Now, assuming you've played any of the Dynasty Warriors games in the past, or any games like them, you're probably thinking to yourself, "These games are not that difficult to understand."

Well, if you're one of those people, why are you reading this guide? This is meant primarily for those who are new to the world of Dynasty Warriors-style of games like I once was. Yes, this was my first exposure to these types of games, solely because I saw that one of the characters from the Koei-Tecmo Properties was in this, and I fell in love with the game ever since.

I've made a few guides before to try and explain things as simply as possible, but I must admit that my proudest one was for Atelier Sophie, which aimed to explain how to get the traits you wished for your gear, but I digress.

So, the game itself. This is, buy and large, a Koei-Tecmo Orgy. It includes characters from some well-known franchises in the video game scene, including Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive, and Dynasty Warriors, as well as the games released after it, like Nioh and Dynasty Warriors 9.

To tl;dr the intro and the premise of the game, The Spring, which houses the world's life force, is losing power and slowly dying off. In order to help restore it, Tamaki, one of the 4 driving characters of the story, uses the last of the power that it can hold to summon a pantheon of 27 Heroes from their respective worlds to help fix the issue. However, something went wrong, scattering the Heroes across the land. Furthermore, between Tamaki, her brother Shiki, and their cousin Setsuna, the three of them have started a civil war to try and claim the throne. Each has their motives, and each one follows a different story, but we'll get into that later.

After witnessing that "spectacular failure" of the summoning ritual, you are given a selection of characters to pick from, and you're thrust into a story of one of the 3 potential ruling candidates. Now, without further ado, let's jump into the hero roster.

This game has taken a rather massive liberty of incorporating these 27 characters under the Koei-Tecmo naming property (even if it's not the right term, i'm using it) and melding them into 3 different stories, all of which can converge into the main one, but that will be touched upon later. For now, here are your heroes and their respective games.

Dynasty Warriors: Zhao Yun, Lu Bu, Wang Yuanji, and Zhou Cang.
(However, their names are pronounced as follows: Cho Yun, Lu Bu, Og Yang-ghi/Genki, and Shu Cho. They're all Chinese in origin, so I'm including these just in case hearing their names in game is confusing.)

Samurai Warriors: Yukimura Sanada, Naotora Li, and Mitsunari Ishida.

Hakura, Beyond the Stream of Time: Hajime Arima and Darius

Atelier Series: Sophie & Plachta

Dead or Alive: Kasumi, Honoka, and Marie Rose

Ninja Gaiden: Ryu Hayabusa and Ayane

Nights of Azure: Arnice & Christophorus

Deception: Laegrinna & Millennia

Toukiden: Oka, Horo, Tokitsugu

The rest are all single-character inclusions:
William (Nioh)
Rio (Technically Dead or Alive, but she's related to Lisa Rollins, and is included as her own character, so it's easy to assume that she's probably more associated with Dead or Alive: Extreme series)
Nobunyaga Oda (Nobunyaga no Yabou and Guruguru Dungeon Nobunyaga)
Opoona (Opoona. No joke, that's the name of the game he's from)

And that is a grand total of 27. However, counting the 3 siblings from the beginning, that is a grand total of 30 characters. However, you don't get to play as these leaders for a while. You'll see why soon. Now, into each story of Setsuna, Shiki, and Tamaki.

Setsuna is the son of the King before the previous King. His father died when he was very young, causing Setsuna to be integrated into the royal family of his Uncle, and he was raised alongside Shiki and Tamaki as a brother to them both.

While the story never states exactly when, I have presumed that Setsuna's father had died when he was somewhere around 6 years old, which was considered far too young to become a ruler, hence why he was integrated into the royal family alongside Shiki and Tamaki. Also, while never explicitly stated, I also believe that 10 years had passed between the death of Setsuna's father and Tamaki & Shiki's father. However, there is no evidence to support this theory, so take it with a grain of salt, or rather several.

Regardless, Setsuna's reasoning for fighting in this civil war between siblings is two fold. Firstly, he believes that the throne is his by birth-right, as his father was king before his uncle, and therefore he should be the next one to rule. However, he also wants to become ruler to protect his sister from being sacrificed.

That's right. The rulers of this world are also sacrificed to the Spring to keep its power going, ensuring prosperity across the land. Wishing to spare his sister of this fate, Setsuna wishes to take it upon himself to be the sacrifice, so that he doesn't need to lose his sister. A very noble act, even if his heart is misguided.

You see, Setsuna has a hard time opening up to anyone, even those in his family, wishing to do everything himself. He believes that he's too reliant on others for help, and he doesn't wish to be seen as weak. This is showcased in his story when he's at the Spring, trying to decide whether or not he can truly open up to the Heroes in his command. He does, however, overcome this when he is, in turn, rescued by them, and his story ends with sending the Heroes home and becoming the next ruler and sacrifice to the Spring.

