Dynasty Warriors 5 Lu Meng FAQ By Nodachi_Slayer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VERSION HISTORY 5/26/05-Version 0.85-Most things finished, copyright rewritten, need item opinions. 5/28/05-Version 1.00-All things done, moveset corrected, item opinions added, and Thanks section edited. 5/30/05-Version 1.1-Corrected Lu Meng's fourth weapon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION This is the second FAQ I have written for Gamefaqs. I am writing to tell about Lu Meng. Lu Meng isn't one of my favorite characters, but I think this will help me to give an unbiased view of him. He is pretty bad at killing officers, but his crowd clearing is above average. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS PRE) Changeover from DW4 1) Unlocking 2) Why use Lu Meng? 3) Moveset 4) Weapons 5) Items 6) Walkthrough 7) Combos and Fighting Advice 8) FAQs 9) Credits 10) The Unclassified ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHANGEOVER FROM DW4 Dynasty Warriors has returned to its roots in this latest iteration. Weapons no longer require weapon EXP to upgrade, they are found in boxes. Weapons now also have different properties. They come in three weights, Light, Average, and Heavy. As would be expected, light attacks quickly, average attacks normally fast, and heavy attacks slow, but with a slight power bonus. Also, weapons could also now be Evo-capable, meaning that they have the ability to perform nine attacks instead of six when the musou bar is full. The level recycling from DW4 is gone, to my delight, because I hated playing at Xia Pi for about seven levels. Finally, the game has traded off huge musou modes for short, character specific ones. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 ++UNLOCKING++ To unlock Lu Meng, just pound the crap out of two Wu musou modes. I'd reccomend Sun Quan and Ling Tong, as these will get you Gan Ning and Sun Ce as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 ++WHY USE LU MENG?++ To be honest, I don't like Lu Meng that much. He would not be my first choice for a crowd clearer or an officer killer. The former he does pretty well, the latter he is not that good at. I also have a grudge against him because he killed Guan Yu. However, he does have a good solid moveset which, though unremarkable, is good at slaughtering moderately large amounts of people. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 ++MOVESET++ Lu Meng is a good crowd clearer, but not much of an officer masher. S=square, T=triangle SSSSSS-A slash right, then left, then a 180 spin with a stab with the haft of his pike, then three big slashes. Good for crowd clearing. Not much else. T-Puts out a fire orb. These have changed from being a projectile attack to being a time-bomb attack like Zhen Ji's T. Much more useful than in DW4. ST-Just a slash upward. Low juggle plus element. SST-Lu Meng does seven slashes (depending on the weapon) alternating between a right slash with the haft of the pike and a left slash with the blade, ends with element and stun. SSST-He spins around, with his pike held kind of short. Not much range. Element and knockback. SSSST-Creates a wind vortex that sends enemies flying into the air. High juggle and element. SSSSST-Lu Meng jumps and does a big swing, with element and knockback. Jump S-A 180 degree slash that aims almost straight down. Jump T-He flips foward in an arc and slams his pike into the ground, creating a small-area shockwave. Circle-Musou: Lu Meng alternates between striking with the haft and the blade of his pike, ending with a stab and a whack with the haft. Doesn't juggle, so it has more damage. Circle in red health-True Musou: Musou with fire element and a big shockwave at the end. This version juggles. Horse moves S-Alternating left and right slashes T-More powerful left and right slashes C-Even more powerful left and right slashes Lu Meng really is meant to be a ground fighter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 ++WEAPONS++ Weights and bonuses for the first three weapons are random. Someone, please send me the weapon base power before I actually have to find out for myself. Gliave Power: Attacks: 4 Great Gliave Power: Attacks: 5 Tiger Hook Power: Attacks: 6 or 9 if evo capable White Tiger Power: 36 Attacks: 9 Weight: Average Bonuses: Charge Attack Lvl 15 Mounted Lvl 16 Bow Lvl 15 Defense Lvl 17 Life Lvl 17 Getting the White Tiger Play Battle of Fan Castle on Hard difficulty. 1) Make Mi Fang and Fu Shiren to defect by lowering their health after Lu Meng and Lu Xun's conversation about their morale. 2) Seal the gate indicated by the message to get Xu Huang. 3) Kill Zhang Fei and his subgeneral, Zhang Bao, when they show up as reinforcements in the southwest castle. 