Liu Bei FAQ v1.0

Liu Bei FAQ v1.0
Warriors Orochi
By Equinox523 (Henry Halim) - [email protected]

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*********************************************************
* *
* TABLE OF CONTENTS *
* *
* 1. Introduction *
* 2. Liu Bei: A Dynasty Warriors History *
* 3. Why Choose Liu Bei? *
* 4. Unlocking Liu Bei *
* 5. Moveset *
* 6. Weapons and Abilities *
* 7. Personal Item *
* 8. FAQ *
* 9. Credits *
* 10. Contact *
* *
*********************************************************

========================================================================
1. Introduction
========================================================================

Hi everyone! This is my first FAQ, created for fans of Liu Bei for the
PS2 version of Warriors Orochi.

As the Lord of Shu and a key figure of the Sanguo period, Liu Bei has
been in every single video game based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms,
from Dynasty Tactics to Kessen 2 to Dynasty Warriors (and those are just
the Koei ones!) He's even seen some screen time in adaptations of the
historical epic, including the recent "Red Cliff", directed by John Woo.

This time, though, he's got his hands full battling the Serpent King
Orochi, and fortunately, he's got his old reliable moveset, as well as
some new tricks up his sleeve to battle man and reptile alike. The
result? Another really strong game for Liu Bei, and of course, another
blow struck for justice!

========================================================================
2. Liu Bei: A Dynasty Warriors History
========================================================================

There are many sites devoted to the history and lore of the Three
Kingdoms period online (notably http://www.kongming.net), so if you're
interested in finding out more about Liu Bei or the other characters
featured in Koei's games, I encourage you to check them out. Instead of
giving you the historical rundown of Liu Bei, the historical figure this
character was based on, I'm going to give you a history of the character
in the Dynasty Warriors series. Why? First of all, this is a game FAQ,
so if you're looking at this, chances are you're not looking for his
biography. You probably already know what's relevant to the game about
Liu Bei's basic history. And of course, as a DW old-timer, I just like
reliving the good old days!

Liu Bei as a character has always been consistently good or at least
useable in Dynasty Warriors. His trademarks are quick frontal sword
strikes and, since DW3, spinning attacks that cover a broad swath around
him. His moveset in Warriors Orochi makes him a good all-around
fighter, and he can truly shine even in a cast of 79 in Warriors Orochi
if utilized effectively.

I'm going to start the count at DW2 because it was the first true
battlefield action game in the series (DW1 was a fighting game).

DW2 - In what seems like an eternity ago, Liu Bei had a short 4-Hit
combo that culminated in the SSSS stab, or SSST chop that he
continues to use in the Warriors Orochi series. Not a lot of
crowd clearing, but he was definitely useable. Not much to say
here.

DW3 - Liu Bei got a huge upgrade to his moveset in DW3 (as well as the
legendary hair net - though he might have had this before then,
I'm not sure). Though he had a pretty bad 4th weapon in the
Gold Moon Dragon, (mounted defense in a one-hit dismount game?),
he nevertheless had a great combo ender in SSSSST, which
unleashed a massive 360 energy wave that was crucial for
clearing crowds.

DW3XL - Liu Bei didn't fare much better in Xtreme Legends, with a subpar
5th weapon in the Dragon Star that gifted him with...27 extra
arrows and a long musou bar. Though he still had an excellent
moveset, it left us envying the devastating weapon Sun Quan got
that unleashed the vorpal element with a mere SSST, while we
sadly tapped SSSSTT and watched the our lightning bolts fizzle.
We still had Way of Musou, however, to burn opponents with for
extra damage. You know, back when the fire element actually did
damage.

DW4 - This game brought us the mighty orb system, and for the first
time, Liu Bei players would enjoy the freedom of customizing
their weapons with their preferred element. Liu Bei was the
perfect canvas for this new feature, with many moves that
benefited greatly from the extra elemental umph. A brand new
SSTTT combo also was introduced to improve his effectiveness
against officers, and his old SSSSST became a powerhouse move
with the Ice Orb. Just devastating. This game also brought him
his sneaky T attack - no Liu Bei guide would be complete without
discussion of this move. More on that later.

