DW3 High Scoring/Tournament FAQ(c) This guide is not to be put on any other website other than Gamefaqs and Empiredividedtk.com. You are not to claim any part of this guide as your own. Version 1.4 Dynasty Warriors 3 and Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends (Playstation 2) Author: Hammerhead6468/3229, also known as Travis Spencer. Contact me: Hammerhead3229@aol.com, AIM: Hammerhead3229. Do not hesitate to IM me; I am always happy to help. Version History: 1.0 - August 1, 2005 - Added the first bits of the FAQ for a start. 1.1 - October 5-7, 2005 - Worked on and finished the first two sections. 1.2 - December 30 and 31, 2006 - Finished up most of the until Interference Specifics. 1.3 - January 4, 2006 - Completed the FAQ, ready to be sent in to Gamefaqs.com 1.4 - January 21, 2006 - Fixed the battle example... which was wrong. Also I updated personal histoy. \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ Index Section I: Introduction Into the World of Dynasty Warriors 3 Scoring A) Introduction- Explains the general idea of the guide along with my personal DW3 experience. B) Basics Section II: Scores A) Kos B) Worthy Opponents C) Clear Time D) Bonus Points E) Total Points Section III: Obtaining High Scores A) Kos B) Worthy Opponents C) Gate Captains D) Bodyguard Mechanics E) Speed F) Methods Section IV: The Battles A) Preparation B) Memory Card Usage C) Optional Recording D) Hunting Down Generals E) Battle Example Section V: Interference Specifics A) Dealing with Archers B) Dealing with Events C) Playing on Hard and Very Hard difficulties Section VI: Conclusion \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////Dynasty Warriors 3 and Dynasty Warriors 3: XL (Section I: Introduction Into the World of Dynasty Warriors 3 Scoring) A) Introduction A few years ago, I was introduced to Dynasty Warriors 3. It was a game that would change my life very much. Me and my friend, Spike, played video games a lot together, along with letting each other borrow games. Well, around this time we had gotten bored; all new games were tasteless and could hardly entertain us for hours. One day, Spike came to me talking all about this game. Being the ignorant kid that I was at the time, I began to try and retort all of his compliments of this wonderful game. Then, he brought it over. It was almost like love at first sight. He spent the night and we played non-stop. The following day, he left for home. I tried to get him to let me borrow it, but I can easily say I was wasting my breath. Out of addiction, I went and bought it. I played it for a good while, then became bored. Once again, my friend Spike would turn me into the right direction. It was now the summer and I hadn’t played it for a while. Me and him were sitting out on the back porch and he began talking about the game. He was bragging how much farther he had gotten than me. Of course, with both of our rather childish personalities, we ended up in a feud, a feud to beat DW3 completely first. I picked the game up again that day, and since I have never put it down. From then on I’ve been attached to this game. Me and Spike have played it for years, and we’ve done damn near well everything in the game, while also learning about all of its complicated game mechanics. At the end of that summer, I became very interested in it once again, along with spike. I entered in BFC 4 (Battle for China, a RPG game that was often on the Three Kingdoms Social Board in the past). This BFC was different, as it revolved around DW. I was on Wu, along with some people I would later become attached to in the future. Our force attacked another force, me and SolidSNKE were the attackers. This would be the only battle in this BFC, however this one battle sparked nostalgia in me and SolidSNKE. We kicked the oppositions ass, but shortly after BFC 4 ended. Me and SolidSNKE decided to make our own tournament completely DW based. It was my idea, and together we made a lot of the rules, this tournament is known for its infamous abbreviation COK (Clash of Kingdoms). This was incredibly fun, many joined. In the first one everyone had a great deal of fun, and I had my share of ass-kicking. They were so successful, that they just kept on going. So far there have been six, and the seventh is now being planned. In this tournament, we played to see who could get the highest score. This was just what I finally needed to complete my understanding of DW3. I’ve become an expert at it, to the point that I’m undefeated in DW3. Thus, I came to the conclusion to share my massive knowledge of this game with the world. This guide will ensure that even the weakest of players can become worthy opponents. Clash of Kingdoms Personal History: COK1: I was Lu Meng, who is my specialty character. I served as an advisor to Wu, and SolidSNKE, the runner and my friend, was the ruler of Wu. We both ran the tournament, and played in it. However, this wouldn’t happen again as people aren’t so trustful, which is completely understandable. Anyways, for the first two weeks I was gone. My computer had been zapped by lightning, but soon after I got it back and came into the tournament. By that time, everyone had gotten to know each other. I was new to the scene, but people knew I was talented. But it was rather awkward, and people didn’t know quite what to think of me. I believe most of the first impressions were good... but to some that would change. COK 1 went smoothly at first. Wu suffered losses until I came into action making many strategies and plans (for the tournament, not stages). We quickly regained our lost lands and went on a roll beating the Others forces. Eventually, we betrayed our allies Shu, who were growing stronger, and allied with Wei to fight them. Unfortunately, Shu gained bonus point stations in the tournament, and we were the only ones that could oppose them and we were at a big disadvantage. In the end we had some nice victories, but like all COKs, it ended before it was finished with still four forces. The main source of COK ending is people losing interest and such. But in the next COK, interest seems renewed but history repeats itself. But also in this COK, people saw my devious self. I would do anything for victory. I would do ploys, alienate people, whatever I had to do. I was intelligent in that sense, but that labeled me as devious, which I’m willing to live with. COK2: I was Lu Meng in this one also. SolidSNKE was the sole runner, and I was now a ruler of Wu. I had a few of my old friends join me. This was quite an interesting one. We first started out strong with a few victories. I was able to get loyalty out of most of my officers also. But during all of this, I felt the stress that I had to do good and live up to my reputation. My ally, MasterofPuppets as Lu Bu, and I went to battle against Wei. We were up against SOE and Kieron, who would forever go down in Clash history as two of the most fierce Wei warriors. We managed to win in this DW4 battle, but due to our unexplainable bonus scores, we were accused of cheating (this is later found out that we got Rescue bonus points, in DW4 when you rescue a fellow officer you get 100 points which we did not know at the time. Also, me and Lu Bu coincidentally had the same scores...). This brought a downfall of Lu Bu’s forces. I convinced him to join me. But now I had to deal with more officers than I could manage. Officers became unsettled because they didn’t get to fight often. This, among other things, brought great stress onto me. I felt as if I was letting everyone down. I actually got to the point when I had some random panic attacks sometimes during the day from stress. This may seem outrageous, but I didn’t want to let anyone down so badly. It was hard when you have so many, and especially when you know they will lose. I was reluctant to send those bound to lose. I started to lose on fronts, and rebellions occurred. I managed to handle the rebellions decently, then at the end when we were later relieved from the accusation of cheating we got a lot of land back from Wei and we were about to make