======================================================================================= Dynasty Warriors 4 (English Version), Shin Sangoku Musou 3 (Japanese Version) ======================================================================================= --- Character Guide -- Zhen Ji (Shinki) --- Author: Nelson Liu Date: April.1st.2003 Copyright 2003 Nelson Liu This FAQ is protected by INTERNATIONAL copyright law. This FAQ was written for GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) only. This FAQ is for personal use only. Do not distribute it or use it for profitable purposes. Any Plagiarism, Reproduction, Re-transmitted or Duplication is not allow. Failure to follow those simple rules will result in extremely serious consequence!!! Contact me by send me an email at (earth_gale@hotmail.com) for further information. ====================== Table of content ====================== 1. About Zhen Ji 2. Why use Zhen Ji? 3. Zhen Ji's Pros & Cons 4. Zhen Ji's Weapons & Regular & Charge & Musou Attacks 5. Zhen Ji's Elemental Attack (Orbs) 6. Zhen Ji's 10th Weapon Acquiration 7. Zhen Ji's Overall Rank, View and Strategy 8. Credits & Author's Word ====================== 1. About Zhen Ji ====================== Zhen Ji, one of the most beautiful lady back in the old chinese history! She was married to Yuan Shao's second son, Yuan Xi. However, when Cao Cao captured the Ji Province, his son, Cao Pi, fell in love with her at first sight and immediately made her his wife. According to a lot of chinese books. It said Zhen Ji's real name should be *Zhen Mi*! Beside the fact she married with Cao Pi, the chinese history stated Cao Cao's 3rd son Cao Zhi has also fell in love with Zhen Ji and her peerless beauty. However, Cao Cao has already promise his 2nd son Cao Pi, and engage the marriage, therefore the two sibling starting to get ugly with each other, and later in the history when Cao Pi hold the privilege, he banish Cao Zhi in a far area with poor assets, and take away most of his territories. Zhen Ji is indeed fell in love with Cao Zhi, although she has no privilege to choose her fate and love. (Women does not has much privilege back in the old chinese histories, and beside Zhen Ji knows she's lucky enough to survive and even becoming the wife of Cao Pi's after her original kingdom was fallen to Cao Cao's hand) In addition, I'm sure everyone knows that Zhen Ji never participate in real battle field back in the old days, we have to thanks KOEI by making her battle in shin sangoku musou 3/Dynasty Warriors 4 with all the fancy dress and devastating moves!! ========================= 2. Why use Zhen Ji? ========================= - She has peerless beauty and delicated outfit & hair-style! - Unlike most typical generals, she use a fancy looking *Flute* as her weapon. - The way she does her attacks are rather *stylish* and *eye-catching!!* - She has indeed a really nice sexy voice. - Her moves and combos has extrememly cool with practical use! - Her musou attack looks really cool! (The way she blow her flute) - She's stronger and better then most female characters! (No offense to other female character's fan) - For people who prefer Speed-base-attack character, she's one of them! - She's extremely fun to use, and easy to master with!!! * Need I to say more? Nah... go and try her yourself, and you'll be addict with her* ============================== 3. Zhen Ji's Pros & Cons ============================== Pros: - Fast attack speed - Fast running speed - Excellent abilily to clear crowd (With Lighting Orb + SSSSST) - Balanced starting stats with 2 item set - A lot of good and easy combos! - Good range when equip "Vacuum Book" - Unique and Useful Triangle special move. - Good with One-on-one duel battle. - Two useful moves with stun effects! (Especially SSSSST) - Classy and graceful appearence. Cons: - Musou attack has start-up lag. - Musou attack lack of range (Compare with DW3). - True Musou lack of fire elemental effect. - Certain moves make her back wide open! *Her most vulnerable move (SST)* - Lack of effective clear crowd ability with her Lv1-3 weapons. ============================================================= 4. Zhen Ji's Weapons & Regular & Charge & Musou Attacks ============================================================= --Zhen Ji's Lv1-10 Weapons-- *Notice the weapon name are base on Japanese version Shin sangoku musou3* Zhen Ji's Lv1-3 Weapon: Iron Flute - Max hits: 4 hits - Charge moves: ST, SST, SSST Zhen Ji's Lv4-6 Weapon: Spring Queen Flute - Max hits: 5 hits - Charge moves: ST, SSTTTT, SSST, SSSST Zhen Ji's Lv7-9 Weapon: Evil Moon - Max hits: 6 hits - Charge moves: ST, SSTTTTTT, SSST, SSSST, SSSSST Zhen Ji's Lv10 Weapon: Evil Moon Mad Sun (Attack +51) - Max hits: 6 hits - Charge moves: ST, SSTTTTTTTT, SSST, SSSST, SSSSST --Zhen Ji's