DW5 - The DW4 expansions didn't change his moveset or add new weapons,
so I didn't mention them, but DW5 saw the introduction of a new
double slash/shockwave air charge, as well as an explosive SSSST
uppercut move for juggling. An unfortunate step back for Liu
Bei was the generic "shockwave" animation for his SSSSST attack,
which did not carry elements like it did in the previous game.
This moveset is more or less the one he uses in Warriors Orochi,
with an added R1 special.

DW6 - This next gen release heralded the coming of a newer, younger,
less bearded Liu Bei, complete with twin swords (which is
actually faithful to the novel) and a brand new moveset. Liu
Bei is a dangerous opponent with the broad sweeping attacks he's
had earlier in the series, as well as a rain of lightning arrows
and an incredibly flashy musou mode. While this was the death
of oldschool SSSSST Liu Bei, perhaps it's appropriate that Koei
chose to make the PS3 Dynasty Warriors depart radically from
what we knew and loved (and thankfully Liu Bei wasn't given a
clone moveset).

========================================================================
3. Why Choose Liu Bei?
========================================================================

Liu Bei's moveset is mostly unchanged from DW5, which makes him a solid
character with decent speed and quick strikes. While the attack
animations themselves haven't changed, the power behind them definitely
has. He also benefits from being a Technique character. TEC officers
can counter attacks, and score critical hits, which are crucial to
survival on Chaos mode.

Liu Bei is actually quietly one of the best offensive characters in the
game, which may not be obvious until later on, but he actually has the
ability to one-hit KO officers with his T charge attack in Chaos Mode
when fully levelled. He's got a strong offensive buff, as well as an
extensive catalog of usable charge attacks. He can juggle, clear
crowds, and duel officers effectively and is overall a balanced and
formidable adversary.

========================================================================
4. Unlocking Liu Bei
========================================================================

All you have to do is clear Shu's Story Mode, Battle of Koshi Castle
(Stage 8). That's it!

========================================================================
5. Moveset
========================================================================
Key:
S - Attack (Square)
T - Charge (Triangle)
O - Musou (Circle)
X - Jump (X)
R1 - Special Attack (R1)

SSSSSSSS - Three side to side slashes, a stab, followed by more
(S-String horizontal slashes. Your run of the mill sword/ruler
Combo) combo from DW5.

T - Liu Bei angles to the left of the target area, and zips
(Sliding Side right with a big slash. There's a lot of confusion
Slash) about how to use this skill - I recommend releasing your
left analog while using it to ensure that you hit the
area directly in front of you. This attack carries
elements and can KO generic officers in one hit on
Chaos, when he's levelled up and skills are maximized.
Also a fairly safe move to do, with decent recovery
time, especially with maximum Agility on your weapon.
Learn to use this move - it may take some practice, but
it's worth it if you want to take out officers quickly.

ST - An upwards swing that launches the opponent up. Not a
(Uppercut very powerful attack, and it does not carry elements,
Launcher) but it lets you juggle enemy officers early in the game.
Comes in handy when using a weapon with the Air element
on it in early going, as well as to continue combos.

SST(TTT) - Liu Bei slashes upwards diagonally culminating in a
(Slashing horizontal slice that carries elemental damage. Your
Flurry) standard dizzy move, this one is very useful for light
crowd control and for facing officers. A great juggle
move, as well as a useful move for combo setup.

SSST - The ancient and infamous chop. Liu Bei chops downwards
(Vertical in front of him with his sword, heavily damaging and, if
Chop) Bolt/Ice are not equipped, knocking the enemy away.
It's not the fanciest move, and doesn't have the
greatest hitbox, but it does do good damage to a limited
area in front of him. Obviously better with an
elemental weapon.

