Weapons Guide in Dynasty Warriors Origins

Our weapon guide explains key mechanics like battle arts (skills), bravery, weapon traits, proficiency, and more in Dynasty Warriors Origins.

Weapons are essentially classes in Dynasty Warriors Origins. You start with the Sword and progress through the campaign, unlocking new weapons, new battle arts (abilities), and ranks (passives). This weapons guide aims to explain mechanics and explain how each weapon works in Dynasty Warriors Origins.

Overview of Weapons Guide in Dynasty Warriors: Origins

Dynasty Warriors has 10 different weapon types, such as swords, spears, gauntlets, and twin pikes, each with distinct abilities and playstyles. Starting with the sword, you unlock new weapons as you progress through the campaign. After completing the main story, you gain access to additional post-game content, including higher difficulty levels, challenges, new items, horses, and more.

Weapons come with various abilities, called Battle Arts, which consume bravery. There are no cooldowns—by attacking, evading, or blocking, you generate bravery to continue using your skills. You can also choose passive bonuses in the skill trees as you rank up. The game rewards players for using multiple weapons, boosting overall rank and proficiency. You can also find weapons in shops or earn them by defeating bosses and completing battles. Dropped weapons often have better traits than those purchased in shops, though these traits are random.

Weapon Mechanics

Here is a guide to the most essential weapon mechanics in Dynasty Warriors Origins:

• Acquiring Weapons: done via campaign and shops
• Weapon Rarity: how rare a weapon is
• Weapon Traits: passive bonus(es) associated with weapon
• Weapon Grades: how powerful the weapon is
• Reforging Weapons: allows you to change traits on weapons
• Weapon Proficiency: experience from using weapons in combat
• Battle Arts: abilities or active skills you can use in combat
• Bravery: resource used to cast skills or battle arts
• Nectar Water: battlefield drop that restores bravery
• Special Battle Arts: a skill that interrupts enemies when they turn orange
• Fortitude and Stagger: a shield that can be broken, allowing a stun on the enemy
• Musou Attacks: an ultimate skill that is activated instantly
• War God Rage: a more powerful ultimate that makes you invulnerable with max bravery
• Extreme Musou Attacks: allows companions to use Musou Attacks
• Battle Art Chain: companions combo battle arts with you
• Duels: one-on-one battle with enemy NPC

Acquiring Weapons

Weapons can be acquired through battlefield drops or purchased at the store. Most weapons need a campaign story completion first to unlock. Once you unlock the weapon post-fight, you will see a new line in the rank. From this point, you can get more drops from battles or purchase weapons via the store.

However, look to the weapon shop in the top left icons, as new weapons may appear before story missions. Your goal is to unlock as many weapons as possible because each battle grants proficiency, increasing your rank and overall power.

Completing the main story campaign unlocks a new weapon type, the Halberd, and a new weapon rarity, Epic. You can also play the game on higher difficulty and later chapters for a better chance at rewards. Moreover, weapon traits and accessories have a chance to improve drop rates.

Weapon Rarity

Weapons come in a variety of rarities:

• Common Silver
• Uncommon: Red
• Rare: Blue
• Epic: Yellow

Epic rarity will only be unlocked after completing the main story quest (chapter 5 completion). Once completed, you can save your game and reaccess any part of the story.

Weapon Traits

In Dynasty Warriors: Origins, all weapons can have weapon traits, which are features that can boost attack power, Battle Art, Mosou Attacks, drops, and more. To view the traits on any weapon, open up your character screen and choose the Equipment tab. Then, select Weapon to see the weapon you have currently equipped and a list of all weapons in your inventory.

Additionally, when looking at that list you can see how many traits each weapon has. The number of diamonds listed underneath the weapon name corresponds to the number of traits it has. Furthermore, weapons can have up to six trait slots at maximum.

Moreover, all weapons sold in the Shop will have set traits that are static and predictable. They are the same for each weapon type at each weapon grade. However, the traits found on dropped weapons are random. Generally, in Dynasty Warriors: Origins, dropped weapons are more powerful and will have more traits.

