Dynasty Warriors 4 Zhou Tai FAQ
Written by: Mike Weiss (AKA acidfreeze30)
Version 1.1
Updates / Version History:
1.1: This update came quickly... Fixed a couple of errors on my part
(blunders... yuck). I also found some more info on Zhou Tai's history, and
added that in. I also filled in the last two items... HUZZAH!
1.0: This is where it all begins! The FAQ has all of its basic information
finished. Still missing two items, but they should be acquired shortly.
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Table of Contents:
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1) Introduction
2) Unlocking Zhou Tai
3) Pros and Cons of Zhou Tai
4) Zhou Tai's Moves
5) Zhou Tai's Weapons
6) Zhou Tai's Costumes
7) Items, Orbs, and Saddles
8) Frequently Asked Questions
9) Credits and Thanks
10) Contact Information
11) Copyright Information
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Introduction:
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Name: Zhou Tai
Style Name: Youping
Born: 163 AD Died: Circa 222 - 228 AD
Zhou Tai was a former pirate who later joined Wu along with Jiang Qin. He
saved Sun Quan's life on more then one occasion. In fact, he got his facial
scar while saving Sun Quan's life. Zhou Tai originally served as Sun Ce's
bodyguard. Sun Quan took a liking to him, and asked for Zhou Tai to serve
under him instead. After Sun Quan's life was saved by Zhou Tai, Sun Ce
praised Zhou Tai. Zhou Tai served at many significant battles, including Chi
Bi. He later killed the Shu officer Sha Moke.
In this game, he fights using the Iai Jutsu style. This style, like is
weapon, is Japanese. Why a character in a game set in China is using a
Japanese fighting style and weapon is beyond my knowledge, but it's a minor
detail. Koei works in mysterious ways I guess. His weapon starts out as a
standard katana, but his level 10 weapon seems like more of a Nodachi, or
Japanese battle sword.
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Unlocking Zhou Tai:
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Obviously, if you want to play as Zhou Tai, you'll first have to unlock him.
This is done by finishing Chapter 3 of Wu's Musou mode. After that, Zhou Tai
should be selectable. Simple. Easy. Effective.
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Pros and Cons of Zhou Tai:
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Pros:
-Great mounted attacks
-Not slow
-Interesting fighting style
-Musou does awesome damage
-Former pirate YARRRRRR!
-He looks cool, especially in his 3rd and 4th costumes
Cons:
-He's a little vulnerable after his musou attack while he sheaths his sword
-His weapon is cool, but a bit out of place considering katanas are Japanese,
and this takes place in China
-Lackluster crowd clearing abilities
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Zhou Tai's Moves:
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S = Square, T = Triangle
SSSSSS: 3 slashes, a jump forward, and then 3 more slashes. Not bad, but it's
lacking in crowd control ability.
T: Zhou Tai's throw move. He impales the enemy with his katana sheath, and
then pulls out his katana and slashes them. Slow to start, but unblockable.
ST: Zhou Tai spins around and hits the enemy up into the air. Juggle
friendly.
SST: A series of repeated slashes that stun the enemy at the end.
SSST: A dashing slash. This move is quite nice.
SSSST: Zhou Tai kicks the enemy into the air after spinning. Hit T again to
jump up and slash them once more.
SSSSST: Zhou Tai slides forward and delivers a powerful stab. This is good
against officers, since it does a lot of damage. Don't use this in crowds
though, it'll only hit one enemy.
Running Attack: A dashing slash. Not bad, since it does decent damage.
Jumping Attack: A mid air slash. Nothing special.
Jumping Charge: He does a back flip, then comes crashing to the ground and
impales his sheath in the ground.
Musou Attack: Zhou Tai slashes repeatedly while standing stationary, and then
does a dashing attack at the end. This can output a _lot_ of damage.
True Musou: Basically this is the same as his regular musou, only with an
added fire element.
Horse regular attack: Repeated slashes to the right. Weapons with more max
hits yield more right side slashing. This is nice, since he doesn't hit on
the left, making it easier to combo.
Horse charge attack: A frontal slash that comes very close to hitting the
poor horse in the head. =(
Horse Musou: Faster regular horse attacks until your musou gauge drains
completely, followed by his horse charge attack. Pretty simple, really.
