Assassination of Dong Zhuo mission is worse than cancer and AIDS combined.

[Harassment by Moderation]

I think I'm above the recommended level for this mission, have the first two skill panels completely maxed out, and I am still failing this mission nonstop. The fact that I have to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ BABYSIT Cao Cao and kite Lu Bu at the same time, all the while it's just Cao Cao and myself, surrounded by enemy officers and peons, struggling to not get two shot by Lu Bu or keeping Cao Cao's dumbass from getting two shot by him is so utterly deranged on the part of Koei-Tecmo that it defies belief. I am playing on Wayfarer too, so it's not like this kind of difficulty spike is warranted this early in the game. I'm not even trying to fight Lu Bu, but he's killing Cao Cao faster than can I lead him out of this stupid castle.

How in the FRIP do I beat this?

[Killoran]

Didn't have a problem with this one, just kept away from lubu I'm guessimg it was higher level than yourself though as i had the 3 skill tree maxed aswell.

[YUBI YUBI tax collector]

No, you're right, this battle was insane. What i hated was Cao Cao stopped himself against all officer. For f sake, WE RUN AWAY FROM A BATTLE GOD, JUS RUN !!!

[koinzell]

i finished this without dying. i was fast in killing the generals and cleaning up the map.

[Julian The Hooligan]

-If you want to kill Lu Bu
It's surprisingly simple to keep CaoCao alive if you kind of just leave him alone and only show up when he "struggles". (If you're fighting alongside Cao Cao, he won't get the yellow bar for struggling that allows you to heal them)

After that the rest of the level is a cake walk but you get absolutely nothing for it. Not exactly worth it.

-If you want to retreat
Lu Bu will always do his "menacing villain" walk but he will speed up at key moments of the battle (basically every time there's a battle checkpoint).

Depending on which route you take (the hidden wall on the immediate right outside the throne room / the hidden wall in the treasure room) the level can vary wildly in how many enemy officers you end up facing at once. Play around with that to determine which one is easier for your weapon/playstyle choice.

[KnightGoblin8]

I was just going to come and complain about this as well. Cao Cao's AI feels frankly suicidal because he gets stuck to both named and generic officers even if you yourself would try to push through so you guys could escape more easily. :/

[Bootleg VHS]

There's a side route you can take near the start if you use your trademark pending detective vision. There's also people you can rescue on the bottom right of the map that help run interference. I beat hero mode by just kiting Lu Bu in circles between these points while slowly clearing out the map.

[StackzGaming]

...not sure. They basically said, "run, DO NOT PURSUE LU BU", and we immediately turned around to face him. Because he's a threat.

Same tactics as the demo, took him out with ease, then caught up with Lord Nobunaga Cao and cleared the map out. Clearing the peons was more tedious than taking out Lu Bu, frankly. Then it was fun (if this is the same map) to free the guys from the dungeons.

The singular appeal of this game vs. the predecessors is the REAL sense of disaster in some battles. VS. what some people are whining about which is their desire to just waltz through the map like DW5 (which is NOT fun).

The game isn't impossible, it's challenging enough, but it asks you to actually THINK about what you do instead of just button mashing.

And frankly: if you thought this was difficult, wait until you get to the map where you fight Yuan Shao. Or the one where you ACTUALLY fight Dong Zhuo. Trust: you've seen NOTHING yet.

[At@At]

I ignored Cao Cao and LuBu only caught up in the end. Then I killed the final general blocking the exit and the mission ended 5 seconds later.

[KnightGoblin8]

I did it! Just had to equip my best weapon that I was comfortable with and push forward. :) Killing generals fast seems to help Cao Cao keep moving forward too.

[awanderingswordsman]

Just beat lu bu. At that point padao with sea of flames art is probably optimal and can get him broken for assault in 2 openings. Then you can leisurely clear the rest of the level and even beat zhang liao to get twin pikes a few stages early. Beating Lu Bu is the most fun part of the game IMO.

[✨Nutkun7993✨]

Just kill Lu Bu. This is easiest point of Lu Bu fight since he doesn't ride Red hare nor using Musou Rage or Ultimate Musou yet and only like using three different moves or so. Not to mention he will pull back when you drop his HP to 25%. Defeating Lu Bu also cause courage of all enemies in this stage to drop low and basically a free fight for the rest of the battle.

If Cao Cao hp drops below 50% you can run to him to recover his HP and return to fight Lu Bu again

[Harassment by Moderation]

"Just kill Lu Bu"
I literally couldn't. I was overleveled, but I must not have been overleved enough. Either that, or there were too many enemies running interference for me to focus on just Lu Bu without getting BTFO by both. OR he had too much morale or something because he was stronger than usual. I'm talking, stronger than the demo or any other incarnation of him since that fight. I beat him easily in Hulao Gate and Si Shui, too, so it was unexpected.

[Horrible Marksman]

If you go south then kill everything immediately east you can fight him pretty much alone indefinitely. I found it better to have cao cao with me since it meant I didn’t have to monitor his hp while I fought Lu bu.

[Mr.Joel]

Personally I immediately headed SE on horse and eliminated any officers I could find, and checked up on Cao Cao if he fell behind. I didn't find it that hard...

[koinzell]

just beat up Lu Bu and do it fast, once his health reaches 20% he'll run away.

this will weaken the generals in all the map, they'll die with 1 or 2 hits.