You cannot change the traits on your weapons until after you have beaten the game for the first time. After you have completed the main campaign, new features will unlock. This includes the ‘Reforge’ option, which will appear on the same screen as the Weapon Shop. There, you will have the option to change your weapon traits.

Weapon Grades

In Dynasty Warriors: Origins, your weapons do not have levels or rarity qualities but are ranked by Weapon Grades. Weapon Grades start at level 1 and can reach a maximum of Grade 7.

Furthermore, within each weapon grade you can also have weapons with higher base stats. For example, the General’s Sword is a Grade 3 weapon with an attack stat of 80. The General’s Sword +8 is also a Grade 3 weapon, but it will have a base attack stat of 88.

Additionally, the higher your weapon’s grade the more trait slots it will have. Therefore, not only will higher weapon grades have stronger base attack stats, but your damage and strength can also dramatically increase due to additional traits.

Reforging Weapons

Reforging weapons allows you to reforge traits or reforge power. You can use duplicate weapons to increase the power or take one trait and destroy one weapon. This process allows you to strengthen a specific weapon with optimal traits. However, this process is down after completing the campaign. Mainly, you will find epic (yellow) weapons and reforge traits to make them all epic quality or specific rares that fit your builds.

Weapon Proficiency and Ranks

Weapon Proficiency is experience gained after each battle. All weapons gain proficiency; however, the weapon you have equipped will level faster. Moreover, you use portable (consumable) items, accessories, and weapon traits to further increase proficiency gains. You can see your experience profiency bar in the lower left of your User Interface in grey with a weapon icon.

You should swap and use multiple weapons to increase your ranks evenly. Ranks unlock passive bonuses, battle arts, and combos. Most importantly, it allows you to get better skills (passives); therefore, experiment with each weapon when you can.

Battle Arts

Battle Arts are your skills; you can use up to four at a time. You can use Battle Arts via the resource bravery, and there are no cooldowns. However, you’ll need to generate bravery to use them or fill up your bar to use back-to-back battle arts. Generally, you want to balance using battle arts with combos, normal and strong attacks. Each weapon features different battle arts, while the skill trees unlock some universal ones every weapon can use.

You can acquire new battle arts by increasing your peace level, companion relationships, and campaign rewards sold at shops.

Bravery

Bravery is your resource used for casting or activating Battle Arts (skills/abilities). You can find the bravery meter in the lower left as orange hexagons. Initially, you build bravery by attacking with normal or strong attacks. However, you can unlock passive skills that allow bravery generation from perfect evading, parrying, and more. Consumables called portables can also give you bravery, and it will be difficult to generate at first, but more mechanics help you do it faster.

Nectar Water

Nectar water is a random drop found on the battlefield. When you pick it up, you will get a couple of bravery instantly. Sometimes, these can be hard to see in a massive fight, but they look like a pot and should be sought after.

Special Battle Arts

The term special battle arts are orange battle arts used for interruptions. NPC will cast or perform a powerful incoming attack and light up orange. You will have one or more seconds to interrupt them during that time. Therefore, keeping one skill on your battle arts loadout that can interrupt is wise. Palm Strike is a melee-focused special battle art, while a power shot unlocked in a skill tree can do this at range.

Fortitude and Stagger

Fortitude is the enemy’s shield bar and is shown above their health. It’s a shield icon that splits into fragments each time you hit them. The more fortitude, the harder it will be to stagger or stun the enemies, specifically officers. Once their fortitude is broken, you get a few seconds of damage. Moreover, enemies in the area are damaged as well. Therefore, this is what combat is about: breaking the fortitude and doing “free” damage.

Musou Attacks

The Musou Attack mechanic is essentially an ultimate skill. Located at the bottom of your user interface, the blue bar has lines that can fire off a Musou Attack or enter War God Rage once reached. Musou Attacks are a good way to clear out massive amounts of enemies quickly in a large area. Moreover, you will want passives that boost the musou bar or generation to use it more frequently.