Now that we've covered Setsuna's story, it's time to cover the Heroes in his roster.
HEROES
Right off the bat, I'm going to be openly honest and say that Setsuna probably has the worst bunch of Heroes in the game, solely because he has a raging boner for only the beautiful heroes, which winds up with his roster having EIGHT of the 9 hero slots in his army filled by females.

Arnice, Christophorus, Rio, Kasumi, Honoka, Marie Rose, Laegrinna, Millennia, and Nobunyaga Oda are all of Setsuna's heroes.
(DISCLAIMER: While the game lets you flex your roster based upon the Heroes that become available in the missions, these lists are based solely upon the Heroes that join the faction leaders based on who you pick from the starting screen. For Setsuna's, those are Arnice, Kasumi, Laegrinna, and Nobunyaga Oda)
Arnice is the character I was interested in, because I had played Nights of Azure before this, and seeing that she was in this game was enough for me to get it, just so I could play it. Now, as for the rest of the heroes in Setsuna's roster, well....
Let's run them down real quick, in terms of combat and support.

Arnice is the probably the easiest one to handle in terms of combat control, since she wields the Sword of Jorth. Her attacks are based on this blade, as well as using her Servans to assist her in combat. Servans are like the familiars from the art of witchcraft, and Arnice handles them with precision and skill that no one else can have. She's also not a bad support option either, given her support skill is a stun attack that can drain health at higher braveries. But, more on those later.

Moving along, Christophorus, or Chris for short, is not as easy to control, but she should be fairly simple. Once you get the hang of her, well, she's still a bit clunky, to be honest. Her main attacks focus on conducting a melody over her enemies, which the giant horns at her sides help out with. Her first 3 heavy attacks summon either drums, notes, or horns to help boost the other attacks later on, but you need to get a mastery over alternating between summoning the instruments and then using the latter heavy attacks to be devastating. As for her support option, it's on the lower end of the overall roster, providing only a simple defense boost, but it can be useful for holding off some fodder at higher braveries.

The final one of this trio is Rio, and she is arguably the worst one of Setsuna's lot, probably the worst in the whole game. It may just be personal bias, but I just hate how she fights. Her attacks are all based on things she uses in the Casino, but they seem to drop out of nowhere and be summoned from nowhere either, which seems to have no explanation either, since she's seemingly only a human. On top of that, her support skill literally has you playing blackjack, which more often than not will backfire on you unless you get it to a high bravery, and it's not even worth it then.

Next is one of the icons of Dead or Alive, Kasumi the Runaway Shinobi. She is..... not good in combat. I'll admit it. She's a fun character to play as, but her attacks are too short of range (she relies on her fists, after all) and her Mugen Tenshin Ryu Tenjinmon skills are the only reason she can survive for so long. Her support skill, however, may be one of the better ones in the game. Increased attack speed and a love effect, which we'll talk about later, make her a valuable supporting member, but not as much as your primary combatant.

Honoka is next, and I'll be honest: I have not used her much. I've not ever considered using her as the commander, mostly because I've had more fun using a select few characters. However, Honoka's got a really good support skill, which sadly is held back due to an RNG factor. Rock Paper Scissors triggers a random recovery ability whenever you use it. Rock fills your SP Gauge, Paper recovers all your health, and Scissors cancels the cooldown timer for your skills. While not ideal, Honoka's your best bet to spam your support skills, assuming the RNG plays to your favor.

Up next, Marie Rose. Much like Honoka, I have not used her a lot, and I do not like her at all. Her whiny voice coupled with lackluster appearance makes her a dull character in my eyes. Her support skill isn't anything to write home about either, but it gets ungodly annoying if you have to fight against her, which is kinda fitting since she behaves like a brat. I'd still pick her over Rio, if I had to choose.

Next up is Laegrinna and Millennia, who I'm lumping together since they fight the same way. These two are trap fighters, meaning they use lots of pre-set traps to try and screw with the enemies as they "Hunt" them. For a brief history lesson on these two, Laegrinna is basically the Devil's Daughter who gets her kicks out of killing humans, and Millennia was raised by the Timenoids to hunt humans for her mother-figure, Yocal. I'm surprised these two were ever considered as Heroes. Regardless, they have some very useful support skills. Laegrinna's summons lightning pylons, which deal extra damage to airborne enemies, and Millennia's simply creates a vacuum in the floor. Laegrinna's upgraded support is not much different, but Millennia's goes from a vacuum floor to a trap combo, making it useful in combat. Just, don't use them as combatants unless you're confident you know how to fight using traps.

Lastly, we have Setsuna's second in command, Nobunyaga Oda. I'll be honest with this guy, he's probably the most interesting character in Setsuna's roster, in spite being based off Nobunaga Oda and his conquests. His combat is nothing to scoff at either, since he uses his legions of feline warriors to assist him in combat while he pops off shots at everything around him. His support is also one of the best in the game, which boosts your attack while also giving you the ability to slash your skill cooldowns by killing off the legions of enemies across the battlefield. It's no wonder Setsuna put him as second in command.