Moves-- (S = Square Bottom on your PS2 Control Pad, T = Triagnle Bottom) (Rank 10 = Very useful, Rank 0 = Very lame) A. Triangle Special Move: (Rank: 9/10) Zhen Ji blows a blue feather bubble by her flute, the bubble will stay in the same place for 2-3 seconds, and it will automatically break apart, creating 360 degree sound wave to attack nearby enemies. You are able to create more then one bubbles at the same time. This move can be extremely USEFUL during One-on-one duel battle and when fighting in enemy crowd. However you have to estimate your timing. Because you do not have any instant damage on your oponent, Most soldiers do not block the bubble attacks (Indeed same as the generals)! Before you place yourself in an enemy crowd, simply blow few bubbles, this is especially useful when you don't have your Lv4-10 weapons yet, because her Lv1-3 Weapons are lack of clear crowd ability, and her bubble-attack will come in handy! (Watch your back when you blow the bubbles)! When Zhen Ji fight in a One-on-one duel, her bubble attack works even BETTER!!! In a duel battle, most generals will run forward to you and start of series of attacks. The trick is, blow her bubble before the enemy come close to you, (of course, hold your defense bottom in case the enemy attack you), and wait for the bubble-explosion, almost every generals DOES NOT know how to avoid your attack, and will be vulnerable for you to start off series of combo! You have to estimate bubble-explosion time and the distance between you and your enemy. One more thing is, some generals like Huang Zhong, Xia Hou Yuan, Da Qiao, Jiang Wei, Zhuge Liang constantly run away and shoot out arrors or lighting attacks, in this case, you have to run close to them and does the bubble, before they shoot their attacks. In an overall view, Zhen Ji's Triangle move has fabulous practical use, although it require you to practice the timing and distance. B. SSSSSS (Regular Attacks): (Rank 8/10) Zhen Ji's regular attack consists of kicks and flute smacks! The positive part is, sure... it's very easy by pressing *S* bottom for six times, and the move actually does a decent job on handle enemy in crowds. It also work well when attacking a general in one on one duel battle. The only problem is her final hit, you might find it difficult to aim your target! And if during a one-on-one duel, your opponent might start of series of combo once you miss your final hit (She hits like she's doing fencing)! Beside the aiming problem, she does not has any elemental effect with her regular attacks. Therefore you might want to try her charge attacks! (Although she still has an very good practical use for her SSSSSS) C. ST: (Rank 6/10) Standard juggler, this move is only useful when you do not have Lv4 or higher level weapons. Use this move often for combos wise if you only have Lv1-3 Weapon. D. SST ~ SSTTTTTTTT: (Rank 4/10) (Note: You can press more on T bottom, depends on the level of your weapon) Here comes to the major problem!! This is her new move in DW4, KOEI made her fight in an extremely feminine way. (She actually ***SLAP*** her opponents, with an akimbo position, I first thought she's using her flute to smack her enemy, but then I soon realize she actually hold her flute with her right hand and instead using her left hand to constantly slap her opponents!!) This move looks fancy enough... although with less practical use! Because she has start up lag, and almost every generals knows how to block your attack (if you attack them in the front). You can only attack behind or beside them! Morever, once you obtain her Lv10 Weapon, it does allow you to slap your enemy maximum up to 8 hits, however, if you have not max out Zhen Ji's defense, her back is TOTALLY vulnerable for any other attacks... and often she gets the attack and her SST will be cancel. My suggestion is either stay out of this move, or simply does SST (Only press T once to get the stun effect) on your opponent, and avoid using it in a center of the enemy crowd! (Consider your back is totally vulnerable for any freebies) E. SSST: (With Lighting Orb, Rank 10/10) (Without Lighting Orb, Rank 7/10) One of Zhen Ji's useful charge attack! This move consists of kicks and flute smacks! Notice when you equip Lighting orb, your opponents will not fly away with your final kick, instead the lighting will strike right on your enemies and he/she will *slowly* fall on the ground right in front of you. This is an extremely good chance to start off another combos or follow up with a Musou attack! I strongly recommand you to equip a Lighting Orb when using this move. However, if you desire to use other elemental attacks, I will say Fire Orb work well. Because normally Zhen Ji will kick her opponent far away from her, and Fire-elemental effect could add extra damages. One