War God Rage

The War God Rage mechanic is like it sounds, essentially god mode. When you enter, you are immediately granted full bravery, and each second consume your Musou attack.

Extreme Musou Attacks

Unlocked via the skill tree, Extreme Musou Attack allows your companions to make an ultimate attack. You will see a yellow line connected to your player character, which you can activate an Extreme Musou Attack. This won’t drain your meter and is essentially free damage after the companion has built up their meter.

Battle Art Chain

Battle Chain Arts are companion battle arts combo where you activate a battle art and your companion jumps to you and does one as well. You will see a blue line attached to you and two blue hexagons above the companion’s head. You simply need to activate one battle art, regardless of the cost, to activate the extra damage. Make sure you’re in range when this happens to avoid a miss fire.

Duels

Duels pit you against a single opponent in one-on-one encounters, with your health displayed at the top of the screen. When you damage the enemy, their health bar shrinks, and when they damage you, your health bar shrinks. You have 50 seconds to fight, and the duel ends when one person’s health reaches zero. Losing a duel does not result in immediate death. However, defeating a combatant officer causes them to flee or removes them from the battle entirely. As you move across the battlefield, you’ll see a popup saying, “accept companion’s duel.” Engage in these duels whenever possible, as they can reward you by eliminating an officer from the battlefield.

All Weapons Explained

1. Sword

The Sword is the first weapon unlocked in Dynasty Warriors Origins and is powerful throughout the entire game. The sword has minimal range but is a balanced weapon between its battle arts, bravery generation, and combos. Specifically, players should master the six-button combo. You attack four times with normal attacks, then hit a strong attack twice as your leg folds up. This will twirl you and “stun lock” officers and enemies. While the combo takes a while to perform, it allows you to do free damage while airborne and doesn’t require battle arts to be effective.

The initial Battle Arts for the Sword are good because they are low-cost and do moderate damage. Swallow Slash does good AOE, while Falcon Flurry is your single target tool. Later on, you unlock Mad Blade Rush for mobility, Flying Dragon Slash for airborne damage, and Divine Eagle Dance.

Divine Eagle Dance does 360 AOE damage while costing seven bravery. This skill dominates the battlefield,d and with high bravery generation via your combo, you save up and bomb with this skill.

If you are strong with range, take the Oblivion Gem; otherwise, Ascendance is good for passive blocking, and Wellspring is good for healing.

Sword Build Pros	Sword Build Cons
Combos can Stun	Long Combos
Powerful Battle Arts	Weak Strong Attack
Gameplay is Fun	Shorter Range

2. Spear

The Spear is the second weapon unlocked after the Battle of Guangyang, and you can purchase one from the weapons shop at Ji in the starting area. It’s a useful weapon and helpful for more range and simple combos to knock targets airborne. The Spear wants to duel one-on-one, where it can counterattack and knock enemies into the air with simple combos. The best combo is using Block and Strong attack together to knock an officer in the air after their fortitude is lowered. From this point, you can spam normal attacks for good damage without fear of retaliation.

However, the Spear suffers from weak AOE because the attacks are mainly in front of you and not in a 360 radius. You can complement this weakness by taking skill tree battle arts like Peace Bringer, which does massive AOE around you. Dragon Flash is your best battle art, but sadly is unlocked after reaching rank 8. While it costs eight bravery, you launch an attack in a line, which seems like many meters. The attack shreds through officers’ fortitude, making it a must-have for assaulting high HP bosses.

Dance of the Whirlwind battle art helps with your lack of 360 radius damage an AOE. This skill pulls enemies in overtime, costing five braveries. It allows you to control enemy points and clear towns quickly. Lastly, the Wild Rush skill helps close the distance and stay on top of targets when you knock them away. You will also want one skill for interrupting “special battle arts.”

Focus on frontal assaults, complimenting AOE, knocking targets airborne to get the most out of the spear weapon.

