Warriors Orochi 3 Combo/Challenge Setup

Viewer Brandon Schmierer wrote the following e-mail to me a few days ago:

"Hey Wonderpierrot, I have been loving your videos and when you started posting Musou Orochi 2 Ultimate videos it encouraged me to re-buy WO3 for my ps3. However I haven't been able to find what attributes you use on your weapons. I have been doing the typical setups that people use on Tier lists: Bolt Wind Slay Agility Osmosis and Absorption with the remaining 2 slots being either Typhoon/Echo/Reach. However playing chaos with these attributes makes it too easy, so I was wondering if you had a medium level setup that could still clear chaos but not make it be too easy. Thank you for your time and I hope you continue to make awesome videos."

The Warriors Orochi series is in my humble opinion one of the best series in KOEI's game arsenal. This is especially valid because of its unrestricted combos, unrestricted weapon fusion system and high character level and stat ceilings. However, there has always been the iffy problem of these games being too easy and not challenging enough if you "do the right thing".

What I mean by "doing the right thing" is taking heed of your own judgement (and even others) and maximizing your characters to the best of their ability and potential possible in the game. Because, why would you not do that given the chance? You want your characters to be the most powerful right?

Well, when you start doing too much of that, the difficulty of the game suddenly drops downhill. Actual player skill and the unrestricted combos are significantly diminished, as enemies on the highest difficulty can be taken out in mere seconds, leaving no room for any real fun essentially. This is clearly an outcast from other games (even in the same genre), when 100% maximization still results in the game being plenty challenging.

"But the game difficulty is balanced!! Because the enemy are just as strong as you are LOLZ!!" is an argument against what I said can be made. True, the enemy can kill you as fast you kill them when you're uber strong, but you see... there's a big problem in that equation: Enemy AI. Yeah, the enemy AI is weak. So when your own brain wins in a landslide against the enemy AI, then their damage output doesn't matter too much. The game in the end is still easy.

Even if the enemy AI somehow were intelligent, who actually likes sudden death gameplay? That is the equivalent of uber you vs the enemy at the highest difficulty.

When it comes to maximization, that is, making your character the best s/he can possibly be in the game, veteran players will often lure you to the following setup:

* Max character level - this is quite obvious.

* Big-star weapon with max compatibility - also obvious; it's after all the best and highest damage weapon you can attain in the game.

* And a variety of weapon attributes, that usually involves the following (all max level, of course): Wind, Bolt, Slay, Agility, Reach, Osmosis, Absorption, Echo/Typhoon

If you indeed meet all these points for any character, the character will without a doubt be vastly overpowered regardless of moveset type. If you're the type of player who likes to run around slaying everything that attempts to get in your path in a few measly charges and consider that entertaining, then maximization would be right for you. Farmers and grinders, I'm including you too! But it gets worse, because the game actually has an attribute that can lessen the killing time further, called Brilliance. With this equipped in addition, you can pretty much one shot everything in any difficulty now. Brilliant.

So what if you're the player in between, who actually wants a challenge and doesn't like the game to be too easy, or even too difficult? What if you're the player who wishes to showcases as much skill as possible in doing flashy, ridiculous, lengthy tag team combos without over-killing? You know, the kind of thing this game was made for? Well, there is a way to get a very good balance of all of these, and I will show you how!

Character Level and Stats

Firstly, let's talk initially about the character level and stats. I'll be quick and efficient, max the level or don't max it, but don't let it sit below 50. Maxing the level and therefore raising your character's stats to max won't impact the game's highest difficulty by a lot. In fact, you'll need to be very high leveled in order to survive higher star stages in chaos. The last thing you want is the enemy taking you out in one hit. I suggest leveling to at least 70+.

Weapons and Weapon Attributes

Next and more importantly, let's talk about weapons and weapon attributes. Here's where you can predominately decide the game's overall difficulty. This suggested setup I often use gives you a difficulty that is just right (i.e. neither too easy or too difficult). It of course also allows you to be as stylish and lengthy in the execution of combos as your heart's content.

4 Star Weapon - 4 star weapons are preferred to big-star star weapons, as it requires much less grinding to max compatibility. The attack power + compatibility of 4 star weapons when maxed tends to also work best to balance difficulty.

Weapon Attributes:

Wind - You should always have this attribute on your weapons, but do not max it. Leave it at a very low level, i.e. level 1-5. Anything beyond that destroys the game's challenge and difficulty as it depletes too much of an enemy/officer health in charges. It is a necessity for guard breaking and to help speed up time killing officers in chaos, but not too much.

Agility - Max it. Attacking slow will be painful for a lot of combos.

Reach - Max it. See above.

Osmosis/Absorption - You should put these two on. Otherwise, you'll be scrambling to switch characters often or roam around to find recovery items because enemy damage is extremely significant on chaos. Put it to a lower level if you desire more challenge.

The following attributes are optional:

Flame - Flame isn't too powerful but it does add helpful additional damage to your charges. It doesn't hurt to put it on your weapons and even max it.

Typhoon - Adds a ton of range to your attacks. Useful for characters with low reach and essential for certain combos. Some characters may not really benefit from it. You will have to experiment.

Bolt and Slay - Bolt, slay and wind I don't recommend combining any of these together. All three of these attributes are damage scaled based on enemy health, so they are vastly powerful at high levels and even more so when combined. If you do put them on, leave them at a low level like with wind.

Never put the following attributes:

Brilliance - We don't need to say anything further about this little gem. It adds attributes (such as the already powerful bolt, slay and wind) to all your attacks when your musou bar is full. Turns the game into cheating mode, essentially.

Echo -  Unless you're not a combo enthusiast (why wouldn't you be?!), echo is not cool to put on your weapons. It totally, I mean totally ruins your combo potential for most attacks.

Any other attributes are up to you, but these are usually the main ones I utilize when I do combo based videos (or in other words, gameplay that doesn't feel easy and boring). Of course, you can adjust attributes and levels to your needs if you feel it is not challenging enough. 

Character Equipment

There are only two main things you need to take in consideration with equipment items. One is attack power and the other is defense. There are two items in particular that can raise attack and defense independently: Lion's Fang and Chimera Shell. Unless you feel like your damage output is poor, I would place Chimera Shell over Lion's Fang. The rest of the slots can be filled with a mix of Phoenix Wing, Charm of Alacrity, Amulet of Protection, Tengjia Armor, Iron Gauntlets and of course one of the horse saddles.

Defense, defense, defense is the key. You already have more than enough damage output, but enemy damage to you can still be a problem. You want to lower their damage as much as possible to help balance the difficulty better.

If you're willing to sacrifice some attack, then Shield of Sacrifice is a notable item to equip to boost defense.

Summary

By following this setup and guidance, I will guarantee you can get a lot more enjoyment out of Warriors Orochi 3 with increased challenge and difficulty. This setup is also mandatory for any kind of prolong combo on officers without unnecessary over-killing.

And regardless of what anyone says, that you may be "doing it wrong" or "being noob", shot back and say "YES, I AM handicapping myself so the game is no longer a cakewalk and actually requires skill!".

But what about Musou Orochi 2 Ultimate you say? Musou Orochi 2 Ultimate is another beast of its own, and I will be covering a Combo/Challenge Setup of that game at another time.