Tamaki's the little girl you see in the opening story, who gets blown back by the ritual that went wrong to summon the heroes to this world. In spite of the vast reserves of power the game implies she has, that was kind of a clumsy move on her part. Though, my personal suspicions on this are laced in the later half of the game.

Regardless, Tamaki's going for the throne, fighting her brother and cousin, even though she doesn't wish to, because she's been told she's the only one with the power to save the world. However, she doesn't know why her family chose to fight her, but she's steeled her resolve to fight them if they get in the way. But, she doesn't know the truth. (More on that later though. Teehee.)

I won't go over the rest of the story, because hers kinda follows the same pattern as Setsuna's, which I marked as a spoiler in case no one wanted to see that ending. However, unlike Setsuna, Tamaki's a naive girl, who doesn't understand the bigger picture. That all comes with Shiki.

Anyways, onto the heroes.
HEROES
Tamaki's roster of Heroes are the following:
Sophie, Plachta, Tokitsugu, Oka, Horo, Zhao Yun, Lu Bu, Wang Yuanji, and Zhou Cang. I highly recommend people pick from Sophie, Oka, Zhou Yun, or Zhou Cang when they first start off the game, because Tamaki's characters offer the easiest-to-comprehend gameplay for combat.

Starting off with the girl with the can-do attitude, Sophie is probably one of the most unconventional fighters here, given what we see out of her friends in Atelier Sophie. However, it's that unconventional form of combat that makes her an absolute powerhouse. Her attacks are basically the "jack of all trades" trope, in which she has her elemental bombs in the heavy attacks, as well as the God's Gift, Puni Missiles, and Summoning Horn. Her support is also very powerful. Sophie launches a barrage of Puni Missiles at the enemy, which also spawns recovery items at higher braveries, making her a very useful, well-rounded character.

Going off to her mentor, Plachta, we see a vast difference between the two, which is a little daunting to get around. Unless you played Atelier Sophie like I have, you may not be used to using her main weapon, the Hexe Auris, in a combat scenario like this. This, in turn, makes Plachta a very difficult character to use the first time around. Her support, while seemingly underwhelming, since it only heals, can put in wonders later on in the fight, since it also removes the enemy buffs, meaning they can't keep their attack & defense boosts to hold out against your onslaught.

Kicking off the Toukiden series is Oka, with her giant katana-style sword, and she's got a rather awkward form of combat to couple with it. Her blade reaches almost 50% longer than Arnice's, and it's clearly a bit unwieldy, meaning you may not want to use her as your main combatant. However, Oka has probably the single-most powerful support skill in the game, the barrier. This literally makes you untouchable by the enemies, but their secondary effects can still tag you. But, if you need a nearly unbreakable defense, Oka's your Hero.

Next up are Horo and Tokitsugu, who get lumped together because they fight in pretty much the same manner: using a giant rifle to blast their enemies apart. These two have always felt clunky in combat for me, but I do slightly prefer Tokitsugu over Horo. Thier support skills are also nothing too impactful. Tokitsugu's is just whipping a fire ball at the enemies, which becomes 3 at higher braveries, and Horo's is just a gravitational shot that gets stronger at higher braveries based on how many enemies you've beaten.

Finally, we have the Dynasty Warriors characters, starting with Zhao Yun. This is probably the guy you want to start playing as first, and he's a very versatile fighter with his spear, and he can handle clearing hordes of enemies too. His support is just like the spear; a basic but lethal weapon. It's a basic rush attack, but at higher braveries, you get an attack buff afterwards. He's probably the most well-rounded of all well-rounded fighters.

Next up is the man, the myth, the legend, Lu Bu. The Red Demon himself. Lu Bu's combat prowess is nothing to be mistaken of, because his attacks are devastating, and he can clear enemies as if they were flies. His support skill is also brutal in both ways, because its powerful attacks demand you sacrifice your health for it too, and its more the same at higher braveries. But, he combos well with another hero later on.

Next is Wang Yuanji. And let me tell you, this girl is an absolute beast. For those that know of the Touhou series, she fights just like Sakuya Izayoi: knives for days and can shred hordes of enemies apart no problem. Just missing the time stopping is all. Furthermore, Ms. Yuanji's support skills is a direct heal, which also becomes coupled with Ice attacks at higher braveries, making her one of the best characters to play as in the whole game.

Finally, Zhou Cang. This is his technical first appearance, even before DW9, but he does not disappoint. His gigantic blade, the Longtou Dazhadao, is useful for cleaving through armies, or in a 1-on-1 fight. But his support skill is where he truly shines. He gives you a speed boost, both for moving and attacking, as well as giving you a gradual charge to your SP meter at higher braveries. You will quickly come to love this guy when he's putting the wind to your wings.

