You Can Defeat Lu Bu In Chapter 2 Of Dynasty Warriors: Origins

It can be hard to keep track of the huge cast of Three Kingdoms characters in hack ‘n slash action game Dynasty Warriors: Origins, but one name is especially easy to remember: Lu Bu. The infamous folkloric warlord leaves a huge impression when he first appears in Chapter 2, between his rocking theme song and the overwhelming power of his attacks. The game tells you to run the moment you see him, but what happens if you stay and fight? Do you unlock anything cool?

When it comes to unlocking, the short answer is no: defeating Lu Bu when you first see him doesn’t give you any huge reward, but does offer a trophy/achievement. There’s no secret weapon, nor a huge influx of EXP or skill points to earn. That isn’t to say it’s pointless. You can feasibly defeat Lu Bu when you first see him, and it has a significant effect on the rest of the level if you manage to pull it off. But no matter how you slice it, the only real reason you should fight Lu Bu early on is the satisfaction of telling everyone you meet that you did it.

There is a bit more to all of this, though. So if you want to get into the weeds of Lu Bu’s appearance in Chapter 2, here’s the full breakdown.

Screenshot: Koei Temco / Kotaku

How to defeat Lu Bu in the Assassination of Dong Zhuo mission

Truthfully, a full breakdown of Lu Bu’s moveset isn’t what we need here. You’re quite silly to try. But since you’re here, if you want to fight Lu Bu come hell or high water, here are a few tips to help you claim victory:

1: All of Lu Bu’s attacks have elaborate telegraphs. For example, it’s impossible to miss when he jumps into the air and gets ready to use his dive attack, and the timing to perfect dodge it is the same every time. Conversely, Lu Bu leaves himself open after he finishes his attacks, which gives you windows to start piling on damage before you need to watch out for his next move.

2: You might get tripped up by Lu Bu’s two unique attacks that start with him swinging his halberd in front of him. Normally, he’ll attack twice in a row, so the safest move is to dodge away to avoid the second attack. However, if he glows red, he’ll only take a single swing. Use this to your advantage.

3: Lu Bu’s most difficult attack to dodge is his bow and arrow move. Lu Bu will attack twice in a wide-reaching cone in front of him, and after a delay he’ll launch one final attack at you. Since you can stagger Lu Bu during this attack, you’ll ideally want to use a skill like Palm Strike so you don’t have to worry about dodging at all. However, if that’s not possible, using a quick special move (like Palm Strike, actually) after you dodge the first strike will interrupt the dodge roll animation, allowing you to immediately dodge the second part of the attack. From there, Lu Bu will finish the attack about 2.5 seconds later.

If you’d like a visual aid, an especially handsome writer uploaded his first clear of this fight on Hero difficulty, as seen on PC Gamer. You can check out the video for yourself below:

What happens if you defeat Lu Bu?

If you defeat Lu Bu in the Assassination of Dong Zhuo mission, both Lu Bu and Cao Cao will react to your surprising strength. Lu Bu will retreat, and the entire enemy army will suffer a huge morale loss that will make the rest of the mission a total cakewalk. In other words, you take on a huge challenge at the start to make the rest of the mission easier.

This is true of Lu Bu’s second appearance in Chapter 2 during the Battle of Hulao Gate mission. Normally, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei will hold off Lu Bu shortly after he appears. However, if you defeat Lu Bu here, Liu Bei’s party can rejoin the main battle and you won’t have to worry about how long they can fend off the beast of a man. So, again, a huge challenge so you can make the rest of the mission easier.

Screenshot: Koei Temco / Kotaku

There is an achievement for beating Lu Bu at Hulao Gate, but you can come back for that later

While there aren’t any major in-game rewards beyond a few unique lines of dialogue, defeating Lu Bu here will net you the The Strongest achievement or trophy. This will only ding on this mission specifically, so beating Lu Bu during the Assassination of Dong Zhuo mission will not unlock it.

That said, not only can you go back to this mission during the postgame of Dynasty Warriors: Origins, you’ll need to beat Lu Bu here on a postgame-exclusive difficulty setting to unlock one of the strongest weapons in the game.

While there aren’t compelling rewards for beating Lu Bu early on beyond the sheer satisfaction and achivement, it is a good opportunity to get some practice in against him. You will have to fight Lu Bu later on, and these earlier appearances have simpler movesets that you can study and learn. This will make future Lu Bu encounters go a little smoother, since you can focus on dodging the stuff you’ve memorized while you pay attention to the new tricks he has up his sleeve. You can also choose to lower the difficulty or level up if Lu Bu is giving you trouble too, so play your way and don’t stress out about missing anything important!

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