How to Defeat Lu Bu in Dynasty Warriors Origins

There’s a reason why countless Officers immediately flee for the hills at the first sight of Lu Bu; it’s a fight or flight response that’s been plaguing the minds of millions of returning fans of the Dynasty Warriors saga for decades. And, as if to make matters that much worse, Dynasty Warriors Origins not only takes full advantage of this treacherous foe to instill fear into its unworthy adversaries, but it also skims around your character’s impending doom by way of injecting Lu Bu into four battles. Thankfully, you don’t have to beat Lu Bu in the first three battles; in fact, you don’t have to touch gloves with the Officer at all. But that doesn’t remove Battle of Xiapi from the equation—the final confrontation between the Cao-Liu Forces and Lu Bu. Sadly, that’s another story, and one that, quite frankly, needs a guide to explain.

All in all, Lu Bu will appear a total of four times in the campaign: Assassination of Dong Zhou in Chapter 2, Battle of Hulao Gate in Chapter 2, Battle of Puyang in Chapter 3, and Battle of Xiapi in Chapter 4. The first three battles, while still having Lu Bu as part of the roster, won’t require you to tackle him directly. With that said, you will need to adopt a tactical approach to ensure that you don’t mistakingly fall into his evil clutches. Like the other installments in the Dynasty Warriors series, Lu Bu has the power to unleash devastating blows and whittle down your health with a few well-timed attacks. For this reason alone, you should prioritize your own safety and avoid confronting Lu Bu at all costs. That is, of course, unless you’re going for The Strongest Achievement, in which case you will need to compete.

A Guide to Defeating Lu Bu at Xiapi

Provided that you opted to side with either Cao Cao in the Wei Faction or Liu Bei in the Shu Faction, you should eventually arrive at The Battle of Xiapi in Chapter 4, at which point you will need to best Lu Bu in a one-on-one duel. As the mission card suggests, you should aim to bring your Nameless Hero up to a surmountable level before tackling the battlefield. If you can help it, aim to complete a handful of extra Skirmishes, Missions, and Assignments before taking to the reins. To add, you should also aim to boost your Weapon Proficiency Level and elevate your Companion Level to a comfortable position. Another two things that will serve you well are Meat Buns, which can be found at the Inn, and Gems, which can also be crafted and upgraded via the Inn sub menu.

Lu Bu Abilities & Combos

Lu Bu has a limited but immensely powerful array of formidable abilities, both as a grounded warrior and as a mounted fighter. To make matters worse, Lu Bu also has the best horse in all of Dynasty Warriors Origins—Red Hare—meaning, if you’re not able to dodge or parry at a rapid pace, then you’re probably going to feel the wrath of a studded halberd before the battle even begins.

Mounted Abilities

• Crescent Slash: Allows Lu Bu to eject multiple projectiles from his halberd.
• Bulldozer: Allows Lu Bu to zigzag through multiple crowds of troops.
• Diving Crash: Allows Lu Bu to lunge into the air and deal and devastating shockwave blow to foot soldiers.

Ground Abilities

• Triple Arrow Shot: Allows Lu Bu to cast a volley of arrows at the chosen target and deal immense damage to their HP.

Tips for Defeating Lu Bu

First and foremost, you’ll want to consider using your Companion and your Guard Abilities as much as possible, as these two additional assets will not only allow you the flexibility to move around the board from the backend of the fight, but also build your Bravery and Musuo sliders without onboarding any unwanted damage. In other words, you’ll want to utilize the Companion Switch ability as frequently as possible; it’s worth choosing a warrior whose Bond Level is higher than the average acquaintance.

As you progress through the battles and earn your stripes, your squadron of warriors will also unlock new abilities to deploy in the battle. Ideally, you’ll want to utilize these as often as possible, as a quick Volley of Arrows will likely take a small chunk off of Lu Bu’s HP, and not to mention remove the watchful eyes from that big ol’ red target painted on your back. To this end, you should be mindful of the Guard gauge at the bottom of the screen, and be sure to activate the abilities as and when they become available.

Lu Bu Behavior & Special Attacks

Annoyingly, Lu Bu’s core attacks can be a little erratic, which means that you will need to outmaneuver the special attacks and Dodge or Parry wherever possible. In addition to that, you will also need to learn how to identify the Orange Glow—an outline that emits a burning light and the occasional spark. In times like these, you will need to activate a specific Battle Arts attack in order to repel Lu Bu’s signature combo. Unfortunately, if you fail to repel the attack, then you will be forced to lose a significant portion of your HP. Thankfully, we have a stockpile of Meat Buns to remedy such issues, and not to mention Vitality Gems to boost our chances of surviving the mindless onslaught.

To state the obvious, defeating Lu Bu in Dynasty Warriors Origins isn’t an easy task — even for those with copious amounts of experience under their belts. Having said that, if you’re able to time your attacks correctly and take full advantage of your Dodge, Parry, and Battle Arts abilities, then you shouldn’t have a major problem with taking him down and earning his iconic halberd and Red Hare duo.

For more tips on how to tackle Dynasty Warriors Origins, see here.