Now we get to the cream of the crop, Shiki. I say "cream of the crop" because his entire section is the reason why he's fighting in the story, and why the game becomes something truly special. I recommend only playing his story if you want a challenge, though, since most his heroes have a clunky fighting style that's difficult to get around.

Shiki's reason for fighting in the story is because he was told many things by his father before his death. Firstly, there's an ancient monstrosity named Yomi sealed beneath the Spring, which is why the rulers in recent times have had such short life spans. Yomi was stealing away their life forces through the Spring to fuel her inevitable return, by using their powers to weaken and break the seal holding her beneath the Spring. Secondly, Yomi had gained enough power before the start of the game to take control of one person in the whole world. However, there was no way of knowing who it could've been. So, to protect his family, Shiki turned cold and resentful as a facade to his family, to spare them the pain of having to lose a beloved family member. A cold and lonely path to walk, but Shiki was ready to do so.
Furthermore, Shiki's own plan has been to find the Monument of the Dawn, an ancient artifact that was stated to have the method that the First King used to seal away Yomi beneath the Spring. However, no one had seen the Monument in ages, leaving it to become nothing more than a myth. With the search having taken priority, and the world slowly dying around him, and a war to fight against his own family, Shiki's got a lot on his plate. Thankfully, he found some heroes who he can trust, since Yomi's influence could not reach them. However, it could've easily reached Tamaki or Setsuna, so he does not divulge what he knows to them. So, he fights alone, walking this cold path. The path to hopefully a better future. However, his story ends similarly to Setsuna & Tamaki, except he tries to lead the world in an era without the Spring to fuel the life of the land anymore, because he destroys it after realizing the Monument has been fragmented. Unless you complete 2 other missions, which brings about the true story.
Now that we've gotten Shiki's story out of the way, let's talk about the Heroes he brings along with him on his journey.
HEROES
Shiki only has 8 Heroes, compared to 9 on the other rosters, and this will be explained soon. They are Hajime Arima, Darius, William, Ayane, Ryu Hayabusa, Yukimura Sanada, Mitsunari Ishida, and Naotora Li. Fair warning: these 8 may be the best cohesive team you get in the game. As for the picks, you have Hajime Arima, William, Ryu Hayabusa, and Yukimura Sanada.

Starting off, we have Hajime Arima. The Imperial Captain of the Elite Squad, Arima's no-nonsense attitude and straight-forward nature, coupled with his duty to do what's right, no matter what, make him an absolutely amazing character. He's also arguably the single best combatant in the whole game, with wide, shearing strikes and powers to couple with his skills to make him the most fearsome commander on the battlefield. His support skill is also great, in spite of being a basic attack, because at higher braveries, it slashes the cooldown time in half if you take out an enemy hero/commander with it. Arima's probably the best character in the roster, no question.

Next up is Darius, the Prince of Demons. Arima made it his mission to protect the likes of humanity from Darius's kind, but the two of them set aside their differences in this world to help Shiki together. Darius is a good fighter, but not one I would pick as one of my top 5 choices. However, his support skill is very useful, striking lightning down upon your enemies, as well as being a healing option at higher braveries.

Next is William, the MC of what everyone has called Anime Dark Souls, Ni-Oh. William's combat is unbearably clunky, but that's fine since you never truly have to fight as him if you don't want to. His support skill, however, makes him a powerful, albeit fringe, combat aid. He is the only character in your roster that can straight up cancel Oka's barrier ability, as well as Naotora's support skill, which we'll get to in a moment. Fun fact: William's VA is the only English-Speaker in the entire game.

On deck next, we have Yukimura Sanada, the Japanese counterpart to Zhao Yun, at least in my eyes. Yukimura's combat is a little close-quartered for someone who uses a spear, but he makes up for that with a unique trait shared by all 3 of the Samurai Warriors characters: they can dash to cancel their current chain to go into another chain all over again. This makes these 3 the only ones who could theoretically be in an infinite combat chain, provided enough enemies. As for Yukimura's support skill, he grants the player a fire buff, which lets you ignite your enemies, and at higher braveries, it staggers them. He may come off as unimpressive, but trust me. This guy has saved my bacon more than once.

Next is the master strategist, Mitsunari Ishida. A brilliant tactician and powerful combatant, his giant war-fan couples well with his power. While limited in range without his heavy attacks, Mitsunari's strengths come in with the dash skill I mentioned before. However, his support skill makes him a vital member in the back-lines. He can cancel any negative debuffs on your troops and you, making it easier for you to get back into the battle easily. Couple it with the passive healing at higher braveries, and you have an excellent supporting character in your pocket.

Lastly in this trio is Naotora Li. She severely lacks self-confidence, believing herself unworthy to be the leader of the Li clan, but she is still willing to fight to help others, no matter what. In spite of her self-confidence issues, Naotora is a very fun fighter, even if her outfit is a bit provocative. Her support skill is also very powerful, and also very annoying. It prevents stuns, while also increasing your attack based on remaining health at higher braveries. Normally that's not too impressive, until you realize that death also counts as a stun, meaning she is quite literally a temporary unstoppable force. Unless you use William's skill to cancel that out.

