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Mori Ranmaru Character FAQ

- XForce23 (Kevin Li)




_______________________________Table of Contents_______________________________

1. Introduction........................................................000intro
  i.   Version History/Progress.......................................000hstry

2. The Basics..........................................................000basic
  i.   Controller Map/Buttons.........................................000contr
  ii.  Notations and Names............................................000names
  iii. Character Types................................................000types

3. Mori Ranmaru........................................................000morir
  i.   Who?...........................................................000whois
  ii.  How?...........................................................000unlck
  iii. Why?...........................................................000whyyy

4. Attacks.............................................................000attck

5. Weapons.............................................................000weapn
  i.   Elements.......................................................000elemt

6. Using Ranmori.......................................................000playt
  i.   Party Members..................................................000party

7. Abilities...........................................................000abili
  i.   Unlocking......................................................000unabi

8. Personal Item.......................................................000pitem

9. Special Thanks......................................................000thank

10. Contact/Legal......................................................000conta
_______________________________________________________________________________


[  1. Introduction  ]                                                  000intro
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 This is an indepth FAQ on the Warriors Orochi character, Mori Ranmaru.  I'm
going to assume that you, the reader, already know what Warriors Orochi is.  If
you don't, go search it up on www.gamespy.com and read the reviews of it.  For
everyone else who came here looking for some more information on Mori Ranmaru,
read on.


[  1.i. Version History  ]                                             000hstry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

April 28, 2008 (v1.00) -  Finished first version of this FAQ.  Should be pretty
            much done, unless I find out new info or people tell me about it.

May 1, 2008 (v1.10) -  Changed much of the guide, after getting some opinions
            from some helpful people at the message board (calbee219 :P).  I
            will blame it on this being my first guide ever written.



[  2. The Basics  ]                                                    000basic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 As Warriors Orochi is your standard hack and slash game where you slaughter
hundreds upon hundreds of nameless soldiers (affectionately dubbed peons by
players) with the occasional named officer or general, the controls in this
game are not complicated.  The one twist Warriors Orochi has is that you have
3 seperate characters on your team, with only one active at a time.  How to
switch between your characters, along with how to do other actions will be
outlined below.


[  2.i. Controller Map/Buttons  ]                                      000contr
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Left Analog: Moves character
Right Analog: Rotates camera
Directional Pad: Switches character in Type B controller setting

Square: Basic Attack
Triangle: Charge Attack
Circle: Musou Attack
X: Jump or Mount/Dismount horse

L1: Guard/Strafe/Recover/Sets camera in the direction your character is facing
R1: Special Attack
L2/R2: Switches character in default Type A controller setting
R3: Toggles minimap

Select: Whistle for your horse
Start: Menu


[  2.ii. Notations and Names  ]                                        000names
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To make the rest of the guide less confusing to read and easier for me to type,
I will be using commonly accepted notations and names for moves and such.  If
you go on message boards, you will find the same notations and lingo so it will
save you some time to explain some terms.

S: Stands for the Square button, so basically a regular attack.
T: Stands for the Triangle button, so a charge attack.

If you see someone say SST, SSTTT, etc., you know that they are talking about
how many button presses for the move they are speaking of.

 Charge #/C#: Basically refers to the different charge attacks that your
character will perform.  C1 means your first charge attack, which is basically
just one press of the Triangle button, or T.  C2 is ST, C3 is SST, etc.  This
even further to C#-#, when some charge attacks extend for more strikes with
more presses of the T button.  So following the same logic, a C3-3 attack would
be SSTTT.

Jump Charge/JC: Pressing T while jumping.

 Special Attack: Pressing the R1 button will perform a special move that is
unique to each character, and their type determines what type of special move
they will perform.  A special move usually requires Musou to use.A power
character will only have one special attack that usually does a lot of damage
in an area around or infront of them.  A technique character's special attack
allows them to perform enhanced charge attacks.  So instead of pressing SSST
for a charge attack, you can press SSSR1 for a more powerful version of it.
Technique characters' C1 special is usually quite different from their regular
C1.  Finally speed characters have two specials; one is activated when pressing
R1 while standing still, and the other is done by holding a direction on your
left analog while pressing R1.  Speed characters' specials usually require very
little or no Musou.