4) All this, without Xu Huang, Mi Fang, and Fushiren being killed. After the morale conversation, lower Mi Fang and Fu Shi Ren's health's until they surrender. Immediately kill Guan Ping, or he will waste Fang and Shiren, and you won't get the weapon. After the message comes up that the enemy gate is blocking reinforcements, seal it and get Xu Huang. Then just kill many generals to help out Mi Fang and Fu Shi Ren. Two reinforcements will appear in the southwest castle about five minutes before the Zhangs pop up. Kill them, then wait at the north entrance to the southwest castle, as this is where Zhang Bao appears. After killing Zhang Bao and Zhang Fei, the item report will appear near the floodgate. Pick up the item and kill Guan Yu. Thanks to EChang for the weapon stats and method Thanks also to Kgrubb4 for his noticing that Mifang, Fushiren, and Xu Huang had to stay alive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 ++ITEMS++ This is just my personal preference of items. Feel free to make substitutions, as this is just a guideline. Regular Lu Meng Saddle: Red Hare-the fastest horse, enough said. Orb: Light-Lu Meng needs help with officers. This breaks their guard. Nice. Items: Tiger Amulet, Tortoise Amulet-Absolutely necessary equipment. Pumps up your two most important stats Wind Scroll-Lu Meng's pike could always use more range. Tiger Collar-I use this to distract generals and such, and it is also useful for wheedling down an officer's life. Besides, who wouldn't want a tiger? Tribal Remedy-I like this item. It is very handy, especially if you are surrounded. If you want plain power on your side, here is a setup: Power-mad Lu Meng Saddle: Storm Runner Orb: Fire Items: Tiger Amulet Elixer Wind Scroll Way of Musou Power Rune This setup will allow Lu Meng to absolutely destroy whatever he sees, but use it sparingly, it leaves him quite vulnerable. Especially be careful around officers, cause Lu Meng doesn't handle them well already. MY OPINIONS ON ITEMS Saddles Red Hare-Fastest horse in the game. Looks cool. I almost always equip this one on maxed generals. Lu Meng goes good with this one. Hex Mark Harness-Luck up horse, and pretty slow. Not my first choice, also looks kind of crappy. Good for item hunting, not much else. Storm Runner-Riding attack power up. I use this on new generals because it also gives a 50% bonus on after battle points. Shadow Runner-Never get knocked offa this one. I think this horse is desperately cheap (except for people like Pang De and Ma Chao), but if you disagree, use it. I can't stop you. Or can I... Elephant-These are fun. Almost NOone can hit you on an elephant. Great fun. Big damage. And, you can knock over those stupid archer towers by running them over. Orbs Fire: This helps IMMENSELY on super-demon electric aura officers. Burning damage during juggle moves. My favorite orb. Ice: Freeze people where they stand. The chances for freezing has greatly increased from DW4, but I still don't like it too much. Light: Break your enemy's guard during charge moves. This orb is great on the harder difficulties because everyone blocks on the harder difficulties. Dark: Chance of instant kill (To enemies, not you) in exchange for an emptied musou bar. This orb is one I NEVER use. The depleted musou is annoying, and the instant kill doesn't make up for it, because it doesn't work on officers. Items Peacock Urn: Life up. More life means you won't die. Sound good to you? Yes? Thought so. Tortoise Amulet: Defense up. Always equip this along with the Tiger Amulet on new generals. Defense is good. No staggering. Less dying. Always equip. Tiger Amulet: Attack up. Equip this always so you can bash people's faces in. Dragon Amulet: Musou gauge up. Don't equip this, I NEVER equip this, maybe it is good on Zhou Tai or Zhuge Liang? Lu Meng's musou is pretty good, but it really should be used as a safeguard, and this impares that use. Elixer: Musou gauge fills faster. Once again, probably better on someone with a better musou. Herbal Remedy: Charge attack power up. I don't use this much, but equip it if you want to maximize your attack power. Horned Helm: Horse ATK and DEF power up. If you want this, use it on Ma Chao, not Lu Meng. Huang's bow: Arrow ATK and DEF power up. Use this on Xiahou Yuan or Huang Zhong, not on Lu Meng, he is not a bow person. Speed scroll: Speed Up. duh. Use this if you don't want a horse because you have a disorder or something. Seven Star Sash: Luck up. I don't believe in luck. Luck in DW refers to better items, more frequent meat bun drops and the like. If you're superstitious, equip this. Wind Scroll: attack range up. Always equip this, on any officer. Lu Meng's pike may seem short at first, but it increases by about four feet. Still, more range never hurt