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Zhou Tai's Weapons:
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Weapon Level: Attack Plus - Weapon name (for levels 1, 4, 7, and 10 only)
1: +16 - Eastern Sword (4 hits max)
2: +19
3: +22
4: +26 - Katana (5 hits max)
5: +29
6: +32
7: +41 - Dawn (6 hits max)
8: +44
9: +47
10: +55 - Dusk
How to get Zhou Tai's level 10 weapon:
You must first be playing in hard mode, and you need Zhou Tai's level 9
weapon. Play the Nanman Campaign, Wu side. This weapon is extremely difficult
to earn, since Nanman is a tough stage. Equip a saddle and ride straight down
the right path. Kill Wu Tuga. Enter the Nanman base, and Meng Huo should
appear there. Shortly after you'll get the weapon acquired message. Now
slaughter Meng Huo before Lu Xun dies to finish the stage, and you've got
your weapon. Enjoy.
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Zhou Tai's Costumes:
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Costumes are unlocked as you increase in rank. Hit max rank and you'll have
all six.
1) Black and red armor with a red cape.
2) Similar to his first costume, but with some white thrown in.
3) Wow... he just looks so incredibly cool. It's basically his first costume,
but with a helmet/face mask that reminds me of shredder from Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles. So cool...
4) Same as number 3, but with the white tint that number 2 had.
5) Dark Red Armor. This is similar to his first and second costumes, only the
tassel on his helmet and his cape are both styled differently.
6) Similar to his 5th costume, only a goldish color.
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Items, Orbs, and Saddles:
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Zhou Tai starts with 1 item slot, and earns three more as you advance through
the ranks. You also have an element orb slot and a saddle slot. Here I'll
list some item combos to take a look at once I get all of the items. For now,
I'll just put what I use.
Items:
Peacock Urn: Increases your max HP. This keeps you alive longer, which is
nice, but defense > HP when it comes to how long you stay alive. Not a bad
choice, but I would never take this over the Tortoise Amulet if I had to
choose between the two.
Dragon Amulet: Max Musou up. I don't use this, since I'd rather have a
shorter but faster charging musou meter. The choice is your's, more hits or
faster charging.
Tiger Amulet: Attack up. Not a bad choice at all. More attack = things die
faster = less things beating on you.
Tortoise Amulet: Defense up. Equip this, always. This is a great item.
Speed Scroll: Speed up. Don't waste an item slot on this. Zhou Tai is one of
the best mounted fighters in the game, and you can always equip a saddle
without wasting an item slot.
Wing Boots: Jump higher. No. Don't even bother with this.
Huang's Bow: Bow attack up. I personally don't find this useful, since I
don't use my bow much. In DW3, you had to snipe archers out of towers, but
now you can just knock the towers down by slashing them. As a result, the Bow
is less useful.
Nanman Armor: Bow defense up. Archers aren't as annoying or powerful as they
used to be, but this is still useful on certain stages which are full of
archers. I don't use this unless I know I'm going to end up being a pin
cushion in a certain level.
Horned Helm: Mounted attack up. Don't waste an item slot on it. While Zhou
Tai may be a great mounted fighter, devoting an item slot to it isn't worth
it. Use the tiger amulet instead.
Calvary Armor: Mounted defense up. Yuck.
Seven Star Sash: Luck up. Luck makes enemies more likely to drop meat buns
and whatnot. Some people love this item, but I don't find it to be effective
enough to warrant an item slot.
Elixer: Faster Musou charge. This is awesome. I always equip mine.
Herbal Remedy: Charge attack power up. I don't find this to be all that
effective. I'd rather use the Tiger Amulet.
Art of War: This doubles the length of temporary items you pick up in battle.
While having 2 minutes of max musou in Chang Ban is fun, this item isn't
worth a slot.
Survival Guide: Doubles your attack when you're low on life. Not very useful.
It can save your life, but not often enough to warrant using it.
Bodyguard Manual: This makes your bodyguards stronger. I can't quite tell if
it makes them do more damage or take less damage, or what, but it's effects
aren't all the great if you ask me.
Way of Musou: Always use your True Musou, even when your life isn't in the
red. Very nice item, but annoying as hell in two player mode. My friends and
I have banned this for multiplayer, but I always use it in single player.
Power Scroll: Tired of losing weapon locks? With this, you never will again!
I don't use it, but I can see why some people would. I find weapon locks much
harder to win now compared to DW3.
Wind Scroll: More range. Very nice. This gives Zhou Tai a nice boost in his
crowd clearing skill. I love this item.
Fire Arrows: Makes your arrows have a fire element. Like Huang's Bow, I don't
use my bow enough to warrant an item slot devoted to this.
Charge Bracer: This makes it harder for enemies to interrupt your charge
attacks. This is fairly useful, but I personally get interrupted more while
doing _normal_ attacks then I do while doing charge moves. Meh.
Elemental Orbs:
Elemental orbs can be equipped to add an elemental attack to your charge
moves. They will take effect only when your Musou Gauge is full, unless you
have a level 10 weapon equipped.
