Top 5 Favorite Legendary Lords for Three Kingdoms

[Confederate1862]

I am curious to know what are everybody's top five Legendary Lords in Three Kingdoms Total War? Please give me your list from your #1 to your #5. It can be any of the Han empire, warlord, bandit, yellow turban, or eight princes lords. You can also, optionally, give me your reasons as to why you like them.

[Nits1251]

i can only speak for my self, one of the most fun and interesting campaign iv ever played in 3 kingdoms was playing with Zheng Jiang, Yan Bai Yu was quite fun and challenging as well..

[Confederate1862]

The extra tribute bonus is very good, if you can get people to pay tribute in the first place without them hating you. In her early game, the only faction that I ever got to pay me tribute was the dude who owns the mine just north of Louyang. Kuang something or other. Anyway, I got him to pay me tribute, but his people ended up declaring war against me a few turns later and became a headache. I think the mercenary contracts are much more beneficial than making people pay you tribute, but that's my opinion.

[Fried Noodles]

Автор сообщения: Confederate1862

The extra tribute bonus is very good, if you can get people to pay tribute in the first place without them hating you. In her early game, the only faction that I ever got to pay me tribute was the dude who owns the mine just north of Louyang. Kuang something or other. Anyway, I got him to pay me tribute, but his people ended up declaring war against me a few turns later and became a headache. I think the mercenary contracts are much more beneficial than making people pay you tribute, but that's my opinion.

Demand Tribute is pretty overpowered and broken. Definitely a snowball mechanic though. Little bit slow to get going but then rolls out of control until it's a little bit... unfun.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2098908621

Zheng Jiang's bonus tribute works on vassals too (though her faction cannot have vassals). I used to go out of my way to try to confederate her through marriage on Turn 1 before they added the bandit culture. Now it's a bit harder to get your hands on her.
Which is a shame, cuz I want my hands on.... eh nevermind.

[Confederate1862]

You really know how to exploit her tribute mechanic then! Good on you!

[DasBoot507]

1. Gongsun Zan. Easy to play, fun to use, kills everything, no too important bonuses but By God, he was fun to play.
2. Zhang Jiang for all the other reasons.
3. Lu Bu because one man army. Also gets Diaochan, who is best girl.
4. Kong Rong. Trading=based god.
5. Idk man, I got the game for Christmas

[trueshield24]

Lu Bu. I play no other because destruction is my game play.

[SpectreN7]

Lu Bu
Gongsun Zan
Sun Ce
Yan Baihu
Lu Bu

[E.R.L.]

Legendary lords? I'm assuming that means playable factions. The OP doesn't make it clear if they are asking about gameplay for their faction or just the lord as an individual character, so I will go by a mix of the two.

Sun Ce - best designed faction campaign in the game for people who are familiar with the history. Powerful characters, mechanic, and units. Incredibly fun to play through the Legacy of Wu.

Cao Cao - IMO, specifically in the 194 AD start. That is the time that Cao Cao is rising in power, and the events of fighting Lu Bu and taking the emperor is all scripted in the campaign, which is awesome. But in general, gets powerful generals as one of "The Big Three", and now has a really powerful and interesting faction mechanic in Schemes. Getting the emperor is great now that you can choose to restore.

Yuan Shao - wish he had more unique characters, IMO his strategists definitely deserved the treatment for their significance, if not their personalities in history. But he has an amazing faction mechanic in captain armoury and with his bonus reinforcement range, which allows you to go the "massive armies" approach to conquering the enemies of the Yuan clan of Runan.

Dong Zhuo - the Tyrant himself. Lots of unique characters, including fan favorites like Lu Bu and Zhang Liao, as well as one of my personal favorites in Jia Xu. Position is strategic and allows for a defensive and economically-focused build up before conquering the other lords. Starts with the emperor, so is really set up for restoration (or usurption).

Lu Bu - emphasis on fighting and interesting faction mechanics in Momentum and Greatest Warrior (hitlist of historically relevant characters, another great touch for history fans). Personally, not my preferred playstyle, but I will say all the AWB factions are top tier in terms of design and campaign possibilities.

Honorable mentions:

Liu Biao - close to the rich Southlands and Jing Province commanderies, and with actually a really cool faction mechanic to boot, which limits your expansion with strong incentives rather than a hard cap (called Governance). A flexible faction you can take any way you want.

Liu Bei - wish he was updated in terms of faction mechanic and unique units before development stopped :((

Zheng Jiang - fun, aggressive faction. But in general, I don't find bandits that interesting as Han or Nanman factions.

He Yi - insane replenishment and good bonuses for faction. Best (and easiest) remnant faction to play for the YT experience.

[Fried Noodles]

Автор сообщения: E_L_2

Liu Bei
Guan Yu
Zhang Fei
Zhao Yun
Taishi Ci

Personal opinion :)

Автор сообщения: E_L_2

Legendary lords? I'm assuming that means playable factions. The OP doesn't make it clear if they are asking about gameplay for their faction or just the lord as an individual character, so I will go by a mix of the two.

Sun Ce
Cao Cao
Yuan Shao
Dong Zhuo
Lu Bu

Honorable mentions:
Liu Biao
Liu Bei
Zheng Jiang
He Yi

You've changed your mind a bit in this old thread that someone randomly necro'd. ;)

[E.R.L.]

Автор сообщения: Fried Noodles

...
You've changed your mind a bit in this old thread that someone randomly necro'd. ;)

Totally forgot I already replied to this thread already XD That is really funny actually!

Back then, I think I was responding about my favorite lords to use in Romance mode campaign. As you can tell, I generally favor Shu-Han :)

After re-reading OP's question, I realize I misinterpreted it and they are actually asking about faction leaders when saying "Legendary Lords", thus I only talked about faction leaders in this new comment. Not to mention the many updates that have come around since then that made many factions more interesting and Liu Bei as a faction sadly left in the dust...

[krijesnica]

Lü Bu
Lü Bu
Lü Bu
Lü Bu
Lü Bu