a large comeback when it ended. COK3: MOP, my friend, ran this one. It was relatively short. I joined Shu as Zhang Yi as an officer with my brother. I had a tie in this one against Kieron (I had on previously in COK2 also, ties are very rare too) in my first battle. Then the other force totally conquered Wu. The large force of Kieron, Javelina (a player who is just as seasoned as I am, he is to DW4 as I am to DW3. He has a guide like mine for DW4), and a new guy who became known as Upright. Upright was very talented and found the rescues in this game. We had one very large scale battle in this. It was 4 of us against 4 of them. It was a massive battle at He Fei in DW4, but we lost due to the lack of knowledge about rescues. Even so, we came close. But soon after, this COK ended also. Upright’s force was regarded as the winner. COK4: Upright and Javelina both ran this one. I was Lu Xun in Shu. Bags, also known as James, was the ruler. He would later become my oath brother, as we bond well. But then we had just been off and on friends. Well he was a great ruler and we completely wiped out Wu and I had an impressive record. But then Bags left... he had little time for COK anymore. He didn’t think I wanted to be ruler, so he left Uncle Seaman in control. He was a pretty good fighter, and had long been my ally. But we no longer got along. He made it his goal to drive Shu into the ground. Wu and the Others combined to make Jin. I was helpless as Seaman just drove us deeper, I could not prevent Shu’s fall. I defected to Jin before the end. COK5: Lu Meng in this one too, but I did not serve on a force. I was under the alias, Flames of Lucifer. In this, I showed my true personality (which is much different from my online personality). People liked me much more. I was also a ronin for hire. I did a few battles for hire at first, then I went after and attacked at my wish. I attacked all through one particular kingdom, holding off one of the cities for a good while. I was completely undefeated in this COK. People were also shocked to see my true identity. COK6: After attempting to run this one, I gave up. Kyuuketsuki ran it instead. I was Zhou Yu, ruler of Wu. All I had was Bags, my oath brother, and my fellow DW friend mentioned above, Spike. Spike had been in COK off and on kicking ass in DW3, usually we were on the same force. He was a big help this time. We single handedly took all of southern Shu, then we waited. We all kind of lost interest, and let Wei finish the weakened Shu off. Then it was really down between us. They launched many major attacks, and we won almost all of them gaining a lot of land in return from them. We then had more than the majority of the map, COK ended soon after once Kyuu stopped posting battles. It was the first COK I actually “won”. But no COK has ever officially finished, so we always declare the one with the most land to be the winner. COK7: This was very short lived, and I did not much in it. I played as Sun Quan. All the forces merged quickly and the battles were pathetic. COK8: Currently going on at the moment. I am Zhang Liao on Wei, with Javee, Spike, and some other old veteran friends. I have a good win record and it's going pretty good at the moment. We are in the lead and are near unstoppable. B) Basics In DW3, in order to do good when playing for scores, you must have sucessful management and playing. Here is my basic steps for good scores. 1. Know and research your stages. 2. Kill every worthy opponent. 3. Save often. 4. Don’t settle for anything but the best. 5. Always get 1414+ Kos. By using these steps, getting high scores should come much easier. It is not anything that comes natural. You WILL have to do some training, and it will be a while before anyone is quite near an expert. Getting high scores can be frustrating, but overall it is a very rewarding feeling. (Section II: Scores) A) KOs KOs: The accumulated number of enemies killed. KOs is short for Knock-outs. Knock-outs are the single most important factor in scoring. They give the most points, and they generally take the most time when you have a run through your stage. KO Scoring: KO points are equivalent to the number of KOs squared, then divided by 200. In Example: I got 913 KOs. (913 x 913)/200 = 4168 The maximum number of KO points that you can get is 9,999. In order to get that number, you must get at least 1415 KOs. Any less than that, and you wouldn’t have 9,999; but more than that, you will always have 9,999. Getting this many KOs in a relatively short amount of time is very difficult, but as you do it more it becomes natural. Getting KOs also varies on the stage; some stages it is incredibly difficult to get many KOs, but on all DW3 stages except Guan Yu’s Escape is 1415 KOs possible. I’ve even gotten 9999 KOs on many stages, but that is incredibly time-consuming and rather useless to do unless it is for your own personal advancement. The KO scoring is very different between low and high numbers. With KOs in the low hundreds, you can’t expect to get many points at all. But once you hit the higher numbers, then the KO Points ascends dramatically. I will demonstrate with a table of common numbers. 100------------50 150------------113 200------------200 250------------313 300------------450 350------------613 400------------800 450------------1013 500------------1250 550------------1513 600------------1800 650------------2113 700------------2450 750------------2813 800------------3200 850------------3613 900------------4050 950------------4513 1000-----------5000 1050------------5513 1100-----------6050 1150------------6613 1200-----------7200 1250------------7813 1300-----------8450 1350------------9113 1400-----------9800 1414-----------9996 1415+-----------9999 As you can see, the points start to shoot up much more once you get into higher KOs. Because KOs are the biggest part of the point system, and the most time consuming, they are generally the most important factor in scoring; how to kill them fast and how to manage them is all huge factors. B) Worthy Opponents Worthy Opponents are generals and officers than you fight on the field. Each general you kill will give you points depending on who they are. The game recognizes three classes of WOs. The first is officer, which is a WO serving under another in the battle. Then there is the general, who has a unit displayed on the map and can have officers. Lastly there is the commander of the battle. There are the typical score amounts. However, I have noticed that on some stages some WOs are worth more or less, and it seems quite often. But these are the most common numbers, but do not rely on them solely, as chances are they are different. Officers (Characters that serve under others, such as Zhang Liao at Hu Lao Gate serves under Lu Bu): 200 points each Generals (Characters that have their own units, like Jiang Wei at Wu Zhang Plains): 300 points each Commanders (Generals that are commanders in the battle, like Liu Biao, Cao Cao, and Zhuge Liang): 500 points each On the scoring screen, your Worthy Opponent kills are listed left to right, top to bottom, in the order that you killed them. This can be useful for a reference at times, so be sure to always pay attention to this. Never skip any WO (Worth Opponent). They give quite a bit of points, and they are also a big bulk of the scoring system. You must manage them well so that your allies may not kill them. Whether the WO is an NPC or not does not affect the score at all. Instead, it is based solely on positon. C) Clear Time The Clear Time, in DW3, is really what everything comes down too. It is more than likely that, if you are playing in a tournament, your opponent will get all of the WOs and all of the needed KOs. You must manage your time wisely, and become as fast as you can. Speed is deciding factor. This does mean the slower characters in DW3 have the odds against them, but a skilled player can keep up. Saddles are very useful for getting around stages. Some stages like Wu Zhang Plains are incredibly big, and you could spend a good few minutes trotting around. So