Poison: Utter crap. When you hit someone with a charge move, they'll be
poisoned. While poisoned, they take increased damage. Sounds nice, eh? Well,
the poison lasts for such a ridiculously short period of time that this
element is near useless. The amount the poison lowers people's defense by
will increase with orb level.
Fire: Very nice. This does damage over time while your opponent is in the
air. The amount of damage dealt increases with the orb's level, and is quite
nice.
Ice: This will not always take effect. This will take effect at a set
percentage of the time which increases with orb level. Basically, it freezes
your opponents temporarily. The ice lasts long enough for you to take
advantage of it, but this doesn't kick in frequently. It's ok at level 4, but
there are better orbs out there.
Lightning: Another great orb. This will knock the target into the air, while
also knocking nearby enemies off their feet. Also, this will deal damage to
anything hit by the lightning, and the damage increases with orb level.
Lightning was pretty lousy in DW3 for all but a few characters, but it's been
highly improved.
Blast: This orb is a joke. It deals damage when enemies block your attacks,
but the damage dealt is extremely small. This is next to worthless, even at
level 4.
Vorpal: This increases your attack power. It also has a chance to cause
instant death (it won't kill officers, it'll take away 20% of their remaining
HP). The instant death won't kick in all that often unless the orb is at
level 4, but the increased attack power is nice. This is a decent choice.
Saddles:
Red Hare Harness: Red Hare is fast. Enough said. Use this when you need to
get to places quickly. Unless you absolutely need every last ounce of speed,
there are better saddle choices.
Hex Mark Harness: Increases your luck, and gives you a horse that is slightly
slower then Red Hare. Not great but not bad either.
Shadow Harness: This thing is awesome. It let's you start the stage on Shadow
Runner, a horse that not only looks cool, but is also only a little bit
slower then Red Hare. The great part though is that this harness prevents you
from being knocked off of any horses. Melee attacks, arrows, you name it.
Nothing will make you leave your mount except the X Button! I personally use
this saddle nearly all of the time. Zhou Tai is good at mounted combat, and
this saddle removes the risk of falling off the horse.
Storm Harness: A quick horse and a mounted attack boost. Nice for when you
want to be able to hit things as you go by, but Shadow Runner is better for
mounted combat.
Elephant Harness: A tank, in animal form. Start any stage riding an elephant!
Bring the glory of Nanman where ever you go! These are fun, but I personally
prefer horses. TO each his own, I guess.
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Frequently Asked Questions:
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Q: Are you going to write anymore FAQs?
A: I just did. >_>
<_<
Q: How do I get <insert character here>'s 10th weapon?
A: If I haven't written a FAQ on that character, please consult Muni's FAQ.
It has excellent information, and is easy to follow.
Q: I can't get Lui Bei's 10th weapon! I'm playing at Ru Nan, but Zhao Yun
starts in the battle!
A: I get asked this so frequently that this gets a separate answer then the
above. You my friend are playing the wrong stage. You want the Battle of Ru
Nan, not the stage you start with that happens to be at Ru Nan. The battle of
Ru Nan is one of Shu's hidden stages, and can be unlocked by meeting set
requirements in their Musou mode.
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Credits and Thanks:
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Credit for actually writing this FAQ goes to me, of course. Thank you to
Algie12 for telling me the name of Zhou Tai's fighting style, Iai Jutsu, and
a bit about his past.
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Contact Information:
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Before E-Mailing or IMing me for help, please follow these simple guidelines:
1) Don't ask me anything that's already covered in this FAQ. You won't get an
answer. I'm not going to waste my time answering questions I've already
answered here.
2) If you're E-Mailing me, please put "Dynasty Warriors 4" or something like
that in the E-Mail title. Otherwise, I might delete it, thinking it's spam.
Likewise, if you IM me with a question, say something like "In Dynasty
Warriors 4, <insert question here>" so I know that you're asking me a DW4
question.
3) Don't send me any E-mail with attachments. They'll be deleted.
4) If you E-Mail or IM me, make it legible. If I can't read your question, I
can't answer it. If I get something like "how 2 u get the thing 4 ur guy that
does stuff???????" I'm not going to answer it.
5) Please be polite. No one likes a jerk.
As long as you follow those guidelines, I'll be more than happy to answer
your question to the best of my ability.
E-Mail:
[email protected]
AIM: acidfreeze118
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Copyright Information:
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This FAQ is copyright (c) Mike Weiss 2003. Do not reproduce this FAQ in any
way, shape, or form without my express written consent. I wrote this, and
only I can give you permission to use it. If I catch anyone making a profit
off of anything I've written without my permission, there'll be hell to pay.