 Musou: Pressing the circle button will allow your character to perform a
preset series of strong attacks, while making you completely invulnerable to
enemy attack.  Requires full Musou bar to use, and completely drains it after
usage.

 True Musou: Basically a stronger and extended version of the regular Musou
attack; you can perform it when your health bar is in the red.

 Musou Chain: During a Musou attack you can cancel it midway by switching
characters, but if you immediately perform a Musou attack with that character
a Musou Chain will occur.  The Musou attack becomes buffed up in attack power,
and can gain an element to the attacks depending on what types of characters
were involved in the chain.  These are how the elements are added:

Multi:  2 or more Power Characters
Agility:  2 or more Speed Characters
Absorb:  2 or more Technique Characters
Flash:  One character of each category


[  2.iii. Character Types  ]                                           000types
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every character in Warriors Orochi is divided into three types: Power, Speed,
and Technique.  Each of these three types play differently and have their own
characteristics.  As mentioned before, their special attacks are determined by
what type of character they are.

 Power: Endowed with the passive ability Hyper Armor, Power characters will
not flinch to normal attacks while they are attacking.  This is a huge help
when clearing large crowds of enemies; once you start dicing you won't get
interrupted unless you get hit from behind, or an officer hits you with a
charge attack.  Take note however, you still take damage!  Power characters
have one special that requires Musou.

 Technique: Technique characters have the ability to counter-attack while
taking damage from any source.  While being hit, press your R1 button and your
character will instantly strike back, knocking back enemies that are in range.
Another essential ability, especially on higher difficulties, where even peons
do tons of damage and being comboed will usually result in you staring at the
Defeat screen.   As mentioned before, Technique characters can opt to press R1
instead of Triangle to perform an enhanced Charge attack.

 Speed: Speed characters can double-jump or air dash (depending on the
character) and have the ability to stop attacking mid-strike by pressing jump
and back.  This is usually quite helpful in fighting officers when you've
missed him with a long charge attack and don't want to be caught out of
position.  Speed characters also have two seperate special attacks, activated
with R1 or a direction on your left analog stick + R1.  Their specials require
very little Musou or no Musou at all making them great at clearing large
crowds.



[  3. Mori Ranmaru  ]                                                  000morir
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally we are at the main part of the guide, where we concentrate on the
character at hand, Mori Ranmaru.  First I'll go into some quick info on Mori,
with some character info and unlocking him.  Next I'll go into detail about his
attacks, weapons, abilities, and finally playing as Mori.  Without further
delay, here we go.


[  3.i. Who?  ]                                                        000whois
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(I have never played any of the Samurai Warriors series, so I'm just taking
the bio from Wikipedia.)
Mori Ranmaru (1565 June 21, 1582), born Mori Nagasada, was the son of Mori
Yoshinari, and the younger brother of Mori Nagayoshi, from the province of
Mino. From an early age, Ranmaru was an attendant to Oda Nobunaga. Recognized
for his talent and loyalty, he was appointed to a responsible post. At Omi, he
was given 500 koku, and after Takeda Katsuyori's death, he was awarded the
50,000 koku at Iwamura Castle. Ranmaru and his younger brothers perished
defending Oda Nobunaga during the Incident at Honno-ji. Ranmaru Mori committed
seppuku with Nobunaga. Oda and Mori's lord-vassal relationship followed the
shudo tradition, and was widely admired in Japan for its strength. In fictional
works featuring him, Ranmaru is often depicted as having an extremely feminine
appearance.

So yes, in real life, Mori Ranmaru was a MAN.  And apparently a very pretty man
because people often mistook him as a girl.

And yes, even though the game calls him Ranmaru Mori, Mori is his family name,
so I will be calling him in the proper way (Mori Ranmaru).  I'm just used to
seeing Japanese names like that so that's the way I'm sticking with.


[  3.ii. How?  ]                                                       000unlck
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Mori Ranmaru is not one of the initial characters you can start playing with,
but he is unlocked very easily.  In Wu Chapter 1, all you have to do is clear
the chapter and he will be unlocked (not sure if you have to defeat her, but
most people do anyways because he's right beside Ma Chao whom you do have to
beat in order to clear the mission.)