Next, we have Ayane. Kasumi's sister-turned-Assassin, Ayane's hell-bent on hunting Kasumi down, even in this world. I'd recommend reading the history of Ayane, because it really shines a light on why she's the way she is. Ayane is also much more capable in combat than Kasumi, in spite of having similar range as her. Using actual blades instead of her fists, as well as darts, Ayane's skills make her a powerful foe on both sides, even in support. Her skill causes the frenzy condition, meaning you cannot use your skills or your ultimate attack, and it turns into a powerful combo later on. She truly has earned the power of the Mugen Tenshin Ryu Hajinmon.

Finally, we have Ryu Hayabusa, the Unstoppable Ninja. Gaijin Goomba ruined this guy for me, until I picked up the controller and played as him in this game. After that, all of my feelings on this guy flipped on their head. He may not be a "proper" ninja, but he is one of the most badass ninjas in all of video games, and I'm thankful I got to play this game using him. Ryu's the 2nd best combatant in Shiki's roster after Arima, and you'll rarely use him in support. If you do, it's just a basic combo attack that finishes off wounded enemies at higher braveries. Which, by that point, you should already be doing yourself.

This entire thing is going to be a massive spoiler territory from here on out, so if you don't want the story spoiled for you, do not read further. This will also explain how you acquire Setsuna, Shiki, and Tamaki so you can fight as them.

So, at a certain point in Tamaki's & Setsuna's individual stories, or if you did the aforementioned side missions in Shiki's story, the three siblings will come across the Fragments of the Monument of the Dawn. However, they only have a piece of it, and they are left wondering how to seal off Yomi. Just then, Sayo comes in and tells them that it's impossible as Yomi reveals that it was Sayo the whole time she had control over. Yomi then starts to siphon Tamaki's power, using Sayo as her vassal, while Setsuna and Shiki are powerless to stop her. Yomi then escapes the Spring, leaving the latter two to help Tamaki up. The three of them, from that moment onward, decide to combine their forces together to stop Yomi. This is where you finally get access to all 26 heroes. "BuT dIdN't YoU sAy ThErE wErE 27 HeRoEs???" Yes. However, Opoona's the one character that requires a page dedicated to himself.

With that out of the way, we can talk about how the 3 royal family members fight.

Setsuna has the Divine Wind, a blade that can slash through several enemies like a tempest. He also has middling support skills, as he can just bind enemies in a tornado and inflict the frenzy status on them. He's dangerous when you fight against him, but not so much a threat when you fight as or alongside him.

Shiki has the Divine Moon, which is a curious orb that may not seem like much, until you realize just how proficient Shiki is wielding it. Between him and Tamaki, they have some of the best crowd control in the game, though Shiki is no slouch in a one-on-one either. Couple that with some decent support skill damage, albeit only targeting the heroes and commanders, and you have a well-rounded character that can fit both sides of lead combatant or supporting cast.

Finally, sweet little Tamaki holds the Divine Sun, a mirror that can shoot bolts that seem to be like mini-suns, given that she can literally Light her enemies on fire. Way to go there, princess. Anyways, Tamaki's not only a powerhouse on the offense, but she's also a great support, probably the best of the trio. Her base skill gives you an attack AND defense boost, and it can heal at higher braveries. Tamaki's got more than enough power to be a force to be reckoned with.

That all being said, you will not have all of them for long. The game forces you to split the party at one point, meaning you must pick between the characters in the roster that you wish to keep and which ones go with the other party to confront Yomi. This, in essence, means you're losing half the characters on the roster, since the half you send on their way ends up being mind-controlled into her servants. So, pick wisely.

Now, throughout all of this guide, I have seldom mentioned this little 3D-looking Pikmin reject. And that's for good reason.

You see, a character like Opoona would normally have classified as a DLC character in today's day and age of video games. But Koei Tecmo, instead, opted to have him be an unlockable character instead of a DLC one, and I am truly grateful for that. Thank you Koei Tecmo.

Now with that out of the way, how exactly do you unlock Opoona? Well, you need to get all of the character endings in the game. Not every single ending, just all the character endings. To which there are 10 in total, and several require multiple different playthroughs to unlock him. I'm certain there are other guides that can explain this better, but I will tell you the characters you need for each ending.

Side Note: Each character ending is marked by a Red Crystal, rather than a Yellow one, which indicates that that battle will end the story you're on at that point. So unless you're certain you wish to end it then and there, DO NOT SELECT IT!!! Also, spoiler warnings for each story ending.

Ending 1: Naotora & Ayane.
These two go off, with Naotora becoming Ayane's apprentice to become a Shinobi.

