How to get good?

[Fractured]

I've played MOST DW's but haven't played for a hot minute, since none of them seemed all that great.

Just getting my sweet a$$ handed to me. Any tips on how to survive? Truly struggling on officers seeming to not stagger at all.

[Drakan Wolf]

Explore the officer menu before the battle starts, there are a variety of gems and equippable items that can do anything from increasing defense to having a chance to negate enemy attacks altogether.

Also, give the different weapons a try. The Guandao no longer plays like a traditional Dynasty Warriors weapon, but it does have a nice heavy combo that I was able to settle into enough to take Lu Bu even on Heroic.

And... for the battle proper, make a plan based on where you start and the shortest chain of bases between you and Yuan Shao. Make your way to him as quickly as possible and only stop to take the bases on your path and refill your meat buns. Once you save Yuan's hide, make a bee-like for Hua Xiong. Beat him in the duel, and then just clean up the field for the rest of the fight.

For Lu Bu... run. Run like your life depends on it... because it does. Basically, take cheap shots at him, keep your health above 75% (you can run back to other bases if you need meat buns), and just chip away when you can. You'll eventually win, but it'll take a while.

[Honda-San]

Originally posted by Fractured:

Truly struggling on officers seeming to not stagger at all.

Officers is vulnerable after the attack. Guard, parry or dodge it and then attack it back. It's a demo so taking your time to read and understand the tutorial. No one is rushing you but you alone.

[⭕TheSodaman]

Originally posted by Fractured:

I've played MOST DW's but haven't played for a hot minute, since none of them seemed all that great.

Just getting my sweet a$$ handed to me. Any tips on how to survive? Truly struggling on officers seeming to not stagger at all.

Hi Fractured,

It'll depend.

On the strategy level, the game will:
* want you to pay attention to how the battles are going (the letters at the top center of the screen to determine which ones may need your attention
* capture bases to increase everyone's morale so that they can fight better even without you being there
* reinforce allies that are dying / sweat icon on the map
* take out enemy officers so that allies end up reinforcing each other
* decide which enemy officers need your attention and which ones don't
* to use your tactics such as sending your troops with the March command to head to certain battles
* stop enemy tactics when they initiate them
* help your allies perform their tactics when they're inspired to do so
* having more time to get around the battlefield on Historian and far less time on Hero

Then on the personal skill level:
* using your tactics
* using your Arts appropriately
* avoiding damage as best you can, whether guarding, parrying, dodging, interrupts, Arts or skills that can counter attack or brace, or using Musou / Fury / Change Character
* positioning yourself to get more enemies with your attacks / arts / follow-up / Musou / etc.
* finding the timing on the enemy's openings to punish them and seeing how far you can push it before they're ready to fight again
* restocking on items at the bases where it makes sense
* gaining proficiency with your weapon (looking at its movelist and arts - and taking the time to learn them even at the cost of losing the battle a few times since we're jumping in to a stage that is much later in the game) - deciding if an art will help with staggering, juggling, crowd clearing, survival, or other
* winning duels if you're feeling confident - else trying your best not to die during them

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Specific to demo Lu Bu, one part of me says not to focus around that. It's a challenge battle after the core gameplay of the demo ends. Unfortunately, couldn't recommend practicing on him on Historian since you cannot stagger Lu Bu.

But Historian can be a place to practice the strategy, then try to carry it out on a higher difficulty. Or if you want to clear out hundreds of enemy soldiers and defeat officers in an order of your choosing without as severe consequences.

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