 After that, he's available for use for the rest of the Wu story, and for
Free Mode.  He comes with two costumes, (like every single other character in
the game), the default with his purple clothes that you saw him in, and the
other costume is red.


[  3.iii. Why?  ]                                                      000whyyy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Now you may ask, why use Mori Ranmaru?  First you may think, "But she's a
girl!  They aren't that good in these games."  Well you'd be wrong, because
he's actually a guy, and did you see the size of that sword? That sword has
some great potential.  And besides, the girls in this game can be quite good,
some are even top-tiered characters (Diao Chan, Ina).

 Mori Ranmaru is basically a killing machine.  He is awesome at clearing
crowds and killing officers/generals.  Also add the fact that he is a Power
character meaning that while attacking he will not flinch so you can just keep
mowing people down no matter how large the crowd is.  And lastly, his special
kills peons instantly, no matter what level or difficulty the stage is.  Great
stuff to have around.



[  4. Attacks  ]                                                       000attck
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 I won't be going through the regular combo string of square attacks, because
honestly they're just regular sword slashes that are nothing special.  The main
damage dealing attacks are with your charge attacks anyways.

C1-1 (T)         -  Mori charges for a bit, then sends out a shockwave that
              travels in the direction that you are facing in a straight line.
              Goes through soldiers and officers alike until it reaches its
              maximum range.  It should be noted that the sword swing itself
              does damage.  TRIGGERS ELEMENTS.

C1-2 (TT)        -  Same deal as C1-1, except that the shockwave is larger in
              arc length.

C1-3 (TTT)       -  The game lists that you can press Triangle three times for
              C1-3 attack, but it looks and does exactly the same thing as
              C1-2 from what I can tell.  I could be wrong.

C2-1 (ST)        -  An upward slash that knocks enemies up in the air.

C2-2 (STT)       -  An upward slash that knocks enemies up in the air,
              followed by a lunge forward and a horizontal slash.  Knocks
              enemies back, TRIGGERS ELEMENTS.  Note, if C2-1 does not connect
              with an enemy, it will not continue into this nor C2-3.
              Be careful.

C2-3 (STTT)      -  An upward slash that knocks enemies up in the air,
              followed by a lunge forward and a horizontal slash, finishing
              off by dashing back the way you came, and delivering a final
              wide horizontal slash.  TRIGGERS ELEMENTS.  Note, like C2-2 this
              move will NOT happen if C2-1 does not make contact with an
              enemy.  Also both C2-2 and C2-3 will trigger the elements on
              your weapon, which is a common attribute of Mori's charge
              attacks.

C3-1 (SST)       -  A charged downward slash.  Makes officers and peons
              stagger when hit.

C3-2 (SSTT)      -  A charged downward slash followed by two quick horizontal
              slashes from right to left, then back.  The second slash
              TRIGGERS ELEMENTS.

C3-3 (SSTTT)     -  A charged downward slash followed by two quick horizontal
              slashes from right to left, then back.  Finally Mori charges
              forward with his sword at his right side dragging the ground,
              and when he swings her sword it released a thin shockwave along
              the ground.  TRIGGERS ELEMENTS

C4-1 (SSST)      -  A diagonal slash from top left to right.  Knocks back
              enemies and TRIGGERS ELEMENTS.

C4-2 (SSSTT)     -  A diagonal slash from top left to right followed by
              another diagonal slash from bottom right to top left, which
              knocks enemies into the air.  TRIGGERS ELEMENTS.

C4-3 (SSSTTT)    -  A diagonal slash from top left to right followed by
              another diagonal slash from bottom right to top left, which
              knocks enemies into the air.  To finish it off, Mori swings
              his sword baseball-style, and unleases a shockwave like C1-2.
              Like C1, his sword and shockwave both have elemental properties.

