and life (Glass Cannon), or prefer to have huge chunk of life and defense, but little attack (Tanker) is up to you. If, you are not that confident in PvP skill and wish to do it the safe way; using the IBlade that I have suggested previously, do a Temper that is 2 attack, 4 defense, and 4 life; with 2 life increase modding. The reason of this is that, you could still take on any opponent very well and deal additional damage with Fire Orb from the Charge 3 AoE, while having natural high defense upgrade and increased life upgrade that will further guarantee the survival in the long run. If that is not enough, you can always have the Advanced+ ready, in which IBlade’s Advanced+ give you a COMPLETE resistance to any status effect and elemental attack. Thus, you can worry less about getting caught in many veterans’ effective use of orbs to kill you with it. Prioritizing survival and minimizing one death, while contributing to damage deal by a good margin should be the beginner’s first order of business. From this, you should observe other players' way of playing, and try to pick up the good killing or support move than you can learn from your opponents and allies alike. After Field General, you essentially capable to mold with the community of the game already as you learn more about the game and improve yourself in all kinds of melee. Rank 5 weapon will be able to be used after you reach 10000 honor, a Front General rank. While final Rank 6 weapon will be useable once you reach 20000 honor, a Perimeter General rank. ------------------------------------------- Tips #8 – Weapon With Good Stats and Emblem ------------------------------------------- This phase is also where you have to seriously give a thought on how you can make yourself effective and dangerous, or at least, not letting your teammates down. Using IBlade again, for example, Rank 4 IBlade has attack stat ranged from +29 to +31. On a glance, the difference may not be huge, but let’s says you want to temper four attack on your IBlade; with 2 points difference each temper, of course a Rank 4 IBlade with attack +31 will naturally have 8 more points than the one with attack +29. This is also one of the most deciding factors when people buy or sell weapon in broker. Weapon with better stats obviously can sell for more compared to weapon with worse stats. You might ask, why people still trying to sell weapon with inferior stats then? The answer is, “Emblem” can also be the deciding factor. Again with IBlade as example, you can compare “Thrust” and “Pierce” as Emblem one. Thrust hurls out a long, narrow-ish shockwave; which can be useful if you want to keep your distance and help your ally from afar. Pierce, on the other hand, do a huge swing to both your front and back. This can be useful to clear out the enemies in your surrounding. So, comparing Thrust and Pierce for IBlade Emblem, which is more useful? You decide. Some may prefer Thrust, some may prefer Pierce; but at the end of the day, this is yet the important factor, along with the good stats above that you should take notice of when building a weapon. It is by take notice of this that you can make the best out of your favorite weapon. ------------------------- Tips #9 - Weapon Grinding ------------------------- By now, you should have known about weapon modding that is gained by weapon usages. However, another reason why you would want to get a total of 255 usages is because that you can grind your weapon to the next rank with the help of forge furniture. Thus, if you feel like upgrading the weapon you have from previous rank that already has 255 usages, you can do it via forge in your house or in the central market. The percentage of this weapon grinding however, is amongst one of the hardest. You will need a very high technology, followed by the crafting rank in weapon itself. The higher the weapon rank, the more ores you need to grind your weapon, and they do not return if you fail to do so as well. You could, alternatively, paid someone to do it for you. There are many players that has been diligent in raising domestic stats and turn the weapon crafting into an in-game business. Be wise in deciding whether it is worth investing the resources to grind your weapon or not. Sometimes, it may not worth it and you are better of get a completely new higher ranked weapon from melee or showdown. Generally, people would grind their weapon if it has a very good stats with good emblems. -------------------------- 5. In-depth Melee Strategy -------------------------- Melee is obviously the main attraction of the game where you can play with your friends or allies from the same faction fighting players from another faction. Having a good teamwork and well build weapons is the key to win, in the most general sense. Naturally, in the long run, "skill" matters when both side have the an equal sense of teamwork and good control over weapons. There are five types of melee, each with different objectives, namely; Suppress, Defeat, Confront, Receive Treasure, and Fighting Strength. ------------------- Melee #1 - Suppress ------------------- Or