if you can use a saddle, do so as it saves big on time. Clear times can be more or less important depending on if you are on a short stage or a long stage. On a long stage, you have the option to get more points, but it is generally a small difference in points if against someone skilled. In short stages, the points are small, but the differences could be big. On both lengths of stages, for each minute passed after a certain time is 40 points deducted. Here is how Clear Time Scoring works: ~90 Minute Stages~ 10:00:00 or less = 2000 points 11:00:00 = 1960 12:00:00 = 1920 13:00:00 = 1880 14:00:00 = 1840 15:00:00 = 1800 16:00:00 = 1760 17:00:00 = 1720 18:00:00 = 1680 19:00:00 = 1640 20:00:00 = 1600 21:00:00 = 1560 22:00:00 = 1520 23:00:00 = 1480 24:00:00 = 1440 25:00:00 = 1400 26:00:00 = 1360 27:00:00 = 1320 28:00:00 = 1280 29:00:00 = 1240 30:00:00 = 1200 31:00:00 = 1160 32:00:00 = 1120 33:00:00 = 1080 34:00:00 = 1040 35:00:00 = 1000 36:00:00 = 960 37:00:00 = 920 38:00:00 = 880 39:00:00 = 840 40:00:00 = 800 41:00:00 = 760 42:00:00 = 720 43:00:00 = 680 44:00:00 = 640 45:00:00 = 600 46:00:00 = 560 47:00:00 = 520 48:00:00 = 480 49:00:00 = 440 50:00:00 = 400 51:00:00 = 360 52:00:00 = 320 53:00:00 = 280 54:00:00 = 240 55:00:00 = 200 56:00:00 = 160 57:00:00 = 120 58:00:00 = 80 59:00:00 = 40 60:00:00 or more: 0 and the -40s go into the negatives. ~30 Minute Stages~ 5 Minutes or less = 1000 6:00:00 = 960 7:00:00 = 920 8:00:00 = 880 9:00:00 = 840 10:00:00 = 800 11:00:00 = 760 12:00:00 = 720 13:00:00 = 680 14:00:00 = 640 15:00:00 = 600 16:00:00 = 560 17:00:00 = 520 18:00:00 = 480 19:00:00 = 440 20:00:00 = 400 21:00:00 = 360 22:00:00 = 320 23:00:00 = 280 24:00:00 = 240 25:00:00 = 200 26:00:00 = 160 27:00:00 = 120 28:00:00 = 80 29:00:00 = 40 Management of your time so that you can get the fastest clear time as possible is mandatory when playing DW3. Though minutes differ by only 40 points, it is common for battles to come directly down to who finished a minute faster. If you are in a bad spot where you can’t kill all WO or KO without getting the desired clear time, then go for the bigger points (KO and WO) first. But if you can master the first two, then this one will be top priority. D) Bonus Points Bonus points are easy to understand, as only two aspects influence this score. Those are gate captains, and your own bodyguards. For every gate captain you kill you get 100 points. Make it a goal to go and kill everyone on your trip through the stage, and try to make it efficient. Don’t leave a gate captain in an area you already cleared, otherwise you would either not kill him at all, or waste a lot of time heading back to kill him. Sometimes you can get well over a 1,000 points due to numerous gate captains. This is a very easy way to obtain points, but essential nonetheless. Bodyguards are one of the largest aspects to scoring. Why? Well, they greatly hinder your ability to get KOs (this will be explain later, but it has to do with game mechanics) and they also get in your way when fighting. Though they are big nuisances, for each one left alive at the end is 250 points, bringing a total of 2,000 bonus points just for keeping them alive. However, if one were to die, not only do you not get 250 points, but you lose them. If you are on a very hard stage and you can’t keep them alive, it is probably better to not bring any. Bodyguard scoring is as follows: (8/8) Bodyguards Survive: 2,000 (7/8) Bodyguards Survive: 1,500 (6/8) Bodyguards Survive: 1,000 (5/8) Bodyguards Survive: 500 (4/8) Bodyguards Survive: 0 (3/8) Bodyguards Survive: -500 (2/8) Bodyguards Survive: -1,000 (1/8) Bodyguards Survive: -1,500 (0/8) Bodyguards Survive: -2,000 That is, of course, if you use all eight. On a harder stage, maybe just having a few to take care of would be easier. Having fewer makes things faster and easier, but you don’t get near as much points. E) Total Points This is the total points accumulated out of all of the categories. In the end this is what is most important if you turn in something, but it is always good to record the other categories of the score. (Section III: Obtaining High Scores) A) KOs KOs are the MOST important part of high scoring. Without getting 1415+ KOs, there is no way that you can compete. Not only will you have to get well over a thousand KOs to get a good score, but you will also have to do it as fast as possible. There are a few secrets to getting KOs, it all is within game mechanics. If you know the game well, then you can easily get the KOs. 1. Troop Numbers Each enemy, on the officer list, has a green bar indicating how many troops they currently have. As you kill some, you will notice that it will decrease. However, if that officer has a gate, and you leave them alone, it will slowly build back to its original strength. Thus, KOs revolve entirely around gates and troop numbers. You will almost always get all of your kills from the commander’s gates (few officers own gates in this game, and plus commanders always have the most troops which makes things faster). When you kill a squad of enemies, then the gate will spawn a new squad to replace them. So if you kill many of the commanders troops, then the gates will try and spawn replacements for them. If you stand by a gate, and keep killing the new ones it spawns, then it will constantly flow as it is still trying to get a certain number out. By doing this, you just stand at the gate and try not to let any get away (if they do, then fewer troops will start coming out, as it doesn’t have to replace as much). When playing the level, be sure to kill the commanders officer and wipe out many squads of their men (as many as you can, the best you can) then the gate(s) will have a nice flow of enemies so that you can quickly get your kill. On occasions when an officer owns a gate, don’t let the enemy officer die. If he does, then the gate will become in-active and soldiers will stop flowing out. 2. Squads This is another essential part of the game mechanics when getting KOs. If you just wipe out four people in a squad, and not all five, then the gates won’t replace that squad because one is still in it. You have to completely kill the squad in order for it to spawn a new one. Just using your dash attack to kill squads, but the leader of the squad, due to his strength, stays alive, will not be very manageable. Gates don’t rely on numbers, but instead rely on numbers of squads. When playing your level, make sure to completely kill off the enemies. 3. Enemies and Allies on Screen DW3 can only have so many enemies and allies on screen at a time. Saying so, enemies come at you very fast when you are alone. The problem, though, is bodyguards. If you have them and they survive then you get 2,000 points at the end of the stage, the downside is that they will be on screen a lot when getting KOs. Because of this, enemies will not come out near as fast creating a problem. The best you can do is to keep them behind you on Defense (or Shield if playing DW3: XL). This way they won’t interfere with the KO getting process, and they won’t kill your enemies thus deriving you. Use the L1 button a lot. Pressing it moves the camera automatically in the characters facing direction. This is very useful for fighting all around and can help keep your bodyguards behind you. The same goes for allies on screen. 4. Gate Captains This is a big problem. Sometimes when getting kills, a gate captain will wonder towards you and probably cut down eventually. When getting kills, it is very suggested that you stay a bit away from the gate so that the captain doesn’t come over to fight you. Of course, killing him seals the gate. Stay back just far enough that the enemies come from you. Gate captains are fragile, so during the course of you getting kills, he is not your enemy. 