Special (R1)     -  A downward slash which releases a vertical shockwave (as
              opposed to a wide one like his C1) which kills every peon
              instantly while also dealing significant damage to officers.
              Unblockable and also staggers officers.  Uses Musou, and the
              amount needed is indicated by the inside line of your Musou
              bar.   It would look something like this:
               _________________________________________
              |__________|______________________________|
              This first section is how much of your bar the special attack
              would require.

Jump Charge (XT) -  Jumps up, then slams the ground which knocks back all
              enemies caught in range.




[  5. Weapons  ]                                                       000weapn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 In Warriors Orochi a new weapons system was introduced called Weapon Fusion,
where you combine attributes from weapons you find to customize the weapon that
suits your style of play the best.  Any weapon can at most have 8 different
elements applied on them, as well as a maximum bonus attack power of +20.
Each character also has 4 'levels' of their respective weapons, with each
subsequent level having roughly DOUBLE the attack power of the previous level.
Not to mention the weapons look cooler and have cooler names.


Level 1
Long Sword -- Base Attack Power 9

Level 2
Brave Metal -- Base Attack Power 18

Level 3
Storm Blade -- Base Attack Power 37

Level 4
Iron Vengeance -- Base Attack Power 75


 Higher level weapons will drop on higher difficulty levels (who would have
guessed?).  You never know what weapon it will be until after you've cleared
the stage, and everytime random elements will be applied.

IMPORTANT: You can only get your Level 4 Weapon, Iron Vengeance, when you play
on a level that has at least 3 Star Difficulty on HARD, or any level on CHAOS.
A great level for getting weapons is Wu Chapter 4-X, since there are 3 weapon
boses in the crates near the doors where the enemies come in and where the
peasants escape.  Pang De drops a 4th weapon box.


[  5.i. Elements  ]                                                    000elemt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Even though getting a high level weapon with high attack power is real nice,
the most essential factor of your weapon are the ELEMENTS which you fuse onto
it.

 To fuse two weapons together, first you must have at least two weapons in
your inventory (duh?).  The first weapon you select will be the 'base' weapon,
which will be the weapon that will be kept.  The second weapon is the one with
all the juicy elements, attack power, and slot from.  After you fuse the two
weapons together, the second weapon is gone forever.  You can bring over any
element you want from the second weapon to the first, provided that you have
the proper number of slots and growth points to do so.  If you already have
that element on your base weapon, the level of the element is simply added for
a MAXIMUM LEVEL OF 10.  Obviously the higher level the element the more
effective it is.

 Reading back on the attack list I put, you may have noticed that certain
charge attacks trigger elements.  This is important because the elements you
fuse onto your weapons are only activated during charge attacks (which is why
I only bothered to list the charge attacks, because they are most important).
These elements easily mean the difference between becoming a machine that chews
through enemies like nothing, and having to slowly trudge through enemies.

You can check http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/938105/50885 at
Rampidzier's FAQ for a list and short description of all the elements and what
they do.



[  6. Using Ranmori  ]                                                 000playt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 When you first unlock Mori, he will be at level 1 with a short combo
string and only his 1st tier charge attacks unlocked (C1-1, C2-1, C3-1, C4-1).
At low levels he is decent due to her inherent wide range of attack and his
powerful special attack.  When you start getting better weapons and more
attacks things improve exponentially from there.

 However please note that the play style I have described in this guide is MY
OPINION.  By no means are they a law that is written in stone of how you should
play Mori Ranmaru.

Low level:  You will mostly be using his regular combo string to clear out
         enemies (SSSS) along with the occasional Special.  His Musou is
         alright by it is completely outclassed by his Special.  Use his Musou
         if you're about to die and you're being comboed since Musou is
         uninterruptable.  An easy way to level with Mori is just gather up
         large groups of enemies and let your Special rip.  In a medium crowd
         you can easily kill almost 20 guys in one go; a large crowd can net
         you over 30.  Also more often than not, one of these enemies will
         usually drop a Musou wine, refilling your Musou.  You can do this as
         much as you want.  Don't be afraid to use this on officers too, since
         it deals huge damage to them as well as staggering them for further
         attacks.