more popularly known as, "Capture". In the literal sense, the objective to this melee is to capture all your opponent bases. Your base will be indicated by blue, while opponent base will be indicated by red. There is also neutral base that is indicated by yellow. While capturing yellow base would not directly affecting your win, it certainly can help shifting the odds in your side sometimes by having more bases than enemies. A good weapon to use in this melee is generally a weapon with good speed as you would need to run a lot in this mode. A good Charge 1 emblem to kill troops quickly also helps a lot in the flasking process. You should, by all means, flasking sufficiently early and seize bases quickly rather than trying to flask until the maximum possible before getting ready to fight. Weapon Recommendation: A weapon with speed higher than 125, good crowd control emblem 1, and both attack and damage flask lower than 4. A good example is TSabers, with Moon as emblem 1. Temper Recommendation: 44200 (Extra slot to gain speed max is invaluable). ----------------- Melee #2 - Defeat ----------------- The objective is as simple as killing troops as fast as possible. Faster than your enemies that probably knows how to do it in their own way. Killing troops is the simplest task, ever. But to kill them fast may be another story after you experienced different emblems from various weapons. The reason why emblem 1 matter most is that you can save time by just pressing one button, instead of doing couple of normal attacks. Thus; kill faster, walk and kill another troops faster is how you overtake your enemies in term of killing a large chunk of troops. Speed matters, but since you would not want to be running across all the map, a slow weapon is alright, so long as its emblem 1 have crowd clearing capability. Weapon Recommendation: A weapon with good crowd clearing emblem 1. A good example is CBlade, with Cresent as emblem 1. Temper Recommendation: 50000 (all extra slots should be focused on gaining the random bonuses, especially speed max). ------------------- Melee #3 - Confront ------------------- The most popular melee type as far as the English server is concerned. Many ways can be done with making use of the different types of weapon, emblem, and element. One of the simplest way to kill is to make use of the musou invincibility, and the fact that most of the musou in this cannot be countered once you get hit by it. This type of killing is very effective should you make a very long bar of musou on a weapon that has the advance to enhance your attack, like TPicks that has Aggression advance (attackx3) or IRod that has Godly Hammer advance (normal musou becomes true musou). Other than that, you will need a good deal of knowledge by knowing how to make use of the elements that is triggered by emblems or charge attacks in order to win. Fire element will engulf enemy in fire and can make your next attack even more deadly before they fall to the ground. This is usually done by doing charge attack 3 and followed by musou for inescapable attack. Ice element will freeze your opponent on the spot and leave them defenseless until the ice breaks (approximately 2 seconds). It is best to follow up this ice attack with musou attack that is damaging, but hard to connect otherwise, like TPicks musou. Vorpal element will sap your opponent of their musou in the cost of your own musou, it also gives a statis damage upon each hits. Thus, the number of attack tempers you put is irrelevant when using a vorpal element. Generally, vorpal element is hard to use on its own. Anyone with a piece of brain knows how to avoid attacking vorpal element user head on and will generally be the main target of ganking. To use vorpal element effectively, pair up with ice element user above. As you can then kill enemies effectively without letting them to have a means to counter, due to no musou bar after the first hit of vorpal on iced opponent. Lighting element will leave your opponent stunned and open for next attack. Lighting also increase the damage dealt upon hit, making it best suited to use if you plan to build a weapon with maximum attack. One full clean hit and another stunned hit with attack x2 boost will almost guarantee a kill from unsuspecting enemy early. Wind element will inflict slow status to your enemy and disable the jumping function for them for a short period of time. Like lighting element, wind will also increase the damage dealt upon hit. This fact making it good as weapon with maximum attack intended to kill, albeit no guarantying free second like lighting. Alternatively, it is also good as weapon to support as it can knocks enemy that is assaulting your teammates, and gang up on them afterwards after being slowed down and cannot jump for a short period. Weapon and Temper Recommendations: Musou Invincibility - TPicks / IRod (40323) Fire Element - IHelberd / BPike (30333) Ice Element - SFan, with Cresent as Emblem 1 (20440) Vorpal Element - ISword / TSword (00450) Lighting Element - IRod / Gclub, with Thrust as Emblem 1 (50320) Wind Element - FFan / WNunchaku (40323) ------------------------- Melee #4 - Recieve Treasure ------------------------- The least popular type of melee. None really play this. The objective is to find a treasure and take it back to your base or supply base. With each treasure in possession, you will be slowed down. You can carry up to 3 treasures per one person. First one to take back 10 treasures to their base is the winner. Weapon Recommendation: Any weapon with 140 speed. Temper Recommendation: A bare minimum of 22200. ---------------------------- Melee #5 - Fighting Strength ---------------------------- This melee is basically a mix of everything above, jack of all trades of a game with 20 bars for each side. The way to deplete the bars include the capturing of supply base (4 points), defending bases (4 points), defeat 2000 enemies combined (8 points), and kill the opposing player (2 points). Consider a weapon where you can fend off for yourself as you will no doubt find yourself in the situation where you need to engage enemy player 1v1 when taking or defending a base. This mode needs a good corporation and individual skill more than anything else, one mistake may cost a total turn around for the match, as not only you will lost a point by dying, but the time needed when you died and spawn may cost you yet another point from the base that you failed to protect or capture. Weapon Recommendation: A versatile weapon with good attack and decent speed. A Good example is Cudgel, with almost any Emblem. Charge 4 does stun effect and Charge 2 does high damage with wind or lighting elment. Temper Recommendation: 43320 (mod temper 1 with 255 usages; may consider 42320 before completing usages). ----------------- Event - Campaign ----------------- Depending on who you ask, one of the most fun, or most frustating event to play. A whole force versus force kind of deal. Opponent being decided by randoms, depending on your fame and rank. This event could go on for hours until one of the two opposing forces is reduced to zero. The main goal is to get as many win streaks as possible, as you deal more damage per game to the opoosing forces, quickly crushing them before your own faction get crushed. The variety of game you will encounter in campaign are; capture opposing or all bases, defeat 2000 or 3000 troops, kill musou general, or fighting strength. Judgement can include the classic KOs or overall rating. It is still best if you could focus on the KOs aspect even on a overall rating judgement. Make a party of coordinated four people and prepare weapons for all types of matches is your best bet in building high winning streaks and win for your faction. Last but not least, this is also the only event where you can get a "commander spirit" item. In which, the item will change your advance ability to turn into a particular officer with the spirit that you equip. To get a "commander spirit", simply kill them on any type of game in campaign, even when you are not actually required to kill the said general to win. -------------------- 6. Weapon Assessment -------------------- Each weapon have a move why they are effective for a specific type of melee. This section will list the moves that makes them effective. Cresent Blade (Guan Yu) *Charge 3 cause stagger. *Emblem 1 Cresent for crowd clearing. *Emblem 1 Pierce for a high damage lighting element hit. Battle Axe (Hu Xuang) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Use the spinning jump charge to break tower or juggernauts in capture. *Emblem 1 Moon for crowd clearing. *Emblem 1 Thrust for long range element hit. *Emblem 6 Eclipse with ice element, for two circular area covering hits. Great Club (Xu Zhu) *Charge 3 cause down. *Running attack can stagger opponent. *Emblem 1 Moon for crowd clearing. *Emblem 1 Thurst for a high damage lighting element hit. Iron Rod (Huang Gai) - AKA most OU weapon *Charge 3 cause juggle. *Running attack let you dash further, good for when being winded. *Emblem 1 Thrust for crowd clearing, and high damage lighting element hit. *Emblem 1 Pierce for 3 hits ice element attack. *Jump charge does a natural fire damage from bomb; beware you can also "accidentally" bomb your own ally. Scimitar (Xiahou Dun) *Charge 3 cause stagger. *Running attack juggles opponent. *Emblem 1 Cresent for 2 hits ice element attack. *Emblem 1 Thrust for long range element hit. Pirate Sword (Gan Ning) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Thrust let you dash forward, effective while winded. *Musou is very one of a kind; running attack until your musou bar ends that let you catch running opponent (run faster than speed max). Battle Rod (Xiahou Yuan) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Running attack cause stun. *Emblem 1 thrust for long range element hit. Twin Rods (Taishi Ci) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Charge 5 is VERY GOOD for long range attack or support with ice, lighting, or wind element. *Emblem 1 Thurst and Pierce have very strong knockback property. *Well versed weapon that can fight on its own due to armor property on many Emblem 