Spear Build Pros	Spear Build Cons
Front Range	Weak AOE
One-vs-One	Lacks 360 Radius
Airborne Attacks	Weak Combos

3. Gauntlets

The Gauntlets are the third weapon unlocked after completing the Battle of Guangzong. This weapon is perfect for players who want a “monk” combat style, with strong, versatile attacks and the ability to play offensively and defensively.

The best Battle Arts for the Gauntlets are Wrath of Earth, Stone Strike Blast, and Hurricane Kick. Wrath of Earth is your high Bravery cost ability that deals massive area (AOE) damage in a 360 radius. Another strength of Wrath of Earth is the quick animation, giving you quick burst damage in a huge area. Stone Strike Blast is also a higher-cost bravery battle art (ability) that deals damage in front of you. It has a bonus of knocking enemies back, and these two are your main burst damage skills. Hurricane Kick does good damage in a radius around the player and allows you to move while the animation is active.

The best combo for the Gauntlets is using the Tiger Stance and repeatedly attacking with a strong attack. After three attacks, you unleash a considerable energy series and its similar damage and effect to the battle art Stone Strike Blast. The downside to the stances and strong attack is the slow activation. Therefore, parry or dodge an enemy’s attack before attempting the three combo strike. During this time, you’ll be vulnerable to incoming damage.

Moreover, the alternative stances can be helpful but difficult to maintain. The stances aren’t mobile either, so you must ensure you’re in a position to strike when you activate.

Gauntlets Build Pros	Gauntlets Build Cons
Counterattack	Range
Quick Battle Arts	Complex
Versatile Strong Attack	Weak Combos

4. Wheels

The Wheels are the fourth weapon unlocked after completing the Suppression of You Province battle. Don’t sleep on Wheels, they look goofy and clunky, but once mastered can dominate Dynasty Warriors Origins.

Twin Tiger Blast, Crawling Dragon, and Aerial Retribution are the best battle arts for the wheel weapon. Twin Tiger Blast shoots a massive firebolt arrow at targets and does enormous damage in a front area. However, the skill comes later in the game and can be challenging to obtain and can be interrupted, requiring precise timing. Crawling Dragon is a low-cost battle art that does delayed damage to components and comes crashing down after a few seconds. Therefore, you want to use a strong attack, then a crawling dragon, and a strong attack a second time when the wheels return. This will trigger the wheels to activate a secondary attack (red glow). All of the damage will line up and burst fortitude on officers.

Lastly, consider a counterattack skill like Aerial Retribution. The wheels have tons of offense and range but lack survivability. Activate this before incoming damage, then retaliate with a strong attack.

The best wheels combo is pressing the strong attack keep as your wheels return to you. If timed correctly, the wheels will shoot out again, at no cost, and turn a red glow. The wheels must be almost on top of the player and require precise timing. This is easy in the open but can be difficult in a crowd. Moreover, this combo for wheels works on the ground or in the air. Therefore, try to jump up and make a strong attack, as seeing the wheels return is easier.

Additionally, you can press block and strong attack simultaneously to launch enemies into the air. However, this requires two button clicks and some enemies with high fortitudes will not be thrown into the air. The six-button normal attack combo builds bravery in the melee range. However, you can keep a safe distance with a jump, strong attack, and strong attack again on return.

Wheels Build Pros	Wheels Build Cons
Delay Burst	Squishy
Range	Timing Dependent
Secondary Activation of Attacks	Slow Start

5. Podao

The Podao is the fifth weapon unlocked by completing the Subjugation of the White Wave Bandits. The Podao is ideal for players who prefer a slower, more deliberate playstyle that rewards timing and precision.

The best battle arts for the Podao weapon are Ardent Aura Slash, Blade Typhon, and Dragon Sweep Slash. Ardent Aura Slash allows you to charge an attack (two beeps), and unload a massive energy wave in front of you. This is helpful when you stun or stagger an enemy and want maximum damage. The Blade Typhon is another powerful ability costing four bravery and acts as a delayed burst tool. You do some damage up front, but the skill persists. Therefore, it allows you to charge a heavy attack and land both nearby for maximum burst.