SSSST - Liu Bei swings upwards with his sword, a burst of golden
(Golden light welling upwards from the ground, launching the
Burst opponent into the air, with no elemental properties. A
Launcher) great move with fair frontal coverage, which is excellent
for setting up all kinds of juggling pain.

SSSSST - Liu Bei slashes in a circular motion, a shockwave
(Circular trailing the blade 360 degrees around his body.
Slash Sadly, the vertical hitbox of the wave has been cut
Wave) significantly and elements do not attach to this move in
Warriors Orochi. Like most 360 shockwave moves, this
one has been severely nerfed, unfortunately, but anyone
who has played DW4 can understand why this was done.

(Running) S - Liu Bei slides in for an inwards horizontal cut. Knocks
(Sliding enemies down on contact.
Cut)

O - Several side to side slashes while moving forward
(Musou slightly, followed by a brief pause before finishing
Combo) with a flourish of slashes that juggle the opponent low
to the ground, with even greater speed and range. Not
the fanciest of musou attacks, and can sometimes drop a
juggled foe when he pauses for a split second. You can
also move around while this move is active, walking
forward to continually assail an officer, or changing
the angle to hit more peons.

(Low HP) O - Triggers instead of the above when in critical (red)
(Burning health. Basically the same as the regular musou, except
Musou with fire element and an additional series of flourishes
Combo) at the end. This move has just one pause, so you can
still drop officers mid-combo, but with good timing, you
can still juggle with this move.

(Air) S - Slashes downward. A quick, direct strike that can be
(Air used to jump in against opponents, or to cover yourself
Slash) when recovering in the air.

(Air) T - A jumping diagonal double slash aimed towards the
(Double ground, followed by a small diagonal shockwave. Best
Air Slash used to surprise foes or as a lead-in to a ground combo.
with Wave)

(Mounted) S - A sequence of slashes alternating between right to left.

(Mounted) T - One slash on each side with a slight delay. Stronger
than the standard horse attack.

(Mounted) O - A musou version of his mounted attacks, with a small
shockwave appearing in front of the horse, allowing it
to knock out enemies straight ahead as you move.

R1 - Liu Bei poses and buffs his attack power. Requires a
small amount of musou.

(Counter)R1 - Liu Bei can counterattack if you time R1 correctly.
Simply hit the button as the enemy attacks. The window
is fairly generous, and you can usually perform this
move while guarding, after you've just taken a hit (and
are about to take another), or even against archers or
gunmen!

Being a Technique style fighter, Liu Bei also can activate R1 for more
faster, more powerful, flashier versions of all of his charge attacks.
None of them carry the elements, but their execution and recovery time
are super fast.

S R1 - A quick sword uppercut that knocks the opponent into the
(Speedy air. It does not carry the elements, but has next to no
Uppercut recovery time. A helpful launcher with great speed that
Launcher) can land you that quick juggle you need.

SS R1 - A faster sequence of slashes that end in a stunning
(Speedy stroke. Liu Bei moves forward a lot more than the T
Slash version of this move.
Flurry)

SSS R1 - A faster version of the SSST chop performed at blinding
(Speedy speed. This is a knockback move that blows enemies in
Vertical front of you away.
Chop)

SSSS R1 - A faster SSSST launcher. Like its T counterpart, this
(Speedy move sets up juggles well and has a decent forward area
Golden of effect.
Burst
Launcher)

SSSSS R1 - A quicker version of his SSSSST.
(Speedy
Circular
Slash
Wave)

========================================================================
6. Weapons and Abilities
========================================================================
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapons
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liu Bei wields a single, straight sword in combat in Warriors Orochi.
His weapons are as follows:

Long Sword - Base Attack 9
Imperial Sword - Base Attack 19
Gold Dragon - Base Attack 38
Gold Moon Dragon - Base Attack 76