Ending 2: Laegrinna & Millennia.
These two go on a rampage in an attempt to kill both Shiki's and Tamaki's forces to make Setsuna send them home. Unable to stop them, Shiki and Tamaki indirectly grant the two hunters their wish, sending them back to their home world to stop them from hunting anyone else in their world, recognizing them, not as heroes, but as monsters.

Ending 3: Rio, Marie Rose, and Honoka
These three become pop-star idols in this new world, capturing the hearts of all that see them. This is probably the most tame ending of them all.

Ending 4: Plachta and Horo.
Having discovered the truth about Sayo before Tamaki, the two former amnesiacs rush off to try and end this battle early, only for Sayo to wipe their memories altogether, leaving them stranded in this world, with no idea what to do next.

Ending 5: Nobunyaga Oda, Arnice, Kasumi, and Christophorus
Having had enough of Setsuna's secrecy, the 4 of them decide to put on a conquering of Setsuna's forces, leaving him altogether, going their separate ways. (Information on this may be faulty. Fact-check with other guides on the platform to confirm)

Ending 6: Lu Bu (Condition: Defeat 10,000 Enemies as Lu Bu)
Having decided that he will conquer this world as its war chieftain, Lu Bu turns against everyone, enemy and Ally alike, crushing them all to become known as the Unstoppable Demon of this world.

Ending 7: Oka, Sophie, and Wang Yuanji
Having become exhausted with Tamaki's lack of willingness to ask her brother about the truth, this trio has chosen to meet with Shiki and turn sides, joining him and betraying Tamaki to get the truth of the matter.

Ending 8: Darius, Mitsunari Ishida, and Hajime Arima
Seeing the war of succession between the siblings as pointless, the trio concoct a plan to force the three to fight together, even if it means they will forever be shunned by Shiki, walking off after the battle without giving him a chance to speak.

Ending 9: William, Yukimura, and Ryu Hayabusa
This trio goes off without Shiki's knowledge to fight Sayo herself, sacrificing themselves to protect Shiki, no matter the cost. Forever they keep Sayo locked away, even if it means they will never see Shiki again.

Ending 10: Zhao Yun, Tokitsugu, and Zhou Cang
The three heroes work their absolute hardest to stop Yomi from taking Tamaki, but in the end, they are overpowered and Tamaki sacrifices herself, and the last of her power, to send them back to their home worlds, leaving them no choice as she perishes.

And that's all 10 endings. Remember: to unlock these endings, you have to go through specific story missions to unlock them, except for Lu Bu's ending, where-in you only need to defeat 10,000 enemies in battles. No, Rush Star enemy defeats do not count towards this total, since you can easily rack up an average of 1500 enemies per Rush Star instance.

If you want to know which paths to take to get these endings, I recommend looking at other guides than this one, because this guide is meant as a general overview of the game, not to get the specifics.

As for Opoona himself, he is probably one of the most broken characters in the whole game. He's not an impressive fighter by any means, but he is the most phenomenal offensive supporter possible. His support skill grants you increased damage and a lightning element buff, but at higher braveries, he gives you ALL FIVE ELEMENTAL BUFFS AT ONCE! The game states that they're random, meaning they can't all activate with every strike, but that doesn't matter when you're tearing through everything in the game with the force of a thousand suns.

I'm doing this in a rapid-fire sort of format, since you've probably been reading for a while now. So let's keep this short and sweet.

BATTLES
Main types of battles in this game are the following: Standard, Rush, Stronghold, Defender, Rescue, Action, Dramatic, Story.

Standard: Commander of 6 Bravery, Supporting Heroes of 3, 4, and 5 Braveries. Main goal is to defeat enemy commander or capture enemy main camp.

Rush: Commander of 6 Bravery & Captain of 6 Bravery. Enemy Main Force on 2 minute timer to arrival, but can be delayed by securing entry routes and defeating marked enemy heroes. Main goal to secure enemy main camp before main force arrives.

Stronghold: Commander of 7 Bravery, Supporting Heroes of 2 & 3 Bravery. Enemy Main Force on 5 minute fixed timer, no delaying. Securing entry routes grants you a Hero of Bravery 4 and Captains of 5 & 6 Bravery. Main goal to defeat enemy commander.

Defender: Commander of 4 Bravery, Supporting Heroes of 2 and 3 bravery. Main goal is to defend marked allied bases from falling to enemy forces. Enemy Heroes & Commanders are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Bravery.

Rescue: Heroes of 2, 3, and 4 Bravery under attack in allied bases by enemies of 3, 4, and 5 Bravery respectively. Rescue them before they are defeated or you will fail.

Action: Battles with special rule-sets. Marked as Guardian, Team, Rush, and Death Match Battles

Dramatic: Battles that requires certain conditions and party members to be met. Some can only be completed with these characters, others cannot have them as party members.

Story: Battles that advance the story, and also serve as precursors to certain Dramatic battles.

BATTLE BASES
These are the battle bases in the game.