1, charge 3, and charge 5. Hand Axe (Dian Wei) *Charge 3 cause stagger. *Charge 4 for long range attack. *Only weapon with attack flask on slot 1. *Emblem 1 Cresent and Pierce for crowd clearing. *Emblem 1 Thrust for a high damage lighting element hit. TWin Picks (Pang De) - AKA king of PvP weapon *Charge 3 cause stun. *Very DAMAGING musou due to its unique property, not juggle, but cannot be countered. Thus dealing full damage each hits. Combined with its advance, it is almost an assured kill against any opponent with less than 2 life upgrade. *Emblem 1 Thurst for long range element hit. *Emblem 1 Cresent for crowd clearing. Twin Sabers (Lu Xun) - AKA king of suppress weapon *Charge 3 cause stagger. *Emblem 1 Moon for 2 hits crowd clearing *Running attack cause stun. *Very BALANCED for capture due to its 140 speed, good crowd control, and charge 3 with armor to protect you from juggernauts' fire, as well as stagger hits to kill officer faster. Twin Maces (Diao Chan) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Charge 3 is one of the hardest combo to block, very easy to get behind opponent. *Running attack cause stun. *Emblem 1 thrust for long range element hit. Bronze Spear (Zhao Yun) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Pierce for crowd clearing. *Emblem 1 Thrust for high damage lighting element hit. Cudgel (Original) *Charge 3 cause stun, which can be followed up by multiple hits that cause knockback. *Charge 4 cause stun before combo upgrade. *Emblem 1 Thrust for long range element hit. *Charge 2 with wind orb allows you for a high damage loop hit. Twin Fans (Da Qiao) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Cresent for high damage lighting element hit. *Jump charge shoot a fire, and cause opponent to fall slowly upon hit; which can be followed by another attack. Strategist Fan (Sima Yi) *charge 3 cause stun. Very long range beam projectile, and non-comboable from normal attack. *Emblem 1 Cresent for crowd clearing; also very useful due to elemental activation of a wide radius. One of the most used weapon for support or attack with ice, lighting, or wind element. *Emblem 1 Thrust for a larger version of Charge 3 long range beam, also has element activation to enhance its usefulness. Vision Staff (Pang Tong) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Pierce for long range element hit. *Emblem 1 Cresent for crowd clearing. *Very huge aoe range musou. Statis, and easy to do double musou with any weapon. *Jump charge is very useful to get you out of dire situation, due to the fast moving in the air. Sorcerer Staff (Zhang Jiao) *Charge 3 cause stagger. *Charge 4 shoot 180 area coverage of fire. *Emblem 1 Thrust shoot fireball. *Emblem 6 Fan do a circular area of fire. *Jump Charge shoot a fireball in front of you that cause enemy to collapse. *Musou shoot fireballs and end with a front coverage of fire. *Have means to add fire on Emblem 1, Charge 4, Emblem 6, and jump Charge. Good for support without fire element. Iron Claw (Zhang He) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Pierce for long range element hit. *Musou deals full damage and cannot be countered like TPicks. Useful combined with the fact this weapon has 140 speed. Iron Sword (Zhou Yu) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Thrust for long range element hit. *Jump charge also shoot a disk projectile that has element activation with advanced ability on. *Can activate element on every hit with the advanced Phoenix. *Musou can be strengthened with lighting orb when in Phoenix, due to the juggle effect. Tyrant Sword (Dong Zhuo) *charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Thrust for long range element hit. *Emblem 1 Cresent for crowd clearing. *Can activate element on every hit with the advanced Phoenix. *Musou can be strengthened with fire orb when in Phoenix, due to the non-juggle effect; can be countered if enemy has musou of their own. Whip (Original) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Thrust for long range element hit. *Charge 4 does high damage with lighting or wind element, also cannot be blocked. *One of the most preferred weapon in Showdown to take gunpowder boxes in enemy supply base, due to the very high upgrade on damage, as well as 140 speed to run away or back in case of dying. Pole Blade (Zhang Liao) *charge 3 cause stun. *charge 5 is two part attack, first charge will send out shockwave, and second charge will let you dash forward. Both charges have element activation. *Emblem 1 Thrust have extra input for longer reach with element activation. Noble Sword (Yuan shao) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Thrust for human torpedo giggles. *Emblem 1 Pierce for crowd clearing. *Emblem 6 Fan for 2 discs of long range element hit. *Good for killing musou general in campaign or melee, due to the fact musou and attack are flask slot 1 and 2. Very fast time flasking in term of offensive ability. Iron Spear (Ma Chao) *Charge 3 cause stagger. *Emblem 1 Thrust for high damage and long range lighting element hit. *Emblem 1 Pierce for crowd clearing. *Jump charge