Dynasty Warriors Origins - How to deplete enemy officers Fortitude (Assault)

One of Dynasty Warriors Origins’ most common and primary mechanics is Fortitude, which leads to the Assault command. You’re going to see this on virtually every single battle — except small skirmishes that feature no officers, generic or otherwise. You don’t have to defeat officers using Fortitude/Assault in most cases, but it makes the fight a lot faster if you do.

Whether you’re playing as the main character or temporarily swapped in as another character like Guan Yu, you can shred through Fortitude if you keep an eye on what your Bravery levels are, and your opponent’s moves.

Here’s how to take advantage of the Fortitude system in Dynasty Warriors Origins to easily Assault enemy officers.

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How to easily deplete an enemy officer's Fortitude to use Assault in Dynasty Warriors Origins

In the early hours of Dynasty Warriors Origins, you won’t see officers with more than two or three Shields over their heads (Fortitude). Depleting them allows you to land an Assault command. It might seem frustrating to deal with this at first, but as you unlock more skills and experience in the game, it gets easier. Once an enemy is at 0 Fortitude, they’re stunned, and you’ll get a prompt to Assault.

A good Assault can really lower an enemy's health bar (Image via Koei Tecmo)

In most cases, you’ll spam the assault button rapidly to repeatedly hit that enemy (and anyone around them). But if they’re weak, and you’re strong enough, you can one-shot them and move on.

The game recommends you “strike enemies when their guard is down after their attack” in the help menu. In general, yes, rapid, repeated attacks are a great way to start wearing down someone’s defenses. But it’s not the only way. Frankly, one of the best ways is parrying any attack that you can — some attacks simply cannot be parried.

In Dynasty Warriors Origins, each time you parry an enemy attack by pressing the block button at the right time, you unleash a counterattack and stagger the enemy. This can lower Fortitude. When an enemy is staggered, use a flurry of offense to wear the Fortitude down even further and hopefully get an assault.

Hit fast, hit hard, counter/parry when you can to quickly break down enemy defenses (Image via Koei Tecmo)

Perfect Evade also helps, but not in quite the same way. You regain more Bravery when you perfectly evade. If you’re like me, and a fan of weapons like the Podao, Wheels, and Crescent Blade, you likely have several multi-hit skills. While these cost a good deal of Bravery to use, using them close to an enemy can obliterate their Fortitude in short order.

While not a complete list of great defense shredders in Dynasty Warriors Origins, below are a few skills I use the most when I want to batter someone’s Fortitude into dust and land an Assault:

• Triple Tempest (3 Bravery, Wheels)
• Crawling Dragon (2 Bravery, Wheels)
• Dragon Tail Swipe (3 Bravery, Crescent Blade)
• Relentless Whirl Slash (3 Bravery, Crescent Blade)
• Sea of Flames (3 Bravery, Podao)
• Blade Typhoon (4 Bravery, Podao)
• Absconding Slash (3 Bravery, Sword)
• Divine Eagle Dance (7 Bravery, Sword)
• Mad Blade Rush (2 Bravery, Sword)
• Dance of the Whirlwind (5 Bravery, Spear)
• Rising Dragon Vortex (3 Bravery, Spear)
• Maw of the Tiger (3 Bravery, Gauntlets)
• Hurricane Kick (3 Bravery, Gauntlets)
• Brutal Barrage (3 Bravery, Staff)
• Chaotic Flurry (3 Bravery, Staff)
• Sky Sunder (8 Bravery, Twin Pikes)
• Furious Dual Rush (3 Bravery, Twin Pikes)
• Spirit Wave (3 Bravery, Lance)
• Skirmisher Strike (2 Bravery, Lance)
• Crouching Tiger Strike (4 Bravery, Lance)

Occasionally, you’ll see enemies with Red Fortitude Symbols — this typically comes from high morale/courage or from a buff the enemy has used. You deal with them the same way — there’s just more of them than a regular officer would have.

I went from a "Wheels Hater" to a "Wheels Apologist" real fast when I saw how easily they can shred Fortitude (Image via Koei Tecmo)

My preferred way to deal with Fortitude in Dynasty Warriors Origins is to wait until an enemy has dealt a big attack and swap from melee combos to a big Bravery multi-hit, as seen above. I also try to Parry as often as possible, though, in the early game, I was terrible at it.

A good evade or two also fills up the Bravery gauge enough to drop a special art or two, depending on your setup. Stay on your toes, have a solid, varied set up of special arts, and know how to parry/perfect evade, and you’ll make Fortitude icons disappear in no time in Dynasty Warriors Origins.

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Check out our other Dynasty Warriors Origins guides and features:

• 10 things to know before playing Dynasty Warriors Origins
• Should you play previous Dynasty Warriors games before trying out Origins?
• Will Dynasty Warriors Origins feature multiplayer?