The Musou combat of theDynasty Warriorsgames has long since evolved from simply mashing the square and triangle buttons with the occasional tap of the circle. Starting in Warriors All Stars, and later being evolved in Dynasty Warriors 9, you could perform special Battle Arts by holding down the R1 button on your controller and pressing one of the face buttons. The addition of these was contentious at the time, but has since become a mainstay in severalMusou spinoff titles.
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These Battle Arts, especially in Dynasty Warriors: Origins, can quickly turn the tide of battle as you use them to strike down enemy officers or quickly clear a field of peons. Origins offers dozens upon dozens of different Battle Arts to equip and use, so we have prepared a quick list of some of the best ones for you to have on your journey through the Three Kingdoms.
8Palm Strike
A Mighty High Five
Starting off the list is a battle art that you actually start the game with, the palm strike. This simple Battle Art only costs a single meter of bravery to use, barely does any damage, and doesn’t even have good range. So why is this Battle Art, which is by all accounts useless, on this list? Because of its ability to interrupt enemy battle arts.
Some Battle Arts in Dynasty Warriors: Origins are labeled as SP Arts. These special arts can interrupt enemies as they initiate their attack and break through their fortitude. While the palm strike is far from the best of these Arts, it costs the least. There is almost never a situation where the player won’t have at least one bravery in reserve, so there is merit in equipping this weak art solely to ensure enemies cannot strike back at you.
7Bursting Wave Slash
The Purest Attack
It may take a much longer amount of time to unlock than other weapons in the game, but Guan Yu’s Crescent Blade quickly proves itself to be one of the best weapons in Dynasty Warriors: Origins with its Battle Arts. Perhaps one of the coolest Arts this weapon has is also one of its simplest, the Bursting Wave Slash Art, which has the player slam their weapon on the ground to send a vertical slice of wind forward at enemies, slicing through their health as it travels.
While this art may seem much simpler than all the others on this list, there is a beauty in that simplicity. The ability to take down potentially a hundred enemies and break through the fortitude of enemy officers with a single slice is the pure Dynasty Warriors experience, worthy of the God of War himself, and earns this somewhat simple Battle Art a placement on this list.
6Divine Eagle Dance
Cold as a Conqueror
Next up on the list is a Battle Art so cool that even Cao Cao, leader of Wei, can be seen using it during key battles of the game. This Battle Art begins simply, with only a few sword slashes in various directions, but then quickly transitions into a gigantic second round of slashes that can cover an entire base of enemies within seconds!
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This Battle Art has both amazing range and attack, which is probably why it is locked behind having very high proficiency with the sword moveset. The only weakness the Divine Eagle Dance has is that it takes a high amount of bravery to perform it, so the player will be unable to spam it. With an attack this powerful though, perhaps only using it a single time will be enough.
5Roaring Maelstrom
Blow the Army Away
One would expect all Battle Arts from the twin pikes moveset to involve stabbing or goring enemies, but a lot of them actually involve swift movements and taking advantage of the wind. Perhaps the best example of this is the Roaring Maelstrom art, which sees the player swing their twin pikes to create a vortex of wind in front of them to decimate fields of enemies.
This is one of the best Battle Arts in the game in terms of crowd control, as any nameless peon around will be sucked into your tornado and likely defeated. However, when it comes to taking down enemy officers, this art is weakened by how the tornado doesn’t appear directly in front of you, but rather a few steps ahead of where you are. This may not seem like a huge distinction, but it makes a world of difference when Lu Bu is charging directly at you. So, while this Art deserves to be on this list, there are still a few that outclass it.
4Sea of Flames
Burn Their Shields
The padou moveset has some of the best Battle Arts in all of Dynasty Warriors: Origins. Nearly every strike this weapon makes can slice through enemy fortitude like a hot knife through butter. Perhaps the hottest of these strikes is the Sea of Flames, which has the player set the ground in front of them ablaze. This not only does great initial damage to enemies but has a great secondary effect.
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The fire that is created by this Battle Art sticks around on the battlefield for several seconds, allowing the player to keep attacking while it’s active. If an enemy officer is kept in this fire by the player’s attacks, they can lose up to three bars of their fortitude! This makes the Sea of Flames one of the best Battle Arts in the game for initiating assaults and more than earns it a placement on this list.
3Boundless Launch
The Full Power of Lu Bu
Lu Bu’s boss fight in Dynasty Warriors: Origins is one of the most terrifying experiences to ever be put into a Musou game, which is also why it’s so satisfying to be able to perform his attacks in a New Game+ run. Perhaps one of the most satisfying of his Battle Arts to perform is the Boundless Launch, which sees the player stab forward at a single enemy and then using their body to attack a crowd.
Unlike other similar Battle Arts that focus most of their damage on a single enemy, this Art is good for more than just shaving through the health of enemy officers. Any enemy even close to the player when they perform this Art will be utterly annihilated in a brutal fashion. You may not be able to play as Lu Bu in Origins, but you can still make enemies fear you as much as they feared him.
2Heaven and Earth’s Wrath
Bring Them Down to Earth
Huang Gai’s Musou attack from previous games where he would suplex enemies into the ground may be gone, but Dynasty Warriors: Origins provides you with a very similar Battle Art. The Heaven and Earth’s Wrath art sees them knock an enemy into the air before grabbing their stomach and slamming them down with the full force of gravity! It may not be the suplex we know and love, but it’s very close.
This Battle Art is inherently limited as it truly only does massive damage to a single enemy and light damage to any in the surrounding area, but that makes it perfect for taking down enemy officers. If one were to chain together Heaven and Earth’s Wrath directly into a Musou attack, any officer’s health bar and fortitude would be completely destroyed! You may need to get to the end of Wu’s story to unlock this Art, but it feels incredible once you have full access to it.
Just be aware that using this powerful Art will use up your ENTIRE bravery bar!
1Twin Tiger Blast
Fight like a Princess
Sun Shangxiang, one of thebest charactersin the game, has the unique title of being the “bow-waisted princess”. With a title like that, it would be ridiculous if she didn’t have an equipped Battle Art that involved using a bow and arrow. The Twin Tiger Blast battle art sees the player throw their twin wheels around enemies before launching a fire arrow at the crowd which not only annihilates crowds but also carves through the health of officers.
While this is one of the best Battle Arts in the game, it naturally comes at the price of costing a TON of bravery to use even a single time. If you switch over to Sun Shangxiang and attempt to use this attack during her rage state, it’s likely to use up her entire rage meter and reduce your playtime as her to mere seconds. Despite that high cost though, it’s hard to argue against this being the best Battle Art in the game based entirely on how effective it is during battle.