thing to be aware of, watch out your distance, if you're fighting with a general (In normal battle or duel battle), if you're too far away and you missed your final kick, you *might* be open for any other attacks. (Even though she has good recovery time)! F. SSSST: (Without Lighting Orb, Rank 9/10) (With Lighting Orb, Rank 7/10) A more advance ST version move when you have your Lv4 or higher level weapon. Zhen Ji double kicks her opponents upon the sky, do watch out the aiming for her final kicks. You can add additional flute smack in air, however I strongly recommand you to stay on the ground and rather start of another series of combos or a Musou attack! Do notice this move change a bit when you use a Lighting Orb, the lighting will strike right on your opponent and they will not be send up to the sky, instead they will fall on the ground with distance and cause you handicap on linking your combos. G. SSSSST: (Rank 10/10) Here comes the most useful charge move for our beautiful Zhen Ji!!! Zhen Ji does few kicks and flute smack and at the end follow up with a high-pitch flute blast. Notice the flute blast attack has the stun effect! (When equip with Lighting Orb, with your musou bar full, the stun effect is lost, instead enemies slowly fall on the ground) This move help you to get out in a sticky situation (for example, your army or pal is struggle in a lose battle and you have to clear out the huge crowd etc.) I still recommand Zhen Ji players to equip a lighting orb, because your flute blast is 360 degree attack with GOOD range, so every nearby enemies will be likely to receieve your lighting damage. (It looks very amazing too)! You can always combo your musou attack after you does your flute blast (With or without lighting orb), although keep in mind most enemy general WILL block your flute blast due to your start-up lag, and you can no longer charge your musou bar during your last hit. (Unlike DW3) This is indeed a sad feature, but overall view, SSSSST is still Zhen Ji's best asset! H. Musou attack: (Rank 7/10) One of the most impressive *looking* musou in DW4! When using this move, Zhen Ji will plays the flute, sending out multiple high pitched tunes to kill off nearby enemies! This move is seriously weaken compare with DW3. The attack range is still 360 degree, however with an extremely close range. You can still hit vast amount of soldiers in a crowd, however only the very nearby soldiers. This move still has start-up lag! So most enemy generals will block your attack, you have to use it for counter attack or after a charge attack (SST, SSSST, SSSSST) (SSST is avilable if you combine it with a Lighting orb)! I. True Musou Attack: (Rank 8/10) Similar to her regular musou, however, she doesn't even has the fire-elemental effect now. And compare with the previous DW3, her true musou does rather weak damage with *again* short range! Use it for a combo or counter attack *same as her regular Musou attack*! If there is much I could comment on... I would say True Musou attack does look more *Impressive* then her normal musou attack, other then that it's basically the same. (Therefore it's very optional for you to equip her True Musou Item, even though her true musou does has extra flute blasts added at the end). P.S, I would add an additional comment, that is... Zhen Ji's musou attack save your time on aiming your opponents, because she simply stay in where she is, and you will have your 360 degree flute blast attack, which is good! J. Mounted Attack: (Rank 6/10) Zhen Ji does a standard right-to-left swinging, similar to a lot of other characters in DW4. The range is acceptable, although her *T* charge mounted attack consists of a fancy spinning kick that seriously lack of range. So avoid her mounted attack, because seriously she's not a mounted person! K. Dash Attack: (Rank 10/10) She does a double jumping kick. Compare with other DW4 characters, Zhen Ji's dash attack is quite useful! Practice on your aiming and it works well when you're chasing a running-away enemy. L. Regular Jump Attack: (No rank given) Spinning kick attack. Nothing special nor to be aware of! M. Triangle Jump Attack: (No rank given) She hold her Flute stright like a knife and dash forward from the sky to the ground. Enemies are smart enough to do a jump attack to cease your move, so do not abuse this move in a battlefield. However, it works fine in a one-on-one duel, although if blocked or missed, you might get series of combos once you missed your attack. Use it mostly with characters with *grab* move such as Lu Bu, Zheng Fei etc. When they try to grab you, jump up and does triangle jump attack, it works really well! N. Counter Attack: (No rank given) This is the new features in DW4, you are able to counter your opponent while you block his/her attack. When