Dynasty Warriors Origins: Duels explained

As you push forward in Dynasty Warriors Origins, you’ll encounter a unique mechanic that can change the course of battle — Duels. Mastering these one-on-one showdowns with enemy officers will give you a significant advantage. Here's how Duels work in Dynasty Warriors Origins and how you can use them to turn the tide of in your favor in the heat of war.

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What are Duels in Dynasty Warriors Origins?

The Protagonist vs Lu bu in Dynasty Warriors Origins (Image via Koei Tecmo)

Duels is one of the key features you unlock after moving to Chapter 2. There, you'll find opportunities for one-on-one battles with enemy officers. These fights differ significantly from the free-for-all chaos and mass combat, which represent the game's main fare. In this regard, Duels give a great chance to get a focused 1v1 fight that will determine the result of the entire battle.

However, you don't just stumble into a 1v1 — you must initiate it. When you're close to an enemy officer, a prompt will appear on your screen, letting you challenge them to a 1v1. Once accepted, the rest of the battlefield freezes, and both sides of the war form a circle around the fighting ring, leaving you and your opponent to duke it out.

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How do Duels work?

A still from Dynasty Warriors Origins (Image via Koei Tecmo)

Here’s where things get interesting. Duels aren’t like your usual fights in Dynasty Warriors Origins. The key difference is the lack of a health bar; instead, you’re both fighting for control over the Morale Bar, which tips based on the progression of the duel.

• Time Limit: You’ve got 50 seconds to defeat your opponent in the 1v1. Fail to do so, and you’ll lose the morale advantage, which can severely hurt your side’s chances in the larger battle.
• Morale Bar: The bar will also shift in this game with battle states. As your side becomes victorious, you'll get an initial lead. Conversely, if your side is getting destroyed, you lose the first impression. You'll have to win any 1v1 given if you're facing a battle scenario, for which it provides major morale boost in that long-waged war, but the low morale from losing at a duel brings disastrous impacts if you lose with longer battles.

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Advantages of winning

A winning duel in brings a huge payback. Your side's immediate morale boost is massive, but the effects resonate even further:

• Enemy courage falls: After defeating the enemy officer in a 1v1, their whole team's courage falls. All enemy mobs near will lose morale and can be managed without much struggle. So, the remaining enemy forces become very easy to mop up with minimal effort.
• Combat mechanics and Items: In 1v1, you can use all the usual combat mechanics, including Battle Arts and Portable Items that you have brought into the battlefield. This gives you a lot of tools to defeat your opponent and secure victory.

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Consequences of losing

On the other hand, losing a 1v1 can be disastrous. When you're defeated by your opponent, your morale drops significantly, and your side will suffer a major disadvantage. In longer battles, this can be especially problematic, as morale affects your troops' performance.

Losing a 1v1 in Dynasty Warriors Origins can lead to a snowball effect where your troops get demoralized, and the overall battle becomes much harder to win.