is very useful to get you out of dire situation, due to the fast moving in the air. *Musou cannot be escaped by any means. Wood Nunhaku (Ling Tong) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Thrust let you dash forward, effective while winded. *Emblem 6 Eclipse for huge aoe range of element hit. *Fastest combo weapon as far as normal attack goes. *Musou cannot be escaped by any means. Chakram (Sun Shang Xiang) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Thrust let you dash forward, effective while winded. *Emblem 1 Cresent for crowd clearing, as well as stunnning enemies. *Emblem 6 Eclipse for multiple element hits. *Musou cannot be escaped by any means. Bronze Pike (Zhang Fei) *Charge 3 cause stagger, via the small aoe. *Emblem 1 Pierce for long range element hit. *Emblem 1 Cresent and Moon for crowd clearing. *Emblem 6 Cresent will allow you to hit opponent's back. *Charge 3 aoe, when combined with ice element, allows for continuous loop if opponent have no means to escape with musou. Iron Blade (Guan Ping) *Charge 3 cause stagger, via the small aoe. *Emblem 1 Pierce for 2 hits ice element attack. *Emblem 1 Thrust for long range element attack. *Emblem 1 Moon cause opponent to collapse, without a chance to recover before dropping to the ground. *Emblem 6 Fan will let you throw the blade with innate fire element. *Charge 3 aoe, when combined with ice element, allows for continuous loop if opponent have no means to escape with musou. Feather Fan (Zhuge Liang) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Pierce for long range huge beam element hit. *Emblem 1 Moon for crowd clearing. *Emblem 6 Eclipse for multiple small beams with element activation. *Musou deals full damage and cannot be countered like TPicks. Useful combined with the fact this weapon's musou is long range. Thus may take enemy by surprise from behind very well. Boomerang (Zhu Rong) *Charge 3 cause stun; long range, but leave you vulnerable until the boomerang is back on your hands. *Emblem 1 Thrust for a very LONG range boomerang throw. No element activation. *Emblem 1 Pierce for an innate fire attack to the back. *Using long range means of charge 3 to stun, followed by musou, is pretty much all this weapon about. Wolf Sword (Sun Quan) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Thrust shoot a huge, single disc that will stun opponent. No element activation. *Out of all rulers' weapon with ground musou, Wolf Sword does the least number of hits. Thus, making it unsuitable for long musou attack. Eastern Sword AKA Badass Katana (Zhou Tai) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Pierce shot 2 discs in front and back respectively. No element activation. *Emblem 1 Thrust have extra input for longer reach with element activation. *Generally dubbed as worst weapon in the game. Tonfa (Sun Ce) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Pierce let you dash forward, effective while winded. *Charge 4 does high damage with lighting or wind element. *Charge 5 have innate fire element. Buckler Blade (Cao Ren) *Charge 3 cause knockback; wide range, and have element activation on the last disc. *Emblem 1 Cresent good for crowd clearing, as well as hit behind opponent back due to the moving intial attack before the aoe. *Highest defense upgrade in the game. *Good defensive support weapon due to the high defense and life upgrade. War Blade (Huang Zhong) *Charge 3 cause knockback; wide range, and have element activation on the last barrage of arrows. *Emblem 1 Moon for long range element hit. *Good defensive support weapon due to the high defense and life upgrade. Flute (Zhen Ji) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Moon for crowd control. *Charge 4 does high damage with lighting or wind element. Twin Blades (Cao Pi) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Thrust has innate ice element; activation is awfully low without ice orb, however. *Pressing charge button at the end of evolution attack will prompt a vorpal ball, regardless of element you are using. *In reality, probably the least used weapon for any type of melee so far. Cursed Deck (Zuo Ci) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Pierce throws an innate ice ball on the last time; activation is awfully low without ice orb, however. *Emblem 1 Moon for crowd control. *Jump charge do a fire attack that directly lunge at the enemy, and cause opponent to fall slowly upon hit; which can be followed by another attack. Trident (Jiang Wei) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Moon for crowd control. *Emblem 1 Pierce does a shock wave to the back that will cause enemy to collapse upon hit. *Emblem 6 Eclipse does a small aoe, followed by a single release of element ball attack. *Musou cannot be escaped by any means. Iron Halberd (Lu Bu) *Charge 3 cause stagger. Very HUGE and LONG circular range. *Emblem 1 Cresent let you dash forward, effective while winded. *Emblem 1 Pierce release a shockwave in both front and back, respectively. Cause stun, no element activation. *Emblem 6 Fan has innate fire element on the last hit, where you