5. Allies What are they good for? Absolutely nothing. On harder stages, a plus is that many of your allies may die or they will not come up as fast. But sometimes when getting KOs they will come up behind you and start fighting the enemy which decreases flow, and lures enemies away from you almost halving your KO output. There is nothing you can really do about it. Some gates on stages have little allied interference (for example Sima Yi’s gate south of him on the platform at Wu Zhang Plains) while others just swarm with them (Dong Zhuo’s three gates at Hu Lao Gate). You really have to pick a good location or play through the stage as to get less interference as possible. This is not very easy to suggest what to do, but in time it may come to you. It usually just ends up how you play the stage. Also, you may become lucky sometimes. Luck does play a big role sometimes with getting the biggest of scores; when everything goes the right way, even an average score can be gotten with no effort. 6. Selection Pretty self explanatory. You will have to scout each stage for yourself and find which gates are best for getting KOs. Remember to pick one that generally has little interference, and has a nice constant flow of enemies. B) Worthy Opponents 1. Management The first thing you always want to do, is get your WO kills. Thus, you must look at a map and know each WOs path and location so that you can swiftly kill each one (excluding the commander) so that you can then get KOs. Sometimes being able to kill everyone quickly and locating some officers will take time. It is best for you, in case you are not very familiar, to scout out locations of officers (generals can be located on the maps) and where they end up in the stage. For example Zhang Bao in the Yellow Turban Rebellion starts with two officers, but they both spread out. And then later he gets two more officers as reinforcements. You want to obviously not kill Zhang Bao until he gets the two extra officers as that is two more WOs. But you must also find where each one ends up and kill them efficiently. I would suggest you start working your way somewhere else in the map then come back (to get the other WOs). That is managing. Planning is essential, and once you have your plan you must follow it with speed. 2. Allies Again, they are useless. On normal and easy difficulties (and sometimes even hard) your allies will kill officers and generals thus deriving you of the much needed points. You must quickly plan so that you can kill these officers and generals before your allies do. Also, sometimes when you fight with allies, some enemy troops, or even your bodyguards will take the kill. Unacceptable. You will have to start the stage over and try again. 3. Order This is pretty simple to understand. For generals that have officers, you must kill the officers first. If you kill a general that still has officers, that officer will retreat from the level. However, it is possible for you to kill a general and to intercept an escaping officer before he goes out of a gate, but it is difficult and not suggested to do. Also plan which officers under a general to kill first. For example, if straight ahead is an officer, another officer twenty feet behind him, and then a general twenty feet behind him, kill the officer closest to you first. That way, you can go one direct line and kill them rather than having to turn around, kill the first one, then go back again and kill the general. Doing that, you would back track twice. However, this is pure common sense. Save the officer closest to the general for last, and kill the officer furthest away first. C) Gate Captains For each gate is a gate captain. Simple enough. 1. Properties Gate captains have really interesting properties. They are slightly weaker than an officer, and they can heal. However, like any normal troop they can be killed with instant death, which, if you are getting KOs with an instant death person, be aware of the gate captain’s location. They are generally similar in strength to a Guard Captain and his four following guards. The only real difference is that Gate Captains guard a gate (surprisingly enough), can heal, and have a general health bar. 2. Order Gates are distributed all across the stage, and usually around enemy generals. When doing your run through the stage, seal all the nearby gates you go with. Try, before you do the stage, to include them in your plan. This way you can make on direct trip and no back tracking and saving you a lot of time. Their points are very important, so remember to kill each one. However, on some stages there are gate captains out of the way. In a time to gate captain bonus ratio, it is more beneficial to go after the gate captain anyways. However, do it when you are closest to that Gate captain; don’t be on the other side of the stage and wonder over to kill him. In that situation, it might even be better to leave it alone. 3. Fragility They are very fragile indeed. Always be aware of your surroundings. On several occasions I turn around and unleash a combo, then realize the gate captain was behind me, and I had killed him. So it is better to “look before you leap”. Once you get a certain distance away from the gate, then the gate captain should stay there. But if you go in his range, he will come after you. After spending a lot of time at a gate you can usually tell where that line is, so be sure to cross it as little as possible. D) Bodyguard Mechanics 1. Protecting On very hard levels, your bodyguards may not be able to survive. Just set them on defense and shield, and if enemies gather around them, kill the enemies. But do be aware of hitting enemies. I’ve killed more bodyguards by accidentally hurling enemies at them rather than the enemies kill them. On DW3: XL it is easy. The Shield command leaves them very safe, and a big boost to defense. And not to mention defense on items and weapons for them. Also put on the BG Healing Scroll if on XL, this allow them to heal once. Weapons with defense also help a lot. 2. Engine As long as they stay behind you, and on a non-attacking command, then the game has little to calculate for the bodyguards. Since you don’t have to look at them, and they don’t have to do anything, the game will concentrate more on gates, which is more useful for yourself. So just try and be sure to keep them out of view as much as possible. 3. Disabling Always, no matter what, keep your bodyguards on Defense (in DW3) or Shield (in DW3: XL). This prevents them from attacking, and they will block almost all the time so they are much safer. Defense in DW3: XL doesn’t do this, however, with the Defense command they attack which normal attacks only (meaning no charge attacks). So instead, you use Shield which is much better than DW3's Defense command. Now, not only do they block, but they are more compact and they get a very large boost to defense. With this, you can even go through a very hard level and keep them all. But if you leave them on an attack command, they WILL get in your way, they WILL take your kills, and they will almost always die. And not to mention taking up the engine and the screen. The Bodyguard Manual doesn’t really effect them when they are on a non-attack command, even though it says it makes them stronger, it is useless unless they attack. E) Speed Speed is essential. You have to be fast killing soldier, generals, and gate captains. But all of this relates back to previous sections. In the next section I will provide some methods that do make things much faster. 1. Horses Horses are essential for fast times (unless you are Lu Xun or such). If you can, equip a Red Hare so that you can easily get to your locations on time. However, do keep in mind that they can go up stairs. But all horses are good for transportation. Even if you don’t start with a horse, picking up a White horse from a general is always good for transportation, and not to mention they are relatively plentiful. The horse is a real pain, though, when slowing. You can’t dismount unless the horse has completely stopped. And this takes a few seconds, so instead try this to quickly dismount and kill your enemies. Simply run at them, and let one of them knock you off. Use the L1 button to get back on your feet. It is almost twice as fast as it is to dismount. 