Medium Level:  When you've reached about level 20, all your tiered charged
         attacks will be unlocked.  This is where you start your road to
         becoming an absolute killing machine.  By now you should have noticed
         that your C4 attack is quite good due to your large range and your
         immunity to getting interrupted during this attack.  This move is
         what you will be relying on 95% of the time when you are playing as
         Mori.  His C4-3 attack is like thresher going through a field of
         wheat; with 3 seperate slashes ALL triggering the elements on your
         weapon, no peon can survive this combo and officers take a huge
         hurting with this.  Occasionally you will use your C1-2 to take out
         annoying archers/riflemen due to the fact that their arrows and
         bullets won't knock you back while you are charging your wave.
         Or you might feel like using your R1 just for the hell of it.

High Level:  By now your weapon should pretty much have all the elements you
         are looking for and they are all at a decent level.  By now, a C4-3
         combo will actually kill an officer instantly and obviously peons are
         an afterthought.  The other charge attacks are good too and I use
         them for fun once in awhile but when it's business time, C4-3 is the
         way to go.  The move is pretty much overpowered, but that shouldn't
         stop you from abusing it.



[  6.i. Party Members  ]                                               000party
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 As Mori is an all-around character who is good at killing large crowds and
officers, it is really up to you who you want as your two team members.   You
may want a team member that is a Speed character who has a good special that
can clear out a lot of enemies quickly, as well as weaken some officers.  This
is just a suggestion because just sometimes you bite off more than you can chew
and you just get hit too much before you can get a good combo off.  One good
character that can do this is Sun Jian, who has a pretty decent special for
clearing crowds.  A big bonus is that his stationary special boosts the attack
power of the rest of the party (whoo hoo!) which never hurts.  Another great
speed character is Mitsuhide Akechi, or Mitsunari Ishida who also have great
specials that can help thin the crowds.
 Other than that, honestly you can use whoever you like.  Just find whoever
you are comfortable with and you will be fine.



[  7. Abilities  ]                                                     000abili
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Aside from equipping and customizing weapons for your character, Warriors
Orochi has the abilities system which gives passive bonuses for your entire
team.  Like equipping items in previous Dynasty Warriors games, you set them
before you start the level and the bonus stats they give stay with you for the
entire level.
 Each character in the game has 3-4 abilities that can be unlocked by
completing certain objectives in a level.  You can only unlock one per level
per character, so you can easily unlock one ability per character if you really
wanted to.   These abilities are cumulative, meaning that they will carry over
in every other level you play from there even if you start to use different
characters or play a different mode.
 There are 18 different abilities in total, with maximum levels of either 10
or 20 depending on the ability.  You can equip at most 7 abilities.

Vitality (Max: 20) - Increases your maximum health.
Focus (Max: 20) - Increases your maximum Musou.
Potence (Max: 20) - Increases attack power.
Fortitude (Max: 20) - Increases defense.
Impulse (Max: 20) - Increases running speed.
Cavalier (Max: 10) - Increases your attack power on horseback.  Also allows you
                    to start the stage on a horse.  You get better horses as
                    you level up the ability.  Once you hit maximum level 10,
                    you will get Red Hare or Matsukaze, depending on if your
                    starting character is from Dynasty Warriors or Samurai
                    Warriors, respectively.
Karma (Max: 10) - Increases your luck.  Basically means more drops from peons
                 for food and the temporary stat boosts.  Also helps when
                 trying to get good weapons, although this will not help with
                 the number of weapons you will get on a stage because that is
                 always predetermined.
Power (Max: 20) - Increases attack power of Power characters.
Speed (Max: 20) - Increases attack power of Speed characters.
Technique (Max: 20) - Increases attack power of Technique characters.
Boost (Max: 20) - Increases power of charge attacks.
Awakening (Max: 20) - Increases power of all attacks that use Musou.
Acclaim (Max: 20) - Increases experience gained.
Recuperate (Max: 10) - Non-active character regen health faster.
Conserve (Max: 10) - Decreases use of Musou bar.
Adrenalin (Max: 10) - Health regenerates when your combo meter reaches over 10.
                     This stays in effect until your combo is broken, ie. when
                     you are hit.
Recover (Max: 10) - Health bar recovers gradually. (Active Character)
Refill (Max: 10) - Musou bar recovers gradually. (Active Character)


 Generally, you are going to want Vitality, Potence, Fortitude, Impulse, and
Boost equipped no matter what.  These five help a ton no matter what level you
are playing.  For most maps Cavalier is great too, since having your own horse
is very handy.  The last ability is your choice, whatever you want.  Power is
not a bad choice if you want even more oomph in your Mori attacks, Acclaim
is good if you're trying to level lower level characters and Karma will help
get some good weapons for those lower level characters too.