counter, Zhen Ji does a spinning kick similar to the previous DW3 *T* attack! O. Guard-Break *Name-Calling Attack*: (No rank given) Another new features in DW4, this move replace the previous DW3 *T* move! You can stun your enemy for 1-2 second as well as break their guard or hit them off the horse. When using this move, Zhen Ji will spin her flute quickly and point forward to her enemies, and lots of blue-feathers will burst out around her at the same time (similar to her musou)! In fact this move isn't very useful due to it's start-up lag time! However, compare with other characters, she seems to have shorter start up lag, which is good! And if you're playing easy or normal mode, with a high defense stats, this move will be very useful! ========================================== 5. Zhen Ji's Elemental Attack (Orbs) ========================================== ***MOST Preferable Orb*** Lighting Orb: (Works for ST, SST, SSST, SSSST) (SSSSST require FULL musou bar to obtain the lighting effect) Zhen Ji works best for Lighting Orb, especially with her SSSSST. When you acquire her LV10 Evil Moon Mad Sun weapon (English version might be Dark Moon Fluet), she can call out numbers of lighting strike on her enemies surround her with her fluet blast (SSSSST). This work perfectly in a crowd and it looks absolutely amazing!! Note: You have to charge your Musou bar full, and of course you can combo your Musou/True Musou attack. Notice something different here, when using Lighting Orb, Zhen Ji will "NOT" kick her enemy far away with her (SSST), instead she will knock her opponents down "right in front of her"! This is actually a good chance to combo her Musou/True Musou attack. Moreover, she will not strike her opponent up in the sky with (SSSST), because the lighting will strike down her enemy a bit far away on the ground. **Second Preferable Orb** Poison Orb: (Works for ST, SST, SSST, SSSST) (SSSSST require FULL musou bar to obtain the poison effect) I would strongly recommand Zhen Ji players to stick with Lighting Orb, but if you got tired and willing to try something new. Poison Orb would be the second preferable choice for her. Once your opponent gets poison, he/she lower their defense and recieve more damages from you. It's a good bonus for your combos! For instant, you does a (SSSST) on a general, follow up with Zhen Ji's Musou/True Musou attack while the general is poison, he/she will receieve more damages! (This helps to improve Zhen Ji's musou attack damage) Notice she still needs her musou bar full to have poison effect with her (SSSSST), and again once enemies are in stun and poison condition, it's your perfect chance to combo your musou attack. Although poison orb works for Zhen Ji's charge moves. However her (SSST) won't help out much with Poison orb, unlike the lighting orb, she will kick her opponent far far away, and you won't be able to add additional combo damage while your enemy's in poison condition. *Optional Orbs* Fire & Ice and the rest of the Orbs: Fire Orb also work for Zhen Ji's move! However, not as effective as the above two orbs. You still need full musou bar to have fire effect with her (SSSSST). Ice Orb does not work well with Zhen Ji's charge moves. The chance of enemies being frozen is rather low, even with her Lv10 weapon. Slash and Blade Orbs doesn't really work for Zhen Ji's moves, so avoid! ========================================== 6. Zhen Ji's 10th Weapon Acquiration ========================================== Weapon Name: Evil Moon Mad Sun (In Shin Sangoku Musou 3) Dark Moon Flute (In Dynasty Warriors 4) Attack: +51 (With no other special effects nor features on it) Notes: (1) You have to get Zhen Ji's Lv9 (Evil Moon) or (Moon Flute) weapon, in order to obtain her Lv10 weapon. (2) You must play the stage in *Hard* mode (3) You can either obtain the weapon in *Musou or Free mode* Stage: Chang Ban (Wei Side) (Hard Mode) It is recommand to equip a horse saddle, because you have to speed up yourself in order to prevent Liu Bei from getting away. Otherwise Zhen Ji's Lv10 Weapon is one of the easiest Lv10 weapon to get. Requirement: (1)Defect Zhao Yun (2)Event with Zhang Fei (3)Defect Zhang Fei *after the event* (4)Defect Zhuge Liang *He might close the gate when you encounter him, but the gate will be re-open when you defect him. (5)Defect Guan Yu (Make it quick, because Liu Bei might get away if he's too close to south of the map where those get-away-ships are!) (6)Learn Zhen Ji's Ultima Weapon Evil Moon Mad Sun (Unlike DW3, you do not have to get it from a treasure box, you automatically get this Lv10 weapon once you fulfil the above requirement) ================================================== 7. Zhen Ji's Overall Rank, View and Strategy ================================================== Zhen Ji's Overall Rank: (10 = highest, 0 = lowest) Range: 7 (With Vacuum Book) Strength: 9 (In easy or normal mode), 7 (In hard mode) Defense: 10 (In easy or normal mode), 8 (In hard mode) Attack Speed: 9 Running Speed: 8 Technique: 10 Normal Attacks: 9 Charge Attacks: 10 Musou Attack: 7 Horse Riding normal Attack: 6 Horse Riding Charge Attack: Lame, no comment given. Dueling: 10 Clear Crowd Ability: 10 OVERALL RATING: 9 Zhen Ji has nice range once you equip the unique item *Vacuum Book*, otherwise her normal attack range is absolutely short and horrible. For a female character, her strength is quite acceptable, and same as most female, she's very fast!! She has fabulous charge attacks, especially her SSSSST with Lighting Orb, it has amazing ability to clear enemies in crowd. Although she's lack of horse riding attack ability, the way she attacks are rather slow, especially her horse riding charge attack, it has rediculous short range, although it looks very stylish with entertainment purposes! (she appears to be dancing on the horse) You do need a little technique to be a Zhen Ji Master, such as avoid her SST lag time, skills to combo her Musou attacks after her charge moves, change her combos once equip different elemental orbs (Such as Lighting Orbs change her normal SSST, SSSST)! I would say every characters has less or more technique to master with, and Zhen Ji is quite easy to learn and be familiar with. (Of course, you will be benefit if you read my FAQ, *grin*) Zhen Ji is a good fighter in one-on-one dueling battle! (Please check her Triangle-Bubble Attack section for detail tactics and tricks!!!) However, her most useful SSSSST will not work in a duel, because most generals will block her final flute blast, and most generals will ALSO block her SST stun attack. So as for combo wise, you can only combo your musou with SSSST or equip Lighting Orb and combo your musou with SSST! Overall Zhen Ji is consider to be a strong lady with peerless beauty, although KOEI seriously weaken her Musou/True Musou attack and attack-range, and she can no longer charge her musou bar with her C6 attack, but she's still an very good fighter with devastating and interesting moves to use! Zhen Ji's Strategy: *I have actually write up a lot of Zhen Ji's fighting tactics in most of her moves/orbs detail explaination.* Suggest Items for Zhen Ji: - (Shadow Horse Saddle) >> Won't fall off from horse if being attack! - (Lighting Orb) >> A BIG RECOMMANDATION!! or (Poison Orb) - (+HP) - (+Defense) - (+Range) >> Vacuum Book (A BIG RECOMMANDATION!!) - (+Attack) or (+Musou Bar) - (True Musou) or (+Charge Attack) (a) Avoid using SST, because most enemy generals knows how to block your SST, and your back is wide open for any freebies. (b) Constantly use SSSSST when fighting in a crowd! (Equip with a lighting orb is preferable) (c) In a One-on-one duel battle, use her *T* bubble-attack! For detail trick information please check her move section (A)! (d) Her musou attack is useful, but it has start-up lag! Use it for combo, check her moves sections for detail information. (e) Zhen Ji is good with Lighting Orb!! check her elemental sections for detail information. (f) Zhen Ji has a lot of combos, for example! (When equip lighting orb, SSST+SSSSSS or SSST+ musou attack, or SSST + SSST) (When equip poison orb, SSSST + SSSSSS, SSSST + SSST, SSSST + Musou attack) (When equip any orbs, ST+SSSST+SSSSSS) (g) Zhen Ji is lack of effective damage and moves at the very beginning (Lv1-3 Weapon), try to get a lot of weapon points and upgrade her weapon as soon as possible! (Suggestion: Go to those easier stage with easy or normal mode, and kill off as many generals as you can, the playable generals often give you more weapon points!!!) (h) If enemies constantly cease your combos, don't give up yet! You simply need to build up Zhen Ji's *DEFENSE*, she could has a full defense bar with (+Defense20 item)! (i) Read detail information through this whole FAQ! I'm sure you will find a lot of useful tactics for Zhen Ji! ================================ 8. Credits & Author's Word ================================ --Credits-- I would like to thank the following persons for their help in the making of this guide. KOEI - Thank you for making this fabulous game! Kevin - Thanks for practicing DW4 with me. Jim Lin - Thanks for lecture me Zhen Ji's history. --Author's Word-- I apologize if I made a lot of grammer mistakes! Forgive me as my first language isn't English, but I'm sure my overall FAQ is understandable. And hopefully this page is full with useful information on Zhen Ji's battle tactics. If you have any questions, you could email me with *polite* attutide! (I wrote my email address on top of the page) And I would like to thanks for EVERYONE who spend time for reading. Thanks a lot! 2003, Nelson Liu. All Rights Reserved.