2. Speed Scroll This is a must, no matter what character you have. Even if you plan to use a horse a lot, you will end up doing quite a bit of running. So this is always handy for every stage and ever character, and it should always be one of the first items you equip. F) Methods 1) Circulation Method This isn’t so much a method as it is a theory. When you are getting KO’s, and you get an Attack x2, you can kill enemies twice as fast. Since you can kill them twice as fast, you can, theoretically, kill twice as many. Killing twice as many increases chances for another Attack x2. It is all one big circle. I’ve had KO killing sessions when I had Attack x2 for quite a bit of time. With Luck plus it makes it much easier to do. But doing this endless circle can really help speed up killing. 2) Saving Method This is pretty easy to comprehend. When you first starting KOs, save the game and quit. Reload. Get KO’s for a minute and check how many you got. If it is below what you need or were expecting, soft reset and load it again. Doing this multiple times you can squeeze the most for your minutes. And not to mention if something goes wrong, or KOs are slowed down, you can reload and try again. Once you have good results, save for that minute, then do it again for the next minute. Doing this can save maybe minutes on you CT, but it is a lot of work. I suggest on die hard scorers use it. 3) Gate Panning Method This is all thanks to my friend Spike. He found this method and taught it to me. I will be honest that it doesn’t work as well for me, as I get KOs differently. But, he uses the game’s mechanics to speed up the gates. If you run in front of the gate, then quickly turn away from it (using the L1 button for a quick face), you get the gate out of view. Without the gate in view, the game is less modest about putting more soldiers out, so that when you turn back around (using L1 again), there will be more soldiers coming (most of the time). It doesn’t require any movement other than facing, and possibly moving back when soldiers come. This should be repeated, and the general speed of the gates is much faster. The only negative side is being too close to the gate captain and the time it takes to run back and forth, it doesn’t work as well for me as it does him. Give it a few shots for yourself and see if you’d like to use it or not. 4) Hammerhead’s Attack x2 Method This method has been found by me, and it is undoubtedly the most simple and best method on DW3. However, this does require DW3: XL. Equip the Scroll of Accuracy. Start the stage. When you get knocked down, this item gives you attack x2, but defense lowered for a short time. But, this time, when you get knocked down, as soon as you get up, here and tone of getting Attack x2, and seeing it appear over your character’s head, quit and save. Reload the game. You will now have Attack x2 for the remainder of the battle, with the only negative side effect of lowered defense. This helps out TREMENDOUSLY in all aspects of scores. I’ve been able to beat my old record times with no sweat. This also brings a lot of other possibilities. Getting KO’s is much faster, and even using the trick when playing normally is good. But, when you do this, the Attack x2 bar will not be there. But attack a few enemies and you can easily tell you still have the effects as it is permanent. I discovered this a while back just experimenting for such a thing. Section IV: The Battles So you have gotten the stage you want to do. Now you just have to put it all together. I will use this whole section example as my run through Hu Lao Gate on Hard using Sun Quan. A) Preparation First of all, I make sure that the setting is on Hard. This is one of the first things you do to prepare. Select your stage. Selecting the right side on a stage is very important. You always want the side that you can get the most points with. I did some researching before, and I discovered that doing the Allied side is much better. Researching is very important, and I suggest you do it every time before playing a stage. I select that, and select Sun Quan. Now comes the preparation stage. 1. Equip ~Weapons~ Select the weapons that are killing machines. Get a weapon with the most attack and reach, and less defense. The game has mechanics that uses your stats for enemies also. So if you have more defense, they will too. Because of this, you want less defense and more attack to do more killing (unless playing a harder level, then you may want defense). Also, a weapon with a good crowd clearing element like Death and Lightning are good. But if you only have DW3, you are really only restricted to your 4th weapon. It is really advised to use your best weapon, in which in almost every case will be 4th and 5th weapons. ~Items~ Tiger Amulet and the Wind Scroll are absolutely necessary. This enables faster killing in all aspects. If you are playing DW3: XL, put on the Scroll of Accuracy and do my method. Other items you may want to consider are Luck plus (more attack x2s, and health. It is much more useful on DW3 and DW3: XL when you can have unlimited attack x2), Red Hare (for mobility), Speed Scroll (for mobility on foot), Nanman Armor (for harder levels with many archers) and an Elixer (for faster musou charge). Assess the situation and choose the items that suit best. ~Bodyguards~ Be sure you turn them on Defense (in DW3) or Shield (in DW3: XL) to keep them from interfering. Give them whatever weapon you want. I particularly like Pikes and Spears, but that is just me. It really doesn’t matter. If in DW3: XL, give them the BG Healing Scroll and a weapon with good defense. Be sure to pick all 8, unless you think it is unnecessary; it is for you to judge. Also be sure to select their orders before hand so they don’t become a nuisance if they are on a different order and you don’t have to take the time to change it. 2. Officer Information ~Planning Paths~ Possibly the most important part of preparation. Look at the map and make a projected path to which you can get KOs the fastest, kill WOs the fastest, and be sure not to spend any time back tracking. Be sure to look at generals and their officers. Knowing where officers are is good, as you can put them in your projected path. I see that Hua Xiong will be the first general I confront, who is on the opposite side of the gate that the Wu officers start by. (On a stage like this, officers have designated starting points. All Wu officers will start the same place, Shu officers will all start a different place, and same with Wei officers) I also happen to know that his two officers are right in front of the gate, and upon killing them the gate will open. I know all of this due to a lot of experience, but in most people’s cases, researching will discover all this. I then continue to make out my entire plan in steps, being sure to note all usual changes in a battle. 1. Kill Hua Xiong’s officers. 2. Pass through the gate, kill Hua Xiong, then go up the gate. 3. Pass the general up by the gate, then continue past him and kill his officer, then back track and kill the general. (Usually back tracking is a big time waster, but Wu’s side there really is no faster choice). 4. Go back to the gate, and jump off for quick clearance. Then head past Xu Rong and go through the large gate and clear the enemy gate. Then find Xu Rong's officer. 5. Kill the officer, then head out of the area and kill Xu Rong. 6. After killing Xu Rong take out the near by gate and prepare to fight Lu Bu’s army. Right about this time Lu Bu would have killed Yuan Shu and he is coming full force up towards you. He has a large army, and he has gates. This is what I do personally... 7. Kill Gao Shun and Zhang Liao, and at the same time killing most of Lu Bu’s army managing to dodge him for the moment. Also, while doing that, seal the gate that is on the east part of the stage. 8. Leave Lu Bu, and go all the way down to the southern most gates on the way to Hu Lao Gate. This gate is Lu Bu’s and since you killed most of his army, it will be pouring men out like crazy. Best of all, your allies are held up by Lu Bu. At this time, so enemies should have been coming out already, so just slaughter a path down until you get close to the gate. You can stay relatively far away from it and get KOs quickly. 