[  7.i. Unlocking  ]                                                   000unabi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mori Ranmaru starts out with 4 locked abilities and it's up to you to unlock
them to add to your collection.  Usually they are increasingly difficult to
unlock but even then they are quite easy to do so.  You can unlock abilities
on any stage and on any difficulty, so when you are trying to get all the
abilities you can just run through a starter level on Easy to get all the
requirements.  My personal favorite is Samurai Chapter 1, since it has a ton of
enemies and officers.

Ability 1:  Boost - Defeat 60 enemies.
                   Too easy.

Ability 2:  Vitality - Defeat 3 officers within 12 minutes of the start of the
                      battle.
                      Although you have a time limit, 12 minutes is a TON of
                      time.  If you are low level and having trouble, you can
                      use your party members to fight but Mori Ranmaru has to
                      get the finishing blow.

Ability 3:  Refill - Defeat 100 enemies, while maintaing 50% Life Gauge status,
                    without performing any attack using the Musou Gauge.
                    This gets a little more complicated, but it is still very
                    doable.  Not using the Musou Gauge means no R1 which
                    hurts your killing power a little, but you can do without
                    it.  If you get hurt and heal up, it's ok.  As long as it
                    doesn't drop below halfway you are still good.  If you are
                    still low level and don't have your tiered charge attacks
                    unlocked yet, your regular combo string will still do the
                    trick in a crowd.  Just don't get surrounded; keep the
                    enemies infront of you and you will be fine.

Ability 4:  Awakening - Defeat 5 officers within 8 minutes of the start of the
                       battle, without performing any attack using the Musou
                       Gauge.
                       Once again, don't panic due to the time limit.  8
                       minutes is a ton of time so you don't have to do
                       anything drastic.  Although if you really wanted to you
                       could because Mori can easily handle himself.  If you
                       have gotten some elements on your weapon, especially
                       Flash, this will be a piece of cake.



[  8. Personal Item  ]                                                 000pitem
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A character's personal item gives them one extra Proficiency point, one greater
than they could normally achieve without it.  Proficiency basically makes your
Special attack more powerful, but for Mori it's not that noticeable since
you instant kill peons anyways.  However, this is for completionist's sake,
and you get a neat little icon beside your character's stat sheet as well as
unlocking one of his pictures in the gallery by getting this item.

To unlock Mori Ranmaru's Personal Item is pretty tricky.  You're going to want
a decent horse because you're under a strict time limit and you'll be running
around killing people around the map.  Being a decent level will help killing
officers faster.  You can complete this task on any difficulty you'd like, so
obviously choosing Easy will just speed things up.

Item:  Nobunaga's Belt

Stage:  Wu Chapter 2 - Battle of Chang Ban

Requirements:  Within 7 minutes, defeat every officer other than Lu Xun. Ling
  Tong and Yorichika Shichiri are not to be defeated until after they spring
  their ambush. Kill both Lead Engineers Sakon Shima sends out, then kill
  Sakon Shima after you are told to do so. Then kill Gan Ning after he charges
  out but BEFORE he reaches the ambush point, and 300 enemies.

Location:  Northwestern corner of the map.

Sound like a lot?  It is.  I got my 300th peon kill with like 14 seconds to
spare.  This will probably take a couple of tries to get to know where you have
to go to trigger events to happen, and where people appear to kill them.
One very important trick to know is to pause the game when an officer starts
talking.  The game system is flawed that only one 'event' can occur at a time so
even if you've done everything to trigger something, it won't actually occur
until the game has gone through all the events that has happened until it gets
to yours.  This wastes a ton of time and you can save yourself the precious
seconds you need by pausing when an officer starts talking.  However when the
officer is done their speech bubble, you have to unpause to let them go to the
next one (if there is one) and then pause again to let them finish that.