anyone. Serpent Earrings: Attack up +2 every 100 KOs. Using this is character and level dependant. Use this with Lu Meng on levels like Guan Du and Wu Zhang Plains. It is only good if you can get at least 1,000 kos in a level. Tribal Remedy: Heals you with a meatbun every 100 Kos. Probably better on Chaos difficulty. I don't really use it. Power Rune: Attack x2, defence /2. If I use this, it is on normal when I want to blow right through a stage. If that isn't your cup of tea, then give it a miss. Tiger Collar: A tiger will follow you into battle. The tiger is invincible, and can be as good as a bodyguard, but it should really only be used on weak or crappy generals. Demon Band: Increases longevity of Musou Rage: Equip this if you have a fourth weapon and you will be a god. Arm Guards: Not interrupted during charge moves. Lu Mengs's moves are just the smallest bit below average speed. If you keep getting hit out of charge moves, then use this. Survival Guide: Attack x2 if you are knocked down near death. No. Do not use this, it is a waste of a slot, and if you have enough slots to equip this and other better items, there is no reason that you should ever be in low health. Besides, true musou saves your life too, what about that? Useless. Way of Musou: Use True Musou whenever. This is character dependant. Lu Meng has a good musou and a good true musou. Your choice, more damage or the large area shockwave. Musou Armor: Don't flinch when hit by arrows. I hate archers. Especially when fighting officers. I don't hate them enough to use this item, though. If you hate them more than me, then do it. Fire Arrows: Use fire arrows. See Huang's Bow. Art of War: Doubles length of Attack x2s and whatnot. Pretty cool, especially with Imperial Seals. A decent choice. Bodyguard Manual: Bodyguards become stronger. I haven't tested this too much, (at all) but if it is anything like DW4, it gives your bodyguards like +1 attack and +1 defence, so try it for me, but don't expect good results. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 ++WALKTHROUGH++ Lu Meng has five stages, like many of the other characters. They are: Battle of the Wu Territory Battle of Chi Bi Battle of He Fei Invasion of Nan Zhong Battle of Fan Castle BATTLE OF THE WU TERRITORY This battle is cake, more or less, but if your Lu Meng is new you might have some qualms about pathetic reach and lackluster moveset. Oh well. Take the two forts in the upper area of the map. Around five minutes into the stage, Sun Quan will wander into the right center fort and be ambushed. Help him out, or he will die and the general that killed him will flank your army. Just keep defeating officers after this. After you invade the main fort, Liu Yong will run away, leaving Taishi Ci as the leader. He is demonized and will go into Attack x2 status, but he shouldn't cause much trouble. BATTLE OF CHI BI If you know about this level in history, do what happened there. If not, then kill the subgenerals on the bridges to collapse them. The bridges are those two things with the + shaped section in the middle. Afterwards, keep Huang Gai alive by killing Xiahou Yuan. Finally, protect Zhuge Liang by killing Zhang Liao. After this, Huang Gai will perform the fire attack and you can kill generals to your heart's content. Just a side note, after the fire attack, all the Cao surname generals regroup on Cao Cao's ship. BATTLE OF HE FEI Okay, this one is annoying. There is virtually no way you will end up not running all over this map, so get ready. First, head out and slaughter everyone you can. Soon, Zhang Liao will ambush Sun Quan, which means you have to go back and protect him. Kill Zhang Liao (for now) and then go and engage any other generals, reinforcement or otherwise, that have shown up. Xiahou Dun will show up in the northeast and Xu Huang will show up in the southwest, so plan accordingly. Next thing is, Zhang Liao will show up again, in the northern center stronghold area, right near where Gan Ning shows up in the Wei version of this battle. If you aren't near Cao Cao, then you should probably kill Zhang Liao, as he will destroy your units with his super-demony badass self. Liao respawns four times, and is in attack x2 all the time. You will get Gan Ning way far into the battle, too bad he shows up too late to do anything. INVASION OF NAN ZHONG Lu Meng must have a hankerin' for annoying levels. You're facing off against Meng Huo now. First thing you gotta do is the same as the last level, kill as many generals as you can before the ambush. Or, alternately, you can play really defensively, but who wants to do that? After about eight minutes the Nanman beast units will appear, breaking into your main camp. You now have two choices. If you are on Red Hare, and close