9. Get 1,100+ Kos. I know what you are thinking, why not just get the rest? Well, one problem. Lu Bu will eventually die when going up against 8 morale armies. So, you will have to go kill him first. 10. Head for and kill Lu Bu and take his horse. Then head towards the northwest portion of the map. 11. At exactly 15 minutes into the stage, in which should be near, Guo Si and Li Jue come with large armies. Stand in their path and kill their entire army along with the generals. This will get you a good amount of Kos to add to your 1,000. Clear the gate before they arrive, too. Even if 15 minutes isn’t close (though it should be) it is more time efficient to go ahead and wait rather than come back later. Also, if you leave early enough, you can kill the gate captain in the far north, then go ahead and head south a little ways. You can spend that extra time and hurry up and get him out of the way. This way, when their armies come, you won't have to go all the way up and kill the gate captain too. 12. Hopefully having a horse of some type, (Lu Bu’s, preferably) go kill Li Meng, Dong Zhuo’s first officer you encounter. 13. Proceed through the arrow trap and wipe out all enemies in front of Hu Lao Gate. This allows for the gate to be open... otherwise, if enemies are still alive, the gate won’t open. 14. Proceed through the gate, kill Diao Chan, then double back and kill Li Ru after his ambush. 15. Enter back inside Hu Lao Gate, and kill men if you haven’t gotten 1415+ Ko’s yet. Otherwise, kill all three gate right away. 16. Lastly, take out Dong Zhuo. This plan is the absolute best for a Wu officer at Hu Lao Gate. But it took me a long time to find it... and with it, I was able to get some of the best scores ever on a DW3 stage. It goes to show that planning is the best step of preparation. After a while, you can come up with plans of your own, but the first one is hardly ever the best one. ~Interferences~ Also be sure to look at other officer information such as allies to see which ones may be nuisances and plan ahead for such things. 3. Conditions ~Conditions~ These are usually all the same... but be sure to find out if your allied Commander is at any time in any trouble in the stage normally, if so, you must include this in your plan. B) Memory Card Usage The abuse of memory cards is only for those who are extremely worried about their ability to win, and for those who aren’t so lazy. It involves frequent saving, probably ever minute or so. If nothing goes exactly right, you can reload and fix everything. This makes things so much easier, but, I am very impatient so I take my chances and never bother to save (which I usually regret) in rough situations. It is also good when you are killing for max KOs. If you don’t think you killed fast enough the minute, reload it and keep doing until you do exceptionally well. Memory card abuse, though, is very time consuming. However, it does usually mean a nice change in score for your favor. Use it accordingly. DW3 is good because you can just quit and save anytime you need. C) Optional Recording This is like Memory card usage and abuse, it’s not for the lazy. In fact, it never crossed my mind. It is actually the idea of Javelina, who wrote the DW4 High Scoring guide. You record everything as it happens, like when you hit every 50 Kos, what time it is, and where you are. This is very helpful if you are accused of cheating, you have very accurate recording to back yourself up. It is also good for personal studying on how things go. If you wish to do this, just grab a notebook and a pen. You can also just look things up in the history section of the pause menu for your exact location and time of each event, but be forewarned that it doesn’t keep EVERY record, over time it will erase the first ones as they are outdated. D) Hunting Down Generals You made a nice preparation plan. You go through it, and... the officer or general is not where you planned for them to be. This is a common problem. There is no real way to solve this, you just have to go with the flow. You can see generals’ location, but not their officers. Usually, officers take the same path, though. So if you know a lot about the stage, you might could find the officers. Like at the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Zhang Jiao’s officer goes running all around, but if you play it enough, you can always tell he is usually in the same positions at the same times. Knowledge is the key to hunting down officers. You may also want to check spots were battles are being fought, if you can’t find them. Chances are, an officer may be there. E) Battle Example I will now go with the flow of my plan. I will record under each step whether there were problems or not. Weapon: Sun Quan’s 4th (Nothing special) Items: Tiger Amulet, Speed Scroll, Scroll of Accuracy (for Attack x2 trick), Elixir, and Wind Scroll. Bodyguards: Armed with pikes and the BG Healing Scroll, and their orders are set on Guard. 1. Kill Hua Xiong’s officers. Success, but I must wait a few moments while the events say that both officers have been defeated, only then will the gates open. 2. Pass through the gate, kill Hua Xiong, then go up the gate. Success. 3. Pass the general up by the gate, then continue past him and kill his officer, then back track and kill the general. Success. Saved game. Activated Attack x2 trick also. 4. Go back to the gate, and jump off for quick clearance. Then head past Xu Rong and go through the large gate and clear the enemy gate. Then find Xu Rong's officer. Failure first time, success second. I saved here because there are chances that Liu Bei’s army will kill either the gate captain or officer before you get there, I know this from experience. So I saved just in case, and as I predicted, it did. The next time they both managed to stay alive. 5. Kill the officer, then head out of the area and kill Xu Rong. Success. 6. After killing Xu Rong take out the near by gate and prepare to fight Lu Bu’s army. Success. 7. Kill Gao Shun and Zhang Liao, and at the same time killing most of Lu Bu’s army managing to dodge him for the moment. Also, while doing that, seal the gate that is on the east part of the stage. Success. But, I encountered Lu Bu after slaughtering most of this army. I seized the moment and stole his horse. I didn’t plan this out, but I just went with the flow. With his horse, I got down much faster. 8. Leave Lu Bu, and go all the way down to the southern most gates on the way to Hu Lao Gate. Sucess. 9. Get 1,000+ Kos. Success. Got 1,100+. Used my BG mechanics to keep them out of the way. Saved just in case. 10. Head for and kill Lu Bu and take his horse. Then head towards the northwest portion of the map. Failure first time, Success second. I was fighting Lu Bu the first time, but someone else got the death blow. So I reloaded and the next time I killed him. 11. At exactly 15 minutes into the stage, in which should be near, Guo Si and Li Jue come with large armies. Stand in their path and kill their entire army along with the generals. Clear the gate before they arrive, too. Success. Got around 200 Kos. 12. Hopefully having a horse of some type, (Lu Bu’s, preferably) go kill Li Meng, Dong Zhuo’s first officer you encounter. Success, but Li Meng was barely alive. 13. Proceed through the arrow trap and wipe out all enemies in front of Hu Lao Gate. This allows for the gate to be open... otherwise, if enemies are still alive, the gate won’t open. Success. 14. Proceed through the gate, kill Diao Chan, then double back and kill Li Ru after his ambush. Success. 15. Enter back inside Hu Lao Gate, and kill men if you haven’t gotten 1415+ Ko’s yet. Otherwise, kill all three gate right away. Success, I didn’t have to kill any men at this point. 16. Lastly, take out Dong Zhuo. Success. Score: KOs: 1438------------------9999 WOs: 16--------------------4700
CT: 19:53:41---------------1640
Bonus: (8/8 BG, 8 Gates)---2800
Total: -------------------19,139 