Garrison/Stronghold: Plentiful across the map. Can be any of the first 5 battles.

Monster's Nest: Always a rescue battle. Lots of EXP gained from these battles.

Merchant's Caravan: Can be any of the first 5 Battles. Lots of gold gained from these battles.

Production Base: Can be any of the first 5 battles. Lots of crafting materials gained from these battles.

Treasure Storehouse: Can be any of the first 5 battles. Lots of Gold, EXP, and Crafting materials gained from these battles.

Guardian Battles: Prevent phantom enemies from infiltrating main camp. Acquiring outside bases allows for securing heroes to slow the enemies down. Hold off enemies for 5 minutes to win. 5 infiltrations = loss

Death Match Battles: All enemies and PC go down in one hit. Be careful on how many enemies you defeat, as every 100 beaten spawns archer units. Defeat the 6 main enemies to win.

Team Battles: Defeat 5 enemy heroes in 3 separate waves in the allotted 10 minutes. Faster you defeat them, better cards you get.

Rush Battles: Defeat as many enemies as you can. Every defeated Hero and commander nets 15 extra seconds, but after a while, enemy commanders no longer grant extra time, and after the final Hero is defeated once, every Hero defeated from then on only adds 5 seconds to the timer.

I'm going to be honest here: I highly recommend you read the effects and crafting recipes in-game. The game developers put in a lot of effort to make that as simple as possible.

If you're looking for specific materials, look to the bottom of the battle you're about to enter. It will tell you what materials are more common in that portion of the map, which can help you stream-line your hunting process.

However, i will state what each element does exactly and how they affect you.

Fire: This just lights you on fire and damages you over time. Simple and self-explanatory.

Ice: You are frozen in place and cannot act until the ice thaws or the enemies break you out of it.

Lightning: Stuns you, leaving you unable to act.

Darkness: Drains you, cutting your action speed down by 50%.

Bewitched/Charmed/Love: Occasionally, your attacks will not work and you will stumble. Very, VERY annoying.

Frenzied: You cannot use your Support Skills or your Ultimate. There is no getting rid of this, you just have to ride it out.

These were mentioned before, but I should go over Hero Cards. These little doohickeys give you all sorts of buffs and abilities that are applied in battle, and they can be given one of the 5 above-listed elemental buffs. Unfortunately, Frenzied does not get applied here, but the other 5 are great all on their own.

These cards earn their weight in gold when you're in the battlefield. You can customize them however you want, but if you want my personal recommendations, go for the cards that have 4 modifier slots on them. That way, you can put on a plethora of modifiers that can turn the tide of the battle at a moment's notice.

My personal recommendations for modifiers are One Night Castle and Proliferation, to make short work of enemy bases and bolster your own. Materials Hunter is also very nice if you're looking to get even more materials from battles.

Okay. Time to put on the reading glasses again, because this is gonna get wordy.

So, Bravery is the mechanic to determine how tough a hero or commander is. Naturally, the highest bravery among any and all characters is going to be the commander. Furthermore, the higher the bravery, the tougher the opponent. However, here's the important part to remember: If the enemy is at least 3 levels of Bravery higher than you, you cannot make the enemy flinch or stunned at all.

This means that you need to raise your own. But how? There are 3 simple tricks:
1: Defeat enemy heroes to raise your own. You can also defeat their troops, but that won't carry you far past Bravery 1, 2, and 3.
2: Capture bases across the battlefield.
3: Complete Sub-Mission Objectives. These pop up periodically throughout a battle and can raise your bravery very quickly.

Before, I mentioned how higher braveries grant additional effects to your Hero's skills. Well, this also works, even if the Hero is on the enemy's army. Now, I specify Hero and Commander as 2 separate distinctions, because while the game counts Lieutenants & Captains as Heroes, I do not. Otherwise, they would have different skills at higher braveries.

The Skill Upgrade Bravery Rank System has categorized the upgrades to your Support Skills from anywhere between Braveries 3 and 8. 8 is the absolute highest, and some of the Bravery 8 upgrades are just not worth the while.

Now, as for the battlefield bases, what are we looking at? Well, the game tells you when you first find them, but I'll go ahead and explain them for you here:

Skill: This is the most common base type in the game, and arguably the most powerful one. These have skill orbs that respawn constantly, and they make your life a whole lot easier. Go for as many of these as you can.

Main Camp: This is your side's greatest asset and most valuable resource. This is what keeps you in the fight, and what knocks your enemy out of the fight if they lose theirs.

Archers: This base can make clearing out enemy bases easier, as it periodically rains down arrows upon the closest enemy base. Watch out if your own base is under fire, though. These can get pretty annoying on the receiving end.

Defense: Adds 50 Units to the closest allied base and grants a defense boost to all allies in the base. Stacking these can be very annoying if you're on the enemy side. But very helpful to you.