As with everyone else, Liu Bei's 4th weapon is obtained by going to any
3 or more star difficulty stage in Hard Mode, or any stage in Chaos
Mode. They are found randomly, so don't be discouraged if you didn't
find one! You'll get one sooner or later. I recommend Wu Chapter 4-X -
Battle of Wan Castle in Hard Mode, as this stage has three weapons in
crates (which is rare in this game) and one you obtain by taking out
Pang De. It's also a small stage, so you can get by on foot. Another
good one is Wei Chapter 1 - Battle of Kuzegawa, on Chaos Mode. Zhang
Jiao, Danemon Ban, Xiahou Yuan and Xu Zhu all drop weapons. Relegating
yourself to the left side of this map and fighting all the way to Huang
Gai should net you 3 weapons even if you totally skip Xiahou Yuan.

Here's a quick rundown of attributes that can be fused onto a weapon.

---------
Elements:
---------
Bolt - Charge attacks cause small bolts of electricity to
spread from enemy to enemy, stunning opponents for a
moment before they fall to the ground. Excellent for
setting up juggles and adding to combos. This does
not interfere with the effectiveness of other
elements and can be used in conjunction with them.

Flame - Charge attacks deal continuous damage to airborne or
stunned opponents. Works slowly but ignores defense,
dealing a constant rate of damage to foes. Note that
if both Flame and Ice are on the same weapon, they
alternate and do not stack, so you may get Flame
sometimes and Ice others.

Flash - Charge attacks break guard, putting enemies in stagger
animation. Practically an auto-include for every
character.

Ice - Charge attacks have a chance of freezing opponents,
immobilizing them for a few seconds. Frozen enemies
also sustain more damage. Note that if both Flame and
Ice are on the same weapon, they alternate and do not
stack, so you may get Flame sometimes and Ice others.

Slay - Charge attacks have a chance of instantly killing enemy
peons, and deal percentage-based damage to enemy
officers. Also widely regarded as an auto-include.

-----------------
Other Attributes:
-----------------
Absorb - Charge attacks restore some musou in proportion to the
damage you dealt. Can be useful for warriors with heavy
musou usage.

Agility - Increases the speed of charge attacks. Note that at
high levels, this can boost attack speed so high that
the system will incorrectly register or fail to register
some attacks in the right hitbox.

Air - Charge attacks deal extra damage to aerial opponents.
Great for players who like to juggle, and characters
with auto air combos.

Brave - Charge attacks deal extra damage to enemy officers. A
great way to ramp up your damage against your toughest
foes.

Drain - Charge attacks restore some health in proportion to the
damage you dealt. Can be handy in Hard or Chaos Mode,
where taking seven or eight hits can be fatal, and that
tiny ounce of health you get back can mean the
difference between success and the "Defeated" screen.

Might - Charge attacks deal extra damage. Plain and simple,
with no drawbacks. Essentially an auto-include.

Multi - Charge attacks create a shadow that attacks after you,
doing damage, activating elements, and sometimes
increasing knockback. Note that this has varying
usefulness depending on move and character. Also, the
shadows don't perform throws.

Rage - Attacks deal extra damage when in critical (red) health.
If you trigger this regularly, you play a dangerous
game, since on the harder difficulties, it's extremely
easy to go from critical health, to dead. Otherwise,
it's a waste of a slot.

Range - Grants you a longer attack range for weapon attacks.
Moves like Ling Tong's R1 are unaffected, since he uses
his feet rather than his weapon. Come to think of it,
this doesn't help any R1 attacks.

This is really a matter of personal preference. I'm not going to say
any one setup is strictly better than another, because you should
customize your setup to suit your own personal play style. My suggested
setup is as follows:

Flash Slay Might Brave
Bolt Air Multi Agility

This setup will maximize attack power and allow you to go solo with Liu
Bei. The buff stacks on top of all of these attack multipliers, making
for some pretty serious damage. Don't forget to pour +20 attack by
to your weapon by fusing obsolete weapons onto it for maximum power.
This setup gives Liu Bei a quick, hard strike due to full agility, so he
can recover quickly from his T attack and other charges. The noticeable
downside is the lack of Range in this setup, which is a great attribute
for sword wielders to equip to give each attack more coverage.