Conclusion: There are a few trouble spots with this strategy, but even so, 
it is the best it just requires a bit of saving.  That is just how it is some
times.  It was very successful, and a very good score has come out of it.  
And that... is how to get the best damn scores anyone has ever seen for DW3.

Section V: Interference Specifics

A) Dealing with Archers

Any veteran of the DW series can easily tell the change in archers over the 
series.  In DW4 and DW5 they are nothing more than pushovers to kill in one 
hit.  In DW2 and DW3, however, they are vicious.  Not only do they have 
better accuracy and firing rate, but their arrows are much more powerful and
they have the health of a normal soldier, where as in DW4 and DW5 they have 
very little.  These archers can be common and some levels, and unlike the 
later two in the series, they can shoot through anything, even crowds.  They 
are nuisances to your health and slowing your advance; you must deal with 
these archers as quickly and skillfully as you can.

~Dodging~

We’ve all done it.  We’ve all tried different ways.  There is no one way to 
completely dodge archers.  The best method, is of course, zig-zagging your 
way into them.  But if you do that into them directly or in small zig-zags, 
you will be shot, and one shot is usually followed by many more since you are
stalled.

Angling is the technique where instead of running head on into them, you run 
diagonally to their side.  This is probably the best method, as they can 
rarely shoot you.  Then from the side you can attack them, but the problem 
with attacking on the side is getting shot by archers on the other side.  
You must be careful about it.