Lastly, Dragon Sweep Slash is a powerful, low-cost bravery skill. It does damage in front of you and only costs two bravery, making it a helpful fortitude shredder. Also, consider the battle art Bounding Earth Strike if you have mobility issues.

The best weapon combo for the Podao is triple-strong attacks. Hitting a strong attack once you swing your sword into the ground, then pressing twice immediately following, will generate a three-hit combo with a kick. Additionally, the Podao weapon wants you to charge strong attacks to release a shockwave. You can eventually move while charging as well, so practice timing this mechanic after knocking back an officer.

Podao Build Pros	Podao Build Cons
Quick Bravery	Long Animations
Great Battle Arts	Limited Range
Charged Damage	Strong Attack Dependent

6. Staff

The Staff is the sixth weapon unlocked by completing the Assassination of Dong Zhuo battle. Pick the Staff early in the game if you struggle with mobility, defense, and survivability.

Double Wave Slam, Brutal Barrage, and Vaulting Leap are the best battle arts for the spear. Double Wave Slam is your high-cost area damage skill for destroying officers’ fortitude. Costing five bravery, this ability hits multiple times, quickly, in an area in front of you. Brutal Barrage is also helpful because of its decent damage, radius, and lower cost. Vaulting Leap is recommended because it only costs one bravery and knocks enemies into the air. Ensure officers do not have red fortitude (above their health bar) to knock them in the air.

The best combo for the Staff weapon is pressing Block and Strong Attack simultaneously. You will launch enemies, then jump up and press consecutive normal attacks to stay airborne. The entire premise of the staff is to launch enemies into the air, then light attack from there. You can strong attack while in the air to drive forward in a sweeping motion, which is helpful for mobility without costing bravery.

The main damaging attack combo is six normal attacks in a row. This combo won’t do much damage, but the animations are fast, and it’s a good way to build bravery quickly. Once you have bravery, attempt to knock the fortitude down from the primary officer or enemy.

Staff Build Pros	Staff Build Cons
Mobility	Lacks high damage Battle Arts
Airborne Attacks	Airborne Dependent
One-vs-One	Weak Combos

7. Twin Pikes

The Twin Pikes weapon is the seventh unlocked by completing the Battle of Hulao Gate. Consider the Twin Pikes the best campaign weapon, with the Halberd edging it in balance in damage once post-game content is unlocked.

Sky Sunder, Roaring Maelstrom, and Battle Roar are the best battle arts for the Twin Pikes weapon. Sky Sunder acts as your massive bravery cost huge area damage ability. Roaring Maelstrom shoots out a tornado and can stun and knock up enemies. This includes officers and is a perfect duel skill for parrying an incoming attack.

Lastly, Battle Roar is a battle art that boosts your overall damage for a brief time. The purpose is to use this pre-emptively and then execute a combo where you can attack and pop up an enemy to destroy them while airborne.

The best weapon combo for the Twin Pikes is pressing the Strong attack button while stationary. This will thrust your weapons into the ground and knock up nearby targets. You must be within 1-2 meters for the knock-up to happen. After they are knocked up in the air, you can then press F repeatedly to keep them airborne, doing free damage without the enemy retaliating. The key to executing this combo is knocking down the officer’s fortitude and remaining stationary as you press the strong attack key.

Additionally, limit your normal attacks with Twin Pikes. The Strong attacks are nearly as fast and hit harder with more combo potential.

Twin Pikes Build Pros	Twin Pikes Build Cons
Best Strong Attack	Long Animations
Officer Killer	Strong Attack Dependent
Builds Bravery Quickly	Battle Arts can Miss

8. Lance

The Lance is the eighth weapon unlocked by completing the Battle of Xu Province by defeating Tao Qian. The Lance is ideal for players who value flexibility and want a weapon that doesn’t depend heavily on combos or battle arts.