Recovery: This base simply spawns healing items for you. These can help keep you in the fight if you run out of hero skills to do that for you.

Treasure: Securing these bases give you extra materials at the end. They're also the bases with the highest unit count, outside the main camps, on the whole battlefield.

Reserves/Assault: I call these Assault Bases because of the Assault Troops that spawn if you control them. These bases are only active for a short time, and whoever controls it at the end of 30 seconds gains an assault troop to help their side. If no side controls the base after that 30 second period, it turns off again.

So, what do I mean by "Battlefield Modifiers?" Shouldn't these battles be fairly simple? Well, no. They're not. There are certain conditions that can be applied to the whole battlefield to shake things up and throw your sub-mission objectives off the rails.

First up is probably the simplest of the modifiers: Blitz. All this does is increase the attack and movement speed of everyone on the battlefield. This is mostly advantageous to you, since you get the advantage of being faster than normal and can complete your objectives faster. Just watch out when going against higher bravery enemies.

Next is the Invisible Captain. There are 2 that fall into this category: Silver and Gold. The Silver Captain drops EXP upon defeat, and lots of it, while the Gold Captain drops money. However, I call them the Invisible Captains because, when you look at the battlefield preview in the menu, they do not show up anywhere on the map. You have to actively hunt for these Captains, and they're often-times spawned in a base near the Enemy Main Camp.

Next is Courageous Commanders. This makes capturing bases a LOT harder, which is a critical aspect in a Stronghold Battle. The Base Commanders have an equivalent Bravery to you, a lot more health, and are massive. I'll explain how to handle these ones later.

Next is the Surprise Monster. This can be one of 3 Boss Monsters: Razortalon from Toukiden, Uroboros from Ninja Gaiden, or the Admiral Puni from Atelier Sophie. The latter 2 spawn in a singular base around the map at Bravery 10 and stay there, while the Razortalon spawns at Bravery 8 and will hunt you down like prey. These monsters will drop lots of materials if you defeat them, though. So the simple question you need to ask: Is the gamble worth it?

Now, it is a rare instance, but you might, just might, find yourself in a battle without a modifier. That is perfectly normal, so don't assume that the game's automatically broken if one didn't show up. If I missed a modifier, I'll come back and add it into this list.

So, now hopefully you understand Warriors All Stars a bit better. I'm sorry for such a lengthy guide, but I tend to be thorough in my explanations, trying to help others understand it best I can.

Now, as for my personal recommendations:

Firstly, above all else, experiment with the characters. See who you like to use and who you don't like to play as. If playing as Hajime Arima is too boring or bland to you, that's fine. If you like playing as Rio, that is perfectly okay too.

My personal recommendations will just go here, as these are the characters I have had the most success with.

Best General Combatants: Arnice, Sophie, Wang Yuanji, Hajime Arima, Ryu Hayabusa.

Best Support Team: Opoona, Nobunyaga Oda, Zhou Cang, and Kasumi.

Best Healing Support: Tamaki and Wang Yuanji.

Best Combat Support: William and Hajime Arima

Best Death Match Support: Oka and Naotora Li

Best Hero Combo Skills: Zhou Cang & Tamaki, Kasumi and Oka

Best Heroes to keep when Splitting the Party: Zhou Cang, Wang Yuanji, Hajime Arima, Opoona, Arnice, Sophie, Plachta, Christophorus, Oka, Naotora Li. (I may just be getting into personal bias territory now. Sorry.)

At the end of the day though, all of this is subjective. There's no one character that stands above the rest as the be-all-end-all combatant. A lot of this was just to combine 12-13 different franchises together into one game and have some fun with it. If you want to know how to get good at the game, well, my advice is simply experiment. Try using some of the characters out for yourself. If you want to, save up before the tutorial battle at the beginning of the game and try playing around with the characters you have there.

Regardless, I thank you for taking the time to read all the way here, and I hope this was a welcoming insight to Warriors All Stars.

I should probably mention a few things in this P.S. section.

1: The Bravery 8 Support Skill Upgrades are not worth it most of the time. Unless you're being a clown and using Naotora's Support Skill in conjunction with Lu Bu's to get stupid high attack values, I do not recommend using any of them. Rio's is simply atrocious, since it's a Bravery 8 for a simple attack buff, and Ryu's is something that you should be capable of doing at that point of the battle anyways.

2: MASSIVE SPOILER!!! While the game never explicitly states this, I believe that Yomi herself gained enough power by the time the game started to properly interrupt the summoning ritual, hence why it failed and scattered the heroes everywhere. Yomi wanted the ritual AND the civil war to take place so she could divide and conquer the siblings one by one, instead of trying to take on all 3 at once.

3: If you think the battles are too tough, then I recommend taking the game's advice to lower the difficulty. If you think they're too easy, though, go ahead and bump it up. Personally, I feel like Hajime Arima's the single-most broken character in the whole game. So I play the game on Hard difficulty with him, and it is a lot of fun.