The last and slowest technique is jumping.  Occasionally jumping (since it’s 
a bit to hard to jump as soon as they shoot) can be effective, but it is slow,
and landing leaves you open to being made into a pin cushion.  Jumping 
especially is worse if you are doing it head on into them.  Combine jumping 
with angling for a good result.  Otherwise... jumping is useless.

~Attacking~

Now that you’ve gotten close to these bastards, take them out.  Dash attacks 
on lower difficulty is a life savior, usually you can take them all out.  
However, on later difficulties it only complicates things as you spread them 
out.  On later difficulties I suggest to start a chain combo and get as many 
in it as possible.  Then kill those who got away.  Doing a musou is much more
effective, though, for most characters.  Judge the situation and attack how 
you see fit.

B) Dealing with Events

Events are sometimes fun to watch, but in DW3 they are usually much more 
annoying, and time consuming.  Before doing a stage, I suggest turning off 
events in the options.  Why?  Well they can be very annoying.  For one, they 
interrupt you and take up time.  Then, for the last second or so before the 
event the attacks from you do no damage at all.  This is a big problem for me 
personally, as it always happens before my last attack.  I hit them all, and 
spread them everywhere, but they took no damage.  Lastly, after the event you
have to get everything back in control and continue.  It is better to cut them
off.

C) Playing on Hard and Very Hard difficulties

~Hard~

Hard difficulty is the highest difficulty on DW3.  It isn’t any walk in the 
park, especially on harder levels.  If you aren’t used to it, I suggest 
playing on this difficulty on Wu Zhang Plains and He Fei castle a lot to get 
a feel.  Enemies are all stronger, and your allies are more pathetic.  You 
may get in tough situations if enemies make it to your commander.  Also watch
out for archers, as they are even bigger problems.  Generals also are 
time-consuming.  If you have true musou or a weapon with a fire element, good
for you.  Use that to burn them up and quickly expend their health.  Beyond 
the bump up in the enemy, it isn’t all that hard.  It just takes getting used 
to, as you can’t play as carelessly as you do in normal.

~Very Hard~

In all of the series, DW3: XL’s Very Hard is the hardest difficulty.  This is
a big step up from Hard.  Enemies seem like generals, and generals seem like 
commanders.  A group of archers is no longer a nuisance, but death standing 
before you.  Five arrows can kill you if you do not have any good bow armor 
even with a maxed character.  Items are very rare, and your allies will be 
wiped out in matters of minutes.  The main goal always to me is survival.  
You will rarely end up playing for scores in Very Hard, but if you do, I 
suggest to stay back and fight with your allies.  This is not the mode to go
out by yourself, because you WILL get killed, take it from me.  You have to 
take on the enemy in moderation, getting surrounded can mean death.  The 
generals are also huge problems.  I really suggest fighting no more than one 
at a time if possible.  Fire and death are your best friends in this mode.  
All the enemies have tons of health and defense.  Fire burns through them 
quickly, while death kills all peons instantly and damages generals 
severely.  Having neither of these makes things much more difficult.

Items you should equip are much different then the other difficulties.  
You seem to find yourself equiping items you once thought were useless 
(Bow Armor, Survival guide, Luck Orb).  I should orient you to the items 
that are necessary and helpful, that you may over look at first.  Luck 
plus is very important.  Normally you see no health, axes, armors, or 
anything.  But with a good one of these, these once again appear regularly, 
which is a savior.  Health is a big problem.  I killed 200 enemies.  I only 
got health from one of those that was not a guard captain.  Attack x2s and 
Defense x2s are now much more important.  Defenses can very well save your 
life, and attacks can help so that you can seemingly actually kill for a 
change.  Survival guide and the Defender are also great.  They work in red 
health, which is the same as your true musou.  Going in red health is not 
recommended, as it is risk taking, but sometimes you just have to.  They can 
really be helpful.  Lastly is something that is ESSENTIAL to very hard, Bow 
Armor.  Without this, you’ll be killed, simple as that.  You will soon find 
out how serious I am if you haven’t played this difficulty much.

Survival is always your top priority, and take things on one at a time.  
Fighting a general when he still has troops around can be dangerous as well.
Fight one or the other.  Very slowly, but surely you will start to get 
somewhere.  The archers are always a problem, deal with them as soon as you 
see a stray arrow.  Eventually you will come to the commander (if you aren’t 
killed) and I think its all downhill from there.  Commanders aren’t that much 
more hard, and you have the other army surrounded rather than yourself.  

It isn’t necessary to play like this on all levels on Very Hard, but most of 
them it is.  Judge the situation and act accordingly.  But the most important 
thing about very hard is NEVER underestimate it. 

Section VI: Conclusion

Thanks To:

Spike- One of my best friends, and he is really the person who got me into 
Dynasty Warriors.  That then led to my giant interest in Three Kingdoms 
period, which has changed me as a person for the better and given me something
to do over the years.  I also wouldn’t be as good if we didn’t always 
compete.  Also thanks to him for his gate-panning method.

Zhang Liao’s Wrath- For making BFC 4.  That led to me and Solid into 
creating COK.

Solid- For helping me get COK going, which is now on it’s 8th tournament.

Javelina- For being another god for a DW game (DW4) and making his DW4 High
scoring guide which I felt the duty to make a DW3 one, as we are considered 
the best for our respective games.  Also for letting me use some of the 
formats for his guide.

Jason and James- For being great brothers and helping me throughout my Three
Kingdom interest, and life in general.

Clash of Kingdoms Crew- For having some competition and having something to 
do.

SOE, Javelina, Upright, TLL, MoP, Frost, Faust, James, Kyuu, Raiden- For 
running many of the COK tournaments, carrying on it’s legacy and my interest.

Dark- For being a great “rival” in DW3.

Dynasty Warrior 3 Gamefaqs Board- For having someone else to talk with about
this great game.

Gamefaqs- For having a great site and community, and for hosting my FAQ.

KOEI- For making this and countless other great Three Kingdom’s games, that 
really inspired me and helped me throughout my Three Kingdom’s interest.


That is all.  For Now...

This guide is copyright Travis Spencer 2006: Please do not reproduce it 
except for your own personal and private use without my permission. Feel 
free to email me at Hammerhead3229@aol.com if you have corrections or 
questions.