The best battle arts for the Lance weapon are Vengeful Stormquake, Skirmisher Strike, and Crushing Earth Gambit. Vengeful Stormquake costs two bravery and twirls your lance in a 360 radius. The damage is powerful, and players can hold the battle art to continuously spring and damage enemies at the cost of two bravery per rotation. The other high-cost ability is the Crushing Earth Gambit, which lifts up debris in front of you and has a dramatic knockback effect at the end of the animation. Lastly is Skirmisher Strike, which costs two bravery but causes massive damage. Use this low-cost skill to bust through fortitude on officers for assaults.

The best combo for the Lance weapon is holding the Strong attack button to charge “Endure attack.” Your character will turn red, and you are rewarded for extra damage on two distinct sounds and visual indicators. Your character will have a greyish glow around, and a chime will sound off. During this charging phase, when an enemy attacks you, you will retaliate with a powerful damage attack.

The other combos with the lance are either six normal attacks or triple strong attack. The Lance also has an upgraded midair knock up pressing block with the strong attack key. Once in the air, you can jump up and normal attack for some free damage to the enemies.

Lance Build Pros	Lance Build Cons
Built-in Counter Attack	Lower Mobility
Balanced	Hold Dependent
Combos	Slower Animations

9. Crescent Blade

The Crescent Blade is the ninth weapon unlocked by completing the Rescue of Emperor Xian mission, where you protect the emperor’s carriage. This weapon does wide-sweeping area (AOE) damage with normal or strong attacks, giving it an edge in overall damage since the radius is 360 degrees and easy to play. 

The best battle arts are Azure Dragon Bellow, Bursting Wave Slash, and Dragon Tail Swipe. Azure Dragon Bellow is a powerful AOE ability that sucks in enemies and does damage in a spinning attack. This is unlocked through a companion and helps the lack of mobility by pulling in enemies. The Dragon Tail Swipe skill is another battle art that does 360 damage but costs lower bravery and doesn’t pull enemies in.

Lastly, the best single-target bursting battle art is Bursting Wave Slash. This shoots out a line in front of you, and if it connects with an officer, it will shred their armor. However, you must carefully aim the battle art because it can be missed if the target moves or isn’t close to the line.

The best combo for the Crescent Blade is a four-hit sweeping attack combo using strong attacks. The strength of this combo is the wide arcing strikes that hits multiple targets in a radius around you. The Crescent Blade can chain together normal or strong attacks, so feel free to throw in quick strikes if needed.

Crescent Blade Build Pros	Crescent Blade Build Cons
Hard Hitting Battle Arts	Slow Animations
Massive Area Damage	Reliant on Long Combos
Simple Combos	Low Mobility

10. Halberd

The Halberd is the 10th and final weapon unlocked in Dynasty Warriors Origins by completing the campaign and unlocking post-game content. Despite being locked behind the story, its unmatched damage, mobility, and versatility make it worth the wait. Use this weapon if you’re looking to complete the game on the hardest difficulty, ultimate warrior, or post-game content.

The best battle arts for the Halberd are Defiant Shockstorm, Hellraiser, and Dance of the Demon. Defiant Shockstorm cost two bravery and pulled enemies to you. It has the added effect of lifting them into the air as well. Therefore, you can spam cast this skill and stun lock officers and normal enemies.

Hellraiser is one of the best area damage skills in the game. You put your halberd in the ground, and red beams shoot out, dealing damage to enemies. The only downside to this skill is a period of vulnerability. Therefore, make sure to cast it before incoming damage is expected.

The best combo for the Halberd is the jump while evading and blocking a strong attack. When you evade, if you immediately press a strong attack, you will jump up in the air and launch forward. This does good damage and zooms you forward without costing any bravery. Therefore, practice evades + strong attack for quick movement.

Pressing the block and then holding a strong attack will do a 360-radius damage combo that also throws enemies into the air. You can use this against officers, then when they are in the air, hit a six button normal attack combo to prevent them from coming down. This stun locks them without fear of retaliation and builds tons of bravery.

Halberd Build Cons	Halberd Build Cons
Unmatched Damage	Unlocked After Completing Campaign
Incredible Mobility
Best Rage Mode
Balanced Battle Arts and Combos

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