to the bridge, then you have about half a minute to cross it before it is destroyed. If you are not near the bridge, then go around either path to help Sun Quan. After you slaughter his attackers, then go out through the east exit to the camp (the one that the elephants bowled over) and kill Meng Huo. BATTLE OF FAN CASTLE It really killed me to do this level. First thing's first, take the strongholds and bases around you. Don't worry about Cao Ren, he will be fine for a long while. When the conversation between Lu Meng and Lu Xun comes up saying that the morale seems low under Mi Fang and Fu Shi Ren, go attack them. After you lower their health a little, they will defect to your side. At this time, it would be wise to kill Guan Ping, as he will come down to try (and succeed in, if you aren't there) to waste your new recruits. If you took my advice in the beginning, then Xu Huang will show up as reinforcements in the southeast. The rest of this level is cake. Kill generals around Fan Castle if Cao Ren is in trouble, then go for Guan Yu. Watch out, as he will power up, first into double attack then to musou rage. Run when he does his musou rage, then come back to take him out. Congratulations, you just killed the mightiest and coolest warrior of Shu. After this, enjoy Lu Meng's ending. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 ++COMBOS AND FIGHTING ADVICE++ Lu Meng can use his charge attacks for combos. Here you go. SSTTTTT-stun-SSSST-SSSST-SSSST... This will maximize combo hits, and this combo string can concievably be continued infinitely. Best used on a dead general. Time it so they will be almost dead when stunned, then will die on the first few hits of the first SSSST. SSSSST-T This will keep enemies on the ground long enough for you to put out a fire orb. Good for annoying crowds, better for blocking generals. Musou SST< SST-Musou Use ice orb with this. This combo is a quick, practical way to increase Lu Meng's musou damage. If you freeze them on the first SST, then musou them. If not, repeat until you do. If you keep getting hit by archers while fighting a general, here are some tips for you: First use a musou on the general, then kill the archers by running in a loop toward them. Block, facing the archers, then counterattack the officer to send him flying into the archers. This will give you time to reposition yourself. If you find yourself getting mobbed by multiple generals, here are some tips. Use a counterattack. This will stop them from getting you from behind. Never use combos more than 4 or 5 hits long. If you do, you run greater risk of being stabbed in the back. SST, SSST, and Jump S are good choices Stay on the minimap. It pays to know where generals are at all times. Never block if you can help it. Keep up the momentum. Go for the generic and undemonized generals first. Hopefully, with this, your Lu Meng fighting experience will be complete. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 ++FAQ++ Send me words, and they shalst bloom beneath the banner of FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 ++CREDITS++ Thanks to... Gamefaqs, for posting this FAQ EChang, for the weapon stats and method Kgrubb4, for his contribution to the fourth weapon method. Koei and W-Omega Force for great Dynasty and Samurai Warriors games. Rampidzier, for the info on Lu Meng's stages and weapon names. Guan Yu's ghost, who cursed and killed Lu Meng. Kingdom of Wei, for putting Liu Chan out of his stupid misery. Copyrighting This document is the property of Nodachi_Slayer, and may not be reproduced in any way, shape, or form publically except by Gamefaqs.com. Private use of this guide is valid, but this is not to be sold for profit unless you intend to give me all the money you make. Any website, publishing company, or toilet paper manufacturer who uses this FAQ and any of its parts are violating copyright, and shall be sued. Any human, website, other publishing medium companies, or aliens who claim all or part of this guide as their own work shall be smitten with the Hammer of Incredible Pain. There, I think that covers everything. CONTACTING ME You can email me at the address addisonwaco@earthlink.net Do not: Write stupid, unreadable, insensible things Write in Leet. I am not going to respond to 1337 h4xo125 Be rude. I detest rude people. And you wouldn't like me when I'm detested. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 ++THE UNCLASSIFIED++ What is it about "The Unclassified" that makes everyone come here? It's not like it's a public interest, you don't go up to your friends and say, "Hey, you hear any good unclassified lately?" I mean, come on. Also, Pang Tong is cool. "I'll give this a shot." -Pang Tong, True Musou. (insert alotta stuff that ZJ says)