SPECIAL THANKS TO Rampidzier's and his hard work, because I got these times
and events from his FAQ.

Time Log:

0'15":  Nobuchika Chosokabe defeated.
0'40":  Da Ji retreated.
0'50":  Kiyohide Nakagawa defeated.
1'01":  Sakon Shima appears.
1'30":  Shigeyasu Suzuki defeated.
1'40":  Naoshige Nabeshima defeated.
2'01":  Morichika Chosokabe defeated.
2'27":  Resistance Army ambush troops appear.
2'33":  The Ling Tong unit advances upon the Orochi Army.
2'42":  A mobile unit arrives.
2'49":  The mobile unit advances.
2'59":  Yorichika Shichiri defeated.
3'09":  Ling Tong defeated.
3'19":  Engineers appear.
3'34":  A defensive unit arrives.
3'58":  Engineers appear.
4'10":  Defeat Sakon Shima and prevent his fire attack.
4'22":  Sakon Shima defeated.
4'28":  The engineers have been successfully stopped.
4'40":  Sakon Shima retreats.
4'53":  The enemy's second wave advances.
5'05":  Gan Ning is on the move toward the dock.
5'13":  Stop Gan Ning's sneak attack.
5'23":  Gan Ning defeated.
5'33":  Zhu Ran defeated.
6'09":  Ling Cao defeated.
6'22":  Unique item discovered.

His Method:

First, defeat Nobuchika Chosokabe and Kiyohide Nakagawa.  Then, make your way
east and the north along the central diagonal path.  Defeat Shigeyasu Suzuki
and Naoshige Nabeshima in this area.  Now, head east to where Morichika
Chosokabe is and defeat him as well.  Now, Ling Tong will eventually lead an
ambush at the middle diagonal path, so make your way back over to there.
Defeat Ling Tong and Yorichika Shichiri to stop the ambush party.  Lu Xun's
next big idea is a fire attack.  He will order Engineers to march along the
eastern path to your main camp and set fire to your main camp.  Defeat the
first Lead Engineer that appears.  Sakon Shima will send out a second Lead
Engineer.  Defeat this engineer and wait for Zhou Yu to order you to defeat
Sakon Shima.  Defeat him after you are told to do so.  Now, Lu Xun is
starting to get desperate and will order Gan Ning to lead an ambush at your
main camp.  He will need to make it to the dock before he can do so.  Stop
Gan Ning from making it to the dock to lead his sneak attack.  By now, you
should have 200 kills by this point in time.  Defeat Zhu Ran next, who should
be in this area.  Use this area to get up to around 250 kills and then make
your way towards the enemy main camp.  You will need to defeat Ling Cao and
50 more enemies up here to get your 300 kills.  By now, you should have about
2 minutes to do all of this, so be quick about it.  When you have done this,
your item will appear in the northwestern corner of the map.  Grab your item
and defeat Lu Xun to complete the stage.



[  9. Special Thanks  ]                                                000thank
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To KOEI: To come up with this great game, even though it's just huge fan
        service.

To GAMEFAQS: For helping me get through this game and inspire me to write this.

To Rampidzier (aka Robert Dohner): Saved me a ton of work by having all the
                                  basic game info there on your FAQ (elements,
                                  controls, etc).  Especially on your work for
                                  Ranmaru's personal item.

To Sebastian Repec: For pointing out that I had mistakenly put she instead of
                   he all this time when referring to Mori Ranmaru, and for
                   naming inconsistencies.

To calbee219:  For giving some great and helpful criticism about my guide.



[  10. Contact/Legal  ]                                                000conta
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please, if anyone finds errors or knows extra information that I do not have
here, you are more than welcome to e-mail me about it at [email protected].
Please put relevant e-mail title like Ranmaru FAQ or Warriors Orochi as the
title or I will not even look at the e-mail.

This FAQ has been compiled for use on GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com).  It better
be the only site that uses it.

Copyright 2008 Kevin Li.  This document may not be redistributed or used in any
form without consent from the owner.