If you prefer to play a bit more defensively, you might want to try a
setup like this:

Flash Slay Might Brave
Bolt Drain Range Agility

This is more suited for the long haul, sacrificing some attack power in
favore of longer weapon reach and some health regeneration. Again, it's
completely up to you! I've had some success with Ice in conjunction
with Multi, and even Flame variants that rely on juggling. To each his
or her own.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abilities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a list of the abilities you can obtain, and their maximum level.

-----------
Blue Skills
-----------
Vitality (20) - Increases life bar length.

Focus (20) - Increases musou bar length.

Potence (20) - Increases attack power.

Fortitude (20) - Increases defense.

Impulse (20) - Increases foot speed.

Cavalier (10 - Increases your mounted attack power and allows
you to start each stage on horseback. At
Cavalier Level 10, you start off with either
Red Hare or Matsukaze depending on which game
your character comes from!
----------
Red Skills
----------
Karma (10) - Increases your luck, which causes more items to
drop.

Power (20) - Increases the attack of Power type characters.

Speed (20) - Increases the attack of Speed type characters.

Technique (20) - Increases the attack of Technique type
characters.

Boost (20) - Increases the power of charge attacks.

Awakening (20) - Increases the power of musou attacks and R1
specials that use the musou bar.
-------------
Yellow Skills
-------------
Acclaim (20) - Increases the amount of experience earned.

Recuperate (10) - Increases the rate at which your inactive
characters' musou bars fill up.

Conserve (10) - Decreases the amount of musou needed to perform
musou attacks (O) and specials which require
musou expenditure (R1).

Adrenalin (10) - Recovers some life when you score 10 or more
hits in a combo.

Recover (10) - Slowly recovers health

Refill (10) - Slowly recovers musou.

-----------------------
Suggested Ability Setup
-----------------------
This largely depends on your play style, but here's a good starting
point if you want to maximize Liu Bei's offense (early on, you might
want to use Vitality to stay alive).

Adrenalin - Gaining back health is important, particularly
when you're using Liu Bei as your primary
officer and aren't benching him too much.

Boost - Charge attacks are Liu Bei's bread and butter.
Boosting their strength is a good way to play up
his strengths.

Fortitude - More defense saves lives in the harder
difficulties.

Impulse - Foot speed gets you places and helps you strafe
enemies. Some stages and items are much easier
to obtain riding around on horseback, so use
Cavalier in lieu of this when the situation
demands it. This skill also helps you maneuver
around enemies, especially useful at high
levels.

Potence - More general attack power is always good.

Refill - Liu Bei uses up musou at a moderate pace, so it
helps to have some available to buff, use R1
charges, and counter with, especially in Hard or
Chaos Mode. Also excellent for those of you who
prefer to go at it solo and rather than tag in
your partners.

Technique - Boosts the ability of your Technique officers.
This is a good portion of the crew, so choosing
two other TEC types won't be hard if you want to
maximize this. If you're not planning on
switching out, then you have even more reason to
equip this skill.

Liu Bei's own contribution to Ability Acquisition goes like this:

1. Fortitude - Defeat 60 enemies.
2. Speed - Defeat 70 enemies, including 3 officers.
3. Cavalier - Defeat 3 officers, while maintaining 50% of
your maximum starting life, without performing
any attack that uses up musou.

========================================================================
7. Personal Item
========================================================================
Item Name - Straw Sandals
Stage - Shu's Story Mode, Chapter 8 - Battle of Koshi
Castle
Requirements - Make Orochi appear within 15 minutes, and defeat
150 enemies. Then go pick it up close to the
east wall of the allied main camp.
Method:
Defeating Da Ji will make Orochi appear. In order to do this, you must
first foil each of her plans:

1. Frontal Assault
Start by going east and defeat Sidewinder, Diamondback, and Coachwhip to
foil plan 1. Keep going continue east towards the northeast corner of
the map.