jump forward to God knows where. Horned Blade (Original) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Charge 5 can be chained into Jump Charge. *Musou have high mobility and can get into your enemy's back. Light Sword (Nu Wa) *Charge 3 cause stun. *Emblem 1 Thrust has innate ice element. *Musou is stationary. ------------------ 7. Item Assessment ------------------ == Special Items == *Orbs The elements in Dynasty Warriors series, in the online version, it consists of fire, ice, lighting, vorpal, and wind. Each orb have different effect and can work with any weapon. However, some attack does not have element activation property. To check this, equip orb at the weapon training function on proctol and see which attack of your weapon can activates the element. Refer to "Melee - Confront" section above for in-depth information for what each element does. *Amulets These item give you a stat boost to your overall weapon status for one game you equipped it on. It has a life, musou, attack, defense, and damage increasing item. While using these item seems like a good idea, doing extra damage or giving status ailments with orbs is miles better. Save these items for quest use. *Scrolls The speed and range boosting one is useful for capture and defeat, where you need to move faster and wider range to kill more troops in order to gain advantage. Time scroll is useful for defeat game where you only has attack temper and all random slots, with the scroll, a longer x2 attack, defense, and max speed will give you advantage even if it is only 5-10 seconds. The useful one for confront game are those that prevent one of the five elements 100% (Thermal / Crystaline / Blitz / Vorpal / Wind Ward). If you are feeling lucky or have any element that you are bad in anticipating, you could not go wrong equip one of these for defensive measure, compared to amulet boosting defense or life. *Belts If there is one reason for you not to use a musou boosting amulet, it would be this. This item makes you suspectible to air juggle, which is what most musou do. Wearing this would make you able to flip or drop from a musou or true musou, which is really more useful than it sounds, as the sure way to kill players is usually inescapeable musou attack finisher. Definitely an item worth using to prevent many possible deaths. *Elixir Another preferable item to use in order to prevent death. Compared to belt, if you have a weapon with longer life, and need to constantly pressure your enemy, this can be your saving grace without a need to constantly looking for recovery item. It also further give you a faster life recovery when fighting in your own base *Remedy Most people use this item with PSword, as the musou is really helpful even just for one attack, coupled with the fact that PSword musou can avoid any attack safely by stopping in a completely spot with no people at the end of the musou. *Aged Wine Crappiest item, no point in using this in any game, as the advantage will be lost within 30 seconds into any game, where people will gain full musou. It does not effect your musou recovery either. *Hua Tuo's Journal I believe Hua Tuo will be sad if an item named after him is such a crappy one where you get a small recovery for every 50 kill. In 50 kill, you probably get a bun or two, making this item kinda pointless. Not to mention when you do need a bun, you probably should be looking for pots near base rather than getting 50 kill while enemy is ready to kill you on such low health. *Herbal Tea Along with Aged Wine and Hua Tuo's Journal, this item makes up the trio of useless items in DWO. You better off drinking a real herbal tea while playing DWO, because at least it supplies you your daily anti-oxidant. Aside from all these item above, you can also perform an item crafting that would let you create an item that has two different effect in one item. One of the most useful example of this is "Orb + Belt" recipe where you can use an orb in battle, while also have a belt effect that help you escape a juggle musou. Definitely pays well in the long run if you increase your item crafting skill at earliest time possible. ---------- 8. Closing ---------- This concludes the first revision (Ver. 1.1) of Dynasty Warriors Online Guide. Version 1.0 - 24/04/2012 Version 1.1 - 02/05/2012 Version 1.2 - 03/05/2012 Version 1.3 - 14/09/2012 Version 1.1 adds in-depth melee strategy, covering all types of melee in Dynasty Warriors online. Version 1.2 adds weapon assessment for all the weapons available in English server. Also corrected the table of contents number. Version 1.3 adds correction to general trust, and minor update to weapon and tips. Also adds campaign notes, and brief item section. Hope all of you out there can find this guide useful. Should you interested to try out the game, it is hosted by Aeria Games, and available free to download on their website (www.aeriagames.com). Written and copyrighted by Nguyen Jap 2012 (blasster8jam [at] yahoo [.] com) Submitted and hosted only on Gamefaqs. Do not reproduce for use without permission, especially for commercial profit.