Dynasty Warriors Origins: Which difficulty is right for you?

Thankfully, Dynasty Warriors Origins doesn’t lock any major content behind the difficulty wall. You can play at whichever level you want and nothing will stop you from seeing the whole game. Only one difficulty adds any extra content — rewards for meeting certain objectives. You can also change difficulty at any time — unless you’re in battle — so you aren’t forced to commit if you don’t like a specific level.

As far as choices go, the difficulty options in Dynasty Warriors Origins are Historian, Wayfarer, Hero, and Ultimate Warrior. The first three are available any time, and Ultimate Warrior is unlocked after beating a Scenario and unlocking Story Mode. Here’s what the game offers, and our thoughts on them.

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All difficulty options explored in Dynasty Warriors Origins — which is best for you?

The baseline difficulty in Dynasty Warriors Origins is Wayfarer, which, for the most part, will be good enough for most players. It makes all battles act exactly as they should, in terms of AI, aggressiveness, attacking, and blocking. Certain attacks, earmarked by large red slashes and glow, cannot be blocked. They must be avoided.

On Historian, even Lu Bu's fiercest attacks can be blocked (Image via Koei Tecmo)

Overall, it’s a reasonable level of difficulty, though you may have to occasionally redo a map if you don’t pay enough attention to the objectives and complete them promptly. The few “major bosses” in the game are real gatekeepers in this difficulty, so take the time to master parrying and evading — and when you can do them.

However, if that’s not how you want to play Dynasty Warriors Origins, there are other difficulty options: Historian, Hero, and after beating a faction’s scenario once, Ultimate Warrior. Historian is the easiest difficulty and is for people who want to enjoy the story. There are some changes to gameplay that will make certain moments much easier.

Historian changes

• Any attack, including those with glowing indicators, can be blocked.
• Strong attacks and Battle Arts stagger the enemy.
• It is easier to gain Bravery and fill the Musou Gauge.
• Some enemy attacks will not stagger you.

If you find the game too challenging temporarily, it’s not a terrible idea to drop it down to Historian difficulty and play it again in Dynasty Warriors Origins, but that’s entirely up to you. Frankly, unlocking the True Ending stages was still a challenge, even on Historian.

Hero difficulty makes things just a bit more challenging, that’s for sure. If you’re an action game veteran, play Souls games, or simply want to be challenged a little more, this will be your port of call. The game gets a bit harder, with the following changes made to gameplay — with one or two minor rewards.

Hero difficulty ramps things up just a bit (Image via Koei Tecmo)

Hero changes

• Enemies are more aggressive and have more powerful attacks.
• Blocking enemy attacks depletes Bravery.
• Enemies attack simultaneously more often.
• The timing for parries and perfect evades must be more precise.
• Battles between armies are decided more quickly.
• Enemies do not drop meat buns.
• Skill Points and gold earned in battle are slightly increased.

Once you’ve beaten a faction’s story once in Dynasty Warriors Origins, you can come back to Story Mode and enjoy a few extra challenges/gameplay features. One of them is the Ultimate Warrior difficulty. This, in addition to the other challenges, adds a specific challenge to every battle.

Completing these in the allotted time will give you rewards like more skill points, Epic Weapons, and other things. It doesn’t get any harder than Ultimate Warrior. This difficulty truly ups the challenge and increases the recommended level for pretty much every stage.

The challenge doesn't get greater, but the rewards sure do! (Image via Koei Tecmo)

Ultimate Warrior changes

• Enemies are extremely aggressive and their attacks are brutal.
• Blocking enemy attacks depletes Bravery.
• Enemies attack simultaneously much more often.
• The timing for parries and perfect evades must be extremely precise.
• Battles between armies are decided very quickly.
• Enemies do not drop meat buns.
• Skill Points and gold earned in battle are significantly increased.

This felt like it was for characters that are Rank 60+, though you could try it earlier if you feel like you need to be tested. Most players will likely try Wayfarer first — that’s where I spent a lot of time. I did dip back into Historian from time to time, especially unlocking True Ending routes.

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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?