2. Phantom Soldiers
Da Ji will summon phantom soldiers. They are controlled by the
Sorcerer in the northeast fort, so defeat him and make your way south.

3. Secret Weapon: Maeda Keiji
Da Ji will send Maeda Keiji's troop his army out to fight your troops
take on your army. You might want to take out Keiji's officers before
engaging him one on one, but it's up to you. Defeat him and head west,
going along the top of the map.

4. Cannon
At some point during your fight with Keiji, Da Ji activates a cannon
along the western path. You'll get messages from your allies as they
get bombarded by the cannon. Defeat Patchnose and Hognose, who are just
outside the cannon, and then defeat the Defense Captain to open up the
base that houses the cannon. Kill Yellowbelly to stop the cannon from
firing. Start heading towards Lu Bu's location.

5. Secret Weapon: Lu Bu
You guessed it. Head to where Lu Bu is, cutting through Wei Xu, Song
Xian, and Gao Shun. Needless to say, this can be a tough fight, since
Lu Bu hits hard. After you defeat him, Zhuge Liang will talk some trash
to Da Ji, and the gates to Koshi Castle will open. Make your way
inside.

6. Da Ji
This one is pretty straightforward. Defeat Urutu and Da Ji, and Orochi
will appear with some goons and Da Ji (again). The item appears inside
your main camp, so check the History section and grab it at some point
before you kill Orochi and end the level!

========================================================================
8. FAQs
========================================================================

Feel free to send me questions about Liu Bei, and I'll post the good
ones over here! Until then, here are some from off the top of my head.

Q: How do you aim that T attack? Every time I try, I go flying
in random directions and don't hit anyone.
A: As mentioned earlier, releasing the left analog helps to keep
your control neutral, and will strike the area directly in front
of Liu Bei's original position. This is a powerful attack that
has elemental power, and is worth mastering! When you're more
comfortable with it, you can experiment with doing it while
moving around, both to escape and to hit opponents. Also a
great move against archers and gunmen.

Q: Who are good teammates for Liu Bei?
A: Anyone, really. If you like speed, Toyotomi Hideyoshi is a safe
bet. I happen to like Nene for her superior mobility and
unblockable grab. Maybe you'd like Tokugawa Ieyasu and his
laser cannon of doom, and if you're a fan of the novel, his oath
brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are a natural team.

========================================================================
9. Credits
========================================================================

I'd like to thank the following, for making this guide possible.

Rampidzier - For creating a wonderful guide that helped me get
through this game. I never would have been able to
unlocking the game's many items, stages and characters
without his trusty guide.

calbee219 - For setting up the DW5chaosmodeguide channel on YouTube,
which I consulted while creating this FAQ.

redroses_4life For helping me fact-check when assembling the weapon
elements portion of this FAQ.

My mom - Yes, you read that right. My mom is in her 50's and
has been my main Dynasty Warriors partner since she
first started playing my copy of DW3 so many years ago.
Many years and several controllers later, it just goes
to show that video games can even bridge generational
gaps and bring friends and family together.

GameFAQs - For giving us all a forum to share our love of video
games with one another, and for letting us have a single
nexus for all of the bits and pieces of game knowledge
we'd probably never figure out on our own.

KOEI - For creating a wonderfully addictive game series that
brought these eras of history and literature back for a
lot of us. They really outdid themselves with Warriors
Orochi, and I'm glad that they took the time and effort
to make such a robust and insanely fun game for us fans.

You - For reading this FAQ and for playing Warriors Orochi!

And of course, the men and women of the Sanguo and Sengoku periods for
living the lives that inspired such great historical epics that continue
to inspire and compel us to this day. And also offer up wonderful
source material for video games!

========================================================================
10. Contact
========================================================================
This is my first FAQ, so I hope you liked it! Comments? Questions?
Please feel free to send them along - any constructive criticism would
definitely be appreciated. You can reach me at [email protected].
Just make sure to let me know that it's an email about one of my FAQs in
the subject line - thanks!